Hengfors (region)

Hengfors is a region centered around the city of the same name. The city with its vicinities forms the economic centre of both the former East March and the current Hengfors League.
==History==
=== Early settlement ===
In the earliest days, the area known in modern day as Hengfors used to be inhabited by werebbubbs and an elven race similar to the Aen Seidhe, characterized by their never-ceasing memory. The Elder Folk left a number of palaces, necropolises and standing stones of various purposes.
The first humans appeared during the Conjunction of the Spheres in the form of numerous Dauk, Migwesk: A Short History of Hengfors and Wozgor tribes. During the first half of the 9th century, a Skelliger factory was built in the area of a former Dauk burgwall, giving the birth to the city of Hengfors.
In the 10th century, the kings of neighbouring Yamurlak, themselves hosting an influx of Redanians from the south, sponsored the Nordling colonization of Hengfors and other northern territories. Settlers from Redania and Yamurlak flooded the harsh yet relatively monster-free area of the north; in a mere generation or two the Common Speech became the most fluent, driving former languages into either the mountains, a ceremonial role, or obscurity.
Hengfors became a miniature state of its own, warrying with Kovir and other human lordships of the North. At least once it was conquered by duchy of Caingorn, a Kaedwenian vassal, with the city of Hengfors becoming the capital of Caingorn.Sapkowski's Alphabet During this era, one of Hengforsian kings granted Chernushko a portion of land to the east that used to by inhabited by Elder Folk; while the details are scarce, legends claim that Chernushko cleared the forest to plant crops and build human settlements.
The continuous wars did not stop the imigration and trade: while moving from hand to hand, Hengfors remained a center of commerce in the area, an important stop in the route of trappers wandering through the local forests and Kestrel Mountains, selling furs of minks, badgers, foxes and ermines.
=== Part of the East March ===
The wars ceased after two realms of the Gulf of Praxeda – Kovir and Poviss – entered a personal union and conquered numerous other states, including Hengfors and Caingorn. Together with a number of other regions to the east of the Praxeda Gulf, Hengfors formed the East March: a kingdom-sized province governed from the city of Hengfors by a margrave loyal to Kovirian Crown.
The first margrave of the East March, Viktoryn Harcourt, ordered his court chaplain Indrik to sort out the religious mosaic of the realm. With the help of educated theologians and preachers immigrating to the March, they established the Clerical Council of Hengfors Lands to moderate the cooperation between clergies of various cults and avoid dependency on hierarchs of Novigrad and Ard Carraigh.: The Religion in Hengfors
After the Harcourts, governorship over the March was transferred to the House of Thyssen. Guido Thyssen, the first Thyssen margrave, became such at a very young age due to his friendship with young king Gerard Troyden and his and his father Otto's valiant defense of Kovir's borders.Dynastic descriptions As the margrave, Guido aided Redanian prince Vizimir against Falka, even though the latter was initially favoured by Kovir's court, which ultimately resulted in obtaining control of Carnedd, a former Redanian duchy bordering Gelibol and Crinfrid. To secure the March's grip on Carnedd, Guido invited Order Knights of the White Rose and the Golden Stirrup, with the latter being also granted a tower and a dormitory in Hengfors city.: Order of the Golden Stirrup
=== The March's collapse. Audoen's reign. ===
Some time after the House of Thyssen's enthronement as kings of Kovir, control over the East March was transfered to a vassal family. It was a bad time for Hengfors and other peripheries. The Thyssens' attempt to bind Kovir and its vassal realms closer only highlighted the disproportions in economy, education, and culture; citizens of the Praxeda Gulf had a merchant mindset, whereas the mentality of folk living in the peripheries, including Hengfors region, was doubtlessly feudal. Along with new taxes and ambitions of local ducal houses, this led to a growth of resentment towards the Crown.
The culmination of these problems took form in the Secession of Poviss, when in the s the self-styled king Rhyd took the crown and rebelled against Baldwin Thyssen. After the East March's margrave sent his garnison to Baldwin's aid, another rebelion erupted in Caingorn, where a local House of Ademeyn nobleman was crowned a petty king by the highlanders. The margrave's decision to order a forced conscription proved a morbid mistake – the townsfolk threw him out of a window during the event known as Defenestration of Hengfors. The East March momentarily ceased to exist and its territories were left to their own devices.
In Hengfors, the freshly gained "freedom" was seen twofold: the burghers used it to proclaim the formation of Free City of Hengfors, whereas the countryside noblemen, offended by the burghers' attempt at taxing them, felt free to raid the city's outskirts. The further chaos was avoided when the murdered margrave's son Audoen entered the city with forced of Sturefors' castellan Alan Korber and seized power for himself. After a generous donation to build a new cathedral, he was crowned king of Hengfors by the archpriest of the city's temple of Kreve.
During his reign, Audoen strived to consolidate the former March's territories and restore a net of economic connections that were used to enrich Hengfors. While not all his efforts were successful, the region survived his death after Battle of Vattweir without succumbing into chaos.
=== Free City of Hengfors and formation of the Hengfors League ===
Following Audoen's death in the 1240s, the Burghers' Council once again established the Free City of Hengfors, refusing to let the king's son Niedamir inherit the region and the city, leaving him with only Caingorn. When a decade later the adolescent petty king of Caingorn conquered Malleore and marched on his fathers capital, the burghers managed to negotiate a mutually beneficial arrangement – Niedamir's realm was to become a loose federation of duchies and republics with a significant level of autonomy.
Around the 1260s, following the discovery of hot springs in eastern Malleore, many Hengforsian nobles and druids started to move from the region. Concurrently, during the Northern Wars, Hengfors stayed neutral, creating a safe space for fleeing refugees. In the 1270s a group of Mahakam-born dwarves led by Warick Brott started to dig a mine in the hills that formed the region's southeastern border.
== Regional emblems ==
The Hengfors region is symbolized by the spiked griffin (keythong), a wingless cousin of the griffin of Caingorn or fish-griffin of Arcsea. The emblem is worn by these of the royal forces that are recruited here.
Emblems in the infobox have been created by Wiki editors basing on official description and/or depictions.
== Geography and climate ==
Hengfors region is located on both sides of the Braa. Its southern and southeastern border is marked by hill chains, which one can cross to reach Yamurlak and Crinfrid. To the northeast it borders the hills of Caingorn. To the north are forests of Malleore, and to the west and southwest are Creyden and Arcsea.multiple maps
Hengfors is noticeably warmer than other regions on the same latitude, leading some peasants to believe that the area is under care of a petty weather deity.
== Society and culture ==
Hengforsian are mainly descendants of settlers from Redania and Yamurlak and earlier human tribes. They speak mostly Common Speech, although some minorities preserve their ancestral languages at home. While pogroms occur from time to time, racial tensions are usually not as high as in other parts of the Northern Realms.
The local petty nobles have a reputation of being hot-blooded; raids on neighbors over minor squabbles are quite common.
== Economy ==
The region's economical heart is of course the city of Hengfors itself. Originally a small wooden burgwall serving as a trade factory for trappers, during the rule of Harcourts and Thyssens it evolved into a sprawling city, the center of trade to the east of the Praxeda Gulf.
Outside the capital, Hengfors is divided between fields owned by local nobles and thick forests where trappers collect furs. The hill chains in the south and southeast serve as a source of stone, although the discovery of dimeritium by the dwarves in early 1270s might have marked a beginning of new chapter in the region's history.
== Notable locations ==
* the Braa
* Blessed Bogs of the Braa
* Chernushko's Circle
* Hengfors
* Karstburg
* Madame Sally's Orphanage
* Von Dahn Estate
* Von Hoist Estate
* Rigel Estate
* The Oofstone inn
== Notable Henforsians ==
* Glarwyr
* Hengefor
* Chernushko
* Gerard Thyssen
* Edmund Thyssen
* Audoen's father
* Audoen
* Gyllenstiern
* Niedamir
* Otto von Dahn
* Edmund Borh
* Kasper Rigel
==References==
Category:Regions
Category:Hengfors