Anderlay

**Anderlay** is a nation in central Morgaea, west of the Freemarks, north of the Adamantium, and southwest of Maudet. It was originally one of the larger city-states in the Freemarks, before it expanded rapidly to become a nation proper in the Fifth Age. Thanks to enormous wealth, and a strategic central location in Morgaea, some claim Anderlay's power rivals that of the Maudesian Empire.

## History

Anderlay was originally settled by the Anamene, a farming people with a strong culture of animist worship. Their earliest known ruler was King Dametes, a contemporary of Oremenian King Antorius and Archon Proteus, who are said to have lived around **-1595D**. Dametes' struggle against Antorius and his deperate turn to demon worship is described in the Chronicle of Lamentations of the Holy Tome. Although Dametes successfully defended his people from the Oremeni onslaught, the Anamene were ultimately conquered by the rising Adamantium in the following centuries.

Anderlay remained part of the Adamantium until around **-180D**, when Sibylla and Thetsoll led their armies south. The Lord of Anderlay, Octwald, was one of Sibylla's most loyal followers. It was from his stronghold in the city that Sibylla was captured by the Adamantium following Thetsoll's betrayal.

With Sibylla gone, Thetsoll returned to rule over the Nordish Valley. He dispersed the remaining lands among his three sons while giving the Sylvandale to the elves, as promised for their help against the Adamantines. Ranmeld, the youngest son, was given the lands surrounding the eventual capital Khecaster. He was an incompetent ruler who constantly used his father's name to secure his throne, however, and as a result, when Thetsoll's betrayal of Sibylla was revealed in **-160D**, Ranmeld was forced out of the city, and all of his court was killed.

Rule of the city-state changed hands several times after that, and by the Second Age, Anderlay was lagging behind the others in the Freemarks. Many thought the best course of action would be to give Anderlay over to Maudet, or one of the stronger city-states like Alepool. Before this came to pass, Harren Pardasian deposed King Jonas in **2A46**, and seized the throne for himself. Under his leadership, Anderlay's fortunes turned around.

In **3A25**, the armies of Maudet, and the Adamantium, joined with the Grey Order to end the Third Scourge. However, the victorious armies proceeded to occupy the territories they had liberated from the fiendish hordes. Anderlay was taken by Maudet, except for Hunteron, which went to the Adamantium, and only regained its independence in **3A65**.

In **5A37**, Anderan general Borden Larkham, who claimed descent from Emperor Caecilius Volantus I, successfully rallied the populace to overthrow the Pardasians, and claimed the throne for himself. Being a hero of the recent Fourth Scourge, Borden was able to stir nationalistic feelings in the eastern Freemarks against the growing power of Maudet. He proved his military might by winning several major battles against the Maudesians, establishing Anderlay as a new, growing power and a full-fledged nation in its own right.

In **5A40**, a company of knights, known as the Fallen, held the line at the Fields of Ghislaine against an Maudesian incursion, which kept King Borden alive long enough for Anderan forces to retreat. This act is credited as ensuring the survival of the newly carved out Anderan nation. The Larkhams produced three more kings. The last Larkham king died in the Sixth Age with no sons, but his daughter married a Pardasian, merging the two families to solidify Anderlay's status as a significant power in Morgaea. And, under the Pardasian name, they have ruled Anderlay ever since.

In **7A82**, Emperor Eligius Pelleneur of Maudet set aside his then childless empress of seventeen years to wed Princess Solara Pardasian, in the hopes of creating lasting peace and cooperation between the two nations. By **7A97**, Solara was still childless, and the emperor sent her to a cloister so that he could marry his mistress, Marquise Yvette. The Anderans took this extremely poorly. After cartloads of angry letters failed to improve the situation, a small war party of Pardasians rode into Maudet and reclaimed their princess. They took no further military action until **8A46**, when the Maudesian army was still committed to a war in Nordain. The Anderans declared war, and promptly took a number of cities. The Maudesians eventually managed to rally a defense and drive the Anderans from Ghislaine and Armesans, but Perendale was lost and never recovered. It remains a Anderan possession to this day.

In **8A60**, Aurelian Pardasian attempted to assume the Anderan throne. When it was revealed that he was not a Pardasian by blood, but in fact Princess Solara's stepson from her second marriage to Maudesian nobleman Gustav Fleurent, he joined the dwarven Legion of the Dead; the only human ever to do so. In **8A70**, a war between Anderlay and Maudet over the control of the eastern hills around Perendale occurred, and ended in Anderan victory. Maudet proceeded to sow dissent and rebellion among the locals in Perendale, however, who resented Anderan rule.

In **8A82**, Anderlay began a bloody campaign of conquest within the Freemarks, encouraged by their taking of Perendale. They were stopped by Cade Darek from Ghallen, who was named Champion of Thredony for his deed.

In **8A99**, dragons devastated the countrysides in Maudet and Anderlay, and all attempts to slay them ended in disaster.

## Politics

Anderlay has a history of royal dynasties, which has persisted into the modern day. Most Anderan monarchs have been members of the frequently militarily-gifted Pardasian clan, under whom alliances with other Free Cities have been courted, or coerced, to form a powerful confederation under Pardasian leadership.

A long war against Maudet over the mineral-rich Blasted Hills, a region between the two countries ended during the Eighth Age with an Anderan victory. However, rebellion was fomenting in the conquered area due to the imposition of harsh taxes by the Anderans, as well as the support of Maudet.

By the Second Age, rule of the city-state had changed hands many times, with poor leadership causing Anderlay to fall well behind other Free Cities. Prior to the First Pardasian Dynasty, the ruler was Jonas, a physically frail man manipulated by his advisers, and whose rule added to Anderlay's slow decline. The destruction of the city-state from within seemed imminent when rumor spread that Jonas' advisers may have brokered deals to cede struggling Anderlay to a greater power, such as Maudet, for profit. This crisis was averted, however, when Harren Pardasian, a man of the small town of Hunteron, plotted to overthrow the enfeebled king, and did so in **2A46**. Anderlay's long history of family dynasties began with Harren.

### First Pardasian Dynasty

Harren's family held the throne from the Second Age into the Fifth Age, approximately three hundred years. The family's rule was only threatened during a brief period when Maudet occupied the land during a Scourge, and was reclaimed when Harren II ousted the Maudesians.

### Larkham Dynasty

Following the Fourth Scourge, general Borden Larkham, who claimed descent from Caecilius Volantus I, raised the populace against the Pardasian clan, claiming the dynasty had forgotten the values they once held, and had become corrupt and dissolute. King Lestor Pardasian was killed in the rebellion, stabbed sixteen times upon his throne. Those of his clan who remained fled to Hunteron; their ancestral home. Borden and three other Larkham kings transformed Anderlay into the modern country it is today, overtaking large parcels of Maudesian land to do it.

### Second Pardasian Dynasty

In the Sixth Age the last Larkham king perished with no male heirs. His daughter married a Pardasian and joined the warring clans. This union allowed Pardasian rule to return with Larkhams enjoying powerful status among the nobility.

### Modern Day

The current ruler of the nation is Markus Pardasian, an old man of weak health and uncertain sanity. His rule has been condemned by those who claim his Mortis Conclave advisers are ruling through him, much as Jonas' did so long ago. Pardasian and Larkham relatives alike are vying to replace the old king, but some say it is time for the two ruling families to cede power to a new family. Ferdinand Pardasian, younger brother of Markus, is the next in line to rule. He is also old, however, and has no interest in ruling, and neither brother have any known children. The future of the Pardasian dynasty hangs in the balance.

## Geography

### Settlements

* **Hunteron**– The site where the Deceiver Biamut, the Archfiend of the Third Scourge, was defeated at **3A25**. After the Scourge, it was occupied by the Adamantium until **3A49**.
* **Khecaster** – The capital city of Anderlay, located in the middle of the nation. It is also the location of the Grand Necropolis.
* **Perendale** – A city near the Blasted Hills, taken from the Maudesians in the Eighth Age.
* **Umberland** – A city on the Narrow Sea, giving it access to trade with the rest of the Freemarks and beyond. Over the last century, Umberland has taken advantage of this to expand into one of the largest cities in Morgaea. Umberland is also where the College of Arcanists routinely convene, and the seat of the Grand Arcanist.

### Regions

* The **Silent Steppes**
* The **Fields of Ghislaine** – on the border of Maudet

### Rivers

* **Umber** **River**
* **Mirantha River** – crosses most of the Freemarks, making them one of the most fertile regions of Morgaea. In the dark ages, it was known as Dnemoix, and was considered a sacred river by the people of the Anamene, who used its waters were for anointment.

### Other

* The **Adamant Highway** crosses Anderlay by starting from the Silent Steppes in the south, then crosses the Mirantha River until it reaches Umberland, then turns east to Maudet.

## Culture and society

Anderlay is renowned for its art. The whole country is filled with artistry, from the statues of heroes that litter the streets in even the meanest villages to the glittering golden College of Arcanists in Umberland.

Khecaster in particular engages in numerous cultural events, and contests throughout the year. In summer the nobility participate in the "Duchess' Games" at the Anathas estate, in which scholars from Umberland test their wit against the denizens of the Freemarks in debates of philosophy and rhetoric; usually over tea with the Duchess Ravia Anathas.

In Khecaster, during autumn, the residents hold ancestral pageants. Lanterns are lit on the streets to illuminate the statues of ancestors, families drape their statues in colorful cloth, and hire actors to stand by them at night to enact momentous events from their lives. The actors are paid in copper coins. The best pageantry takes place on the boulevard leading to the Castrum Draconis, in which statues of kings and queens are prominent. Pardasians and Larkhams compete to outdo one another in extravagant pageantry here. Rumor has it that the Mortis Conclave of the Grand Necropolis perform autumn rites at this time as well.

In winter, skating takes place on the Mirantha, fueled by roasted chestnuts and hot spiced tea. As winter was also historically the time of dragon hunting, due to the sluggishness of the dragons in the cold weather, hunt balls are still held in winter despite the scarcity of such dragon hunts in recent times. Some homes keep dragon's hearts or heads as gruesome centerpieces. The hunt balls have become more of a metaphor for the hunt itself, with couples dressing in armor and flowing red cloth as they dance together.

In spring, Anderlay holds Wintersend tournaments to great acclaim. There is less jousting in recent years, and more tests of arms in archery and sword fighting.

Beetles are considered prized in Anderlay, and many households keep them in small cages for good luck. They also use encrusted beetle wings for decorative purposes.

### Burial practices

Unlike most other Sibyllans, Anderans do not burn their dead, but instead carefully preserve the bodies and seal them in elaborate tombs. Some of the wealthiest Anderans start building their own tombs while still young, spending decades overseeing their construction. These become incredible palaces, with gardens, bathhouses, and ballrooms, kept only for the dead. These crypts are often decorated with their most prized possessions, and each crypt is as unique as the family buried there.

The mummified body of King Harren the Magnificent is kept in the Grand Necropolis, wearing a gold crown and sitting on a throne of gold and marble. Children of the royal family are often taken to meet him.

### Death and magic

Mages of Anderlay have more political power than mages in other countries under the aegis of the Maudesian Ministry, and wield nearly as much power within Anderlay as the magisters of the Adamantium.

Anderans have a unique relationship with magic and death. They believe that when a dead soul crosses the Dreaming, it displaces a spirit. In order to provide safe hosts for such spirits, they mummify their corpses and place them in elaborate crypts in the Grand Necropolis. This task is entrusted to a secretive order of mages known as Mortis Conclave, founded by a Adamantine mage named Vitus Fanabria, who first preached the idea. Its gray-robed members enjoy wealth, and political power, as they often serve as advisers to the Anderan nobility, including the kings.

Because they rarely leave Anderlay, much of the Mortis Conclave's practices are shrouded in mystery and fear, even to mages outside the nation's borders. They are rumored to be a death cult, and experiment with necromancy, but whatever the truth, they are arguably the most well-schooled mages outside of the Adamantium.

### Dragon-hunting

The Pardasian clan is renowned for its past dragon hunter heroes, each of whom led a crusade to hunt dragons to extinction; and nearly succeeded. While the dragons were a scourge for a very long time, the Anderans' hunt for their dragonbone, from which they made the famed ebony armor worn by their kings, and glory almost wiped them out in the Sixth Age. Dragons were thought extinct until their reappearance in the Ninth Age.