So I’ve decided to write a few blurbs about the County of Shrewsbury and political machinations of the same. The map that follows is a war plan drawn up by the Lord General Harald VanPatten, master of the armies of the city state of Cocklin Au-Main. What follows is a treatise on the second largest city state of County Shrewsbury.
The city is ruled by Duchess Uduanna Merigos. Her husband died, leaving her in power. She had a daughter Anya, and when the lass turned 14, she was sold to marriage to the son of the current duke of Gelden City, Franz Geldvahr the II. The father, Franz the Mad (as he is known to a lot of the populace), has OCD, Manic depressive and is prone to fits of paranoia. Sensing his madness, his son has been taking more and more power away from his father. More about this in a further post.
Three days after the wedding, Franz the II was framed for the murder of the girl and proclaims his innocence. She was in fact killed by Berek the Thug, a psionic warrior assassin who changed his form to look like Franz so the witnesses would say it was the new husband that murdered her. This will spark off a war between the two city states, and through propaganda will allow the Duchess to add to the ranks of the army. She is a stunning orator, and will inflame the populace to join in the attack on Gelden City.
The navy is commanded by Grand Adjutant Admiral Felix Mainbridge. He is an excellent seaman, and demands the most out of his troops, and gets it most of the time. His force consists of 3 capital ships and 50-60 other smaller vessels and landing boats.
The Army is commanded by the aforementioned general VanPatten. He is also a good general, well liked by his troops. Fair, but disciplined, and a capable strategist. He favors lightning raids, rapid deployment, recons in force, and riding into battle from the front. A capable warrior with two master crafted longswords with ivory handles and a bear on the pommel. The army is over 6000 strong, with 800 of that number being cavalry.
On the road to Shrewsbury, she has ordered Berek the Thug to set up a main camp with smaller camps around the road and river. Over the past month this small force of 500+ men has terrorized the local villages and taken several caravans. On large raids, they will mobilize at the village of Crossriver and use it as a staging area for midnight raids on caravans. The force is made up of several thugs and villains that have been pardoned by the duchess from the towns jails in exchange for joining the ranks. These vicsious thugs murder everyone in the caravans and burn the bodies in mass grave pits. After they have gone out, the pits are once again buried over. Few survive these attacks and thus the reputation of a magical bandit lord is trying to exert power. This group also has the secondary mission of keeping any Shrewsbury militia from attacking Cocklin should this be needed. Already several bands of adventurers from the town have been conscripted to investigate the matter. So far none have returned alive.
The city of Cocklin Au-Main is a large city, population 25,000+. It is a commercial hub, being both a crossroads and a port for the Main River. The land around the city is fertile and produces good crops every year. Lumber is plentiful in the woods to the east, and there is a large timber industry in town. Silver from the mountains to the south is also smelted into coinage here, as well as gold from Gelden City and the gold mines of Geldrook island. Barges routinely travel downstream on the Main River, but have slowed to a crawl since the bandit raids started.
This leads to a moderately wealthy middle class, a rich snobbish upper class, and poor workers who do the work and are given barely survivable wages.
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