Difference between revisions of "Sylvania"

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*'''Vampire Counts 8th'''  
 
*'''Vampire Counts 8th'''  
 
*'''Vampire Counts 7th'''
 
*'''Vampire Counts 7th'''
 +
 
[[Category:The Empire]]
 
[[Category:The Empire]]
 +
[[Category:Sylvania| ]]
 
[[Category:Vampires & Necromancers]]
 
[[Category:Vampires & Necromancers]]
  
 
[[de:Sylvania]]
 
[[de:Sylvania]]

Revision as of 19:10, 30 December 2015

Sylvania, a beautiful land of grim moors and dark forests.
Sylvania is located between Stirland, The Moot and the Worlds Edge Mountains (centre right, between the two rivers).

From the Spider Haunts to the Bane of Troth, Corpse Run to the Necromanse, Sylvania is a realm steeped in dark legend. Under the shadow of the Vampires, its populace has become a terrified, superstitious people. Close to uninhabitable, Sylvania's forests are dingy copses of twisted, half-rotted trees that claw what nourishment they can from the bone-strewn soil. Desolate moorlands and sluggish rivers of clotted blood punctuate the yellow-leafed woods, wind-swept and storm­ shrouded by dark clouds that seep down from the Worlds Edge Mountains on an almost daily basis.

It is a depressing, dismal realm settled in the time of Sigmar by dissident, evil men dispossessed by the god-king's unification of the peoples of the Empire. When warpstone shards fell upon the lands in 1111 , Sylvania's fell reputation was sealed, as the dead erupted from their graves and laid siege to the villages and towns. Ever since, it has been a loathed and feared province, avoided by the other people of the Empire, common folk and lawmakers alike. Sparsely populated, Sylvania has long proved a refuge for men intent on dark deeds and secretive studies, as well as evil creatures hunted by the forces of the Emperor. Long before Vlad von Carstein unleashed his Undead armies upon the Empire, Sylvania had been home to Crypt Ghouls, Necromancers and Chaos worshippers. Sylvania is nominally part of Stirland now, though Vlad's bloody legacy holds Sylvania in its infernal grip; the dread realm is still home to brooding malice and evil powers.

In crumbling castles, towering mausoleums and forgotten keeps dwell the Vampire progeny of Vlad von Carstein. Though they are wary now of the Empire, united as it is under the rule of Emperor Karl Franz, the surviving von Carsteins still plot and scheme, dreaming of immortal power. They muster their forces in secret, building armies of the dead from bodies and bones, waiting for any sign of weakness in the Empire.

In the Shadow of the Vampire Counts

The scattered villages and hamlets of Sylvania are even more isolated and parochial than other settlements of the Empire. Grubbing what existence they can from the infertile land, the peasantry live in small communities of inter-related families, and never venture far from their crude hovels.There are few stone roads here; rutted, half-flooded tracks and paths link most villages, all but impossible to navigate except in the relatively dry summer months. At times, the mud itself seems to be a living thing, clawing at the legs of the weak and dragging them to a suffocating death. The populace are for the most part concerned with day-to-day survival, raising famished, skinny goats and pigs, tending to what scraps of farmland they have in the hope of gathering enough crops to survive the long and cruel winter.

Sylvanian villages are in a constant state of disrepair, for good stone and wood is hard to come by. All, however, have barred or boarded windows and heavy doors to keep out the night's predators. Crude fetishes and charms of a dozen gods hang on every lintel and frame. The villagers daub symbols of protection on their doors with pig's blood, to guard against the unnatural horrors of this frightful land. Hanging outside the gates of the most desperate townships can be found criminals and travellers caged in iron maidens, their only companions the crows and vampire bats that feed on them. Ever since Vlad closed the holy shrines, they have fallen into decrepitude, for no priest ventures into Sylvania without a sturdy guard of armed men. Truly, Sylvania is a godless realm, for darkness claimed it many centuries ago.

Known features

De facto political centre of the province.
  • Waldenhof
De jure capital of Sylvania.b
  • Vanhaldenschlosse
Former fortress of Frederick van Hal, an infamous Necromancer.
A castle build overlooking the westward road from Sylvania
A spirit infested haunted forest in Sylvania
A haunted svamp in the middel of Sylvania
A stretch of the Aver Reach river, the Corpse Run forms

a nauseating barrier between the south of Sylvania and Averland


The provinces & city-states of The Empire
Provinces Reikland - Middenland - Nordland - Ostland - Hochland - Talabecland - Ostermark - Stirland - Averland - Wissenland - The Moot
City-states Altdorf - Nuln - Middenheim - Talabheim
Lost provinces Drakwald - Solland - Westerland - Sylvania

Notes

The region of Sylvania is similar to the Romanian region of Transylvania (Transylvania meaning "(land) beyond the woods", so Sylvania means "(land of) the woods"). It is from Romania that we get the idea of vampires from, and where Vlad the Impaler and Bram Stoker's Dracula came from.

Sources

Night's Dark Masters (WFRP 2nd Edition)

  • Vampire Counts 8th
  • Vampire Counts 7th