Guardians of the Forest Chapter Seven: The Lowlands

Holstein

Holstein consists of territory between the North Sea and the Baltic, where a number of new port towns are springing up. Bordering Denmark proper, it is under the control of the Danish king, Valdemar II “the Victorious” who conquered it in 1201. In 1214, Frederick II formally acknowledged Valdemar’s possession of Holstein and Pomerania, after he had supported his claim to the imperial throne. Erich, of the Danish house of Sven Estridson, administers the land as duke on behalf of Valdemar II.

If your saga follows real history, Valdemar II will be defeated by Adolf IV of Holstein in 1227, at which point Holstein and Pomerania will return to the Holy Roman Empire, Lübeck will be proclaimed a Free Imperial City, and Hamburg will have its Free status restored.

Schleswig

At the beginning of the 9th century, the Vikings established a major trading center here, by the fjord of the River Schlei, where the overland Baltic-North Sea crossing is at its shortest. Two hundred years later, a new fishing town grew up nearby on the north side of the Schlei, next to a Benedictine cloister dedicated to St. Johannis. Haithabu, the old Viking city, lies just a few miles away. All that remains are earthwork ramparts, burial mounds, and ghosts, if the locals are to be believed...

The Ash of Nortorf

• Infernal Might: 15 (with the potential to be 60)
• Personality Traits: Ambitious +2
• Special Powers: Grant Victory, Grant Virtue (Entrancement), Grant Virtue (Inspirational), Grant Virtue (Tough)

The small town of Nortorf in Holstein is unremarkable other than forming a meeting place for the roads to Schleswig, Lübeck, and Hamburg. Unremarkable, that is, except for a small ash seedling that sprouts in the churchyard of Nortorf. Every year, on New Year’s Night, a white horseman on a white horse cuts it down. A black horsemen on a black horse tries to prevent him, but is put to flight. It is prophesied that one day the black horseman will prevail, and the shoot will grow into a tree. When it is tall enough for a horse to be tied beneath it, a king will come with a mighty army and a terrible battle will be fought. The king will not be conquered if his horse remains under the tree during the fight, and fell powers will be granted him.

Story Seed: The White Horseman

Forces working on behalf of the black horsemen ensure that the characters hear of the ash at Nortorf, but not its prophecy. It is revealed that it will be a great source of vis once grown. Hopefully they will guard it on New Year’s Night, when the Divine white horseman comes to prevent the prophecy of doom taking place. If the characters fight him off, or even kill him, he never comes again, and evil has an inroad.

Hamburg

Since its founding at the beginning of the 9th century, Hamburg has had a violent history. It was first destroyed in 845 when a huge Viking fleet invaded up the estuary of the River Elbe. The Polish burned the city to the ground in 1030. Later that same century, Hamburg was raided twice by the Wends, at which point the city’s archbishop abandoned it, moving the see to Bremen instead. Fortunes improved in the 12th century, and in 1189 Frederick Barbarossa granted a tax and customs exemption for all goods brought by ship from sea and along the Elbe, proclaiming Hamburg a Free Imperial City. Since then the port has flourished, and Hamburg has grown into a sizeable city and trading center. However, it was occupied by Valdemar II in 1216, and currently owes its allegiance to the Danish crown.

Hamburg’s most famous archbishop (before the see moved to Bremen) was St. Ansgar, known as the Apostle of the North. In the middle of the 9th century, the holy man courageously and successfully undertook missionary activity in the northlands in the face of a Viking onslaught, founding many churches in northern Germany and Denmark, as well as the first ever church in Sweden. Ansgar died and was buried in Bremen in 865, after which the Vikings destroyed his Danish churches and Sweden reverted to paganism.

Lübeck

Lübeck is the most important coastal port in Germany, and one of its richest cities, acting as a hub of trade for the Baltic Sea. Although there had been older Wend settlements on the site, it was effectively founded in 1157 by the then duke of Saxony, Henry the Lion, who seized the site from the counts of Holstein after it was mostly destroyed in a fire. Henry developed Lübeck as a city with a harbor, established it as a bishopric, and did much to support trade. He also granted the city a number of special privileges, called the Statutes of Lübeck, meaning that it is run independently by a council of merchants, the leader of whom is named the Älderman. This council administers its own system of justice, and taxes are spent on great civic projects, of which Lübeck’s prosperous citizens are very proud. One such project is a great brick cathedral under construction at the southern tip of the city, which is due to be completed within a decade.

The city is located on an oval island at the mouth of the River Trave, surrounded by moat canals. The quayside is thronged with merchants’ counters and warehouses, behind which rise tidy brick townhouses, guilds, and other civic buildings. Furs, leather, timber, amber, and iron ore are imported from around the Baltic, and the city exports salt, spices, grain, herring, cloth, and metalware. Due to various fast days and the Church’s prohibition on the eating of meat on Fridays, fish is an important part of the German diet, and Lübeck has a profitable monopoly on the trade in herring. One of the driving factors for the close trade cooperation with Hamburg is that Lübeck requires salt for the preservation of its fish catch. The trade in salt, mined in Lüneburg, is controlled by Hamburg. Lübeck has a large fishing fleet, which operates in the fertile herring grounds off the Scanian coast (the southern tip of Sweden). As well having as many merchants and fishermen, Lübeck is home to skilled shipwrights and toolmakers.

Lübeck (and the covenant of Oculus Septentrionalis) is a common port of call for Redcaps on their way to the Novgorod Tribunal. The sea route is generally preferable: for example, the city of Novgorod can be reached in a few weeks by ship in relative safety (excepting the risks of storms or piracy), whereas the same journey overland would take months through mostly wilderness terrain with poor roads. The merchants of Lübeck have, since 1205, established a trade counter in Novgorod, where Oculus Septentrionalis maintains a contact.