Mortemer



Mortemer is the name of both a city and a kingdom which were located on the isthmus running between Qnd in the South and Vicua in the North.

History
The City of Mortemer (in the local language more properly Mortemer-ad-din) was located halfway between the cities of Abies in the East and Fortecrest in the West. As such, Mortemer was in a strategically important position, controlling the trade routes between the Sarmathian Sea and the Bay of Fargol, and between Qnd and Vicua.

Settlement there dates back to the beginning of the first century of the Second World. Soon thereafter the city, which was situated on the Southern bank of a small lake, and was sheltered from the frequent sand storms of the region by the slopes of the Mountains of Royne, became fortified and turned into a real castle. By the time of around 800 SW, Mortemer had developed into a formidable stronghold dominating much of the heartlands of Cardu Mar.

This position was held until around 1150, when the sand storms had made the old road to the ports of Abies dangerous and almost impossible to use. Trade shifted, and Mortemer gradually lost its important function to the northernly cities of Skitharand and Fortekrest.

Mortemer once more played an important role, when during the 13th-century Iriot Invasion in the wake of the Long Fall, an army raised by duchess Bryonne gathered there to meet the invaders, and, after a short siege, was routed.

History
Around 1500, Mortemer rose to prominence once more, as large amounts of silver were found in the Mountains of Royne. The castle ruin quickly became an economical and politicial center, and the focus of a reunification movement between the various duchies which had made up the kingdom of Cardu Mar.

From Mortemer, in 1512 the proclamation of the new "Alliance of Mortemer" was issued (though much more commonly called "Kingdom of M."), which de facto re-established Cardu Mar in its borders previous to the Iriot invasion, with the exception of Djífù, which decided to remain independent.

The silver mines were quickly exhausted, and while Mortemer-ad-din remained a cultural and religious center, trade and politics soon shifted to Abies and Skitharand, away from Mortemer again.

The Kingdom of Mortemer went through a crisis in the 18th century when the centrifugal forces of the duchies turned the alliance into a lose confederation whose members would at times even go to war against each other (see Biluvian War). The tide was turned when the Vin-Dan presented an imminent danger to the Kingdom, and Ödö, originally a relatively unimportant mayor of Mortemer-ad-din, managed to unite the kingdom's forces once more and lead them in the Mor-Vin-War.

Today
Today, Mortemer is a kingdom well connected to its neighbors both by sea and by land. One of its most important traffic connections is the Thanzayat Railway, which links Mortemer with its former enemy Vin-Dan.