Weald

**The Weald** was a country west of Darthaca and south of the Cantons and Westria. To the west was Fen Country.

## Facts about the Weald

* The language was called Wealdean.
* For a list of people from the Weald, see Wealdeans.
* Their ruler was called the Hallow King.
* The Cantons were at least partly controlled by the Hallow King during the time of Penric kin Jurald.
* Two royal free towns, not associated with any particular Earl-ordainer or Archdivine-ordainer, were Red Dike and Martensbridge.

## History

In the distant past, Audar the Great of Darthaca ruled the Weald, but in the years since then and before the time of *The Hallowed Hunt*, they regained their independence.

The ruler of the Weald was the **hallow king**. In the Old Weald before Audar's conquest, the hallow king was elected by the heads of the thirteen strongest kin tribes. At the time of *The Hallowed Hunt*, the hallow king was elected by the heads of eight great kin houses (**earl-ordainers**) and five Temple ordainers (**archdivine-ordainers**), and primogeniture was given greater precedence. Of the Old Weald's thirteen kin groups, three were extinct and two reduced in power by the time of *The Hallowed Hunt*.

Named kin groups:

* kin Stagthorne - lands were around and north of Easthome
* kin Horseriver - lands were east of the Lure, particularly north of Birchbeck.
* kin Wolfcliff - lands were west of the Lure, with castle Birchgrove at the confluence between the Birchbeck and the Lure.
* kin Badgerbank - lands were northern Weald, west of kin Wolfcliff's, and included Badgerbridge and Bloodfield.
* kin Foxbriar - lands were probably in the eastern Weald, but it is uncertain
* kin Hawkmoor - lands were in the eastern Weald
* kin Otterbine
* kin Boarford

Named archdivine-ordainers:

* Easthome (Fritine kin Boarford)
* Waterpeak

Other kin groups, extinct or with considerably less power were relatively common. Names included:

* kin Martenden - lands are in western Cantons, north of Martensbridge
* kin Jurald - lands are in central Cantons
* kin Pikepool - lands are smallish region east of Easthome, include Weir Village.
* kin Lynxlake (extinct at the time of *The Hallowed Hunt*)
* kin Shrike - lands in Cantons

## Geography

Named populated places:

* Badgerbridge
* Birchgrove Castle
* Boar's Head Castle
* Easthome
* Helmharbor
* Middletown
* Oxmeade
* Red Dike
* Reedmere
* Rosehall
* Suttleaf
* Weir Village

Other named features:

* Stork River
* Lure River
* Birchbeck River
* Raven Range
* Forest of Aldenna - a forest somewhere between Easthome and Darthaca.

## Behind the scenes

The Weald roughly corresponds to real-world Germany.

Geographical analogies:

> *I didn't make a map of the Weald, but if you perform the same transmutations on a map of Germany as was done for the Iberian peninsula, you'll have the broad outline. Rivers running south across coastal plains to the (North Sea equivalent) from alpine regions that lie between the Weald and the northern coast. (Beyond which lies the Roknari islands.) Darthaca (France) to the Weald's east, early pagan Poland/Lithuania equivalencies to the west. The parallels are loose, not precise, so don't get too carried away, tho' you can think Lure=Rhine, Stork=Elbe, if you like. The world of Chalion does not seem to have an Italian peninsula nor a former Roman empire as such, however.*
>
>

## References

* *The Hallowed Hunt*
* Penric's Demon
* Penric and the Shaman
* Penric's Fox
* Penric's Mission
* The Prisoner of Limnos
* The Orphans of Raspay

1. ↑ Lois McMaster Bujold in a post to the Bujold mailing list, 18 February 2005, [1]