NationStates Jolt Archive


The County of Wulfenheim Factbook (Fantasy Medieval Tech)

Wulfenheim
04-10-2007, 11:49
Brief Overview:

The land of Wulfenheim is a dark and foreboding realm that is covered in dark forests and seems to be forever engulfed in murky mists. The sun seems to have a difficult time coming out and the clouds often cover the sun’s rays making the land even more gloomy. The humans living in Wulfenheim tend to be farmers and lowly peasants trying to survive in their lowly hamlets and villages that are scattered across this dark land. The exception to this rule is the Frellani Gypsies that often travel the old roads from village to village spreading their knowledge and sometimes curses to the wayward hamlets and villages across the County. The county is currently controlled by a powerful Vampire Family known as the Von Wulf family. The Von Wulfs have managed to keep their dominion in a heavy state of superstitious fear and uncertainty. The peasants acknowledge their Vampire masters and seek to appease them while avoiding there often fatal wraith. The land is also rumored to be cursed by the darkest arts of necromancy and it is often said, “The dead to not rest peacefully in Wulfenheim.”


History:

In the Year -44 BF (Before Fall of the Wulfenheim calendar) Wulfenheim was founded as a province of some long forgotten human Empire that once stretched across the entire continent. This Empire was eventually laid low by the power of countless Goblin and Orcish tribes that descended from the Rommanov Mountains and invaded the weaker human Empire killing or enslaving countless humans that crossed their path. Wulfenheim was one such province that was under siege by the vile goblin kin but luckily. The new ruling count of Wulfenheim, Count Otto Von Wulf managed to rally his Boyars, Knights. and peasants to form a ragtag fighting force to combat the greenskin tide. The orcs and Goblins tried to overwhelm the vastly outnumbered humans with mass charges and sweeping number tactics but the Wulfenheim army fought back with hit and run skirmishes forcing the beleaguered invaders to retreat from the highly dense forested land of Wulfenheim.

In the Year -32 BF The Count Otto Von Wulf upon achieving victory celebrated by building a new center of government for his people. The dark castle that would one day be a symbol of fear and dread for the peasants was named Wulfenhelm, This mighty citadel was commissioned and completed after thirty years of intense back breaking labor by the peasants and serfs of the County of Wulfenheim. This was considered a golden time for the Wulfenheim people because the orcs and goblins had not come back to Wulfenheim to raid and pillage after being defeated years back. The rumor of dark magic was keeping them at bay and fear of unnatural monsters being seen near the borders brought even their greatest war chiefs fear….


In the year -2 BF The Count Otto Von Wulf dies of natural causes. It is rumored that his heart was starting to fail after 40 years of life. His people mourned him as a great leader and ruler. It would be the last Von Wulf whose name was not mention in fear….

In The Year -1 BF The Count Otto Von Wulf son Konrad Von Wulf assumes the title of Count of Wulfenheim his reign would be long and dark. The young Count upon assuming his position quickly used his power to help his people by importing food and other greatly needed items into the County. This act of kindness was greatly appreciated by the people and Konrad was named Konrad the Noble!


In The Year 0 BF The Count Konrad Von Wulf held a massive festival on the estate of his castile, Wulfenhelm. The mighty citadel was packed with visitors and guests from all walks of life including Frellani Gypsies. The Count fell in love with one of the Gypsy dancers named Esmeralda Romavich. The daughter of the great fortune teller Catherina Romavich. Esmeralda did not share the Count’s affections and turned him down rather harshly. The Count was cursed by Esmeralda to be forever the enemy of the sun and to be a creature of darkness for all eternity. He would become a predator of men and be forced to feed on their blood to survive till the end of time….


In The Year 1 RD (Reign of Darkness of the Wulfenheim Calendar) The Count Konrad Von Wulf was found dead on his throne in Wulfenhelm castile. He was promptly buried and mourned by his people as a great ruler and leader like his father. The twenty five year old count dead without a successor and civil war promptly raged for the title of Count…

In The Year 4 RD The Civil War was at an end, The Count Konrad Von Wulf promptly left his tomb and quickly sat on his ancestral throne. The Great Boyars and other vassals were quickly summoned by the Count and all hostilities came at an end. The Count quickly took charged and demanded an explanation for his sudden death and resurrection. The answer soon came when the fabled and dark necromancer Vladimir Tramolkov entered the castile of Wulfenhelm and quickly explained to the young Konrad that the gypsy had cursed Konrad with Vampirism and that he was doomed to be forever a creature of darkness…


In The Year 6 RD The Knights of Wulfenheim led by their leader Yuri Volkovich decide to avenge this huge slight against their master. The entire order secretly galloped after Esmeralda’s gypsy caravan and promptly put it to the sword. The armored warriors easily dispatched the gypsy brigands along with their families and brought a bound and chained Esmeralda to their master for his terrible vengeance. Esmeralda curses the Knights to forever serve their master as undead monstrosities turning the entire order into Death Knights. That very next day she is promptly executed by a vengeful Count Konrad whom promptly becomes very dark and brooding…….

More to Come………



Government:

The Government of Wulfenheim is an autocracy ruled by the Von Wulf family. The head of the family and of this vampiric bloodline is Count Konrad Von Wulf, The unquestioned ruler of this small country. Count Konrad has several Boyars serving as his vassals to divide up the County into several sub divisions and thus keeping the feudal structure the same since the founding of the County. The Count tends to rule justly but dispenses his justice with an iron fist. He has a swift sense of justice and tends to demand complete obedience from his subjects. The Count tends to avoid dealing with peasants directly and usually has his vassals and servants handle the business of dealing with the human peasants. This policy has greatly increase their fear their undead master , because the vampiric Boyars and the cold Death Knights tend to act like brutal tyrants often using their high status and deadly powers to crush the human peasants under their heels..


Society:


The Society of Wulfenheim is highly feudal and the humans make up the serfs and peasants of the Country. The farmers and commoners usually live in small hamlets and villages across the county. These villages are usually under the “protection” of a local lord or Boyar whom they pay a tax of gold or food to their local master. The peasants live in small hut like houses and tend to work on their farms or practice their trade while the sun is up. The night is when they all go to their homes and pray to the gods for mercy every night. It is no secret that the night is when the undead come out and greet the world. The superstitious commoners often will have makeshift enchantments and wards gifted to them by Frellani merchants to protect themselves from the dark hand of their undead overlords. It is sad to say that most of these talismans and enchantments are utterly useless against the Vampires but they do turn a nice profit for the crafty Gypsies.


The Frellani are Gypsies that hail from the province of Frellana. The Frellani tend to travel in large caravan groups and often settle for the night at various hamlets and villages across the country. They often set up small festivals and entertainment for the local population and this is often seen as a sign of good fortune to the mostly superstitious and ignorant peasants. The Frellani are often feared and respected by the commoners for their legendary curses that have had a large impact on many people in the County. This rising fear has often lead to violence against the Gypsies to keep them from doing more harm with their vile and strange magic.


The Necromancers are humans that have followed the dark path to power. These humans are tired of being treated like animals by the Vampires and are out for respect and by learning the dark arts they hope to achieve this respect. In most lands, Necromancy is a forbidden form of magic punishable by death. In Wulfenheim this kind of magic is almost an art form and the Necromancer Guild is one of the most powerful organizations inside the County…



The highest pinnacles of power are reserved for the Vampire nobles that rule the county. They often use their private armies to patrol the land and enforce their will upon the populace and this has had a profound effect on the mostly illiterate and frightened commoners.


Military:


The Wulfenheim military is quite diverse considering it’s origins. The Wulfenheim Grand Army was once comprised of thousands of human levies that served as men at arms for the various Boyars that would often battle foreigners and each other for dominance for the last several hundred years. This old form of raising a military has slowly gone out of style because of the difficulty of gathering the appropriate amount of people needed for such constant fighting. The Von Wulf family in league with the Necromancers Guild have started recruiting from the dead that now litter the graveyards of Wulfenheim. It is no secret the dead do not rest easy in Wulfenheim and now the Vampire Count goes to war with his undead hosts.


Tactics:

The Wulfenheim Military relies on skirmish fighting rather than mass assaults and grueling attritions tactics. The forests of Wulfenheim have often forced the Wulfenheimers to use smaller forces to wear down their larger opponents and bring draw them closer into the dense and dark forests often getting their opponents lost in the misty forests. It is when the fear starts to set in and the enemy runs to escape death that the Vampires unleash their ultimate weapon, The Undead hordes of shambling zombies and rigid skeleton formations often hound the enemy in the forests and the slavering ghouls and fearsome Death Knights will continue to make sport of an enemy until no one is left standing and their own dying flesh joins their slayers to kill more of their living brethren…


The Basic Army structure of the Vampire Count:


Vampire Boyar: The General of a specific Cohort or host. These Vampires are usually skilled warriors and necromancers with magical weapons or armor and they tend to be heavily guarded by Death Knights or by other undead servants. Vampire Boyars tend to ride on the backs of nightmare horses and lead the army through example often charging into the enemy lines with their bodyguards in tow…


Lich: The Grand Masters of Necromancy, The Lich is a Master Necromancer that has advanced so far in the dark arts that he has managed to achieve a permanent state of immortally. The knowledge of Lichdom is a heavily guarded secret and only a select few are ever given the knowledge to become these powerful undead but should a Lich be born woe to their opponents because such creatures are highly skilled wizards and their legendary skill with magic has often ended the lives of countless mortals….

Master Necromancer: A necromancer that has advanced his training to the point his knowledge has become quite vast and his skills almost legendary. A Master Necromancer is often used to help marshal the legions of the dead and to act as an advisor to their liege lord. A Master Necromancer also has access to greater spells than his lesser counterparts making him even more deadly in a magical duel and his increased knowledge grants him a deeper insight into the ways of death and life…


Death Knight: The most feared warrior in the Count Konrad’s military. These undead Knight serve as the bodyguards of Count Konrad and other high ranking members of his family. They are always armed with magically enchanted weapons and armor and ride into battle on undead horses known as nightmares. They are forever bound to the will of their dark master and will carry out their orders with no compassion or mercy…


Black Coach: The Black Coach is dark carriage that contains the coffin of a fallen Vampire that has suffered the ill effects of sun light or the wrong end of stake. This Vampire is has been turned to dust and his remains have been put into this coffin to bring him back. The Black Coach is a deadly instrument of the Vampire Count because of it’s heavily necromantic origins. The Black Coach will often journey from battle field to battle field feeding on the souls of the dying. It is rumored that if ten thousand souls are consumed that the vampire will be reborn and rise from his coffin to perform great evil upon the world. It is this reason that these vehicles are often avoided by the common folk.

The Death Guard: The Death Guard are Undead Warriors that were in life legendary warriors or champions of long forgotten Kings. The Death Guard now serve as the heavy infantry of the Wulfenheim military. They tend to wield magical halberds and wear plate mail armor into battle. They have a fearsome reputation for close quarters fighting and often tear down their opponents with several swipes of their deadly blades…

Banshee: The Ghosts of beautiful maidens forever cursed to wander the world as one of the undead for all eternity. They haunting creatures have all suffered tragic pasts and caused great sins to the world of men. The Banshees now hate all living creatures and seek to end their mortal lives permanently. The Vampire Count and his necromancers have found a use for their dark powers…..

Wraith: These deadly spirits are the corrupted souls of would be necromancers that failed to truly understand the way of the dark arts and ended up dying. These poor fools used their poorly understood knowledge to become evil spirits called wraiths. Their flesh became skeletal and their robes have become completely black and they wield massive scythes. These unnatural creatures like all ghosts are incorporeal and only magical weapons or spells can effect them…

Necromancers: The officers of the Vampire Count’s army. The necromancer is often in charge of squad or formation of undead minions and leads them into battle. The Necromancer is practitioner of the dark arts of necromancy and wields their deadly spells against their enemies while being closely guarded by their undead thralls and minions. The Necromancer Guild often supplies the Count and his Boyars several hundred of these deadly wizards as a tax….

Wulfenheimian man at arms: The peasants of Wulfenheim fear their vampire masters but acknowledge them as the true rulers of Wulfenheim. This acknowledgement means the Vampires have a right to draft levies of the people to serve in their armies. The Wulfenhemian men at arms are either citizen conscripts or private mercenaries hired to fight for the Vampire nobles. They tend to wear light leather armor and wield a variety of weapons from long bows to long swords. They tend to fight using light skirmisher and hit and run strikes often retreating and coming back at the enemy. This tactic has made the Wulfenheimian military a very dangerous force inside it’s own dark home…

Ghoul: Ghouls are the corpses of the dead that have risen from the dead and seek to eat the bodies of the dead. The Ghoul is a disgusting deformed creature that lives in graveyards and crypts. They have a bad habit of killing visitors and have a fearsome reputation for their poisonous claws and bites.

Skeleton Warriors: The land of Wulfenheim is littered with old battlefields and mass graves of fallen warriors. The Vampires have made use of this resource and with the foulest rituals of necromancy have used their spells to awaken these ancient warriors to fight for their new master’s cause. The Skeleton warriors are faster and more intelligent than their zombie counterparts and wield a variety of weapons and armor. They often inspire fear into their opponents…

Greater Zombies: These Zombies are faster and stronger than their lesser brethren. The only drawback is there are fewer of them in the world and it takes more of an effort for a necromancer to raise them from the grave. The Greater Zombie is often seen leading the shambling hordes of their lesser brethren into battle often using their unnatural strength and speed to catch their enemy off guard…

Zombie: The lowest form of undead, These mindless creatures are the victims of plague, war, and famine. The Graveyards of Wulfenheim have a habit of being visited by necromancers and entire hordes of these creatures are often summoned to fight for the Vampire Count. The shambling hordes as they are called by the human population often invoke terror for their mindless determination and sheer numbers in battle. They have a draw back and that is they are extremely slow and often take time to eat their victims on the battle field. The other draw back is that a single zombie is not that strong unless he is backed up by thirty or forty others to pull down their opponent with their shoddy makeshift weapons..



More To Come…………
Wulfenheim
05-10-2007, 01:18
The Dark Brotherhood (The Necromancer Guild)


The Dark Brotherhood is an organization that has inspired a great amount of fear in the hearts of every common man inside the Country of Wulfenheim. Necromancy was a forbidden practice back in the days of the old Empire but now that the Vampire Count has taken control of the County the need for the dark arts has become imperative. The Dark Brotherhood has come out of the shadows and now practices their profane and vile art openly to the dismay of the peasants.


The Dark Brotherhood has several isolated libraries and towers hidden in Wulfenheim. Their locations are keep secret and any person foolish enough to seek them better be a willing apprentice or a man with a death wish. These locations are heavily guarded by undead monstrosities and sprit barriers. The Necromancers themselves often have several undead minions and servants that they are willing to use for their own defense and even the local Vampire Boyars pay their respects to the Dark Brotherhood.


The Dark Brotherhood’s leadership is made up of the Council of Five. The Council is made up of five Liches that have mastered the dark arts and use their positions to further the goals of the Guild and to practice new ways of exploiting the forces of life and death. The Council has complete dominion over the rest of the Brotherhood and only the Count can overrule them…


The Current Council:

1. Grand Master Vladimir Tramolkov
2. Grand Master Ivan Gromkov
3. Grand Mistress Nina Romakov
4. Grand Master Boris Volmokvic
5. Grand Mistress Tatyana Dalmokov