A History of Freiburg

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Events occuring in the indicated year of the third age.

199

The Duke of Moonguard creates Hector of Freetown Viscount Freiburg. Viscount Hector officially founds the town on Earthday Stasisweek Darkseason and thereafter holds it by charter from the Duke. Thanks to the unusual political negotiations with Transylvania before the foundation, the charter affirms freedom of worship for the followers of the Future Messiah to the west of High Battley. Secret pressure from Thanatari elements in the Duke’s court expands this to create complete freedom of worship for all cults. Thus is born Freiburg, still the only known city where Thanatari have a legal right to flaunt their heads.

210

Broo from the Voodoo Fells attack the new town but are easily defeated at the Battle of Apple Rock.

212

A hideous malaise strikes Greenwood, killing the trees from the centre outward and the Faeriekin desert in droves. Rumours arise of fearful creatures from Hell stalking the dead forest and horrible hauntings of wayfarers near the woods. Greenwood is ever after known as Hellwood and shunned.

216

Viscount Arson, jealous of the new city to the east and in horror at the open worship of Ma Fear and Thanatar, invades. Viscount Hector beats the forces of Flamstead at the Battle of Slimy End.

222

Broo from the Voodoo Fells attack Flamstead.

223

Hugo succeeds his father as Viscount Freiburg.

225

Chaos troll hordes rampage around Freiburg, virtually unopposed. Each village records fearful stories of the Black Winter.

229

Viscount Hugo defeats the Chaos trolls at the Slaughter of the Fords. Middle Warping is renamed Slaughterford in honour.

245

Broo pour down both sides of the Spiderweb forest but the combined armies of Freiburg and Flamstead defeat each horde separately without difficulty.

254

Hector II succeeds his father as Viscount Freiburg. As Hector is only 10, Lord Stratford is appointed Steward for the duration of his minority.

261

Five or six adolescent vampires terrorise Freiburg during Darkseason. Eventually, with help from Countess Bathory and another unnamed Count of Transylvania, they are disposed of. Flamstead’s inability to come to Freiburg’s aid, due to a raid from the Voodoo Fells, sours relations between the two towns. Only Lord Stratford’s statesmanship prevents war. Lady Melusine is appointed the Transylvanian envoy to Freiburg. In the following years, she builds the Envoy’s Palace in the Dark Quarter.

265

Viscount Hector II comes of age and marries Viscount Arson’s daughter, Octavia. The two Viscounts are reconciled.

278

Early warnings of a build up of savages north of the Warpmarch are ignored.

280

An enormous chaos horde sweeps down from the Warpmarch reinforced from the Voodoo Fells. Gibbering is sacked and burnt, Freiburg and Flamstead both besieged. Moonguard comes to the aid of Flamstead but it is Transylvania that rescues Freiburg. This causes a fresh deterioration in relations between Freiburg and the Lunar hinterland and the city becomes politically aligned with Transylvania for the next six decades.

286

Ranulph III, Lord Gibbering, defeats a small chaos horde at the Battle of the Moonblood Moors. A significant portion of the surviving troops return blessed with Lunar madness.

289

Octavia having produced no children, Viscount Hector II divorces her and marries Ilana, a Transylvanian relative of Lady Melusine and a Christos-Farlae worshipper. Enraged, Viscount Arson declares war but Ranulph III, Lord Gibbering, defeats and kills him at the Battle of Hellwood.

293

A Mistress-Race Troll Queen called Madame Janaka leads her gangs out of the West Walls and declares herself Queen of all the land north of the Deathwater between the Moonblood Moors and the West Walls. Hector II leads forth his army despite advice to the contrary. The expedition is a failure as the Trolls retreat beyond the Warpmarch and Hector is ambushed as he leads his vanguard over the fords. Ranulph III, Lord Gibbering, saves him but he is badly wounded and poisoned with chaos-slime.

295

Bela succeeds his uncle as Viscount Freiburg after Hector II finally succumbs to his wounds. As Bela is only 4, the council offer the Stewardship to Lord Gibbering who declines and then to his brother, Sir Rudolph. Conflict between Sir Rudolph Gibbering and Count Bela’s mother, Ilana, creates factionalism and strife at court.

299

Ranulph III, Lord Gibbering, finally defeats Madame Janaka in alliance with Lord Warpmarch of Transylvania, the uncle of Lord Gibbering’s wife, Tamara. The Chaos Trolls are now cleared from the lands south of the Warpmarch and west of Poisonthorn Woods, where Madame Janaka is reputedly slain by Dark Elves.

304

Broo from the Voodoo Fells, wary of attacking Freiburg with its strong Transylvanian ties, assault Flamstead instead. No aid is sent from Freiburg. Lady Melusine has a very high profile. In reply to her new palace, the Thanatari build the New Skull out of stone and the Assassins build their Guildhouse out of brick.

310

Viscount Arson attempts to cajole Freiburg back to the Lunar faith but support is denied by the Duke of Moonguard and Transylvania is clearly behind Freiburg so his posturing and threatening comes to nothing.

316

Viscount Bela attains his majority.

318

The Chaos hordes return but this time their arrival is spotted early and the Freiburg army plus a few contingents from Lord Warpmarch easily destroy the undisciplined rabble, ably led by the young Viscount Bela.

320

The noble Ranulph III, Lord Gibbering, is wounded whilst suppressing a rebellion. The peasantry are feeling increasingly isolated by their nobility’s drift towards Messianic worship.

322

Ranulph III, Lord Gibbering, is assassinated at court. So ends the most illustrious general Freiburg has ever known. His title passes to his son, Ranulph IV who has made no secret of his worship of the Messiah.

334

Ranulph IV, Lord Gibbering, defeats a combined force of Broo, Elves and Centaurs from the Voodoo Fells at the Battle of the Bend.

337

Lady Melusine shows her treachery by revealing her vampires raised over the previous years. She attempts to seize the court, which is put to siege. In the streets, effective opposition falls apart as refugees flee the Earth Quarter. The Dark Quarter is wracked by street fighting between the political factions. The combined efforts of Viscount Arson and the counts of Transylvania crush Lady Melusine after a 10-day reign of terror. Ranulph III, Lord Gibbering, is discovered to be one of her vampires and is sentenced to permanent incarceration in a sealed bottle. After this catastrophe, there is a reaction against Transylvania and renewed friendship with Flamstead. No new envoy replaces Lady Melusine and the Envoy’s Palace quickly falls into decay, supposedly inhabited by ghosts.

345

Broo assault Gibbering but are repulsed by Viscount Bela at the head of his Firebird Guard.

349

Bela II succeeds his father as Viscount Freiburg.

357

Small forces of Broo raid the northern villages around Flamstead.

362

Chaos Trolls swarm over the Warpmarch and rampage south only to be met by the combined armies of Viscount Arson and Viscount Bela II at the Second Battle of the Bend.

377

Viscount Bela II, against the advice of his council, accepts overtures from Transylvania and a new envoy moves into the Palace. From now on, it is customary for the Envoy to remain in his Palace and avoid contact with the people of Freiburg, great and small. It is also customary for him to remain incognito.

378

Viscount Bela II relieves Flamstead when Broo from the Voodoo Fells descend in force and set siege to the town.

388

Incensed by the encroachment of the new villages to the west of the North Road, the Baboons, Centaurs and Faeriekin of the Spiderweb Forest issue out and commence ravaging the villages. Caught unprepared, Freiburg sends out its army to Little Mulchcastle, which is fortified and under siege. The two armies close but on the eve of the coming engagement, a large Chaos horde is detected, sweeping south from the Warpmarch, threatening both Freiburg and Spiderweb Forest. The two armies forget their quarrel and instead deliver a decisive defeat on the horde at the Battle of the Moontower, reputedly with the help of mystic Lunar aid. In the aftermath, agreements are made to respect each other’s territory. The only incident is the ambushing by Zadok & Banuril forest dwellers of the Assassin Regiment, having been allegedly tipped off by other Freiburg troops.

395

Bela III succeeds his father as Viscount Freiburg.

405

Tipped off by intelligence reports from Freiburg, Flamstead launches a pre-emptive attack on the Voodoo Fells that is surprisingly successful. The action is called the Fellburning and is viewed as a satisfactory way to prevent molestation and disease-spreading by Broo from that area.

410

A small Chaos horde is caught in a pincer attack between the forces of Flamstead and Freiburg.

416

Another fellburning destroys a gathering Broo army on the Voodoo Fells. Included are some Freiburg troops to indicate a willingness to share danger as well as intelligence. Unfortunately, the returning troops bring disease. Flamstead has Luciferan healers and so escapes lightly. Freiburg suffers badly in comparison. Viscount Bela III dies in the illness, to be followed by his son, Bela IV. Rumours abound that the plagues are a deliberate action by some activists in Flamstead but this is never proven and no link is ever established that makes any sense.

426

Several running skirmishes between encroaching peasants and raiders from Demontree Wood lead to a punitive expedition by Lord Stratford. The Battle of the Asserts is technically a victory but the army is badly mauled and that night, horrible things attack the encamped troops. They desert camp and run back to Freiburg in the night. Thereafter, the new asserts south of Soton and Hill End are abandoned and the peasantry move into tightly fortified villages from the outlying farms they had preferred. (Hitherto it had been safer here than in the exposed villages north of Freiburg.)

432

A dozen Dwarves pass through Flamstead, buy up building materials and take them north, returning in Darkseason. No one knows why.

436

Flamstead again culls the Broo of the Voodoo Fells in another fellburning. No Freiburg troops are involved, though again the tip off comes from Freiburg. Luciferan healers are deployed in force and disease is not a problem.

439

A small Chaos horde crosses the Warpmarch and occupies the Voodoo Fells, which are almost vacant thanks to the fellburning. A few Broo displaced by the horde wander close to some Flamstead villages but aerial reconnaissance quickly spots them and they are hunted down.

450

Because of the huge numbers of Chaos savages north of the Warpmarch and the dense population of the Voodoo Fells, this year’s fellburning is double-ended. Flamstead attacks from the southwest and Freiburg from the east. As expected, the action triggers a massed attack by the hordes to the north. The two armies combine to defeat the horde at the Battle of the Fells and the remnants of the horde vanish into the Warpen Marshes. The Freiburg army then crosses the Warpmarch and does a reconnaissance in force, slaughtering many Morokanth before retiring. Flamstead’s Luciferans keep disease to a minimum.

463

Bela V succeeds his father as Viscount Freiburg.

464

Again, Freiburg intelligence tips off Flamstead and the Broo suffer another fellburning.

466

A sudden raid by Chaos Trolls shatters Long Warping but the forces of the Warden of the Warpmarch defeats them.

472

Persons unknown assassinate Bela V. He is succeeded by his son, Bela VI, who is 16. The boy’s uncle, Hugo, serves as his Steward. Hugo is not popular and it is rumoured that he is a puppet of the Assassins.

473

Hugo has Bela VI openly killed and usurps the viscounty as Hugo II, though he is never officially recognised. He proves to be a debased despot, depraved and vindictive.

474

Baboons and Faeriekin from Spiderweb Forest massacre a group of tax collectors, later shown to be Ma-Fear assassins.

475

Eighteen months after his nephew’s murder, the nobility of Flamstead find they can no longer tolerate Hugo as Viscount Freiburg. Hugo’s army refuses to fight when he confronts Viscount Arson; a firebladed scimitar beheads Hugo and his ashes are thrown into the Slimestreet. Lord Stratford becomes Steward for Boris, Bela VI’s younger brother.

478

Viscount Boris attains his majority.

479

Another fellburning by Flamstead. But this time the Broo are ready and Flamstead’s forces are attacked by Broo and Faeriekin hidden in caves in the south-western cliffs, where they cannot be seen from the air. The powers of fire and aerial attack save the day for Flamstead but only ²⁄₃ of the troops leave the battlefield and half of them are diseased by the time they return home. Flamstead is forced to shut its gates on its own men until they can be cured. Healers from Moonguard, Freetown and even Freiburg are brought in to help. From Broo questioned after the Battle of the Cliffs, Flamstead learns that humans with Freiburg accents gave the inhabitants of the Voodoo Fells very accurate intelligence of the Flamstead army and a detailed plan of battle, apparently in retaliation for the demise of Hugo the Usurper. Needless to say, the goodwill between the two cities, which had been growing since Melusine’s day, vanishes overnight.

487

Flamstead spends some years recovering from the Battle of the Cliffs but eventually, when his army is at full strength and supplemented with mercenaries, Bernardo, Viscount Arson bows to popular feeling and demands reparations from Freiburg. Viscount Boris is no diplomat and Flamstead declares war. But on the eve of setting out, Viscount Bernardo dies at his table, by poison. The finger of suspicion points towards his elder son, Bernardo, who is known to favour peace and shortly the massed troops are engaged in a civil war of succession. Ignatious, the younger son wins and Bernardo goes into exile in Moonguard.

491

With Flamstead still unsettled from civil war; the savages of the Voodoo Fells make their first massed attack for a century. Flamstead’s fortunes are at an all time low.

494

A Chaos horde comes down from the Warpmarch again. Freiburg is strong and the horde swerves away from contact with the Freiburg troops placed at the junction with the Old Dwarf Road. Instead, it sweeps across the Voodoo Fells, descending the cliffs to besiege Flamstead. The Freiburg army force-marches south and west to discomfit the horde, driving it out into the barbarian lands where the tribesmen ruthlessly hunt them down. The two viscounts greet each other like old friends and the two cities become allies again.

507

To curb any aura of mistrust, this year’s fellburning is conducted by Freiburg. Success is only partial; it is hard to gain surprise from the east and Freiburg lacks the healers and fire to do a good job. It also has the effect of driving many Broo south, towards Flamstead. However, mystical aid surfaces again and some say a dragon is seen breathing fire over upon the massed Broo that group to resist the army.

521

The fellburning returns to the original format; a surprise attack by the highly mobile Flamstead forces with fire and aerial reconnaissance upon intelligence from Freiburg. Success is total; disease is minimal.

526

Ignatious II succeeds his father as Viscount Arson.

531

After receiving advance warning of another Chaos horde, the armies of Flamstead and Freiburg take up their usual positions and just as in 494, the horde balks at the massed troops of Freiburg and swings across the Voodoo Fells. But in a cunningly-laid trap, Baboons, Satyrs and Faeriekin come out of Spiderweb Forest and engage the horde, holding it up until the slower Freiburg troops can close from the rear. The horde’s discomfiture is completed when the Flamstead army comes blazing up on the other flank. What remains of the horde vanishes into the Warpen Marshes. This is an important victory for many of the horde were Scorpion Men, the most feared of the Chaos savages.

534

Victor, Lord Loonacey, succeeds his father-in-law as Viscount Freiburg.

547

Viscount Victor soon shows his mettle by winning a battle against Chaos Trolls on the rampage. His policy of bringing members of Ma Fear and Thanatar into his household, while criticised, means that he has the expert opinion and advice of the most important political factions in the city and obviates the need for these cults to use their usual means of influence.

551

News arrives that the Broo of the Voodoo Fells have banded together under a single chieftain and are planning to attack behind Klute, summoned for the purpose. The armies of both Flamstead and Freiburg are readied. The armies clash on the Moonblood Moors on Wildday, Disorderweek Fireseason. It is a huge Sabbat and Klute is indeed summoned but a small group of valiant Lunatics somehow summon a dragon to counter the Broo deity. The night is pure chaos with moonscapes everywhere, friend killing friend, foe killing foe. Dawn finds the Freiburg army largely intact though very shaken. The Flamstead army is scattered but it later becomes clear that few casualties have been taken. Of the Goatwitch and her coven, there is no sign. Many Broo are dead, many more are mindless or insane. No one is quite sure what happened but the adventurers are duly honoured, (those that survived). Never referred to as a battle in Freiburg, it is called The Night of the Moonfire by those that were there. Ignatious II, Viscount Arson, is among the dead. His son succeeds him as Bernardo II.

555

Boris II succeeds his father as Viscount Freiburg.

561

Virgil Arson, a Selenite Moonlord from Moonguard challenges the authority of Bernardo II, Viscount Arson. Sir Virgil claims to be the grandson of the Bernardo who went into exile in 487. Divinations indicate the truth of this and Sir Virgil claims his birthright. There is a struggle and Virgil wins. Bernardo goes into exile at the court of his brother-in-law, Boris II, Viscount Freiburg. This sunders the two cities. Bernardo takes with him a small cadre of Phoenician knights. The Freiburg nobility like Bernardo but the darkness factions abhor him.

562

The Chaos hordes attack once more. Without the teamwork of 531, things go as well as can be expected. With Bernardo’s Firebird Guard, Freiburg’s army deflects the horde across the Voodoo Fells where they gather more Broo than they lose to Freiburg. However, Viscount Virgil is very able and attacks as they come down off the plateau. Very few Broo that get to the foot of the cliffs survive the day but many retreat to the Fells.

565

This year is known as the Year of the Fellstrife on the Voodoo Fells. Most of the Broo are stragglers from the horde of 562, unused to life on the Fells. Broo breed rapidly and start oppressing the Faeriekin. Soon, too densely populated, yet fearful of leaving the Fells, they fall into vicious tribal guerrilla warfare. The Faeriekin are more skilful but the Broo have numbers, toughness and disease on their side. By the end of the summer, they look like driving the Faeriekin off the Fells. But then Spiderweb Forest intervenes and the Broo are hunted down. In many cases, clans are reduced to breeding pairs.

580

The Year of the Timestop, or as it came to be known in Flamstead and Freiburg, The Long Winter. Many died of starvation. Unbelievably, hunters raiding the Chaos Zone supplied the city. Lunatic peasants started planting purple crops and everywhere purple foliage pushed up through the snow. A mighty Phoenician hero by the name of Sioux Naami came to Freiburg with Eaglemane, a Griffin hero of Helios. The Phoenician spoke with some people on the Flamstead road, reputedly Thanatari, then went north beyond the Warpmarch. Later, they returned with an object supposed to be the Egg of the Phoenix. In Freiburg, it is said the Transylvanian Envoy made an oration in the court admonishing the Skull to send four advisors to rendezvous with the heroes of fire saying his authority came from Lord Starkenberg, 1st temporal Count of Transylvania. The Envoy, (it is rumoured), forced the Thanatari representative in court to admit to certain knowledge and skills of prognostication and to revelatory dreams, such as many had at the time. And so was the World saved in Freiburg. Shortly after, the Voodoo Fells Broo, frightened by the appearance of Sioux Naami and the Griffin, fell upon the northern villages of Freiburg but were soon destroyed by the Warden of the Warpmarch. It is said that many among those villages lived on frozen goatman meat for the rest of The Long Winter.

581

Viscount Boris II lived to see the end of the Long Winter but he had suffered much and worked hard. He died of exhaustion within a few seasons of the return of the sun, at noon on Midsummer’s Day. His son, Victor II, succeeded him. Not the man his father was, Victor II is petty, small-minded and spiteful; too weak to resist the manipulations of the court factions, (usually at least four).

582

The positions of Chamberlain and Steward of the Household, traditionally held by Selenite noblemen, are given to Peter Cresco, (who customarily wears up to 3 heads at his belt), and Ernst Blofeld, (a card-carrying member of the Guild of Assassins). Rumours spread around the town that Viscount Boris was slain so that Ma Fear and Thanatar can exploit the weakness of Victor upon his coming of age.

585

A young knight calling himself Lord Somnus arrives at the court of Viscount Freiburg and woos his sister. Upon the occasion of their marriage, she is escorted to the Moonblood Moors and is never seen again. Her escort reports her married to a dragon.

587

Luxorian monks from Necropolis arrive with dwarves to build a priory north of Hellwood. They are a contemplative order worshipping Azrael and Demosthenes, dedicated to researching Death. They seem drawn to their isolated spot by a desire for seclusion and a fascination for Hellwood. Their edifice quickly becomes known as Hellwood Priory.

588

Under strict security, certain court factions push through the marriage of Viscount Victor II and his brother, Boris, Lord Loonacey, to nieces of Viscount Virgil of Flamstead. This is greatly against the wishes of Bernardo Arson, late Viscount of Flamstead. Several assassination attempts try to foil the negotiations in Flamstead but they fail and Vanessa, Lady Battley, returns with both brides to mixed applause but general approval from the peasantry. Vanessa Battley is an odd choice for marriage broker but traditionally the senior women in the family make the negotiations and the Viscountess Sybil utterly refused to negotiate with her brother’s usurper. It fell to Lady Battley, a distant relation as her grandfather’s sister had married the boys’ great-grandfather. It is rumoured that some bribe must have been used to get her out of her tower in High Battley at her age, (62), but no one could say what.

589

Lady Vanessa dies and her bribe is revealed. By agreement with Viscount Freiburg, all her estates and titles pass to Theresa Oddbody, sister of Marmaduke, Lord Gibbering. Completely unrelated, this unprecedented occurrence is confirmed by the Duke of Moonguard. Theresa inherits the title and keeps her name but must adopt the Battley coat of arms.

Later in the year, it becomes apparent that another Chaos horde is gathering beyond the Warpmarch. This time it is serious. Two Scorpion tribes have amalgamated by one queen eating the other. Worse, rumours at court are saying that a Thanatari deep-penetration mission, intending to enter Transylvania from the north, ran into trouble and the Scorpion Queen has eaten a demonist. Divinations show that, indeed, demons are in the air over the Scorpion lairs. Flamstead, Freiburg, Spiderweb Forest and the Voodoo Fells raise troops. Even a few marsh-elves from the Warpen Marshes join the army. The battle plan involves a three-pronged assault. Flamstead will attack from the west, Freiburg from the east and the joint forces of Spiderweb Forest and the Voodoo Fells from the south.

Battle is joined in Darkseason but it all goes horribly wrong. The three armies all get totally uncoordinated. The Broo and the Faeriekin collide with the scorpion horde, finding them half again as numerous as was thought. The Baboons, Broo and Faeriekin have no chance and are brutally steamrollered by the Scorpion war-machine. The next day, the Flamstead army attacks. Although small, it has the advantage of mobility but the scorpions are just too numerous and when demonic flying creatures attack the were-eagles, the army routs. In the ensuing slaughter, the defeated troops are saved by the fact that half the scorpion men are gorged from the previous day. However, about a third of the army is lost, including many were-eagles and Viscount Virgil, (his son, Ignatious III succeeds to the title).

Finally, the Freiburg army arrives, two days late, having been held up by Trolls, Morokanth and demons at the Warpmarch fords. When the demoralised, frozen troops of Freiburg face the awesome horde of scorpion men, they break before contact. It is a credit to Lord Stratford that he is able to rally them at all. (The Assassin Regiment ran all the way back to Freiburg.) However, scouts reported no pursuit by the scorpion men and so Lord Stratford led the small force remaining back towards the scorpion lairs. He found them wandering, mindless, feeding off each other and utterly bereft of sentience. Joyfully, the army investigated to find that a small group of Thanatari adventurers had penetrated deep into the Scorpion lairs and assassinated the Scorpion Queen as she summoned Bagog. All the adventurers are suitably rewarded and given great honours. The Assassin’s Guild loses a lot of face over their rout.

591

Freiburg is terrorised in the Summer by bizarre murders and vanishings. People blame vampires, demons, Lunatic madmen. Several strange incidents involving undead remain unexplained; half a skeleton, a pit in the main road with three hacked-up zombies, a Chaos-Void and a berserk attack by several unconnected undead in the middle of the Light Quarter. Some missing persons are found, drained of blood by huge gashes in the neck and torso, often apparently in frenzy, but most vanish without trace.

592

Freiburg takes advantage of the desolation caused by the Scorpion War to colonise north of the Warpmarch.