Burgen-Dach

Burgun-Dach

Burgen-Dach

“First in Trade”

“Theft, bribery, graft. It’s all there in any Burgun-Dach port,
you only need but look with an open eye. What about
the law, you ask? Boy, it’s the law I’m talkin’ about!”
Cutter Last, Captain of Infinitum

Burgun-Dach is a maritime trading power situated along the eastern shore of the Thormir Strait. It has a traditional rivalry with other sea-trading nations, such as Flandre and Palador, as well as geographic rivalries with Melanois and Lacéne. It loudly boasts to be the Crown’s Reach’s only defense against Solvos’s “complete and utter piratical encroachment” into the strait. (The rival merchant empire is annually invited to join as part of the Ten Kings, and they annually refuse, a fact that Burgun-Dach publicly criticizes and privately celebrates.) Burgun-Dach has a deserved reputation for bombast and chest-thumping nationalist rhetoric, but generally seeks to combat its rivals with coin and trade rather than the unprofitable endeavor of open warfare. Burgun-Dach is famed for its multitude of merchant guilds, and the Guild Society is said to pull every string behind the throne. Its “noble houses” are little more than extremely well-to-do merchant families, and titles (as well as fortunes) can seemingly change at a turn of the wind. And though they do not have the most sterling repute as the most honor-bound merchants in the Northern Kingdoms, most Burgans are notoriously quick to take offense at accusations of impropriety. The Burgun-Dacian love of public ceremony is second only to Waldonia’s (though it lacks the parade of painted bears).

Locale: Staking full claim to the western banks of the Thormir Strait; borders Melanois (south), Sindathlar (west), and Waldonia (north)

Banner: An orange cock rampant on a burgundy field bordered in cloth of gold (gold leaf for brooches)

Role: Business-savvy kingdom where merchant guilds remain the true power behind the throne

Theme: 18th century Euro Germanic trade state. Pomp and circumstance mingle blithely with bribery and graft. Guilds, gold, and greed are good!

Ruler: His Bold Grace, King Fretz I Fretsen

Duchies: Darden, Hamner, Somdor, Stannos, Vrane

Capital: Port Darden

Cities & Strongholds: Baumborg, Fort Brass, Hochstad, Hull, Immerstad, Naustad, Strabstad

Notable Towns: Barondorf, Blut-Heugen, Dwarvtom, Ermerville, Fluxalt, Kleft, Michtin, Mudtown, Pichtin, Raeger, Slutzenhaus, Wraggan

Landmarks: Altgart Wood, the Darkened March, the Faewald, Montor Peak, Schan Hills, Lake Zhemon, Zon River

Exports: Anything it can get its hands on for resale

Internal Factions: Dar Wustenjungr (Wasted Boys), the Erles Elite, the Geldscharf Guild Society, the Glitterati, the Royal Port Taxation Bureau, the Society for Social and Societal Scientific Advancement, the Twelfth House

Old Tongue: Dasch (likely progressed from 18th century Habsburg German)

Nobiliary: vod (example: Lord Zuen vod Plinsen)

Noble Houses: Abelard, Adal, Allam, Burgundoun, Darden, Dasch, Fretsen (ruling), Hamner, Hochen, Gerhardt, Germurs, Immers, Krass, Moller, Plinsen, Somdor, Stane, Stannos, Sunder, Thoud, Vrane, Vyst, Vasten

Faiths: Illumination Reformation (86%); Society for Social and Societal Scientific Advancement (4%); Glitterati (3%), Deith Diadh (3%); Zvystni Bohova (2%), Aegyr Udoen (1%); Other (1%)

ALTGART WOOD

BARONDORF

BAUMBORG

PORT DARDEN
The capital city of Burgun-Dach sits on the narrowest point on the Thormir Strait and attempts (often successfully) to lay taxation claims on every ship wishing passage into or out of the Silver Sea. Called by some the “City of Thieves,” Port Darden has a deserved reputation for graft, bribery, and corruption on every level. Burgun-Dach’s Royal Port Taxation Bureau is said to be so exceedingly unscrupulous that foreign merchants are forced to carry a separate bribery fund in order to escape the otherwise confounding maze of red tape excess demanded of them. Most know enough not to grumble about it too loudly–or at least not within earshot of the the Harbor Watch, which has financial stakes in smooth taxation; the reputations of the Taxation Bureau and the Harbor Watch (and the size of the bribes they receive) rely on at least a minimal facade of propriety.

King Fretz Fretsen I
Sovereign King of Burgun-Dach; aka “Little Fretz”; aka “The Puny Puppet King”

Queen Daffetta Konic-Fretsen
Sovereign Queen of Burgun-Dach; aka “Fannie Fretz”; aka “Queen Cumbersome”

Mergovin Dast
Royal Port Assessor; aka “Bastardly Dast;” aka “Dastardly Dast,” Port Darden’s most notorious criminal (or at least that’s what traders new to Port Darden call him).

THE FAEWALD

HULL

IMMERSTAD

KLEFT

MICHTIN

MUDTOWN
A fishing and trading (and gambling and whoring) village situated on the Thormir Strait’s southernmost peninsula into the Storming Sea, and problematically placed upon the always-disputed border between Burgun-Dach and Melanois. It brings in very little actual above-table revenue, but is prized by lords of lesser repute as a port in which they can fence smuggled goods. It currently lies beneath the rule of Burgun-Dach, but that can change many times in any given year. Mudtown is mostly built on stilts and floating barges connected by bridges, as it floods from early autumn to late winter. The rest of the year it earns its deserved name, for its “dry” seasons are still extremely muddy.

Minfilia “Muff” Marfluen
Madame of “Muff” Marfluen’s Happy Time Brothel and Orphanage

Mitzi
Bouncy whore at “Muff” Marfluen’s Happy Time Brothel and Orphanage

Violet
Angry whore at “Muff” Marfluen’s Happy Time Brothel and Orphanage; aka “Violent”

Else
Part-time whore, part-time bouncer at “Muff” Marfluen’s Happy Time Brothel and Orphanage

Pigeon
Young orphan at “Muff” Marfluen’s Happy Time Brothel and Orphanage; aka “Pidge”

Swoozie
Preteen orphan at “Muff” Marfluen’s Happy Time Brothel and Orphanage

Randol
Local Mudtown ne’er-do-well, romantic foil for Swoozie and dramatic rival to…

Filch
Local ragamuffin (and alleged pickpocket) often seen in the vicinity of “Muff” Marfluen’s Happy Time Brothel and Orphanage. Nothing to see here…

NAUSTAD

STRABSTAD

THORMIR STRAIT
This extremely broad passage connects the Silver Sea in the south to the Storming Sea in the north, running past Burgun-Dach and Waldonia on its western shore, and Ubothor and Solvos on its east. It is known to be treacherous even in the best of times, and downright lethal at its worst.

ZON RIVER

Timeline Notes:
(Current year: 1470 SVC)

Burgen-Dach

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