Power in Impiltur is seen as a division of three Covenants, in which each of the gods of the Triad bind themselves to the King, granting power in exchange for great responsibility.

• The Covenant of Law (Tyr): the King is the ultimate Fount of Justice, the ultimate judge and executioner. He does not define the law, for that has been done by Tyr, he is simply its highest adjudicator and executor.
• The Covenant of Defense (Torm): the King is the ultimate protector of the realm, and he and his must fight to the last in her defense. To this end, he has the right to conscript men and levy taxes sufficient to this purpose. He has the right to demand service of every blade and wand in the realm.
• The Covenant of Mercy (Ilmater): the King is steward to the lands, beasts, and folk, and must do all he can to keep and preserve them. He is obliged to care for the ill, house the homeless, clothe the naked, and feed the hungry. To this end, he may levy taxes and tariffs as is necessary.

These sacred covenants are seen as a sort of contract with the gods; a sovereign who fails to uphold his responsibility no longer has the right to exercise what are fundamentally their powers, not his. As such, he can be removed, or even punished. Such a case would be determined by the highest servants of the Triad: by their own definition, the Conclave themselves. This power is implied and understood, but not codified, and has never been formally invoked against a living monarch (although it was posthumously invoked against Imphras V to justify his assassination, even though the Conclave denies taking part in the affair).

Thus, practically speaking, the Conclave holds a Sword of Damocles over the king's head, a single, simple, and terribly effective veto against his rule. They can--and do--lean against this power from time to time to steer matters in their preferred direction. In theory, the king is an absolute monarch, but in practice, he rarely veers far from the center line of the Conclave. Thus, political concerns are determined largely by their makeup, which is in turn determined by the politics of the Twelve Great Houses.

The Conclave is now, and has been for most of the last two centuries, divided into several factions:

• The Crown Loyalists: loyal to the crown above all. Deep personal ties to the current royal family. Varies with successions, royal marriages, etc.
• The Highland Main: the lands of the Earthspurs, the "back country" of Impiltur. Generally the only faction friendly to dwarves, elves, and the pre-Chondathan human settlers of the realm.
• The Southern Block: the wealthy cities of the southern coast, interested in trade and foreign matters. A lot of foreign blood, especially Chessen. Symbol is the white gull wing.
• The Old Blood: the oldest (Chondathan) noble families, with strong ties to the original knights of the Order (or so they claim). Generally from Sarshel and points north. Symbol is the red rose.

^{* 1: Though House Hammerhand is one of the twelve houses of the Conclave, they are not subjects of the King of Impiltur. Instead, they have a pact binding them to mutual defense in times of need, but are subject only to their own rule within their borders.}

Northern Impiltur, defined as all of Impiltur north of the Weirdingflow, is the ancestral homeland of the Cymry and Darmoneii people. The former retain their modern cultural identity; the latter have since given rise to the Damaran race, and lent their racial characteristics to the unique heredity of other Impilturan ethnicities. The two major subregions of the North correspond roughly to the ancestral lands of the two races: the coastal regions were favored by the Darmoneii, while the uplands were home to the Cymry.

Impiltur, north of the Weirdingflow, is dominated by the Earthspur Mountains. The majority of the terrain in the North is either mountainous, hilly, or a plateau, all part of the mountain system. Only the lands closest to the Easting Reach are near to sea level. This rough terrain long thwarted attempts to turn the land to agriculture.

Much of the uplands were historically covered by a single, great forest known as The Weald. In fact, before the rise of Narfell, the forest was contiguous with the Rawlinswood, and through that to the Forest of Lethyr. Today, the forest remains only in the furthest-flung upland duchies of Borca and Cirdan. This is largely because of the destruction wrought by Narfell during their invasion; only some of the deforestation is the result of logging and agriculture, though the latter is rapidly beginning to erode at the remaining woodlands.

Duchies

The Duchy of Onder is the southernmost duchy north of the Weirdingflow. Its lands are mostly gently rolling hills, terminating in sharp cliffs along the coast. This land produces wool, dairy products, and meat.

The Duchy of Bluet is based on the west bank of the Bluefang Water. Its borders correspond roughly to ancient lines of demarcation between the stubborn people of the highlands and the more easily-pacified people of the coast. It is comprised of hilly plains in the south and marsh in the north, where it abuts the great lake. The hills produce copper, while the plains bear herd animals well enough. The marsh is not especially productive, but the coast of the Bluefang produces a wealth of fish and abundant freshwater pearls.

The Duchy of Borca is heavily forested in all but its southern foothills. Its people work the forest, providing game, timber, and various exotic products, including spider silk from the forest's legendary dire spiders.

The Duchy of Cirdan contains the highest-elevated points in the realm. Much of the duchy is mountainous, with a small, fertile valley nestled between them, and the southernmost reach of another valley--the bulk of which is not part of the realm--along the northern border. The mountains produce the majority of the realm's silver.

Beyond the traditional "north" of Impiltur are the lands now part of the duchies of Illtower, Highvale, The Reach, and Yoric. The addition of these lands to the realm is relatively recent, with some of the lands, particularly those east of Ilmwatch, being acquired in the current generation.

Historically, much of The Reach, and virtually all of Yoric and Illtower were not part of Impiltur, as they were too far-flung to rule from distant Lyrabar. However, during the Elethlim Dynasty, the North grew in population and importance, eventually bringing the lands further north into focus. The Reach was slowly expanded as more and more enterprising farmers accepted land grants. Eventually, these efforts reached modern Illtower.

As for Highvale and Yoric, these were traditionally dwarven lands. In the 9th century DR, the diplomatic efforts of Cyrus Becket saw the lands, mostly unused by the shrinking dwarven population, opened for use by river traders. This soon led to grants of land for agriculture along what is today the Great Imphras River. Ultimately, the dwarves of Highvale would join the realm as a duchy, ceding the valley south of their clan holds to form what is today Yoric.

This is all poorly documented, so consider it a work in progress.

World info:

• We added a bunch of noble families. A few need to be pruned out and/or renamed (like House Tyrell and "Great" Jon Umber), but it's mostly okay.

History:

• In the late 1350s, there was some sort of power struggle. Imphras V (I believe) turned out to be a Mad King, and was destabilizing the realm. So, long story short, Dragan Vasska killed him and Arutha von Doin succeeded him.
  • Dragan went on to liberate the Black Cabal from the White Tower (name?) and founded his own wizarding order, with black magic and hookers.
• In the 1370s, Ser Christian Theodericson and Duchess (then Lady) Amalia Barov helped the Elven Crusade liberate Myth Drannor. They then returned to Impiltur and did...something.
• At some point, there was a giant fuckall Army of Darkness scenario in Damara. Blame Zhengyi the Witch-King. Some adventurers from Impiltur helped resolve it, and it ended with Queen Alexsanka Dragonsbane taking power and stabilizing the realm.

So I'm going to rejigger this a bit. I'm thinking:

• Arutha died in the conflict. Sophia married Liam instead. Gabriel is still their son.
• In 1375, the King and Queen summoned decorated hero Christian (and adventuring companions Amalia Baron and Vilvelas Starym) to journey to Damara and offer assistance to the House of Dragonsbane in their time of crisis.
  • They also asked him to sponsor their son Gabriel (age 13) as a squire.
  • The wizards asked to send one of their own, Grayson Shadowbrooke, as liasion to the wizards of the north.
• They journeyed north, allying with Xenovia and Ursa the Earthkin against the forces of darkness.
• The whole situation was much worse than anticipated. The country was overrun with undead, led by Death Knights, and ultimately the Witch-King and his lich lieutenants. Many levels were gained.
• Eventually, the party was able to escort Alexsanka Dragonsbane--last of her line--from hiding in Cormyr back into her seat at Dracograd, and rally the remaining forces of the kingdom to push back the armies of darkness.
• They followed the Witch-King into his hideaway within the Spine of the World and found he had been unearthing ancient artifice of the Titans, which had powered his conquests.
• They link up with the Grey League, who was familiar with this artifice, and indeed the whole plotline, who help them defeat the lich and undo his works.
• Everyone returns home. Christian and Amalia get married, Alexsanka marries Rowan Lhal for some reason, and Damara is once again a stable ally of the crown.

Canon:

Unknown assassins, eh? Well, this seems close enough to our plans. How about this:

By tradition, there are 12 (and exactly 12) Great Houses of Impiltur, as there are 12 seats on the council of the Knights of Imphras II. Originally, the knights were supposed to forswear all lands and titles; in the modern organization, these knights (and all paladins) cannot inherit noble titles and lands, nor can they father heirs who may do the same, but the council being the seat of most executive power in the realm, inevitably politics got involved, and each seat is generally reserved for a member of one of 12 families. These 12 have decided that they are the "great houses", and all other families are "lesser". While there is no written rule that each of the 12 seats must go to a member of one of these families, but as the other 11 must approve of any new assignment to the post, it is all but impossible for an outsider to break in. Thus...

Factions:

• Crown Loyalists: loyal to the crown above all. Deep personal ties to the current royal family.
• Highlanders: the lands of the Earthspurs, the "back country" of Impiltur. Generally the only faction friendly to dwarves, elves, and the pre-Chondathan human settlers of the realm.
• Southern Block: the wealthy cities of the southern coast, interested in trade and foreign matters. A lot of foreign blood, especially Chessen. Symbol is the white gull wing.
• Old Blood: the oldest (Chondathan) noble families, with strong ties to the original Knights of Imphras II (or so they claim). Generally from Sarschel and points north. Symbol is the red rose.

Most of the money and power is concentrated in the Southern Block and the Old Blood, with the latter leaning toward military power and agriculture and the former toward naval power and trade. The Southern Block is very open to foreign cultures (especially the oh-so-civilized Chessen and Sembians), while the Old Blood is insular and defensive. The Old Blood is very religious and holds conservative values, labeling their counterparts "loose" and even "depraved", while the southerners in turn call their northern brethren "uncivilized" and "close-minded".

Neither takes much notice of the fiercely independent Highlanders, who mainly represent the concerns of the backwater regions, and of the less desirable citizens of the realm (elves, dwarves, and the wrong sort of humans). The Crown Loyalists are an ephemeral faction, varying over time as the royal house's personal ties change.

Pool of Paladins

Borrowed from canon.

Note: Haelimbrar Heltharn was the previous Conclave Lord of his house, but died in 1385. The seat is now held by Idriane Forgecrown-Heltharn.

Lesser Houses

Starsunders, Wellhavens, and Dintersans

The Triad is boring, but the