Ritterdom

The flag of Ritterdom

## Geography

Map of Ritterdom by PeterNotPasta year 216 A.R. (After Ritter)

**Ritterdom** or **Ritter's Domain** is a nation in the east of Ef'thar that contains only plains. The nation is led by the council of elders which was the council established 5 years before Lord Ritters death. Ritter was The first Lord of Knights, this nations equivalent of a king although they do not like Ritter being called a king. Their calendar is based on Lord Ritter as well resulting in B.R. (before Ritter) and A.R. (after Ritter). (The servers grace period ended in 200 A.R.)

Ritterdom has a well documented history although timespans can be a bit vague. This is the result of their late conversion from tribal nomadic lifestyle. They have been building keeps and cities for about 250-300 years which is often considered late as their neighbours did this long before them.

## Houses and The Council of Elders

The ruling class in Ritterdom exists of noble houses. The most well known houses are House Ritter, House Valance, House Wolfe and House Thorn. House Ritter is extinct but was the house that founded the nation. House Valance and Wolfe are about as old as Ritter but managed to survive till the present day. Thorn is a fairly new house that officially received the title of House Thorn in 122 A.R.

The Council of Elders was established roughly 5 B.R. (before Ritter). The Council consists of House leaders or representatives.

## Geography

In this section You will find a description of the geography of Ritterdom. Along with it we provide a new map where the geography features are easy to identify.

### The Freezing River

The Freezing river is the river that forms the Northern border of Ritterdom. Although it has not frozen in recent documented history people think that during the Nomadic era it froze every winter creating more competition around Lake Evalon for its water supply.

Every few years larger pieces of ice are spotted on the river. These are probably the result of a harsher winter in the north allowing the ice to travel further before melting in Ritterdom's warmer climate.

Nowadays Outpost Murus stands atop the river acting as both a bridge and a small trading town.

### The Cleaved Mountains

In the North and Northwest of the country you will find its borders are the result of the geographical feature called the cleaved mountains. These mountains have been called this way for as long as anyone can remember as is the case for most geographical features. Scholars nowadays think the mountains thank their name to the fact that they suddenly change colour on the Northern end. While the eastern side contains mostly varied colours of terracotta the western side is more greyish and borders The Golden Forest on the other side.

### Lake Evalon

The lake obviously thanks its name to the capital that rests at its eastern shore and the castle on the western shore. But Evalon was only being founded in the year 57 B.R. The Lake had a name before that looking at the Nomadic Era the lake might have had multiple names depending on the tribe. But scholars think it was called the Blue Jewel before Ritter planted his capital there.

The lake is quite shallow and does contain fish it however is not connected to any bigger rivers and as such offers very little opportunity for transport. The lack of water ways to travel in Ritterdom is probably the reason for its complete lack of ships and naval capabilities.

### The Spine of the Plains

The spine of the plains is a series of hills that seemingly form a near straight line across a big part of the plains. At several points in our history it has served as a territorial border.

During the invasion of the Westerners it is estimated that this was the spot they stopped the conquest which gave The First Knight the opportunity to build an army. Scholars think the hills might once have had many wooden forts on it build by the westerners but very little evidence was ever found to confirm this. In The War of the First Knight it is said many wooden forts were burned down which explains the lack of remains.

In the writings of the scribe the spine is never mentioned but historians are quite certain that several battles might have take place there as Ritter was known as a good strategist who knew how to use the land to his advantage.

Nowadays the spine does not function as a border and part of is within the territories of Cascantorum. Historians speculate whether there capital might have been planted there because of a surviving wooden fort set up by the Westerners. This fort would have offered the nearby people protection during later periods, but no traces of any such fort remain.

### The Golden Forest

The Golden Forest is beautiful because of its mixture of tall strong trees with the red terracotta hills. The name was given after it was discovered to have gold deposits beneath it but much of these have been mined out and the mines were abandoned and swallowed by the forest.

Ritterdom being a nation of horse riders was never really interested in these lands because of how hard it was to traverse on horseback. This is probably why our current western borders stop at the forest and its terracotta hills such as The Cleaved Mountains mentioned before.

### The Sacred Forest

If you were to travel to the southern borders of Ritterdom you would be amazed by the forest rising in from of you. Its massive trees tower higher than any buildings known to us. The forest is mysterious and it is advised to take not of stakes and warning signs as it is a dangerous place. The Trees cover the skies, which makes orientation based on the sun next to impossible, and strange sounds will give an uneasy feeling to anyone brave enough to enter.

Rumours say that the forest is home to strange creatures such as bears of gigantic proportions, orcs and elves. Although the larger part of Ritterdom believes these stories to be old wife tales to prevent people from loosing their way in the forest, more recent reports by Peter Thorn himself tell us otherwise (more on this report can be found on Peter Thorns Wiki (if it has been released)).

Speculation amongst historians brings us to believe that some tribes during the Nomadic era might have had a religious connection to the forest. The reason for this is its name, in our current religion the Path of the Ancestors there are little to no mentions of the forest which leads us to believe a long forgotten tribal religion might have given it its name.

## The History of Ritterdom

This Document includes the known History of Ritterdom. Know that much of Ritterdoms history is still shrouded in mystery because our people already roamed the plains long before writing was the norm. Therefore much of our early history will be based on stories, outside sources and on our religion being The Path of the Ancestors.

### The days of the Common ancestors

The days of the common ancestors is the period we know the least about, as writing was not common nor well preserved. Therefore we take a look at recovered scrolls, tapestries, and The Writings of the First Scribe to make an educated guess as to what Early Ritterdom might have looked like.

#### The Recovered Scrolls

Our neighbours outside of the plains of Ritterdom talk about a people different from any other.

*These horse riding men rule the plains of Eastern Ef’thar. They are not to be trifled with when within the plains they roam and own. They are seemingly glued to their horses as they are almost never to be seen loose from their steeds backs. Many tribes roam these lands, some friendly, some dangerous. They do not seem to build large settlements in their lands, rather, they live in smaller communities or tribes. These communities live in Huts and tents and often move if they feel like their location is no longer favourable for some reason. It is encouraged to avoid travelling the plains as individuals and caravans have disappeared before. If you are to find yourself within these lands, stay vigilant!*

This text came from a recovered partial scroll discovered in ruins of older towns in the forests west of the plains. We can derive from this that our ancestors were feared and were late to discover or at least understand the art of writing. These scrolls are probably from a very early point in our history.

#### The Common Ancestors

If we look to our own sources about this period we find that only the stories of the Common Ancestors seem to remain. These we know through our Religion: The Path of the Ancestors. Our religion is centered around  values and remembering those that came before us to learn from them. From this, we know of the six people who made Ritterdom into  the civilization it is, that we are, today.

##### The Settler

These lands were not always inhabited by our ancestors. One day a man or woman must have decided that these lands would be the ones they wanted to spend their life on, and where their offspring would reside as well. These lands shaped our people and **therefore we honour them.**

##### The Brothers of the Horse

We do not call them brothers for the fact they have the same parents, as they were likely born decades apart. We call them brothers for their common talent with horses. Horses are an immensely important part of our way of life, **therefore we honour them.**

###### The First Stablemaster

The elder of the two was the one that first brought horses into our lives. Perhaps not yet to ride, but to work the land we feed of of and to transport the goods we could not carry. Therefore we honour him.

###### The First Lance

The second brother was the one that finally saw the true potential of the horse, to ride it and use it to defend and attack. Nowadays, we take riding horses and using lances for granted, but it was he who came up with the innovation and thus shaped our history. He saw the potential of what a man atop of a horse could do with a weapon in hand. Therefore we honour him.

##### The First Knight

Sometime after we learned to use our horses for combat one must have realised that this was not a power purely to use for his own good. When a common threat to the plains arose, he realised that the tribes needed to unite. The First Knight put forth the ideology that those who have the power and means to protect have a duty to protect those that cannot protect themselves. He became our first true knight and a legendary defender of our lands. This figure was the  first leader to unite the majority of the plains, even if temporarily, to a common goal.  Therefore we honour him.

Some call him the First Lord of Knights but this is heavily disputed because of the duration of his reign. In the Writings of the First Scribe we dive deeper into his exploits.

##### The First Scribe

This is the only common ancestor whose name was not lost to time as he taught our people to write it down. His name was Cornelius R. Grove, and he would be the first to start chronicling what the people knew of The Common Ancestors. He also wrote The Writings of the First Scribe, which you can find in this history document as well. Writing later revolutionised the realm and greatly improved it. Therefore we honour him.

##### The First Lord of Knights

This is perhaps the most important of the Common ancestors, as he was one who possessed almost all of the skills of the other Common Ancestors. With those skills he managed to be the second one to unite us all under his name and banner, and perhaps even more impressively, managed to keep the people of the plains united that way. Therefore we honour him.

We dive deeper in his exploits in the Writings of The First Scribe.

#### The Writings of the Scribe

These are the old Writings of the Scribe with added notes. These notes were later added by other historians to clarify his writings, to correct them and to point out inconsistencies.

##### The War of the First Knight

Note: The First knight lived and ruled 220 years before the First Scribe wrote about him. Therefore he is a second account witness. This means these events played out around the year 263 B.R.

(264 B.R.)

*All of a sudden there was a new arrival, a new people, and we were no longer alone in these plains. The days of the western people who feared us are over. Now, we fear them. A great force had managed to surprise us, for we had never looked beyond our plains, foolishly fighting each other for them. With hindsight,  we saw we had let a great neighbour develop right on our doorstep. This neighbour saw an opportunity in our tribal ways of life, for there was nothing uniting us except for our habits and our horses. And thus we were an easy target for a predator like the one they had become. They quickly took over the lands west of the Plains Spine and west of the lake. They had little to no horses in their army and were more focused on infantry, which was a surprise and unfamiliar tactic to our people. Their troopes most often carried large shields, pairing these defences with spears and short swords. They had learned to fight in some kind of shield wall formation, one that required very little training compared to the time the plains people spent honing their skill with a horse. This combined with their cheaper equipment and lack of expensive, well bred horses made them much cheaper to sustain. But all of a sudden they stopped their conquest for reasons unknown... This however, would prove to be their greatest mistake in this conflict.*

(262 B.R.)

*The First Knight was rumoured to be a well known noble of one of the bigger tribes on the plains at the time. Some say it was called the Tribe of the Night, which later changed to the word “knight” which we know today. He managed to convince all of the tribes that these Westerners would not stop at the Plains Spine, but once they recovered from whatever had stopped them, they would continue to take over the plains. He united all the warriors who were left and could ride a horse, bringing them together to form a great army. The First Knight divided them into companies and trained them in new tactics to combat their enemy, brilliant tactics that we still use against similar foes today. The fake charge in combination with pincer moves became common tactics, which were used  to great effect. Within one year the First Knight managed to prepare his army for a new form of warfare, and when it was ready, he attacked.*

*He baited the Westerners into open field battles, which were easy to come by in the plains. The enemy’s hubris and overconfidence proved to be their undoing, for as they were exposed to the First Knight’s new tactics, they fell for every trap and manoeuvre. The tribes of the plains quickly managed to beat the first few armies and garrisons in the west who were unprepared for the newly organised and trained Knight’s armies. Following these victories on the field were the sieges in the north west. The Westerners still had one trick on their sleeves; they settled and had built keeps and forts. Some could be exhausted of food and water, which resulted in surrenders or easy defeats of their weakened forces. Other forts were attacked directly, since some were mostly wooden structures and often burned easily. This served to exhaust the Westerner’s food and water supply, crippling their logistics alongside their defences. These tactics of siege and flame, were applied on every fort but the Westerner’s so called ‘provincial capital’. This was a keep that was a sight to behold. The structure was made out of thick stone and marble, and it took a long bloody siege where many of our knights were forced to fight on foot instead of on their trusted horses. But finally, the gates were breached and a fire was spread along the wooden support structure inside of the castle. This resulted in the keep’s eventual collapse. It is estimated that the siege took several months, perhaps even years. After the Westerner’s defeat and retreat, the castle was abandoned; there was no one interested in rebuilding a symbol that had stood for the oppression of the plains.*

*The First Knight had died in the siege fighting on top of the walls. It had been kept a secret to keep morale high during the fighting, but after the war was won there was no point in keeping this truth from the world. Sadly, this led to the disbanding of the once united force of the plains.*

##### The Days of the Past Return

*The council of all the plain’s tribes gathered in order to try and keep the lands united, but the council was simply too large and too divided to perform the task. Little by little,, the plains splintered into different alliances and thus the tribes of the plains largely reverted to their old habits.*

Note: The Westerners, while gone, had left their mark on the people of the plains. Slowly but surely the tribes began calling themselves houses and started to make outposts, more permanent structures with some of them even becoming forts. Villages slowly started to appear, population increased, fortresses arose, and thus the society changed dramatically. Houses worth mentioning that arose during this time would be: House Valance, House Ritter and House Wolf.

##### Ritter’s Plan

Although the First Scribe wrote little about himself, we know for a fact he was alive when Ritter’s story begins. However, most of the Scribe’s information was second hand and often from biassed sources. This is because he was unable to travel and lived in the west of the plains; this area would later become Ritter’s biggest obstacle in his stride for peace.

*House Ritter was a fairly new and small house with a rather low amount of knights at its disposal. George Ritter was its leader, a young man in his early thirties, simply referred to as Lord Ritter by most People. He had seen many conflicts between the different houses. The houses had only recently adopted the habit of having permanent settlements which the plains’ neighbours had done long before them. These settlements were most often villages surrounding a wooden fort of sorts. Stone buildings are not very common, unless for the use of keeps inside of the forts. This new development of settling down has created many conflicts over which house owned which lands. Lord Ritter himself had fought in several conflicts in his younger years in support of several Houses, but the fighting seemed to have no end. As soon as one conflict came to an end the next one seemed to be just around the corner.*

*Lord Ritter was ambitious and as a strong warrior, needed a new challenge. He had used his time as a neutral party  to expand his powerbase, training soldiers, recruiting allies, and preparing for the inevitable conflicts that dominated the plains. So, when one of his villages got caught in a conflict between two neighbouring houses, Lord Ritter used this as an excuse to wage war on all of the plains. He would try to unite them under one banner,  ironically called: Create peace for all. Lord Ritter  crushed and suppressed his neighbours swiftly. Like many others, House Valance had bent the knee like a loyal dog to its master upon their defeat.*

Note: This part seems very painted by personal opinions and of course from his sources in the biassed west. Other sources written later, perhaps by his students, say the following:

*Lord Ritter was sick of the fighting and had decided to stay neutral in the inter-house for several years. He used this time to invest in the local economy and to train more Knights. The other houses fought on, leaving the small house for what it was. This weakened the neighbouring houses and during this time Lord Ritter had managed to earn the respect of most, if not all of these nobles for his refusal to meddle in their conflicts. There are some who say that Lord Ritter negotiated peace in some of these conflicts, which would support the decision of many houses to willingly join Lord Ritter. However, for all his neutrality, Lord Ritter had plans. When a town within his domain was caught in a skirmish between other houses, nearly  burned down in the process of the battle, Lord Ritter made a big decision. He vowed that he would ride to war one last time, not for land, not for riches and not for glory, but to end all fighting and Unite all of the plains houses under one banner and one cause. Lord Ritter swiftly defeated the houses that harmed his village and quickly absorbed or, when forced to, destroyed the houses nearby. Most notable among these being House Valance, since it is one of the few older houses that survived till this day. Ritter, being well respected and possessing a  natural talent for leadership, ensured the houses that were absorbed quickly accepted his rule through charisma and clever political moves. Uniting the plains east of the Spine of the Plains took Lord Ritter about 4 years. There were no major battles during this time, with the largest clashes of arms being battles against 3-4 Houses and their housecarls that opposed Ritter.*

Note: we expect the Scribe to have suffered from old age at this point, though his opinion of Lord Ritter greatly improves with time. It is also likely that the Scribe had several of his students help him write the final pages of his works, as his hands were unsteady due to his age. The Scribe also passed during Lord Ritter’s life, and it is widely assumed that his students completed the Scribe’s final work for him. However, controversy ensues as some modern contemporaries believe the students were biassed, a bias which worked its way into the Scribe’s pages.  Popular theories include that the work might have been changed out of the students’ love for Lord Ritter or of fear for the consequences of painting Ritter in a bad light. According to many, Ritter was a reasonable man, but after his death some of his followers were not.

*Around this point Lord Ritter’s lands became known as Ritter's Domain. With time this name changed into what we know nowadays as Ritterdom.*

*For now, Lord Ritter had managed to take over the south of the plains stopping at the Northern lake. Here the remaining Northern houses had united under one banner calling themselves the Alliance of Resilience. They had managed to keep Ritter at bay for almost two years now, but all knew a final battle was approaching.*

##### The Battle for Ritterdom

*On the First day of Spring the horns sounded, the banners of the plain’s tribes were called forth, and all gathered on the fields east of the lake for battle. The odds were fairly even and although Lord Ritter had reached out and attempted to talk to the Lords of the Northern houses, it had all been in vain. The Lords of House Wolfe, House Franel and House Monstand had been stubborn. Either not believing Ritter’s intent for peace for all, disliking his vision of a united Ritterdom under him, or simply refusing all proposals because of their lust for power, these houses stood arrayed against House Ritter and its allies. On this fateful day, both sides rode towards the field ready for battle. No one had ever witnessed not one, but two cavalry forces of this size before. Infantry was scarce and primarily defended resupply points in nearby villages or forests. Because of this, the battle solely consisted of cavalry. Additionally, the terrain of the battle was constrictive due to the lake and the larger hills of the east, presenting little opportunity for either force to manoeuvre and attempt to get a flank on their enemy. As a result of this, the tactics of the battle were simple; a charge was the only logical option. Thus, the determination and experience of the warriors would decide the outcome of the war.*

*The two lines charged towards each other just before noon. A great many horses and Knights fell in the first charge alone and the losses would continue to rise thereafter. The horses themselves were not used to such brutal and straightforward charges, which caused fear and confusion to spread across the field as the animals would react in fear. The battle was bloody and long, and nearly all the members of House Ritter fell as they were targeted while proudly carrying their crests and banners. But Lord Ritter himself would fight on to whatever destiny he had cut out for himself and the Realm. At the end of the day, Ritter was victorious. Many horses died, dozens of nobles were slain, and no one was left unaffected from the battle. While the battle ended in a victory for Ritterdom, it came at a high cost to him and the Realm.*

##### The Aftermath and Rule of Ritter

*In the aftermath they counted hundreds if not thousands of dead horses and knights. Both sides had given many lives in the name of peace, which afterwards had made this battle look all the more pointless. Several of the Northern houses returned to their forts while others surrendered since Lord Ritter had promised mercy. The ones who had fortified themselves made a last stand that was over almost as fast as it had started. The war was over, all were united, and Ritter could start to reform the Realm with the one goal being to ensure this situation would not repeat itself.*

*There was only one exception to the reformation and unity of the new realm, Cascantorum. This was a town in the west, along the coast outside of the plains where many Westerners had surrendered and were allowed to stay, many from as far back as the First Knight’s time. The people were led not by a house, but by a council based on their old nation's political system. Ritter’s goal was to unite all of the plains, but the fighting was over and most of all he wanted to unite all of the people of the plains. He had done that, but these people in Cascantorum were not people of the plains, yet neither were they Westerners. They were both, adopting a culture based on both the Westerners and the plains. All these factors were considered by Lord Ritter, as well as the high war weariness, which led to Cascantorum’s independence and recognition as an independent city state and friend of Ritterdom.*

*After the conflict Ritter received the title “Lord of Knights” and allowed all knights of all houses to keep their titles. He had only one condition; All knights were to swear fealty not to the lord of knights, but to the realm itself. A knight could still be pledged to a house but his vow to the realm would always have priority. While there was resistance to the idea, as some believed this was a ploy to have all swear fealty to House Ritter, Lord Ritter eased their fears by taking the oath to serve the realm himself.*

*Ritter started a council called the Council of Elders to help him rule. He included Nobles from both sides of the conflict to ensure the North wouldn’t feel slighted, a wise political move that brought about peace much quicker. He also decided to start a settlement on the very spot the Battle for Ritterdom had taken place in order to create a sort of neutral zone and memorial. This town would be called Evalon and function as the capital of Ritterdom. This is where we see the first evidence of more Stone buildings, mostly for keeps, walls and even housing. Additionally, a great mixture of architectural styles from across the plains could be seen, from the red bricks of the west to the worn stone of the east. The people were critical at first, but soon became fond of the peaceful feeling the lands now had as inter-house conflict was now null. It took a few years, but the people of the plains now felt united and thus Ritter had successfully achieved his dream. He had created a patriotic feeling, a loyalty no longer stopping at a noble house, but one for the Realm in its entirety.*

*At the west side of the lake large fields of Peony flowers filled the land. People often went there to enjoy the peaceful atmosphere and pluck the flowers to bring them home. One woman was transplanting a peony, but in doing so uncovered old cut stones. An investigation was made, and Ritter received a report of ruins beneath the flower fields and authorised them to be explored and dug out. They discovered the ruins of the castle that once was the provincial capital of the Westerners when they occupied these lands. Ritter, who saw a castle was still missing in his newfound capital, authorised the reconstruction of the castle to turn what was once a tool of their enemies into a bastion of hope and strength for his people.*

##### The Death of Lord Ritter

*Ritter ruled for 26 more years until the age of 63. At this time, his health started declining rapidly and he gave leadership to the Council of Elders, only intervening when absolutely necessary.  He died on the first day of spring five years later. Some say he had purposefully waited to let go till the day of The Battle for Ritterdom to feel closer to the ones he lost. Sadly, Lord Ritter had no sons and most of House Ritter had fallen in the battle 30 years earlier, resulting in the dissolution of the House in the next generation. Yet Ritterdom remains the name of the nation in order to honour its founder and uphold his goals.*

*Looking back, Lord Ritter was: a stablemaster, a competent wielder of the lance, a settler in founding the capital and a new nation, and of course a knight. This means he possessed all the skills the other Common Ancestors possessed with the exception of the First Scribe.*

Note: this is where the Writings of the First Scribe end and where our timeline starts. The Scribe presumably died before this time earlier in Ritter’s reign.

### The Days of the Council

The Days of the Council is where our calendar starts, at the death of Lord Ritter. It tells us when the Council officially took over the realm and ruled it

until our present day.

The Council, with the blessing of Lord Ritter, took over the Rule of Ritterdom and designed a form of trials that were to be completed if a new Lord of Knights wanted to ascend. These Trials included the person in question to be part of a recognised noble house and for them to beat all recognized houses in single combat. The form of single combat would be mounted or dismounted depending on the house's preference. If a house loses the duel, the house must swear fealty to the new lord. Houses can also do this without engaging in single combat or even after beating the Lord, with the latter being seen as a show of force.

However, these trails prove difficult to accomplish and a new Lord of Knights has not ascended the throne since Lord Ritter himself.

(This is where the grace period ends in the year 200 A.R. (After Ritter))