Pavlova, Barony of
by Michael BerryArea:
392 square miles
Population:
AC 1000 - 805
AC 1014 - 725
Villages: (population values are given for AC 1000 and AC 1014)
Plawiska(72/63): is the administrative center of the Barony located in the foothills of the Wendarian Mountains underneath the Baroness's tower.
Djonick (161/135): is located in the southern hills, and is the agricultural center of the Barony.
Lubosz (85/79): is a village which supports the mining complex in the mountains above the village. Rodimistev (55/48): is a lamb herding village high in the mountains of the northwestern part of the Barony.
Bucharzewo (77/69) and Gnuszyn (71/65) are logging villages in the wooded hills of the eastern half of the Barony.
Ethnic groups:
Boldavians 55%, Flaem 20%, Outerworlders 20%, Kaelic 2%, Heldann 1%, Others 2%.
Languages:
Traladaran, Flaemish, Thyatin Common
Ruler:
Baroness Natasha Datchenka (Nosferatu born 946, M12 3rd Circle Air Elementalist, AL -Chaotic)
House:
Igorov
Military:
A private army of twenty-odd bodyguards is under the employ of the Baroness, mostly muscle-headed goons (at least F5 with Str 17 or higher) to help her keep order in Pavlova. Though once charmed, these goons have now sworn loyalty to the Baroness. In times of trouble, Natacha can easily increase her militia to about a hundred strong, through reserves, former comrades, eager recruits, local volunteers, mercenaries, or charmed minions from her barony.
Food:
Subsistence
Trails:
Poor quality trails connect the three villages, the tower of the Baroness and the mines in the mountains of Pavlova. A fair quality trail connects Djonik to Rymskigrad to the south.
Economics:
Padova is probably the leading producer of ice in the Principalities. Ice is a common commodity of course, but what the Pavlovans have done is perfect a means to prolong the 'shelf life' of ice and make it into an exportable commodity for the rest of Glantri. The secret in that comes from the mines in the mountains above the Barony. About two decades ago it was discovered quite by chance by a local mage, Pliny the Elder, that the type quartz that was taken from the mines above Pavlova had a specific property when magical treated. When hit with a special spell that Pliny knew, the quartz would hold the surrounding temperate around it for weeks at a time. The spell and the stone became closely guarded secrets among the Pavlovans. Over time the process was licensed, though still strictly controlled, to larger firms in Rymskigrad which allow distribution to the Capital and even to points beyond within Glantri and beyond. Pavlova also breeds lambs for export, which provides a small income in addition to the crystals for the Barony.
Pavlova Monthly Financial Ledger (figures from AC 1000)
Main resources: 1 animal, 1 mineral
4 hexes: mountain; borderland; pop. 224; tax 11.2 dc
3 hexes: forested hills; borderland; pop. 420; tax 21 dc
Pavlova: village; pop. 161; tax 16.1 dc
Total population: 161 rural, 644 borderland
Tax Income: 48.3 dc
Resource Income: 241.5 dc
Standard Income: 386.4 dc
Council Tax: 135.2 dc
Net Cash: 154.6 dc
Overhead (35%): 54.1 dc
Available Cash: 100.5 dc
With 3478 XP/year, in 10 years the Baron could gain 34780 XP.
Alternate: 580 XP/year.
History:
Barons of Pavlova
Natacha Datchenka 979-
Pavlova is a relatively new Barony, formed a hundred years later than the other established dominions in this part of Glantri. The dominion is rumored to have the fruition of a campaign by Prince Morphail to expand his influence in the area. In AC 978, trouble came to the village Pavlova, and the surrounding area, in the form of a cadre of fanatic vampire hunters. For over a year, these vampire hunters (secretly lead by a rogue vampire) stirred up the superstitious townsfolk, preying on their fears and organizing hunting parties. These parties easily became mobs, and these hunts quickly escalated into public staking.
News of the chaos in Pavlova eventually reached Prince Morphail Gorevitch-Woszlany. With the situation about to explode, Prince Morphail made a bid to the Council of Princes to make Pavlova a barony and establish a definite military presence to control the area. The Council passed the motion, and in AC 979, the Barony was created. Prince Morphail was given free reign to install his own choice as the Baron of Pavlova. It is speculated by some politicians that Prince Morphail himself planted the vampire hunters to spark the disturbances in Pavlova, but this has not been proven.
Prince Morphail had planned to install Pavol Datchenka, a wizard and the mayor of the village of Pavlova, to be the new baron. But word of Pavol's death reached the Prince as he was about to make the pronouncement. Apparently, the mob had come to suspect that Pavol was a vampire, and had taken him and his whole family to be publicly executed by staking through the heart. Prince Morphail was at a loss, and made a secret visit to Pavlova to investigate the matter personally.
Within the next few days, Prince Morphail heard news that one of the Datchenkas had survived, Pavol's daughter Natacha, and she had organized her own band of militia and hunted down the vampire hunters. Natacha then installed herself as mayor of Pavlova and challenged any opposition to her claim to one-to-one combat. Prince Morphail arrived in Pavlova in time to witness the mob leader being beaten into a pulp by Natacha in a brutal boxing match. The mob died down and order was restored when Prince Morphail officially arrived with troops sent by the Council of Princes. Thoroughly impressed by her display of Amazonian strength, and since Natacha was a wizard herself, Prince Morphail proclaimed Natacha the new Baroness of Pavlova. Since then the Barony has been run effectively by the feared Baroness. She is one of the few mages in Glantri that is more feared for her physical attributes than her power in the arcane arts.
The Great War with Alphatia brought death and war to the Barony as Pavlova. It suffered the effects of Alphatian terror squad attacks with summoned monsters let loose in the Barony and around it. The Baroness and her goon-squad dealt with the threat in typically head-on fashion though and again cemented their reputations as the toughest around by personally dealing with the nastiest of the summoned monsters. Stories even reached Glantri City about the Baroness knocking an Iron Gargoyle out with a roundhouse punch during one daring raid in the streets of Pavlova. Those stories might be a bit on the side of fancy but there was not debating her toughness in close-in fight. In the last days of the war, the Barony was attacked by a party of Alphatian wizards as part of the celebrated last ditch assault by the Empire after Glantri destroyed Sundsvall in an attack. Their attack ultimately failed when magic disappeared and Alphatia disappeared under the waves but there was no rumor this time as it was seen by all that the Baroness herself stood tall, and held her own against several Alphatian mages and once the magic disappeared she beat them to a bloody pulp with her bare fists before they must have escaped.
Though victorious in the war, it was not a painless victory for Glantri or Padova. The Glantrian census of 1010 showed a population of 805 which showed that Pavlova (like much of Glantri) lost close to 20% of it's population due to monster attacks, wizard attacks, and the plague. The years after the Great War have been spent picking up the pieces and getting back to the business of living. Strangely enough though the Baroness who loved to be out and seen by her Barony has remained closed away in her tower much more than she had before the war.
Notable Sites:
The Lubosz Mine complex is where the unique quartz is mined. The mine is owned by the Baroness. The mine itself is restricted only to designated workers and, for the sake of economic security, visitors are not allowed into the mining complex. Theft of the quartz from the mines is considered a felony in the Barony. It is well known, and of course well publicized as a warning, that no one convicted of quartz theft has ever been seen again after being sent to the dungeons of the Baroness. While owned by the Baroness it is managed by two men she trusts completely, the mage Pliny who runs the business side of the operation, and the head of the local Thieves’ Guild Pavel Checkenov (born 980, Thief 12, AL-Neutral) who handles the security side of the operation. Only Pliny knows the spell which allows the quartz to hold such cold temperatures for so long. He spends his time between Pavlova and Rymskigrad where for substantial fees he enchants commercial (and sometimes private) stocks of quartz in preparation for deliveries of large shipments of ice southward into warmer clmates.
Coat of Arms:
Useful links:
GPD – Natacha Datchenka by Kit Navarro
Glantrian Nobility during the years by Harri Mäki
The Economy of Pavlova by Aleksei Andrievski
Glantrian Heraldry by Chimpman
