The Duchy of Beric

The Duchy of Beric is the largest of the four regions in The Human Kingdom of Seradon, and makes up it's western edge. It contains the more populous Beric Hill Lands to it's north, and and the largely empty Beric Southern Steppes to the south, mostly seperated by the great Lake Barry.  

Leadership

It's ruled by the Duke Beric and his house. The current leadership is focused on technological innovation, as it seeks ways to ease the burden on it's borders.  

History

The Duchy of Beric was formed in the Beric Hill Lands in the Warlords period of ancient Seradon. Several smaller city-states had come to power in the region using the mesas in the region as natural fortresses, and fighting over food-producing fishing villages on the coast of the lake.   These city states nearly fell under a massive Orcish attack coming out of the Badlands known as 'The First Tide'. The orcs had organised under a new leader after being pushed out of most of the continent, and were retaliating to try and take it back. The heroic leader of house Beric turned back the tide and began a counter-offensive to drive out the orcs, but only relieved the other beseiged mesa settlements if they would swear fealty to him.    With the major mesa settlements under his control, the newly styled King Beric was easily able to gain control of the settlements on the coast of Lake Barry, and the modern borders of Beric were more or less established.   When the Unifier King of Seradon had finished his conquests of the other two duchies, he made war with Beric. Due to Beric's considerable experience with defensive wars, and the time they'd had to prepare, they were able to hold out through decades of seiges and wide conflicts.    They were eventually brought into the Kingdom via diplomacy, through a peace treaty brokered by the Greater Circle of Druids.  

Major Settlements

The duchy is ruled from Beric in the Cracked Mesa. The other major settlements are:

• Voldinstead, a defensive city built on top of a large mesa looking over the intersection of the Beric Hill Lands, the Boar forest, and the Borderlands.
• Haven, their largest military emplacement, located on the border between The Duchy of Beric and the Badlands.
• Warren, a fishing town that serves as a small pass through for trade on Lake Barry
• Lefcandith, a major shipping center for trade on Lake Barry.
• Menedy, a frontier town known for it's monster hunting and capturing industry.
• Deil, a small settlement on the southwestern tip of the Lake Barry. Notable for being the primary supplier of several important magical ores and components mined nearby.
• Belatheria, a new town founded by the Elves as a forward base in the last Elven-Human War, now populated by dragonborn.