Erdenburg

The Duchy of Erdenburg is a regional power in north eastern Wahrland that has usually maintained a hegemonic influence on its neighboring states as well as the lower Anvar Region. The capital is the large hill top fortress of the same name that steadily grew into a massive complex of several different sets of defensive walls built into the natural defenses of the hillside. The modern stronghold is the largest castle in Wahrland and perhaps the Archonite with its outer walls not even incorporating the actual town built to maintain and supply the fortress but including enough territory for several fields of livestock and horticulture to be cultivated within its walls.

The castle itself is built into the hill that gives it its name and is a part of the slim iron ore rich ridge line of the short but stout Derner mountains that forms the eastern natural border for the local portion of the Anvar river valley. The fertile area has dense vegetation with thick forests and uneven terrain making commercial and military travel reliant on the old Auran Roads that run along the banks of the Anvar. The territory has a high population that is dispersed among several small villages and a few mining towns most notable of which is Lordain on the southernmost edge of Derner Ridge.

The region and state is most famous for its unique style of armor and weapon making as the region has a long and proud martial history with rivalries for regional supremacy with several different entities throughout the years. The greatest of these has been the crown of Pavalon, who have twice (in both the First and Second Wahrlander Wars) denied the claim made by the Dukes of Erdenburg to the Kingdom of United Wahrland and crushed their ambitions. Although the Duchy has more recently seen greater threats to their sphere of influence from several neighbors including the Yron league across the Paschen straits, Bermier, Warmia, and especially the Duchy of Anvarland after its inception.

Erdenburg had long been ruled by ancient house of Weigel who took the old Auran outpost that originally stood at the site and expanded it to the massive fortification it is known for. In 176, the old Ducal dynasty came crashing down in after a failed uprising that tried to usurp Pavalon's Imperial title. Henri II of Pavalon decisively defeated Duke Gerhart IV and took him prisoner at the Battle of New Bridge. The Pavalonian monarch revoked the disgraced Duke's title and installed a loyal subordinate the royal steward of Pavalon who was raised to nobility by creating the House of Erdenburg. The new Dukes would eventually succumb to similar ambitions as their seat was fixated on its militaristic economy, martial traditions, and easily defensible homeland make the territory an effective war machine and regional power.