Auberveil: What Is Known

 

Auberveil is a bunch of small forests, low mountains, huge grassy plains. Some swamplands. Some dead spaces; dead trees, no grass, stagnant waters. It's a haunted place. Has more than its fair share of Fae. The Ordinatus wasn't welcomed here for a long time; more ghosts per capita than the rest of Wylun, Old decay, old opulence. Still has vibrant spots, to be sure...but it is a nation in decline. Lots of dangerously haunted woods and lakes. Spooky gothic. Large central area of blighted land and dead spaces.

Ruled by a complicated series of hereditary rulers; the heirarchy is constantly shifting as people and families fall in or out of favor. It's a mess.

Predominantly humans, with a considerable population of halflings and wood elves. Comparatively few tieflings; almost no native dwarven settlements; a few families in the south, but that's it. Larger-than-normal concentration of Firbolgs, particularly in the low mountains. Auberveil has a very human-centric bias, at least amongst the nobility.

A few goblin encampments, some traveling hobgoblins. A higher number of undead things than there should be.

 

CERIVIGO: Southern city along border with Shalrin. Very small amount of trade between the two, weirdly enough. Somehow each side thinks too highly of themselves to compromise on trade in any meaningful way.

 LEOBRIA: 

MENERI: western city, outside of the blight. In the Alsanus Vale, where things are still green and lovely.  

SAVONONE: Capital city, next to the Peaceful Sea. Surrounded by blighted lands. Ruled by the Des Courduannier family and various cronies. 

 SOBRIEL: Eastern city, land connection to Merrick and the rest of Wylun. Far and away the most cosmopolitan spot in Auberveil. Big woodland elf settlements surrounding, along the coast.

 

The Blighted Lands

So what is causing this blight? It's a slow corruption. A lot of the commonfolk claim it's a curse, a reaction of the land itself to the decadence of the nobility. Maybe it is. Maybe a Spirit of the land made a deal with something bad?

Over time, the fields have...changed. Trees lose most of their leaves and begin to sag, foods rot on the vine. Wildlife gets leaner and more dangerous. Wolf packs a very serious concern at the edges of the blighted lands.

Sometimes corpses get up again. This corruption hits those who use magic a bit harder than the commoners. With more power comes more temptation, right?

 

Auberveil Royalty:

Have a convoluted system of intermarriages and naming conventions. When married, one takes the name of the higher-status spouse and loses any legal right or claim to their birth family's money or property. In the event of divorce (a rarity), some will go back to using their birth-family's name in correspondence and in society, but this is recognized as a social convenience only.

Prefixes indicate royalty; the Couers family is distinct from the De La Couers, although one can become the other. There is no guarantee to royal status, and if a family runs out of money and favor it's not unknown for the entire line to be demoted to commoner. This is the worst fate imaginable to a lot of Auberveil's nobility.

De La Couers: small-time, blighted lands, accused of devilry and corruption (which is, of course, probably true)

Des Courduannier: reigning King and Queen. Gross, truly upsetting amount of decadence and entitlement. Extended family is substantial.

De La Fontaine: a dying line, ancestral lands between Meneri and Savonone, in the dead heart of the blighted lands.

De Vermandois: a wealthy family, still in mediocre standing with the King & Queen.