Kingdom of Norlan

## Origins

The history of Norlan is inextricably linked with the founding of the city of Highwater, which was the first human settlement in the region. As the original Imperial outpost gained in importance and a County of the First Zerithian Empire was created, other communities arose across the north in response to demand for natural resources in the burgeoning city. During the dark years towards the end of the Empire and the withdrawal of the Legions, clashes with the Kalten of the *far north* led to the raising of local forces. By the fall of the Empire in 1808 IY, the first King of the Northland had already been acclaimed and the Kingdom was firmly established. Pre-dating as it does the founding of the Three Kingdoms, the Kingdom has a fair claim to be the oldest Zerithian realm.

### Hofstad Wildlands

By the 22nd century, the Crown had created two Duchies, roughly dividing the realm into northern and southern halves. The Duchy of Highwater in the north is the most populous and by far the wealthier, while the Duchy of Zuiden in the south is home to vast cattle ranches and small hunting communities. Political relations with the Kingdom's neighbours was mixed; the elven nation of Kotetäinen was happy to establish trade and ties with the young realm, but the giants and other humanoids of the lands south and west of Coldwater Lake resisted human incursion, especially when it came to the vast logging enterprises that came out of the Kingdom in search of ironwood. As formidable as the denizens of the Wildlands were, they could not match the might of the Royal Army, led as it was by the Paladins of the Holy Order of the White Hart and wizards of the Grey Tower. Within a few decades, the region had been pacified, and was incorporated into the Kingdom with the creation of the Duchy of Hofstad at the dawn of the 23rd century.

### A New Capital and New Name

In 2366 IY, Erste Talin moved the royal seat from Highwater, around Coldwater Lake to the new city of Crowton at the mouth of the Zauber River on the southern shore, in the Duchy of Hofstad. This change is widely believed to be aimed at reducing the influence of the Grey Tower on royal politics, particularly when it came to foreign relations. At about the same time, Talin created the first written constitution for the Kingdom: the Prerogatives Declaration of 2371 IY. Among other important contributions, it formally established the name of the realm as the Kingdom of Norlan, in place of the older *Kingdom of the Northland* that was formerly in use.

## Economy

Commodities produced in the Kingdom include iron (especially from the County of Fendon in the north-eastern corner of the Duchy of Highwater), fish, wheat, barley, oats, apples, pears, cherries, root vegetables, wool, cattle, sheep, pigs, chickens, and lumber. The Kingdom is known for manufactured goods as well, particularly glassteel, wooden furniture, weapons and armour, and a wide variety of magical amulets out of Highwater (for preventing pregnancy, for instance).

The Kingdom's currency is based on the traditional Zerithian penny-mark-crown coinage. The realm currently mints pennies (copper), marks (silver, 1 mark is 10 pennies), half-crowns (electrum), crowns (gold, 1 crown is 10 marks) and sovereigns (platinum, 1 sovereign is 10 crowns) to match the coinage of the much larger economies of the south. As with coins from the Three Kingdoms/Zerithian Empire, coins are sized to weigh approximately 50 to the pound.