The Riverlands

**The Riverlands** is a Grand Duchy dating back to the early 9th century PW and one of the most populous realms in Central Chronaetas. Originally known as the Fleuveterre (Riverlands in the tongue of the Sangetellan lords), it is now known exclusively by the name of the Riverlands.

## Basic Information

### Leader(s)

* Duke Louis Granevar de Cendreterre (r. 804-820, l. 786-820)
* Duke Louis II Granevar de Fleuveterre (r. 820-857, l. 803-860)
* Grand Duke Richard Granevar of the Riverlands (r. 857-890, l. 823-890)
* Grand Duke Henry Granevar of the Riverlands (r. 890-904, l.840-904)

### Goals

* Consolidation of the Riverlands
* Fealty of the River Lords
* Expansion of House Granevar's reach

## Membership

### Active Members

* Grand Duke Henry Granevar of the Riverlands (r. 890-904, l.840-904)
* Richard II Granevar of the Riverlands (Heir Apparent, l. 860-904)

## History

### Foundation of the Duchy (615-806 PW)

The original River Lords arrived c. 615 PW, when nobility from Sangetelle to the east conquered the region. By 700 PW, they had become established as Counts, Barons, and Marquises who swore vassalage to the Kingdom of Sangetelle. Until 804 PW, this equilibrium persisted in the Riverlands.

That year, a civil war in Sangetelle erupted over the throne, and the chaos eventually reached the Riverlands. The Count Louis Granevar de Cendreterre claimed to have discovered evidence that the Marquis Charles Hautefer de Fleuvemarche was scheming to support the rebels and murder the loyalist lords in the Riverlands during a week of negotiations in Flumenton. To preempt this scheme, Louis Granevar and his troops stormed the keep of Flumenton in the night and slew Marquis Charles. Louis Granevar then took direct rule over the Fleuvemarche.

Later, in 805 PW, Louis Granevar declared for the rebel Duke of Oresdes who would later become King of Sangetelle. Facing the other River Lords in battle, he crushed their divided forces and secured the western borders for the Oresdes usurper. By 806 PW, the civil war concluded with the victory of the Oresdes faction, and Louis Granevar was officially declared Duke of the Fleuveterre as a reward for his loyalty.

### Consolidation (806-867 PW)

Louis' newfound duchy was by no means secure, and the next 61 years were a period of consolidation and stabilization. The River Lords resented his feigned attempt at loyalty and subsequent betrayal, and many of the clergy viewed his reign as illegitimate and unjust. Furthermore, he had to manage both a newfound duchy, the vast Marquise of the Fleuvemarche and his ancestral County of Cendreterre. As such, his court was held on the move as he attempted to stabilize the realm. This endeavor consumed the rest of his life, as he died to a bandit gang in 820 PW. Much later, it was revealed that said bandit gang was in the employ of a local lord.

His successor, Louis II Granevar de Fleuveterre, had become Duke at the age of 17. For the first 5 years of his reign, the realm was in truth managed by his uncle Philippe Granevar and by his mother Josette de Lailnay. After a riot in Flumenton threatened to erupt into a full-scale revolt, however, their authority was weakened--and Louis II seized the opportunity. Pacifying the riot himself, he quickly established himself as the true authority of the duchy. He appeased his uncle Philippe by gifting him the Granevar dynasty's ancestral fief of Cendreterre, sending him away in the process as well. Meanwhile, he maintained his mother as an advisor, but held the power in court himself.

The remaining 32 years of his reign saw Louis II organize the duchy's administration and secure the loyalty of the River Lords. He moved the capital to Flumenton, granted liberties to the frontier lords while centralizing authority along the rivers. He also protected the liberties of the Riverfolk peasants, and abolished serfdom in 850 PW. Some revolts did occur, but Louis II resolved them all; some by the pen, others by the sword. By the time he abdicated to his son Richard in 867 PW, he had turned the Riverlands into a prosperous and unified duchy.

### Divergence (867-873 PW)

The first 5 years of Richard's reign marked a gradual departure from the duchy's Sangetellan roots. The previously-Sangetellan nobility had spent long enough among the Riverfolk that the two cultures were hybridizing well before Louis I's death in 820 PW, but Louis II's reforms and unification of the region had accelerated this trend. Richard was the first Duke of the Riverlands who could not be considered "truly Sangetellan." For instance, his first language was the common of the Riverfolk rather than the Elvish of the Sangetellan lords, which he learned while being raised in court.

Duke Richard differed from his sire and predecessor Louis in many other ways, however. Whereas Louis started a puppet at the young age of 17, Richard took control at the age of 34 and with plenty of experience. Whereas Louis was cautious in his reign, Richard was ambitious. And this ambition would drive his legacy, for good and for ill. For the western nobles in Sangetelle had diverged from the eastern nobles just as the River Lords diverged from the Sangetellan nobles. The Osresdes usurper and his heir were both western lords, but the usurper died of old age in 830 PW. His heir died in 855 PW, when the kingdom had been soundly defeated by the Auroran League, consisting of Nova Aurora and several minor states to the south of Sangetelle. The King of Sangetelle was crowned at 4 years old, and the Kingdom was in fact ruled by eastern nobles; manipulating the realm to favor themselves, tensions grew rapidly.

Thus Richard, Duke of an ascendant and prosperous duchy, sought to turn his realm into a great and independent power. After his father Louis II died of sickness in 870 PW, Richard began conspiring with western lords to achieve independence. When a council of lords increased taxes in 872, Duke Richard and 4 other western dukes refused to pay taxes. The eastern lords amassed a punitive force to collect taxes from the Duke of Oirol, but the rebellious lords declared the force to be an act of tyranny and amassed their forces. Thus began the Riverlander war for independence.

### Independence and Wars (872-890 PW)

The first clash of the war occurred near the town of Corrois in Oirol. The western lords had managed to unite their armies and overwhelmed the unprepared punitive force, decimating it. Emboldened by this victory, they marched on the royal demesne of Ocresdes. Many more of the discontented western lords rose up in rebellion. The royal lords in the east amassed a second and larger force, this time lead by the young king of Sangetelle, now 21, and marched on the rebels. However, the fortress of Ocresdes had fallen to Duke Richard's forces, and a period of slow maneuvering began. Finally, the two forces met near the village of Jargis early in 873, and the western rebels were victorious, even capturing the king. He was forced to acknowledge their independence before being released from captivity. The central Sangetellan dukes then declared their own independence, and the kingdom was forced to accept their demands as well. Thus, the kingdom of Sangetelle was left greatly weakened, albeit still a power in the region.

In the meanwhile, Richard declared himself Grand Duke of the Riverlands and established the Riverlands as an independent power. With the court tongue's change from Sangetellan Elvish to Riverfolk Common, the divergence of the two realms was complete. Yet Richard was not done with chasing his ambitions. The Duke of Lailnay, one of the rebel lords, had died without an heir in 875; Richard claimed the title his by rights, stemming from his grandmother. The lords of Lailnay instead appointed a cousin of the now-King of Oirol, whose claim was weaker but came patrilineally. Richard attempted to claim the duchy by force, initiating the War of Lailnayan Succession; Richard saw initial successes until the Raven Queen-worshiping temple of Enville declared his claim illegitimate in 877. Rejecting their decision, the Envillean forces joined with Oirol and Lailnay, and Richard's forces were driven into a stalemate.

This stalemate persisted until 878, when a border conflict with the Kingdom of Castfall threatened to result in the collapse of the Cendreterre. Richard established a ceasefire with the Lailnay Alliance and brought his army to negotiate a deal with the King of Castfall. With his army in the region, he subjugated many independent River Lords near Castfall, increasing tensions but also fortifying the border. In 880 PW, the Duke of Lailnay had offended the clergy of Enville when he had a scandal involving necromancy. Offended, they declared that the Duke had lost his right to rule and offered to support Richard. He gladly accepted and marshaled his forces again. The Riverland-Enville alliance had taken most of the duchy when the King of Castfall intervened to curb Riverlander power. With the war threatening to drag on, the King of Oirol and the Lailnay nobles met in 881 PW with Grand Duke Richard and negotiated a settlement: Richard's daughter Elizabeth would become Duchess of Lailnay, and the current Duke's son would marry her. The lords present agreed, and the King of Castfall was forced to withdraw his forces. This limited peace demonstrated the might of the Riverlands, but also assuaged the lords of Western Sangetelle that it could be contained if needed.

In the remaining 9 years of his reign, Richard focused on the northern and western frontiers, greatly expanding the Moorland and establishing new settlements along the Upper Flumen. These expansionist efforts continued until Richard died in his sleep on 890 PW, and had left the Riverlands a regional power, albeit drained of its treasury and manpower from 18 years of constant conflict.

### Present (890-904 PW)

Upon the death of Grand Duke Richard Granevar, his son and heir Henry claimed the crown at 50 years of age. Henry was a thoroughly average man compared to his predecessors. As opposed to Richard, he was lacking in ambition. As opposed to Louis II, he was unable to force his way through noble intrigues. So far, Henry has seen what appears to be a peaceful, uneventful rule. However, much has occurred beneath his grasp.

Richard's wars had left him away from the capital for a while, and Henry's complacency had left him ignorant of common affairs. In the meanwhile, many of the lords had grown greedy and taken advantage of the king's wars to exploit the peasantry or engage in schemes against each other. The veterans of Richard's wars eventually returned as well, and many villages organized militias under them. In the cities, cabals of amoral wizards and selfish criminals grew abundant, and beasts multiplied beyond control in the wilds.

## Culture

### Language

The Riverfolk speak Common, much like the people of Nova Aurora and throughout the world. Their dialect of Common differs slightly from the way it is spoken in Nova Aurora, with some influence from Sangetellan Elvish.

### Religion

The most popular deity in the Riverlands is Pelor, who represents the harvest. Melora is popular among hunters and foresters, while Kord is sometimes given offerings by farmers when praying for rain or seasonal floods.

The patron deity of House Granevar has been the Raven Queen, but recent lords have taken to others. Grand Duke Richard favored Kord, while Grand Duke Henry favors Pelor.

### Governance

While the feudal structure differs little from Sangetelle, the River Lords give their peasants much more autonomy. In the Riverlands, peasants are free to change lords or move to the cities whenever they see fit.

## Regions

### The Flumenmark

The Flumenmark is the most powerful, populous and wealthiest region in the Riverlands and is directly administered by the Grand Dukes.

### Isenmark

The Isenmark is a northern march in the Riverlands. Its mines, especially its iron mines, are exceedingly plentiful and make it one of the more powerful vassals of the Grand Dukes.

### Sonderterr

Sonderterr, also known as Cendreterre, is the ancestral seat of House Granevar and the oldest fiefdom in the Riverlands.

### Moorlands

The Moorlands are the western frontiers of the Riverlands, and consist of colonies delving through the Wood of Sharp Teeth and the Penumbral Woods towards the White Mountains of the west.

### Upper Flumen

Whereas Sonderterr is the oldest region in the Riverlands, the Upper Flumen is the youngest. It consists of trade settlements along the Flumen, initially founded in the late 8th century but only brought under organized rule when Grand Duke Richard sponsored their growth in the 880s.

### Lower Flumen

The Lower Flumen is a collection of free cities and baronies. Originally part of Fleuvemarche, they were given increased privileges under Louis II and are major trade hubs.