|
Symbol:
The
Red Bull.
A
small, almost backwater kingdom north of Altara and
Illian and south of Andor, Murandy contains fields and
forests to the south, and hills and bluffs toward the north
and west. Although mostly quiet, even provincial, it
boasts one large city, Lugard, which features all the best and
worst of what westland cities have to offer.
Murandy
was founded in approximately FY 1047 by Lady
Katrine do Catalan a’Coralle, who had just captured the city of Lugard.
She named the nation after an ancient term
for the region. Katrine was assassinated after less than
a year on her new throne, and some historians have estimated
that during the War of the Hundred Years Murandy averaged
a new ruler every two years.
Even
after the war ended, the life expectancy of a new
ruler averaged only eight years, with overt assassination or
mysterious accident the most common cause of
death. By around 200 NE, however, rulers began holding
the throne for much longer periods, but this was
mainly because the crown had become essentially meaningless
in a nation that was only a patchwork of allegiances between
towns and local lords. It is believed that
Murandy survived as an independent nation in large
part because its stronger neighbors all had opponents too
strong to ignore long enough to swallow Murandy. |
Few
of Murandy’s kings have attempted to introduce more
centralized authority to the realm, preferring instead to
spend their days in dissolution and vapid pursuits. Such
a ruler is the present king, Roedran Almaric do Arreloa
a’Naloy. He exercises no real control over any of his
nobles, and in fact, rarely even bothers to try. Instead, he
uses his position as king to indulge his love of food and
pleasures of the flesh, and to pursue hobbies of interest to
him, such as playing cards, falconry, and painting.
Lugard:
Murandy’s
capital, Lugard, sits on the banks of
the River Storn. An old, decrepit city whose walls are crumbling
around its famed Shilene Gate (and have actually collapsed
in many other places), it actually has walls
(also crumbling) through parts of its interior, where
feuding nobles have tried to separate their territory from
that of their rivals. Its unpaved streets choke the
air with dust during dry periods and become seas of mud
in wet.
Though
Lugard relies heavily on trade and sees hundreds of
visitors every month, its residents bear the usual suspicion
and hatred of foreigners. Regarding them as sheep
ready for the fleecing, the Lugarders steal from and defraud
outsiders whenever they get the chance. The wise traveler
keeps hand on purse at all times when visiting King
Roedran’s seat of "power." |
