The Fold

The fold is a densely populated shard that is carpeted with a brigandine of baronies and duchies. It is home to a highly contested stretch of land simply referred to by many as the "The Borderland". This land is a crucible for martial heroism and folly for it's proximity to the surrounding fiefdoms ensures that it is always host to a border skirmish- and always under the threat of invasion. Home to the richest resources of the plane, fertile fields, rich iron deposits and an abundance of mana. Despite this, no one nation can claim to the region and no landmarks can be used to dilineate an effective border.

The fold is a land rich in resources and people. Dozens of cultures that emphasize different walks of life have emerged from this large shard, amplified by the various borders that make up it's mountainous edges. Characterized by their various classes and the hierarchies within them, the station of one's birth determines what rigors and struggles will define their life. Home to nobles, royalty, commoners, artistans, clergy, merchants and academics, society in The Fold has created advanced striations along class lines

Recently, the Northern Kingdom of Carminos has conquered the borderlands. Over two years, a coalition of nations had formed to take back the stretch of land. Under allegation of usurpation and illegitimate claims to her neighbors, the Queen of Carminos has shaken the millenia long system of causus belli established on the shard. Doubling anxieties in the region, there are claims that she has a host of occult mages under her control and that has tapped into the mana of the realm for some diabolical purpose. The Duchy of Verduro, The Barony of Lazuli and the Petty Kingdom of Lemony have formed warbands with their neighboring countries to oppose the tyranny of Carminos- leading to one of the bloodiest conflicts in The Fold yet.

Geography

As a realm, The Fold is a shard of rich watersheads, stunning steppes and imposing mountains. The Borderlands in the middle contain the richest of the watersheads, the Vitus Delta. Together with it's long stretches flat steppes and plateaus the land is most ideal for agriculture, providing much needed food for citizens and soldiers. The boundaries of The Fold are encompassed by a ring of mountains. Crowning the north, the Carminian Fold are ancient mountains populated by alpine fauna and alpine people. In the south, the coast is supported by the Roundtop Mountain Range, opening up to a brilliant coast that operates as a hatcher for many edible fish. Feeding into the Virtus river, Mount Duty spires above the highlands in the west kissing the sunrise before the other mountains do and casting a long black shadow as far as the Borderlands

Among shards found along the Gray Path, it is the largest and most imposing. Difficult to travel across it is 130 hexes wide and 90 hexes long, populated mostly by farmland and wilderness.

Society

Social hierarchy within the Fold is as varied as it is ubiquitous. Even the most remote barony in the mountains seems to have accepted the feudal mantle and stratification of class through cultural bleeding through the plane. Among the elite, each court has a need for experts to discern, differentiate and evaluate titles and ranks in the Byzantine systems that make up the social cloth of the Fold. The order of each title, the demeanor in which to address it and the privaleges entitled to it are all part of being a proper member of Society, as it is known. The orders of reverance outside of the rungs within the hierarchy follow the according pecking order:

1. Royalty (Kingdom)
2. Aristocracy (Nobility)
3. Magocracy (Clergy, Wizards, Scholars)
4. Merchants (Moneylenders, bankers, and commercemen)
5. Artisans (Potters, Leathercrafters, Blacksmiths)
6. Commoners (Subsistence farmers and serfs)

Emerging, and breaking the mold of the ages old social hierarchy, the Knight and the Mercenary for the past couple of centuries have defied convention. What started as an oath of protection has now become the mantle in which the aristocratic class dons to fuel their ambitions of conquest. Fealty to King and country had become entwined to morality and sparked the establishment codes of honor and ethics for warriors. Knights and champions emerge from this environment and have become a cultural paradigm of the shard, earning the love and respect of their Sovereign's people.

Conversely, there became a class of fighter that is unbound by the ethos set by aristocracy and their honor- the mercenary. When knights would take pause to perform the wetworks required to progress the machinations of war, the mercenary band would offer their services. Elite fighters in their own right, many had come from a diverse blend of backgrounds. Commoners, outlaws and the many bastard children of the aristocracy would rise from the blood and muck to become legends, limited only by their own code and lust for gold.

Population

A majority of the population is around the center of the fold, however due to the overall fertility of the plane and the abundance of food sources there is an even distribution of various ancestral enclaves throughout the shard. From a top-down hierarchical view, most of the populaton consists of commoners, serfs and peasants. Around city centers there are larger populations of artistans and merchants. Castle towns contain the nobility and aritstocracy- a fair blend of all different kinds of folk to serve the crown.

 

Another Season's End

Entente Chronicle

The Northern Kingdom of Carminos has made many enemies during its war of consolidation. Conquering a huge swath of territory down the mountains and through the center of the shard, the Crown of the North has held strong it's new territory in the Borderlands. An protectorate entente hangs across the border with over two thousand men at the ready to strike into the heartlands. Allied espionage indicates that some sinister ritual has been underway in the fields center to the shard, and that the Queen's Personal Entourage has made way to the site to finish the task.

The true nature of the realm is shortly revealed after a brutal battle, penetrating the front lines brave souls matched blades with the Queen herself- spilling her royal blood upon the soil of the land. The impending calamity would expose the veteran soldiers to even more battles, the endless churning of the Nebula's void.

Sanctuary

Collegiate Hermitage

This lone building stands half existing in the void serving as a mistaken anchorage by some young mage's misbeggoten experimentation. Sinking into the mire near the Sundered Tablelands, this edifice served as the pastoral home of some noble's family in older times. Stuck between the farm, and the Gray Path , sand from the sea has accumulated in the basement of this place. Home now to beleagured refugees, veterans and war mages- It is a rallying point and information hub for those that have lost their home.

Exposed to the outside world, it has become a place to commune with strangers. Agents of an ancient war, The Great Wizwar, have been contracting veteran knights and mercenaries, opportunitstically to the cause of their Archmages.