Brosengaen (and some Taeghan history)

[Angelbialaska]

Below is the history that I have written up for Brosengae (and Taeghas, since I have them at sharing a common heritage for a long long time). Unfortunately I have been unable to find any real details about Taeghas and Brosengae's history in published sources, so I have been making up my own, out from what makes sense. As always comments are appreciated.

The Tribe of Taegha

As the twelve tribes of Andu fled from the Shadow, one of these tribes was the tribe of Taegha, a tribe known more for their seamanship than their courage. In those days none could rival the Taegha when it came to anything naval. It was also for this reason that when the tribes settled down in Cerilia, the Andu in what became Anuire, the tribe of Taegha settled down in the lands of the west coast, close to Aduria, as the naval base of operations against enemies coming from Aduria.

The greatest of the tribe, their leader, was a man called Brosen and it was from him that the capital province was named Brosien. And the leaders of the tribe followed heriditary rule, due to the great prestige and strength of the family, so the Brosen family as they became known, was leading the Taegha tribe up to the time of Deismarr.

Erroll Brosen was the man that led the forces of the Taegha at Deismarr. He was a man that possessed a lot of tactical talent and he was less of a sailor than most of his tribe and his family, but he made up for it with creativity and passion. He and his forces performed well although not extraordinarily, the forces of the Taegha holding back armies of goblins with spear and sword. As the Gods died and their essense was spread, it was the essense of Basaïa, the Basarjii Sun Goddess that empowered his line.

The Brosen Dukes

After the battle the first Roele appointed the Brosen family as the ducal family of the Duchy of Taeghas and with no need to prove themselves to the people, unlike they had before, the family’s interest in the people slowly declined over the years.

It was only a few generations after the Battle at Deismarr that the Brosen family discovered the value of trade and mercantilism after a visit from a Brecht merchant fleet bringing goods. Before that time there had been little trade in the realm, just enough to cover their basic goods, but Alaeron Brosen, the Duke at the time, developed a rather unhealthy addiction to the golden coins. Within weeks of the Brecht leaving, the Duke established the Brosen Royal Guild and gave the guild all rights to control all trade within Taeghas.

In the centuries that followed, the Dukes of Taeghas developed their lands and cultivated new lands. The expansion stopped in the North at the Elfwash river and later in the south the duchy stretched all the way down to Bindier. But like Alaeron Brosen, the dukes that followed had inherited the hunger for gold and they ordered for more and more expansion of their guilds. The Seamist Mountains, despite being filled with monsters, was stripmined for resources, the forests that covered the provinces that are making up the northern Taeghas, Bhaine, Bayside and Portage was cut to lumber and exported or made into merchantships.

Two deities became the commonly accepted beliefs in Taeghas. The Peaceful Seas of Nesirie was popular ever since Deismarr, in particular among the common people, especially the sailors and fishermen. Saramie’s Temple of Fortune was attracted to the nobility and the guilders of the realm and was very popular among those with money.

The Brosen family grew richer and richer and with those riches they developed a taste for lavishness. But the vast size of Taeghas and the control of the Brosen Royal Guild, did make the family so rich that they could afford it and not concern themselves particularly with much of what took place in their realm.

A millenia passed since the Brosen family received the ducal title and the nobility grew further and further apart from their population. In the end this led to the fall of the Brosen family.

A rebellious time

Most of the noble families of Taeghas accepted the state that the realm was in. Most of them spent as much time in the ducal court as they did in their own mansions, so they had little reason to complain. But the common population and some of the nobles studying magic, saw the destruction of the natural mebhaigl and the destruction of the land. A few of these nobles and commoners united in 944 HC, but the rebellion was crushed by the forces. This rebellion didn’t get the Brosen family to grow concerned though.

Then in 953 HC the commoners and nobles joined up with one of the larger of the Taeghan families, known for their powerful magic and unseen by the Brosen family, they established sources in the few remaining sources. And two years later the common populace rebelled once again and this time, with the aid of the wizards, monsters summoned and common people taking up arms, Taeghas erupted in a very bloody civil war. The treasury of the Brosen family, most likely the largest at the time, was used to buy large amounts of mercenaries.

Vaelyn Brosen was the Duke at the time and he asked the Emperor for aid, but at that time, only about a decade before the fall of the Empire, the Emperor’s position was already weak and no aid was given to the Brosen family in defending their own realm.

But even the greatest treasury is emptied when supporting large armies of mercenaries and in the end Caer Brosien fell and hundreds of members of the royal family was slaughtered and many executed. But a handful, including Vaelyn and his daughter, escaped and they fled to the south, to the lands held for the Brosen family by the count of Marilen, Derek Mierelen, who remained loyal to the Brosen family, despite the rest of the realm being in chaos. These provinces were Marilen, Bindier and Coere.

The creation of Brosengae

In the years that followed the County of Marilen kept having clashes with Taeghas. After Lady Adriana Brosen, the only child of Duke Vaelyn Brosen married with Derek Mierelen, there was one condition. Derek Mierelen would become the lawful heir to the ducal house and in return the County would be renamed to the Duchy of Brosengae. The Count agreed and this way the Marilen became Brosengae. Officially this happened in 959 HC.

Brosengae and Taeghas each took different sides when the Emperor needed support in the very last days to ensure their dominance over the Boeruine. Brosengae fought side by side with Avanil and the Emperor and they won a minor victory over Taeghas, but it was not enough to reclaim what was theirs.

The Empire fell and now there was no help to be gained from the Emperor to reclaim Taeghas. The few remaining guilds in Taeghas was burned and much of what was build was destroyed during the war, most importantly, the province of Brosien was one of the largest in the past, but with the rebellion it was now nothing near the greatness that it once held. In response to the burned guilds, Brosengae destroyed the natural deposits of mebhaigl and outlawed wizards within their realm.

The rise of Brosengae

In the years since the rebellion and the fall of the Empire Brosengae has grown and regained some strength, although the ruling family is no longer one of the most important anymore. The wars of the past are still not forgotten between the two brother realms and most likely will not for as long as Taeghas is holding provinces that Brosengae feels entitled to rule, especially Brosien and Islien.

In 84 MC the capital of Brosengae was moved from Marilen to Bindier, due to Marilen’s closeness to Taeghas and the continuing monsters from the Seamists, something which continues even to this day At the same time Brosengae also rebuild Caer Brosen, which they located in the new capital city and this was to become the new ducal seat.

In 244 MC Duke Aeric Mierelen neared his 70th year and he was still without any male heirs. He summoned his closest advisors and asked for their advise for what could be done to keep the ducal title. There were several suggestions, but in the end one was settled upon. Lady Danae Mierelen was Aeric’s oldest daughter and her husband was dead by plague years earlier. She had 3 children, but all were girls and the daughter younger than Danae had still no children. He could not allow himself to wait anymore. So he created the Equality Decree, in which the oldest child of the deceased duke or duchess should be the one to inherit Brosengae regardless of their gender, but that when marrying the name of Mierelen should be taken by the husband if the ruler was a duchess or the heir was a woman.

Eriene Mierelen, Duchess of Brosengae

In 480 MC the young Merric Mierelen went on a journey to become a man and learn more about the world. Nothing is really known about this journey, with the exception that he returned to Brosengae with a Sidhelien woman carrying the name of Cyrenda. The couple married shortly after arriving back to Brosengae. Rumors had it that the elf would be childless and that Merric would have no heirs and for almost 40 years, Merric into his 60s at that point, Cyrenda was barren.

But in 523 MC Cyranda gave birth to a half-elven girl and she was named Eriene Mierelen and was shortly after the birth named heir, since Merric was getting old. However perhaps some of the Sidhelien longivity had been in him and Eriene grew up without becoming ruler, as she had reached her 23rd year in 546 MC before Merric, at that time almost 100 years old, finally went to meet with Saramie, leaving a realm in a good condition to his daughter.

In the time that has passed since Eriene taken over, the young girl has shown quite some keen business skills and she made a vassal agreement with Avanil and in return she was allowed to establish the Brosen Royal Guild in the realm and she has even expanded into Tuornen, where she also holds some influence. What she wants the most though is Taeghas.

However Eriene’s skill has been kept down by the nature of her family. By demand of the large family she’s forced to keep up one of the largest courts in all of Anuire and she and the nobles at her court are those that create the fashion among the rich and young of Anuire. And if nothing changes, she’ll grow just as lawish as her ancestors, which will weaken Brosengae once again.

[graham anderson]

there was 4 tribes of andu who survived and only five to begin with. All the tribal leaders but roele died at daesmar leaving him the only overlord. The books have brosengae siding with boeruine not the emperor in the civil war.

[Lee]

In a message dated 1/14/05 7:16:26 PM Eastern Standard Time,

brnetboard@BIRTHRIGHT.NET writes:



<< As always comments are appreciated. >>



Thanks, this looks good to me, with one exception. Since Taeghas and

Brosengae are both so close to the Manslayer`s realm, I would have thought his

ghaillie sidhe would have been mentioned a few times, rather than just "monsters

from the Seamists."



Lee.

[Angelbialaska]

Altering Brosengae to side with Boeruine isn&#39;t too difficult. And neither is it to include something about the plagues from Rhuobhe.

As for there being only four tribes, then I point to Player&#39;s Secrets of Roesone, where there&#39;s a Fifth tribe under Prince Diem the Deretha. And 5th tribe becomes 5th archduke. You do the calculation...

[graham anderson]

As for there being only four tribes, then I point to Player&#39;s Secrets of Roesone, where there&#39;s a Fifth tribe under Prince Diem the Deretha. And 5th tribe becomes 5th archduke. You do the calculation...

It says in the book of regency there were five tribes of andu and the deretha were wipped out by the spider. Prince diem may claim to be deretha but I would say it is just that a claim and nothing more. It specificaly says five tribes of which four survived. It also says that the spider led his armies as far as the staits of aerele and depopulated the area.

[Angelbialaska]

I think Ed Stark may have messed up about that.

Rich Baker was writer of the Birthright setting and PS Roesone. Ed Stark wasn&#39;t even credited in the BRCS.

As I see it, then Stark skimmed things, noticed the five tribes mentioned (the original tribes where Andu was one of), then saw one getting eradicated and used the name Deretha which were most likely on some notes somewhere.

Book of Regency isn&#39;t even TSR, it&#39;s Wizards and has completely different people in charge of it than those who did the original work. Wasn&#39;t Book of Regency created as some sort of present to the fans of Birhtright, rather than as something original?

[Green Knight]

The BoR is indeed a TSR product and it is very much official. Remember that the reason the BoR didn&#39;t get printed was because the BR line got cancelled. Let&#39;s just be happy the WotC decided to share this material with us.

As for inconsistency this is just one of many, and not one of the worst I think. Indeed, the PS of Roesone doesn&#39;t really mention twelve Houses. It only says that the Deretha was the Fifth House (but not of how many) and that Diem was a prince of the Deretha and was rewarded with the Duch of Diemed (which was the 5th of 12).

So while it could be argued there were 12 Houses, it really isn&#39;t too clearly stated in the PS of Roesone.

B

[Raesene Andu]

This was discussed some time ago by the Atlas team when this project was first being set up. We decided that there were 5 tribes, but grouped into 12 houses.

Here is the final post from the original discussion.


I think the best way to resolve the 5 tribes vs. 12 tribes contradiction is to say that there were either five major tribes and 7 minor ones, or that the twelve tribes were loosely organized into five major alliance-groups (each probably named for the leading/largest/most powerful tribe). With such an arraingement it is easy to explain why the earliest documents refer to only 5 tribes when there were actually more than that.

I would nominate the following as candidates for the "major" tribes:
1. "Anwe/Aeloran"
2. Boru
3. Mhora
4. Elaime
5. Deretha

If we want to go with alliange-groups, these might make natural groupings:

1. Anwe, Gehaiste, Bheallach
2. Boru, Duireina, Brosen
3. Mhora, Elin
4. Elaime, Carel
5. Deretha, Aeren

[Raesene Andu]

And for those who were wondering.

Anwe = Avanil
Gehaiste = Ghieste
Bheallach = Dhalaene
Boru = Boeruine
Duireina = Osoerde
Brosen = Taeghas
Mhora = Mhoried
Elin = Elinie
Elamie = Alamie
Carel = Cariele
Deretha = Diemed
Aeren = Aerenwe

[Angelbialaska]

This may be a silly question, but how does Boeruine and Taeghas fit in with Osoerde as the last part of their family?