The Barony of Ice lies in the southern part of the country of Attellaria; it used to be the Kingdom of Ice, but was absorbed into the country after a brief war in which the ruler of the kingdom was slain by Kibbles. She was appointed Baroness, and now rules the area.
The following is from a meeting that the players had with the military commander who led the army in the war, General Ackbar.
Notes and History: This city is built of white marble, and is sheathed in ice year round, and thus has become known as the City of Ice. Its pivotal position in the southern gem trade (mostly diamonds) has led those trading in such items to call it the same thing, for another reason. In the treasure vaults is a ring which radiates strong magic, a strong sense of evil, and seems to have a soul in it that is reaching about, apparently trying to make contact with someone or something.
The armed forces of the city number about 600 barbarians; roughly 200 were slain before battle ended.
Towns of the Barony - Odra, Jiara, Priaddae and Ditais have their own entries under Attellaria.
General Ackbar has the following information and suggestions to offer.
“The first problem is the barbarian soldiers. Despite the fact that they have been in this country for more than thirty years, they never chose to acclimate themselves to it. They ruled as outsiders, occupiers, and their rule was harsh. ‘Criminals’, or simply those who defied the barbarians, were sent to the mines, never to be seen again. As commander of this situation, my first action is going to be to offer these people positions in the Attellarian army; they will be sent far to the northern border, and dispersed throughout our army. Those who do not choose to accept will be escorted out of the country, back to Tharia. We’ll follow this by gradually raising locals into the army, and using them as a peacekeeping force and border guard, to keep another coup from happening. The Kingdom of Ice is now becoming the Barony of Ice.”
“On that subject, as we all noted, the barbarians proclaimed Kibbles their new queen, but as we’re dispersing them, that has no real effect. However, I am authorized to appoint a baron – or, in this case, baroness – to rule this territory. If you’re willing to do this – and keep in mind this means you won’t be able to be gone very often, or very long, and especially not for the immediate future at all – then the position is yours. If you want any administrative help, I can provide what you’ll need; you’ll be in effective command of the brigade we’re leaving behind for now. I’d suggest leaving them as I’ll be distributing them, with three thousand troops here, and five hundred in each of the four smaller towns. They’ll be provided with food and support. These numbers should shrink substantially within a year, to something more along the lines of five hundred in the City of Ice, and no more than fifty in the smaller towns.”
“The missing rod – now, there’s a problem. Nobody takes issue with it being destroyed in combat, but the rod is the only known way to quickly open portals to the various mining sites where the miners are. They have no more than three days to live, and less for those who went in more than a day ago, since Ison and his guards began their journey to the Path. Unless one of you has a better suggestion, we’re going to have to wish it back into existence.”
“The ring in the vault – for now, I’ve had a magical ward set up around it, which will prevent whatever being inhabits it from escaping or contacting anyone around it. I’ve been told this isn’t a permanent solution, but it will hold for now.”
“The stock of diamonds and other gems will be sold down somewhat, and gradually, in a great deal to finance some rebuilding, and to move living conditions in the barony of Ice to what we’d think of as typical Attellarian standards. We’ll also be spending some of it to disperse the barbarian army, the pay the costs of this military campaign, including the upcoming year of occupation and border patrols. We need to figure out some way to recover the miners, and quickly; it will probably come to the casting of a wish to recover the rod that controls the elemental, so we can save them before they die from exposure to the quasi-elemental plane. It has been suggested that a larger amount of diamonds and gems could be sold without depressing the markets near us, if other markets were sought out; this will require some initial investment. That will be left up to you. Currently, all the gems were sold by requiring buyers to come to the City of Ice, so you can see there is ample opportunity to expand the market, if you have the means to safely transport quantities of valuables. There is of course also the share which goes directly to the kingdom, as spoils of war.”
“The Attellarian army will withdraw down to the levels I’ve mentioned over the coming year. The barony will, for the sake of the gem business, maintain a standing armed force of about seven hundred troops. These will be under the command of the baroness, who will be subject to my command as southern general. Don’t expect me to get involved much in your command, though I’ll expect monthly reports. Between salaries, room and board, and maintenance expenses, the troops will cost about 100,000 gold a year.”
“The final brigade will consist of a colonel, a twelfth level fighter named Cyrka Aglarion; he’s a distant relative of the king, but a good commander despite the nepotism. He commands ten captains, all level nine or ten. There are twenty lieutenants, all level eight or so, about forty sergeants, all level five or six, about eighty corporals, and about five hundred forty privates, all levels one through three. There will be nearly a hundred support staff – cooks, smiths, and such; we’ll hire as many locals as we can for these jobs, and those expenses will be part of the annual budget. You can expect most of the corporals on up to have families with them, but few of the privates; the privates will rotate annually, so I expect few of them to bring family, or to wed while here. The others will serve longer rotations, with the corporals staying for two to three years, the sergeants for about five, the lieutenants for about that long; the captains may take permanent post here, until they are promoted, and the colonel will stay here as long as his career dictates.”
“Finances – this is complicated. I’ll break it down, but these figures are preliminary. The infrastructure of the barony is in a shambles; starvation is rampant, and few if any public services have been maintained. We estimate it will cost about a million gold to restore everything, and to maintain it for the first year. After that, public works and maintenance should be more like 100,000 gold per year. The cost of relocating the barbarian soldiers is quite a bit smaller, on the order of 25,000 gold. The actual cost of this military campaign is about 250,000 gold, counting a year of occupation. The effort to recover the lost miners will almost certainly be only the cost of a wish to recover the rod; that’s 50,000 gold. However, most of the miners are going to need lengthy recuperation, and I doubt you’ll find anyone local who will willingly reenter those mines any time soon, so you’ll need to hire a company of miners with experience in extra-planar work. I’d suggest you find some Dwarven miners; they aren’t cheap, but they know their business. You’ll need about a hundred of them, and that will run you about 50,000 gold a month. Your best bet for that is Tarost, on Hurin island, which is just to the west of here. The royal share of the gems in storage will run to one-fourth; that’s not negotiable. That will be the monthly share of whatever is mined, also. The barony keeps a flat ten percent of income from sales.”
“As far as security for the mines, that’s always been enforced by the ruler having the Quasi-Elemental Rod. What little we know is that the rod allows control of some massive elemental being, which can open portals to the quasi-elemental mineral plane, and sniff out what you want. The being itself was slain, so you may need to locate a new one. We don’t know if the rod gives control over the elemental or just influence. You’ll have to figure that out after it’s recovered.”
“Long term, assuming you keep the mining secure, is the simple problem that this part of the world has poor soil and poor weather, so it’s difficult to raise any crops or pasture any sort of herd animals. There is some lumber, but not a lot and there aren’t many buyers close enough to make it worth transport. Some small amount of precious metal mining takes place here and there; we don’t know if there are sizeable enough lodes to make industrial mining profitable."