Dukedom of Caden

- Anonymous

## Founding

The Dukedom of Caden was founded around 5E 128 by the locally famous Eduard Sewick. The Duchy was declared when the Count of Brand, Eduard Sewick, subjugated the counts of Newan, Rolor, Theirin, and Manewall to his control, expanding rapidly in Kingsland and solidifying the title of Caden, named after the dead Cadyn Sewick(5E 79 - 5E 121). Caden's initial formation was not taken well in the national theater, but with no former dukedom in the area, and nobody feeling the need to contest it, Caden formed without conflict.

## History

### Early History

Caden as a nation was a state under House Dayton's rule, and eventually House Dragomyr's. They willing bent the knee to both so long as they kept their lands, but House Dayton forced the dukedom to grant Manewall it's independence, the count a distant relative. This furthered the bitter attitude towards House Dayton, and started one between the County of Manewall and the Duchy, which would persist to this day.

### Recent History

Under the rulership of Bogdan Sewick(8E 288 - 8E 318), the County of Manewall was temporarily reclaimed, though largely razed and devastated in the war. It was eventually returned to it's independence by Duchess Catina Sewick (8E 328), stating that though the county belonged in Caden, it belonged in Caden peacefully.

### Rumors of Undead Cultists

In 8E 334, there were spreading rumors of cultists in the forests of Rolor that worshipped the undead as a heightened state of humanity, spreading paranoia throughout the county. It's said that the rumors started when a local girl was kidnapped and dragged into the forest, before being placed on a ritual slab and surrounded by hooded figures, yet managing to escape. Gabryel Sewick contested these rumors as mere nonsense, and there was no kidnapped girl to attest to this story. While the matter died down, to this day it's a topic of discussion among the smallfolk in Rolor.

## Military

The Duchy of Caden's military has grown in both number and strength exponentially in the past three years, due to Duchess Catina Sewick's reworking of the military structure and equipment, aswell as Brand's siege plan. Though formerly the Duchy of Caden could only marshal about 20,000 averagely armed men, the creation of the Knight's of Catina and the bump in recruitment has increased Caden's overall potential to 30,000 raisable soldiers. Statistics can be found below.

```
​Caden Military Roster(approx.)

Light Infantry - 2,000
Archer Infantry- 2,000
Heavy Infantry - 8,500
Heavy Cavalry - 12,500
Knight Cavalry - 5,000

```

### Specialization

Caden is known for it's heavily armored Knights and Man-at-Arms infantry, typically being deployed as shock troops in key battles or defensive sieges. Caden's defensive tradition has led to it's military engineer's being hired as both consultants and architects for foreign cities, fortresses, and castles. Caden mercenaries are often hired to defend a key position or a settlement while the liege's army is away.

## Traditions

### Marriage

Caden marriage is fairly similar to the rest of Andoras, with a few key differences. Unlike most of Andoras, females can inherit titles on the same grounds as males, and new dynasties can form around females, not only males. Likewise, matrilineal marriages were expected of female rulers to keep the lands and titles within the Dynasty.

### Patriotism

Caden is not known for it's patriotism, and though the national colors are blue, the most common color for both soldiers, knights, nobles, and commonfolk is black or brown. The national color is typically only represented on banners carried by bannermen, but most bannermen of Caden carry the Crest of Caden instead. Soldiers uniforms do not show the national color, making it somewhat difficult to identify them without a banner.

### Atmosphere

Despite Caden's fair-colored crest, the land was mostly dark with pine forests and a couple mountains. Towns and cities in Caden are quieter than expected, as guards are trained to stamp out troublemaking harshly. Brand is a perfect example of this; though the city is one of the safest in Andoras and it's prosperity is impressive, the atmosphere is forboding and intimidating.

The Knights of Catina and Hollow Guard showed no skin, acting as faceless watchers, enforcing searches and keeping the peace. The Guards were encouraged to talk as little as possible, and especially not with the commonfolk. This gave the smallfolk a tendency to fear breaking laws or disturbing the peace, more vulnerable to intimidation as they were, but it was considered normal to most foreign nobility. The city of Brand was filled with smiths and forges, industrial smoke and the sound of hammers smacking steel were commonplace outside of the Hollow District.

### Terrain and Climate

As earlier stated, Caden mostly consisted of pine forests and two mountains, one of them seating the capitol. The northernmost regions of Caden could see snow in the winter, and the mountains would chill to the bone in this time. The south-eastern region of Theirin was significantly more comfortable, a large grassland spread out between the forests, sitting on the edge of their borders.

Rolor to the east was almost covered in woods, leaving little room for it's prime settlement and city, Rolor. This region was the source of most of Caden's furs and hides, exporting into Brand, Newan, and Theirin yearly. The County of Newan was more typical, the land being flatter and more fertile, and as a result was the home of most of Caden's farms.

The county of Brand is the coldest and roughest county in Caden, possessing both of the Duchy's mountains aswell as it's capitol city. Brand is known for it's heavy focus on industry and trade.