AVERLAND

By Benny Moeller
- last updated: 15 OCT 1999

The meaning of this project is to describe an area of the Empire in details, more or
less as GW have done with Middenheim, and partly Reikland. The geography,
history, politics and many other things wil be described in this document, which is
also the background material for a WFRP campaign I am planning.

Instead of loosely connected scenarios without a predetermined overall plot, and

generic descriptions, I want to collect all the material that will be made during the
campaign, and thus make sure that there will be an overall plot and purpose with the
campaign.

Contents:
Geography
History
Politics
Religion
Gazetteer
Selected cities
Places of Interest
Local legends and stories
Who is who in Averland

Geography
Location

Averland, with the capitol of Averheim is the southernmost of the larger provinces,
just north of the Black Mountains. To the north and east is Stirland, Mootland and
Sylvania, and to the west is Sudenland, Wissenland and Nuln.

Nature

The large Imperial forests lies north of Averland, and the Black Mountains lies to the
south. Averland is characterized by the transition between these two areas. There are a
lot of forests, mostly mixed oak forests, but in the hills and the minor mountains in
the southern part of the county some smaller coniferous forests exists.
The most prominent nature are plains and hills. The hills and minor mountains are
mostly located near the mountain range to the south or as part of the Warten Downs,
the hills that denotes the border between Averland and Stirland.

The Aver runs through the county, the main river starts in the Black Mountains, in the
vicinity of Karak-Varn, and connects to the Reik at Nuln. There are a lot of waterfalls,
specially near the mountains. A lot of minor rivers connects to the Aver, all running
from the mountains. It is only the Aver which is big enough for travel by larger ships.
The biggest of the tributaries are the Blau and the Weiz. Both of them can be (and is)
used for travel some part of the way to the mountains. Blau starts east of the Black
Fire Pass, and connects to the Aver in the Moot, while Weiz starts just west of the
pass, and connects to Aver at Streissen.

The hills and mountains in the southern part of the county are very rich on minerals,
and a lot of mining takes place in these areas. This is a dangerous occupation in
Averland though, because of the goblins from the mountains.
A much less dangerous occupation is wine making, which is one of the main sources
of income in the western parts of the county. Around Loningsbruck some of the best
wines of the Empire is being made.

Cities and Population

Geographically Averland is a very large province, but not many people lives in the
province. The cities and larger towns lies far from each other, and the villages lies
primarily in the vicinity of a larger settlement.
The largest city in the county is the capitol Averheim, with just above 10.000 citizens
(officially), while the largest towns in the province have populations of about 3.000 to
4.000

History
The history of Averland goes right back to the days of Sigmar Heldenhammer, shortly
before the Empire was established. It was in the area that was later to become
Averheim, that Sigmar and his army fought the last battles against the goblinoid
hordes, before he pursued them back through the Black Fire Pass.

While the Empire in general since then have not had any larger trouble with the
goblinoids, except for various raids and small tribes in the forests, Averland has been
the main target of the goblin raids, and have been busy keeping them at bay. The most
important task of the army of Averland is to guard the pass to avoid an invasion, but
through the history Averland have been raided by goblinoid hordes.

Timeline

-1 Battle of Black Fire Pass

0 The Empire is established, and Averland is defined as the area between
Aver and the Reik and Soll. Averic, chief of the Kroger tribe, is chosen as
the first ruler of Averland, and thus all tribes and settlements in the area.
1-15 Tribal war in Averland. A lot of the tribes rebels against Averic's
nomination, but Averic defeats the rebellious tribes one by one.
15 All tribal chiefs gathers in Krugheim, the main town of Averic, and vows
to be loyal to Averic and his family. Krugheim is nominated to be the
capitol of Averland.
27 Rebellion in the southern part of the province because of gobliniod raids.
Averic dies in battle as his army defeats the rebellion. His son Gunthar is
nominated as the next ruler. He renames Krugheim to Avericheim to
honor his father. The name is later shortened to Averheim.
c1000 The Mootland is established from a part of Stirland. The Grand Duchess
of Stirland protests and begins a diplomatic battle for compensation, and
wants a part of Averland. But the Emperor Ludwig is firm, and Mootland
is born.
1111 The black plague ravages the Empire. The western part of Averland is
almost emptied of people. The repopulation of the area happens so slow
that emperor Boris the Incompetent declares the area as independent from
Averland, and gives it the name Sudenland. An imperial military force is
ordered to protect the area from the army of Averland while the emperor
tries to find people to repopulate the area.
1112 The plague also marks the end of the Kroger-family, when the ruling
Grand Duke dies without any heir. The council of Averheim appoints a
new Grand Duke, but he dies of the plague two days later. The council
doesn't know any suitable candidates to the title, and nominates the mayor
of Averheim, Magnus Geschenburg, to the title as temporary Grand Duke
and Elector, until a suitable candidate can be found.
1152 "Age of Wars". Talabecland declares war against Stirland. The army of
Averland is mobilised to protect the northern border.
1164 Talabecland is loosing the war against Stirland, and asks for help in
Averland. The army advances to the north to put some pressure on
Stirland.
1168 The Averland army conquers the area between Aver and the Warten
Downs. Stirland withdraws from Talabecland to protect the southern
border. The war ends in a stalemate between the Stirland and the Averland
armies.
1273 The new Grand Duke of Averland, Wolmar Geschenburg suffers from
megalomania. He wants Sudenland back and he wants to be the next
Emperor. He withdraws as much of the army as he can from the northern
border to initiate his plan.
1275 Nuln is besieged, but without luck. At the same time the Stirland army
advances, so the Grand Duke must abandon his plans and try to stop
Stirland.
1276 The Stirland army's advancement has been stopped, and Wolmar once
again wants to continue his activities from last year. But he is assassinated
before the order is given. The successor, Reinald Bregenstedt, does not
have the same wild dreams and keeps the army back as defense.
1547 The age of the three emperors. Averland have big trouble to the south,
where the goblinoid raids is increased in size and number.
1812 Goblinoid invasion from the south. The greenskins penetrates the defenses
in the Black Fire Pass and invades the province. The county is split in two
parts, and the eastern part is almost wiped out. Marlen von Alptraum, a
 young man from Sigmaringen escapes though the goblinoid-infested area
to the western part of the county. His news about the massacres enrages
the western Averlanders, and an army of the remaining soldiers and angry
peasants lead by Marlen fights back.
1815 The army of Marlen von Alptraum forces the goblinoids to retreat through
the pass, and a big fortification is built at the entrance to the Black Fire
Pass, later to be named Marlenburg. Marlen von Alptraum is knighted
because of his deeds and courage, and one year later he is nominated as
the next Grand Duke - a title that the Alptraum-family has kept until now.
------ Only draft from here:
c.2000- Frequent goblinoid raids and growing chaos cults.
2300
2502 According to TEW p.17 - Harvest disaster in Streissen, followed by an
outbreak of bread riots. Ludmila von Alptraum sends the army to take
over control, resulting in a big massacre.

Rulers of Averland
1-27 Averic Kroger
27-? Gunthar Kroger
-1112 The Kroger-family
1112 Unknown, 2 days
1112-? Magnus Geschenburg, temporary Elector and ruler
1273-76 Wolmar Geschenburg
1276-? Reinald Bregenstedt
1816-? Marlen von Alptraum
1816-now The Alptraum-family, now Ludmila von Alptraum

Politics
Relations to the emperor and the neighbors:

The Emperor:
Neutral to good (The Alptraum family does not have any ambitions to become the
next Emperor, and therefore is able to, without ulterior motive, support the Emperor
fully, just as long as the Empire sends troops to support in defending the Black Fire
Pass).

Mootland:
Positive (there are a lot of halflings in Averland, and the biggest community of
halflings outside Mootland is located in Averland).
Stirland:
Intense, and some dislikes (because of the history of conflicts between the two
provinces).

Sudenland:
Neutral to bad (also history-related. Large road-toll, and a problem about the town of
Zweibrücken).

Sylvania:
Almost non-existent (very little traffic and trade between the two provinces).

Nuln:
Trade deals, suggestion of joined army (officially not, but unofficially a lot of troops
are lended to each other).

Black Mountains:
The dwarves of the Black Mountains doesn't like Marlenburg, because they are
convinced that they can handle the guarding of the pass, but other than that, good
relations.

Border Princes:
The changing conditions makes the relations very varying. Nothing definite can be
said, other than the Averlanders are cautious about the Border Princes.

Religion
The most common religions in Averland are Rhya, worshipped by the rural
populations, and Sigmar, supported by most of the urban population. But the rest of
the Imperial gods are worshipped in Averland, although they are not as popular as
Rhya and Sigmar. Taal, Morr and Shallya has temples and/or shrines all over the
province, the Taal ones primarily ouside the towns. Esmeralda have some temples in
the towns nearest Mootland, and Grugni-temples are located in the southern parts of
the province. The smallest of the approved cults are Manann, god of the seas. A small
altar in Averheim is about the only place in this province, besides small private
shrines. The altar is primarily visited by sailors that somehow have managed to travel
this far inland, or some of the local fishermen.

In the military the largest cult is the Sigmar cult, but also Myrmidia is popular. Ulric
is almost non-existent in Averland.

Ranald is worshipped in Averheim and in some of the larger towns, but otherwise not.
It is not illegal to worship him, but everyone known to worship his aspect as a thief is
treated with suspicion. There are no temples as such for Ranald, but the largest altar is
located in the thieves' guild in Averheim.

Settlements in Averland
This is a summary of the towns and villages in Averland. It is not a complete listing,
so there are a lot of possibilities to add villages. There are no need to add more towns
and cities, because it should fit with the official material, and the scatttering of the
alrger towns seems reasonable by now (of course it would be much easier if i had
access to a scanner so I could scan my map and place it on this site!).

Check the appendix Averland Gazetteer for information about the towns.

This is a short description of all the (so far 11) towns with a population of 1.000 and
more:

Averheim (pop. 10732)

The Capitol of Averland. For information - check the Averheim-project.

Marlenburg (3453)
Fortified city, which guards the entrance to Black Fire Pass. The fortification was
built in 1815 by Marlen von Alptraum, and since then a town has grown around it.
The fortification is located in the southern part of the city, in the middle of a great
wall, that blocks the pass. The fortification cooperates with the dwarven mountain
patrol regiment regarding the guarding and patrolling of the pass. The regiment has an
office in the city.

Loningsbruck (3133)
The wine capitol of Averland. See EiF.

Heizenfeld (2848)
Center for a lot of mining villages and -companies. The number of warehouses is
surpassed only by Averheim. All of them are located by the small "harbour" (only
during the spring the larger boats are able to travel all the way to and from the town,
and even then with great difficulties). A lot of smaller boats and horse carriages
travels between here and Hetterscheid further down the river, where larger boats are
able to reach almost all the year.
Heizenfeld is also the location of the largest dwarven community in Averland. About
700 dwarves lives here, primarily miners and engineers, and the mountain patrol
regiment have an office here.

Pfunzig (2778)
Trade town with goods from Mootland as specialty. Although the Imperial Highway
to the Moot passes just north of Averland, the road through Pfunzig is more
commonly used by averlanders travelling to or from Mootland.
The town is the location of the largest halfling community outside the Moot. About
750 halflings live in Pfunzig, and administers most of the trade as well as the local
Esmeralda-temple, which is the largest in Averland.

Schramleben (2533)
Placement according to EiF.

Streissen (2135)
The only "official" information I have about this town is from Blood Bowl. According
to that game a team called Streissen Vampires exists. I don't know if I want a
vampire-infested area in Averland, when it is said that Sylvania is the main vampire-
county in the Empire. But maybe the mayor is a vampire...
Weizbaden (2055)
Located where the Weiz connects to the Aver. The town is built on a high rock,
almost like Middenheim, and the village of Weizhafen - the town harbour, is located a
mile up the river. Besides the two rivers the town has another important water supply,
a small stream that is told to have healing powers. The stream starts in a small lake in
the garden of the local Shallya-temple, and runs though a part of the town until it ends
up as a small waterfall out in the Aver.
Whether it is true that the stream has healing powers or not is not certain, but the
population is very healthy and diseases are indeed rare in Weizbaden. During the
Black Plague in 1112 the town was almost unharmed.

Sigmaringen (1979)
Placement according to EiF. One of the biggest Sigmar-temples in Averland is
located here. According to the local legends the town is built where Sigmar had his
last and most important war council during the goblinoid invasion.

Frankenstadt (1803)
Old town east of Averheim, with a decayed castle to the south. According to the local
legends (se the Legends and Stories chapter) there once lived a count, who
experimented with (re)creating artificial life. His attempts were stopped by the local
cult of Morr, and the count had to flee from the town. Since then the castle has been
empty, only the gatehouse is used, because it is told that the old castle is haunted.

Wuppertal (1100)
See EiF.

Selected Towns

- nothing yet.
A couple of towns and villages will be described in detail. They will be settlements
with either an interesting history, or important towns in my planned campaign.

Places of Interest

- nothing yet.
This section will include various locations in Averland, as monasteries, castles,
religious sites and well-known ruins.

Local legends and stories

No province without their own legends!

This is the place for local myths and legends from various parts of Averland.

Who is who in Averland

Important and famous persons of Averland (outside Averheim).

The Captain of the Marlenburg fortification

Head of the Mountaineers office in Marlenburg
Head of the Mountaineers office in Heizenfeld
The mayor of Streissen
High Priestess of the Shallya temple in Weizbaden
High Priest of the Sigmar cult in Sigmaringen
The mayor of Pfunzig
Commercial attache and diplomat of Mootland, based in Pfunzig
High Priestess of the Esmeralda temple in Pfunzig
The mayor of Loningsbruck (largest winemaker and connoisseur of wine i Averland)

Standard NPCs in Averland

This will be (more or less) a copy of the same chapters from the TEW campaign, but
also NPCs with special attachment to Averland, e.g. Dwarven Mountaineers, typical
wine farmer, Averlander Pikeman etc.
Some careers unique for Averland, or very common in the province will be described
here. As examples could be the above mentioned NPC-types.