Liwich Kingdom: History and Rumors
Before Angelica Liwich gathered the kingdom under her stacked-heeled leather boot, the middle northwest half of Dregar belonged to the pirates. Hurm was a haven for buccaneer activity with hives of ne'er-do-wells clustered on the many rocky islands offshore. There was no law save what the individual made with the city of Wymere: the sole struggling lawful area.
When the skies darkened and Blood's forces withdrew, the pirate activity reached its peak. No shipping lane between Dregar and Mistone was safe. Desperation and hunger gave rise to brutal acts, so much so that even Lord Rael was moved to send some of the Seawatch armada to police his interests, which often became flotillas of tag-along merchant ships. Such was the chaos that pirate ships began to prey on each another. No ship was safe.
From this dark and dismal time, came a woman with the personality and drive to unite her fellow pirates. She was a first mate aboard the Red Line ship Augesty, her port of call most often was Hurm, and she was part of the negotiations with Saviar Morgensen to gain a foothold in that city. While she was a capable seaman, Angelica's true strength lay in her understanding and manipulation of the politics of a situation. She bought her way out of the Red Bear's grasp with a large chunk of her personal fortune, and she began to act as intermediary to the various locales around Hurm, all the way to Rondora Lake and down as far as the Sinister Forest.
Slowly, during the 1410s, she gained trust and respect for culminating deals, arranging trades, and soothing savage tempers. Her crowing achievement was the Ogre Treaty of 1413. With this, the ogres of the iron-rich Ore Hills were finally recognized by the locals as autonomous and allowed to build a fortress to protect their interests. With the twisted, creeping flora and fauna of the Sinister Forest growing ever closer, most folks did not argue; often heard was, "Better them than us."
On the heels of the treaty, Angelica had Liwich Castle built on the site of an older building and even paid the Ore Hills Ogres for some of their raw materials. This gave her the opportunity to lure some of the massive creatures into her personal guard; with the addition of a barracks, she began building an army. Now, with her personal guard 1,500 strong, she simply claimed Liwich as her own, defining her boarders to the edges of the other kingdoms. With her skilled talks that resulted in agreements with the various towns and villages inside her borders, no longer does anyone (publicly) dispute that Angelica rules Liwich. The most telling indication of this is listening to any conversation of her people. They will refer to themselves as Liwichan as often as Hurmite or Wymereian. Angelica herself is rarely called queen or even ruler; she is almost always referred to as The Sabre.
The Coat of Arms of the newest kingdom is a gold background with the outline of a schooner in black and superimposed over it is a saber of red with a basket guard. The motto at the bottom is in common and reads, United in True.
