Chapter Text
Political and Recent History of the Continent of Erehwon
Northern Erehwon is dominated by the Theocracy of Ariana. Once the United Principalities, specifically Acadia, the Theocracy started as a back alley cult of crackpots and drunkards. Within a decade, it held the city but not the countryside of Acadia, but by the end of a generation it held all the principality. Within another ten years, all of the United Principalities had fallen. Part of their popularity stems from promises of wealth and power to the peasantry, with nobles and administrators being hung for “crimes against the people”. As Ariana's Voice upon the World (as they style their main temple and their priesthood alike) spread, it destroyed the temples of other gods, and arrested for heresy their priests. Farmland and forest alike were put under the protection of the Voice to be managed for the good of the many under Arianna's guidance. Artisans who volunteered to serve the Voice were allowed to continue their trade with oversight, while those who did not died or were put to forced labor under the yoke of the Voice. Likewise, any form of magic, except as practiced by the followers of Ariana became a crime punishable by death. Worship of the old gods and the most common forms of hedge magic has been driven underground, and is punishable by death or twenty years of labor on the temple farms and mines. It should be noted that crime of heresy is applied to the entire family of guilty, with the very youngest children being taken to raised in the Theocracy's dreaded Wolf Brigades.
After securing their hold on the former Principalities, they turned to Cortina in the west and their mineral wealth. Then the trading and ship building ports of Mineria in the east. Those campaigns were conducted in less than a year, with both almost fully pacified in less than five. With those secured, the Theocracy scythed through the croplands of Gorgas in a single season and effectively completed by the harvest. That was twelve years ago.
The very southern part of the North Island is, or was, the northern part of the Kingdom of Pineland, which straddles the Erehwon Channel. Having seen the Theocracy's spread, the Kingdom fortified their northern frontier and waited. They waited and fortified for several years, raising walls around any village of more than a hundred and establishing garrisons with more than three quarters of the Pineland army. The late winter the attack finally came, the Theocracy sent their Wolf Brigades and cavalry under the command of captain-priests, leaving death and flames in their wake.
Not bothering to siege in the fortifications at mountain passes and river fords, the Theocracy sledgehammered their way through the defenses. Only the larger towns were sieged in. Even with a noticeable advantage in population, they lost more men than they logically should have been able to without collapsing, leading to rumors that the Ariana's Voice upon the World was raising their dead to fight another day. While that was officially discounted, it was clear that the Wolf Brigades were feeding on the bodies of dead Pineland soldiers- cannibalism simplifies logistics.
Even as the Theocracy pushed the forces of Pineland south to the Channel, pockets of partisans cropped to harass the main body of occupying troops. Ultimately halted within the reach of a thunderclap of the Channel, the fight turned into a stalemate that could only be sustained with the support of the plainsmen of Atropia and their croplands. It ground burned forests into mud and shattered mountain passes into landslides for five long, bloody years.
In the third year of the war, it became increasing clear that the nations of Saladero didn't care about the madness of the Theocracy, only it's willingness to do business. And while they were stomped out immediately upon discovery, agents of Ariana's Voice upon the World were terrorizing the coast land of Atropia and slipping inland. The third year of war also saw a drought with a poor anticipated wheat harvest. Fires were set among the grain in the weeks before harvest. And the Atropian king and heir both died from a mysterious illness along with much of their court in a span of days. It is believed that a dish had been poisoned at a court function. Forced to elevate a child to the thrown with a regency council made up of assistants thrust into positions of authority, Atropia began to withdraw their support. While support among the people for the war was stubborn, particularly in the province of Martzak where many refugees had settled, it was officially, gradually, cut off. First their troops, then the subsidized exports of grain, fish and artisans' goods. Finally, organized volunteer companies that were marching to fine in Pineland were told that they would stand down or face arrest under suspicion of banditry. In the final year of the war, Pineland stood alone.
Old King Aaron, a skilled strategist and tactician, suffered the loss of his final son in battle. The news brought on a fit of apoplexy, felling him before his council. Confined to bed, he would instead have a series of convulsions and growing debility. One of his last acts was to pass his position to the oldest of his grandsons, who was already a captain who held the fortified bridge at Jedstown, the narrowest stretch of the Channel. He in turn passed the command to his half brother and aide de camp, Sir Juglan, a former captain of rangers who'd been crippled in battle.
It was during this period that The Theocracy sent messengers under a flag of truce. They offered to withdraw the occupation force from North Pineland and make no claim upon it if the Kingdom of Pineland would do the same. The people of North Pineland would then choose their own leaders, who would in turn form a government using the republic model of governance, as found in the ancient Paraborian people. And that government would in turn decide their fate. Further, the Theocracy of Ariana would pay reparation to the people of North Pineland.
While capable of defending a key position, and certainly not a traitor, King Robin lacked the experience of his grandfather or his father. Against the council of half brother, the new King of Pineland agreed to the peace deal. What he did not understand was that with more than two thirds of the peasants of North Pineland dead or enslaved and marched north, the Theocracy had resettled much of the land with their own people. During the truce, when Sir Juglan protested one too many times, he was told to return to his post and never question the loyalty of the people of Pineland, or report himself to the headsman. Sir Juglan and his party were on their horses before sunset and road north to the narrows. They crossed the bridge to the keep, and never returned to the Kingdom of Pineland.
When the appointed day to choose local leaders came, as Sir Juglan anticipated, not one village or town or guild selected a representative that was not born in the Theocracy. Ten days latter, those representatives selected a council of leaders, who in turn voted to separate themselves from the Kingdom of Pineland. They further denounced the so-called “provocations” of King Aaron and requested security and humanitarian assistance from Ariana's Voice upon the World. Sir Juglan gave the news from this Republic of Pineland to his two swiftest riders and all of his homing pigeons. Then he gave any of his men who wished to cross the bridge the southern side of the Channel until sunset to do so. Only three of his company crossed the bridge from the keep to Jedstown, while another four were ordered to do so for reasons known only to them and their captain. Those that remained then packed the bridge with hay and firewood and bales of flax soaked with oil and fired it at last light, and sent boulders crashing into the old path to the waters below. A few hours later, the keep at the southern side of the bridge roared into flame. Sir Juglan and his men and their beasts, other than a few chickens, had faded into the forested mountains.
It would take a few days for the news to spread, but the same had happened at all of the places where the Channel may be bridged, but with one key difference- unlike Sir Juglan, those companies retreated south before burning the bridges.
Since then, the so-called Republic of Pineland has become a province of the Theocracy in all but name. Temples and temple farms of Ariana have been built, and captains taken from the Voice's forces “advise” the forces of the Republic. There have been attempts to probe across and around the Channel by both sides. In the interviening twenty eight years, the Erehwon Channel has become lined with watching posts and fortifications, with the Republic beginning a wall on their side. Given the depth of the fjord, this seems superfluous, but word from Solodarian traders is that the Theocracy is building such walls along it's own provincial, internal borders. Other than Solodarian trading ships, only a few smugglers coming through the Arcapelego seem to be doing business with the North Island. The fishing boats of the North Island do not sail out of sight of their home ports unless they do so in numbers, and in the escort of trireme flying the red and white pinion of the Theocracy. It has been announced that the ruling council of the Republic of Pineland intends to hold a second vote of determination, to remain independent or to join formally join the Theocracy.
Two years ago, the new King Aaron rose to the Pineland throne, replacing his father. He is a student of his grandfather's writings, but is also a student of classical philosophy. He has pushed the Pineland troops to higher degree of readiness than his father maintained, and has signed a new mutual defense and support treaty with Atropia. He has also signed several companies of Atropian mercinaries, mostly the decedents of refugees in Martzak, to his colors with his Atropian counterpart.
There are persistent rumors that the Theocracy is expanding their forces, in particular the Wolf Brigade and the shadowy Words of the Voice groups. The former are raised from childhood in the temples of Ariana, and are utterly ruthless. Even their youngest troopers are acolytes of Ariana, being as much priests as soldiers. During the war, there were reputable reports of them engaging in cannibalism, and even human sacrifice. The Words of the Voice are supposed to be the assassins, scouts and infiltrators of the Theocracy, answering directly to the Speaker of Ariana's Voice upon the World. While neither of these groups are the main force of the Theocracy, they are the best. The main body of the Theocracy is mostly seen along the Channel fortifications, where they entertain themselves with rude gestures and throwing trash at their Pineland counterparts.
Rumors persist of an small and semi-organized underground fighting against the Theocracy throughout all of the North Island, including one calling itself the Pineland Liberation Force. It is the unstated policy of the Kingdom of Pineland to support any such groups.