Making sense of the Mage Wars (Again)

[Havard]

Thanks Yaz, that's interesting and would seem to narrow the choices. What places make sense that might reasonably be considered semi-autonomous baronies at the start of the Mage Wars? Maus and Starport seem off the table.

Glendour is close, but too close and probably too small at this time to be semi-autonoumous.

Maybe Bramwald, although I also wonder if Bramwald is really semi-autonomous at this time?

or Maybe Boggy Bottom or Pim or Loch Gloomen - the Dismal swamp (Great Swamp of Mil) area could easily be semi-autonomous and it is close to the Ash hills so that might have been all part of the same territory. It would also explain why Raddan needed more land. There is only so much land in the swamp. The drawback is Raddan would have to march through Vestfold and Booh to get to Blackmoor Castle, but that's maybe not such a big deal.

Another point in favor of Raddan's semi autonomous barony being the Dismal swam area is that we have him in control of it later. So if he starts with the swamp and then conquerors Blackmoor we end up with all four factions in place.

What do you all think?

Glendover most likely did not exist during the Mage Wars. It was established by Jenkins during Fant's reign. Many of the other holds were also still at this time just wilderness.

Maybe the whole Blackmoor is the semi-autonomous barony mentioned. At the time, after all, Blackmoor is still a (far away) barony of the Thonian empire and not yet an independent kingdom.

I think this fits as well as anything else.

So much of the information about the Mage Wars is annoyingly vague. The idea that Blackmoor (the Castle and surrounding hold) is not a major player at the time makes no sense to me. So this is why it seemed natural to assume that Raddam's holding was indeed Blackmoor.

See my overview from the other thread:

From my Mage Wars timeline I have the following factions from ca 820:

• Raddan Goss
  
• Vadaley Family
  
• "Two Others"
  
• Bystanders
  
• Skelfer Ard (Not yet part of the wars)

Although we have little information on where these realms may be, I have made the following assumptions:

• Raddan Goss == Blackmoor
  
• Vadaley Family == Duchy of the Peaks
  
• "Two Others" == Erak, Maus
  
• Bystanders == Bramwald, Vestfold, Archlis
  
• Skelfer == Archlis

BLACKMOOR:
Although I havent found any canonical evidence specifically stating this, I do find the idea that Raddan Goss controlled Blackmoor to be quite likely. Not only does this retain Blackmoor as the most important location of the setting through its history, but perhaps the source of Raddan's power could also be the magical rocks below Blackmoor mentioned in earlier sources. I also speculated in the past, that Goss could be identical to one of the more tyrannical rulers from the FFC (Castle history section).

DUCHY OF THE PEAKS:
The Vadaley Realm is described as "many leagues away". We do know that the Duchy of the Peaks was founded by mages, so it seems likely that they would be part in the war. Also, the fact that Vestfold becomes "neutral ground" made it likely to think that Vestfold would be between the two.

MAUS
Although I didn't know it at the time, the Maus Wizard has later been identified as Xavier the Grey Mage.

ERAK
No particular reason for this, but Erak was probably around at the time.

BRAMWALD
As with Erak above. Also, Bramwald seems to have a long tradition of staying out of conflicts in the North, so this would likely place them among the bystanders.

VESTFOLD
As mentioned above, Vestfold was considered neutral ground.

ARCHLIS
Archlis was the home of Skelfer. Skelfer only gets involved once Archlis is destroyed by the Vadaley.


OTHER PARTS OF THE NORTH

• DUCHY OF TEN: This realm is not founded until Year 925, Area previously controlled by Peaks.
  
• THE LAKES (Gloomy, Midges, etc): Wilderness. Thonia expands to Misauga in 925.
  
• THE NEW LANDS OF BLACKMOOR (Dragonia, Ramshead, Fairfield, Bosero): These were settled during the FFC era.
  
• BLACKMOOR OUTLANDS (Fel, Dukane): Not yet settled.
  
• BLACKMOOR HEARTLANDS (Glendover, Coot's Watch, Newgate, Jackport, Williamsfort, Kenville): some of these were surely established later. The rest would likely not have been prominent IMO. Probably under the control of Blackmoor (Goss) or others.

My impression is that the elves, dwarves and halflings mostly stayed out of the Mage Wars and that this was primarily a conflict between Human Mages.

GEOGRAPHICAL DIFFERENCES
It is my theory that the Sinking Lands started appearing when the Egg of Coot rose from the waters. Since that happened after the Mage Wars, it means the land has not begun to sink yet, and the Black Sea is not yet joined with the North Sea. By this assumption, the Elven Forest (Redwood) is much larger at this point and the Black Sea is smaller.

Indeed, it is worth taking into account that the world of Blackmoor was very different during the Mage Wars. The Black Sea was not yet connected to the North Sea. Most modern settlements have not yet been established. Certainly other settlements could have been around at the time and destroyed and lost during the war or the following cataclysm when the Egg arrived.


The reference to the tomb of Raddam from the MMRPG is interesting, but he could easily have been buried away from his stronghold, especially if that was indeed Blackmoor.

It could also have some importance to help us find out what Raddan was doing before he came to power in Blackmoor. In my timeline I have him become ruler in 815. Soon after he destroys "a handful of mages ruling neighbouring lands" (source: The Wizards Cabal) which gets him into confict with the Vadaley Clan. It is unknown what mages he destroyed and what lands these may have controlled.

Another matter is that the elves are more or less ignored by The Wizards Cabal. The split between the Cumasti and the Westryn has most likely occurred in the past (I connect it to the destruction of the Temple of Id), but the Redwood is still a massive woodland at this time covering much of the North. This realm is only reduced by the Egg of Coot (again).

-Havard