Mamaros

"'Anyone who would call us a land bounded by savages and outsiders has never met one. To be sure, the peoples of the trees and mountains and cliffsides are different, but hardly less civilized. When the time comes, they stand beside us. What savages do that?' - Lord Matthias VII Szilágyi, Count of Mamaros"The County of Mamaros is one of the nine constituent states of the Placid Realms. It is bordered by the March of Hunyad in the north, the County of Cybel in the west, and the County of Phraxos in the south. To the east, the Placid Channel cleaves the coastal shores and cliffs from the Hesperides, which are a buffer between the County and the Ocean of Annecto. Originally a Suel frontier surrounded by strangers on either side, Mamaros has become the unlikely home of crossroads of multiple cultures, never quite melting together but frequently in contact.

The Inner Frontier
During the Suel era, the Bandon of Thamarotokos was considered an eternal frontier of sorts. From the very beginning, the Himmelsstürmer Mountains in the western fringes of the province were home to the mysterious Teutobrens, one of the rare peoples wholly uninterested in integration with the Suel Empire. On the coasts, a colossal forest of Calamochnus Pines stretches the length of the Placid Channel, known as Claviculum Nigrum (the "Black Tendrils" in Ancient Sueloise), home to enigmatic groups of wood elves and wild elves living among the windswept boughs as well as terrifying beasts of all sorts. One of the few breaks in the coastal forest was Vulkhund Ziflin Varr, a rather isolated but entrenched community of seacliff dwarves living in a vast cliffside hold. On all sides, it appeared that alien peoples, with ways wholly inimical to Suel culture, would dominate.

It was in this environment that the Komes of Thamarotokos would, over the years, develop into a more diplomatically sensitive office that a komes in the other bandons. The earlier parts of Suel history featured more traditional komes attempting to rein in these peoples by force, marching legionaries to their dooms in the Claviculum Nigrum, fighting pointless skirmishes with the Teutobrens, and attempt to barter with the seacliff dwarves to abandon their surface-visible territory, including their monumental hewn lighthouse, Barak Zharrgromthi ("Tower of the Flaming Ancestor" in the dwarven tongue, Khazalid). Over time, especially after the spread of the Church of Kord, komes would attempt to make diplomatic missions to these fringe groups. It was the mighty Komes Aleo Szilágyi who finally stabilized the realm by negotiating a fair trade agreement with the dwarves, ceasing all warring with the elves, and convincing the Teutobrens to bend the knee as a vassal people, left largely alone but required to send regular tributes of stone or livestock. It seemed that finally the area would see peace.

A New World
Following The Great Collapse, Komes Aleo would become Lord Aleo of House Szilágyi, 1st Count of Mamaros. Still a younger man by the time of The Great Collapse, he was remembered by subjects and neighbors as the peacemaker lord, and as an independent ruler he charted an even bolder course diplomatically. He learned the intricacies of court and customs of the Teutobrens, dwarves, and elves, to the point of living among each for periods of time. The Teutobrens found him a fascinating man of culture, and pledged to forever pay tribute to his realm, so long as they could peaceably wander his lands and retain their culture. In the sagas still told in the Himmelsstürmer Mountains, he is referred to as Lothar Ísealchríochach ("The Wise Lowlander" in Teutobren), and was said to have even met Sëlwergott. He joined hunting parties with several bands of wood and wild elves, where he impressed with his patience and skill that allowed him to keep pace with them, and was even given the title Ruathar ("elf-friend" or "star-friend" in the elven tongue). Among the seacliff dwarves, he found respect as a man of honor for reaffirming his commitments to them even as an independent ruler, and for personally traveling with their king to slay a foul party of mind flayers that had abducted a group of miners in fulfillment of his promise to stand beside their people, where he earned the appellation Drengbarazi ("Oathbound Slayer" in the dwarven tongue).

For the rest of his reign, he fostered trade between his people and his neighbors, led his men to battle monsters, invited and visited members of the other peoples, and presided over a generally prosperous time. He was blessed by the elves, the dwarves, and the Teutobrens, by way of their various rituals and fine gifts, and was even said to be possessed of qualities beyond that of a normal man for his troubles. According to all manner of records, he aged at a glacial pace for a human, with not even a grey hair upon his head at the age of 60. At the age of 70, he supposedly joined a dwarf thane, a wild elf chief, a Teutobren champion, and a questing hero from the Sigmarite Empire to slay a whole tribe of giants that had abducted the foreigner's family and spirited them eastward. His memoirs,  From Suel To Sovereign: My Life As A Servant To All Peoples , were penned throughout his life, with the final volume, including an afterword in which he meditates on his own mortality, being finished just before his death at the age of 165. Out of the utmost reverence, his tomb was built from Teutobren stone that fell in an avalanche and chiseled with painstaking detail by dozens of their hands, and his coffin carved from a single piece of darkwood that fell naturally during a hideous windstorm from an ancient Calamochnus Pine in the Claviculum Nigrum, and all the metal components of the crypt were fashioned from mithral in a vein revealed by a cave-in that miraculously killed a cave troll that had cornered a group of dwarven miners. All these calamities occurred the day of his death, and to this day all the peoples of the realm say this was the land itself wracked with grief and lashing out over the death of its favored son. By the end of his life, Good Count Aleo, or Aleo the Great (both common terms for him after his death) had written over two dozen books on a variety of topics, mastered at least six languages, been a diplomatic marvel, a military genius, dabbled in the arcane, traveled the world, and was even rumored to have been one of the few non-dwarves to attempt runecraft.

Since Aleo, all his descendants have strived to maintain the balance between peoples in the County. In the later years of his reign, a small trickle of Sigmarites began migrating eastward, and have been integrated into the realm with ease. During the Great War Against Tiamat, the whole of the County Guard deployed, first westward to the Teutobrens against a clutch of white dragons, then east towards the coast with a massive warparty of painted warriors of the mountains. This combined force, under Count Matthias II Szilágyi, who was even allowed to ride a son of Sëlwergott into battle, marched towards the coast to unite with the dwarves, who had been beset by a mighty family of black dragons from the seas. From here, a throng of dwarfs joined and marched alongside the men into the Claviculum Nigrum to join with the elves of all kinds, who were under assault by a clutch of green dragons. During what would become known as the Battle of Black Pines, Count Matthias and the combined forces of good fought fiercely, laying low scores of green dragons of all sizes as they swooped from above the canopy of the most ancient and dark reaches of the woods, and slithered among the wavy boughs. Finally, as the primogenitor of the line, a green behemoth by the name of Zargothrax, came down, and blasted them indiscriminately with acid breath, melting noble and graceful elves, stalwart and honorable dwarves, fierce woad-painted Teutobrens, and valiant guardsmen and heroes of Mamaros in a single blast. While dwarven bolts and elven arrows from hidden vantage points had perforated Zargothrax as he unleashed such green hell, Count Matthias is said to have been so furious at the thought of the creature limping away that he picked up the hammer of the dying dwarf king beside him and hurled it with such force that it smashed the dragon's skull. With that, the draconic threat to the County of Mamaros was checked, and history would remember him as Matthias Drakehammer.

After the time of Matthias Drakehammer, the County of Mamaros existed in relative peace for centuries. Trade has flourished internally, with Teutobren tributes continuing to flow downward, dwarven goods trickling into local markets, and fine elven woodworks appearing on occasion. The sparseness of marshlands has allowed for slightly more developed agriculture than neighboring realms, resulting in Mamaros slowly achieving a slightly more advanced material culture than some neighboring Realms. Villages tend to have slightly more craftsmen or artisans and more arable land, allowing for slightly more independent living as goods and services can be more locally sourced. Realm Guard still have their hands full, patrolling the land to safeguard against orcs, goblinoids, and other such threats, as well as occasional advanced training exercises in the mountains, forests, or caverns of their allies. During the Great River War, Mamaros was able to levy the whole of their County Guard as well a few volunteer Teutobren warbands. They saw wide deployment during the conflict, deploying one Company in each province to act as a rotating reserve for the three Armies of the Placid Realms to absorb as they moved from place to place, allowing for fresh troops to replace old in small but appreciable numbers. In addition, this strategy left the invading Fifians without a clear weak spot in coverage across the Placid Realms, as any could be reasonably expected to have a Company, slowing down their marches and potentially buying time for the Armies of the Placid Realms to engage them while unprepared. Several of the most pivotal figures on the side of the Placid Realms, including Lord Commander Wilhelm Straus, whose arcane knowledge helped compensate for the loss of the necromancer mercenaries of Nagash, came from Mamaros.

Religion
The County of Mamaros is overwhelmingly Kordian, with a few religious minorities. The Teutobrens have a unique religious culture that revolves around dragons, most especially their patron, Sëlwergott. It is not entirely clear whether they worship Bahamut, Sëlwergott, or the faith is more complicated, but it remains a mystery to lowlanders. The elves of the Claviculum Nigrum follow the elven pantheon, as well as a somewhat animistic approach to the features of the land. The dwarves of Vulkhund Ziflin Varr follow their racial pantheon, dutifully observing the rituals and enshrining their most high elders. Among the regular subjects of the County, Saint Cuthbert is a notable minority faith, though it is practiced by not even one in twenty. Still, it is enough that the Church of Saint Cuthbert has elevated the ecclesiastical status of the County of Mamaros to that of a diocese, with a locally groomed man of the faith brought west to the Altdorf Seminary in the Sigmarite Empire before his appointment as Theogonist of Mamaros. Still, the Cuthbertines of Mamaros are less zealous than those of the west since they are not married to the state as they are in the Sigmarite Empire, and thus one need not worry about inquisitors in the hunt for heresy, mutation, and other "deficiencies".

Cosmopolitan County
The County of Mamaros is famed for being touched by all manner of outside influences. A spirit of cosmopolitanism infuses the landscape, where the average person is both happily their own kind but open to the foreign or strange. Teutobrens wandering through a village are hailed as a positive spectacle, and often offered food and drink in exchange for tales of their home. Elves are considered aloof but elegant, and dwarves standoffish but stalwart, and both viewed with an eager curiosity when they are encountered. The neighboring Placid Realms are seen as pleasant cousins and fun to visit, and those further afield are considered guests that it would be an honor to host. The Imperials of the west that resettle in Mamaros are considered a touch stern or stuffy at times, but invaluable thanks to their drive and ambition.

A Land of the Learned
Since the time of Good Count Aleo, Mamaros has been a place for the introspective and learned to flourish. The forebearer of the dynasty was himself a sort of genius, whose talents were said to range from warfare to peacemaking and everything in the middle. The Szilágyi Family Mausoleum Complex is equal parts tomb and library, as the dead are buried and the walls lined with their possessions and writings. Many future counts have whiled away the hours reading the writings of their forefathers, or writing their own musings. Study is valued, and the Count himself pays handsomely to have a few dozen subjects each year sent off to learn an art or science somewhere, such as smithing amongst the dwarves, the arts of war at Royal Fife War College, or the arcane in the distant Altdorf Colleges of Magic. While they've never been able to train enough such experts to have domestic facilities to train them, this has allowed for a slightly higher standard of living due to slightly more readily available goods and services.

Politics
The County of Mamaros maintains a healthy relationship with the neighboring Realms, as well as the varied peoples of their own territory. The High Chief of the Teutobrens, Edur Baro, is a largely independent vassal of the Count, whose allegiance is secured by the degree of autonomy he is granted. Through this, and millennia of good relations thanks to the efforts of every Count, have done naught but good for the region. In the east, the many wood elf and wild elf tribes and bands have outstanding agreements with the Count to permit limited hunting in the fringes of the Claviculum Nigrum as well as the regular commercial flow of high-quality wood from the deeper reaches of the forest. The seacliff dwarves of Vulkhund Ziflin Varr enjoy steady trade with the humans, who are eager to purchase all manner of finely wrought stone and metal goods.

At the center of all this harmony is House Szilágyi. A truly dynamic dynasty, House Szilágyi has maintained peace and prosperity in Mamaros for millennia. Like their great forebearer Aleo the Great, they all are long lived, hardy, and majestic, though not nearly to his unique degree; dynasts often live into their eighties or longer, and several have made it to the age of 100. Due to their longevity, inheritance is not usually as straightforward as other houses, though always amicable. Often, a grandson or great-grandson will be nominated as the successor to avoid having a regular cycle of ancient rulers followed by a rapid succession of elders who hardly have a decade to rule. The intervening members of the House will usually fulfill some duty as an advisor, tutor, or representative of some sort. Once an heir is selected, the grooming begins, where the heir is taken by his non-inheriting elders to do various tasks that will benefit his reign: the father may take him to meet the elves and even join them on a hunt to build rapport with the chiefs and an appreciation for nature, an uncle may take him to camp a week among the Teutobrens and meet the High Chief or a shaman, a grandfather may have the heir accompany him on a trade visit to the dwarves, etc. By the end of adolescence, the heir will have done much and become a part of the Count's court, learning by observation and having time to pursue their own interests when not busy learning the arts of politics. By the time the Count dies, his heir will usually have over a decade's worth of assorted trainings, and the new Count will retain his elders as counsel and dignitaries during his reign. The longer lived races view this as surprisingly astute for line of humans. In the event that the Count does die before naming an heir, it passes to the eldest son, who begins the process anew.

Ecology
The County of Mamaros has several unique features, most notably the Himmelsstürmer Mountains in the west. Many Teutobren villages are built up and down the mountains, and the highest of their peaks are so high as to look like they pierce the heavens. The bowels of the mountains are host to all manner of creatures, and they occasionally emerge near the foothills, wreaking havoc until either a Teutobren warband, County Guard Company, or errant adventurer finds them. The mountainsides are littered with signs of the dead, from the many generations of ambitious Teutobrens failing their coming of age ritual known as Fligsprigga, where a youth must leap from a high peak with a glider and sail the winds down the mountainside before returning on foot. Some take to the highest peaks and sail so far as to crash into the Claviculum Nigrum, which they call the Low Storm because of how it resembles a black storm cloud from the mountaintops.

To the east, the unique interplay of saltwater and freshwater has allowed the Claviculum Nigrum to thrive. The mighty Calamochnus Pines grow only in a combination of both, and the spray of the ocean crashing against the Hesperides within the Placid Channel provides the perfect amount, trapping it somewhat. Calamochnus Pines can grow to be truly massive, reaching heights over two hundred feet in the deepest reaches of the forest. As they age, they darken, with the very eldest becoming the material known as darkwood, a magically magnificent material. The eldest and most mighty will have pitch wood, and leaves so dark they can be pressed into ink, and a rare few leaves of silvery-white, which are sometimes called Star Pines by outsiders and Trees of Arvandor by the elves, after the starry realm of their gods. Older Calamochnus Pines branch outwards immensely, always with their characteristic swept appearance, and this naturally causes some large limbs or even whole trees to fall over time. The elves that inhabit the Claviculum Nigrum are expert woodsmen and can tell when a tree is due to fall, or when felling it would benefit the greater forest, and thus seldom need to bring one down themselves. Lumberhunters are elves that seek out the fallen wood and trees in need of felling and bring it back to their people to either work or trade. This is not safe work, as all manner of dire beast lurks among the trees, and since the Great War Against Tiamat there are still areas where green dragons (usually hardly a threat compared to those of old) and their ill-begotten bastard children hide. The wood and wild elves remain distinct, with the wood elves settling among the trees and even building high up in them, with villages above the ground and even within the trunks of some of the largest trees. The wild elves embrace a more nomadic mode of life, performing great hunts on a regular basis and either breaking or being broken by mighty beasts. The site of the Battle of Black Pines is a deadly and sacred ground, the Heroes' Glade, where all who fell in defense of the forest during the Great War Against Tiamat are buried. Mamarosian, Teutobren, elf, and dwarf are all buried together, each marked by their own custom. Headstones, grave totems, spirit markers, and mighty stone statues of dwarves mark the site where it all ended, ringing the glade with all manner of tributes to the dead. Occasionally beasts stalk this hallowed ground, and they are beaten back by the most zealous of hunters.

The seacliff dwarves of Vulkhund Ziflin Varr have made a home in a break among the trees, where a grassy plain meets the sea. Above ground, they herd goats and bring them down below when the grazing is over, and grow barley for ales. Down below in the deeps, they harvest metals and stone, perform great acts of craftsmanship, and generally live a life much like other dwarves. Their connections to the Underway are well-made but in disrepair, as with most of the Karaz Ankor, and the bounty of deep dwelling fungi that grow are a blessing, as much as the foul creatures of the Underdark are a curse. Towering above ground is their great lighthouse, Barak Zharrgromthi, carved from a single rock and measuring hundreds of feet tall to appear as a noble dwarf with a bullseye lantern looking out over the seas. The inner walls of the fire chamber are made of pure mithral, which reflects the light so purely that on particularly clear nights, it is visible as far as Carthage, where ancient Suel astrologers originally believed it to be some sort of star. The cliffside has been carved for millennia by dwarven artisans, so now it resembles an extremely tall carving of an ancestor. They call him Grombryndurazwyral (The White Brightstone Ancestor), and his features are essential. His nostrils are a pair of large tunnels leading into and out of the hold, and his mustache curves upwards into two paths, allowing for traffic to flow in two directions, as goats and carts enter and exit. The two eyes of Grombryndurazwyral are actually massive, polished sapphires that serve as windows to the throne room from which the King of Vulkhund Ziflin Varr gazes out at the waves when not seated upon the throne or updating the book of grudges. The gaping mouth of Grombryndurazwyral houses the port deep within, from which the ships of the hold sail out to distant realms or to fish to feed the clans. Beside the head of Grombryndurazwyral are carved smaller reliefs of various kings and other heroes of the hold, as well as pivotal scenes of their history.

Certain unique minority members of traditional races are more common in Mamaros, for reasons unknown. Among the elves, star elves tend to be born slightly more often in the Claviculum Nigrum than elsewhere save the enchanted forests of Athel Loren to the far west, lending credence to the theory that the presence of magic may influence their births. The dwarves produce a slightly higher frequency of dream dwarves than expected, usually in groups; some believe that it is the work of the dwarven god Thautam, who guides all dwarves in drawing out magic from the world, imbuing some of the inherent magic of the world into living dwarves. The scarce few gnome families that also reside in Vulkhund Ziflin Varr report a slightly above average spawning of chaos and whisper gnomes, for reasons only guessed at; the most prominent is that performing the fertility rites of the goddess Sheyanna Flaxenstrand may have a hand in it, and that local clerics accidentally invoke such things. Good Count Aleo, in his book  The Many Natural Mysteries of Mamaros , theorized that something about the coastal geography and the moon may have been the explanation for all of these unique spawnings, as he noted in his long life that three separate "waves" of such births occurred, which he found roughly aligned with auspicious stars, a lunar eclipse, and tempestuous seas. All of these very obscure minorities do breed true among themselves, but also are occasionally spontaneously born of normal members of the parent race, often at the same time as others of their unique kind.

Economy
The County of Mamaros engages in a good degree of trade with neighboring Realms, as well as the elves and dwarves of the region. Greater farmlands, a higher number of skilled workers, and tributes of stone or sheep from the Teutobrens allow for the development of a stronger agricultural base and a reduced reliance on outside sources for basic worked goods. While the bread is not as fine as that of Hersek, or the clothes as fine as those in Phraxos, or the metals as fine as those worked by dwarves, enough is made to avoid imports as a necessity. Furthermore, this local abundance allows for more skilled professions to flourish; almost every village has a blacksmith capable of making basics such as nails and door hinges, or a spinster to weave cloth from wool, or a mason capable of working stone to build decently sturdy housing. Limited mining allows for the continued flow of stone and metals, though the many lost mines and quarries of the Suel era remain unreachable thanks to monstrous threats. Exotic pelts from the Claviculum Nigrum fetch a high price abroad, whethed acquired from the elves or earned in a vicious hunt alongside them. Occasionally, a talented hunter with good relations with the elves will secure the right to a hunt with them, then charge a high price to allow a curious hunter to join them, usually some noble or wealthy foreigner looking to hunt something truly exotic. Elves tend to be amused and slightly flattered that someone would actually pay to join such an expedition, and have a term for such a thing in their tongue: "safari" (literally "the youthful hunt", either because the hanger-on is of a young race, or has a sort of youthful naivete). In any event, the elves are entertained, the human profits, and the guest goes on a spectacular adventure. Dwarves have found a similar way to capitalize on the adventurous and idle rich: "seafaris" where they accompany a fishing vessel out into deep oceanic waters for a few weeks to hopefully hunt a true prize, such as marlin, whales, and mightier sea beasts. Many eager Kordians (especially from Göle) and some Teutobrens are drawn to such things, and will sometimes go so far as to pledge themselves for months of service to an elven band or dwarven ship rather than pay money, seeing their unpaid labor as a true blessing for all the thrills to be had along the way.

Military
The Mamaros County Guard numbers nine Companies strong, each bedecked in finely wrought breastplates with handaxes and small steel shields, ready to stand against whatever beasts beset them. For threats at a distance, longbows allow the guardsmen to soften up targets or support their brothers in arms from afar. They often stay in peak fighting shape by joining one of the three peoples of the Realm on some mission of importance, be it traipsing about the Claviculum Nigrum to hunt a herd of vile dragonblooded creatures, stomping about the foothills of the Himmelsstürmer Mountains, or braving the dark caverns beneath Vulkhund Ziflin Varr. Such exotic assignments are typically voluntary and require only a squad, and usually volunteers are eager to try something new. Some guardsmen even come to prefer a particular type of assignment, leaping to be part of a squad going to a particular people.

The elite Mamaros County Guard 1st Company, known as the Oathguard, are veterans who have personally upheld the oath of Aleo the Great to stand beside the elves, dwarves, and Teutobrens. Each member has done at least one successful assignment in service to each of the peoples, and is a veteran of all manner of threats. They march to war in the same gear that has served them for the past 2,500 years. Good Count Aleo was so beloved by the elves and dwarves, that they have sworn eternally to equip the finest men of his realm. The Oathguard march in interlocking full plate suits of armor crafted with a precision and care only dwarves could accomplish, with matching heavy steel shields and battle axes, all forged of steel from the loyal Teutobrens of the Himmelsstürmer Mountains. When a threat comes on the horizon, they draw composite longbows made by elven hands from Calamochnus Pines and the bones of great beasts, able to harness their great strength. The elves and dwarves have sworn to always keep the Oathguard armed should they lose gear, and the Teutobrens to provide the steel, but out of a mix of martial pride and respect for their allies and vassals, only once have they failed to retrieve the raiments of a dead comrade. At the Battle of Black Pines, the Captain of the Oathguard and elder brother of Matthias Drakehammer, Álmos Szilágyi, was blasted by the acidic breath of Zargothrax at point blank range while pushing the Count out of harm's way, leaving his armor melted in many places and his weapons ruined. His remains were buried with his gear at the site which would become Heroes' Glade, in accordance to his last wishes given in choked final breaths. The elves, dwarves, and Teutobrens, using the remains of Zargothrax, fashioned a new set of equipment known as the Arms of Álmos, including full plate and shield of dragon scale, and axe and bow of claw and fang. Since then, the Captain of the Oathguard has been an emerald beacon of wrath on the battlefield, signaling the coming fury of a dragon among men.