Gautlän

In the north between Azan and Oront, with its northern border in the coast of the widening sea and its southern border in the Oronti delta, is **Gäutlan**, a dwarven princedom. The dwarves were forced out of their ancestral lands in the north by the savage giberlings. Warlike and ferocious, the dwarves initially attempted to conquer the mountains that nowadays form the kingdom of Oront, but they were badly beaten by the local inhabitants. Then they continued moving West, where they encountered Azan. Of course, they immediately attacked Azan, but the old Azannean legions (before the disastrous second Azan-Drow war) defeated them again at the Battle of the Iron fields.

The dwarven tribe was left with nowhere to go, and started settling in the lands between the Azannean border and the mountains, shamefully having to resort to surface agriculture and with nowhere to plant their beloved wineshrooms. The Azzanean emperor Enanikos III, could have exterminated the dwarves, but chose not to. He recognized the great bravery of the dwarven warriors and the incredible skill of their goldsmiths, so he offered the dwarven prince to become his vassal, which the prince accepted, having no option left for his people. Thus the province of Gäutlan was created, with it's capital in the city of Stalistad, built upon the only mountain in the plain.

The dwarven soldiers started serving in the Azannean military and were instrumental to Azan establishing dominance over the lands that are now Oront. After the Azan-Drow wars devastated the empire, Gäutlan obtained it's independence, though in recent years it has fallen again under the influence of the Azure Throne of Azan, as the empire is recovering from the wars. The dwarven princes of Gäutland swear fealty to the Azanneese Emperor and pay yearly tribute. While not officially part of the Azannean military anymore, contingents of dwarven mercenaries are fairly common.

## History

The Gäutlan region has long been home to a substantial dwarven population, and some believe it is the original dwarven homeland. However, during the early days of the Azan Empire and onwards, the dwarves became more and more focused on mining, relying on humans to supply many goods from the surface. As the Azan Empire grew, the dwarves frequently migrated to areas with great mineral wealth in newly incorporated regions.

Most of the dwarven kingdoms maintain close relations with the Azan Empire. The leaders of the wealthiest were given the title of “Princedom” and their leaders were technically equals to the offspring of the Emperor himself. But not all the dwarven kingdoms were friendly with the Azanese. Some settled in Scimitaria, accepting rulership by the hated fey in return for massive profits. Others, like those that settled in the Baalps, maintained a prickly independence from all sides, and only grudgingly paid lip service to the Azanese or the fey when forced to.

In the last centuries of the Azanese Eighth Dynasty, the three dwarven Baalps kingdoms (also known as the Staligurd kingdoms) gained a particularly wild reputation, as they had come to believe that aggression was the key to greatness. After several minor border wars with both the fey and the Azanese, they allied with the Azanese in order to sell weapons and mercenary services to Azanese legions fighting against the Witch-Elves.

Perhaps sensing weakness with their foes distracted by the Witch-Elves, an unknown group of individuals, likely powerful Faerie Lords, cast a dangerous ritual that spawned seemingly endless swarms of gibberlings. Both the dwarves and the Azanese were forced to withdraw from the Baalps region after massive losses.

Feeling betrayed by the Azanneese, and also unwilling to accept vassal status, the Staligurd set their sights on conquering the Oront province of Azan, a mountainous region where several large, but partially abandoned dwarven holds had already existed for millennia. In order to invade, they also had to conquer the Gäutlan region, which by this point was an underwhelming collection of minor impoverished dwarven kingdoms ruled by corrupt and hidebound merchant clans.

Although the Staligurd were easily able to conquer Gäutlan, they were driven out of both Oront Province and later the Maasbeke Province, despite the many wars the Azanese were fighting at the time. But the Azanese Emperor recognized the need to recruit allies for his other wars, and ultimately let the Staligurd dwarves keep the Gäutlan province.

Since then, Gäutlan has maintained strong ties to the Azan Empire, but exercising greater autonomy than most other provinces, and sometimes outright claiming independence, but still reliable whenever Azan needs the assistance of its fearsome fighting force.

## Government

The King of Gäutlan holds the title of “Prince of the Realm”, a title once given to several of the wealthiest and most powerful dwarven vassal kings, but now only officially awarded to the King of Gäutlan, though a few minor dwarven kings elsewhere still unofficially use it for old times sake.

Several of the leaders of major dwarven clans in Gäutlan are considered kings in their own right, while other clan leaders use a range of titles.

The clans form the backbone of dwarven social structure. Most dwarves belong to two or more clans; their family clan (typically made up of several hundred related individuals), their overclan (in this case Gäutlan), and sometimes one or more oath clans (local king, mercenary group, merchant group, etc.). The system is essentially feudal, though clan leaders are often more accountable to their members than feudal lords are to their peasants.

## Economy

Gäutlan’s most profitable mineral deposits were depleted ages ago, but there are still vast quantities of less profitable resources that can be dug out of the ground like iron, copper, or coal.

The land is hilly, but not completely infertile, so both humans and dwarves can be found herding sheep, ponies, and growing grains, potatoes, apples, grapes, and various hardy vegetables. Some dwarves also practice traditional underground agriculture like mushroom farms. There is also some fishing along the coast.

Some traditional Staligurd crafted goods are highly profitable, like gold torcs and shroomwine, even if the raw materials are sometimes provided from elsewhere.

Mercenary work and military service also remain major sources of income for many dwarves.

## Foreign Relations

### Azan Empire

Gäutlan is Azan’s vassal, though only loosely so, and the proud dwarves are sometimes known to declare independence during diplomatic disputes, though old oaths and current trade ties lure them back in sooner or later.

### The Baalps

Some of the Staligurd dwarves still talk of reclaiming their ancestral homelands in the Baalps, but despite the fact that gibberlings are now rarely seen on the surface, it is likely large numbers still live in the old dwarven mines, as every reclamation expedition launched by the dwarves as been driven out or disappeared.

### Jibaro Wetlands

The dwarves rarely enter the wetlands, but occasionally the most skilled or reckless of the dwarven mercenaries and adventurers will enter in order to try and slay a siren and steal its gold.

### Stymphalian Swamps

The dwarves don’t have much reason to enter this region either.

### Daligrad

Relations between Daligrad and Gäutlan are generally pretty good due to Daligrad’s relatively Staligurd large dwarven population, trade ties, and Daligrad’s usage of dwarven mercenaries.

### Furlaniya

Furlaniya is a major employer of dwarven mercenaries and many entire clans have relocated here, to the point that all dwarves in Furlaniya are locally known as Gäutlaners regardless of their heritage.

### Dominion of the Bog-Witch

Dwarves from Gäutlan often fight Mutaa’s raiders on behalf of Daligrad. Even ignoring this, relations are extremely poor as dwarves in general dislike fey, many Staligurd dwarves believe the Bog-Witch is at least partially responsible for the gibberlings in the Baalps, and Mutaa’s agents frequently stir up trouble in Gäutlan when they can.

## Geography

Gäutlan is mostly covered in hilly grassland, though the eastern border is mountainous and many small mountains and plateaus are found elsewhere as well. Small forests can be found throughout the region, but are most common in the west.

## Demographics

### Dwarves

Dwarves form a slight majority in the region, and are unofficially split between the Gäutlaner Dwarves and the Staligurd Dwarves. The Gäutlaner dwarves have lived in the Gäutlan region for ages, and are in some ways the most traditional of the dwarven cultures, but in other ways have become perhaps the most human-like due to their focus on mercantilism and their poor wealth distribution. The Staligurd dwarves have a wide range of traditions they brought with them when they were forced out of the Baalps, but are mostly famous for the (often accurate) stereotype of them being aggressive drunken louts.

### Humans

Some humans have lived in the region since the beginning, and others migrated to the area over the millennia as the Gäutlaner dwarves gradually moved to more profitable regions. Culturally they have a lot in common with both the North Coast Azanese and the Oronti, but have picked up some dwarven cultural traits as well.

## Religion

The dwarves have their own pantheon of ancestral gods which is poorly understood by outsiders. It consists of a creator god, gods filling several other typical niches like war, nature, wealth, etc., plus deified ancestral hero-kings who are credited for leading many of the earliest dwarven migrations now lost in myth. Among the Gäutlaner dwarves and certain other dwarven cultures, aspects of the Azanese Faith have crept into their traditions, including some dragon iconography and good versus evil morality. In general the dwarven and Azanese priesthoods get along due to both placing a strong emphasis on law and order, though the dwarves feel the Azanese Faith sometimes goes off the rails like during the 4th and 6th dynasties and in Suiverland.

The humans in the region are mostly followers of the New Azan Faith, though there are a few pockets of the Triple God Faith along the coast.

Small numbers of both humans and dwarves secretly worship Gogotha and/or the Bog-Witch, and Althazzar has a few followers here as well.

## Military

Dwarves in general are renowned for being stubborn and tough fighters, though some dwarves in Gäutlan are particularly famous for their aggression.

The dwarves of Gäutlan (like most dwarves) usually fight as heavy infantry, though they sometimes use large boars and other hardy creatures as mounts. Pikes, axes, hammers, and short swords are the preferred melee weapons, while crossbows and firearms are used for ranged combat.

Offensive magic is rarely used, though the dwarves are adept at defensive magic and healing.

The Legions of Gäutlan are separate from the Azanese Legion system, but share many similarities and mesh well together. Many dwarven mercenary groups of varying size also operate out of Gäutlan.

Humans aren’t seen as tough enough to fight “dwarven style” but human communities have their own militias, and many humans go on to be mercenaries, Azanese Legionaries, or freelance adventurers.