Sonodalr

King Edgar is King of Sonodalr, which covers the middle coastal regions of Bryteland. It is also known as the Sonova Valley. The King's court is normally at Novborg.

Geography

The central region of Sonodalr is the Sonova Valley, which runs east-west through the heartland of the Kingdom - indeed, this valley can be said to define the heartland. The valley is fertile, flat, and quite heavily populated. Most of the population lives in semi-independant farmsteads, with a few market villages. The Brytish preference for private holdings rather than towns is getting difficult to maintain, and the distance between farmsteads is shrinking all the time.

The southern half of the kingdom is covered with woodland and thick forest and is much more lightly populated. Part of this consists of the Grar Hills, which are stony and often mist shrouded.

At the eastern end of the hills is Feldanvithr, a fey woodland which most avoid because of the dangerous nature of the place.

History

The valley was forged into a single Kingdom in 1133 by the viking warrior woman Leikny. She had a fearsome reputation for cunning, strength, bloodlust and also wizardry. The stories say that she lost a bet on a board game and had to settle down. She killed the jarl and settled in his lands. She was soon outlawed by the local Thing, but her warriors stayed with her and fought off anyone who tried to move her. By 1133 she had slain her neighbours and taken control of the entire valley.

Her son, Oddi, gained the Kingdom on her death in 1161, and soon added the southern uplands to his domain. By 1175 his kingdom stretched from Glittertind to the border with Weidany.

King Oddison gained the Kingdom in 1201, but lacked the leadership ability of either his father or grandmother. The jarls gained more and more power, and on his death (possibly by poison) in 1214 the Kingdom fractured into three realms.

Amongst the mercenaries and huscurls that fought over the lands was a small band of warriors led by Edgar Raedsson and Svafa Longreach. As they gained wealth and reputation, they became a threat to the jarls who payed them. An attempt to disband them failed, and they struck back at the jarls and took control themselves, with Edgar declaring himself king in 1216, with Svafa jarl over the eastern provinces.

When Svafa become king of Nethvollr four years later in 1220, the eastern part of Sonodalr became part of his Kingdom.

Politics

The kingdom has been restless since Edgar declared himself king, but there have been no major disturbances. He maintains a large force of huscurls who help to dissuade anyone from trying to overthrow him by force. All the time his financies are good the huscurls will remain loyal. There are rumours that a few acts of piracy have been the work of those trying to disrupt trade, but so far nothing has been proven and there has been no real impact on the flow of goods.

Relations with surrounding Kingdoms has been good, and the King has managed to keep raiding into neighbours low in an attempt to keep them friendly. If he had to fight a major external war, he'd probably loose control of the kingdom. The confusion from such an event would probably not favour any particular group, so there do not appear to be any attempts to force such an event.

Relations with Nethvollr came close to war in 1226 after the death of Edgar's brother in law Svarfa who was King of that kingdom. The death was unexpected, and suspicious, and some fingers pointed to his son Harald. No-one was willing to push the matter however, though relations are still cold. Edgar would very probably seek revenge if some proof was found as to the killer.