What drowned nightmare we found ourselves unable to awake from I cannot say, for the world I once trusted had betrayed us in every fundamental way. Dry earth seemed a distant dream, and sky and stars but fading memories. Everywhere clawing branches and hidden roots cursed our steps, while trailing vines and moss smothered us. Never had I so execrated the gods of life, for here their work piled upon itself in such slithering, crawling, squirming fecundity as to make every birth a blasphemous curse. And ever just beyond our sight, seen only in glimpses and ghost light, were the masters of that fetid green Hell, those who long ago forsook skin for scales and whose voices were the smothered cries of all who had ever died gasping in the muck.—From The Record of Truan Iolava
Arodus 27th, 4709, Late Summer
It has been nearly a year since Stagfall was founded. In that time you have laid claim to some 132 square miles of pristine forest, hills and plains. These rich lands have given up their bounty in the form of gold, farms, cattle, friendly indigeious people like the Scootscale Kobolds or the Tuskwater Lizardfolk. Stagfall has grown into a fine town, with herbalist shops, the Boar and Boggard Tavern & Inn, and a dozen other smaller places. Svtelana Leveton estimates Stagfall's population around 2,500 people. The expanding barony of Caledonia didn't stop there, a second, new hamlet of Leveton has been founded at Oleg's Trade Post, and already the small frontier village is home to over 700 permanent residents.
You have foiled assassination attempts and stopped sensational crimes, all while building roads and farms throughout all your growing kingdom. The barony has a life of its own now, people come and go, work and play, all without your direct intervention. When this all first started Cal knew the names of just about every colonist, now its impossible to do that. Lem's Green Marshals have kept a watchful peace on the boarders, the occasional ruffian, or wild beast is all they can boast about dealing with. Valen and Jhod have brought the Temple of Erastil into the fold and faith and community flourishes. Erastil, Old Deadeye has become the national Patron God, but other faiths are not suppressed, and all people who pay worship to good deities are free to practice within Caledonia.
Oleg Leveton has been working hard to keep the economy of the nation going, and has done a great job in a difficult situation. The royal treasury isn't overflowing, but its stable, and unless you over do it things continue to work out. He has finally started to whisper the dreaded work "Taxes" into your ear at the council meetings, but so far you've avoided that conversation.
Akrios Ismort, your chief diplomat has been busy. Mostly he's kept the influences of Brevoy and Rostov at bay. In the opening few months of the project he managed to keep those that backed this adventure in the background, and quickly any conversation with the nation to the north turned from patron to peer, and if the men in Rostov had hopped to leverage anything against you they long have lost that chance and Akrios severed those ties with them.
Kesten Garess, your General, has a tiny army, its mostly militia men ready at a minutes notice. These men, craftsmen, farmers, locals, aren't professionals, but they drill one weekend a month, and one week during the winter months to learn their trade. No one hardly notices them, and you've never had cause to call on them.
That's unlike Colban's Wardens. His Wardens are the local constables, rarely venturing outside Stagfall and not Leveton. This local police force has helped to stop the assassination attempt, on their very leader Colban. They keep the peace, and make sure kids aren't causing trouble. The town is stable, unrest if nearly nonresistant, and everyone feels good to see a fellow neighbor on the patrol late at night through Stagfall.
In the shadows Arenhal continues to work, his 'leaving' of Caledonia greatly exaggerated, it worked out perfectly for him. Working at the Shadow Marshal he's able to put and end to crime and criminals in a more covert and subtle manner. He answers only the Baron, and so far has been a stabilizing influence on the region. No one is ever sure where he might strike next, and he likes it that way.
With the barony in good hands, the itch has you. Lem and Valen both want to get out there and see things, Aetoron hasn't had much chance to see more of the world as the newest member of the High Council his job as Spy Master always kept him looking inward. It's time again to travel into the Greenbelt and expand your knowledge of the regions. Rumors of danger and riches abound. You've even found some wanted posters placed about town by locals or your own government.
Its been over a year since you first arrived at Oleg's Trade Post, and its time once more to venture out, to adventure!
