1434

## **The Southern Highlands Expansion**

### The lowlands growth convinced Stonehearth… *it was time to expand*

In the 25 years since the founding of North Point, and the march of the immediate surrounding territory, the population had ballooned from 3,000 during construction, through 4,000 and 5,000 – then a sustained climb beyond. The walls were designed to protect upwards of 8,000 subjects, with another 4,000 or so stalwart colonial spirits in the surrounding lowlands, but North Point was now home to more than to 35,000 people.

By **1434 DR**, an otherwise quiet year, the North Point lowlands were wildly overcrowded. It was, in some ways, nearly endearing from the sense of camaraderie and esprit de corps. People had largely bought in to the Stonehearth methods – and it felt like they were living “in the future.” Despite all that was happening, in a world where prayers were no longer answered, where a demi-god lich lived 25 miles away and hordes of raging giants even closer than that – *there was a sense of hope*.

In the march highlands, there were hamlets, villages and towns, but no *cities*. The Stonehearth look and feel and optimism were abound, especially in the highlands, but they were all naturally-grown settlements rather than the kind of trademarked exceptional efficiency that Stonehearth was known for. The demand was there.

The expansion was within the technical capacity of Stonehearth to fill, but there were dozens associated families who had made significant contributions. Most of them had also made their own fortunes alongside the SMC and had capital to burn, but ten in particular were ready to take the mantle of leadership (and promote the Charter as the law of the land).

It was time to reward the loyalty – and give the opportunity to take the next step. With a million ways the new land could be divided, Stonehearth looked at balancing who was ready, willing and able versus what challenges and opportunities the southern peninsula offered. Claiming the lower, wider base of the peninsula, it balanced to 8 baronies and 4 counties.

The Charter itself was a key to the political equation. This wasn’t so much a feudal system as it was management of subdivisions. The nobility took responsibility for the management and therefore earned a piece of the tax revenue.

As the new counties and baronies were established, hundreds – *then thousands* – of hardy souls departed south to homestead. Construction supply would be well behind the strong demand for years to come, but by 1444, the immigrant, refugee and expatriate flow founds its equilibrium.

## **The Eight *new* Baronies**

### **A march becoming a marquisate**

Roughly 20 years after the first barony was awarded, literally cut from the original march, demand had pushed Stonehearth to the next step. As a Baldur's Gate patriar, this was a major complication as they'd founded the area as a march of the Gate. Mageweave flew under the threshold for major attention because the territory had come from Stonehearth's original claim.

This, though, was an undeniably feudal expansion and set Stonehearth apart from other gate patriars as now having an independent *sovereignty*. The Stonehearth March was now a *Marquisate*.

It was an excellent problem to have, but given the skittish attitudes of the Gate Dukes (much less the other patriars), this was sending the undeniable signal that Stonehearth was expanding beyond the confines *again*. Given that Stonehearth drove a sizable chunk of the Gate's economy, they didn't want to get of Stonehearth entirely, but the "Shadow Duke" was both ambitious and ethical, a combination that made negotiations frustrating for an entitled oligarchy.

### **Defining a Barony**

Unlike the Mageweave collective, each elevation this time went to individual families instead of a rotation of baronets. The political definition of a barony was always a little hazy, and that was true here, too. Mageweave had formed essentially as a county subdivision, but this was looking at larger, more autonomous grants. These new baronies would be separate but smaller fiefdoms, with certain responsibilities but still following the Stonehearth Charter.

This also meant that there were changes in representation. These new baronies would have a direct say in a local parliament rather than representation in a county (or a march), in a way that gave more weight to .

### **Changes to Mageweave**

Notably, in the Magewave barony, the Sidd House was elevated to full barons and now bore the weight of the Volkerburg Tower and central defense coordination. The other baronets retained their position as overseeing contributing hamlets. They maintained their own magocratic sub-parliament in Mageweave.

*Also notable:* each of those baronets had a knight's fees-equivalent manor, but were rich enough to afford much, much more at this point.

For the greater Stonehearth marquisate, there were eight families that were close allies. Five had followed from Baldur’s Gate to North Point lock, stock and barrel. Another two were still patriars of the Gate, and had followed by opening store fronts and trade routes through North Point, as well as building northern manors in the area. One was a noble family and key trade partner in Cormyr.

### The Eight Baronial Additions:

#### *The* **Iseree Barony**

* Seat: *The* **Town** *of* **Sarcalles**
* Initial population: 5,500

#### *The* **Suvkuruud Barony**

* Seat: *The* **Town** *of* **Grimfest**
* Initial population: 6,000

#### *The* **Vistpaaz Barony**

* Seat: *The* **Town** *of* **Wavoren**
* Initial population: 4,600

#### *The* **Caranthoran Barony**

* Seat: *The* **Town** *of* **Breganz**
* Initial population: 4,700

#### *The* **Adstrecht Barony**

* Seat: *The* **Town** *of* **Dunvoort**
* Initial population: 4,500

#### *The* **Abrotzo Barony**

* Seat: *The* **Town** *of* **Firento**
* Initial population: 5,600

#### *The* **Garpackie Barony**

* Seat: *The* **Town** *of* **Suwalki**
* Initial population: 5,300

#### *The* **Dasdraun Barony**

* Seat: *The* **Town** *of* **Ravanger**
* Initial population: 5,800

With two baronies on the Sword Coast, two on the wide southern border, two on the Winding Water River and two interior, including one at the four corners of the new counties. Each barony fit the temperament and business of the families as they were elevated to the status of nobility.

Unlike the loose aristocracy of the Baldur’s Gate patriars, the sense of hierarchy – and higher calling – was palpable to the nobility of the Stonehearth Marquisate.

For the two patriars of Baldur’s Gate, it was no longer simply a measure of money and influence in The Gate, there was a sense of legitimacy in Stonehearth’s organization. They were now nobles in *two* jurisdictions – and by that alone, the Stonehearth influence back in Baldur’s Gate continued to grow.

## **The Four Counties**

If creating baronies and a sovereign marquisate wasn't a big enough bomb back in the Gate, creating four counties, each with territory comparable to what the Gate itself directly controlled, was all but a shot across the bow. Each of these counties was founding (or formalizing) a capital seat that would, at the outset, be large enough to be considered a "small city."

### **The Elevations**

Two families to be elevated to counts had no history of nobility or comercial business acumen, but rather had been *exceptional* in the Stonehearth Arms. These two had each proven to be far more than honorable soldiers, they were personally brave and strategically brilliant. They would be granted assistance in building structures and supporting local economies as they took southern jurisdictions to manage in a form that followed the Stonehearth philosophy of life, liberty and justice.

#### **Willishire County**

* Seat: *The* **City** *of* **Manchester**
* The northwest county, immediately south of the march; ~661 square miles.

#### **Hugheshire County**

* Seat: *The* **City** *of* **Adlington**
* The southeast county, and closest to the Trollclaw Hills to the east. It's the largest county at ~1548 square miles. Pronounced Hue-shire, *not* HUGE-shire...

### **The Expansions**

The final two counties were retained and controlled by Stonehearth. Both of them had opportunities for the SMC to thrive – and would be Highland retreats once the castles were built.

#### **Meadowshire County**

* Seat: *The* **City** *of* **Rivergard**
* The county in the northeastern corner, also taking the major close front towards the troll-infested river, and just south of the Troll Hills mountain range.
* Built on the site of Fort Rivergard, previous home of 3rd Battalion. Not quite twice the size of Stonehearth marquisate (1.7x), Meadowshire sat on 670 square miles of territory…

#### **Blufshire County**

* Seat: *The* **City** *of* **Durham**
* The southwestern anchor, guarding the southern corner of the border from oceanic or southern-transit threats.
* Blufshire County was roughly 1028 square miles, about 2/3rds the size of Hugheshire. The planned Durham Castle (and surrounding engineered city) was *extremely* significant in Stonehearth politics in that it was on the site of Roaringshore, the deepwater cove that was once a pirate haven close enough to draw Baldur's Gate forces. The site had once been nixed as a permanent Stonehearth-sponsored settlement because it was too close to the Gate. It sent shockwaves back to the Gate that Stonehearth saw fit to reverse their previous stance, *making it the site of a major fortification*...

Each of the counties were larger than the original march itself. A mild reversal of sorts, though the marquisate controlled the mouth of the river and the small city of North Point. If anything, it was territorial proof that Stonehearth had no ego issues.

## **Parliament** *of the* **Marquisate**

Expanding from a march to a marquisate, that was 9 baronies and 4 counties that were lending their voice and vote to the conduct of the greater Stonehearth Marquisate. Parliament continued to meet in North Point Keep, in the Marquisate castle.

There was consideration, however, how long that would last – and from Stonehearth themselves: *probably not that long.*Rather, it was likely that if another expansion happened, the capital could move and a dedicated parliamentary building constructed.

## **The ACD Company stretches their legs…**

The **Arcane Construction *and* Demolition** (ACD) teams immediately went to work on the Stonehearth county keeps. There were two groups, and for the next two years, created castle and city protection that would’ve taken twenty years even with arcane-enhanced normal construction.

These were magnificent, epic castles, with giant walled-city areas (enough for protected farmlands). There were towers along the path from the southern border, through the counties toward the marquisate.

## **The Marquisate’s Military**

The baronies and counties each had to contribute to the defense of the realm, and Stonehearth was willing to provide capital outlay for facilities, materiel and even personnel bankroll, as long as each polity was willing to have a force that answered to the central command, met training requirements and provided mutual defense support.

### **The TO&E Standards**

The Table of Organization & Equipment (TO&E) had minimums that were initially subsidized directly by Stonehearth, with each jurisdiction contributing a minimum to maintenance and payroll after establishment.

For baronies, facilities included a keep to garrison one company at or near the baronial seat.

For counties, requirements started with the keep, and one battalion of a command platoon and three combat companies rotating through. One combat company was staged at the keep for protection of the seat, one company patrolled the greater territory and one company patrolled the border –  *or just over it*. Each company would rotate their station every two months.

All companies would include artillery and logistical support.

Given that all the counties had either maritime or riverine borders, all would eventually expand (3-5 years) to include a company of marines, to be recruited from their regular troops.

### **Recruitment and Training Standards**

* All troops would be recruited locally. Local lords were required to incentivize as necessary.
* All troops would receive housing for the duration of their service and a pension afterward.
* All troops would receive their equipment and serve a minimum tour of duty.

### **3rd Battalion Patrols…**

During the vulnerable founding and establishment, 3rd Batt consolidated their patrol routes to the new baronies and counties, keeping the area secure for construction and homesteading while native Arms were brought up to speed.

## **Durham College**

As Durham itself was planned out , with a central keep as well as greater city walls, a university complex was already slated to claim some of that protected real estate. There would be at least two component colleges, including an agricultural specialty college to research and train the massive aerable highlands, as well as the "Academy of Light." It was this Academy that received a great deal of attention and no small level of controversy as some saw it as another example of Stonehearth hubris.

### **The Academy of Light**

Somewhere between a church and a laboratory, this was a center of clerical and planar studies. In particular, after decades of being ignored by the gods, and with no definite assurance they would ever return, Stonehearth was looking to patch that critical deficiency.

The AoL was dedicated to divine casting with a touch of arcane perspective. How could they tap the positive energy plane directly, and do so using divine methodology but without direct, divine intervention?

This was pushed massive research into the nature of planar metaphysics. To many, this was seen as the ultimate progression of astronomical and cosmological research begun more than a century ago after Stonehearth’s own insight into optics.

## **The *Other* Problem this solved…**

It was an embarrassment of riches, in this case measured in people. And it was a liability when a portion thereof were determined to benefit from the system without investing in it. Living outside the marquisate, *outside the patrol areas*, was a monster beacon.

Two zombie attacks and a vampire, courtesy a mad lich, signified just how much of a challenge the north frontier continued to be. They needed to stabilize the southern frontier and ensure there were no critical vulnerabilities in the sensitive rear echelons – the critical land route toward Baldur’s Gate and allies of the Lords’ Alliance.

This helped both, redistributing the population to areas where there was more open land, lowering the target value so close to Larloch, and creating density to the south that would naturally create more draw toward Baldur’s Gate.

## Timeline Exploration

* Go back to the Primal Magic timeline...
* Check out 1434 in the Forgotten Realms original timeline...