A small duchy that shares a border with five others, Vedykar bridges the divide between eastern and western Karrnath. The eastern half of the duchy is occupied by the Shadowmount Forest, while the western half consists of the city of Vedykar and rural farming communities enjoying the resource-rich soils south of the Ashen Spires.
History
Built atop Dhakaani ruins, the goblin city of Vedykar fell during the human expansion eastward prior to the rise of Karrn. Its new inhabitants quickly established themselves as one of the many petty kingdoms that littered the region, benefitting from the city’s high quality civic engineering.
When Karrn pushed southwards into halfling lands, many of the tribes chose to ally with the nascent empire rather than resist. The Jorasco clan was immediately granted special status and invited into the heart of the empire as Karrn recognized the value the healing halflings could bring. The clan’s matriarch, drawn by primal spirits, the draconic prophecy, or some other force, resettled her people in Vedykar and established Resthold.
In the interim period between Karrn and the War of the Mark, an intellectually inclined warlord established the University of Vedykar. In conjunction with the university, House Jorasco founded the Healer’s Guild to conduct medical research in addition to practicing life-saving arts.
Jorasco’s compliance with the War of the Mark made Vedykar, like Karrlakton, one of the first places in the Five Nations to round up and execute aberrant marked individuals. Before the Twelve were firmly established in Korth, House Jorasco often played host for the assembled dragonmarked houses in the city of Vedykar.
The founding of the Kingdom of Galifar changed little for the people of Vedykar, as the duchy was well-accustomed to being an accessory to empires. Neither the heart of empire nor a fringe province, Vedykar prospered from trade. Jarot’s plans for lightning rails reaffirmed Vedykar’s position as the crossroads of Karrnath, with the major east-west lines pathing through the city. The quickening of continental trade dramatically increased demand for orbs of time, a common magic item invented in Vedykar that is similar to a pocket watch; the finest timepieces are known to come from the duchy’s magewrights.
Unlike the western duchies, Vedykar avoided the worst of the war’s damages. With only a small sliver of land along the Cyre River, few armies trampled its fields of grain. Furthermore, the location of Resthold and importance of House Jorasco made the Cyran military wary of trying to disrupt Karrnath’s supply lines by way of besieging the city. This is not to say the people of Vedykar were without loss, as they shipped adults off to war just like anyone else, but those who stayed home were never really forced to confront the horrors of the conflict in that immediate and personal sense.
Governance
Warlord Nils ir’Käser (human they/them) rules over Vedykar in a more detached and distant fashion than their peers. They never took to the field of battle themself, delegating such responsibilities to their military advisor, the now-exiled General Drago Thul. In his place Nils has appointed General Giulia Kindlimann (human she/her), who’s been trying to break the Vedykar force’s loyalty to Drago.
Nils maintains an extensive rare book collection and has maintained the ir’Käser investments in the University of Vedykar, where their brother is the dean. His most recent interests have been in ancient Giant texts, a situation complicated by Drago’s flight to Stormreach.
Cultural Hallmarks
The Adamant Fang. Based out of Shadowmount Forest, the Adamant Fang is an elite force of light cavalry that gained renown for its successful guerilla operations against Aundair in the Rekkenwood. In addition to horses, the company uses dire wolverines as mounts—while not as swift, the ferocity of the wolverines makes them an enormous asset in combat.
Commerce. While the city of Vedykar lacks the industrial capacity of the western cities, it makes up for it with its exchanges that facilitate trade between eastern and western Karrnath. The worship of Kol Korran is popular throughout Vedykar and even has a strong presence in the rural farmlands. This position has allowed local banks to spring up in competition with the Mror lords and House Kundarak, cementing the city’s position as a financial hub.
Multiculturalism. Nearly one in four residents of Vedykar is a dwarf and one in five is a halfling, substantially higher numbers than the rest of the nation. Halfling and dwarven immigrants have preserved their mother tongues despite centuries of human rule; trade occurs primarily in Common, but most people are conversant in multiple languages and merchants have signage in all three languages.