Hunyad

"'I'm not afraid of the world, but I certainly don't trust it. The last time we were that foolish, the whole thing shook and we lost the greatest empire in the world - physically lost, as if it were never there! Mercurial things like elves and fey, even well intentioned, are trouble brewing. While the dwarves may be a bit too traditional, at least they understand the value of caution. Perhaps if we'd been more cautious we'd all still be speaking Sueloise and marching as legionaries!' - Lord Ondorr III Peristaltos, Marquess of Hunyad."The March of Hunyad is one of the nine states comprising the region known as the Placid Realms. It is bordered by the County of Mamaros to the south, the County of Cybel to the west, and the Kingdom of Fife to the north. To the east, the Ocean of Annecto rests between the march and far flung Carthage and eventually the continent of Ore'ham, and the extreme southeast of the march includes the farthest tendril of the great elven forest known as the Claviculum Nigrum. Established as the initial fortified finger of Suel intervention in the region, Hunyad has historically been a region always on the defense, be it against nations, tribes, or even time itself.

The First Foothold
In the earliest days of the Suel Empire, before the full establishment of the Theme of Placitum, there was the Castra of Hunados, the first encroachment of the Suel civilization westwards. While the exact location of the city of Suel is long lost, it is known to have been some ways east of mainland Ocedon but still west of Ore'ham. Hunados became the first fortified outpost of Suel, and from there came the original transmission of Suel culture into the wider world. While other subdivisions of the Theme of Placitum would spread a greater variety of cultural artefacts such as religion, poetry, and commerce, it all began with the initial settlement of Hunados as a defensible base of operations.

While the rest of the Theme of Placitum developed and transmitted Suel culture, the Castra of Hunados was seemingly always mired in conflict. In time, it became more and more a province-sized fortified camp, with the castle later known as Fort Hun defending against the most persistent pest in the north. Among the many tribes known as the Uhlstars in the north, a group known as the Pogues were a perennial concern, returning regularly to raid and fight. Over the generations, the successive marqueos failed to eliminate the problem, which the imperial administration only exacerbated; as the local soldiers had a reputation for experience, they were disproportionately recruited into the legions pushing further westward. The forces of Hunados were well trained and well led, but never strong enough to vanquish the Pogues. Eventually, the Marqueo of Halindos in the west built up a good relationship with a mighty Uhlstar chieftain, and the combined forces of Halindos, Hunados, and High Chief Angus of the Clan McFife decisively smashed the Pogues at the Battle of Suthambria. Thereafter, the Castra of Hunados was no longer bedeviled by raiders, and slowly developed beyond fortified villages, including an agricultural base finally able to support local garrisons without imperial subsidies. By the time of the Great Collapse, Hunados had finally become a self-sustaining entity on par with the other castrum of the Suel Empire, though substantially more defensible.

Eternal Entrenchment
After the Great Collapse, the final Marqueo of Hunados, Alchore Peristaltos, became Lord Alchore of House Peristaltos, 1st Marquess of Hunyad. The newly independent lord had one of the most secure realms of the new world, but hardly a wealthy one. The average town was a miniature citadel ringed with sturdy stone walls, but the dissolution of the Suel Empire meant there would be no support from foreign legions, which had been essential in gradually opening up a functional economy after the Pogues had been dealt with. Hard-won mines and quarries were slowly lost over the first two centuries, and the fortified towns and walled villages dotting the countryside shrunk in turn. While farming just outside the walls kept people fed, many who relied on steel and stone for their livelihood found themselves unable to support themselves and forced to concentrate near the remaining mines and quarries, or would attempt to reclaim these sites by force, usually dying horribly. The March of Hunyad slowly declined, maintaining just enough strength to hold off kobolds, goblinoids, and the like, but never progressing. The people survived, but did not thrive.

During the Great War Against Tiamat, the noble March Guard was a stalwart force against the draconic invaders, who stood fast atop the crenellations. In a rare display of friendliness, Marquess Arlo II directed three companies each to the east and north, believing it his ancestral duty to repel any invaders in the region. While the deployed March Guard suffered heavy casualties, the remaining units garrisoned at Fort Hun for the inevitable, waiting for the scaly tide of evil dragonkind to wash over them, and perhaps finally put the province out of its misery. Instead, a miracle happened: the elves of the Claviculum Nigrum came in force atop bird and beast, lords of the sky and land raining down arrows and casting all manner of spells. At the same time, a detatchment of the Blazing Crusade declared by the Church of Pelor arrived led by earnest Fifians eager to repay the favor the March Guard had done them. What should have been the last stand of the March of Hunyad instead became the legendary Draconic Siege of Fort Hun, where a score of red and green dragons descended upon the fort and were repelled by a dazzling coalition of zealots, elves, and grim defenders. While the forces of Tiamat had blasted the nearby land and wrought horrific casualties, including the marquess himself who died with halberd in hand defending the fort, Hunyad survived, battered but unbroken.

After the Great War Against Tiamat, Hunyad slowly rebuilt its strength and population. Many who had moved to larger settlements out of fear of the dragons returned to towns overrun by goblinoids, orcs, or kobolds in their absence, or relocated to a larger town that was decimated, leaving few to return. Indeed, numerous so-called "ghost villages" appeared, and songs are still sung of times when only a scant few, or even a single person, returned home at the end of the war. The March Guard helped reclaim the overrun settlements, but this still took some years. Return was slow and recovery even slower, as many areas were ruined by raiding, building toppled, fields scorched, and emboldened kobold tribes ran amok for decades thereafter. During the Great Deluge, some areas that had been blasted by dragonfire were rejuvenated, but in other areas walled villages became sunken graveyards.

During the Great River War, the March of Hunyad proved extremely defensible, with Fort Hun serving as an extremely secure bastion against Fifian forces. Through a combination of their March Guard being predisposed towards defensive actions and multiple rings of hastily dug trenches filled with water, pikes, and other obstacles, the forces of Hunyad were able to hold out for over a year before the Fifians finally abandoned the siege and opted instead for the much more difficult move through the less developed, swampier terrain of the County of Cybel. After the siege, the March Guard maintained a smaller garrison at the site, which was additionally reinforced rapidly through the creative use of magic by wizards trained by Lord Commander Wilhelm Straus. The other March Guard regiments, as well as a good number of peasant levies, spread out to aid the other Placid Realms, providing stiff resistance to any invaders.

Religion
The March of Hunyad is predominantly Kordian, praying to The Brawler for the strength to weather whatever bedevils them. Due to their reserved and grim nature, the faithful of Kord in Hunyad tend to be more fatalistic, holding that only by their strength will they endure. A slim minority of Hunyadi are followers of Wee Jas, such is their fixation with their eventual decline and demise. An even smaller religious minority are born-again avenging servants of the likes of Heironeous and St. Cuthbert, who find solace in visiting their wrath upon the wicked forces of the world. These types are vengeful to the extreme, usually the most grim of paladins, and song and legend tell of at least a few who fell from grace as blackguards into the arms of Hextor, especially immediately after the Great War Against Tiamat. According to blackest rumor and whispered myth, perhaps the only temple to Hextor in all the Placid Realms exists in Hunyad, supposedly built in the sunken ruins of a town lost to the Great Deluge.

Perpetual Loss
The March of Hunyad is known for being one of grim people, for historical reasons. Dating back to the age of Suel, constant assault fostered a defensive predisposition against the world. As an independent realm, the slow progress that was beginning during the late Suel era was stymied and slowly reversed. The Great War Against Tiamat was a calamity that only set them back further, and the Great River War only managed to avoid being devastating by shouldering the burden with the other eight Realms. Hunyadi are pessimistic, pragmatic, and dour folk for the most part. Tragedy is a key cultural bond.

Duty and Diligence
The March of Hunyad has endured in spite of everything the world has thrown at it out of a true sense of duty. In the time of Suel, it was the rock of the empire, allowing the rest of the region to flourish. During the Great War Against Tiamat, this sense of duty brought together the grand army that fought at Fort Hun. Many Hunyadi are quietly charitable, for they sense it as a duty to lift up one another. Even the arts and sciences are affected by this; apprentices are taught that it is their responsibility to equip the brave for their battles against the world, and that art glorifying the heroic and stalwart is the honor owed to those who inspire and defend. Many bards, sometimes known as dirgesingers, remind the people of the woes suffered by heroes past, mourning for their noble sacrifice and senseless loss. The Ghost of Ghûrbad remains one of the most popular stories in the realm, and is recorded in song, poetry, prose, and play, recounting a noble defender who returns home after the Great War Against Tiamat as the only survivor and patrols the walls of an empty town forever.

Politics
The Marquess of Hunyad has been the the domain of House Peristaltos for millennia, and they have been the steely wardens of the land since before the Great Collapse. Diplomatically, Hunyad is hardly warm and welcoming, but enjoys at least decent relations with its direct neighbors. Hunyad still sees itself as the rock of the region, and takes an active interest in the safety of the greater Placid Realms, including occasionally deploying a March Guard regiment far beyond their own borders to assist with a key threat to a region. The mutual defense agreement that united the Placid Realms during the Great River War, known as the Foedus Placitum, was written by the first Marquess of Hunyad, Alchore I, immediately after the Great Collapse as an outgrowth of this attitude. Signed by the original nine Lords of the Placid Realms, this document bound the nine realms to all come to the aid of one another should one be confronted alone by an existential threat. Fife is viewed as an acquaintance of sorts, the two realms brought together somewhat by the Battle of Suthambria and the Great War Against Tiamat. When the Great River War broke out, Hunyad prosecuted the war coldly and methodically, neither overly sympathetic to their newfound foe, nor overly eager to inflict harm upon them; the Siege of Fort Hun was a move to stall in hopes of the war ending elsewheres, rather than to crush the Fifians.

Ecology
The March of Hunyad is significantly rockier than most of the Placid Realms. While the southeastern stretches of the realm are swampier, the further north and east one goes, the rockier the soil and sparser the woodlands and plains. The eastern fringes of the province include the Claviculum Nigrum, the great forest of mighty Calamochnus Pines that are home to the wood and wild elves of the region. The rocky terrain is home to bountiful mineral and metal deposits, most of which currently beyond human reach. Kobold tribes have flourished in the region, carving out large cave networks and supporting truly threatening numbers. Furthermore, the kobolds of Hunyad have a higher proportion of kobolds with a direct draconic lineage, especially after the Great War Against Tiamat. It is believed that several young dragons that escaped death during the war settled across the Placid Realms and essentially became demi-gods to local kobold tribes, and this seems to have been the case in Hunyad, as dragonwraught kobolds and scaly sorcerers are much more common in the region. In addition, areas flooded by the Great Deluge centuries ago remain submerged and host to all manner of unique flora and fauna, such as the living dead haunting their former homes, lizardmen keen to expand their habitat, and the occasional revolting ooze.

Economy
The March of Hunyad owes most of its wealth to minerals and metals. The ready availability of metal and stone has allowed them to fortify their settlements and arm themselves with no reliance on the outside world, and given a decent base of wealth, largely in silver, to power the government and bolster the economy. Conversely, agriculture has been a consistent problem, due to land constraints. While the rocky soil lends itself well to certain select crops, such as potatoes and buckwheat, it has also made use of more arable land a contentious issue. Settlements will usually have a single primary agricultural export based on their unique terroir, taking full advantage of their ideal conditions to maximize production. One village may dedicate itself entirely to fruit trees and associated products, while another will farm exclusively barley, and the whole of the economy will rely upon being able to trade these goods with neighboring towns. There is a limited trade between neighboring realms, largely exporting stone and metal in exchange for essential agricultural products and livestock or draft animals.

Military
The Hunyad March Guard is a stalwart force, always on the defensive and built to let waves of foes crash against them. At fifteen companies strong, they are a powerful example of the use of combined arms. Every odd numbered company is dedicated to melee, with halberdiers in half-plate holding the line and daring foes to approach. The even numbered companies are ranged support, with crossbowmen in polished breastplates raining death from afar. Usually deploying in tandem, a pair of March Guard companies can usually provide more than a match for a given threat. While not as fast or flexible as their counterparts from other realms, an entrenched March Guard company is extremely difficult to dislodge, and will usually provide such stubborn resistance that their barbarous foes will either be slaughtered or flee. A preferred tactic of the Hunyad March Guard is the so-called Circle of Iron, where an odd numbered March Guard company will form an enclosed perimeter around an even numbered company, then provoke an attack; the foe is typically softened up by crossbow fire before being finished by halberds. The Halynd March Guard 1st Company, known as the Iron Watch, are men of indomitable will and unshakable resolve, outfitted with full plate armor, halberds, and heavy crossbows, all of masterwork quality. Their armaments grant them a degree of durability and flexibility not found in other companies, allowing them to be an extremely effective support for any other pair of companies. During the Great River War, the whole of the March Guard was deployed against Fife, usually stopping Fifian forces dead in their tracks. Sieges were prolonged by months due to their unyielding nature, cavalry charges resulted in prolonged engagements rather than decisive strikes, and towns with March Guard present became unassailable without a gross reallocation of Fifian forces. In the climactic Siege of Cybel at the end of the war, the March Guard of Hunyad held the forces of Fife at bay when the gates were opened by the subterfuge and guile of the Hellfire Company, preventing the streets from being overrun by the invaders.