Therunin
Overview
On the borders of Highguard, the water-logged bayou of Therunin provides a unique challenge to the stridings that travel here. As the Navarr have recovered territory from the vallorn, the forest here has grown still more malicious. Monstrous insects are a common threat here, even outside of areas where the vallorn still holds sway. Orcs from the east are a constant threat, although their incursions are made more difficult by the swampland.
Recent History
The Druj have long coveted Therunin. Since the fall of Reikos in 367YE, many Navarr had been expecting an assault from the barbarians. In the Winter of 377YE, this long-anticipated attack finally came. A major force of Druj moved across the border from Reikos into Peakedge Song. Only the courage of the Black Thorns slowed the barbarian advance. Outnumbered two-to-one, the Navarr army suffered grievous losses, but prevented the Druj from establishing a beachhead in Therunin.
While Reikos was dominated by the orcs, Therunin was connected to the Empire only by tenuous routes through the mountains of Morrow; with the Druj gone the old trade routes down from Chalcis Mount have been restored.
Major Features
The Thimble
The Thimble is a Bourse resource located in the Eastring. Custodianship of the Thimble is an Imperial Title that brings with it a Seat on the Imperial Bourse. It produces 24 Imperial wains of weirwood every season. Since Autumn 381YE the custodian of the Thimble receives 20 wains a season, the Great Forest Orcs receiving the other four wains. Control of the Thimble is assigned to whichever Navarr candidate receives the most support from Navarr owners of herb gardens.
Peakedge Stead
One of the most important sites in Therunin, Peakedge Stead stands in western Peakedge Song. What initially began as a steading dedicated to fighting the vallorn of Therunin has transformed over the centuries to a place of contemplation and healing. Some stories claim the steading is a remnant of long-lost Terunael; there is something ageless about the trees here. Most of the buildings are built in the spreading branches of these great trees, or cluster around the trunks of these immense green giants. Many of the trees here are centuries old, and some are so tall that on a clear day a Navarr can stand on one of the viewing platforms and gaze across to the hills of Reikos and even the forests beyond.
Peakedge Stread has long been a place for the Navarr to meet with the people of Highguard, especially when it comes to their shared interest in the arts of the physick and the apothecary. Some of the earliest work mastering the transformation of vinum sap into liao took place here, for example. During the occupation of Reikos by the Druj, the great tree-houses served as a sanctuary for those who were able to escape eastward out of the territory. Since the liberation, many of those former refugees have returned to High Chalcis but many have also chosen to stay in Peakedge Stead. Some still maintain their Highborn identity, but a fair number - especially of the children born amidst the gentle tranquility of this place - have chosen to become Navarr. They have helped maintain the renown of the steading as one of the Empire's premiere locations for the study of herb lore and healing.
The Docks at Feverwater
Built along the western shores of Feverwater are a series of ancient quays of aged weirwood and white granite. Some have collapsed, and others are now submerged or exposed as the waters of the massive freshwater lake have ebbed and flowed. The docks date back to the time of Terunael, and have been thoroughly explored by the modern Navarr; they seem to be much larger than would be appropriate for fishing the Feverwater, and the ruins around the area are certainly those of a reasonably large Terunael settlement. Their purpose remains a mystery - all that lies to the east of Therunin are the dark woodland homes of the Druj. During Summer 379YE, the Imperial Senate appointed the Dredgemaster of Feverwater to oversee and expand the docks; boats regularly ply the western end of the great lake dredging the waters for valuables. Historical research commissioned by the Advisor on the Vallorn in Spring 384YE further explored some of the mysteries of the Feverwater, and the provenance of the ancient quays here.
Mudlark's Haven
Mudlarks’ Haven is a bustling steading that wraps around the shore of the Feverwater protected behind a thick network for mangroves which act as harbour walls. The steading is raised out of the water on stilts and is popular with traders heading south to Zenith and beyond, sailors looking for money dredging the Feverwater, and thorns preparing to head into Sarangrave. The steading’s taverns are always full of deals and celebrations.
At the mouth of the docks, amongst the mangroves and accessible by awkward platforms sits a building made of discarded dredging boats - The office of the Dredgemaster. Flags hanging off the outside used to communicate the weather conditions. The docks are a series of pontoons on wooden supports, some new and some dating back to the Terunael. The moored dredging vessels and houseboats knock against the docks rhythmically along with the ebb and flow of the Feverwater.
Holt of the Oak
This unique fortification was constructed in the Lower Tarn Valley by the Great Forest Orcs from weirwood rather than white granite as part of the treaty between the refugees and the Empire. The commission was beset by challenges but work was completed shortly before the Winter Solstice 383YE. A series of majestic weirwood towers surrounded by a wall topped with living thorns, the beautiful and imposing fortification is also garrisoned by orc warriors - meaning that the Empire does not need to pay for its upkeep. Navarr and Great Forest orcs alike mix freely in the shadow of the towers, and traders from other Imperial nations - with the notable exception of the Dawnish - have found it to be an excellent place to meet and do business with the otherwise standoffish orcs.
If the treaty with the orcs were broken and the Great Forest orcs were motivated to try and seize the Lower Tarn Valley then the fortification would take no part in the initial fighting. If this were to happen, and the orcs were to consolidate their control of the region, then the fortification could provide full support to an effort they made to conquer the territory or resist Imperial forces.
Regions
East Ashes
Quality: Marsh
Stretching along the shores of the Feverwater, East Ashes is a twisted maze of great mangrove trees and murky water. Like the Tarn Valley it is home to several rare creatures, but the smaller beasts are overshadowed by the occasional incursion by a pack of hydra. Even the threat of the hydra is minor compared to the danger caused by the occasional marshwalkers attempting to migrate through East Ashes toward the Lower Tarn Valley - when they pass through Greenheart, they invariably rouse the insects there and emerge on the far side angry and twisted by the poisonous air of the vallorn.
The Steading of Ruis Farkas is based in East Ashes. Since the death of Empress Britta, this small steading has been highly politically active in the Empire to ensure that Britta's successor has a strong Empire to lead
This region has a reputation for being haunted; the core of that reputation can be traced to Fever’s Wake. Once a Navarri Glade of the Dead, but over a small space of days all the corpses laid there disappeared completely, with no sign they had ever existed. The area is shunned completely now.
Eastring
- Quality: Forest, Marsh
Recovered from the vallorn in 105YE, the ground in Eastring used to be less marshy than that of the Lower Tarn Valley or East Ashes, but there were always several expanses of bayou especially in the west or south. Following the terrible storms of late 384YE, the bayou spread across most of the region, drowning sections of already sodden land and turning the rest to fens and marshes. The Navarr and Great Forest Orcs were able to mitigate the worst of the rain in the rest of the territory, but it is no easy task. The transformation has done nothing to reduce the large numbers of iridescent butterflies who flock here, but while the forests are rich in hard and softwoods the change in soil quality has heavily impacted the lumber trade here.
Eastring is also home to several fortified steadings, and a higher than average concentration of Thorns due to the constant threat posed by the barbarian lands to east and north. This was one of the first regions of Therunin cleared of vallorn influence, and is the site of the Thimble, a valuable source of weirwood.
Greenheart
Qualities: Forest, Vallorn, Vallornheart
The vallorn holds the ruins at the centre of Therunin in a fierce grip. While other Navarr forests are generally more threatened by vine-infested husks, the monstrous insects of Greenheart greatly outnumber the unliving corpses. The ruins themselves are water-logged, with large sections submerged in marsh according to the few adventurous scouts who have penetrated into this deadly zone.
Lower Tarn Valley
Quality: Marsh, Great Forest Orcs
The lower valley is boggy and marshy. It is known as an excellent location for herb gathering, and the steadings here tend to have large numbers of herb gardens. The Lower Tarn Valley teems with rare wildlife seen nowhere else in the Empire - the delicate and deadly red crane, the somnolent bark alligator and the morose blue wave frog.
The Lower Tarn Valley is the centre of habitation for the Great Forest orcs. They do not control the region - it is still part of the Empire - but there is a sizeable population of orcs here living alongside their Navarr hosts. A small community of non-Imperial humans, all of whom are said to possess the briar lineage live with the Great Forest orcs, and are closely allied with them. While orcs from the Great Forest can be found across Therunin - and indeed the Empire since some of them began walking the trods - the heart of their community has been in the Lower Tarn Valley since they arrived. The orcs maintain and garrison the Holt of the Oak here - a unique fortification that protects the Lower Tarn Valley - and the whole of Therunin - from enemy invasion.
Peakedge Song
Comparatively lightly wooded, especially for a Navarr forest, the steadings of Peakedge Song maintain cordial relations with their neighbours to the north and south. The land here slopes quickly into the foothills of Morrow, and there are several valuable mines along the southern border. During the fall of High Chalcis the Navarr lead several rescue missions across the borders, and as a consequence a number of Highborn refugees camped there, especially in the tree-top town of Peakedge Stead. With the final liberation of Reikos, many of them have chosen to return - but a significant number have chosen to remain as permanent residents of the steading. At the same time, a number of Navarr have chosen to move to Reikos - initially to help in the establishment of the Gardens of High Chalcis, but they have also founded a small settlement on the edge of the forest not far from Peakedge Stead.
Sweetglades
Qualities: Forest, Vallorn
The forests of the Sweetglades are ironically named; the vallorn holds sway here.
Upper Tarn Valley
Looking down on the Lower Tarn Valley, the Upper Valley is comparatively dry but the soil here is rich and healthy. The steadings here take advantage of this fertility, and the relative dearth of trees, to maintain extensive agriculture. The largest steading in the Upper Tarn Valley is Return, a well-fortified settlement surrounded by tall watchtowers that looked out across the forests to the north and east. A place of flowers and memory, the steading had a storied history, but was ultimately harrowed by the schemes of the eternal Yaw'nagrah and her efforts to rouse the Therunin vallorn. The exemplar Gerallt_Brackensong lost his life thwarting those plans. Today, the old steading is abandoned and has been largely reclaimed by the marsh, the forest, and the great insects although it remains by all accounts quite beautiful.
| Summit | Elected |
|---|---|
| Autumn Equinox 385YE | Travid Longest Path |
| Autumn Equinox 384YE | Travid Longest Path |
| Winter Solstice 383YE | Travid Longest Path |
| Autumn Equinox 383YE | Cybi Farkas |
| Autumn Equinox 382YE | Cybi Farkas |
| Autumn Equinox 381YE | Cybi Farkas |
| Winter Solstice 380YE | Willa Farkas-Vigil |
| Autumn Equinox 380YE | Caerwyn Summer Crow |
| Autumn Equinox 379YE | Caerwyn Summer Crow |
| Autumn Equinox 378YE | Caerwyn Summer Crow |
| Autumn Equinox 377YE | Caerwyn Summer Crow |
| Winter Solstice 376YE | Caerwyn Summer Crow |
Recent Senate Elections
As an Imperial territory, Therunin is represented by a senator elected in the Autumn. As the territory is no longer Imperial, the senator cannot currently be elected. The table to the right shows the citizens who have been elected to hold this title in the years since Empress Britta died.
OOC Note
- The vallorn infests Greenheart and Sweetglades; the Navarr (and thus the Empire) control the other five regions. Therunin is an Imperial territory, but the Navarr would lose control of it if they lost two more regions
- The Holt of the Oak is a unique level one fortification built and garrisoned by the Great Forest Orcs
- The Great Forest Orcs have their main settlement in the Lower Tarn Valley but hunting parties can be encountered everywhere except Greenheart and Sweetglades.
- Strategic consideration: Thanks to the presence of the Feverwater, campaign armies cannot move east from East Ashes to Sarangrave, nor can that region be invaded from the west, without an appropriate opportunity.
Further Reading
- Make a deal - Spring 384YE Wind of Fortune detailing several opportunities to improve the prosperity of Therunin
- The Feverwater docks - Historical Research into the Feverwater and the docks there