Duchy of Caerseren Wiki

Template:Caerseren Places

The Duchy of Caerseren in the Kingdom of Gilneas lies on the eastern half of the Headlands, adjacent to the Duchy of Redfield. The ducal seat and largest settlement is Serendinas.

[The top of the page should be a brief introduction to the Duchy as a whole; a brief blurb of what it is, where it is, the history, and so forth. Maybe two paragraphs at most.]

## Lands & Holdings

The "Duchy of Caerseren" refers to four Counties that make up its combined territories: Counties Avon, Cargwenyn, Greymoor, and Ravenswood Isle.

### County of Avon

Avon dominates the headlands and is also the ducal seat of House Whiteraven. Notable places within the county include Avonshire, Bachile, Llewellyn, Lupin's Bight, and Serendinas.

### County of Cargwenyn

Cargwenyn lies directly south of County Greymoor. It is bounded to the north by the Orris Estuary and The Split, to the southeast by Keel Harbor, and to the west by Redfield. Notable places within the county include Breckin Town, Cargwenyn City (county seat), Cedewain, Rhostir, and Trefilyn.

### County of Greymoor

Greymoor lies due south of County Avon. Notable places within the county include Braghaidd Abbey, Caerafon, Greymoor Town, and Nos da Cariad.

### County of Ravenswood Isle

Ravenswood Isle is an earldom located off the coast of **Caerseren** proper. Notable places within the county include Glenwood Bay, Mauxwood, Ravenhall, Raven's Rest, Whitewillow Hollow, and Tidebreaker Landing.

## Geography & Climate

### Geography

Covering an area of <miles>, Caerseren occupies the eastern part of the Headlands, with the southeastern terminus just up the coast from Keel Harbor. While County Avon commands the high ground, largely surrounded by cliffs, Counties Greymoor and Cargwenyn sit solidly upon coastal moorland and bog until the Split divides the wetlands from more stable ground as the land slopes upward once more.

### Climate

Most of the duchy is subject to variable weather patterns and a substantial seasonal temperature variance with cold and wet winter and spring followed by a somewhat warmer, relatively dry summer. The coastline and lowlands are often bathed in fog year-round, resulting in a marine layer that burns off during the course of the day.

### Ecology

Largely comprised of temperate shrubland, Caerseren’s number of endemic species occasionally include relict species like the saltleaf (sometimes called Arathi) orris, which has died out elsewhere. Caerseren is part of the Headlands and as such spans a number of terrestrial ecoregions.

### Flora & Fauna

* In addition to the saltleaf orris, Caerseren boasts few superlatives in its collection of flora and fauna. That said, peat deposits pose major difficulties to builders of roads, thus preserving much of the habitat for the rare shovel-faced ant as well as Haemlich’s plover.
* Additionally, the Stargrove is comprised of some of the tallest star woods in the known world, prized for their magical and aesthetic values.
* Mithrilhead trout are plentiful in the duchy’s waters, with a major spawning event occurring every year as the fish travel from the Brightwaters to Lake Avon.

## Wealth & Trade

### Goods & Exports

Caerseren produces barley, beer, cheese, copper, fish, flax, kelp, pears, salt, and tin. It typically exports finished fabrics like wool and kelpsilk in addition to paper, pear products, peat fuel, and silver.

### Trade & Imports

Due to its location at the passage to Inner Gilneas and the difficulty of bringing materials overland (due to crumbling infrastructure as well as nominally hostile occupation), the lion's share of trade is conducted via ship. Common imports are foodstuffs (fruits and staple grains), as well as finished goods and materials such as iron and mithril.

### Economic Partnerships

[This section talks about the major parties or places that the Duchy does trade with, and any details about those individual entries.]

## Peoples & Culture

### Population

[This should go over the total current population of the Duchy as well as potential breakdowns of races and any demographics that live within it; as well, divulge what races are not welcome.]

### Languages

In addition to Common, Dwarven, Gnomish, and Thalassian (the latter three languages introduced during various waves of immigration over the centuries), Caerseren possesses an additional, endemic language: Handtalk. This non-verbal language was originally developed in the wake of the Deafening.

### Faiths Observed

Both the Light and the Old Ways are observed within Caerseren.

### Customs & Practices

[All practices and customs specific to the people who live in Caerseren should be detailed here, such as funeral practices, holidays, and so forth; whatever is relevant.]

## Military & Defenses

[Note: All figures depicted below are projections for peak operation and very much not reflective of the current state of affairs. At best, a tenth of this is available to Caerseren at the given time.]

Caerseren stands at the very north of the Kingdom and Country of Gilneas along with the Duchy of Redfield, as such it is the first line of defense against foes seeking to invade the heartlands. The duchy has spared no expense when it comes to defense.

### Land Forces

Caerseren is protected by a large and well trained army consisting of footmen, men-at-arms, levies from across the estates, heavily armored knights, archers and crossbowmen, and specialist infantry and artillery forces.

The backbone of the Land Forces are the Footmen, three thousand heavily armored infantry armed with longswords and stout shields. Trained to fight in the shieldwall with shields and armor interlocked together, they are joined on the flanks by four thousand Men-at-Arms-soldiers in coats of mail and with tabards emblazoned with their lord or nation's symbol. Armed with halberds, pikes, and billhooks, they protect the flanks from any cavalry attack and form tight schiltrons of polearms. For ranged firepower, the Duchy houses one thousand archers, armed with shortswords for close quarters work but whose main weapon is the longbow. The cavalry is comprised of five hundred armored cataphracts and knights.

Each land owner-be they the highest ranking Duke or just an estate holding lady-also has a small number of Household guards, or Huscarls. These men are the toughest, strongest, and most experienced in the entire military, and as such are few in number. Their numbers depend on the size of the lands their House controls, and as such usually work to defend the homes of the Lord or Lady whom they serve.

### Naval Forces

Focusing on quality versus quantity, the navy is made up of a series of light schooners to patrol the coastlines and protect the merchant fleets out on the open seas. The fleet is also comprised of three frigates, armed with archers, crossbowmen, cannons, and scorpions. The heaviest ship in the fleet however is the Juggernaut, built for heavy prolonged combat. It is armed with a figurehead ram, ballistae, catapults, and harpoon launchers.

As navy ships take far longer to build and prepare for combat than land armies, Caerseren's navy is relatively small-consisting of ten schooners, three war frigates, and one Ironmonger Class Juggernaut. In times of war, fishing boats and merchant ships can also be outfitted into transport vessels to carry troops far over seas.

### Defenses-natural and man-made

Star's Ascent Castle is built to weather a strong siege and make taking it costly. The high cliffs and defensible harbor walls mean any landing force must sail southwards to find acceptable landing-through the inlet that divides Caerseren and the Northern Headlands. This bottleneck allows the navy significant advantage. Beacons and watchtowers stand ready to light a signal fire to alert the military to call to arms.

## Notable Personages

### The Duke of Caerseren

The current Duke of Caerseren is Ashland Whiteraven.

### The Privy Council

This council comprises the Duke's most trusted advisors.

### Person/Group

[Any other noteworthy people or NPCs should have their own entry, with a link to their article if it exists.]

## History

Following the troll wars, the empire of Arathor colonized the region that later became known as Caerseren during a period of prosperity and growth. As Strom waned and King Archibald took the throne, Caerseren’s first duke claimed his seat at Star’s Ascent.

[Go into a full, detailed history of the Duchy, which also includes the history of the rulers and nobles that ruled it in the past.]

Prior to the Invasion, Caerseren was an un-industrialized region of the kingdom known mostly as a stopping point on the way to Inner Gilneas and their ability to train soldiers (largely at Caerafon).

During the Invasion the original Caerseren line was extinguished. After: Very sad, very empty now. Maybe a lil lawless.

## Out-of-Character Information

### Our Goals

* Our goals of restoration are a marathon, not a sprint. We are moving forward slowly and conservatively. When in doubt, we will err on the side of less is more.
* Caerseren is not a wealthy duchy. It is in disrepair after over a decade of invasion and possession by hostile powers. We are cobbling together funds (supplemented from the Ravenswood treasury as well as Ashland and Quvren’s personal accounts). *Money will be an obstacle for the foreseeable future.*
* Gold and Finances are matched by the TGC gold standard. A few things to note: Ships are VERY expensive. A Lance typically consists of a knight, a squire, two men-at-arms, and an archer or two. Having several Lances in your household guard would be very expensive to armor and maintain.
* Caerseren itself has limited natural resources. Ravenswood provides much of the lumber for the Duchy and Llewellyn (once back up and running) can provide masonry bricks the Viscounty is known for. Other resources from the duchy include salt, barley and flax (other crops do not do well in the marshy soils of Caerseren), limited veins of copper, tin, and silver, husbandry of sheep, goats, and eventually yaks, pear and pear products, and kelp and kelp products. *This means everything else must be imported.*
* This project prioritizes interaction and interconnectivity. Organizations, places, and establishments within the bounds of Caerseren exist to facilitate roleplay and storytelling, not to replace it. Example: The Landtithe is an *essential* cultural aspect of Caerseren. When undertaking a project, it is important to give back to the land. This is a deed and not a monetary gift. All projects should donate a portion back of whatever it is to the land of Caerseren. *If there is any doubt, a character should consult a witch.*
* Personal character growth is valued and encouraged. Please note that if one builds an estate for a character and then elect to take a noble seat elsewhere, the original estate may be used for another character in the future.

### Rules & Conditions

1. All members must be at least 18 years old.
2. Under no circumstances will a member engage in discriminatory behavior or hate speech. This includes, but is not limited to, oppression or hatred occurring at the intersections of race, gender, nationality, religion, disability, sexuality, or gender identity.
3. All members must adhere to a common-sense code of conduct and maintain a respectful environment. Leadership has no qualms about kicking pot-stirrers and other players who consistently impact the experience of other community members in a negative fashion.
4. All members will attempt to resolve conflict at the lowest possible level. Once a good faith attempt has been made, if the issue persists, please reach out to leadership. Please note that not all disagreements, particularly ones that escalate, will be resolved in private. Our goal is to maintain transparency with membership. Therefore, if an offense is public, so should be the resolution when at all possible.
5. While real life does come first, if you commit to a role in the community, you will be expected, within reason, to do something with it. This community is for shared storytelling and mutual investment. It isn’t okay to sit a character in a position (someone on Privy Council, for instance) and do nothing with that role when another storyteller might love a chance. Again, we understand that life happens. But we want important roles to go to active storytellers when at all possible, so please be considerate of others when accepting a role in our shared story. Please communicate changes to leadership as necessary and we will do our best to accommodate you.
6. All members will prioritize the question of consent in their interactions. No one shall be pressured into engaging in any type of interaction. If an interaction grows uncomfortable, the member will promptly and privately inform those involved. Upon such a notification, all parties involved will either make the needed accommodations or should end the interaction.
7. All interactions, both IC and OOC, will remain civil and non-explicit. This is the natural outgrowth of the rule above. None of us want to be chat police. Be mindful of who might see your interactions and, if things get spicy, take them to the DMs. Anyone caught violating this will be warned only once before being removed from the community entirely.
8. Under no circumstances will a member of the community engage in any explicit interaction at all with any player or character younger than 18 years of age.
9. Discussions of real-world social and political issues will remain in the DMs. They are not discussions for this community regardless of one’s position on a given topic.
10. It is required that all members acknowledge canon, and acknowledge that fanon exists to support, not replace established lore. This pertains to all things Gilnean, from the ruling houses and nobility, to the responsibilities and allowances given to the estates of the realm, social strata, and interactions with others.

### Hooks & Collaboration

Engaging with the Caerseren project is as simple as engaging in roleplay with one of the many characters involved. This can be as simple as saying, "My character will be getting off the ferry in Serendinas! Does anyone want to meet them?" (In game proxy: Theramore Isle.) Additionally, some of the denizens of Caerseren are quest givers who will recruit people from outside of the duchy to participate in an arc.

At this time, larger collaborations will be considered only as organic outgrowth from ongoing roleplay opportunities. We invest heavily in our fellows and encourage the same in return.

### Who to Contact

[A list of people to contact for specific inquiries.]

## Collaborators & Participants

[A full list of people the project collaborates with, guilds we work with, and a full "staff roll" of people who contribute to and play roles within the project.]