Barovia

The term "Barovia" rightfully refers to the nation of Balok Clans first formed by the Voivode Ral Vlacul and later continued by the Drakov royal dynasty after his death, however, the term as become representative of the entire region, centered around either Lake Vlacul or Melvaunt depending upon the point of view of the speaker.

Pre-Terg

Before 600 DR, the fertile region around Lake Barovia (later Lake Vlacul) was home to at least a dozen fierce tribes of Damaran humans called the Balok people. To the ancient human nation centered at Northkeep, the Balok were barbarians, though they had long been settled into small agricultural communities protected by wooden palisades and berm walls around the massive, freshwater lake. The Balok practiced a form of Damaran paganism that invoked the spirits of the land, indeed, most Balok beliefs refer to the region itself as a living entity, with moods and wants and fears. The Balok had long mastered the art of iron working, which many believe their ancestors learned from the long-vanished dwarven root kingdom of Sarphil which inhabited the great Galena Mountains to the north and east. Until the arrival of the Terg in 600 DR, the traditional enemies of the Balok included the Tepur tribes of humans to the east, the savage "ghost men" of the southern swamps, the unpredictable Weirmen from beyond the Balinok Mountains to the north, and the occasional threatening band of orc or ogre raiders from the Great Gray Thar to the east. Among these tribes, the strongest by far was the Clan Vlacul. Generations of Vlacul began and continued construction on the seat of their house, Castle Barovia, on a great cliff face overlooking the Moonshround Cataracts where the River Ivlk pours into Lake Barovia. From this vantage point, they emerged as the strongest among fractious and argumentative clan lords who took any slight against their honor as a reason to declare a feud of blood with their neighbors.

Invasion and Chanate

It was into this atmosphere that, in 600 DR, a massive army of foreign invaders arrived from the northern passes. The Terg swept aside tribe after tribe, using their skill on horseback, their numerical superiority, and their strange, eastern sorcery to sweep aside the disunified Balok clan leaders. Those who could not be seduced to the side of the black clad Terg were swept aside, and the ranks of the invaders swelled with the animated spirits of their dead foes until even the mighty Clan Vlacul was faced with dying inside their impregnable fortress from starvation against an army of the sorcerous dead, or fleeing into the countryside to fight another day. Fatefully, the Vlacul chose to flee the valley along with the tattered remnants of whatever other clans they could rally to their banner.

For the next 6 generations, the land of Barovia was ruled by the implacable, brutal Terg as a Chanate under their feared Nentas-khans. Those Balok clan chiefs that sided with them found themselves as the lowest rung of a new nobility, one that could be swept aside at the whim of their new Terg overlords. The common people were reduced from scattered holds of free craftsmen and farmers to nothing more than chattel and slaves, to serve at the will of the local governors, or Atabegs. The spirit religion of the Balok was brutally supressed, and their druids and wise-women burned at the stake as an offering to the god of the Terg, Orcus. Many slaves were worked to death constructing great stone temples to the dark demon-god, and when they fell, even their bodies were forced to serve beyond death. Those spirit-elders that remained among the Balok sensed a great darkness seeping into the land, poisoning the minds of the spirits of the mountains, and the lakes, and the great dark forests.

In 780 DR, the remaining free clans in exile among the Balok rallied around a new leader, the son of the last of the fallen warlords of House Vlacul, the young Ral Vlacul. Under his leadership, the resurgent Balok clans infiltrated the Terg Chanate through the mountains and conducted a ten year long campaign of terror, attrition, and sabotage against the Terg overlords. They relied on stealth, speed, and the inciting of chaos to accomplish their goals, and their methods won them fear among the collaborationist boier and Terg atabegs, and made them beloved by the oppressed Balok slave class. After ten years of battle, the invasion begun by Ral Vlacul would result in a new complete insurrection against the hated Terg until virtually none of the eastern men remained alive in the country, or anywhere else.

The Birth of a Nation

After the destruction of the Terg, the foundation of a nation would be complete with the coronation of Ral Vlacul as the Voivode of a reborn Barovia. Under the guidance of the first Voivode, the laws of the nation would be codified, the system of boiers would be defined, and the borders of the new nation would expand from the area surrounding the Lake Barovia (renamed in this period as Lake Vlacul) to encompass the lightly settled plains to the west, to the borders of the Tepurich Forest, and to the south with the destruction of the primitive "ghost men" of the swamplands at the mouth of the Svalich River. The first period of rulership would end in 809 DR with the assassination of the Voivode Ral Vlacul and his immediate family by Ba’al Verzi under the employ of a faction of Balok nobility, beginning the Barovian Noble's War.

The first true civil war of the Balok people was a brutal struggle between the forces of House Dilisnya, House Katsky, and their allied vassal houses based in the fertile central vally and the Vlacul-loyal House Drakov, House Bruil, House Padraig, and House Marsk. Many of the tactics that worked during the ouster of the Terg forces 19 years prior were resurrected, only to be used against their fellow Balok. Weirmen mercenaries and corsairs from the Moonsea were liberally used by both sides in the conflict, leading to further depradation of the country-side. Many of Barovia's hostile neighbors used the distraction of the struggle to launch raids and assaults against the young country, including raiders from the Duchy of Phlan and giant and ogre attacks from the north and east. Eventually, the tide of battle swung in favor of the Loyalist forces under the command of Roland Drakov, long time friend and sword arm of the slain Ral Vlacul. The main bulk of the rebel houses were eventually broken during the Siege of Cuzau, conquered personally by Roland Drakov. The remainder of the forces of the defeated houses were forced from the field of battle; led by the patriarch of Leo Dilisnya they withdrew east into the Thar, eventually settling at the mouth of the River Thent and founding the city of Thentia in 820 DR.

With the end of the Noble's War, the nation of Barovia swiftly moved to achieve stability and peace. The acclaimed Roland Drakov was pressed to accepted the Voivode's crown in memory of his fallen friend, a position he accepted with his customary assertiveness. The first prince of the Drakov dynasty would live another 16 years, eventually dying in the castle he personally constructed in the city of Melvaunt surrounded by his many children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren at the age of 81. During his term as Voivode, great strides were made to transform Barovia from a collection of tribal fiefdoms in the backwater of the world to a local power on the Moonsea. He and his first successors are credited with the construction of the naval yards at Melvaunt and the founding of a chain of watchforts along the shore of the Stojanow River as a deterrent to the aggressions of the Duchy of Phlan. Much of the swampland around Melvaunt was drained and reclaimed as farmland.