Sterich

Overview

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Sterich is a rugged land sitting in the shadows of the Crystalmists. The boundaries of this territory generally extend from the western banks of the Javan River to the east, through the lowlands of the Stark Mounds, down to the Davish River and around, in the south, to the Jotens. The mountain lake, the source of the Javan River, is reported to be a hive of evil activity.

Sterich claims no notable woodlands within its borders, and has had to conduct considerable trade with Keoland and Gran March for lumber in the past. The most heavily defended portions of the land is perhaps the passes of the Stark Mounds, which offer a relatively safe route of passage for logging missions to the Oytwood.

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Earldom of Sterich — Keoland's Frontier Ally

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Settled in as a client state of Keoland by relatives of the Grand Duke of Geoff, Sterich was founded as an earldom with the primary purpose of creating a stable political power with easy access to the mines of the surrounding hills and mountains.

For centuries, the nation’s nobles grew rich from trade that in turn attracted more nobles (often with paid-for, meaningless titles). The adventurer Fenwick Astakane of Skipperton noted, in his Travels (375 CY), that Sterich was “a hive of low nobility, with titled aristocrats as common as pigs, such that an ordinary serf gains political clout because his labor is in high demand.” True, serfs endured as miserable a life in Sterich as in anywhere in the Flanaess, but the general tone and the underlying truth of the matter dictated Sterich’s reputation for generations.

In recent years, Sterich has grown distant from the Keoish crown, and had been allowed, in most cases, to care for its own affairs. King Skotti has for years treated the earl of Sterich, the proud Querchard, more as a favored relative than a vassal. The two often spend holidays in each others’ capitals, visits celebrated with much more vigor in Istivin than in Niole Dra.