Blackmoor in the year 500

[Havard]

......
This is an ancient and wild time, when castles are far between and the wilderness covers most of the land. Beyond the few strongholds the Thonian Empire has built in this part of the world, the North is unmapped territory. The Duke of Blackmoor now needs adventurers who are brave enough to risk their way into the unknown. Into the dark places of the wild where even the enigmatic elvenfolk do not dare to venture.
.....

This is a characterization that should be discussed. Blackmoor had had a "duke" for several hundred years at this point. Had enough of a population to have given rise to an active and powerful cult with a large and wealthy temple. And had just experienced the megalomaniac reign of the Bloody Duke, who was wealthy and powerful enough to undertake the massive construction of Blackmoor dungeon.

Absolutely. As with most things Blackmoor, the published material is limited and there are many ways to fill in the gaps. Note that the paragraph you quoted was my "sales pitch" so I allowed myself to get a bit more creative there than in other comments in this thread.

If anything, I think the year 500 is right in a golden age for Blackmoor. The way I envision it is that there are still plenty of backwater swamp areas where only picts and monsters live, but the areas around the major towns and cities are well settled and cultivated. The rest of the land remains under elvish control. However since the elven kingdom is undergoing an upheaval. The coming years will see a gradual decline in elvish population and a pullback from the amount of land they control. In part this helps to create the conditions that lead to the Mage Wars. The mage wars are a major upheaval for Blackmoor. As I see it, something like 80% of the population is killed or flees south, leaving the land abandoned and in ruins. It isn't until decades after the Mage wars are over that Blackmoor begins to recover and eventually surpass under Uther's reign, the level of civilization enjoyed earlier. Note that in the early centuries Blackmoor is ruled by Dukes, but after the Mage wars it is only a barony.

This is definitely a valid interpretation. I am working on a few assumptions:
1) Blackmoor was founded shortly after the forming of the Thonian Empire (Great Kingdom). Before that there was probably no Thonian settlers in the North. So I would assume it would take a few centuries to get even a decent Thonian population up there.
2) The North saw a massive expansion in population from ca year 600 after Kargas made his disoveries of the magical properties of the North
3) The New Lands, Outlands and Dismal Swamp was settled during the FFC era. Even Glendover/Jenins Land was settled during Fant's Reign.

You have a point about the Duke title, but is it not also possible that this simply indicated the size of the area nominally appointed to the ruler?

Interesting that you have the Bloody Duke rule before the Dog Duke. In my Rulers of Blackmoor writeup I have Raddan Goss as the Bloody Duke, but looking back I think that he could not be the original Bloody Duke. IIRC the FFC states that there were several Bloody Dukes, so Goss could well have also been referred to as a Bloody Duke, but I like your idea of having the original Bloody Duke rule Blackmoor before the Dog Duke.

I also note that your description of elven history seems to be close to how I see it.

I dont have a definite stance on exact population figures either though. I do agree that the population could well have risen and fallen with the major wars and other dramatic events through the centuries.

One more thing to take into account: The Temple does seem to have been a significant threat to the humans and perhaps even the combined human and elf forces of the North. If Blackmoor was at its Age of Glory at this time, what sort of resources would the Temple have had access to to pose such a threat?

-Havard