Elf Kingdom of Kunid

>    *"Perhaps its was their alien features, or maybe it was their horrid history. But regardless, as I strolled through the downtrodden streets of Windrip, I could not help but to feel sorrow for what my kind did to this poor people; generations disconnected from their violent and destructive Wizard King past. I see a kingdom that was once proud and ancient in name torn from the foundation and reduced to a motely collection of culture and long-remembered dreams now lost to time. No matter how many intellectuals and half-race refugees arrive in this hinterland to thrive, Visimar and Paragonism responds by sending knights to ravage the villages; and the elves simply live on, oblivious that their race is on the brink of extinction."*
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> - *A Thought on the Taboo*, a printed report by Riekman Uldolf (Midheim Printmongers, 1039).
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**The Elf Kingdoms of Kunid** is a territory covering the entirety of the Talberg Forest as well as the grasslands to the west up to the Sting River and the Gulf of Njord. Once powerful in nature, the elf kingdoms are now home to a mixture of half-elves and humans among the last few elven people known to be alive in Clamund. Kunid is widely known to be the last territory in Clamund that is ruled by Elven rulers; with the rest of the remaining elven population retaining high social status over lesser enserfed half-elves and humans who mainly fill the lower class role within the kingdoms.

Being a loosely controlled territory with little to no presence of a militia except for in the cities and forts, Kunid is often targeted in bandit attacks and criminal activity across the territories, most notably in the Talberg Forest where many outlaws prey on towns such as Snakes' Canyon. The difficulty of travel and the fact that no control over the roads is maintained by any sort of army, trading is near impossible outside of the ports of Windrip; which is the kingdom's only active trading city to the outside world.

Kunid is widely regarded as a safe haven for the more intelligent minded people of Clamund after the religious strife of Paragonism and its growing influence over the human kingdoms of Clamund. Many magic-users; as they are shunned in most kingdoms, also come to Kunid to study at the Wizard's College; one of the last non-secretive Wizard College's known to exist in Clamund. Kunid regularly hires out professors and spellswords studying at the college as mercenaries and officers in times of war, making use of battlefield magic seldom seen in Clamund after 500. The college is also known for its breakthroughs in science after discovering medicinal breakthroughs and even recreational drugs. These are the very reasons why the college cannot exist outside of Kunid, and a regular tribute to the Kingdom of Ardis proves this fact very well with the threat of expulsion if they don't give a portion of student's tuition.

Kunid is ruled tightly by three miniscule kingdoms ruled by three dynasty's of elven descent. The Kingdom of Ardis holds the port city of Windrip and the Wizard College of Kunid. The Kingdom of Erren holds the important town of Crossroads as well as most of the fiefdoms in the Talberg Forest. And finally the Kingdom of Endove, controls most fiefdoms north of the Wizard's College including the town of Zeffari, one of the largest settlements of humans and half-elves in Kunid. Each dynasty controls roughly a third of the territory of Kunid with the Kingdom of Endove being the smallest and poorest of the three. The Triple Council dominates all decisions between the kingdoms and often leads to infighting and bloodshed among the non-elven population. After active raiding from the south and east, The Elf Kingdoms are destitute and in debt and without an army.

## History

### Early History

The Elf Kingdoms were an extensive force before the arrival of the Visimarians. Under the savage rule of the Wizard Kings, elven families thrived with privileges and fiefdoms under oath and promise to serve in the Wizard King's Army. This made elves an important source of loyal soldiers during these times as humans and dwarves were less inclined to fight which often led to slave and serf rebellions for independence. The Ardis and Erren dynasty were established before 0 as their lineage stretches back before recorded history; with its time being left behind by the Wizard Kings who enacted it. Those Elves who were fortunate enough to be powerful enough to become a wizard king were killed off during the colonization of the Iron Gullet. Despite that fact, there are many beliefs that secret family trees could be uncovered and traced to living people throughout history, explaining magic users and some rare occurrences of wizard king uprisings.

After the fall of the last wizard kings, the elven dynasties took the seat of power from the dead wizard kings and became somewhat independent. Those who were close to the establishment of human kingdoms such as the Jarldom of Vestar and the Hersirdoms of Endove were often destroyed before they could be properly established. Those who did survive were often in the Central Realm, where the Kingdom of Lambert and Kunid now sit.

Around 500 is when the establishment of the Elf Kingdoms of Kunid was made shortly after Endove exterminated and occupied the halfling controlled settlements along the Lambertian border in a swift invasion with a paid mercenary force supplied from Lambert. Those who survived the exterminations were put back into society with the growing population of destitute humans who run to the Elf Kingdoms of Kunid to escape justice or political or religious persecution.

Initially, those who arrived across the borders to settle in Kunid were met with elven militias and death squads, they were eventually allowed in as it became clear that the remaining elven population in Clamund would not be able to run the Elf Kingdoms alone. All of the three kingdoms of Kunid allowed the immigration of non-elven people so long as they agreed to indentured enserfment in order to fill the lower class population of Kunid, freeing the remaining elven population to adopt noble titles and positions.

Greenskin raiding parties coming from the west were a common sight in the Kingdom of Ardis as the migrations from 600 to 700 saw many of the raiders settle along the coast which increased the amount of terror along the Njord coastline for a time.

### Early Middle Age 800-1000

With increase religious fanaticism reaching across Clamund, more and more non-elven people move into Kunid despite the role they must take. Those who avoided the role of the serf quickly adopted banditry as a sharp increase of bandit activity quickly overwhelmed the professional elven squads which led to them being retracted from patrolling.

Stormwater is a neutral town which sits in the borderlands between the Earldom of Flynn, the Jarldom of Vestar and Kunid. in 844, it experienced an undead phenomenon which prompted the King Tiarsus Ardis to send a military contingent of his private army under the identity of a mercenary company to disrupt the Wizard's College's involvement in the event as well as to capture the secrets of the King Ayaami Kra'ma to make him and his dynasty magically superior and powerful. The current whereabouts to the stone slab which instructs the process of becoming a wizard king is unknown, but Tiarsus' involvement in the matter resulted in the death of his pure-blood elven force, reducing the Kingdom's professional army to a handful of half-elf retainers and a poorly equipped levy.

Despite most other kingdoms using metal equipment and weapons, the Elf Kingdoms have to rely on foreign made productions as well as purchased ingots from abroad as the knowledge of metallurgy is lost among most elven communities aside from the occasional hired human specialist. This lack of metallurgy means that most elven armies are going to be widely equipped with locally made wooden equipment. This wooden equipment varies in quality and reliability, but its little to compare against iron or steel. Weapons that are made locally or purchased in trade are reserved for trained soldiers and elven-retainers.

## Government

The Elf Kingdoms of Kunid is ruled by the last remaining Elven dynasties in Clamund. The kingdoms formed a confederation in 500 and relied on their own authority to govern their own realms, only uniting in case of foreign threats or wars. The three kingdoms often come together to form the Triple Council to defer new edicts and to establish laws as they come to issue. Lower lords including regional vassals and mayors often form councils out of the people affected by the issue at hand and beyond that, each lord is largely independent; allowed to raise their own forces and build their own projects. Most lords and mayors are half-elves and very rarely does a human gain the title of mayor. Local laws are usually enforced by an elven representative who is usually a minor relative within the Kingdom's dynasty. These representatives are usually given a lavish houses for their given attention to the fief and the size and taste of the house depended entirely on the wealth of the fief. Representatives act as royal judges for local disputes and are usually the decision maker in matters of execution or imprisonment.

### Regional Politics

Outside of Kunid, very little respect is given to their courts ever since the dispossession of the wizard kings. Elves are usually seen as a threat to most courts and seeing how they still retain territory in Clamund baffles them. The Holy Empire of Visimar and the Free States in the Central Region often send Paragon fanatics to raid and pillage the border settlements of Kunid which leads to rampant banditry across the Kingdom of Endove and the Talberg Forest. Organized military raids are usually commissioned by the Emperor for local lords to gather their knights to ravage Kunnish Villagers which often goes unopposed due to the strength of these parties.

There are a couple kingdoms in Clamund that don't oppose the Elf Kingdoms for their existence as they find themselves in a predicament themselves. The Dwarf Kingdoms of Nord hold a military and trade alliance with the Elf Kingdoms as the combined strength of both kingdoms deters any foreign kingdoms from invading each other. The Kingdom of Lambert also holds an elven duchy within its territory which has a considerable half-elf and dwarven population inhabiting the lands which are administered by an Elven king and court. This reason alone is why the Kingdom of Lambert holds a trade alliance with Kunid.

## People and Economy

Elven culture revolves around a tight set of morals which dictates their every decision in life. Since most pureblood elves possess the ability of immortality due to their fading wizard king genetics, many elves opt for a shut-away life with little interaction with the people they rule over. Many courts that are spread across the three ruling dynasties are filled with the last remaining elves in Clamund with very few having the desire to leave their rich lifestyle to pursue other interests. Very rarely a marriage is formed between the dynasties when the dynasties produce children but when it happens, alliances are formed between the two dynasties which is often the prerequisite for dynastic border struggles.

Half-elves are the children of a well established caste of freeborn elves that intermingle with the local population of criminals and runaways that settled in Kunid. Half Elves do not possess the condition or immortality but inherit slight features of the extremities pureblood elves are born with. Very often this is still a base for religious persecution which leads to almost every half-elf in Clamund seeking refuge in Kunid for the sake of their livelihood. Very often these half-elves are employed by the elven dynasties as middle-classmen, usually filling the roles of mayors, clerks, retainers and officers; although most of the population cannot attain such titles so there remains a large portion of the serf population belonging to the half-elves.

Humans are widely known to fill the lower class role within Kunid. Very often humans are employed as serfs on fiefs in exchange for a roof over their head and a steady supply of food during times of peace, which is all many of the refugees who settle in Kunid could ask for. Sometimes elves enslave unsuspecting humans to be employed within their courts as mamluks or court servants to serve menial tasks within court. Mamluks are often employed as royal bodyguards and after years of training as a slave, they are freed to either leave the court or serve as a royal bodyguard to the three Elven dynasties. Mamluk is the highest title a human could attain in Kunid and is highly respected by the noble elves of each dynasty and those who live long enough to retire find themselves owning a small fief or farm as a reward for their service. Those who do not get the chance to be enslaved by the royal courts of the elves often find themselves working their lord's fields till their death, seeing little of the outside world aside from the chance they get in the Elf Kingdom's levy.

Despite popular belief, the Elf Kingdoms do in fact have the last remaining halfling communities left in Clamund. Since their extermination in 500 by the Kingdom of Andove, those who survived were accepted back into society and found themselves well established in the northern communities of the Kingdom of Endove. Halflings often find themselves at work as bakers, brewers and cooks as halfling delicacies are renowned across Clamund, especially Halfling desserts. As of 1300, there remains around 200 halflings in Kunid.

Due to the uncontrolled nature of Kunid's roads, very little trade can be done unlike the Kingdom of Lambert or the Free States to the south. Since many bandits use the Elf Kingdoms as staging grounds for raids into adjacent borders, it is often reported that caravans using the ill-kept roads in Kunid often fall into ambushes and tolls set up by the dozens of bandit gangs in the region. Windrip does not experience this issue due to their trade ports but despite that fact, pirates and viking raiders often stalk the waters of the Gulf of Njord as well as having to sail near the Barristan Islands; a hotbed of Clamund's criminal activity.

## Military

The Elf Kingdoms of Kunid has a proud history of elven warriors who had the skill to best any knight or lord in combat. There are many instances in history where an Elven Dynasty employed a company of elven soldiers to interfere with foreign affairs, however, this history is far behind them now as currently, the destitute nature of the elven kingdoms means that when the elven armies are mustered for war, a majority of the fighters will bring with them wooden spears and armour.

Elven levies are largely filled by human and half-elf serfs. If they are lucky, serfs are given a piece of armour; but for the most part, they march into battle with wooden clubs and spears with shields. Archers of the levy are usually grouped into a massed formation for fire effectiveness. They are usually armed with pristine wooden bows but the wooden ammo dulls their effectiveness.

Elves that opt to fight are usually grouped with a unit or landholders. Landholders are a select group of the Kunid levy who are able to afford equipment to make them stand out from the human and half-elf levy. Half-Elf landowners make up the majority of the landholder formations and come to battle with metal weapons and full suits of wooden armour. Elven purebloods who choose to fight in battle usually come to battle in elaborate metal armour along with a family heirloom weapon or simply a brutally effective weapon such as a halberd or war axe. The armour is made to allow the elf to use a bow comfortably too since archery is a core feature of elven combat. Most if not all elves in a landholder formation would bring with them a bow carried in a leather case along with metal arrows which they use to skirmish with or to fire before making contact. Landholders in melee usually bring with them a sword and shield but it entirely depended on the wealth and status of the fighter, so very often weapons of less quality or effectiveness are often employed like maces, axes, spears and even halberds.