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A COMPREHENSIVE HISTORY OF GREATER LUNARIS
By Krasniy Yastreb
The Beginning
For eons, what was the southern region of the old Duchy of Goldshire was a good deal more wild and less populated than it is today. Perhaps because of this it began to accumulate the burned-out detritus of Shirerithian society who, bringing an aura of destitution and mental instability around them in ever increasing numbers, began to manifest strange phenomena in the area by their mere presence. Forests of saplings would sprout from previously barren plains; old established forests would wither and die in places. Well-drained heathland pooled into swamps, then lakes.
The spirit of aimless lunacy which seemed to instigate this peculiar terraforming only grew in strength, driving the rabbits from their burrows and into the fields, birthing young tinted with purple fur. As the spirit posessed ever greater numbers of plant and animal species, it was only inevitable that it would be manifested in humanoid form. And so it came to pass in the form of Eriana Moon.
The Eriana Moon Era
Eriana was, and is, for all intents and purposes, a quasi-deity. Reputedly able to shift form at will to that of any creature in existence, and adopt the its collective spirit. In human form, Eriana quickly became a folk legend and hero among the legions of lunatics whose disturbed spirit is throught to have created her. Drawn to the attention of the ruling nobles she was received well, and soon granted baronetcy of Goldshire's southern lands which were to be known as Lunaris, home of Shireroth's most helpless lunatics.
Baroness Moon enjoyed a productive rule over Lunaris, cementing its very identity by her presence which continued to shape the barony's topography itself by some unknown force. A flag was commissioned for the barony:
The original flag of Lunaris
In time she instituted her most famous decree, 'Art for all', the provision of every possible form of artistic medium to as many possible Lunatics, so the lunacy of the people might produce something outstanding and be warded away from the dark pursuits of the unhealthily idle. Although the program blew a hole in the Barony's finances and forced an indefinite postponement soon after, the infrastructure that was laid down proved a huge success and its legacy resounds to this day, with theatres built during the era serving as the popular social hubs and marketplaces of many Lunatic communities.
A map drafted at the peak of Eriana's reign over Lunaris
> Nemorosus Volaticus - Forest of Flight, home to the Owls of Lunaris.
> Pratum Libertas - Freedom Meadow, and:
> Nemorosus Salus - Forest of Safety, both home to the deer population of Lunaris.
> Lacus Conticinium - Early Evening Lake, beneath which lurks some unknown and unspeakable evil, rumoured to remain there to this day despite the lake's evaporation.
> Tantillus Arcanum - Small Sacred Secret
> Hortus Ortus Intemptesta Nox - Dead of Night Garden, full of night blooming botanical curiosities such as Moonflower, Evening Primrose and Datura. Survives to this day and is designated a holy site.
Although occasionally afflicted by plagues of cats, Lunaris enjoyed relative calm even during times of rebellion and inter-feudal strife. This can only be put down to the local inhabitants being a) too far away with the fairies to be of use press-ganging into anything as organised as a trained fighting unit, and b) far too confusing and headache-inducing to fight if one wanted to declare war on them.
Inter-fiefdom politics, despite sparing Lunaris their slimy claws for the most part, have showed their hand once or twice. One incident involved a shift of power in Goldshire, due to the marriage of the ruling Duchess. Frightened of the power the new Duke would wield over Lunaris, Baroness Moon made her worries known to the Duchess, and an arrangement was made whereby Lunaris was moved under the jurisdiction of Kildare, who in return gave up the Barony of the Kitanus Fields who were in open rebellion at the time.
The Tragic Death
Baroness Eriana Moon's fall from the heights of greatness eventually came when her lover, Greg the Baron of Amity and Mirioth, fell ill with a mysterious case of severe poisoning leaving him in a comatose state. In order to provide the life force necessary to revive him, Eriana made the ultimate sacrifice and took her own life with a dagger through the heart. Her blood was collected by an owl in her service, combined with the tears of her guardian dragon, and flown to the Barony of Amity and Mirioth to awaken the Baron from his coma. Eriana's body and the remnants of her spirit were taken away by the guardian dragon to an etheral plane unknown and inaccessible to mortals.
At this, the land of Lunaris itself was rent with tempests and earthquakes. Many of the great forests died, withered and rotted into the earth. What new growth there was seemed to hug the coast as some strange element of protection. The site of Eriana's physical resting place was compacted by movements in the very earth itself, channeled by her guardian dragon to cocoon her tomb under miles of bedrock. This became the Eldar Mountain Range.
Aftermath and Partition
In time the land settled, and the inhabitants came from the homes they'd been hiding in to adjust to the new land. The southern region had flattened out almost to spirit-level perfection, with the earth churned up and rich in soil nutrients. The north had been packed and gouged with mountains and valleys, as well as a great forest.
Then came the much loved yet bitterly hated New Feudalism, in which arbitrary borders were drawn across the realm as it was divided along county lines. Although other fiefdoms were treated sympathatically by the changes, Lunaris stood weak at the time and unable to defend its interest. By arbitrary pen-stroke it was sliced in half, as the counties of Upper and Lower Lunaris. At the time it remained under what was called the Barony of Kildare under the Duchy of Kildare. A valiant new Baron appeared, H4773r 3lfs0n, to take charge of the Barony which he soon renamed to Vorpmadal to avoid confusion with its Duchal fatherland of the time. H4773r made his home in Upper Lunaris, giving new life to the northern lands. Eventually the south saw life too, as Krasniy Yastreb, a resident from ancient times, took the Countship of the southern lands. Between them, H4773r and Krasniy brought what stability they could to a divided land, although it was not to last. First Krasniy, then H4773r drifted away lured by other concerns and Lunaris once again stood forlorn and uncertain in its future.
Krasniy's Return and Reunification
Eventually however, what seemed like many many aeons later, Krasniy Yastreb returned to reclaim countship of the lower lands which he found to be under Brookshirian ducal control. His first action was to confine behind bars the more disturbed lunatics, who in this wild time had lost direction without a leader and their famed Lunatic creativity had been cast asunder. His cause was aided by the Ministry of Military Affairs, who assigned a space research programme to Lower Lunaris at a secretive research facility called Novaya Sorensk.
However well the lower lands were doing, however, the spectre of the untended upper lands and of a divided Lunaris continued to haunt the place. The decisive moment came, however, upon the appointment of Count Krasniy to the Baronship of Vorpmadal, giving him the oppurtunity to right the ancient wrong and reunite the counties as one, which was decreed immediately.
Lunaris after Eriana Moon's death, the arrival of H4773r and Krasniy, and the reunification
To be continued....
Is your stay a long one? Under Article 4 of the Lunatic Charter I'm obliged to give you the countship if you ask for it, so if you want it just say the word... 
