realms
The Barony of Arcadia
The Barony of Arcadia
A tiny, loosely-ruled barony in the Icereach Mountains on the western shore of Lake Gunaald, “a barony in name, with no real government,” independent and only loosely allied to Alpha [Alm-Arcadia].
- Ruler: Baron Arcadius, human male, Magic-User 20, who rules from the Tower of Arcadia on the highest peak and enforces no law beyond it [Alm-Arcadia]. (He is the absent-minded scholar-claimant of the Land Rush, a researcher of lost peoples [Neri-RBP].)
- Population: about 300, never censused: some 250 dwarves of the single Takkras clan, and 50 human fisherfolk of Antalian descent [Alm-Arcadia].
- Key figures: Sandryth, a young-adult gold dragon, the baron’s diplomatic link to the Wyrmsteeth dragons; Tark Takkras, dwarf Fighter 10, clanlord of the gold-miners [Alm-Arcadia].
Land and livelihood
High, cold mountains with thin life; gold mines a few miles north of the tower, and fishing families in a sheltered valley between Lake Gunaald and the peaks. The realm lives by gold-mining and goldsmithing, by weaponsmithing, and by fishing gunaald (a white lake-fish) sold in Leeha, Alpha, and Oceansend. There are no taxes; folk give goods to the baron for protection against dragons [Alm-Arcadia].
The situation
The dwarves distrust Arcadius, suspecting he schemes with dragons to take their gold, yet they still trade with him. King Ericall is displeased with the baron’s hands-off rule and with the Wyrmsteeth dragons’ refusal to act against the Heldannic Warbirds [Alm-Arcadia]. The hooks write themselves: renegade dragons in the peaks, the baron’s wish to enter the dragons’ hidden city of Windreach, and raids on the valley and the mines [Alm-Arcadia] [MMB-Region].