MAULDWOOD

        “Mauldwood just isn’t the party place it used to be.”
                  -Esmerelda, wife of Duncanthrax, circa 665 GUE

The evil enchanted of Mauldwood grows along the border between the provinces of what is today called Frobozz and Gurth, stretching all the way to the shores of the Great Sea south of the city of Borphee. A light mist eternally wafted over the dark forest of mostly morgia trees, and tendrils of fog drifted among the old trunks like wayward ghosts. By legend, this vast forest was a haunted place, full of grues and nabizes and hellhounds and other terrible beasts. There were only a few old roads through Mauldwood, and fewer still were the men who dared to travel them.

All magicians can easily sense the terrible magic alive within it, and even the most ill-tuned adventurer to magic will find his skin crawling from the strange stillness, that has many times been described as beautiful in its lushness, but abundant with hidden danger. It is more than just plants and animals. The woods, itself, is alive and evil. And it effects those around it -- instilling fear, hostitility towards companions, irritability, anxiety, paranoia, amongst other demonic influences.

The most famous structure within the depths of this forbidden woods, is the castle of the evil witch Nasturtium, who was responsible for upbringing Queen Emerelda. There was also an inn known as The Red Cock.


HISTORY OF MAULDWOOD
Before the days of Entharion the Wise, Mauldwood was part of the Borphee Province. Peculiar circumstances surrounding Entharion's invasion and occupation of a part of the Kingdom of Borphee led this region to be called the "Incomplete Province" in the old Quendoran records. Due in part to the decadent state of the current ruling dynasty of Borphee and the shabby quality of their military forces, the Quendoran Royal Army quickly gained control over a large section of the Borphee peninsula, including the massive port city itself. However, due to internal conflicts back home, the court at Largoneth was unable to press home its advantage during that campaigning season, and utterly failed to field an army the following year.

Counting its blessings and nursings its wounds, the ruling family of Borphee, driven from its capital, retreated to the security of Mauldwood. Unable to muster any serious counter-offensive against the Quendoran forces, the exiled rulers focused their efforts on rebuilding their kingdom. With a new southern focus, their domains stretched from Mauldwood on the coast inland past the old territories of Pheebor to the mountains, and south as far as the borders of Gurth, including Accardi-by-the-Sea. This rump Kingdom of Borphee was approximately half the size of the former state, leading the following generation of kings at Largoneth to refer to the unconquered territories as “the half-province that is Ours by right.”

In turn, the Borphee successor state to the south refused to recognize the Quendoran conquest of their former territories, and although they never again took up arms against the enemy, they showed their opposition in other, more devious ways. Year after year, generation after generation, the exiled royalty would issue edicts from their Mauldwood fortress and distribute them to their former territories as truly sovereign law. Further, the governors sent from Mauldwood to administer the lands that were no longer theirs were very often accepted by the city governments in the Quendoran lands. This was a very peculiar situation, one in which Borphee Province was claimed and occupied by Quendor but governed by officials from the Kingdom of Borphee, a land that Quendor also claimed, but did not have the power to occupy or govern. Needless to say, this entire situation accomplished nothing but granting immense trouble and anxiety to many generations of two different royal families until the reign of Duncanthrax.

This “half province” set aside, the rule of Entharion the Wise brought a semblance of peace to a war-torn land and began a dynasty that reigned over the Kingdom of Quendor and its seven and a half provinces for almost seven hundred years, spanning the majestic reigns of fourteen benevolent monarchs.

In 660 GUE, Pseudo-Duncanthrax raised a tremendous army to wage a systematic conquest of the neighboring kingdoms, quickly reaping a reputation for cruelty, bloodthirstiness and aggressiveness, thus forever earning the nickname “The Bellicose King.” This vile ruler moved swiftly and brutally against the southern half of Borphee and put an end to the tottering and defenseless dynasty of Mauldwood. Finally accomplishing the merger of the two halves, Pseudo-Duncanthrax called the resulting territory Greater Borphee Province. This move began a trend; one by one, the neighboring principalities of Miznia, Gurth, and Mithicus were brought under Quendoran sway and given new provincial administrations.

Today Mauldwood remains a part of the Great Borphee Province.