The Kingdom of Alpha

Once the whole of the Norwold Protectorate, Ericall’s realm was renamed Alpha after the Great War and is now a member of the New Alphatian Confederate Empire (NACE). It still claims vassal dominions it can no longer command [Alm-Alpha].

Government: independent monarchy within NACE.
Ruler: King Ericall, human male, Fighter 20, a son of the drowned Empress Eriadna. (The Almanac names him her eldest son [Alm-Alpha]; canon CM1 and the Rules Cyclopedia call him her second [CM1] [RC].) He has no magical talent, which, uniquely among Alphatian realms, lets non-mages hold title and rule here [Alm-Alpha] [RC].
Queen: Christina Marie Alanira, human female, Mage 13, married Ericall in AC 1014; sister of Lord General Mage Beriak, Count of Draken [Alm-Alpha].
Capital: Alpha, on the peninsula at the south shore of the Great Bay. A palace on a hill, a plain oak temple of Zirchev, and a deep-water harbor. Known as the “City of Rangers and Foresters” [Alm-Alpha].
Population: about 90,000, including some 2,000 halflings; mixed Heldannic, Thyatian, and Alphatian stock [Alm-Alpha].
Area: roughly 9,500 square miles, the Alpha peninsula, closed off inland by mountains [Alm-Alpha].

Geography and defense

The peninsula is cut off from the interior by the southern mountains; the only land route is Regent Pass, fortified and garrisoned, which marks the kingdom’s true southern limit [Alm-Alpha] [CM1]. The peninsula itself is free of monsters, with farmland between the pass and the capital, but the surrounding mountains hold yetis, sasquatches, goblinoids, wyverns, and (it is said) an ancient white dragon that rules the heights [Alm-Alpha].

Economy and faith

Agriculture (barely enough for local needs), fishing, logging, mining, and trapping, taxed at 20 percent of yearly income. The coinage is the crown (gp), mirror (sp), and judge (cp), with foreign coins in free circulation [Alm-Alpha]. The principal deity is Zirchev, Immortal of hunters and forest-folk, whose oak temple stands outside the city; its sacred birds are said to sing the hymns during prayer [Alm-Alpha].

The situation in AC 1016

Ericall expects the Heldannic Knights to try again for Oceansend at any time and keeps his war levies under arms; the commons resent the standing troops he has not disbanded since AC 1012 [Alm-Alpha].
The old Town Watch was renamed the Queen’s Guard. Rumor says it answers to the queen before the king [Alm-Alpha].
The northern lords (Sieger von Duwn, once independent, now at an uneasy peace; Alak Dool, banned from the realm) remain a soft spot [Alm-Alpha] [Neri-RBP].

By AC 1019 the realm is a member of Nayce (the confederated empire) and the Norwold Confederacy; Queen Christina has borne the heir, Prince Barikan; and the Heldannic Knights, now in civil war, are retreating from the region. The full AC 1019 stat block is on Southern Bay Marches [Alm-Alpha].

Running Alpha as a home base

Alpha is the natural arrival point: ships and would-be lords dock here, petition the court, and take their first commissions. It gives a party a court to navigate (the king-queen tension, the Queen’s Guard, the resented levies), safe streets at its back, and dangerous mountains a day’s ride away. The low-level campaign seeds built around Alpha are in Campaign: Home Bases and Levels 1-3.