Gawedi

The **Gawedi** are an Alenic people native to the flatlands of the Alenic Frontier but also live in the Dragonhills of the Dragon Coast. They are the most prominent of the Alenic cultures with the Gawedi Kingdom, then the Kingdom of Gawed, under their rule. Unlike most others in Western Cannor, they have little to no elven influence as they are a gruff and insular people.

## History

Originally residing in the Greatwoods, the Gawedi along with many other Alenic tribes fled south and west during the Dragonwake. The Gawedi, during their flight, took over the plains of the Alenic Frontier from the Wexonards in 470, pushing them south. They went on to conquer the city of Vertesk from the Damerian Republic and formed the Gawedi Kingdom in 471. Having control of the plains and good farmland led to the rise in prominence of the Gawedi compared to other Alenics such as the Moormen and Old Alenics.

Many Gawedi went even further south and west along the Dragon Coast and invaded Lencenor fighting against Lencori warlords. The Lencori living along the Bloodwine river unified into the Lorentish Kingdom in 523 under Lorenan the Great in response to Gawedi raids and defeated them at the Battle of Rosefield in 525, then united all the Lencori under the High Kingdom of Lencenor before defeating them again at the Battle of Red Reach in 529. These defeats pushed the Gawedi out of Lencenor and stopped their influence for a time. Later, when they found an opportunity, the Gawedi Kingdom pushed back into the region. After more wars came and went, the Gawedi Kingdom created a vassal, Eaglecrest, to hold the region for them. Eaglecrest at its height stretched to the western Lencenor coast before that coast was conquered in the Era of Black Ice by what became the Kingdom of Reveria.

During the War of the Sorcerer-King, Black Castanor invaded the Gawedi Kingdom at the behest of the Verteskers, wanting to be liberated. Many Gawedi fled the invasion of Black Castanor by escaping westward to the moors, those who didn’t flee to the moors became subjects of Black Castanor in the Vertesk Dominion. Those that did flee didn’t give up, however. The Gawedi Resistance mounted a resistance effort based out of Westmoors to remove Castanorian influence from the Alenic Frontier. After the war ended, the group, led by the ancient House of Gawe, established the Kingdom of Gawed.

The White Pestilence following the war was not as devastating in the north as other places of Cannor, however some of the southern Gawedi cities were affected such as Alenath. Elves were more resistant to the plague, drawing ire from the residents. This culminated in the Pogrom of Alenath wherein the city’s prosperous elf district was burned down. A few decades later there was the Gawedi War of Succession where a Lorentish backed half-elf, Ricard I of Vanbury, was made ruler of Gawed after the death of the last Gawe king. In response, the Greatwood Uprising deposed that ruler and installed his rival Humbert I Baldfather, a pure-blooded human. These events, especially the Greatwood Uprising, gave the Gawedi people as a whole a stereotype of being anti-elf.

## Physical Appearance

The Gawedi mostly have fair skin, with dark hair and eye colors. Men’s hair is usually simple and short, women’s long though also simple. They are usually shorter in stature, though broad and sturdy.

## Society

The Gawedi are predominantly pure humans as they never mixed with the elves after the War of the Sorcerer-King unlike those to the south in Lencenor and Anbennar. They are proud of their heritage as they stood their ground and maintained independence over the centuries.