Northsage

Northsage is a prosperous nation in the north-eastern region of Eriene. It is famous for its historical rivalries between the Altman and Vor families. The nation is home to a sizeable portion of the population of Eriene and is a trading port between eastern Eriene and western Katallage.

History
Northsage was settled at the same time by two families – the Vor family in the north, and the Altman family in the south. The Vors founded Vorchester in 458 A.R., and began to expand southwards until they met the lands controlled by the Altmans, who had founded Shoreshire in 467 A.R.. A tentative pact of cooperation was agreed between the two families, but by 534 A.R., minor skirmishes concerning farming and hunting land rights broke out. The families became rivals, and each dispatched messengers, envoys, and assassins to the other’s lands.

Before the situation could escalate into an all-out conflict, the Vor and Altman families agreed a peace treaty, creating a unified nation of Northsage. The land would be shared between the two families, and the Altman family would become the nation’s hereditary rulers, governing from Vorchester. Several members of each family married into the other, creating a nominally unified rulership. The coronation of the first Queen of Northsage took place on 03 Rexos 550 A.R., a day celebrated thereafter as Northsage Day.

The nation was governed in peace and began to expand its economy, with Vorchester becoming a major trading point.

In 789 A.R. the ruling Queen of Northsage, Queen Eseraele, vanished under mysterious circumstances. Her son Reyelor could not accede to the throne, as the old constitutional agreement made between the Vor and Altman families in 550 A.R. required that a monarch be declared dead before an heir apparent could be crowned. As of 897 A.R., the queen’s remains had not been found, and Northsage has been without a monarch for a century. In place of the monarch, a Council of Regents governs the nation, headed by the heir apparent.

Government & Politics
In the absence of a monarch, the Council of Regents exerts its authority over Northsage. The body comprises 20 Regents, each appointed for a life term by the heir apparent of the day. The Council has jurisdiction over all matters pertaining to trade, justice, and security. Foreign relations are the purview of the heir apparent, aided by the Court of Ambassadors which, like the Council, is comprised of appointees of the heir apparent.

In 839 A.R., on the 50th anniversary of the disappearance of Queen Eseraele, the Council held a referendum on abolishing the hereditary monarchy and making the Council the permanent government of Northsage. Both the Vor and Altman families vigorously opposed the proposal and succeeded in convincing the populous to resoundingly rejecting it.

Notable People
Aleyn. As of 895, the latest heir apparent was a 17-year-old human boy.

Geography
Northsage sits in the far northeast of Eriene, bordered to the north by the Sundering Peaks; to the east by the North Sea; and to the south and west by the Calgo Mountains. A passage through the mountains in the southwest leads to Ascela.

The river Vor proceeds from the far north of the Sundering Peaks, flowing through valleys in the mountainous north and out into Northsage, where it runs south of Vorchester before meeting the sea to the southeast. Smaller brooks and streams flow from various springs into the Vor.

The peninsula to the north of the nation is covered entirely in mountains, often with one peak seeming to protrude from the side of another. A great valley runs through the middle of the mountains, carved by the waters of the Vor. The Peaks are inhabited by tribes of half-orcs and goliaths, who founded their own villages in the high mountains.

A great swathe of forestland between Vorchester and Shoreshire was, in 687 A.R., designated a nature reserve, and the commune of Brightwood was established at its centre to tend to the reserve.

Notable Locaitons
Settlements. There are six major settlements in Northsage; Vorchester, the capital city on the east coast; Brightwood, a commune surrounded by a nature reserve to the southwest of Vorchester; Shoreshire, a major city in the south; Altstead, a town in the southwest at the edge of the passage through the Calgo Mountains; Khur Nehyar, a dwarven fortress in the foothills of the Sundering Peaks; and Vormouth, a town at the south of the river Vor.

Trade & Commerce
Northsage became a wealthy nation primarily because of the trade flowing through Vorcherster between eastern Eriene and western Katallage. The nation imports and exports both raw and refined goods for both trade and domestic consumption. Northsage itself does not export much more than the ore and gems mined in the Sundering Peaks, and small amounts of livestock and crops grown on the farmlands. This means that the nation’s economy depends heavily on the Trade Road, which leads through the Calgo Mountains into Ascela; and the shipping routes across the North Sea to Katallage.