Aldemere
Updated: May 30
Overview
Aldemere is a rugged, rural land peppered with small villages and a few large cities. Spanning between the cities are hermetical druid circles, clearwater lakes, ancient standing stones, and many, many peasants whose villages have 20 or less inhabitants. The royal court at Ardveld is formal, hierarchical, and politically treacherous; overcompensating, perhaps, for its relatively sparse and uninhabited realm.
Orosians and humans share Aldemere's land in roughly equal numbers, along with smaller populations of Steel Dwarves in the deep passes and tiny pockets of Aether Elves in the highest peaks. A recent settlement of ratfolk has sprung up in northern Aldemere. The ratfolk tend to keep to themselves. The nation of Strom is a historic ally of Aldemere's.
Climate and Geography
Aldemere is cold for most of the year. Its interior is dominated by mountain ranges that trap weather systems and produce heavy snowfall from autumn through spring. The lowlands thaw in summer into rolling green hills, dense pine forests, and river valleys threaded with fast-moving water. Wildflowers bloom briefly and brilliantly before the cold returns.
The coastline is rocky and dramatic, with sea cliffs dropping straight into the Galean Ocean. Fog is common along the shore. Inland, rivers run from the mountains to the sea, and many of them pass through sacred sites. There are old groves, cairns, and lake shrines where offerings have been made for thousands of years.
The area surrounding Aslaug is the exception to the cold. The world tree's canopy shelters the valley around Ardveld from snow, creating a warm pocket of perpetual greenery at the kingdom's heart.
Culture
Common folk live in timber and stone settlements, farm the river valleys in summer, and keep close to their hearths in winter. The Weald is practiced across most cities and towns. Marriages, harvests, and births are all marked by ritual celebrations while additional customs differ by village. Local legends about Spectres, werewolves, witches, covens, and monstrous creatures are rampant. Supposedly, these dangerous threats live among the bogs and highlands.
Stories and oral tradition are highly valued. Bards travel between settlements and are welcomed everywhere. A skilled storyteller can earn bed, board, and considerable respect in any village in Aldemere.
Legends and Notable Beliefs
Aldemere's common folk are superstitious. They believe certain hills are considered lucky or cursed, leave offerings on old trees at crossroads, and steer clear of cairns at night. Their most persistent legend is that the dead do not always leave. The Afterlife's collision with Ilisara during Armageddon left pockets of the dead embedded in Aldemere's landscape. Locals know which wells, forests, and mountain passes are touched by undeath and avoid them.
The Royal Court
The royal palace of Aldemere sits in the mountains above Ardveld, overlooking the world tree's valley from a distance. It is far more formal than Aldemere's otherwise humble villages and cities. Noble rank is everything. Laws are strictly balanced in their favor. A commoner who raises a hand against a noble, even in self-defense, can expect the full weight of the kingdom's justice to fall on them. A noble who wrongs a commoner can expect little consequence at all.
Queen Giselle rules Aldemere from Ardveld, though the full extent of her authority is a matter of quiet debate among the court's nobles. Regent Aldous governs in place of the child Orosian prince Declan — Giselle's young son-in-law — and is widely rumored to be Giselle's lover.
The Dawnwalker name is not well-regarded in Aldemere's court due to its former support of Arcadia's sovereignty in the Silver War.
The Silver War
The Silver War was a conflict fought between the Kingdom of Arcadia and the allied kingdoms of Aldemere and Strom. It began as a territorial dispute over the Bay of Beruna and ended with Arcadia victorious, backed by the military support of the Vestian Empire.
The war's immediate cause was the installation of an Orosian duke in the Bay of Beruna by Queen Giselle of Aldemere. The Bay was coveted for two reasons: rumors of frost giant treasures buried in its ice, and its substantial reserves of oil. Beruna's tribal people had long considered the Bay their ancestral territory. Arcadia, which shares deep cultural roots with Beruna and has historically acted as its protector, viewed the installation as an act of aggression against both peoples. King Lucio Rex of Arcadia responded by sending his armies across the ice bridge into Beruna.
Aldemere and Strom fought together under an arrangement brokered by Regent Aldous. Their combined forces outnumbered Arcadia's, and for a time the war ground toward a slow Aldemere-Strom advantage. That changed when the Twin Crescents made contact with the Isles.
Arcadia received the backing of the Vestian Empire under Imperator Ahellion Dawnwalker, who pledged the Vestian navy's support. The turning point came when Kartha Raj, a rakashan businessman operating in Arcadia, used a powerful relic called the Silver Hand to decimate Strom's forces. Orosians died in droves. The tide turned decisively in Arcadia's favor.
Aldemere and Strom lost the war. Their forces were badly depleted and their political credibility damaged. The Bay of Beruna remained under Arcadian protection. The Vestian Empire's intervention established it as a power player in the Isles, though its alliance with Arcadia made it deeply unpopular in Aldemere and Strom.
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