The lands along the Great Sea and the Nieder Straits were deeply forested when the elves ruled this land. These eldritch beings came from the Summer Lands and appeared first in western Midgard, spreading east as far as the Ruby Sea. They dominated the old lands that had been explored by the Ankeshelians, and brought fire, light, and civilization to the native races. It was they, the old elven songs say, who taught the gnomes to weave magic, taught the halflings to serve, taught the dwarves to craft, and taught the humans to dream.
The elves ruled for a millennium without interruption, and for another 500 years during the growing rebellion of the restive human Young Kingdoms. The rising power of the humans contested the forests and fields that were once securely elven, and the Young Kingdoms’ affinity for dark magic gave the Archons of the Elves pause. Some of the fey fell in with the rebellious humans, becoming shadow elves. Finally, the Archon’s Court sounded the Last Horn and the elves fell into retreat, pulling back through the shadow roads to the Summer Lands. Some remained—the few feral windrunner elves of the Dry Steppes, and small settlements in the Arbonesse Forest—but only one powerful elf lasted into the present day.
In the turmoil following the Great Retreat and the Mage Wars, Dornig stood as a bastion of safety and soon acquired its neighbors as vassals, eventually subsuming them entirely. The Baroness of Dornig bore a small host of elfmarked children over the years, many of whom became great generals and leaders. The baroness became a duchess and then a grand duchess, and at last, with peace established between the shadows of surviving Arbonesse and the Ironcrags, she became the Imperatrix of the lands encompassed by the Grand Duchy.
The humans and elfmarked of Dornig worship the so-called Gods of the Crossroads—primarily the twin gods Yarila and Porevit (called Freyja and Freyr in the Arbonesse), Mavros-Perun (Mavros to the west, Perun in the south, Valeresh to the elves), Lada, Rava, and Volund. While the crown officially regards all deities of the pantheon as equally valid, not all gods are considered equal in the eyes of the people. In addition, an increasing number of citizens now venerate the old elven gods.
Much of the countryside of Dornig is forbidding for the traveler. Two ancient forests dominate the land—the Arbonesse and the Tomierran—but the rest of the countryside consists of smaller but no-less-deep forests of younger vintage, high moors, and deep, tree-covered valleys. Merchant caravans lurch along ancient roads that were first laid by dwarves working for their elven masters. The rivers all flow north to the icy peril of the Nieder Straits, plagued by Northern reavers.
The cities of Dornig are not as important as the families who control them. Each of the major lineages makes one of the large cities their main base. In addition, the main family commands the fealty of a large number of subordinate baronies, earldoms, and vassal towns. These towns are not adjacent to the main holdings of the city, but are scattered throughout Dornig. These vassals communicate with the ruling city by means of the fey roads, though they engage in trade with other local cities.
There are three major cities in Dornig: Hirschberg, Reywald, and Bad Solitz, each one of which is the seat of one of the major families. The city’s ruler is also considered the matriarch or patriarch of that particular house. All these rulers take the title “prince” or “princess.” Minor families control vassal states under the rule of these princes. The cities are provincial capitals and the hubs of the major families’ web of vassals and landholdings.
Three “crown” cities owe their allegiance directly to the crown and are considered exceptions to the rule: the Northlander city of Donnermark, the Free City of Salzbach (technically independent, but under charter of the Imperatrix), and the territory of Courlandia, which is ruled by a dragon. Their rulers are officially known as “princes” but do not use the title, except in the Imperial Court.