Sylvania

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Sylvania
Elector Count as of 2520IC	Officially Alberich Haupt-Anderssen of Stirland. Unofficial ruler is Mannfred von Carstein, barred from the position for being a vampire, among other things
Province capital	Waldenhof
Runefang	None
Specialties	Necromancy, ominous architecture, ineffective attempts to take the Imperial crown by force
Commerce	Undead armies, vampires, depression
Primary military colours	Originally white, red and black. Now blood red and blacks, along with whatever the "soldiers" were wearing before they were "recruited"

Sylvania is the most benighted, backwards and cursed realm in the Empire of Warhammer Fantasy. As you'd expect of a Transylvania homage so blatant that literally all it does is drop the first four letters, which just translates to "The Woods." Spoooooky!

History

The land now known as Sylvania was settled by a tribe of humans known as the Fennone, strange and secretive folk who largely shunned their western cousins and the dwarfs of Zhufbar. Sylvania was one of the last provinces to officially join the Empire, doing so during the "Drive to the Frontiers" that occurred several centuries after Sigmar's initial reign. Originally, it was considered part of Stirland, but always privately considered itself to be a separate entity.

The Fennone, unlike other human tribes, were fascinated by magic, and the first nobles of Sylvania constructed their castles in close proximity to Waystones and other nexuses of magical energy. In particular, they developed a fixation upon Shyish, the Wind of Death, and developed their own unique style of necromancy, to some degree independent of the art pioneered by Nagash. This first revealed itself in the year 1111 IC, when the Black Death first began to ravage the empire; when warpstone meterorites rained down over Sylvania on Geheimnisnacht of that year, the Sylvanian count Frederick van Hal, later known to Imperial history as the Arch-Necromancer Vanhel, raised a vast army of undead soldiers to repel the invading skaven forces that sought to exploit a land rich in warpstone and where 9 out of every 10 souls had perished from the plague.

Whilst Sylvania had always been home to vampires and ghouls, it was after 1111 IC that their presence in Sylvania became well-established. Ironically, during the Night of the Restless Dead in 1681 IC, Sylvania actually fared better against the sudden outbreak of undead violence than neighboring Stirland - partially from practical experience in fighting the dead, partially from their willingness to figh fire with fire and necromancy with necromancy. In fact, Sylvania fared so much better than Stirland that they were able to officially win their independence from Stirland in that year.

Sadly, that would be the last real victory Sylvania would ever know. They came under the rule of the Von Drak family, a bunch of bastards so cruel and capricious that when they were killed and replaced by Vlad von Carstein, he was seen as a legitimate step up. Not even the reveal that he was actually a necromancy-practicing vampire bothered the Sylvanians; he was still better than the Von Draks! In fact, they liked him so much that when Vlad decided to launch a war of conquest against the Empire, the living Sylvanians voluntarily marched to war with him alongside their own dead. Unsurprisingly, after Vlad and Isabella fell during the siege of Altdorf, this goodwill did not last long. Vlad's successor, the mad vampire count Konrad von Carstein, was not so well-liked, being a total fucking nutter, but Mannfred von Carstein was seen as a second glorious undead leader in the vein (pun unintended) of Vlad, and once more the living marched with the dead to try and conquer the Empire.

Needless to say, once Mannfred was officially defeated, the rest of the Empire was not very happy with Sylvania, and tried to once again place it under Stirland rule, establishing a new living aristocracy made up of impoverished noble houses, younger siblings, and bastards of the Stirland line. Unsurprisingly, these turned out to be bitter, resentful and ineffectual assholes who were so incompetent that the Sylvanians collectively decided that they'd rather have the vampires back - they were better leaders. The series of brutal, Witch Hunter-led massacres led by Gottlieb the Stern in 2158 IC, known to the rest of the empire as "The Cleansing of Sylvania", only further fueled the locals' indignation and independent spirits.

Geography

Huddled against the eastern edge of the World's Edge Mountains, and with a land further poisoned by generations of necromancy and warpstone showers, Sylvania is an inhospitable pit of a realm, arguably even worse than Norsca. Its close proximity to the mountains leads to bitterly cold, snowy winters, and grim, stormy summers, with icy winds ravaging the land throughout the year. Between sucking bogs, festering moors and dark tangled overgrowth forests lie plains covered in thin, near-useless soil that must be fertilized with peat dragged from the swamplands and sheep-haunted chalky hills.

The line between Sylvania and Stirland to the west has been redrawn every time independence has been declared; it has ranged from the edge of the Haunted Hills to the abandoned village of Murieste, and it currently stretches from the ruins of Mordheim down to the edge of Bylorhof Marsh. In the north, the River Stir provides a border with Ostermark. To the south Sylvania stops at a barren region historically claimed by Averland, but currently held by Stirland; however, the haunted reputation of that place’s stinking marshes and fallow hills results in both Grand Provinces largely ignoring the area. Barrows and battlefields tend to decrease property values, and having a big standing stone that gives you headaches and makes you hear whispers would put anyone off of settling an otherwise convenient area. The south-western corner of Sylvania edges onto Mootland, a narrow border that is steadfastly patrolled by Halfling Fieldwardens.

Inhabitants

Life in Sylvania is nasty, brutish and short, even by Imperial standards, and its people are some of the most benighted souls to be found outside of the peasantry of Bretonnia. Every stereotype and insult leveled unfairly at Stirlanders can be truthfully assigned to Sylvania, and most Sylvanians would proudly agree. Starvation is a constant threat, as trying to work the land means backbreaking work for both small and low-quality returns. So is being eaten by Dire Wolves or ghouls, and so Sylvanians often have a blasé attitude towards death and the dead that is at odds with their neighbours. They take a perverse pride in the harshness of their life, seeing others as “soft” for living in warmer climes, using blackpowder weapons, or associating with the other races - even by Imperial standards, they tend to be racially prejudiced, especially towards nonhumans. Vampires and necromancers are accepted as just facts of life - indeed, they're often considered to make better leaders than human nobles - and mutation is so rife that many Sylvanian villagers don't even bat an eye at deformities that would see a peasant dragged screaming to the stake anywhere else in the Empire.

The humans are, of course, not the only remaining sapient inhabitants. Vampires still lurk where the witch hunters can't find them, plotting to be the next Mannfred or just enjoying the simple bloodsucking life, and the various creatures they brought to unlife wander around now that there are no more wars to fight. The aforementioned ghouls, originally created and recruited as part of the various invasions of the Empire, are reduced to waylaying travelers and raiding villages. The various types of undead used as soldiers by vampires and necromancers occasionally cause trouble, as the massive amounts of background dark magic allow them to be resurrected with relative ease. Wights, bound by both the ancient injunctions to defend their land and the more recent commands to work as shock troops and officers in the armies of the vampire nobility, have been known to display intelligence beyond the bare minimum required to follow orders and handle weapons, and should therefore count as "inhabitants," although mostly they just guard things and stab people that try to rob their tombs.

Provinces of the Empire
Reikland - Averland - Hochland - Middenland - Nordland - Ostland - Ostermark - Stirland - Talabecland - Wissenland
Cities: Altdorf - Averheim - Middenheim - Mordheim - Talabheim - Nuln
Lost Provinces: Solland - Drakwald
Independent Provinces: The Moot - Marienburg - Sylvania