Barony of Aristaeria

**Ruler**
 **Ruling House**
 **Seat**
 **Settlements**
 **Beliefs**
 **Founded**

The **Barony of Aristaeria** is a land in the southeasternmost corner of Westfall and only a stone's throw from the Stranglethorn border. It's location makes it the meeting place of many forces. The civilization of Stormwind meets the savagery of the wild, old traditions interact with new ideas, and ancient magics face off with the fore-tremors of industry.

It is a land in metamorphosis, but what it will become is anyone's guess. The land's new baron, Elrodore Tate, is doing what he can to guide the region but the barony's distance from Stormwind and corrupt previous barons have limited his influence among the people. Only time will tell what is next in store for this ancient land.

## Culture

The people of the Barony of Aristaeria are passionate, creative, and not at all afraid to express their emotions. Half the population are some kind of artist and the other half are tradesmen so dedicated to their craft that they'd likely punch you in the face if you criticized their work out of turn. This intense approach to life is a product of the land's long and bloody history. Aristaeria has seen a relatively large number of massacres and battles over its six hundred and thirty two year history. It became practical to grab life by the horns seeing as you might be dead by the year's end. They are likely to give a lukewarm response to outsiders. They used to be friendlier but years of Defias raiding, bad harvests, and mistreatment at the hands of the land's former nobles have left them weary.

### Religious Beliefs

The Church of the Holy Light is the official religion of the barony but the land has a bloody history in the form of sacrificial harvest cults. While the cults have been beaten down by Stormwind authorities they have not been completely eradicated and a small minority of citizens still practice in secret.

### Local Holidays

There used to be an art festival held every three months in Woodsbrook where nobles would come from all over the kingdom to visit the region and purchase works of art. There hasn't been a festival since the Defias ravaged the region.

The "Rainbow War" is a festival held in Middleton during times of a dye surplus. Everyone in the barony gathers in the town for a seven way friendly fight between teams. Each team is assigned a single color of dye powder and whichever color was the most prevalent throughout the town and on the people by the end was the winner

There are four festivals spaced throughout the year according to solstices and equinoxes of the season. Each festival is different. During the spring equinox, village maidens wearing flower crowns decorate maypoles and celebrate the waking of the world from winter. The summer and winter solstice festivals are massive feasts held out in the fields after dark, accompanied by bonfires and music. On the autumn equinox, a giant wickerman is constructed and set alight. Citizens throw sticks into the fire, symbolically shedding burdens they don't wish to carry into winter.

## Economy & Resources

The Barony makes its coin mostly by providing the kingdom with its supply of dyes and paints. The massive wildflower fields of Aristaeria gave rise to a booming dye and paint trade in the past. The craft is struggling to pick back up again after the Defias torched some of the dye works but progress is being made. Right now the region is surviving mostly on its export of royal purple dye to Stormwind. This luxury dye is made from a lichen that grows in the eponymous woods of Woodsbrook. The woods are property of the crown and many in the barony consider it a miracle the Defias didn't burn them down.

The town of Middleton was the center of a small but growing mill industry before droughts ruined Westfall's grain harvests. The mills still run but don't make nearly as much flour as they did in the past. The certainly don't make enough to export.

Crossroads, Aristaeria's northernmost settlement, grows most of its food. It is not a wealthy town by any means which is ironic considering its industry is the strongest. A natural aquifer under the town has been helping the crops grow despite the drought affecting Westfall. Aristaeria's last baron took advantage of the townsfolk's favorable situation and steeply raised tariffs on the town's food. Since most other parts of Westfall were too poor to even buy food at normal prices, this led a dramatic loss in trade for the town, landing most of its citizens in abject poverty themselves. This has made the aristocracy quite unpopular with the populace.

## History

### The Ancient Past

Recent archeological finds in the fields of Crossroads suggest that a tribe of trolls once made their home in the region. What happened to them though is anyone's guess.

### Colonization

A few years after the colony of Stormwind was founded, settlers moved south and established a frontier trading post near modern Woodsbrook. This trading post served as a point of respite for those journeying between Westfall and Duskwood (known then as Brightwood).

### Stormwind War of Independence

During the Stormwind War of Independence, the trading post was the site of a skirmish between Arathorian forces and fifty three settlers trying to protect their livelihoods. The peasants lost, the survivors executed, and the trading post burned down. This became known as the First Burning at Woodsbrook. After the war a new trading post was set up a few miles to the east of where the old one was. Over the coming years, a small town would grow up around the trading post, eventually becoming known as Woodsbrook. This trading post still stands actually as Woodsbrook's general store, somehow managing to survive every subsequent time the town was burned down.

(The rest to be added at a later time)

## Settlements

### Woodsbrook

Woodsbrook is the capital of the Barony, and is a trading port on the Nazferiti River. The buildings here are both colorful and quaint, looking like something out of an idealized painting of provincial life.

### Middleton

Middleton is a small town north of Woodsbrook and south of Crossroads. It used to be a grain port on the Nazferiti River but is right now struggling to stay afloat economically.

### Crossroads

Crossroads is the food basket of Aristaeria. Despite being well-fed, its residents are extremely poor.

## Houses

The junior branch of House Tate currently rules over Aristaeria. Numerous houses have held the land in the past but all either met their end either through dissolution, assassination, or being massacred by a rival house. House Tate acquired the barony after the former ruler of the region lost a court case against Duchess Oliviana Tate-Zverenhoff.