County of Fairshire

WIP

Origins
WIP

Rise of Lord Girart
By 10 L.C., an aging Rollant Gwieven was stricken with consumption and, in a year’s time, died in 11 L.C. Following the count’s death, the reconstruction’s momentum began to slow. Rollant’s brother, Girart Gwieven, took up the title of count shortly thereafter. The new Count Fairshire cared little for matters of state, let alone his brother’s reconstruction efforts. Instead, Lord Girart favored an extravagant life, fulfilling his own bon-vivant desires and ignoring his brother’s projects – except, of course, for the gold mines of the Emerbrons. He redirected workers and engineers involved in the county’s reconstruction to the mining effort. Goldcliff quickly became overpopulated, with the miners there bearing squalid living conditions in the hopes of striking it rich in the gold mines. Workers, however, saw diminishing returns for their labor. What was more, the gold vein in the Emerbrons began to dry up. Initial surveys proved incorrect, as the vein turned out to be much smaller than initially anticipated. To make up for lost revenue, many miners turned to the more plentiful iron and coal mines. Goldcliff, once a prosperous gold-rush haven, became a soot-covered mining and foundry town.

Rebellion
The Mausir labor tax was the last straw for the denizens of Fairshire. After decades of Lord Girart’s reign, a wave of riots broke out across the realm. Umberfall was hit especially hard, with Goldcliff nearly burnt to the ground during a miners riot that same year. Highvale, the seat of the county, was overrun with bands of highwaymen and rioters. The county’s economy had completely collapsed, as no workers mined the ores of the Emerbrons, no farmers harvested the summer’s crops, and no merchants peddled their trade. In response, Lord Girart appealed to his house’s allies in the County of Mirwood, having virtually ignored them since his rise to power. Lord Geoffrey de Vries, the ruling Count of Mirwood at the time, refused to assist his negligent ally, leaving the Count Fairshire to his fate. In anger, Lord Girart struck back, cutting off all trade with his partners in the west. Girart’s sanctions were the final nail in the coffin for Fairshire, as mass starvation set in and riots continued to spread. With insufficient trade coming into Fairshire and a lack of goods leaving the province, Lord Girart’s grip on the county slipped further and further.

Finally, the long-awaited repercussions for Lord Girart’s poor rulership came about, as a riot in Goldcliff turned into a full-scale uprising. The Count’s guard could not stem the tide, as rioters formed a mob and marched on Mausir Castle. Underpaid and ill-prepared, the remaining guards fled or betrayed their lord, opening the gates and allowing the rioters inside. Mausir Castle was set alight, with Lord Girart attempting to flee for his life. Accompanied by a pair of guards and his favored mistress, Lord Girart escaped by stagecoach and made towards the border with Eastvale. As his party departed Mausir Castle, however, they were stopped by a roving gang of highwaymen. The bandits identified the Count Fairshire and his entourage, hauling them out by force and bringing them to Goldcliff. It is unknown as to who killed Lord Girart, but it was not long after his capture that he and his party were beaten and lynched in Goldcliff’s town square.

With a province in open revolt, the nobles of southeastern Elwynn called for assistance from Stormwind City. The Crown dispatched a contingent of Stormwind guards to the area, but they found little resistance. Besides a few bandit gangs, the rebellious passions of Fairshire’s peasants and merchants had cooled after having rid themselves of the troublesome Lord Girart and they all patiently waited for the Crown to set Fairshire to rights. Seeing an opportunity in the wake of the revolt, the County of Mirwood announced a claim to the County of Fairshire by marriage, stating that the daughter of the Gwieven-De Vries marriage, Theodora De Vries, was the rightful heir to the territory. They supported the claim by stating that Lord Girart, last patriarch of House Gwieven, did not marry nor bear a legitimate heir. The Crown did not protest, desperately needing a noble house to restore order to the region. As such, House De Vries’ claim was legally recognized by House Wrynn and the House of Nobles, and all rights to the County of Fairshire transferred to them and Lady Theodora.

The Stonewalls
Lady Theodora arrived in Fairshire after decades of service with the Stormwind Army, dismayed by the state of affairs in the ruined county. Following the declaration of her new title as Countess Fairshire, she applied the same military mindset of strategic planning and ruthless efficiency to the reconstruction of the county. She addressed the people’s suffering from years of neglect and a failing economy, focusing on drafting more forgiving tax laws and labor programs that put much of the ailing peasantry to work. Trade was rekindled with the surrounding provinces and Mirwood in the west, as tons of imported foodstuffs and trade goods saw Fairshire through to the year’s end. The task of rebuilding Fairshire took time, but the Countess did not falter in her determination to see Lord Girart’s failings amended. Nevertheless, the effort was gargantuan and one that she could not address alone. Following the passing of her first husband, Lady Theodora married Lord Markus Stonewall, leading to House Stonewall absorbing the lands of Fairshire under his family name. The new rulers of Fairshire doubled their efforts on expanding the county’s workforce, growing new trade opportunities, and strengthening the weakened county militia so as to avoid a repetition of the anarchic revolts against  Lord Girart.

House Stonewall also divided the county into five baronies. These new baronies served as administrative zones, each with a ruling baron that formed part of a larger advisory council. House Stonewall did not want a repeat of the division and indecision that plagued House Gwieven’s last years as rulers of Fairshire. Furthermore, they entrusted the baronies to nobles they themselves brought into peerage, thus solidifying their loyalty to House Stonewall. Although these new peers lacked longstanding noble lineages, they were handpicked for their administrative competency and dedication – not the weight of their bloodlines. In 39 L.C., the Barony of Umberfall, one of the hardest hit provinces during the revolt against Lord Girart’s rule, was given to the newly raised House Grunwald. At the head of the house was Sir Edrington Grunwald, knight of Stormwind, who was bestowed the title of baron by House Stonewall.