Upwold
The Silver Chase
Upwold is where the Marchers first established themselves when they walked away from Dawn. The scattered orc tribes that dwelt here were no match for their determination to make a home for themselves; those that fled west or south would find themselves followed in short order as the Marchers pushed into Mitwold and Bregasland. Those that fled north found death at the hands of the Wintermark.
Some of the worst fighting of the short-lived Marcher civil war took place in western Upwold. One of the few pitched battles between the households who supported the First Empress and those households who opposed the formation of the Empire took place here at Hepton Bridge. Widely regarded as the bloodiest conflict of the civil war, the scrubby heathland of the battlefield is largely given a wide berth except by occasional pilgrims of Loyalty who come here to muse on the spiritual significance of the ancient conflict that set cousins against one another.
Today, Upwold is a wealthy territory in a wealthy nation - though unlike Mitwold a significant amount of its wealth comes from industries other than farming. While there are of course many farms in Upwold, the quick-growing silver birch woods on the eastern borders are the source of a great deal of income. Charcoal-burners live there, turning wood into easily transportable fuel for smith and hearth alike - the charcoal of Upwold provides pure fuel for the cities of the League and the forges of Wintermark alike. The birch bark is used in the tanning industry, to cure the hides of the cattle that graze on the river pastures.
Upwold has always felt a certain rivalry with Mitwold to the west. There is no argument that the farms of Upwold tend not to be as fertile as those of their neighbours; the soil tends to be quite acidic. In part, this has lead to a more diverse economy - while the farm is the centre of Marcher life here as elsewhere, there are many who make their living from trees rather than crops, which occasionally attracts comment from the more agriculturally minded Mitwolders.
The people who live up here have closer links to the Navarr than many in the Marches, and more need for Beaters than most. Through the dark heart of those woods are paths no Marcher treads. From these secret ways come the painted Feni - uncivilised raiders, thieves, and rustlers who raid and steal from isolated settlements. To the north-west, cousins to these forests decay into the marshes that form the southern border of Kallavesa in Wintermark.
Finally, Upwold is one of the few areas where anything other than beer is drunk. For centuries, the brewers of Upwold have made a drink from the sap of the birch trees that warms their hearts in the cold winter nights but brings strange dreams.
Recent History
Over the last thirty years there have been several attempts by the Jotun to attack across the border from the Mournwold. These campaigns were primarily aimed at claiming the Sutton Stone Quarries - the Jotun apparently have a great desire for white granite to help build and maintain their fortifications. The last such attack in 372YE saw significant losses on both sides, and several new Jotun burial mounds along the southern borders.
The disastrous failure of the Autumn harvest in 379YE was followed by a particularly harsh winter during which all the farmers of the Marches suffered significant losses in order to keep the Imperial armies marching. Then the Spring 380YE planting was hit with torrential rains and a vicious blight that devoured many of the seeds before they can be put in the ground. While the rest of the Empire was enjoying a burst of vitality and fertility, the farms of Bregasland, Upwold, and Mitwold were once again labouring under the yoke of a vicious magical curse that ruined the crops, sapped the life from the beasts in the fields, and spread sickness and hunger wherever it touched.
The plan to construct the Imperial Breadbasket may have begun in the markets of Meade, but it received immediate support from market towns across the Marches. The aldermen of Stockland in particular were quick to put their hands in their pockets - not as an act of charity, but as recognition of the fact that when the farmers prosper, everyone in the Marches prospers. Shortly before the Spring Equinox 381YE, work was completed on a network of granaries and storehouses across Upwold as part of the Imperial Breadbasket great work. In addition to its work in securing the future of the Marches, this has helped to improve relations between the yeomanry and the residents of the market towns - reinforcing that even though they do not till the soil, they are still Marchers.
Minor Features
Stockland
Dominating the fertile farmlands of Stock March, Stockland is a sprawling town known for its sheep and cattle markets. Almost all the households of western Upwold take their stock here to trade, and there is a market most weekends through Spring, Summer and Autumn. In addition to its cattle and livestock markets. It is known for its raucous taverns - successful drovers and herders celebrate the sale of their livestock with a hard night's drinking, while the less successful drown their sorrows before heading home. The breweries of Stockland produce ale and beer that is exported around the Marches and across the Empire - but while it is popular it is not particularly fine. Rather, the distinctive peaty taste of the brews is immediately recognisable to anyone who has spent time in Stockland, and easily brings a lump to the throat of the homesick Marcher. The brewers of Stockland take pride in their straightforward, down-to-earth product, and are quick to scorn anyone who expresses a preference for more refined beverages.
The Eastern Guard
Great crenelated walls and brooding towers look down from Eastern Guard onto the northern forest of Miaren. Built early in the history of the Marches in Birchland, the garrison was initially charged both with remaining vigilant against Dawnish aggression, and with maintaining readiness for attacks from the Vallornspawn of the deep woods. Since Miaren was cleansed in the early days of the Empire, and since the people of Dawn are now an allied nation, the castle has become more open - it is a popular stopping place for merchants travelling through the central Empire. Still, the dour Marchers ensure it maintains battle readiness at all times, for one never knows when an attack may come from an unexpected direction.
The Woldstone
Standing in central Ashbrook, the Woldstone is very old. It is said to be the first dolmen planted by landskeepers when the Marchers claimed Upwold for their own. A little over eight feet tall, it is a rough white stone pitted and weathered by centuries of wind and rain.
The dolmen marks the centre of a potent Autumn regio that has in the past been used to lay powerful enchantments over the whole of Upwold. The regio is tied to the realm of the eternal Ephisis, and watched over by one of her more potent heralds, Nunn o' the Wold. According to stories, Nunn appears as a prosperous Marcher steward or alderman, and has a keen interest in the interplay between those who raise crops and the traders who buy and sell them. According to local stories, at one time the herald would appear every solstice and equinox to negotiate minor deals with brave yeomen, but it has been over a century since he was last encountered.
Lorzeno's Deep Pockets (the Bloody Great Hole)
Just over a month after the Spring Equinox 381YE a large section of north-western Goldglades in Miaren collapsed with an almighty roar that was heard across most of Birchland. After the initial collapse, the hole began to spread. Warnings by the Navarr vates reached an already-worried Birchland not a moment too soon - over the next month, chaos reigned. Eastern Guard was evacuated of all save a bare bones garrison too stubborn to abandon their post, and for several weeks there was real concern that this old fortress might be a casualty of the ongoing destruction.
Where Upwold once bordered Temeschwar, there is now a massive sinkhole. Estimated to be seven hundred feet deep, with a lake at the bottom that may well be bottomless. The cliff walls are nearly vertical, and still prone to collapse in some places, but there are also signs of caves and tunnels opening out in several places. Initial explorers have excitedly reported what look to be ancient mine workings - some reaching back to the time of the Terunael, and some reaching back even further. The full extent of the network of caverns here has yet to be determined. More worryingly, some of the early daredevils who have made a preliminary investigation of some of the more accessibly caves and tunnels have failed to return - and all those who have made it back in one piece have described encounters with particularly angry trogoni - creatures rarely encountered outside of the mountains of Urizen, and the northern peaks of Wintermark and Varushka.
The sinkhole was officially named by Lorenzo Macelliao von Temeschwar, but that has not prevented many of the residents of Birchland referring to it as the Bloody Great Hole (perhaps a reference to Lorenzo's membership of the Bloody Butchers guild, perhaps simply a result of Marchers choosing to call a spade a spade). The beaters of northern Upwold keep a close eye on the hole - and the dangerous trogoni that lurk in its depths.
Sutton Stone Quarries
The Sutton Stone Quarries are a Bourse resource located on the Heath. Custodianship of the Quarries is an Imperial Title that brings with it a Seat on the Imperial Bourse. It produces 23 Imperial wains of white granite every season. Control is allocated to any Imperial citizen by open auction during the Summer Solstice.
stubborn focus other Marchers farm grain or pigs.
Regions
Ashbrook
Named for the river Ash which feeds into the Mead, the region of Ashbrook is scattered with thriving communities such as Ashill - said to be perpetually covered in soot from the charcoal burning that provides its main industry. North of Ashill, near the Hahnmark border, stands the prosperous market town of Sweetroot. This small settlement is a major a center for the cultivation of the licorice plant. While small, Sweetroot has become wealthy through caregul exploitation the leafy plant and its delicious roots. Popular exports include sweetroot cake (a small, round confection that is popular almost everwhere), and sweetwater (licorice-infused water, used to treat a number of digestive system complaints).
One of the oldest dolmens in the Marches - the Woldstone - is also located here. Believed to be the first dolmen raised by the landskeepers, it watches over the farms and market towns of Ashbrook. Not far from the Woldstone is the old oak wood of Walksend'. Some of the trees here are over five hundred years old, but none have ever been felled. Local stories claim that the wood marks the spot where the first Marchers ended the March out of Dawn. According to this quaint story, on emerging from the woods of Birchland, the Marchers saw the rolling plains of Upwold laid out before them and knew they had reached their new home. They thrust their walking staves into the ground here to signify that they were done with marching, and the staves miraculously put forth roots, branches, and leaves and became the trees that form the forest today. Visitors claim that the experience of walking among the great oaks is distinctly restful. The monks nearby Oakwood monastery, known for their excellent physicks, take advantage of this reputation to speed the convalescence of their patients.
Birchland
Quality: Forest
The thick birch woods of Birchland are a source of valuable timber. There are also extensive stands of beggarwood in Birchland, producing excellent quality Beggar's Lye, which support a thriving tanning and leatherworking industry. The fortress of Eastern Guard stands here, still watching the forest of Miaren for any sign for invasion by the Dawnish nobles who once upon a time fought with the Marchers here.
In Spring 381YE, parts of north-eastern Birchland were swallowed up in the great collapse that created the sinkhole dubbed "Lorenzo's Pockets".
The Heath
There are few settlements on the Heath's rolling grasslands - the soil is not exceptionally fertile and the farms here tend to focus on raising goats and sheep rather than growing crops. The most significant location here is probably the Sutton Stone Quarries, although historians would argue that the village of Redston would give it a run for its money. The village is the birthplace of the Marcher hero Tom Drake, who helped create the Imperial Military Council, was the first general of the Drakes, and ultimately fell in battle leading the Imperial armies against Alderei the Fair. Over the centuries, Tom's Orchard - the apple tree woods where the general was buried - has become something off a place of pilgrimage for Marcher generals and yeomen facing difficult challenges. The Redstons - the household that still owns the farms around the village - have resisted any attempt to create a more prestigious memorial to the dead general.
A significant number of the farms here belong to by grim-faced refugees from the Mournwold. During the occupation, these emigrants kept a close eye on the border to the south; they saw it as a solemn duty to rally the rest of Upwold against any sign of Jotun aggression from their old homelands. Now that the Mournwold has been liberated, there is a great deal of discussion between the families as to whether they should seek to reclaim their old farmland. While their parents want to return south, the younger generation have never lived anywhere else and consider themselves Upwolders through-and-through.
Stock March
The green farmlands of Stock March are dominated by the presence of Stockland, which makes the most of its advantageous position at the junction of major roads linking Mitwold, Hahnmark, and Tassato. Also found in Stock March are the Applewood known for the fine, fat apples that bear its name. The Applewood shares its name with a village on the road near the border to the moot, famous both for the Applewood Arms and for the fine-quality ciders it has produced since the earliest days of the Marches.
Tower March
Quality: Forest
The thick woods of Tower March have been cut back around the village of King's Stoke, but remain thick and vital in the rest of the region. A pre-Imperial tower stands here, just east of the village, that is said to mark the place where the rebels held back the King of Dawn in the march of secession. Most Upwold families, and many families from other parts of the Marches, claim a connection to the battle at King's Stoke - though if every family who claims an ancestor fought there is right, it must have been an easy victory.
OOC Notes
- All the regions of Upwold are under Imperial control.
- The castle of Eastern Guard is a rank one fortification.
- Under normal circumstances, the Imperial Breadbasket great work gives every Marcher character who owns a farm a share of 1080 rings. As of the Senate decision to amend the use of the Imperial breadbasket in Summer 381YE, the benefits are not being received as the effects are being funneled to support the Mournwold.
- The presence of Lorenzo's Deep Pockets means that it is not possible for an Imperial army to move from Upwold to Temeschwar directly. They will instead need to pass through either Miaren or Hahnmark.
You have fighters for your squabbles, but we need fighters for the bounds. The Silver Chase has been contested for longer than there has ever been an Empire. The raiding Feni have troubled the charcoal burners, woodcutters and other goodfolk of the Marches from before living memory.
Yesterday, the people of Upwold were remained abandoned, remained unhelped, remained left to fend for themselves.
Today, the people of Upwold are no longer alone.Sergeant Guildenstern of the Boundarymen