Trebachas

Duchy: Guardian

Leaders: Baroness Wilhelmina Conway

Population: 113,500

Lordships: Tel Girade, Fen March, Trickling Dart, Whispering Reeds

Known For: Leather goods, baskets, olives, tacticians

Major Towns and Cities: Tel Girade (baronial seat), Dunloch, Windgrace

Characters of Trebachas: Here

Description: The closest Guardian comes to an agricultural area, Trebachas pales in comparison to any place actually intended to grow things. Any agricultural value in the area comes from centuries of work terraforming and importing soils and fertilizers, all to little avail. Marshy near the sea, the salty estuaries discourage the growth of anything but reeds and weeds, and render the land useless for acres around it.

The hillsides of the interior of Trebachas are home to groves of olive trees, hardy varieties requiring little from their soil, but prone to bad years when the winters get too cold for fruiting. Those areas of hillside not used for olive groves are populated by small herds of hardy goats. The major artisans in Trebachas are the leather-workers, some of whom have recently attempted to import their own cattle. While the animals seem to be doing all right, most of their feed has to be imported. Because of the plains in Trickling Dart, the barony has suffered more than others from the occasional outbreaks of infighting on the island, as it makes a very convenient battlefield. The capital of Trebachas is Ter Girade, the sight of the decisive battle which placed the Barcas in control of the isle.

The people of Trebachas are the closest the isle has to farmers, though in truth, most of them are little more than skillful foragers and herders scratching out a bare living from a hard land. Often seen as a bit fey by their more straightforward fellow citizens, they are most prone to producing master tacticians and are the source of Guardian’s brightest minds, thinking in ways others cannot hope to follow.

The barony of Trebachas is known for the violence that plagues what would otherwise be a quiet, rural piece of the isle. The lands were the last of those conquered by the Barcas after their arrival on the isle in 30AD, and tribes of Fen March continued fighting even after the war for control had ended.

Trebachas claims the entirety of the west coast of the Isle of Guardians. It is bordered on the north, west, and south by the Sea of Veils, and shares part of its eastern boundary with the other four Guardian baronies.

Winds typically blow from the west, bringing in rain that is largely denied the rest of the isle by virtue of the tall mountains that sit just past the eastern border. It is for this reason that Trebachas is the most arable land in Guardians, although the encroachment of salt water and rocky soil keeps the barony from being able to produce enough food to sustain its growing population.

The northern part of the barony is defined by rocky hills, as is the eastern border as they butt against the mountains of Smithfield and Dun Artan. As one travels south, the land becomes more flat and increasingly damp. The southern half of the barony is largely dominated by marshes and swamps.