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ViewsCarieleFrom BRWikiAnuire » The Northern Marches » Cariele
IntroductionLife and SocietyThe LandMhelliviene (5/2)Mhelliviene is a well developed province adjacent to the Five Peaks and Thurazor. Mountainsedge (3/4)Mountainsedge is the most rugged of the Carielean provinces. Riverford (5/2)Riverford is the northern province of Cariele, bordering the Ruide River. CaerlinienCarlinien is the capital city of Cariele, based around the major fortress, Cariele Castle. HistoryThe current chapter in the history of Cariele begins when Dallan Bireon, Count of Mhelliviene, was deposed by Daenel Cariele, the Baron of Cariele. At this time the people followed the teachings of Haelyn in some matters and Aeric in the care of the land and forests. In those times Haelyn's Aegis and the Oaken Grove of Aeric were indifferent to one another, being neither particular friends, nor in any way unfriendly. The Baron, Daenel, was a capable and somewhat ruthless ruler, who nevertheless kept Cariele seccure from the many enemies who surround the realm. Daenel ruled with the close cooperation of Haelyn's Aegis and the lawpriests of the temple. Haelyn's knights were the guardians of the narrow pass at Mhelliviene, until the local count thought he could make a fortune in tolls by blocking the pass and demanding tribute from those who passed beyond. The outrage grew and Baron Daenel preserved his own relations with guilders north and south, and dukes as well, by ousting Dallan Bireon from his lordship of the pass, and giving the title to a more loyal man. And so the realm was well governed and peaceful.
Daenel eventually was taken ill by a sickness, and passed regency of the land to his son, Berric. Berric was not baron for too long when he began to quarrel with the Grand Magisterium of Haelyn's Aegis. This division created a wedge which Mheallie Bireon used to drive Berric out of power. She took over the Stonecrown Coster by intrigue and then exploited the disputes between Berric Cariele and Haelyn's Aegis. Mheallie convinced Adrian Gladanil to make his own bid for the barony, and seek to repair the breech between the barony and the temples of Haelyn. Mheallie reasoned at the time that Haelyn's temples would not interfear with her running of the guilds the way Aeric's Oaken Grove was. However, Temias Coumain, of the Celestial Jewel of Sarimie, got wind of what was going on in Cariele. He sent his lieutenant, there with the chance of a lifetime. Coumain sent Larra Nielems to ally herself with the newly agressive guilder and establish her own temples by driving out the Oaken Grove. Adrian Gladanil, the count of Mountainsedge, and a second cousin once removed, approached the Aegis looking for support for a disinvestiture of Berric Cariele. Mheallie had arranged for information to fall into the hands of the law priests that Baron Berric planned to declare himself archprelate of his own temple devoted to Haelyn, and take the Aegis' temples in Cariele for himself. Frightened by this information, the Aegis agreed to invest Adrian Gladanil. Mheallie's spies were able to identify a time when Berric Cariele would be traveling, and the desitination he planned to take. She passed this information to Adrian, who laid in wait on the route with trusted knights and took Berric hostage. Despite Berric's resistance, the law priests of the Aegis divested Berric of his lands and invested them on Adrian Gladanil. Adrian and the Aegis decided to exile Berric Cariele, and he fled with his family to Dhoesone. In Tradebhein, Berric took refuge with the circles of the Oaken Grove. Mheallie Bireon met with Larra Nielems and the two forged an alliance. Larra formed the Northern Reformed Church of Sarimie and began to exploit changes in attitides in Cariele. With rising wealth in Cariele because of the exploitation of the new Stonecrown Coster, many people in Cariele were becomming indifferent to Aeric, and their appreciation of the new wealth made them ripe for the arrival of Larra's Church of Sarimie. Since the druids of the Oaken Grove considered themselves in a strong position in Cariele, they continued to try to put pressure on the guildmaster of the Stonecrown Coster in order to return to sustainable forestry. Larra was gifted by Brenna with great powers of evangelism. She used the new excitement in Cariele to oust the Oaken Grove and establish her temples in very short order. By the time the Oaken Grove knew what had happened, it was over. The druids remained in their circles and preached sustainable practice and love of nature, but no one listened any more. The druids were never driven from the forest, they were just ignored. The high druid of Cariele, Euric Aelis, preached these words, after the druids lost power: "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve nature and money." For a time, Haelyn's Bastion of Truth and the Reformed Church of Sarimie left each other alone. Adrian Gladanil, who had gotten the Aegis to back him because he appeared to be a supporter of the temple, ultimatly doomed it by his support. Adrian relied on the Bastion to help him reform the barony and it turned out their advice and assistance was too good. Mheallie Bireon found the new power of the state to be an obstacle and began to demand that Adrian alter his policies. For some time, Mheallie and Larra squared off against Adrian and the Bastion. The stalemate was broken, as it turns out, by Berric Cariele. The druids of the Oaken Grove were plotting a comeback and plotting the return of Berric as their vehicle. The Oaken Grove supplied Berric with gold and both proceeded to re-establish their followings in Cariele. Adrian Gladanil was caught in the middle. Mhaellie was determined to hold at least a portion of the law of the realm, and Berric hoped to recapture the whole barony. Adrian was assisted by the Aegis, who proved to to be very skilled at defending law holdings. All the while, the Oaken Grove and the Reformed Church of Sarimie moved against one another. Mheallie drew two observations from this situation. One was that Berric Cariele would continue to pursue his claims in Cariele, the second was that he should be allowed to continue only so long as he weakened Adrian. For several years this conflict was mostly a conflict for the control of holdings in Cariele. The Oaken Grove again proved its aggressive posture when it stepped up to outright military action. From safe bases in Dhoesone, the Oaken grove raised Rjurik troops from Dhoesone and exiled warriors from Rjuvik. It quietly laid the groundwork for raising troops from its followers in Mhoried, but was unwilling to move too quickly there. The Mhor was unlikely to intervene if it were clear that the Oaken Grove would restore Berric in Cariele. The Mhor would not take very kindly to Torien's Watch becomming embroiled in a civil war, however. This is the one time in the whole conflict when Mheallie was totally taken by surprise. She neither anticipated such a move from the Grove, nor did her spies uncover such a plot. The Grove had taken the precaution of recruiting only Rjurik in an attempt to foil Mheallie's spies. Three companies of Rjurik archers and a mixed company of battle ragers and housecarls crossed over into Riverford and moved directly on Caerlinien and Cariele Castle, overlooking the city. The Grove had anticipated that units of scouts could be raised in Cariele from followers of Aeric, but no such rally occurred. Instead, it was the Stonecrown Coster who proved capable of mobilizing the foresters to fight the foreign troops brought in by the druids. As Caerinlien fell to the invaders, Mheallie and her chief lieutenants slipped out of the city disguised as townsfolk, while Larra Nielems took refuge in Cariele Castle. From the countryside, Mheallie rallied the foresters and cut the Oaken army off from support in Dhoesone. A few scouts were sent to the mountain pass known as Mhelliviene, but almost as soon as they arrived, rangers from Torien's Watch cleared them out again. Meanwhile in Cariele Castle, Larra proved invaluable in keeping the outnumbered defenders' spirits up. The druids used powerful magic in the wilderness to seperate and confuse the companies of Adrian's infantry, the kinghts in Haelyn's service, and the foresters of the Stonecrown Coster. This prevented Adrian, Mheallie, and the Bastion from uniting their forces and driving the druids out by force. With the principle city of the barony in the hands of the Oaken Grove, Cariele Castle under siege, the last few supporters of Aeric in Cariele came forward and joined the Grove's army. It proved too little too late. Baron Adrian issued a formal protest with Dhoesone, who had no desire to get mixed up in a civil war in Cariele. Mheallie's scouts took control of the Cariele side of the bridges which crossed the Ruide River and began constructing wooden fortifications there. The Grove was cut off from reinforcements. Gradually, the forces of Cariele began to get closer to Caelinien. Reinforcements were sent to the Mhelliviene pass, but they were thrown back by small numbers of elite archers, who, it is said, were aided by birds, wolves, and other woodland creatures. As the siege went on towards six months Euric Aelis, the High Druid of Cariele concluded that the effort had failed. Eventually the scouts and knights would arrive to break the siege, no new reinforcements could be brought in, and the foresters of Cariele had sided with Mheallie, not the Oaken Grove. Euric arranged a truce with Adrian and the knights of Haelyn who remained inside Castle Cariele. The Oaken Grove would yield in exchange for free passage out of Cariele for all who served the banner of the Oaken Grove. Adrian and the Bastion agreed to the offer, and the army of the Grove made way for Dhoesone. No deal had been worked out with the Stonecrown Coster, so the Rjurik warriors planned to fight thereway across the bridge back into Tradebhein. The druids had other ideas. When they arrived at the stone bridge at Brynville, the druids declared their intention to pass peacefully. The scouts refused and brandished their weapons. While it was the role of some druids to speak, it now fell on others to act. They stepped forward and cast spells which caused the whole south wall of the fort to bow down to the ground giving the four companies of the Oaken Grove direct access to the defenders at Brynville. Again the druids declared their intention to cross the bridge peacefully. This time, the scouts agreed. Berric Cariele was no of no use to Mheallie anymore, and remained a potential threat. So, she had him assasinated. Later, her spies reported that Berric's successor had been designated and invested, and that even Berric's Regency was transfered to the heir. Mheallie realized that the whole Cariele family would have to be broken to remove the threat in the long term. It turns out that Adrian was similarly minded on this point. At this point, many holdings had become independent through the many conflicts between rulers. Mheallie and Larra made a total commitment to aquiring these remaining independent holdings and integrating them into into their realms. Again a conflict developed over the law holdings between Adrian and Mheallie and the temple holdlings between Larra and the Bastion. Already denied a reserve of money or regency from previous conflicts with, Adrian and the Bastion were not equal to the task. Still, they proved stubborn defenders, and Mheallie decided it was best to go around the problem, by replacing Adrian. When Adrian turned up poisoned, his son, Entier Gladanil understood the message. Furthermore, he never formally accepted the title of baron, but continues to call himself a count. When Entier abandoned his father's struggle for the law holdings, it was the final phase of the struggle for Haelyn's Bastion of Truth in Cariele. As Mheallie expanded outside of Caerile, she anticipated her long struggle within Cariele would make other rulers wary of her building her guilds in their realm. So, she invented the Northlands Exchange as a cover organization in Dhoesone and Tuarievel, and the Source of the Maesil is her cover organization in Alamie and Tuornen. It is in fact one organization with three names. As James Ardannt once said, "deception is as natural to Mistress Mheallie as leaves are to an elm." PoliticalMheallie Bireon is the true power behind the throne in Cariele. Her alliance with Larra Nielems and her control of all the guilds and most of the law insure her control over the realm. The current Count, Entier Gladanil, is very much cowed by the guilder. He has not claimed the title of Baron, which his father held, and he takes direction from Mheallie without dissent. After all, his father was poisoned for opposing the guildmistress. Entier is a puppet and understands his role. He spends his time building his wardrobe and throwing deligtful parties. He is called a weak-willed fop, but what is certain is that a strong willed ruler who asserted himself would be targeted by Mheallie Bireon's assasins. The former house of Cariele is now nearly extinct, though the independent and resourceful Eluvie Cariele has gained a new throne in Coeranys. Important FiguresCount Entier Gladanil (MA; Noble 3/Fighter 2; Scion of Anduiras, minor, 20; NE). Guildmaster Mheallie Bireon (FA; Rogue 8; Scion of Brenna, major, 37; NE). Most Sacred Minister Larra Nielems (FA; Noble 2/Cleric of Sarimie 7; Scion of Brenna, major, 32). Lord "Black Snake" Dantien (MA; Noble 7; Scion of Brenna, major, 28; NG): thinks that Count Entier is a total half-twit. Plots and RumoursDomain Holding Table
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