Hulburg

The city of Hulburg was constructed on a low hill, the "Burg", overlooking the glacial Winterspear River which flows down from the Galena Mountains. The bay formed at the mouth of the river is sheltered by two rocky headlands two miles apart, Kheldon Head to the west and Easthead opposite. A lighthouse was constructed on Kheldon Head to guide ships into the harbor.

Most of the city's old shops and businesses were located on the western shore of the river, radiating outward from the small peninsula of land dominated by Griffonwatch Keep. Smaller keeps dot the city's western district, most of them the ancestral homes of Hulburg's old families, including the largest of these, Hulmaster House, hard by the western wall. The city is ringed by extensive fortifications on the western shore, completely enclosing the old section of the city. One major bridge crosses the Winterspear River to the newer, eastern reaches of the city, and the new walls there were neither as large as the old fortifications to the west, nor completely finished. Most of the industries of the city, including the lumber yards, smithies, foundries, warehouses, and the docks were located on the eastern side of the river.

The arms of Hulburg were a golden griffon rampant, sinister, against a deep green field below a white, windowless tower with crenellations.

The city of Hulburg was founded in the Year of Cold Claws, 940 DR, by the Hulmaster family of Mulmaster when gold was discovered in the dangerous foothills of the Galena Mountains. The Hulmaster's were one of the wealthiest middle class families of Mulmaster, founding and succesfully running the Griffoneye Mercenary Company as well as a dozen successful trading enterprises in the Moonsea and the Vast. Despite their wealth, politically they were denied a seat at the table of the Blades of the city due to their common heritage and the family's unswerving devotion to Helm. Tiring of the political intrigues of the City of Blades, Angar Hulmaster, patriarch of the family, gambled upon the rapidly growing boomtown at the mouth of the Winterspring River and relocated his family there, renouncing the city of Mulmaster. He constructed a fortress on high hill overlooking the deep harbor, the Griffonwatch, and this keep soon transformed the already bustling boomtown.

Within decades, the city of Hulburg boasted formidible walls, barracks, training grounds, and a dock, attracting miners, their families, and would-be frontiersmen that would provide the services to them. The Hulmaster family provided the army that defended the city against intermittant attacks by orcs and ogres out of the Thar and the occasional ettin or giant from the formidable Galenas, and in exchange, they became the inheritors of the title of Harmach of Hulburg, an executive authority much like the voivodes of Barovia, beholden to a council formed of the now enormously wealthy merchant princes.

The burgeoning city swiftly became a rival to the sullen and vengeful city of Mulmaster to the south, siphoning trade and custom from the City of Blades with more lenient trade laws and lighter taxes. Decades of trade sniping and shadow privateering between the two powers erupted into a full scale war in the Year of the Solemn Halfling, 1106 DR, one of several wars to come between the two city states. At sea, Mulmaster's deep coffers and experience with naval construction proved decisive, though a series of misteps by the their general on the ground eventually saw the Mulman army that seiged the city of Hulburg shattered between the walls and a mercenary relief army. The war was draining for both sides, but fortune turned against the city of Hulburg when not even one year later they were attacked by the brutal Winter March, an army of frost giants and ogres from deep in the Galena Mountains, led by the frost giant jarl Hrolfgar Winteraxe, said to be a son of Auril herself. Harmach Victor Hulmaster sent his son, Geran, to the nearby elven stronghold of Sulasspryn in search of aide from their elven neighbors, but it was ultimately too late to save the city. In the Year of Bloody Fields, 1110 DR, the city walls were overcome and Hulburg was sacked by the rampaging giants. Thousands died, but many more escaped the destruction of the city on any ship that would float. The survivors rallied around the their new Harmach, Gelan, who secured their safety in the elven refuge. Love eventually turned the tide in the Giant's War, as Gelan won the heart of the daughter of the Sulass himself, Aerisleir Sulass. With the spring thaw, the now combined armies of Sulasspryn and the survivors of Hulburg marched to reclaim the human city-state. The Harmach and his bride to be personally defeated the god-touched Jarl upon the battlements of the Griffonwatch in the final days of their victory.

After the Giant's War, the city of Hulburg was reborn with new vigor, and with the union of the Harmach Geran Hulmaster and Aerisleir Sulass, the city of Hulburg looked forward to a permanent alliance with their elven neighbors to the south. Tymora favored the city for decades thereafter, and, for a time, Hulburg came to dominate trade in the eastern Moonsea. The merchants of Hulburg gained a well-deserved reputation for honesty and hard-bargaining that was not unwelcome among the cut-throat deal making of the Moonsea. When Gelan "Elf-friend" finally died, an old man in the Year of the Shieldtree, 1181 DR, his heartbroken elven wife returned to her father's house at Sulasspryn, never to return to the city.

The elven blooded Harmachs of Hulburg managed the reborn city's trade well, and the city flourished. New construction was begun on the east side of the Winterspring River. The eruption of the Moonsea War in 1306 DR would put an end to this brief golden age of the city. Toward the end of the 13th century, the power of Hulburg was on the ascent and the power of Mulmaster was on the decline. A series of minor trade skirmishes failed to benefit the older city state, and the small elven fleet at Sulasspryn began to effectively end the lucrative privateering trade of Mulman pirates. As if sensing a noose tightening around its neck, Mulmaster turned to desperate ends to save their monopoly on southern trade, allowing the Brotherhood of the Cloak to gain ultimate power in their city, ruled by the formidable archmage, Rundeth Ironmind. A small series of naval engagements swiftly blossomed into a full scale war between Mulmaster and the allied cities of Hulburg and Sulasspryn.

At sea, the forces of Mulmaster, now each equipped with their own coven of Cloaks, soundly defeated the elven fleet of Sulasspryn, driving them back toward their mountain refuge, which itself was no longer a refuge. Under cover of darkness, the elven sanctuary of Sulasspryn was attacked from below, it's end coming within hours. Those who survived claim they were assaulted by drow and worse. The city remains a haunted ruin to this day. The city of Hulburg put up a valiant defense against the renewed forces of Mulmaster, but their efforts were too little against the fierce Mulmans. The city was captured, and the flag of hated Mulmaster flew over the occupied city, the intentions of the Rundeth Ironmind made clear by the order of annexation.

What forces of Hulburg that remained fled westward, to Thentia, where they found the remaining city states of the Moonsea rallying around the impassioned rhetoric of the heretical priest of Bane, Fzoul Chembryl, who urged the other city states of the Sea of Dragons to put aside their differences and crush the aggressive Mulmans once and for all. The signing of the Pact of Iron, the compact of temporary alliance between the eternally fractious cities of Zhentil Keep, Melvaunt, Phlan, Thentia, Hillsfar, and even Sembia would ultimately spell the turning point of the war. With the death of Rundeth Ironmind in 1317 DR, the Pact of Iron soon fell apart, as the beaten Mulmans quickly made separate peace deals with the various signatories. Hulburg was left to reclaim their city alone, returning to a broken place of dispirited citizens, bent under the yoke of the tyranny of the Mulman priesthood of Bane, and reduced to little more than slave laborers in Ironmind's war machine.

The Harmach's of Hulburg struggled valiantly to rebuild, but Mulmaster bounced back from it's "defeat" with vigor under the leadership of the wicked new High Blade Malteth Uoumdolphin, Mulmaster pursued a canny strategy of price undercutting, as well as overbidding for food shipments bound north, and slowly began to strangle it's northern rival. The final death of the once vibrant city-state occurred in the Year of the Bright Blade, 1347 DR, when, on the heels of a trade blockade by the navy of Zhentil Keep, the city was attacked with the spring thaw by a terrible force of orcs and ogres under the leadership of Warlord Thrull. Little is known about the current status of the city, but it is known that hundreds, if not thousands have died in the attack, including the current Harmach, Piotr Hulmaster.