Glavewood Kingdom

The Glavewood Kingdom is a nation on the western side of the continent of Pherosum.

## Glavewood Kingdom

### Primary Races

Elves

North of the Brokenback Swamps and lying to the east of the Long River is the Glave Wood Forest. The vast majority of which is claimed by the elves and other forest creatures as the Glavewood Kingdom. The elves of the western half of Pherosum originate from the Glave Woods as do a number of other forest dwelling creatures (such as pixies, centaurs, brownies, fairies, etc.). Most of the creatures of the forest follow the wisdom and benevolence of the long lived elves and allow them to rule the realm (if they even comprehend the concept or ruling.)

The elves themselves are a proud race who once ruled the entirety of the Kingdom of Emeron (which at the time consisted of Emeron, the Glave Woods, the Dwarven Mountains and the Halfling Shires.)

## History

In 0 MR When Emeron the Conqueror came and destroyed or absorbed the human tribes the elves agreed to meet him at the bargaining table. It was agreed that the elves would swear fealty to Emeron so long as the humans did not enter the forest without invitation and that the elves would always hold dominion over the forest. It was agreed and King Osanisarn became the first Duke of the Duchy of Glavewoods.

### Rise of Ubulos

After the death of the Emeron Royal Family in 317 MR, a grand tournament was held to avoid a civil war in 325 to choose the next king. Osanisarn’s son Ubulosolathan (called Ubulos by the other races) won and became king. As king he began to enact his belief that, as a race that lived for centuries and had a connection with the earth that none could match, that they were the best equipped to rule and that crimes committed against elves should be punished more harshly. Ubulos considered it a simple matter of mathematics. The murder of an elf robbed the victim of centuries while the murder of nearly any other race robbed them of a handful of decades at most.  Unsurprisingly the people did not agree and after 265 years of peaceful and prosperous rule (but a slowly increasing double standard that favored elves), the people rose up against King Ubulos specifically and all elves in general.

### Human Rebellion

King Ubulos and the entire royal family was slaughtered in the opening moments of the human rebellion and the other races rapidly turned upon any elf, noble or commoner, and slaughtered them. The elves were rapidly pushed back into the Glave Woods, where the magic of the forest protected them from human incursions. The Duke of the Glavewoods, Labegdesh, was killed in the fighting as he and his family was in the capital at the time. There were no surviving heirs to the throne of the Glave Woods. With no direct leaders and the humans continuing to attempt to invade the forest the elves lashed out. The conservative Baroness Elisalidn claimed command of the forest, becoming queen, and enacted vengeance, arranging the assassination of King Wibil I, the rebel leader who claimed the crown of Emeron after the rightful elven King Ubulos was killed. His son Wibil II personally led attacks into the forest until he too was struck down by the elves.

Wibil II’s son Uvrug attempted to lure the elven leaders to “peace talks” in the town of Treebend, however Elisalidn was confident that the humans would not suddenly desire peace and concluded that it was a trap to kill the current elven leadership. She agreed to the peace talks, but arranged to have the human leaders killed. Dozens of nobles and their entire retinues, including King Uvrug himself, were killed in the Battle of Treebend.

The new king was the human child Wibil III, but the veteran warrior Duke Isgim of Yodsik was the regent. He swore vengeance for the human defeat at Treebend and vowed to burn the entire forest to the ground to find and slaughter every last elf he could find. His massed an enormous army at the southern border of the Glave Wood, set to eradicate the elves and all other races of the forest.

Queen Elisalidn turned to Livrinth, her cousin and one of the most powerful wizards of the day, and sought his power to stop the humans. Drawing upon all of his magical power he performed a spell so powerful (and so dreaded) that he destroyed the entire duchy of Yodsik, killing all life in the lands at the time, combatant and non-combatant alike. Livrinth’s spell required the ultimate sacrifice and he died performing the ritual, happy to do so to save his people and the forest from eradication. What was once the proud Duchy of Yodsik became the Brokenback Swamps. The ritual, horrible though it was, effectively stopped any concerted attacks into the forest for years. However the enormity of the destruction shocked the elves and they begged Queen Elisalidn to pursue peace with the humans. She refused, however, vowing to bring the humans under her thumb or wipe them out. She put out the call to all elven mages to study Livrinth’s spell and find a way to replicate at as often as necessary to destroy the humans.

The elven nobles rebelled at this point. There had been whispers that the Queen’s sanity had suffered since her husband and children were killed by human rebels, but this new proclamation was too much. If they wiped out the humans they were no better than them. Baron Socenneur rose up with a huge following and deposed Queen Elisalidn and holding her for war crimes. Socenneur was crowned as the new King of the Glavewoods.

### Peace

When Wibil III came of age in 618 he pursued peace talks and King Socenneur cautiously reciprocated. A peace agreement was hammered out and at last the humans and the elves were at peace. In spite of the peace however, the distrust between elves and humans was still intense. The kingdom of Emeron fell apart soon afterwards and while conservative elements of the forest urged the King to take advantage and attack, Socenneur was determined to give his people peace and refused. No embassies were established with any of the new Principalities that emerged from the shattered kingdom and the elves largely stayed in their forests and shunned the world outside of the Glave Woods.

It was not until 1056 when Socennur’s daughter Queen Parthalanis was convinced by the pixie sorcerer Dandy Lion, one of the Heroes of Unity, to act on events occurring outside of the forest. The elven armies took part in the Battle of Unity, gaining the appreciation of the new king of a united Emeron, Joslin Woodbridge.

King Joslin united Emeron into one nation again, and though the elves were not invited to return to a united Emeron Kingdom, Joslin took pains throughout his reign to try to improve relations with the elves of the Glavewood Kingdom. The success was limited but some minor trade agreements were reached. An elven embassy was established in Emeron in 1140 and for a time it was Dandy Lion herself who served as Ambassador to the Kingdom of Emeron. Unfortunately the long memories and hard feelings among both humans and elves cannot be erased by some trade agreements and there is still a strong distrust (and outright hatred for some) among the two races.

## Domains

The exact political boundaries within the Glavewood Kingdom are unknown outside of the forest, as the information is purposely not released outside of the forest and envoys are not allowed into most parts of the forest.

Those from the Glave Woods however know that while the forest does not have hard internal borders it is generally considered to have five basic regions. The names are rough translations from Elven.

### Yana Indo (The Heart)

The Heart is the very center of the forest. It is well defended by both the creatures of the forest as well as the magic of the forest itself. There is a Baron of The Heart who is responsible for maintaining and protecting the region, however there are few homes built into The Heart as this is the most pristine and unspoiled portions of the forest.

### Sindikemi (The Riverland)

This generally makes up the western portion of the forest, that which borders the Long River. A small port town makes up the “capital” and seat of The Riverland and that is where the Baron traditionally holds his seat.

### Laiwaanta (literally The Ill-face but commonly called The Marsh-face)

Once called Hyarmenyaanta (Southface) it was renamed after the destruction of the human duchy of Yodsik. There was a traditional seat on the southern border of the forest but it was abandoned after the monster tribes started moving into the Brokenback Swamps and now serves as a defensive staging point to patrol the border. Now the area is heavily patrolled against those monsters and the potential raids from them. The Order of the Fadalithis has a small keep in the southeastern portion of the border with the swamps.

### Roomenanta (East Face)

This area faces the duchy of Imyan and is patrolled against treachery from the Humans. A baronial seat exists near the edge of the forest.

### Formenanta (North Face)

The ancient seat of the King of the Glavewood Kingdom is in this region. Far from the border for protection but near enough for travel, this is where the traditional rulers of the Kingdom hold their seats. Though all elven towns integrate with nature rather than conquer it the way the Humans and Dwarves do, the Capital is the most spectacular example of this. All Barons of the regions have a home of some sort in the Capital for they are often at court. There is a baron of North Face who manages the lands, as the King or Queen is expected to focus on the nation and forest as a whole. Traditionally, however, the baron works well and has a good relationship with the Monarch.