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Fortitude Of Bacio
No birth record exists of Fortitude of Bacio, who was born soon after her mother's arrival in Alpsburg; the woman perished of infective fever ten years later. Fortitude remained in Bacio until Year 28 of the reign of Rüdiger IV, when a royal party traveling from Montagne halted there after the entourage was decimated by food poisoning, an event immortalized in the comic ballad "Pass the Bucket, Queenie!" Desperate for assistance en route to the wedding of her granddaughter to the Duke of Farina, and apparently unaware of the girl's supposed foresight, the queen mother of Montagne offered Fortitude a position as lady-in-waiting. In agreeing to serve attendance—a responsibility for which the girl had no training whatsoever beyond a childhood spent as a kitchen wench, and certainly no breeding—Fortitude of Bacio unwittingly tendered herself as yet another catalyst in the great turbulence about to reshape the Empire of Lax. Controversy continues to surround the girl's preternatural abilities, fanned by recent analysis (see, for example, The Imperial Gastric and Psychiatric Journal of Ajar, v. 84ff). Regardless, the arrival of Fortitude in the city of Froglock, along with Emperor Rüdiger IV, Princess Wisdom of Montagne, and the young swordsman Tomas Müller with his impresario Felis el Gato, would play a critical role in the forthcoming upheaval of Wisdom's Kiss, and it may be stated without exaggeration that her presence determined the life and death of two nations.
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FORTITUDE OF BACIO (CONTINUED)
Arriving, however unconventionally, in Montagne, Fortitude quickly made the acquaintance of young Queen Temperance; the two distant cousins formed a bond that would last both their lives. Inexperienced and fearful, Temperance benefited immeasurably from Fortitude's companionship and appears to have truly believed in the other's clairvoyance. Nor was Queen Temperance alone in this regard; too soon the fallacy of Lady Fortitude's psychic powers spread throughout the populace, until every petitioner and diplomat approaching the queen found himself grappling with the nebulous and exasperating question of whether his words—indeed, his very appearance—would make Fortitude, and thus Temperance and all the subjects of Montagne, "happy." Thus the prophetess, however counterfeit, elicited an unprecedented constraint on warmongering and greed; peace flourished, and Temperance's rule came to be known as the Reign of Tranquility. Fortitude's family history may be found in The Comprehensive Genealogical Encyclopedia of Montagne. Though courted by many suitors, Lady Fortitude ultimately married Count Rudolph of Piccolo, a local landowner who, to honor their nuptials, grew a pumpkin so large that they rode inside it to the wedding ceremony. They had two daughters. Faith, the firstborn, married Temperance's son Henri, and as queen of Montagne counseled her husband as diligently as Fortitude had counseled his mother; Humor, the younger of the two, assisted Fortitude with her memoirs (published privately).
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FROGLOCK
Occupying the lowest fording point of the Great River, Froglock has served as a center of trade and defense for a millennium or more. Much of the city's great wealth derives from this ford, and more recently from the twelve-arch bridge built in the reign of Clyde, Baron of Farina. (Entitled by him a "Dazzling and Fitting Triumph," the span is better known by its acronym, the Daft Bridge.) It is not surprising that the city's premier industries—weapons and paper—relate directly to the defense and administration of this bridge, as well as to other tolls throughout the provinces and holdings of Farina. According to legend, the city's name was bestowed by residents grateful to the amphibians that would croak an alarm when nocturnal travelers attempted to cross the ford without payment; the frogs were the "lock" to the community's revenue. The name is alternatively ascribed to a local swamp, long drained, known as Frog Loch. The frog-lock icon is emblazoned on both the city seal and the Farina coat of arms; chocolate versions may be purchased at every local confectionery. The city has numerous significant buildings, including the Hall of Taxes, which features fortified windows and a crenelated roofline; the equally imposing Debtors' Prison; and the Ducal Armory, with its wide parade ground and attached Museum of Uniforms and Flags. When Edwig of Farina, then only a baron, married the Countess of Paindecampagne, he sought to mark his newly elevated rank by renaming Froglock with the seemingly more prestigious if meaningless homophone of Phraugheloch. The local populace, in a rare display of subversion, refused to comply, and after several years of escalating penalties and increasingly brazen acts of sabotage, Edwig relented. Today Phraugheloch refers only to the ducal palace, a neoclassical structure of singular dimension and finish even by the criteria of the city in which it stands.
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Bonus Encyclopedia Entry
MARY MUNTANYA BORDER CRUSADE >
The southern mountain-bound kingdom of Muntanya long sought a port for its landlocked nation; the seafront kingdom of Mar craved with equal passion Muntanya's fertile vales. This perennial dissatisfaction exploded quite abruptly in Year 33 of the reign of Rüdiger IV, soon after the Spindle Kaiser arrived in the region with his Circus Primus. At the finale of the circus's first performance, King Rex X of Muntanya produced a document, marked with the emperor's personal seal, declaring his kingdom "Muntanya y Mar," with a border extending "to the sea." That the document was a forgery is without question, yet the presence of the imperial seal (a most protected ring stolen from the emperor's personal effects) presented Rüdiger with a grave dilemma: to reveal the theft would be to admit his own incompetence and to slander Rex a criminal, yet the document, a violation of both state and imperial code, could not be allowed to stand. The old man thus postponed his response, removing himself from the jubilation of the Muntanyese and despondency of the Marites. The following evening, at the circus's second performance, Queen Regina II of Mar proffered an analogous document, also sealed with the emperor's mark, declaring her country "Mar y Muntanya," with a border now extending "to the mountain." The emperor—displaying conspicuously his ring, which he had mysteriously recovered—again advised postponement for a day. The next morn, both kingdoms awoke to extraordinary spectacles. The Font del Rei, a celebrated fountain set within the courtyard of the Castell Muntanya, now spouted seawater, and its great basin was lined with sand, starfish, and two glaring octopuses. Conversely, the courtyard of Castell del Mar held a diminutive but perfectly scaled mountain complete with wildflowers, a goat, and a melting, ice-capped peak. Not even an army of men could have transported the seawater and sand to the Font del Rei or erected silently, in only a few brief hours, such a massive volume of soil as the "mountain" required; nor had such a volume of snow ever been witnessed in subtropical Mar. The flummoxed emperor questioned most closely the guards, residents, and royalty; with the exception of one sentry who claimed to have heard a bleating sound, and another who had espied two shadowy figures lugging a tentacle-draped basket, the populations appeared as bewildered as he. Unnerved residents whispered of sorcery—perhaps a warlock or enchantress had magicked the soil, ice, salt, and sand—and rumors of Elemental Magic careered through the crowds. Rüdiger, in an attempt to retain some authority, declared this event not witchcraft but divine intervention. The two documents, he averred, were thus each rendered valid: Muntanya now extended to the "sea" of its own Font del Rei; Mar now possessed a mountain. Though resentful that their ambitions had been so publicly thwarted, Rex and Regina had no choice but to accede, and furthermore to donate, as a gesture of gratitude, the octopuses and goat to Circus Primus; Rüdiger left Muntanya soon thereafter with his performers, soldiers, accountants, and newly acquired cephalopods. The emperor's role in this controversy has been much parsed, in particular his carelessness with the priceless imperial ring and his reliance on a supernatural and patently inflammatory explanation. That the Mar y Muntanya Border Crusade was resolved without warfare cannot be denied, but the emperor's loss of face is of far greater consequence. > It is possible that modern criticism, such as Snively and Moot's Impotence in Action: The Appointments and Amusements of Rüdiger IV, is colored as well by historians' inability to produce an a
lternative rational explanation for the singular appearance of the muntanya and mar.
See also the Gazetteer "Mar y Muntanya"
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MONTAGNE
The Kingdom of Montagne is the oldest continuously held domain in the Empire of Lax, predating by 163 years the establishment of the imperial federation. Unlike its neighbors, Montagne accepted the empire's sovereignty without dispute, joining its mail service, adopting imperial currency, and, with one notable exception, espousing the principles of imperial jurisprudence. That exception is, of course, female succession, a convention the kingdom resolutely maintains despite its affront to every principle of decency and governance. Indeed, the kingdom will even crown a firstborn daughter over younger sons and send its queens into battle, Queen Compassion famously declaring during the Siege of Cheese that "any strumpet can brace a shield." For many centuries the kingdom claimed a connection to sorcery. Virtue, foundress of Montagne, asserted on innumerable occasions that she was a witch, and furthermore that magic flowed in the blood of her descendants. Early Montagne historians credited supernatural forces for the kingdom's victories in such battles as the Drachensbett Cloud Wars and the Magnanimous Goat Incident. Within modern Montagne, however, such babble of witchcraft is treated with derision, and its now-rational rulers ascribe past success to geography, military prowess, and not-inconsiderable—if inconsistent—good luck. The kingdom's long-standing pacifism has been repeatedly challenged, most notably by the surrounding kingdom of Drachensbett, whose many attempts at conquest were rendered moot during the reign of Queen Benevolence when Montagne, in a stunning turn of events, absorbed its larger foe.
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MONTAGNE, CHATEAU DE
Situated at the mouth of the great fertile valley of Montagne, overlooking the switchbacked road that constitutes the valley's only point of entry, Chateau de Montagne has for centuries been the best-defended fortification in the empire, and possibly its most attractive. As the Kingdom of Montagne has historically been linked to sorcery, so, too, was its royal seat, and for many generations men whispered of magical passageways secreted within the chateau walls. The chateau's roofs and parapets, framed against the mountain of Ancienne and culminating in the high "Wizard Tower," present a most arresting spectacle. Within the chateau, the inner courtyard displays a neoclassical symmetry utterly devoid of repetitiousness or pedantry. Of particular note, and open to the public on state holidays, are the Great Hall; the Hall of Flags; the Throne Room; the Ballroom, paved in rose and ebon marble; and the Solstice Terrace. Recently erected on the north face of the chateau, the terrace projects over the high cliffs that define and protect the Montagne valley. Though most definitely to be avoided by acrophobics, the terrace provides an unmatched vista of the western mountains, particularly at sunset.
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ROGER OF FARINA
True to his word, the duke remained faithful to Wisdom, spending part of each day with his insensate bride, who lay preserved in a coffin of glass. While not abandoning outright his rule of Farina, he made no effort to conceal his disinterest in affairs of state, particularly taxation and military conquest, and often spoke of the lessons he had garnered from Wisdom's Kiss. The situation degenerated to such a degree that Wilhelmina secretly offered the throne to her youngest son, Hrothgar, then a soldier on the northern frontier and recently married himself to Colonel Ivan von Umlaut. Hrothgar did not answer Wilhelmina's proposition (he once boasted that the secret to happiness lay in never opening his mother's mail), and Roger remained duke. The dowager duchess died soon thereafter, of sepsis from an untreated dog bite, and was posthumously dubbed Wilhelmina the Ogress by her many victims. Thus unfettered, Roger erected on the palace grounds a memorial to Wisdom that soon became a pilgrimage site for local sweethearts. It is today the most popular shrine to love in all of Lax. He later took to collecting china figurines, and in response porcelain manufacturers developed a line of princesses-in-repose commonly known as Rogerware. Following Roger's death without issue in Year 47 of the reign of Rüdiger IV, the Farina courts rejected the claims of Hrothgar's adopted children as a violation of the ducal line, and so the duchy passed via Wisdom to the Kingdom of Montagne. The princess, after twenty years of unconsciousness, returned to life soon after and retired to Chateau de Montagne with a friend. Roger's figurine collection formed the seminal installation of the Farina Museum of Fine Art.
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RÜDIGER IV
The rule of Rüdiger IV, the Spindle Kaiser, culminated the struggle between the Empire of Lax and its most powerful domains. The grandson of Wilhelm VIII on his mother's side, Rüdiger had no aspirations to the throne and was declared heir only after Wilhelm's sons—the Three Disappointers, as they were subsequently known—fathered nineteen girls. Rüdiger took the throne at age thirty-two and ruled for fifty-eight years. While maintaining a permanent campaign on the northern frontier and leading his empire in multiple wars, Rüdiger made significant advances in diplomacy. He ormalized relations with the Sultanate of Ahmb, surveyed Lax's eastern boundary, and negotiated with his many subject states to reduce the tolls that jeopardized imperial trade. The widespread popularity of the names Roger, Ruggiero, Rutger, Hrothgar, Rogelio, Rufiger, and similar derivates of Rüdiger speaks to the nobility's efforts to curry favor within the imperial court and should in no way be considered a demonstration of affection. In his later years, Rüdiger IV traveled throughout the empire and beyond with his private circus and military escort. It is not unthinkable that this "Circus Primus" may have served as a façade for covert proceedings, as the emperor and his troupe were present for the Feldspar Assumption, the Mar y Muntanya Border Crusade, and the Fourth Altercation of Scampi; Rüdiger's role in Wisdom's Kiss, much parsed by scholars, exemplifies the tumult that often shadowed the Circus Primus ensemble. Perhaps not surprisingly, his later reign was tainted by charges of irresponsibility, even senility, accusations that Rüdiger did not or could not dispute, and his legacy does not adequately reflect his earlier achievements.
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Bonus Encyclopedia Entry
SOTTOCENERE > >
Sottocenere is both a region and a mountain range in western Lax, flanked by Farina, Alpsburg, Höchsteland, and Drachensbett. For centuries a sovereign duchy, the country remained independent by virtue of its dubious strategic and economic value. With the union of Höchsteland and Farina, which border Sottocenere to the east and west respectively, this situation evolved rapidly, and within a few short years Sottocenere found itself absorbed into the Duchy of Farina, yet another compensation-in-land demanded by Duchess Wilhelmina for the battlefield death of her eldest son. Sottocenere is well known for its eponymous cheese, which is flavored with truffles and preserved in a rind of volcanic ash. Indeed, some geographers argue that the name "under the ash" began with the cheese rather than with the extinct volcanic mountains that form the region's rugged landscape. Because of the terrain, much of Sottocenere remains unmapped. Numerous legends of its mythic inhabitants circulate to this day, "The Curd Dragon" being the most famous; they may be read in such anthologies as Terrifying Tales from the Mountains of Gloom and Gory Dragons Galore: A Treasury of Educational and Cautionary Tales for Unformed Youngsters and Others Yet Morally Deficient. Scholars believe these tales were first spread to discourage cattle thieves, and without a doubt their blood-chilling tenor continues to dampen the region's development. Sottocenere boasts the second-highest mountain in the region, after Ancienne in nearby Montagne.
Two tales from Gory Dragons Galore, "Cat Whiskers" and "The Dolorous Draper," plus a gratuitous dragon-fighting scene
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WILHELMINA THE ILL-TEMPERED
Born to minor nobility in central Lax, Wilhelmina rose to a position of unrivaled prominence within her generation. Her father, Edwig, Baron of Farina, from a young age proved adept at the intrigues of court life, marrying himself to the far more eminent Countess of Paindecampagne; Wilhelmina, named in honor of Emperor Wilhelm VIII, was betrothed to the
Duke of Höchsteland while still a child. Thus the family in only two generations climbed from the lowest to the highest of noble ranks, and obscure Farina swelled into a vast and powerful duchy. Wilhelmina was left sole ruler when her husband, and then their eldest son, Ruttger, died in service to the imperial crown. Through her insistence, the family received as compensation the Duchy of Sottocenere and the city of Bridgeriver, increasing Wilhelmina's wealth considerably. Feared and admired for her ambition and shrewdness, she served as regent until Roger, the middle son, attained his majority; her subsequent designation of dowager was universally considered a screen to her true authority. Now in possession of lands and tributaries surrounding Montagne on four sides, Wilhelmina announced that the tiny kingdom and its title would be absorbed, willingly or otherwise, by Farina. When her diplomatic overtures were rejected by Providence and Benevolence, the queen and queen mother of Montagne, the duchess began assembling a sizable army at the kingdom's borders. Following the death of Providence, Wilhelmina shifted her strategy to merging the two states through the marriage of Roger to Montagne's new queen, Temperance. These negotiations proved ineffective when Roger instead selected Temperance's younger sister, Wisdom, for his bride. Initially enraged by her son's choice, Wilhelmina later insisted the wedding take place in the city of Froglock and extended all her support to the nuptial preparations...