The Kingdom and it's Kings
The Human Kingdom of Seradon is one of the known world's major powers. It claims the eastern portion of the western continent as it's territory, and has held it successfully against multiple invasions both from the elves across the Golden Strait, and the the orcs in the badlands to the northwest.
They are ruled by a rare bloodline of sorcerers, the next king or queen traditionally being the child that manifests the gift first among the siblings of their generation. The 'Kings Blood' sorcery is a very powerful gift, and the royal family has wielded it to great effect both in the battlefield and the stateroom throughout the generations. The modern royal family is a broad mess of cousins and near-relations to the king, leading to considerable political interplay in the capital. This bloated court vying for power and the kings ear has been seen by many to serve as a distraction of late, giving the Dukes beyond a great deal of independence.
The
Greater Circle is a very powerful resource for the king, though they maintain themselves as "dedicated to the service for mankind", and have not strictly sworn fealty. They reside in the Boar forest, and even the orcs of the badlands have mostly come to realize an invasion through the forest is impossible.
The Royal Family directly holds the region known as Central Seradon, an area primarily filled with broad, sweeping plains well suited to agriculture, and the dense Boar forest along it's northern border. With that northern border secured, and the three duchies protecting it from all sides, central Seradon has long been a remarkably safe and stable region for its size. It serves as the breadbasket of the kingdom, and boasts the highest population of the four regions by far. It is known for the splendor of its capital city, and it's powerful hosts of knights and paladins.
The Three Dukes
Beneath the King are the three dukes: Beric, Tarona, and Norman; holding the Kingdom's western, southern, and northeastern regions respectively.
The Duchy of Beric to the west has a northern section known as the Beric Hill Lands, and a southern region that's a largely inhospitable steppes. They also hold much of the land around the great
Lake Barry . Much of their land is lackluster for farming, so they rely heavily on fishing products and imports from central to feed their people. They hold the only active border against the orcs, and doing so requires a great effort from their people. They are also known for being the home to a relatively new college of artifice. @q
The Duchy of Tarona is a spreads out through the greenwood forest along the eastern coast of seradon. This coastal locale makes it an ideal launching point for international trade, and tarona has grown both rich and culturally diverse as a result. Unfortunately this coastal position has left it the first line of defense against overseas invasions. To manage this broad diverse duchy, and keep tabs on the many groups and foreign powers that dock their, many rumors abide that the Duke himself works with and leads semi-official thieves' guilds around his territory. He also leverages the most advanced center of human arcane knowledge, staffed and supported in part with high elves from just across the golden strait.
The Duchy of Norman holds the northern section of the kingdom, with the dangerous high forest at the border, the cold and craggy coastal lands, and the freezing and windy eastern steppes; it is a harsh land. It's peoples are the least connected with the rest of the kingdom, though their loyalty seems unshakeable. They define themselves as three sister tribes, the Slidrugtanni tribe of the forest, the Eikthyrnir tribe of the coast, and the Svadalfari tribe of the steppes. While they are few in number, each tribe is made up of hardened survivors with specialized knowledge and skills suited to their territory.
Ancient History
A New Land
The Kingdom's history and founding dates back to the First Age; indeed the era of peace and stability following it's unification was one of the factors contributing to the end of the first age altogether.
From their birth as a species in the misty dawn of the first age, the humans lived on the eastern continent, alongside the elves and the dragonborn. Many details are lost to time, but it is known that at sometime a great war broke out between the three peoples, and the majority of the human race was forced to flee across the golden strait.
Across the strait the humans found nothing but arid badlands and desert, occupied by great hosts of orcs and giants. The humans are said to have defeated the giants utterly and pushed back the orcs, all the while desperately holding their coastal fortresses against pursuing elven armies. Despite their victories however, these early men struggled to live on the land they had won, as the orcs were far better suited to thriving in the arid badlands that once covered the whole of Seradon.
Much time and effort was dedicated to finding new ways to make this land arable and more amenable to humanity, and eventually the druids succeeded, creating a new style of druid circle now known as a Druid "of the land". The druidry of man quickly grew in size and power, and became a cornerstone of mankind's strength. These ancient druids connected their circles to form the unique and enormous Greater Circle of Seradon, and with it they worked powerful spells across the land. They invigorated Seradon, filling it's rivers, seeding it's forests, and defining much of the geography familiar to us today.
A New People
With the Orcs pushed deep into the continent, and the elves suddenly too occupied with the new threat of a fledgling
Tiefling Empire to their east, mankind stumbled into relative peace for the first time in their history. They did not take to it well.
Over a period of several generations, local warlord rose, fell, and consolidated power into an early version of our modern feudal society. It is also believed that the pact of sisterhood between the three Norman tribes was established early in this period, and without much competition for their harsh lands, they have continued this tradition of governance all the way into the modern era. For the rest of the humans, however, the four regions we know today slowly grew in size and power through many smaller wars as the local rulers of each city contested and overthrew each other until they stabilized into 3 kingdoms we'd recognize today as central Seradon, Beric, and Tarona (and the Norman tribes, largely ignored). These Kingdoms produced a long history of conflict, that ultimately came to an end with the rise of Jeremy the Unifier. Jeremy was the first of the Seradonian royals to awaken the King's Blood source, and as the story goes, he saw this power as a sign from the Gods that he was to unite all mankind.
The Unifier's campaigns across Seradon were violent and brutal, and are reputed to be the source for name of the River Sanguine that flows through the capital today. He marched a great host north into Norman territory, and crushed the coastal cities of tribe Eikthyr. As they surrendered, the sister tribes did so with them, and all the tribes followed King Jeremy to war in Tarona. Tarona had long prepared it's northern border for war with Seradon, but was unready for an attack from the eastern steppes facilitated by tribe Svadalfari. Ultimately they capitulated to King Jeremy as all that remained to the Tarona King were the ancient fortresses at Coria and Tarona.
By this time however, the King of Beric was well prepared for war, and the Armies of the Unifier crashed upon his hill forts and mesa-strongholds to no avail. Critically, Beric had build a considerable defense for their fishing fleets in Lake Barry, and rebuffed any attempts to cross the lake. This forced The Unifier to strike directly into the center of Beric's well defended kingdom. Beric stood tall through decades of sieges and invasions, and was ultimately brought into Seradon not through war, but diplomacy. In an effort to end the decades of bloodshed, the Greater Circle stepped in to arrange a political marriage between children of the two Kings. This is the only time the Greater Circle has ever made any effort to intervene in politics before, and began it's era of vague unspoken support for the Seradonian Royalty.
This began a long era of peace and prosperity among humans that gave birth to many of their greatest cultural works, and solidified their identity as single unified people.
It was all ruined when they declared war on the elves again, and reignited that ancient conflict that boils over into today, but perhaps I'll tell that story another tie.
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