Shadowdale

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The Constitutional Monarchy of Shadowdale


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Overview
Island East Continent
Capital Krimml
Largest City Karbala
Government Monarchy


Duchies 4
Regions 12
Population 156,544
Gold 7229
Food 3540
Nobles 21
Council
Shadow Queen Etain Dubhaine
Grey Exarch William Armsworth
Tormentor Flavia Arindal
Cauldron Master Everhard Brennaborg
Regions
RegionLord
Al AmarahWilliam
BragaDirk Kalamar
CommonyrGniewomir Rabczynski
DulbinRosaline Elizabeth Munro
EvoraCyneric Strudwicke
GreatbridgeColin Ceallaigh
KarbalaLorenzo Falconi
KrimmlFlavia Arindal
MontijoTzedvier Bayemvee
MorshesGuldor D'Espana
NegevEtain Dubhaine
OportoDante Adonis

Shadowdale was formed when the Duchy of Karbala was granted independence by Sirion. It is a Constitutional Monarchy formally ruled by the Shadow Monarch and supported by the Shadow Council, which handles many governmental tasks including overseeing defence of the realm and a Law Code to regulate justice within the realm.

As a continental power Shadowdale has fought often and fiercely against foreign realms on the continent for stability, security and influence of the realm.

Hymn of Shadowdale

Rise, Shadow, rise, for glory of our land,

till all the world bows down at our command!

From distant shores to borders far and near,

Now let our armies fill the world with fear:

Rise, Shadow, rise, for glory of our land.


Rise, Shadow, rise, for honor and for fame,

that every realm may know the Shadow's name,

speak of her strength, and of her courage sing,

and make obeisance to our Shadow King.


Rise, Shadow, rise, for honor and for fame.

Rise, Shadow, rise; go forth to victory;

our foes defeated may we swiftly see

fleeing dismayed before each mighty sword,

wielded with valor and with one accord:

rise, Shadow, rise; go forth to victory.

- By Lady Flavia Arindal

Culture

Shadowdalian culture is centered around mysteriousness. This is best expressed by its most popular religion: The Shadow. Not much is known of this religion, although it is believed that it has its roots in the Flow of the Balance. Even the relation between the religion and the state is unclear: other religions seem to be able to freely operate within Shadowdale, while The Shadow also has many followers outside the realm.

The mysteriousness is also apparant in its politics. Many decisions are made behind closed doors and connections are forged in secret - in the Shadow. This does not mean that Shadowdale is an exclusive society. In fact, freedom is valued more than power, so Shadowdalians tend to constantly look for ways to increase their safety by expanding their network. This can be clearly seen in the relation with the Shadow Monarch, who wields absolute power on paper - but less in practise.

It should be noted that Shadowdale declares itself evil. This should be seen in respect to their desire for freedom, which results in resistance against orthodox doctrines. The focus on the Shadow causes them to consider evil as not necessarily evil - much rather as 'misunderstood'. In fact, even chaos is considered by many a beneficial thing, because adversity reveals one's talent.

Shadowdalians are fond of literature, since 'knowledge allows them to understand the Shadow'. Therefore, they love to read and are especially fond of poetry - The Fire Queen is highly recommended.

National days

  • February 25th, Independence Day

The Spider Qeen Luciferase seceded from Sirion and founded Shadowdale.

  • July 7th, New Tommorrow Day

On this day, the armies of Shadowdale conquered the great city of Fontan, ending the war against Caligus a few days later and allowing the creation of the Duchy of The Shadow's Citadel.

  • September 13th, Patriots’ Day

The great patriotism shown by those Shadowdale nobles supported by the Perleone forces who fought against the entire army of the Republic of Sirion and Eponllyn at Al Amarah. Although Shadowdale lost the battle, they were able to break the takeover and avoid a threat to the kingdom's capital.

Politics

Shadowdale is an enlightened absolutist state wherein the ruler makes the decisions, consulting the Shadow Council when they are important issues.

Realm Hierarchy

  1. Shadow King
  2. Ministers: Grey Exarch, Tormentor and Cauldron Master
  3. Dukes
  4. Lords
  5. Knights and Nobles
  6. Commoners

Government Bodies

The Realm Council

This body is made up of the Shadow King and his ministers. It is dedicated to improving newsletters. Proposals for changes to bulletins are also accepted.

Shadow Council

It is the main organ of the kingdom. Dedicated to give advice to the King on diplomatic, legislative, fiscal and other matters. Formed by

  • Shadow King
  • Ministers
  • Dukes
  • Nobles with the rank of ambassador
  • Leaders of a majority faith in the kingdom.
  • Shadow King's trusted nobles.

Warfare Commisson

Military body, dedicated to advise the Grey Exarch on tactics and strategies in military campaigns.

Diplomatic Delegation

This corps aims to support the Shadow King and the ambassadors in diplomatic affairs.

Duties: Provide new forms or approaches in dialogues with other kingdoms, propose events both nationally and internationally and prepare draft diplomatic proposals and treaties.

Laws

Shadowdale's Legal Code was created as a way to reliably and fairly solve disputes, after its steep increase in noble population also led to petty squabbles that needed be dealt with, lest they escalated further and threatened to weaken the realm. The laws derive its power from the authority the Shadow King wields over the realm, and aim to channel that authority in a pragmatic and secular system that can solve conflicts without the need to divert his attention from more important matters and can do so with minimal effort. Laws are classified in Zeroth Laws and Regular Laws. The former dictate how to properly add, change and remove laws, how to interpret them during a trial, who has authority to deal justice, etc. The latter dictate what actions can be sanctioned and their penalty.

Military

Armies

Shadowdale has two armies in its service.

The Shadow King´s Pennon
  • Shadow Legion.png The Shadow Legion Shadow Legion.png It is the Flagship army of Shadowdale. It was founded by Lindow Moonsun when he was crowned as Shadow King. The army has been the Shadow King Lindow Moonsun's tool of high diplomacy in all the wars Shadowdale has participated in. For this reason, this army carries the Shadow King´s Pennon, this banner has been seen in many regions across the continent, from the north to the south.
  • Knights of Humble Countenance Banner.png Knights of Humble Countenance Knights of Humble Countenance Banner.png It is the second army of Shadowdale. Created as an order of knights that in the future will be the main army of the archduchy that Shadowdale will found.

Military Decorations

Decorations are granted by the King in person or by letter

  • Cavalry Order maximum cavalry recruitment limit, prestige 20, 2 month in the realm, warrior class, cavalier/hero subclass
  • Royal unit – more than 9 campaigns, maximum recruitment limit, prestige 20, 2 months in the realm, warrior class, cavalier/hero subclass
  • Elder unit– between 4 and 8 campaigns, maximum recruitment limit, prestige 10, 1 month in the realm, warrior class
  • Prime unit – between 1 and 3 campaigns, maximum recruitment limit, prestige 5

History

The East Continent at the foundation of Shadowdale.

The Spider Queen Era (2016.02.25)

The realm of Shadowdale arose when the Duchess Luciferase of Karbala achieved the independence of her duchy, belonging to Sirion, being self-proclaimed as Spider Queen of Shadowdale. The Spider Queen established a theocratic system whose maximum exponent was herself. There were hardly any laws, everything was regulated by the right of duel, a common means to enforce your claims. In foreign policy, in order to improve his relations with Sirion, Shadowdale entered into the conflict that arose after the Rebellion of First Oligarch, an allusion to an ancient kingdom with the same name. Although the start of the war granted Shadowdale great territorial benefits, the victory was not achieved so easily. The defenders of First Oligarch resisted for more than a year, supported by southern kingdoms, in a game of alliances that would unleash a much bigger and cruel war in the future. It was at this point in the war against First Oligarch that the Spider Queen locked herself in her palace and she did not go out again, leaving the realm unattended. This caused Shadowdale's nobles to rebel against her, throwing her off the throne.

Dark Era

Little is known about this era. There was a king whose name is unknown since it lasted very little on the throne. The only thing that stands out is that Shadowdale ceased to be a theocracy and became in a monarchy. Futhermore, the cult of spiders created by Luciferase ended with her disappearance.

The Shadow King Era (2017.01.24)

Under the rule of King of Shadows Lindow Moonsun, the kingdom observed a slow and steady growth of the noble population but, approaching the end of the war, somehow, the court of this kingdom began to grow very rapidly due to a large influx of noble families who joined their ranks. Some people say that it was due to the righteous rule of the King of Shadows that this realm became attractive and thus attracted so many people. While others believe that he somehow made contact with otherworldly entities outside of our plane of existence and was granted the ability to summon shape-shifting demons tied to his will by supernatural ties. We will never know.

What is known is that Shadowdale has become a great power within the continent, and that has been achieved after successive wars.

The Great War

It was a war that pitted the southern kingdoms consisting of Perdan, Vix Tiramora, Fallangard, and Highmarch against Sirion, Eponllyn, Nivemus, Caligus, and Redhaven.

The beginning of the war is located after the fall of the kingdoms of Oligarch and Xavax. The southern kingdoms mobilized against Caligus and quickly conquered most of their lands up to the border with Fontan, the only territory that managed to resist. With the conquered lands they created the kingdom of Highmarch. Sirion granted the ancient lands of Oligarch to the refugees of Xavax to form Redhaven.

Shadowdale, despite not being the most powerful kingdom in the north, managed to regain most of the lands of Caligus. A fact that was never recognized or appreciated by this kingdom and that would have consequences in the future.

The war progressed in favor of the northern kingdoms, even surrounding the city of Perdan. However, a sudden growth of the Perdan kingdom caused the war to stagnate. No one had the administrative capacity to move forward, except SHadowdale. A few days before the end of the war – which no one knew was coming – the Shadow Legion mobilized under the command of Grey Exarch Luna Tempest with the aim of taking Nascot, while a small detachment accompanied the rest of the conjoined northern army southwards to create the illusion of Shadowdale’s presence and buy the rest of the Legion time to try and take Nascot before their by then enemy could react. These efforts were cut short, as the Gods halted every ongoing conflict and caused what is known as the Great Peace to happen.

Shadowdale achieved with this war the regions of Krimml, Evora and Akesh Temple.

Nivemus War

After the end of the Great War, Shadowdale began to experience great growth, increased the jealousy and envy of its neighbors, who have considered us an inferior power. They started negotiations with Kronogos Brock to request Bruck since Nivemus had twice as many regions as nobles while Shadowdale had more than 50 nobles and 11 regions, but they received no response.

Later, they were reported that Perdan was going to launch a campaign of conquest across the ancient Obsidian Islands to establish a colony in the North. We communicated to Nivemus about this plan and the possibility of establishing a Shadowdale colony on the Kazan peninsula, but again Nivemus did not respond. After not receiving any letters, we finally decided to attack Nivemus as we considered that Nivemus was not ready for the new events. This was the moment when the rest of the kingdoms that were allies of Shadowdale took off their masks and were hostile. Caligus, ruled at that time by King Rowan, threatened to destroy us and proposed to the rest of the kingdoms to ally with Perdan and erase us from the map.

As former allies, Shadowdale did not make any conquests at Nivemus during the war but continued the negotiations confident that there was a solution that would satisfy everyone. However, all the kingdoms only proposed that Shadowdale conquer badlands, in other words, the waste that the rest of the kingdoms did not want. Finally, the war against Nivemus ended in a very dishonest way, Eponllyn and Nivemus negotiated behind Shadowdale's back the delivery of Bruck to Eponllyn to cut off Shadowdale's access to Nivemus, ending the war and uniting the Eponllyn territories.

Shadowdalian-Caligan War

Time passed and Perdan declared war on Nivemus to establish his colony (Alexandria). Again the kingdoms rallied to fight Perdan, but Shadowdale stayed on the sidelines, though not as much, as it was the perfect time to exact revenge on all of them. Caligus was the first, who have threatened to destroy us was the target, and it became more attractive when Perleone offered us an alliance in that war. The war against Caligus was successful, we conquered Fontan, An Najaf and Viseu, but Eponllyn joined the war in defense of Caligus, proving that the political movement to take over the Bruck region did so to harm Shadowdale more than for the general good.

Great War in the North

After Shadowdale made peace with Caligus, Eponllyn was still at war with them and they did not want to pay the war expenses, so Shadowdale continued the war to pay for the damages they caused. However, Sirion saw a threat in this and declared war, despite the insistence of the Shadowdale ambassadors that they were only seeking payment. However, the Kingdom of Perleone stood by Shadowdale's side and helped him to resist the great army of Sirion, an army that had brought down many kingdoms.

The war against Sirion was a great challenge, history shows, great kingdoms have succumbed to them and Shadowdale seemed to be next. His first demands were for Shadowdale's ban on expanding and paying a large fine to both Eponllyn and Sirion, though the latter could be forgiven if the Shadow King Lindow abdicated.

The war was the catharsis of Sirion's hatred of Shadowdale, whose rulers and army leaders were Shadowdaliannophobes and incited the total destruction of Shadowdale.

The situation got worse for Shadowdale when Nivemus merged with Eponllyn and Sirion, making the latter the kingdom with the two richest men on the continent, wealth that was invested in the war.

However, Shadowdale demonstrated unwavering stamina. Great battles took place during this war, the most memorable was the breaking of the siege of Al Amarah, where despite having been a defeat for Shadowdale and Perleone they managed to stop the takeover of the region, causing the withdrawal of the Sirion army and the recovery of the lost regions.

The war became a war of attrition, something that did not make it clear who could benefit more, Sirion had a lot of gold and food producing regions, and Shadowdale many young nobles who little by little were being able to command larger armies.

Eventually both parties signed the peace and Krimml Accords, in which Shadowdale's right to freely expand north was recognized.

Shadowdalian-Alexandrian War

During the great war in the north, Alexandria took advantage of the disappearance of Nivemus to conquer Oroya and Salta in order to improve their income.

Following the signing of the Krimml Accords, Shadowdale began expanding into the former territories of Nivemus with the goal of creating an archduchate. However, Alexandria prevented it from forming as they controlled two important territories.

Negotiations were held where Shadowdale offered a large sum of gold for both regions, an offer that Alexandria rejected.

Time passed and Alexandria lacked the administrative capacity to maintain those regions but continued to do so in order to profit from negotiations with Shadowdale. The Tidemaster himself expressed that he was not interested in gold, nor was he even interested in maintaining those regions, he wanted the Kazan peninsula and alluded to a future confrontation with Eponllyn, for that reason he requested an alliance, either by marriage or agreement, to Shadowdale, a proposal that Shadowdale rejected at the time, making preparations for war.

Near the end of the Shadowdalian-Alexandrian War on 2021-03-09.

The war was militarily easy but Alexandria proved to be a dishonest, mean and hypocritical enemy. He tried to victimize himself from the beginning by sending numerous letters to the rest of the kingdoms with propaganda against Shadowdale. They even made propaganda in adventurer guilds against Shadowdale while they executed two adventurers for no reason.

There was a lot of hypocrisy in them, they destroyed all the civil buildings of Oroya and Salta, left the population of Salta without food and even tortured and robbed a Shadowdale nobleman who was taken prisoner, all against the prisoner agreement, respected in the entire continent since the Great War.

After the conquest of Salta, peace was signed with no more war claims than Salta and Oroya.

Age of the Shadow Court (2021.07.26)

During this time there were many rulers, who replaced each other in quick succession. It is believed that the reason for this was the existence of a Shadow Court, which wanted to prevent the rise of a strong ruler to curb their power. The rulers of this period are:

The Betrayal of the Dukes on 2022-08-24.

Shadow Queen Etain (2023.01.06)

Etain was doomed to have a short rule as well when pamphlets were scattered, claiming she was a commoner. However, the producer of these pamphlets has since disappeared, while Etain showed a document signed by Brigdha Dubhaine, in which Etain was acknowledged as her granddaughter.

Shadow-Lion War

Duke Edmund of the Spider's Citadel started his own religion and instructed his followers to use violent methods against the Shadow. When confronted with this, he and Duke Roen of the Shadow's Citadel decided to switch to Caligus. The treacherous Dukes were allowed in Caligus, provided they would give up their title. Margrave Tzedvier of the Akesh Temple was the vassal of Duke Roen and therefore went with him to Caligus. He, too, proved his loyalty to Patriarch Nemean JeVondair by stepping down and was eventually rewarded with the Duchy of the Spider's Throne when Duke Edmund stepped down.

One of Cyria's knights was Eisenritter. He suddenly rose through the ranks due to his military genius and became the new Patriarch. A pamphlet circulating in Shadowdale clearly proves he killed Patriarch Nemean in a palace coup. Eisenritter wanted to attack Shadowdale, but Duke Tzedvier did not want to fight his former realm and rejoined Shadowdale. The tyrant Eisenritter demanded the Duchy back, but the brave Queen Etain did not back down to his threats, so Caligus declared war to take away the lands which according to feudal law belong to Duke Tzedvier and according to history belonged to Shadowdale.

The Return of Duke Tzedvier on 2023-11-06.

The tyrant Eisenritter prepared his war well and had already entered into an alliance with Queen Alyssa of Perdan, whose Queen first had close relations with Queen Etain. The brave lions of Perleone recognized the danger this alliance would pose to their existence and decided to join the war at the side of Shadowdale. Together they made a fist and even besieged the Caligan capital: Akesh Temple. However, King Lemric of Perleone did not want the war to escalate and therefore did not declare war on Perdan. Because of this the Perleonic troops did not get involved in the crucial Battle for Akesh.

The alliance suffered another decisive defeat at the February Battle of Supra. (2024.02.23) The battle saw Shadowdale arrive just too late and after this battle, Perleone was expelled from Abadan. Meanwhile Caligus used their wealth to bribe officials in An Najaf, thus gaining it through treason instead of military force. The nobles of Shadowdale met in Krimml to discuss surrender. However, besides the territories Caligus now possessed, the tyrant Eisenritter demanded the banishment of Duke Tzedvier (who had become dear to the Shadowdalian nobles) and a considerable amount of gold for each day the war went on - which had become a significant amount by that time. Shadowdale simply could not comply to these conditions and since it was not believed the peace would last, they once more decided to fight on.

Meanwhile Caligus had successfully breached the Perleonic defences and take the Mines of Isadril. Shadowdale already had plans to move south to combine their forces with Perleone. With their preparations complete, the Grey Exarch lead the army across the sea to Perleone. The expedition failed to surprise Perdan who had already learned of it from a spy. Although the expedition helped Perleone recover and saw success in the Battle in Moyale (2024.04.24), the casualty rate forced Shadowdale to return home.

Back home, Caligus had sent an arsonist, Gottfried Gotz, to wreak havoc. The success of this infiltrator caused former Margravine Cyria Wilde to employ similar tactics. However, when Shadowdale became more or less successfull in hunting these infiltrators, Cyria became even more elusive by focussing on scouting behind enemy lines.

Then Shadowdale was shocked by treason: Earl Brimzin Gear of Dulbin had been a spy all along and had hoarded a massive amount of food and switched his allegiance to Caligus. Caligus then marched for Krimml, but was defeated in the Battle of Braga. Then Shadowdale tried to regain Dulbin. Initially they were defeated, but during a second attempt they managed to stand their ground against an army with 4000 more CS.

Shadowdale then attacked Viseus and severely damaged the walls, after which they went south to attack Fontan. However, they were intercepted by Caligus in An Najaf. Bu chaotic manoeuvring Shadowdale evaded a large scale battle, limited casualties and kept Caligus long enough engaged to allow Perleone to take Abadan. Once Caligus had moved back south, Shadowdale initiated a takeover in Evora. Thanks to the sacrifice of Perleone who kept Caligus engaged during the First and Second Battle of Mashhad and subsequently August Battle of Supra, Shadowdale succeeded in regaining Evora.

Meanwhile a plague had struck the island and the other realms lost a significant amount of nobles. Shadowdale only lost one - a suspected spy. This meant for the first time since the start of the war, both sides had a similar amount of nobles. Enthoused by their recent successes and believing the war was finally fair, many nobles wanted to continue the war. However, peace negotiations had been materializing. So Queen Etain decided to agree to a ceasefire.

Tallbar Incident

Several nobles came to Shadowdale's aid from neutral realms during the war. Guldor D'Espana's cavalry proved crucial in changing the course of the war. Sonder Komurov helped initiate negotiations before returning to Sirion. He was replaced by Lorenzo Falconi who played a vital role in Shadowdale's military infrastructure as Major.

After the war Shadowdale desired to reward these nobles by rewarding them with land they had once possessed, but which now was left rogue. Guldor D'Espana received the Morshes and Lorenzo Falconi desired the Sir Temple back, whose well-equiped soldiers would be a valuable addition to Shadowdale's army. Thus an expedition was organized to the north.

Shadowdale first secured a beachhead in Tallbar, but when Sirion found out, they threatened to go to war if Shadowdale would not pull back. For several days the armies of both realms had a stare off, but eventually the Queen decided to defuze the situation and called the expedition back home.

Duchies

Shadows Bluff 600px.png
Duchy of the Shadow's Bluff

The Duchy of the Shadow's Bluff was created from the Duchy of Karbala within the Republic of Sirion when the Spider Queen Luciferase became independent. The duchy started out as a small duchy made up of three regions to become one of the largest and most powerful in the entire East Continent.

Afterwards, the Duchy became the inheritance of the Shadow King, until Shadow King Lindow Moonson's second tenure when he granted it to Margravine Flavia Arindal of Krimml, which had become the new capital of the realm.

In times of peace, tournaments would be held where the winner was named Champion. His/her name being registered in the bulletin of the duchy.

The Shadow's Citadel 600px.png
Duchy of the Shadow's Citadel

The Duchy of the Shadow's Citadel was founded by Shadow King Lindow Moonsun as the first Duchy of Shadowdale not directly controlled by the Crown of Shadowdale. The conquest of Fontan by Shadowdale gave birth to new Ducal seat of power when Margravine Luna Tempest was raised to the station of Duchess by his Majesty the Shadow King.

As the duchy included the lands that encompass Shadowdale's southern border it shielded Shadowdale's core regions flank to the south from raiders or aggressive armies. The port city of Fontan formed the backbone of the duchy's economy, but Akesh Temple became the duchy capital when the Duchy of the Spider's Throne was created in Fontan.

The duchy was lost when former Shadow King Roen Solicix betrayed Shadowdale and joined Caligus.

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Duchy of the Humble Countenance

The Duchy of the Humble Countenance was founded by Shadow King Lindow Moonsun after the Shadowdalian-Alexandrian War. This duchy was to be ceded to an order of chivalry led by Maccio Aurelle, but the sudden collapse leading up to the Shadow Court caused the lands around Ashfort - and therefore the duchy - to be lost.

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Duchy of the Spider's Throne

Due to the size of the Shadow's Bluff, a new Duchy was created around Karbala by Shadow Queen Luna Tempest and given to future Shadow King Edmund Calder. As such this duchy became part of Caligus when Edmund betrayed Shadowdale.

The Duchy was recreated and granted to Margrave Murdo Hormondson of Karbala, who until then had been a vassal of An Najaf. After the disappearance of Murdo Hormondson, his duchy was incorporated by Shadow Queen Etain Dubhaine to become the royal duchy.

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Duchy of Al Amarah

After the betrayal by Duke Edmund, Caligus could not hold on to Al Amarah, which went rogue. Shadow King William Armsworth reclaimed the region and organized a Duchy with the same name for himself.

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Duchy of the Southern March

After the betrayal by Duke Edmund, Viseu rejoined Shadowdale. Margravine Etain Dubhaine of Viseu was awarded the new Duchy. When she was Shadow Queen and the Spider's Throne was without Duke, she merged the two and became Duchess of the more prestigious Duchy of the Spider's Throne.

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Duchy of Spider's Sceptre

Patriarch Nemean JeVondair allowed Edmund to remain in his borders on the condition that he would step down from his duchy, the Duchy of the Spider's Throne. When he did, the duchy was granted to Tzedvier Bayemvee, who renamed the duchy out of respect for the recreated duchy with the same name in Shadowdale.