Barony of Esparia

### A Stonehearth Vassal to Suzail

Well to the east of the Marqusiate, toward the Sea of Fallen Stars, is the Barony of Esparia**.** A vassal of the Kingdom of Cormyr, the barony is tucked in the upper northeast corner of the kingdom between the King's Forest and the Storm Horn Mountains.

Similar to the other Stonehearth barony in Impresk, when Stonehearth assumed the area, there was only one "well-known" feature in the barony: the namesake village of *Espar*. Espar itself started as a modest town, not much past a hundred structures, mostly supporting farming on the strip of arable land between the forest and the mountains.

### A Baronial March

While Esparia is a technical barony to the local Crown, and Stonehearth is only one noble family among many in the Kingdom, Esparia's position in the northwest corner makes it a technical "march" – just like Marquisate itself – and it's estimated the presence of Stonehearth in Esparia is one of the primary reasons the floating Shadovar city of Thultanthar didn't float right down Suzail to during the war.

House Stonehearth became a barony in Cormyr when the Baron of Espar married into the family Stonehearth. Since then, Stonehearth has been a solid supporter of the Cormyrean Crown, though both sides tend to downplay just how close relations are.

How close are they? Close enough that the Crown of Cormyr has used their Stonehearth connection as leverage against a bloc of noble houses that was bristling against the Crown. That, in turn, has more nobles worried that Stonehearth will eventually convince House Obarskyr to join the Alliance.

### Baronial Pull

Stonehearth has since expanded the once-remote barony to a controversially major position within Cormyr. Esparia punches far above its local weight in both the parliament and the Royal Court directly. This further antagonizes the anti-Stonehearth bloc within the kingdom.

While there is little reason for the friction beyond petty history and the "outsider" sense, some of the turbulence actually goes back to the origin of House Stonehearth itself – part of the founders of the house were Cormyrean expatriates (and decorated Purple Dragons) who emigrated to Baldur's Gate. The return is sometimes seen as an "I told you so."

### Royal Relations

While the territory of Esparia itself is still small, the Crown has been publicly ruminating about the elevation of Stonehearth from baron to marchion, befitting the border defense status. In fact, the Barony of Esparia doesn't provide troops for Royal armies, and has offered direct military support to the Crown, including during the war with the Shadovar – but Parliament blocked Stonehearth's direct military intervention for fear of the leverage they would wield afterward.

There are two potential tampers on the relations between the Barony and the Crown.

* First, Stonehearth Mercantile maintains a merchant (non-landed but still aristocratic) House in neighboring Sembia – with whom Cormyr is currently embroiled in a low-intensity conflict (mostly in the southern Dragon Coast).
* Second, two years ago, House Stonehearth annexed the *massive* lands of former Netheril to the northwest. That wasn't something Cormyr was prepared to do at the time (after the war), but now that they've started recovery, the local nobility now regrets the missed window of opportunity (even if it were just local territories). The ***Principality of Aetheril*** is larger than *Cormyr* several times over, and that's another reason there are nerves regarding the giant tucked away in their corner.