Aldenlied

Map of Aldenlied

## Common Knowledge

On the land of the Aldenlied (High Elven for “Song of the World of Elves”) are a group of loosely-connected city-states, Kad’rscor, Ashthalor, and Dored’hil. Each city is a hub for High Elven society and trade. The area is also known for having frequent problems with goblins.

## Topography and Climate

Aldenlied is mostly flat plains with interspersed forests and small lakes. Closer to the eastern border, the plains give way to foothills, craggy cliffs, and mountains. Three large lakes run through the region’s heartland into the sea, each named for the city closest to it (Kad’rscor, Ashthalor, and Dored’hil, respectively). Aldenlied’s climate is temperate, though its winters are a bit harsher and its rainstorms a bit more frequent.

## Population

Aldenlied is almost exclusively populated by High Elves, with Humans, Gnomes, Hobbits, and the rare Dwarf making up the minority. Outside of civilized society, Aldenlied hosts debatably the largest population of Goblins per square-mile.

## Exports and Trades

Each city-state has its own exports, but generally all three export fine silks, wines, jewels, magical artifacts, and other luxury goods.

In the cities, most people are merchants, craftspeople, alchemists, wizards, scholars, career politicians, or other well-to-do jobs. Outside of the cities, however, lives a massive, heavily-exploited serfdom who support the frivolous lifestyle of city-folk.

## Government

Aldenlied has no centralized government. Each city-state abides by non-interventionist policies for the others of the region (having learned from the mistakes of their ancient ancestors) and will neither invade nor encroach on the territory of another city-state. Despite each city’s own sovereignty, they ally politically, culturally, and militarily. Should a threat approach Aldenlied at large, all three would unite their forces and fight it together.

## Military

Each city-state trains and arms its own military. In times of emergency or when any one city-state is at risk from an external threat, all three city-states unite their militaries and command structures into a single conglomerate.

## Social Hierarchy and Culture

Much like the rest of High Elven culture, Aldenlied citizens are ethnocentric, socially-conscious, and strongly value academia, diplomacy, and magical study.

Everyone knows their land is called Aldenlied. Some people live under different political entities, but they still live in the Aldenlied.

The people who live in the cities are much higher class than those living on the fields and outskirts. To maintain their high-class lifestyle, these working class serfs are heavily exploited, expected to pay high taxes (or a good portion of their export).

### Goblins

Though much of the serfdom treats goblins with the same fear and loathing as anywhere else, the middle- and upper-class Aldenlied citizens view goblins as tragic figures, inheritors of an unfair punishment supposedly delivered by their ancient ancestors.

### Celebrations and Holidays

#### Gredinfest

An annual festival celebrated primarily in Ashthalor, in dedication to a millennia-old political figure. Gredin was, supposedly, a pre-Aldenlied figure who delivered impassioned speeches against the oppressive kings of the cities. He suffered a grievous and ambiguous fate, but his supporters rallied around a martyr and followed Gredin’s teachings once they came into power (by following standard political conventions, of course). In modern times, Gredinfest is celebrated by elaborate feasts and parties, accompanied by a reduction in prices by much of Ashthalor’s merchantry.

## Cities, Towns, and Villages

### Kad’rscor

#### Culture

A city of extreme wealth, where even the lower class wear luxurious robes that others would save for special occasions. Most residents engage in merchantry, craftsmanship, or farming, but many are also involved in the city’s two magical academies: the Southwind Academy and the School of Numerological Wizardry. The influence of these two institutions have led to a more stoic, reserved take on High Elven culture. Career scholars are highly-respected and highly-valued members of Kad’rscor society

#### Southwind Academy

An illustrious mages' college that oversees the trading of artifacts. Kad'rscor is known for being one of the best places to find reputable artifacts, for the mages verify each artifact that passes through the Academy personally. Recently, they have begun to study the art of creating artifacts with the assistance of theoretical scholars from Dored'hil.

#### School of Numerological Wizardry

A magical academy focusing on the mathematical applications of Celestial magic, as well as the relationship to math itself to magic. Despite its unusual focus, its prestige is known in many magical circles across Orelisle.

#### Government

Kad’rscor is led by the “democratic” Legislature of Nine and the Arbitrator. The Nine are elected by an open ballot once every ten years, and the Nine choose an Arbitrator to act as figurehead. Most people know that these elections are a sham, as career politicians handle most matters behind closed doors, but the farcical elections persist.

Kad’rscor’s current Arbitrator is Symania Vatoris, a laid back and talented graduate of the School of Numerological Wizardry.

### Ashthalor

#### Culture

The oldest of the three city-states, and a bustling coastal trade city. Its thriving marketplace offers the fine silks, wines, and jewels that the High Elves are known for, as well as various other luxury goods from the southern Orelisian coast. Dwarven crafts from Taldoric and Cliffhaven, Galkadorian Ale, the finest cuisine of Haelwyd, and just about anything from Brennon can all be found in Ashthalor. The high value of trade in the city has produced a high quality of life in the city, albeit not as high as Kad’rscor.

#### Government

Asthalor is governed by the Council of the Esteemed Populace, a democratic body of four people who are elected once every forty years.

### Dored’hil

#### Culture

The youngest of the three city-states, Dored’hil has a city-wide focus on the study of theoretical Celestial magic. Wizards’ influence on Dored’hil’s construction has produced beautiful spires that can be seen from miles away.

#### Government

Dored’hil is governed by a Chairman and aided by a Cabinet of four people. The Cabinet members are elected by the general populace once every ten years. Much like Kad’rscor, Dored’hil’s open elections conceal the affairs of career politicians, yet they still continue. The Chairman serves for life and has ultimate authority on all political matters (though they are expected to at least listen to the Cabinet’s advice). The Cabinet chooses a new Chairman when the previous Chairman dies or resigns.

## Alliances

Aldenlied has no formal alliances, and mostly sticks to policies of non-intervention in foreign affairs. The lone exception to this rule appears to be matters that concern all High Elves at large, which may be grounds for Aldenlied intervention. This creates an unspoken-alliance between Aldenlied, the High Elven nations Zondros and Brennon, and even some of the smaller High Elven cities like Avinmas.

Aldenlied is a member of the United Orelisian Council (U.O.C.), and joined very shortly after its creation. Since Aldenlied is a collection of city-states that interact very little, the three cities’ governments will find a government official that they believe will represent the interests of all three parties. This usually ends up being the Kad’rscor Arbitrator, but could be other officials in the future.

## Enemy Countries

Aldenlied has no formal enemies, but does strongly dislike the nearby nations of Kuragma, Eriene (before its destruction), and Etton.

## Historical Timeline

* C. 50,000 B.B. - Nomadic Elvic Megatribe takes human slaves from northern clans, under guise of “liberating them from petty struggles”
	+ Some Elvic families decide that that sucks, and leave for northern forests
* C. 48,000 B.B. - Nomadic Elvic Megatribe infighting over human slaves reaches boiling point, about half Elvic families leave and try to free as many slaves as they can
	+ Escapees flee east, into plains
	+ Another group of families become purveyors of war due to this conflict, and break away to become basically mercenaries
* C. 47,000 B.B. - Nomadic Elvic Megatribe exiles certain families and specific individuals for heresy (worship of an up-and-coming goddess called Maelstrom)
* C. 39,000 B.B. - Nomadic Elvic Megatribe (What’s left anyway) settles in idyllic forests and pastures of southern Orelisle, uses slave labor to build cities
	+ C. 37,700 B.B. - Settling nomads decide NOT to occupy the mountains full of dragons to their east (Taldoric)
* C. 30,000 B.B. - Evolution of High Elf subspecies completes
	+ Intervening time was actually pretty nice for High Elves, cultural & magical advancements (only some of which were stolen from the Crinoids or Pionus)
	+ Unless you were a human, then it was pretty terrible
* 28,747 B.B. - 28,205 B.B. - Tombe War (Dark Elf Descent)
* 28,205 B.B. - High Elf cities hit pretty hard by Dark Elves, begin blaming each other for who messed up
	+ If they’re the best why did they get their shit kicked so hard?
* 28,100 B.B. - C. 15,000 B.B. - High Elf Infighting
	+ Cities are built, conquered, razed, destroyed, rebuilt, etc
	+ Various High Elf groups skedaddle to other places across Orelisle, and make their own cities away from the infighting
		- Avinmas & others in west & north
		- Jericho neighbors & Zondros in east
	+ Humans revolt against High Elf masters plenty of times, but the one thing the High Elves will cooperate on is “fuck the humans”
		- We live in a society
		- Bottom Text
* C. 15,000 B.B. - Humans organize into the largest slave revolt, ever, mass exodus to Old Binturia from south
	+ Old Binturia takes them in, why not, right?
* 14,953 B.B. - High Elven cities organize into a coalition (First “Aldenlied” a la first “Greece” of persian wars), demand that Old Binturia exile their slaves or otherwise return them to their “rightful owners”
	+ Old Binturia sends back a very polite “No”
* 14,950 B.B. - 14,429 B.B. - Andouille War (Aldenlied V. Old Binturia)
	+ Aldenlied’s economy and societal structure built around war with each other, now directed at a single, external target. They’re pretty good at war
	+ Old Binturia had, until this point, a pretty isolationist foreign policy. They just wanted to read the magic books, man. They don’t have a lot of war experience
	+ 14,950 B.B. - 14,530 B.B. - Aldenlied pushes deeper and deeper into Old Binturia, take Ziltarin, Eriptor, northern Galkador
		- Very slow victory
	+ 14,530 B.B. - Old Binturia’s economy temporarily directed towards full militarization, per the orders of the new king
	+ 14,530 B.B. - 14,429 B.B. - Old Binturia wins back all their old territory and forces a deliberate stalemate at Eriptor-Ziltarin line
	+ Still managed to take back some of their previous slaves/their descendents/new enslaved humans
* 14,429 B.B. - 9,429 B.B. - Aldenlied alliance fractures, city-states return to infighting but with the added trouble of paying annual reparation tithe to Old Binturia
* C. 13,000 B.B. - C. 8,000 B.B. - High Elf Infighting
	+ Cities are built, conquered, razed, destroyed, rebuilt, etc
	+ Ashthalor built for the first time during this period
	+ Even with recovered human slaves, new High Elf underclass established to supplant missing labor
* C. 8,000 B.B. - 7,580 B.B. - Gredin Revolution
	+ Massive cultural uprising, spearheaded by person named Gredin, against ruling class
	+ Ruling class punishes Gredin in the worst way they can think of, they basically try to turn them into an unintelligent beast
		- The curse \*technically\* worked, but was circumvented by measures he and his supporters took
		- His mental faculties were still fine, but he needed a ritual performed on him daily to repel the effects of the curse
		- Their physical stature shrank a fair bit, and they looked a bit more feral, but it was still Gredin (proto-goblins)
	+ Punishment only incensed followers even more, successfully overthrow ruling class and establish their own governments in other city-states
		- Still keep human slaves though, something something america
* 7,400 B.B. - C. 6,000 B.B. - High Elf Infighting
	+ City-states feud amongst each other for how to best establish a unified state, disagreements led to old habits
	+ C. 6,000 B.B. - Unofficial Peace, again called “Aldenlied”, between city-states that amounted to trade and otherwise leaving each other the hell alone
		- No unified state after all
* 5,708 B.B. - 5,075 B.B. - Dernier’Clou War (Aldenlied V. Old Binturia)
	+ Aldenlied alliance tries to retake Eriptor from Old Binturia
		- It Does Not Go Well
	+ Old Binturia mobilizes its full army, Aldenlied loses Ziltarin
		- Old Binturia doesn’t take it either, they just don’t want Aldenlied to have it
	+ 5,375 B.B. - 5,075 B.B. - Old Binturia raids Aldenlied countryside for bounty for centuries
	+ At the end of the war Old Binturia imposes INTENSE reparations and tithe on Aldenlied, drains the entire country as a whole
		- Weakened state loses hold over western territories (not much past future Eriene) and northern territories (parts of Etton)
	+ 5,075 B.B. - 0 A.B. - Sometimes Pionus will still raid Aldenlied’s border territories and Aldenlied has no legal recourse
* 2,863 B.B. - Kad’rscor built for the first time
* 500 B.B. - Malovazen Magisters inform Aldenlied political leaders of the Conduit, propose an alliance to take down Old Binturia and steal the Conduit
	+ Aldenlied cities unanimously agree
* 0 A.B. - Part of Anti-Binturian Alliance with Jericho, Malovazen, Gel’daf, Oraefin; Aldenlied gets a lot of its military routed
	+ Even worse, bc of Conduit restriction (magic changes a lot for the first time) the ritual that keeps Gredin’s Curse (now a staple of High Elf culture) at bay no longer works. Everyone Gredinite succumbs within a few days, some faster than others, and become fully feral and chaotic (Goblins)
* 4 A.B. - Goblins mostly driven into the mountains and outside of Aldenlied, still a threat even into modern times
* 14 A.B. - Hearing that the humans have somehow founded a nation sort-of-near their squabbles (Galkador), the high elves very quickly establish some kind of government and try to keep murderous infighting to a minimum
	+ To make themselves look as “presentable” to outsiders as possible
* 1,826 A.B. - Human slaves revolt against rulers in southern High Elf cities, force a stalemate and flee to the west
* 2,826 A.B. - Aldenlied criminalizes slavery, grants partial citizenship to humans and other non-High Elves
* 3,383 A.B. - 5,408 A.B. - High Elf Infighting
	+ Begins over debates to intervene in Brennon conflict, then escalates
		- Side with any single city-state? Side with Hela’grush (or what’s left)? Just conquer the whole thing? Do nothing?
	+ Current borders established, everyone agrees to chill the hell out and stop oppressing everybody
		- Except the Goblins, that’s still gotta be a yikes
	+ Full citizenship granted to non-High Elves
* C. 5,900 A.B. - Dored’hil built
	+ 6,198 A.B. - Dored’hil destroyed by “magical accident”
		- Details not given, write later?
* C. 8,000 A.B. - Dored’hil rebuilt
* 10,015 A.B. - Planar War
* 10,019 A.B. - Deathless Days
	+ Aldenlied sends a figurehead to the first meeting of the United Orelisian Council, but ultimately decides to join anyway

## Further Information

* Brennon
* Deathless Days
* Eriene
* Goblins
* High Elves
* Humans
* Malovazen
* Old Binturia
* Planar War
* United Orelisian Council (U.O.C.)