Granheim

**Granheim** was a kingdom on Emowhen during it's early history (Emowhen Era to The Age of Julius), whose history and existence was not well known to the world at large.

## History

### Geography and Background

Granheim existed on the northwest peninsula of Emohwen; surrounded by dense forests to its south and titanic mountain ranges to its east. It was likely established as an outpost in the northern taiga. The kingdom grew to encompass most of the northern taiga, with scattered settlements throughout. The icy wildlands at the northern edge of Hedeby outlined its historic southern borders.

During its short, and often disputed history, it sat relatively undisturbed by other Emowhen countries, until the Age of Julius.

### The First Queen

In the Age of Julius, Granheim had grown to a small duchy north of Hedeby, oft avoided due to their meddling with occult and antediluvian forces. In Year X of the Age of Julius, Lady Ragna Cocco of Altsheim departed for Granheim to find a throne, but also power, for herself. At Granheim Castle, she discovered the Granheim Entity, which granted her the power to raise an army. She declared herself Queen Ragna, and threatened all Emowhen nations to stay out of the north.

Ragna communed with the Granheim Entity, discovering occult secrets and forbidden forces. She used these newfound powers to give herself eyes and ears across the territory. She was in constant and instantaneous contact with her generals across Granheim, thanks to the powers of the Entity. Her trade off was that she was bound to the Throne and strung towards the Entity itself. Her Generals unlocked lesser powers of the Entity, unlocking variant forms of undeath and eternal life.Ragna herself was pacted to the Entity, serving as its hand as it taught her to create new forms of life- the Tirm. They served as her footsoldiers and personal servants.

Granheim castle had become a place where emissaries of the outer planes avoided. Not by choice, but by simple yet powerful means of warding and abjuration.

### The Great Expansion

After Ragna's arrival and assimliation into Granheim Castle, the kingdom began a rapid expansion southward, absorbing giantkin tribes and unaffiliated villages under the Granheim Banner. These takeovers were mostly peaceful, with Granheim Priests assimilating local religions into their practices.

In Age of Julius year X, these expansion campaigns grew violent. Granheim's otherworldly armies began to attack Hedebic Merchant camps, and pushed their borders out to the current historical border. One group of Granheim soldiers made it as far south as Ordek, where the Knight Yokura and his hunters disposed of them. Yokura delivered news of these invasions to Julius, sparking the Granheim War.

### The Granheim War (Era of Julius)

Headed by Albert the Radiant, the Four Knights led a military campaign into Granheim, razing villages and destroying occult altars across the North. The first campaign lasted three years, in which Albert and his Radiant Army conquered the sparsely populated southern regions of Granheim. They met little opposition that wasn't pulverized under their crusade.

> The Granheim territory is nowhere near as dense as our own, and we have made swift work liberating the villages from the heresy of Ragna. I worry that we lay unprepared to lay seige to her fortress.
>
> —Albert the Radiant, in a letter to King Julius during the first campaign

### The Siege of Granheim Castle

Once the Four Knights and their forces had surrounded the castle, the true battle began. Albert fought Ragna directly, with Koro-Shi and Yokura fighting to destroy the Granheim Entity. Using magic, Albert melted his own helmet onto Ragna's head- locking her eyes behind it. When Koro-Shi and Yokura failed to contain the entity, Albert and Isolde vowed to seal the castle away by whatever means necessary.

Isolde, being a powerful witch in her own right, sealed Granheim behind endless walls of ice. The ice spikes at the northern edge of Hedeby were formed as a way to make sure no one entered or left the area. The Radiant Knights were left behind in the ice, with a few managing to escape back to Uprye.

### Disinformation Campaigns

Fearing what would happen if the Granheim Entity was accessed again, Julius began a widespread disinformation campaign regarding the country. All official records of Granheim were purged and a decades long process erased Granheim from the public consciousness.

Fragments of the story managed to slip through the cracks, stoking the interest of several individuals in year 65 ES, leading to the Granheim Expedition

### Granheim in the Era of The Saints

Following the events of the Granheim Expedition, access to Granheim was restricted and closely monitored by The Saints. No expeditions occurred between Year 2-65 ES. The Granheim Expedition was believed to be secret by its members, but Orlando closely monitored their progress through the eyes of Naturals #122 and #123.

Following the activation of The Granheim Entity in 68, Priory scholars under the direction of Balthazar began work on the Granheim Project. The first phase of the project involved localized studies of the time-displacement phenomena, and continued for some decades. In 417, the first manned expedition to Granheim was coordinated by Eva Reinhardt, a doctoral candidate at the Priory as a part of her doctoral thesis.

Eva's team consisted of Vero, Tulkus, and a number of Priory researchers.