7Hex Dragons: The Duchy of Mt. Bronar

The Duchy of Mt. Bronar - The Duchy is a recent coalition of smaller feudal estates that have bonded into a mutual protection society in the face of the expanding Sorcerers Empire. It occupies the North West corner of the map, bounded to the West by the Backbone mountains, to the North by the Gargoyle Mountains, to the East by the Wildlands and to the south by the Borderlands.

The Arch-Duke of Mt. Bronar was the instigator and main influence in creating the Duchy. The Duchy is a patchwork alliance with the Arch-Duke being similar to a Charlemagne type character. He is a shewd and mostly honest statesman who does prize honor, but also uses it to keep loyalty. ST17 IQ17 DX15. Horsemanship, Sword, Shield, Literacy, Courtly Graces, Diplomacy, Tactics, Strategist, Charisma, New Followers, Theologian. (If using 7HexDragon House Rules he is a Holy Knight. He has a Fine and Enchanted Bastard Sword that is +2DX and +2Damage, Unbreakable and houses a Dragonish Spirit (ST 11 IQ11: Control Animal, Sleep, Far Vision, Detect Enemies, Speed Movement, Aid, Detect Life, Dark Vision, Fire). It has slowed his aging process (he is 51 but is biologically closer to 36) and he keeps it on him at all times using the Detect Enemies quite a bit, in and out of Court. The pommel is a dragon head with ruby eyes and silver teeth. The sword is one of the symbols of power in the Duchy and is used on various heraldic devices. He has an Enchanted set of Fine Plate (stops 7 hits) and his Fine Shield (+1) allows him to cast Avert. He rarely needs to fight directly and has house guards who will do everything they can to put themselves between him and danger. He has a permanent pentagram around his bed and around the clock wizards watching over him.

He has a secret alliance with a pod of Dragons that live in the mountains to the north of Mt. Bronar and with one of the largest tribes of Gargoyles who live north of the High Plains in the Gargoyle Mountains. The Gargoyles are fairly advanced for their kind, the tribe allied with the Arch-Duke have several Mages and a decently structured society for their limited numbers (about 4000). They are distantly friendly with the Duchy, and will help the Arch-Duke if he calls in dire need, though they may only send a small contingent to help scout and ambush (100 gargoyles and a mage or two). The High Plains is mostly rural, fading to more nomadic/herder barbarian tribes in the foothills to the extreme north. He has alliances with most Barbarian tribes to the north (whose society has been fading as it is becoming more agricultral and feudal like their neighbors). The barbarians are a nostalgic group and have an ancestor worship religiosity. The Arch-Duke is pressuring the rest of them to pledge mutual protection. Some of the old Nomad tribes to the Southwest have pledged alliance, giving the duke a better, though less disciplined, cavalry than the IS. All the barons north of the Borderlands are in near vassal relations with the Arch-Duke. The Arch-Duke is a gifted politician and is expanding his alliances and leveraging his assets well in the face of the well run IS. Militarily. They are outmatched by the IS, but can field a big and unpredictable enough army to make the IS wait until the perfect opportunity and public sentiment is for a protracted series of castle sieges after the initial army is defeated in the field.

Militarily the Duchy is poorly coordinated. The Arch-Duke can field a fairly well coordinated core army with a mix of archers, mages, cavalry and infantry. He follows the traditional setup of having his mages separate and behind the lines (unlike the IS who integrates mages at the platoon level). He then has strategists who work on scenarios to plug in the other elements of the alliance (where to put the nomadic cavalry, the irregular units of some of the smaller barbaric tribes, the egotistical petty lords of the south and east, etc).

Mt. Bronar is an ancient, mostly quiet volcano and houses an ancient magical field. The Arch-Duke has an impressive collection of Mages that feed off of the power of the Mountain, as do the Dragons who live on the other side. The Dragons are ancient and have some soothsayers and prophets amongst their older members. They share some magic with the mages of Mt. Bronar and the mages and Arch-Duke bring tribute and offer protection from any dragon hunters. The Mages specialize in firey magics (there are thousands of salamandars in the Volcano, see the Bronar Brazier). They have had close and long contact with the Dragons and learned some divination/prophecy from them in addition to creating the Dragon Staff. Finally, they are working on Gate spells that are more flexible and dynamic. Similar to Mt. Kira, Mt. Bronar has a field around it that makes most spells cost less to cast and maintain (GM discretion, I make spells 1-2ST easier to cast, and most continuing spells I set to 1ST/turn or even everyother turn). Salamanders can be conjured for significantly less than normal (but they must stay within the 2 mile limit or lose their advantages, again GM discretion). The Dragons befriend the Arch-Duke due to prophecy that the Arch-Duke will unintentionally lead them to new breeding grounds. This happens when the Mages of Mt. Bronar open a gate to Mt. Kira by accident and some Winged Shadow Demons slip. The Arch-Duke immediately sends an army to the Wildwood and Kirea Atlon and the Dragons fly through the Gate to clear Mt. Kira for their own use. This however immediately gains the ire of all the Gargoyles who unite to resist the new influence.

The city of Mt. Bronar is a sprawling city centered around the old Keep. The wall has been expanded twice in the last 300 years and there is third one going around the expanding city now. It is becoming a bustling center, there are three or four Necromancer Brotherhoods, several Wizard Guilds, trade with the dwarves (though that is rapidly dwindling), IS, Borderlands, etc. They are decent smiths and very good builders, agriculture is advancing rapidly (with help from the inventive ka'Han) from even 30 years ago. Slavery is permitted in small doses (sort of like prostitution is allowed in small doses) for domestic services and other odd and menial jobs. The knightly class still holds most of the power and trade suffers a bit for it. They have knightly jousts and other contests. Bards abound as the winters are a bit harsh and there is a strong Tavern culture in the Winter (with the usual religious backlash from time to time). Taverns are judged by their food, beer and bards. There are spys from the IS, and some of the stronger Borderland Baronies (along the coast) watching the Arch-Duke. The Keep is a bit small for the size of the city, but it is ancient and well cared for. The city has been expanding out and the rural ring around it has also become quite large, the rural areas for the City of Mt. Bronar is about to overlap with the ka'Han (to the northeast). The largest Wizards guild (closely allied with the Arch-Duke) has a fairly impressive library, multiple labs and a school.

Religiously they are a mix of ancestor worship and a primitive monotheism (the other natural "powers" sprang from the thoughts of the creator god). There is a priestly class, but it is subordinate, and related, to the Knights and serves and legitimates them (often younger sons of nobles or merchants trying to break into the noble classes become priests in addition to those who are truely devout). They are good horsemen from a long time back, they share some stock with the Nomads of the SouthWest who were the origial kings after conquering the fairly peaceful tribes that lived near the foothills of the mountains. The Dragons helped to protect the tribes and gave them their tendency towards monotheism which the Nomads adopted when they settled down (and the tribes accepted some of the Nomads' ancestor worship which helped to legitimate the royal line).

The other stock comes from the Barbarians to the Northwest. While the distinction has all but disappeared, there is still some status associated with having the Nomadic blood (which is really more of a social claim than a biological fact) than having the Northern barbarian blood.

Some of the Dwarven traffic up and down through what is now the Borderlands reflects the old kings hiring them to help build the Keep. The abandonded Dwarf cave in the Crosshaven Adventure is one of these rest stops for the dwarves traveling to the new Duchy.

Characters from here are likely to be traditional Knights/man-at-arms, Fire Wizards, traveling Bards/Rogues or cavalry in addition to the usual urban sprawl of theives, assassins, town guards, town wizards, etc.

Officially the City of Mt. Bronar is the heart of the original Duchy. The city to the northwest, ka'Han, pays tribute to the Duchy and can be considered to be an extension of the Duchy. The Lord of ka Han has been integrated into the royal house of Bronar and his military is perfectly integrated with the Arch-Duke's.

ka'Han is the oldest addition of the Duchy, having lost a decisive battle and started paying tribute. That relationship has turned into a tight economic and political alliance. The two royal houses are so intertwined that it can be considered one family for practical purposes. They are a little less martial than Mt. Bronar, but have superior craftmen and smiths, most of the duchy's non-dwarven armaments come from the forges of ka'Han. They are considered second only to the dwarves of Grellmore. The craft guilds have more sway in ka'Han than in Mt. Bronar and the knightly class, while still dominant, do give considerable consessions to the craft guilds. There are craft shows and contests. Also due to the better implements, the agriculture of ka'Han is more efficient than in most places allowing a higher level of society. Even the Wizard's guild prides itself on it's magic item creation. Characters from ka'Han will likely be Knights, professional foot soldiers, armourers or wizards who create magic items. The Duke of Bronar took the title Arch-Duke after the defeat of ka'Han to allow the Duke of ka'Han to keep his title of Duke.

The Duke of ka'Han is an excellent horseman and spends his leisure time on the practice field. He is youngish (28). ST 15 IQ15 DX18. PoleArms, Horsemanship, Expert Horsemanship, Sword, Shield, Diplomacy, Warrior, Courtly Graces, Literacy. He has a Fine Bastard Sword (+2Damage, +1DX), Fine/Enchanted Plate (+3), Fine PikeAx (+2Damage, +1DX). His horse has Fine Barding (+2). And his Crown is enchanted to Detect Lies (a closely guarded secret). He has an Invisibility Ring he always wears, but has never used in public.

Population of the whole Duchy is hard to estimate, but probably in the 340,000 - 360,000 range with 65,000-70,000 in the city (and immediate environs) of Mt. Bronar alone, with ka'Han having about 50,000.