Duchy of Amerlaine Module Options

[Rabain]

Amerlaine Territory

The Duchy of Amerlaine is located in a small pastural area sandwiched between the Elven, Human, Azule (Desert Kingdom) and the Drow Nations. Amerlaine is an independent Duchy whose unique positioning and close ties with the Elven nation have allowed it to prosper since its inception in 1650 ALD.

National colours are Black and Red, main exports are wine and corn. The Old Forest on its border with Azule has hampered trade with that nation and has possibly benefitted Amerlaine in its early years due to the lengthy dispute between Azule and the Human nation of Tralon in the North. Trade is primarily with the Elven nation and via the Elves with Fort Unity and Tralon. The Drow in the south have been enemies in the past but no major conflicts have occured in the past 300 years.

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The History of Amerlaine

356 BLD

A knight is rewarded for years of long service to the Empire with a tract of land on the Eastern border of the Empire. Known only as Amerlaine he marries and settles his property, founding the town of Amerlaine on Lye. His descendants take the family name of Amerlaine.

0-99 LD

Lord Trelaine Amerlaine is forced to abandon his lands and seek refuge with the Elves. Many of his common folken settle the dells and meadows within the forest and farm the lands on behalf of themselves and their benefactors. The Lord and his extended family settle in the Elven capitol and join with Elven forces in repulsing undead along the border. Lord Trelaine never see's the end of the Long Dark and his son Erlaine buries him with honors in the forest on the edge of the city.

27 ALD

The aging Lord Erlaine attempts to return to his ancestral home but the effects of the Long Dark have ravaged the countryside. Far and wide across Mythera there is famine and war as nations clash after the fall of the Empire. Undead still haunt many of the dark places of the world, preying on hapless wanderers in the dead of night. Erlaine returns to the Elven Capitol and settles his family for a protracted stay.

27 - 1623 ALD

The Lords of Amerlaine do not forget their ancestral home, their history is passed in story and tale from father to son, mother to daughter down the years following the Long Dark. Sons and daughters cut their teeth alongside elven rangers, serving time along the borders repulsing drow, routing out undead within close proximity of elven lands. Yuan-ti expansion in the wake of the Long Dark annexes Amerlaine ancestral lands and in 1052 Lord Melaine Amerlaine abandons forever thoughts of returning the family upon seeing Yuan-ti jungle covering much of the land previously theirs by writ.

1623 ALD

As national boundaries begin to solidify, a period of expansion dawns as towns become cities and cities grow beyond their ability to provide for inhabitants. Many families form caravans and set out to form new villages and towns across much of the land previously abandoned in the years following the Long Dark.

Lord Cerlain Amerlaine gathers his people in the Elven capitol and announces that if they are to forge any lasting home for the Amerlaine family they must leave elven lands and seek their fortune beyond the safety of its borders. In the spring of 1623 the best part of the Amerlaine family leave Elven lands and move some 300 miles West of the Elven forest before coming to a land rich in resources, earth that seems made for ploughing, hills that already grow grape and pear in large number, forests that teem with game and rivers that run full to the brim with fish. Here Lord Cerlain stops and founds the town of Amerlaine.

1623 -1640 ALD

After settling the surrounding lands the Amerlaine family starts to extend its influence into surrounding countryside. Some small farming communities that have sprung up in the rich lands react to this new power in different ways. Some are openly welcoming of any force that can bring stability to the region, long plagued with banditry and drow raids, others are wary of any force seeking to impose Lordright upon lands freely taken.

As Amerlaine town grows Lord Cerlain hears of raids coming North from Drow territory and begins to plan the fortifications of the town. Many of the farming communities still existing to the south of Amerlaine plea for assistance. Lord Cerlain welcomes any refugees into the town but as yet is not in a position to effectively oppose the Drow.

1650 ALD

With many of the farming communities in the south now abandoned the Drow seek to push North. In early summer of 1650 Drow raiding parties sack and burn 10 farms on outlying Amerlaine territory. Lord Cerlain gathers his knights and as many able-bodied men as he can and together with a visiting group of Elven knights sets out after the Drow Raiders. Catching them just short of the Drow border the Lord falls upon the Drow and kills them all. The Drow are hung from tree's within site of their own lands. Summer and Fall of the same year will see battle rage across the border between both lands as Amerlaine seeks to hold its border.

Lord Cerlaine takes the title Duke of Amerlaine and officially pronounces the Duchy of Amerlaine independent and self-sufficient. Riders are sent to the Elven and human capitol cities to codify the self-imposed boundaries of Amerlaine authority.

1700 ALD

Working through the Winter Duke Erlaine Amerlaine fortifies his border with more than ten manned outposts across 500 miles of territory. Elven trained Rangers based out of these outposts give advance warning of raiders crossing the border and the first half of the year see's more than 200 Drow lose their lives in attempted raids. By mid-summer Drow raids have all but ceased.

1700 - 1999 ALD

Amerlaine town develops into a city. Duke Cerlain's plans are developed and the city walled over a period of 100 years. In 1850 the Amerlaine Duchal Palace is completed and work commences on the Collegium of Lore as Duke Fintaine acknowledges the need for study of the history of Mythera and arcane lore practice. The Collegium is completed in 1856 and many wandering practitioners of the arcane settle in Amerlaine over the course of the following 100 years.


2000 ALD (present day)

Drow raids begin to increase in frequency again as border forts report more and more attempts at bypassing their protective cordon. Only the addition of arcane support to outposts has allowed detection of the recent incursions.

On an inspection tour of the border forts Duke Erlaine's retinue is attacked by a Drow raiding party and the Duke is mortally wounded.

His son Jestain takes the mantle of Duke in the Spring of 2000 and is instantly beset by a multitude of problems. Infighting amongst the noble families of Amerlaine is destabilising his governing body, the recently settled village of Attwood has not been heard from in more than a month, raids on merchant caravans from the North have increased suddenly and without warning and it seems the Drow have decided it is time to test Amerlaine's Southern border in force.

As Drow attacks increase Jestain is forced to move nearly all his forces South to fortify the border. The Elves, previously willing to send armed forces in support of Amerlaine, have suddenly denied aid. It seems they have problems of their own. Lord Jestain sends to Fort Unity to seek aid, perhaps an outsider can resolve some of his problems before Winter closes the Southern border and he can return.

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Amerlaine Area's

There will be five major areas in this module, all similar in scale to the large outdoor BG1 maps. I won't go into detail of the individual area's just to say that the majority of the artwork is taken from the game Lionheart and redesigned as needed with photoshop. Thanks go to SirKill for unique tiles created in 3DS for use in some of the areas.

The area art for 3 of the areas is complete as of this post.

Partial screenshots of 3 completed areas follow (50% of full size):

Amerlaine Town Gates and Armoury


Ruined Village


Graveyard