Harsengaard

Household heraldry of Harsengaards

Harsengaard or Fort Harsengaard is a medieval-like fortification located north of the city of Celtenn, which used to be apart of the Duchy of Varmerion before borders were moved, relocating it to the Enrei of Egalia, which is now apart of the Soleannan Imperium. Reconstruction of Harsengaard began on February 20th 2022 within the ruins of the Imperium. It was formerly known as the town of Oogleron.

## Present Etymology (Post Restoration)

Fort Harsengaard is named Harsengaard because of the immigrants that came to call it their home, whose name were the "Harsengaard", as it used to be called the Imperium. Though since that name belonged to the settlement that have long since collapsed, the Harsengaard tribe renamed it after themselves, deeming that they are the ones that now call the bastion their own for the time being, and therefore it should be named after themselves.

## Present History (Post Restoration)

The history of Harsengaard is quite long, and is perhaps the most well documented in the local area. Despite having such a rich history, most of it is lost to time and before restoration efforts began, it lay in ruins for quite awhile before Harsengaard tribe arrived to call the place their home temporarily, before leaving to re-settle elsewhere.

### Stories of the Settlers

A group of tribespeople calling themselves the “Harsengaard”, that first began as simple hunter gatherers eventually banding together and began moving through the continent of Syltör. In late November the group had stumbled across a lonely cabin in the mountains of Bardonia, left in ruins with no trace of the owner it was adopted as a temporary home and was expanded upon. At this point the group comprised of five members and were hiding out from the state. Knowing they had not long until being discovered and eradicated they set of from there home in early December. Through the cold winter months the Harsengaard pushed on, before managing to escape the frigid temperatures the Harsengaard lost two men in a snowstorm and one departing on a separate path. (*More of these events can be read about more Toast's journal named “Over the Mountain” kept in storage at Harsengaard*).

Once out of the mountains the mountains the group sailed until they found a suitable location unknowing it was only lying a short walk away from the growing city of Celtenn. When the small claim was established the remaining Harsengaard’s quickly got to work gathering all needed recourses to build a town. But only a few days into the construction a message was found outside of the town from the Akesor (mayor) of Celtenn, Oakerd Arkoden declaring that the settlement was to be disbanded and the Harsengaard people to move. Eventually an agreement was reached where the Harsengaard people would disband the claim and join Celtenn. For the next few weeks all was quite and the citizens participated in the construction of Celtenn before becoming aware of the old settlement to the north of Celtenn. The remaining Harsengaard, Toastisnice and Hannorey began the repairs of the town. The town is now receiving major upgrades to be more defensible and protective to the surrounding towns.

### Harsengaard Resettling

Parts of the abandoned settlement had to be torn down in order to make the location more defendable from outside threats. The bastion was originally reconstructed by Toastisnice and Hannorey, local Celtennites who prepared the land for the Harsengaards to call their home. Harsengaard today stands as a bastion defending the city of Celtenn from threats that come from the north. Legally it is considered a Military installation, but most still refer to it as an informal settlement, at least until the Harsengaards can find a proper home in the Aesperium Niedea. There have been talks within the Aesperium to decide what to do next with the bastion after the Harsengaards settle elsewhere. Some options may include giving it to the Celtennite restorers that refurbished Harsengaard, for them to call it their own outpost. Others, such as the current leader of Celtenn, Oakerd Arkoden, have suggested to integrate Harsengaard into Celtenn as a permanent Celtenn Military Instillation due to it's proximity to Celtenn.

### Botched Naming Rights

On March 6, 2022, it was announced that the Fourth Empire of Escharia, Aesperium Niedea, and Holy Cities were reuniting into the Soleannan Imperium. Due to this, borders were redrawn, and thus, Harsengaard, along with many other cities had their provinces redone. For Harsengaard however, it was just not renewed location, but in fact could've influenced the name of the region. Oogleron was one of the first iterations of Harsengaard, but fell quickly after a failed rebellion. It is unknown why the region was considered to be renamed after this older settlement. It has been confirmed however, that this name would be changed after some time into the Enrei (province) of Egalia. Egalia being a much more culturally significant outpost on the western shores of the new Empire.

### New Leadership

During a time estimated to be around March 10 to March 12, 2022 it is believed that the Harsengaard tribe had finally left to resettle as they had promised to do beforehand. Due to this, the agreement made with Celtenn to install Toastisnice as its new leader. After these events transpired, more settlement planning has been debated in order to elevate Harsengaard to the current architectural standards, as well as discussions on whether or not Fort Harsengaard will become an independent settlement once more, or completely be assimilated into Celtenn.

## History

Harsengaard's history can be distinctly separated into two eras. The Pre-Restoration era, and the Post-Restoration era. Referred to as the P.R.E and the P.R. eras respectively. The P.R.E era of Harsengaard's history is easily the most densely packed, but at the same time the most poorly documented. The P.R. era, by comparison is the shorter of the two, but most well documented. The P.R.E. can be divided into 3 discernable periods. The Oogleron Period, the Kassan Period, and the Imperium Period. While the P.R. era of Harsengaard's history can currently be divided into 2 discernable periods. The Aesperium Period, and the Soleannan Imperium Period.

### Pre-Restoration Era

#### Oogleron Period

Believed to be the oldest and possibly the beginning of the settlement of Harsengaard.

##### History

Oogleron was a settlement owned by Bardonia. It was said that it was completely abandoned after an attempt to rebel against the Bardonian government failed. Oogleron was a historical border settlement between Bardonia and the nation of the Empire of Escharia. Oogleron was already seen as a very rebellious town by Bardonian command that could be captured and assimilated easily into the neighboring nation. Many of the citizens of Oogleron eventually decided one day that it was time to rise up, and attempted to defect to the Empire of Escharia in an uprising. However, the rebellion failed and the citizens were forced to flee the town and never come back, leaving it in disrepair.

#### Kassan Period

The Kassan Period is the most well documented of the 3 P.R.E periods. However, the original author was extremely biased in their descriptions of Kassan. With no surviving members, the following information must be read and understood given the pretext, as there are no other surviving records of Kassan. Also keep in mind that the original article was written with inaccurate information, stating that this outpost was a nation, when it was never formally recognized by any government, besides their own and thus all instances of "nation" "country" and other terms that were not approved by the Bardonian government are replaced with the proper pronouns.

##### History

Kassan was a border town, established by Toregorn the Bright Ingot. While Toregorn explored the area in order to find a suitable location to set up an outpost, he discovered the ruins of Oogleron, a former Bardonian border settlement. This gave Toregon an idea. To create a small town, and eventually a nation, that has its basis in socialism and democracy. With this in mind Toregorn renamed the town to Kassan, a land of social-democracy. After being re-established as a functional town, workers from Bardonia or other parts of Rathnir came through the settlement, either as migratory workers looking for a job or calling the land home, working together with the Kassan Worker's Union to help develop their burgeoning community.

The main idea of Kassan's Workers Union was that every worker deserved a reward for their hard work. This is why Toregorn wanted to get more power and influence for the settlement so they can protect the community's interests. The town's motto was known to be "In Kassan, all people can find home and work". Despite being able to successfully re-settle in Kassan, parts of the settlement still lay in disrepair. Namely the Oogleron castle and the settlement's western gates were still abandoned, because the outpost didn't have enough resources to claim the land and repair the structures there. However, the rest of Kassan was successfully reclaimed. Some notable recoveries being: a brewery, several houses, an alchemist's workshop, a tavern, and several acres of farmland.

Kassan was said to be spacious enough to support any size of home. The Kassan Workers Union previously allowed small-time land owners to settle around the town, supporting local trade in exchange for protection against outside threats. This changed once the Empire of Escharia took notice of Kassan's presence, being an important Bardonian border town with the Empire of Escharia. Escharian high command sent several diplomatic envoys and various missionaries of the Soleannen faith being in an attempt to persuade the town to defect to Escharia whilst within Bardonian borders, this however bore no success as the town fell into ruin before this work bore anything of note.

#### Imperium Period

The Imperium Period marks end of Kassan, and is believed to be the shortest period in Harsengaard's history. It is uncertain what is the root cause for the collapse of Imperium. Experts argue that the shrinkage of Bardonian borders caused Imperium's stability to disappear. Historical analysts however state that, the settlement was already planning to defect to the Empire of Escharia if ever such an opportunity arises. With no currently known surviving members, this question of the cause of the collapse of Imperium, remains unknown.

##### History

> "It's a rock out in god knows where. It's my rock though."
>
> FreakyFlyingMaid, former leader of Imperium

Imperium was a small fortified town on the fringes of the Bardonian Empire and, just like the other 2 settlements that came before it, swore no loyalty to the Empire in any way during its lifetime due to it's distance to any major Bardonian influence. Imperium used to lay as the abandoned settlement of Kassan with no plans of restoration, until FreakyFlyingMaid and an unknown companion, a pair of explorers, found the ruins and began reconstruction efforts.

The town has grew rapidly and had over six members of different roles and responsibility. The local leadership of the Imperium advocated for a fair and helpful community. However, after Bardonia's borders started to shrink, the Town of Imperium soon collapsed as well. All the members of the Imperium are unaccounted for, and have since been declared dead. Since then, they were labeled as Imperial ruins by the Aesperium Niedea until the Harsengaards decided to move in after being accepted to stay in the area until they can properly relocate.

### Post-Restoration Period

Post-Restoration period information is the current information being presented in the beginning of the article. Refer to that, regarding Post-Restoration Period information.