Chord’s World Tour – Perth

In this guide to Cheshire, we shall take a look at the smallest of the duchies, Perth. As is the case with the duchies of Cheshire, the region is named after its Duke, Eric Perthius. If the Perthius family were to be replaced, the duchy would be renamed. Shirans are fairly pragmatic about the changes.

Duke Perthius is a military man, as was his father, and his grandfather. He rose to the status of Silver Knight (an elite order of Ironguard), as well a commander of the his own unit. He was instrumental in repelling invading forces from the upstart kingdom of Cerak. He took over the ruling duties from his father, who was killed in the invasion. He is a militant man, and runs his duchy as such. As the smallest duchy however, Duke Perthius seeks to conquer territory to expand. To that end, he has sought claim some of the wilderness beyond the borders. Fort Tor north of Toram in the Jagged Hills is part of that plan. Rumor has it he seeks to build a series of forts in the Hills, partly as expansion, and partly as protection from dangers that spill forth from there.

Perth consists of the city that shares the duchy’s name. It is surrounded by Cadia, Tita, Forza, and Maxir. The relatively new border town of Toram is north west of Cadia, with Fort Tor just to the west. The population is about 85% human, about 5% elves, 5% dwarves, with the remaining population split among half-elves, half-orcs, gnomes, halflings, and other humanoids.

To lend credence to Duke Perthius claims of expansion and defense, is the fact that is surrounded by the Jagged Hills to the north, the Dire Woods and the Forest of Krono to the northeast, the Mist Woods to the southeast, and the Spider Woods to the southwest.

The Jagged Hills is home to several humanoid threats including ogres, orcs, trolls and hill giants. Monstrous threats of note include Pyrax, a fire dragon, and his troll minions.

The Dire Woods is home to savage wildlife. Dire wolves roam the forest, as do dire boars, and a particularly nasty tribe of centaur call these woods home.

The Forest of Krono was once home to the mad druid Krono. Now the forest serves another master, a powerful druid named Chit. Rumor has it that Chit is not fond of humans. Those same rumors claim that intelligent bears patrol the forest.

The Mist Woods is home to a tribe of ogres, but is infested with goblins. Rumor has it a beholder has taken up residence here.

The Spider Woods is named for the absolute infestation of spiders that live here. From tiny spiders to ones the sizes of bears, spiders have overrun everything. Any living thing that lives in the forest is prey to the apex predators that are the spiders. Spider kin like driders and chitin have been seen in the area, but it is unknown if they are just individual pockets of them, or if there is a settlement of them nearby. Since driders are underground dwelling creatures, it is believed that an opening to the Underrealm is located here.

The valley elf city of Arien is hidden in the Spiderwoods. Arien was a sister city to Kor’Korai that resided (and presumed destroyed) in the Forest of Souls. While primarily the population consists of valley elves, when the spire elf city of Kor’Korai was destroyed, they took in a large number of refugees. Tensions have risen between the happy go lucky valley elves, and the aloof spire elves. Rumors that Kor’Korai survived the Corruption that decimated the Forest of Dreams, forever changing it to the Forest of Souls, have brought hope for both subraces.