… and many, many more.

Ruler(s): Choldwig III, Landgrave of Hesse-Rotenburg-Schillingsfurst; Prince Rupprecht of the Palatinate of Saukopf-Bachscuttel; Falco, Burgrave of Nabstria; George III, Emperor of All The Fenwicks; Dimitri, Voivode of Vulgaria

Personalities:

• Wilhelm I of the House of Penwick-Fuppet: Sometime King of Gelderland, Knight Commander of the Order of St Theresa, and colossal lard-arse.

• Graf Petr Peiper-Pickderpeck, Lord of Pickelpeipers: Wilhelm's Royal Chamberlain

• Lady Ulrike von Rotenburg-Bahnsee-Lippe: Choldwig's niece; married to Duke Reinhold Hesse-Penwick-Fuppet, and now Duchess of Bahnsee-Kassell

• Furst Augustus Saxe-Peste: Knight Commander of the Rotenburg Order of the Golden Fleas; General-in-Chief of the Grand Army of the Landgravate of Hesse-Rotenburg-Schillingsfurst

• General Heironymous von Rumpfler: Veteran of the First Silesian War and commander of the Nabstrian Army.

• Nora Hindquarters: General von Rumpfler's, er, niece; a delightful seamstress and double agent.

• Prince Dimitri Eugen von Feratu und Osterberg: Newly installed Voivode of Vulgaria; pretender; last of his line; and also a moron.

• Baron Tostov: a Vulgarian nobleman - politically well-connected but, thanks to some unwanted contact with seven cannonballs, now physically quite disconnected.

Geographical:

• • Somewhere in central or eastern Europe (to the right of Prussia, perhaps; to the east of Austria; a bit up and then a lot down from Sweden). Borders the Baltic.

  • Capitals: Grosschnitzelring (Kingdom Of Gelderland); Falkensteinburg (Burgravate of Nabstria); Pfeildorff (Palatinate of Bachscuttel); Pogelswood (Empire of All The Fenwicks); Muntersheim (Landgravate of Rotenburg); Nehrenvar (Principality of Zenta), Urbanspraul (The Voivodate of Vulgaria)

  • Language: Mostly German, but also Polish, Serbo-Croat, and Russian.

  • Religion: Catholic and Protestant, although it is rumoured that in Nabstria older, darker gods might also be worshipped. The Sanjak of Zenta is a mixture of Orthodox and Muslim faiths.

  • Government: Infrequent, and generally quite poor. In Mittelheim, the Enlightenment is something that happened to other people. The states of the region are governed by various forms of absolutist monarchy.

  • Population: Most states are very small, with populations rarely in excess of four hundred thousand. Fenwick is the smallest, Gelderland the largest.

  • Trade: Subsistence agriculture supports much of the populations of Mittelheim. The various states do, however, engage in substantial amounts of trade. Rotenburg, for example, relies for its wealth on the production of wine, centred around the village of Bockfast, a libation that is much prized in Eastern Europe for its ability to prevent mechanical parts freezing in winter. The wealth of Saukopf-Bachscuttel ebbs and flows according to the price of pigs, a commodity which, aside from curious smells, is the Palatinate’s main export. Wurstburp produces a unique cloth of hessian, nasal hair, and ginger beard stubble. Most of it is exported to Kurland as punishment for their pervasive border raiding.

  • Maps: https://mauricecampaign.blogspot.com/p/map-of-mittelheim.html

  • Places of Interest: The visitor to Mittelheim will find many fascinating places to visit. These include:

  • the town of Buxomfrau (Rotenburg), the site of one of Mittelheim’s foremost medical research establishments, Schloss Rimsting, famous for its cutting edge medical treatments (leeches); precision medical instruments (very small leeches); key hole surgery (leeches for delivery to those accidentally locked into their home); and controversial cures for hiccups (comprising trepanning, and then an aggressive course of leeches.

  • the University of Mausenburg (Herzo-Carpathia), which runs fully accredited courses in Latin, Witchfinding and Cruelty to Toads.

  • The town of Dojay (Zenta), populated by the mercurial Giezza tribesmen

  • the ‘Hanging Gardens of Alexandopolis’ (Rotenburg), which consist of a gallows surrounded by some pot plants.

  • The Naffdorf Academie of Alchemie and Wytchcraft, Mittelheim’s foremost scientific establishment.

Geopolitical:

• • Principal Allies: One another. Sadly, though, the states of Mittelheim are mean-spirited, suspicious, unreliable, and easily slighted.

  • Principal Aggressor States: One another (see above).

Military:

• • Army: All of the states of Mittelheim have established armies. Some, such as those of Rotenburg, Bachscuttel and Nabstria are established firmly along conventional European lines, though the officers tend to be less well educated and rather dirtier. The Margravate of Badwurst-Wurstburp, however, has made the questionable decision to form its army on the foundations of the remnants of ex-Jacobite immigrants. This has gone about as well as one might expect. The Sanjak of Zenta displays a strong Ottoman influence, which explains its reliance on irregular troops and cavalry.

  • Navy: The naval forces of Mittelheim are rather underdeveloped, Mittelheimers being intrinsically suspicious of water (and soap). The strongest naval force, at least in theory, is that of the Palatinate of Bachscuttel, but its main ship, the 22 gun Princess Caroline, has no crew. This also makes it by far the best handled vessel in Mittelheim. Other states rely on the (very) odd brigantine or sloop. The Voivodate of Vulgaria has issued letters of marque to the privateer and rake Hans Hohenlohe, and his vessel the Centennial Sparrow.

Website: http://mauricecampaign.blogspot.com