It is interesting that all source material describe 9 major houses of the Duchy of Ten.

The clear implication is that the Ran of Ah Foo is the 10th Baron. The question then becomes: Did Ran drive off the original 10th Baron? Or was there some part of Ran that makes him a descendant of the 10th baronial family from the beginning?

If the former, what happened to the original 10th Baron and his family?

-Havard

The d20 timeline actually talks about the Ten Heroes fighting against the Thonians.

I think there was mention of the "unwanted" in Garbage Pits of Despair?

I think most of this is just a matter of perspective. The Thonians might see them as unwanted, bandits etc, while they themselves like to see themselves as nobles?

Migration routes from Thonia into Blackmoor, but also further onwards to the Duchy of Ten and the Duchy of the Peaks seem to be an important theme though. We are seeing a gradual expansion of Thonia/The Great Kingdom into the North all the way untill Uther's rebellion. Slaver trains and crusaders travelling this way are also part of this picture.

A side note: I think the pirate bit might be a specific reference to Robinsport and the coastal cities. We don't know how much of this was developed by Dave, but it might tie into the background of various sea battles from his campaign?

Yaz: Arneson was unhappy with some things in DA4. His main beef was that he was not sent this module for approval. We don't know exactly what he would have done differently, but my impression is that it had to do less with the setting itself, and more with the development of the overarching plot. DA4 ignores the story about the Ran of Ah' Foo completely, but instead brings the Afridhi invasion closer.

We can only speculate, but I think Dave would have preferred to have both the Duchy of Ten and the Afridhi as two separate enemies for Blackmoor. It is interesting that the Afridhi choose to attack Blackmoor via the Neck. Hanford seems like a more viable invasion route if they already control the Duchy of Ten?

-Havard

Thank you very much for the explanation! I will try and find some time to go through the detail of DA4 and Zeitgeist material :)