WintersHalt

First Settlement
WintersHalt was initially too cold for early human habitation and so it was only after human civilization came to be that the valley was settled to provide food to the growing Leris and its dwarven trading partners. It quickly became part of the growing Leris city state and then the bed rock for the Arusian empire.

After Aruseus
The land was sacked by Briskos's forces during the siege of Leris and though it did start to recover it never quite regained its prominence now that boats could be brought up from Scroy-Noroy. The formation of the black pinnacle barony and a few border skirmishes with it worsened its predicament. The fall of schettowhold prompted the ruling duchy to found a series of widely disliked laws and start imposing a draft.

The Revolution
With people disappearing into the drafts more and more people succumbing to starvation induced taxes, the population eventually rebeled with the slumbs around the imperial palace becoming alive with rebles who soon forced their way into the palace and held the duke prisoner.

Government
In a land that often makes a protence of listening to the people before taking sides with the nobles WintersHalt is notable for not doing mainly because outside of the Black Pinnacle Barony it doesn't have any. The valley is subdivided into five areas (Near Pleits, Scrubland, Valley Mouth, Mountain Shadow and Central) each corresponding to a town. They all meet on the day before market day to vote on new laws. Any new law must have the approval of a majority in all of the towns before being enacted.

The guilds are also important with their being a Rat of sorts in Walenfeld that proposes new laws and elects a speaker who is the nominal ruler of the WintersHalt valley. However, new members of the Rat are appointed by these gatherings 1 per recognised guild per area.

The current speaker is the smooth talking moderate Aleksi Chelpanov. Well he calls himself Aleksi. He is down from The North and has a history there which no one can quite fathom but evidently involves past experience of politics and something to run away from. Chelpanov's main goal is to ensure that everyone treats WintersHalt as their first priority or somewhere up their. He was once described as a 'relentless annoying little git' by the consul of Scroy-Noroy after a particularly persistent campaign against the treatment of disobedient merchants guild members in Scroy-Noroy.

He is surprisingly fair for one in Achthalian political life and has almost never lied or equivocated and believes strongly in doing his job. He has a slight tendancy towards demanding unquestioning loyalty to the WintersHalt political system and to his position within that but will take advice to the best of his ability. Aleksi is a loaner with only one true friend, a magical talking dog he brought with him down from The North. Although he has formed strong relations with members of the Rat, these are entirely professional.

WintersHalt punches well above its weight diplomatically which has earned it many friends and enemies. On the enemies side is Scroy-Noroy which has long disliked WintersHalt as it has control over trade going to The North and has been known to charge significant import taxes to support its citizens who the Scroy-Noroy government regards as already living the good life. However this became personal when the freshly appointed Chelpanov met the equally new Van Vroome in the imperial diet. Chelpanov and Van Vroome yelled a series of exaggerations of the poor performance of each others country at each other which they both believed to be true. Since then Chelpanov has regarded it as critical to get vengeance on Van Vroome.

When it comes to Ausfenz, besides competing for trade the two have little relation with each other despite sharing a border. Achthal and mountains have prevented any skirmishes and the two are on cordial terms.

The North and WintersHalt have a love-hate relationship as both compete over which is the more democratic and the odd moving of the border posts is not out of the question. However they ultimately regard themselves as democracies in a sea of tyranny and for that reason are, when the cards are laid on the table, good allies.

Awegon and WintersHalt have the strangest relationship of all. After the revolution, WintersHalt was granted extensive freedoms within Awegon and ever since the Awegonians have been trying to claw them back without upsetting the citizens. The citizens actually like Awegon (which is part of the problem with The North which views WintersHalt as undermining their argument against Aawegon) but like their democracy as well. The current predicament is one of amazing fudges on both sides which allows everyone to claim they got what they wanted provided they don't actually try to use their powers.

Belindastien
When Rigoberto came north from Illia to take the reins from the deceased Alebus it scared the nobility. Probably rightly so as he came from the notoriously incompetent Iaptun line of the family. However, soon it became clear he wasn't making rash or even incompetent actions the reason why was a matter of speculation although a town named after her wife that was founded outside Pleitsdorf gives an idea of who was really calling the shots.

Schettowholdenburg
More pronounceably known as Schettowburg or even Schettow, Schettowburg is the town that once sprung up in the road to the castle of Schettowhold. Schettowhold is no more - seemingly abandoned by the inhabitants though no one can dare to stay long enough in the place to find out. Early writings of Schettowburg describe it as a happy, prosperous and thriving town but that clearly hasn't lasted and the residents are perpetually eager to get away from the place, preferably to Illia. The only reason anyone stays is because it has the only reliable well north east of the few peaks.

Scrublestein
Founded in The Eastern Scrubs, Scrublestein is known for its hardy people. The place was originally constructed as a fort to ward off attacks by the mountain people or the duradin but has since out gown its rudimentary wooden walls which are now in decay. The area has little agricultural value although the bushes that grow on it produce burries that can be turned into wine. It is often described as the best wine made in the valley.

Black Pinnacle barony
The ominous black peak rises in a sinister manner above the surrounding swamp. It was an odd place with an even odder set of rules attached to it. The story of this land starts around 235 when Wilburg rose to the throne of Aruseus's land and was forced to repay his debts to his estranged second cousin once removed (giving him a barony). Now Wilburg didn't particularly like Volker so he found him a terrible swamp land with a castle far enough away from Leits that he wouldn't bother him but close enough that he could keep an eye on Volker. Further he didn't want to declare it a barony so instead dubbed it an allodium.

However, the name of barony stuck and was even printed on official maps while Volker and his children exercised their rights to build a great strong hold and army. So it came that when Wintershalt was gripped with revolution the black peak barony remained independent. Since then it has been used by Awegon whenever they want to stir trouble in WintersHalt even if it does only owe loyalty to the emperor.

The land is best compared to a military dictatorship with its own internal politics rocking wildly between the people with the biggest support in the army although it has never gone to someone who is not a relative of Volker. The military is also the only thing this patch of swampy land has going for it with much of the population being employed in the armed forces (if also has a small navy) with the army even managing some of the black peak barony's scant fields.

There is a extensive cave system under the black peak barony which even they have hardly explored and which may well extend beyond there borders.

The Few Peaks
A small range of densely packed mountains exist in the middle of the WintersHalt valley which are completely uninhabitable and are believed to be inhabited by an ancient tribe. Although this seems dubious as the surrounding area is to cold for early human habitation, no one wants to go there.

The Schettowhold
Far in the north this castle was set up to guard against the barbarian tribes that originally occupied the land north of here. Even when the north entered Aruseian control it was maintained, just in case. Then one rainy day in late 497 no more daily messenger rode down from the castle to the village of Schettowholdenburg at the entrance to its valley so the authorities sent a rider up to investigate suspecting a blocked path. The rider returned insane. Intrigued and concerned, the authorities sent up a squadron of horsemen north to investigate. They reported a profound unease with staying in the place had forced them to leave but not before they had managed to conduct a short investigation. Some stuff had simply been left while other stuff had been packed away. Armour had not been moved from its racks but all the weapons and shields were gone. This would lead to the conclusion of a surprise attack except there weren't any bodies or damage to the battlements or even stains of blood. The gates were still closed. In fact one body was found. It was the body of a young soldier who appeared to have died of exposure having broken his leg jumping over the wall.

The Home of Giants
An abandoned town stands on a high mountain on the south eastern side of the valley. The rooms are peculiarly tall but the doors are no wider than normal which has led some to wonder if it is an elven outpost. However scholars dismiss that as nonsense as the alran never made it this far.