The province of Kardomir was founded when a group of Vesanians found iron ore in the region. The Vesanians were a group of sorcerers calling themselves the Black Magi. They enslaved the surrounding villages using dark magic originating from the Black Serpent.
The Black Magi had Kardomir castle built and used sorcery to extract iron from the marches. The iron was forged into weapon that were supperior to the bronze weapons the nearby peoples had, and enabled Kardomir to raise large armies and conquer more areas.
The Black Magi were preoccupied with search for the secret of eternal life and purity of blood. To keep the noble line pure, inheritance of titles was based on the mother, not the father, for only then could one be certain to avoid bastards. There were no marriages under the rule of the Black Magi, and most unions only temporal. While inheritance followed the females, the Black Magi themselves were predominantly male.
There were several rebellions against the Black Magi, however all were brutally put down.
Many tried to escape the rule of Kardomir, heading either for Triman or the steppes. Most were however caught and made slaves that dug out iron from the marshes.
The Black Magi engaged in several wars with the neighbours to the west. During the last of these wars, Gradoslavl, Drevnedub and the church of Svarog allied against the Black Magi. Against such an allience the nobles of Kardomir faltered, and one noble house, Valadir, changed sides and allied itself with the other side.
The Black Magi were defeated and the nobles under their command pledged fealty to the Great Kniaz of Gradoslavl. The area was made into a province under the rule of the Great Kniaz, something the Drevnedubian elders were not pleased with. They would have preferred the Kardomirians to govern themselves.
The tsars eldest son, Jarivlad was proclaimed Kniaz of Kardomir. With the castle of Kardomir still besieged he founded the city of Kniazjevo (city of the kniaz). Jarivlad quickly became popular with the commoners, an easy task considering the oppressive rule of the Black Magi.
Jarivlad married Zlata, the daughter and heir of the noble house Valadir. This made the rest of the Kardomirian nobles more accepting of Jarivlads rule. While Jarivlad was supposed to inherit the throne of Triman, he became sick and died before he could succeed. Many, especially in Kardomir, had expected Zlata, as his wife, to succeed on the throne. However, Triman would not elect a Kardomirian as their Tzaritsa and in stead elected Jarivlads sister, Miroslava. If Zlata felt slighted, she showed no signs of it. In stead, she started building churches to Svarog and inviting scholars to Kardomir, saying she did it to honour Jarivlads memory.
Zlata, while not becoming queen of Triman was still regarded as the ruler of Kardomir, and her daughter succeeded in her place. Thus the Kardomirian tradition of succession remained even when they were subjects of Triman, and Kardomir has only had Kniaginias since.
Many of the scholars invited by Zlata took up residence in Kniazevo, which quickly became a center of culture and learning. Many scholars traveled around the provinse as well, and after some time, some scholars discovered they could mine for iron in stead of searching for iron in the marches, giving much larger quantities of iron, enough for the needs of the whole kingdom.
From this point onward, Kardomir grew in wealth and power. It’s iron mines gave the surplus to make Kniazevo a capitol of learning and the arts in Triman. Many scholars stared to regard religion as a superstition and argued to turn away from Svarog and focus in stead on man. This lead Kardomirian culture into focusing on the betterment of the individual, and when the alliance between church and state declined, the kniazi of Kardomir started to spend even more on pursuing knowledge, so that soon most of the scholars at the kings court came from Kardomir. This came however at a price. While the upper class of Kardomir had luxury and could pursue philosophy, science and art, most of the commoners lived in extreme poverty. The church accused the nobles of greed, and beggar knights would sometimes even lead villages into open rebellion. These rebellions were never successful, and led only to Kardomir creating cavalry patrols to seek out rebels and beggar knights.
50 years ago the kniaginia of Kardomir restored the old castle of Kardomir, and made it her new residence. Due to the iron trade, the kniazi of Kardomir have had a powerful position at court, a position that was strengthened during the reign of tzar Vsevolod the Cruel. His brother Bezslav had married the kniaginia of Kardomir and was able to bring most of the army of Kardomir to support the tzar. After the tsars death Kardomir insists on having a leading position in the rule of Triman.