Arglondar

Map of Arglondar (Link to large interactive map of Arglondar):

The Arglondaran town Belynt:

Arglondar

The Red Griffon Kingdom

*Northernmost of the human kingdoms on Anath Khalar, Arglondar is a land of proud knights, scheeming nobles and hardy people. Constantly threatened by the Iron King of Ythragar and the vile half-giant barbarians who serve him to the northeast, and Naalgahal, the dragon who rules the nation of Vorlask to the east, Arglondarans are used to fight for what they hold dear. King Arathos the Old of House Palarthan is lying sick and dying, and his daughter Aniera Palarthan, the Golden Princess, has become the de facto ruler of Arglondar. King Milovan Karavoc of Damaskar has his eyes on the Golden Princess and Arathos' crown, both the Iron King of Ythragar and Naalgahal has been unusually quiet for quite some time, and word has it that the folk hero turned vampire lord Isgralin Trovanis has returned to his homeland from his involuntary vacation to the Fey Realm of Falanthas and that he has already created a large pack of ravenous vampire underlings who have turned the coastline from Ylphaun to Malgarath into their personal hunting ground.*

**Alignment:** Lawful Neutral; **Capital:** Bhelskar; **Area:** Northwestern Anath Khalar; **Ruler:**Arathos the Old (Aniera Palarthan); **Founder:**Argalon Valdona; **Relgions:**Abalor, Saint Heothar, Baladorn Baleras, Chandalla, Larafae Ilana, Liara Almana, Matalar, Oghludar, Gaundalur; **Government:** Monarchy; **Population:** 1,432,560 (as of 447 DE); **Demographics:** Humans 73%, Aratheël 15%, Dhouvarr 8%, 4% other; **Imports:** Glass, Ivory, Spices; **Exports:**Armor, carved ivory, cloth, coal, food, swords, timber; **Unrest:** Medium; **Corruption:** Low; **Military:** Strong; **Economy:** Strong; **Technology:** Low; **Magic:** Medium; **Organisations:** The Red Griffon Army, The Blue Dragon Society;

## Basic Knowledge about Arglondar

    Arglondar is a 1230-year old primarily human highland kingdom in northern Anath Khalar. Arglondar was founded in -783 DE by the damaskaran noble Argalon Valdona, who had conquered the land from giants, trolls and other monsters and the dragon who ruled them, but the history of the region goes much further back to a time when it was part of the legendary kingdom of Alberion.

Arglondar is a feudal monarchy where vassal lords rule over smaller regions of the kingdom but pay taxes and swear fealty to the King who rules from Griffon's Bluff Castle in the kingdom's capital - Bhelskar, the City of Swords. The current king is Arathos the Old, but the 87-year old king hasn't been seen public in years and the nation's de facto ruler is Aniera Palarthan, the Golden Princess, oldest of the daughters of Arathos. Aniera hides her face behind an ornate golden mask as she does not want unworthy men to lay eyes on her. Aniera has yet to find a husband although every unmarried nobleman in Arglondar wants to marry her as the man she chooses will become the next king of Arglondar. Aniera however, is hot-tempered and difficult to impress, traits that have earned her the name Aniera Fireheart, and she has already had two bachelors beheaded.

Arglondar is renowned across Eredim for its strong military, the Red Griffon Army, who holds back the half-giants of Ythragar and the bugbears, hobgoblins and other monstrous humanoids of Vorlask.

Most of northern Arglondar is covered by the ancient forest known as the Wyvernwaeld, home to the Waeldfolk - tribes of mostly humans, elves and half-elves. The elven Waelfolk trace their lineage back to the Savathaal elves who once called the forest home, and who has left behind the many ruins that lie beneath the Wyvernwaeld's canopy.

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### Life in Arglondar

#### **Peasants:**

Most people in Arglondar are peasants who work hard every day to feed themselves and their families. They are herders, lumberjacks, clothmakers, farmers, and laborers. There are two classes of Peasants. The Serfs and the Freemen. The Serfs don't pay tax as they don't own land and are working for someone else, and the Freemen own their own land and are allowed certain rights and privileges that the Serfs don't have. In return Freemen pay a King's Tax in either coin or whatever product they produce to their local lord who then takes some of it and pays the rest to the Royal Treasury, the department that pays for the Red Griffon Army. Both Serfs and Freemen can become Lord's Men: squires, stablemasters, hunters, butchers, armorers, scribes and other positions of servitude to a lord which is not working in the fields. Lord's Men do not pay tax but they are required to serve in their Lord's personal army.

#### **Merchants:**

    Merchants are wealthier than peasants but the nobles still consider them part of the peasantry. They pay King's Tax and are considered Freemen in societal importance. Some merchants have gained enough wealth to buy themselves land and title, and are thus members of the Aristocracy, the ruling class of Arglondar.

**Aristocrats:** The wealthier landowners in Arglondar all have titles and a House name and insignia. Most are Lords of villages and small towns. Some are Landgraves who lord over larger towns and wider areas, and the Lords of Arglondar are required by law to be knights in the Red Griffon Army, unless they are handicapped in some way.

#### **Magistrates:**

The magistrates are the federal lawmen of Arglondar. They work directly for the King (Princess Aniera in the current situation) and each major town has a Magistrates' Office. Each Magistrates' Office has a Chief Magistrate and one or more Magistrate Judges, titles which earns the bearer more societal importance than being an aristocrat, as the Law is considered to be above even the aristocracy, and many aristocrats take the long education that is required to become a Magistrate Judge or work hard as Red Griffon Knights to become Chief Magistrates. Aristocrats are however prohibited by law to serve in such positions in the same land they own. To become a Magistrate one is required to be a Freeman and to have served in the Red Griffon Army for at least two years.

#### **Bearing arms:**

Only Red Griffon soldiers, Magistrates, Freemen, Lord's Men and Aristocrats are allowed to bear arms in Arglondar. If you do not have a letter of validation that prove you belong to one of those societal classes, your weapons will be confiscated and you will have to pay a fine. Travelers can buy a local Weapons Permit allowing them to bear weapons in whatever county they are currently in, or can apply for a national Weapons Permit from a Magistrates' Office, which will cost a certain amount of Derims and require that the applicant has never permitted any crimes in Arglondar.

#### **Religion in Arglondar:**

    Arglondarans are polytheistic. They worship a number of gods and believe in the Elder God, who is said to be the creator of everything else according to Ventirism (faith in a nameless Elder God was revived by a man called Venti Nazzareno of Brezzenta who claimed Heothar Aldorin was the first Chosen of the Elder God in millenia). Heotharism, worship of Saint Heothar the Dawnbringer is properly the biggest religion in Arglondar as it is in many other places, but Arglondarans still hold on to the worship of many old gods. Some give thanks to Abalor for warm weather, some pray to Chandalla for good harvests, some dedicate their arts to Larafae Ilana, some pray to Baladorn Baleras or Liara Almana before a fight, some venerate Matalar, the dragon goddess of love and peace, some place their faith in Oghludar the Eternal Trickster, and many of the Waeldfolk (the people who live in the great Wyvernwaeld forest in northern Arglondar) pay respect to the spirits of the forest, the ancestor spirits and Gaundalur the Forest Father. In fact so many different gods are being worshipped in Arglondar and so many different temples have been built in Bhelskar, that the Arglondarans should consider calling their capital the City of Temples instead of the City of Swords.

## Geography

Only separated from Ythragar, the land of giants, and Vorlask, the nation of monstrous humanoids ruled by the dragon Naalgahalaraath, by the mountain range known as the Kranath Mountains, Arglondar is the northernmost of the human kingdoms on the continent of Anath Khalar and it is a land of high-rising rocky hills, green dales and ancient forests. The most notable geographical feature of Arglondar is probably the huge forest called the Wyvernwaeld which covers the whole northern portion of the region.

#### **The Triplets:**

West of the Wyvern's Reach Peninsula the three great islands Elgelath, Neth and Dalthyr (also known as the Triplets) separate the Alberion Sea from the Grimgal Sea. The largest of them, Elgelath, is home to about 50,000 people and has a large town on both its westcoast and its eastcoast and a large naval fortress called Falgrim Keep on its southern tip. Neth, the second-largest of the Triplets has only about 10,000 inhabitants and most of them live in the town of Falspur. Less than 2,000 people live on Dalthyr, and their largest town Meradoc is too small to be included on most maps.

#### **The Kranath Mountains:**

The eastern border of Arglondar is the massive skyscraping mountain range known as the Kranath Mountains which is rich in metals but full of caves leading down into the dangerous monster-filled depths of the Darkendeep. Friendly dhouvarr used to live in the Kranath Mountains and trade with the Arglondarans, but a few generations ago something caused the dhouvarr of the Kranaths to change into sinister derro. Some dhouvarr who managed to escape before they were turned into derro spoke of hideous insectlike humanoids who used foul magic to change their cousins into derro. South of the Ghelspur Gap the chain of mountains known as the Roashar Mountains begins, but those mountains are below Arglondar's southern border and not of much concern to the Arglondarans.

#### **Rivers:**

Three large rivers and a couple of smaller rivers flow from the Roashar and the Kranath Mountains and converge into the great river Baravos which has its outlet into the Alberion Sea right where Arglondar's capital Bhelskar is located, and river barges make for fast transportation of people and goods between the capital and the rest of the mainland part of the country.

## History

### Alberion

Before the Drakennath, Arglondar was part of a great kingdom called Alberion which was ruled by the legendary King Haewan Bhelskar, whom the mountain range Haewan's Crown and the city of Bhelskar, Arglondar's - and in earlier times, Alberion's - capital, is named after. The nation was one of the few nations that was not reclaimed in the Great Rebellion. For a long time it was the domain of the dragon Volhyspartharax and was called Volhyspartha. In the year -784 DE Argalon Valdona, who was a member of that time's royal family of Damaskar, House Valdona, began his conquest of the land. In -783 he had defeated Volhyspartharex and Arglondar was founded.