Royal District and City of Niole Dra
The sleepy capital of the Kingdom of Keoland has constituted an independent territory since the formal founding of the nation. Niole Dra (pop. 25,000) was established soon after the migrations by the nobles of House Neheli as a governing demesne for the Duchy of Dorlin. However, its active control eventually passed to a bureaucracy appointed by the Council of Niole Dra when it became the capital of the united kingdom some decades later. It is one of the oldest and most impressive standing cities in the Flanaess.
County of Dorlin
This vast province extends north from the city of Niole Dra, along the Sheldomar River to the border of the Axewood. It continues north and west nearly to the edge of the Rushmoors, and is the largest territory in the kingdom. These grasslands are the ancestral lands of the Neheli, an ancient Suel noble family whose roots date back to the migrations following the Twin Cataclysms. The Duke of Dorlin is the title usually held by the leader of the house, save when the Neheli hold the Throne of the Lion in Niole Dra and another prominent member of the family assumes the dukedom.
Duchy of Gradsul
The Duchy of Gradsul is the Kingdom of Keoland's most populous province and sports its largest metropolis, the port of Gradsul (pop. 49,400) on the Azure Coast. This territory extends north and westward from the city proper along the western bank of the Sheldomar River to a point south of Jurnre in Ulek. The border extends to the Dreadwood in the southwest before continuing along the coast to the border with Salinmoor. Though Gradsul extends over a large area inland, it is dominantly a maritime province, with hundreds of miles of coastline, including the banks of the broad and deep Sheldomar. Gradsul’s numerous coastal villages and towns make its character unique in the kingdom.
County of Flen
The City of Flen (pop. 11,900), third largest in Keoland, is nestled in a small valley formed by the northwestern verges of the Good Hills. This city of low towers and squat dwellings is surrounded on three sides by steep bluffs. Its fortified walls guard the way to the major ford across the Javan leading to the Earldom of Sterich and its capital at Istivin. It was during the second century of Keoland’s existence that the borders of the growing kingdom first expanded over the Good Hills, all the way to the Javan River. The Throne of the Lion desired a strong presence along this mighty riverway, which Keoish cartographers maintain is the longest in the Flanaess (this is disputed in Furyondy, which maintains the preeminence of the Velverdyva). Two large city-states were subsequently founded along the eastern bank of the river valley. Later expansions would lead to the establishment of Sterich a century later, increasing the strategic importance of the northern province, called Flen. The county was awarded to a clan of primarily Oeridian descent, which promptly took a seat in the Court of the Land.
County of Cryllor
The western County of Cryllor is one of Keoland's wealthiest and most strategically powerful provinces. The county stretches along the banks of the Javan, in a fluvial valley cut by the river between the Good Hills and the Little Hills, which border the lands of the Yeomanry League. The walled city of Cryllor (pop. 8,400), whose western district opens onto the banks of the Javan, is the fourth largest in the kingdom, after only Gradsul, Flen, and Niole Dra. The city and its wealthy Suel lord benefit strongly from the river traffic and trade that passes just outside his walls on the road between Niole Dra and Longspear. Additionally, riches are still drawn from the lower Good Hills, much of which finds its way to the markets of Cryllor, where skilled artisans are known for their metalwork. The counties of Flen and Cryllor have been rivals for centuries, but while the rulership of Flen has been relatively stable over that time, the lordship of Cryllor has changed hands many times.
March of Middlemead
The so-called Western Marches of the kingdom, from Mandismoor in the northwest to Blerfield in the southeast, formed the early western border of Keoland in the nation’s first century. These marchlands were primarily settled by Oeridian tribes who migrated south from the Fals Gap into the Sheldomar Valley, driving hostile Flan and humanoids in their wake. These peoples joined with the migrating Suel houses, who had primarily congregated along the Sheldomar River, to form the core of the Kingdom of Keoland. Preeminent among these early marches is generally agreed to be Middlemead, the most populous and prosperous of the provinces. It is centrally located along the road from Niole Dra to Cryllor, east of the Good Hills.
Barony of Grayhill
Grayhill is located in the northwestern corner of the Dreadwood, where the forest verges upon the Good Hills. The small barony is often described as an enchanted place, for it is a crossroads of human, elven, and gnomish cultures. It was in Grayhill, nearly nine centuries ago, that human and elven emissaries first met and exchanged words of peace under a starlit sky. This cooperation has continued ever since and the barony is now held by a minor noble house, known as the Lizhal, who migrated along with the Rhola and Neheli following the Twin Cataclysms. Unlike the majority of those two houses, the Lizhal are heavily intermarried with both Oeridian and elven bloodlines.
Barony of Axewood
Located on the western bank of the Sheldomar River in the northeastern part of the kingdom, the Barony of Axewood includes that portion of the forest west of the great river, plus some open land south to the border of the Duchy of Dorlin. In ancient days, the forest was much more expansive, its verges reaching nearly to the outskirts of Niole Dra. However, prodigious logging of the wood by the Keoish slowly consumed the timberland. Such activity was eventually banned when the Duke of Ulek assumed a seat in council, leaving the forest with the name it ironically bears to this day. That portion of the forest east of the Sheldomar within Ulek is entirely sylvan, home to many spriggans, treants, and unicorns. This is only somewhat less true of the western half of the forest in Keoland, where more elves make their homes beneath the boughs and humans interact with the peripheries of wood by foraging and hunting sparingly, under the supervision of a local council.
Barony of Dilwych
The small barony of Dilwych, sandwiched between the vast Duchy of Dorlin and the northwestern marches, is ruled by a lord considered eccentric even by Neheli standards. The barony is avoided by the major roads of the kingdom and is therefore eschewed by most travelers. However, Dilwych was once a part of the greater Duchy of Dorlin, seceding from the latter in the last century over a petty squabble now long since forgotten save by the Barons of Dilwych, who have trumpeted their independence ever since.
Viscounty of Salinmoor
The Viscounty of Salinmoor, located between the southeastern Dreadwood and the Azure Coast, is one of Keoland's most forlorn provinces. It was virtually abandoned following the Siege of Westkeep, which saw the Keoish Throne lose its former southern possessions to the piratical Sea Princes in the last century. This left Salinmoor and its nominal capital, the coastal town of Seaton, as the kingdom’s southernmost possession. However, lacking much in the way of natural resources or strategic importance to the Throne of the Lion due to its distance from Gradsul and close proximity to insurgent Monmurg, it was virtually forgotten over the years by the bureaucracy in Niole Dra, whose introversion is legendary.
Viscounty of Nume Eor
This region, located southwest of the Dreadwood between the river Javan and the Hool Marshes, has changed hands frequently over the last three centuries, being at times part of the Kingdom of Keoland and at times part of the Yeomanry. It served primarily as hinterlands to both nations, until a treaty in 461 CY established the Yeoman border officially at the eastern banks of the Javan. Responsibility for the territory has fallen to the Keoish ever since, who largely ignored the region for the last century and have only recently eyed it with renewed interest.
Hool Marsh Protectorate
The Hool Marshes have long been both a boon and bane to the people of Keoland. The vast expanse, produced by the confluence of the Javan and Hool rivers, is primarily a trackless marsh filled with too many dangers to settle and civilize. And while the marshes are most notable for their bottomless bogs, tribes of lizardmen, and countless monsters, the natural terrain has also protected the southern border of the kingdom from widespread invasion from the south for centuries.