Kerack

Kerack was one of the minor Northern Kingdoms. Stretched along the Adalatte between the Great Sea and Brokilon, it profited from trade and wood industry.
== History ==
The area was originally inhabited by the elves, who built a lightower at the mouth of the Adalatte. After they abandoned this region, humans started to settle. They founded the port city of Kerack near the abandoned lighthouse and soon it became a den of pirates, free traders and similar free-minded people.
At the beginning of the 13th century, the city and its vicinities became a base of operations for the merchant and pirate Osmyk. After monopolizing the sea trade in the area, finishing off the competition and winning a few petty wars with Verden and Cidaris, he crowned himself as the first King of Kerack. The coronation was seen as just formalizing the status quo since Osmyk basically controlled the whole region before the ceremony.
Osmyk was followed by one of his five sons, Belohun, who ruled over for 20 years, increasing the country's income with the help of his court mage Lytta Neyd. He was however unable to decide which of his sons should became his successor, which resulted in a plot to replace him with his exiled eldest son, Viraxas. Backed by Rissberg and the Chapter, the coup d'etat succeeded and Viraxas was crowned.
In return for obtaining the throne, Viraxas had to pay off his debts for the Chapter. Apart from raising taxes, he expanded his realm eastwards, thus coming into conflict with the dryads of Brokilon. His hatred towards "eerie wives" grew high and in order to subjugate them, he plotted with Ervyll of Verden and the Order of the White Rose to blitzkrieg the forest. The hatred led him however not to victory but to death – a young dryad, the daughter of Duke Jurkast of Maribor, was present when Viraxas' emissaries talked with Foltest about the alliance against the forest, and murdered the King few weeks later when he attended a wedding in Tretogor.
Viraxas had a successor, Tarrand. Not interested in storming the forest, he focused on different affairs, but the conflict with dryads did not cease. By the time the Second Northern War started, four joint Verden-Keracki voluntary expeditions were led to Brokilon by Maria Barring. All of them ended tragically for the dryad-scalpers, because their "guide" was in fact the dryad agent Milva, purposedly luring them into ambushes.
During the Third Northern War, Kerack sent most of its garrison to aid Nordling forces on the front lines. However, this left their defenses weakened and prone to raids by clans of Skellige. Around this time the kingdom was also decimated by the Catriona plague, which sowed the seeds of its ultimate downfall.
By the 16th century, the kingdom had been long gone. Dwindled due to a combination of its inept rulers and the ruling line dying out, its lands were annexed by its neighbors. The capital city, Kerack, became a part of Cidaris.
== National Emblems ==
The emblem of Kerack is a blue swimming dolphin with red details, placed on gold.
== Geography and Climate ==
The kingdom of Kerack was stretched along the Adalatte river, from the Great Sea in the west to the Tukajan Foothills in the east. It was bordered by Cidaris in the north, Temeria in the northeast, Brokilon in the east and Verden in the south.
== Notable people ==
* Osmyk
* Belohun
* Viraxas
* Ildiko Breckl
* Egmund
* Xander
* Elmer
* Violetta
== Notable locations ==
* Kerack
* Petrelsteyn Castle
* Ansegis
* Cizmar
* Sotonin
* Tiberghien
* Guaamez
* Martindelcampo
* Zgraggen
== Notes ==
* According to Anabelle's optional journal entry in , Geralt's involvement in the quest A Towerful of Mice may very well have caused the ultimate downfall of Kerack.
* Kerack is the main setting of by Andrzej Sapkowski.
== References ==
ar:كيراك
cs:Kerack
de:Kerack
es:Kerack
it:Kerack
pl:Kerack
pt-br:Kerack
ru:Керак
uk:Керак
Category:Kingdoms
Category:Kerack