Introduction

The land of the Valley and the smallest in size of the Seven Realms. It had very fertile lowlands, however, and thus it was more populated than Heohlond or Hæthiod. Both the name of the kingdom as well as the name of its capital, Plenmont, reflected its lush surroundings. Korndale along with Adalrik and Ealond were called the heartlands of Adalmearc, since they supplied the Order with the vast majority of its recruits, weapons, and supplies. While the relationship in the past between Korndale and Ealond had always been tenuous at best, Korndale enjoyed close relations with Adalrik even before the unification of Adalmearc, and those relations continued afterwards. The deity associated with Korndale was Egnil, and the banner of the realm was a black bull with red horns upon yellow.

Cities of Korndale

The name of Plenmont suggested at least elevated terrain, but it was not meant to be understood literally. In fact, true to its epitet as the Valley, Korndale was low-lying land and completely flat. Barely anything constituting as hills could be found within its borders. Plenmont was a figurative name. The precise meaning or origin seems lost, but an approximate translation would be 'mountain of plenty', a reference to the incredible fertile farmlands. The capital of Korndale lay in the central, northern part of the kingdom. An important trade route from the east went north through Tricaster towards Adalrik and Ealond; another went east towards the southern cities of Hæthiod through Florentia, which was also a centre for the all-important salt trade with Hæthiod.

Although relations between Korndale and Ealond so often were strenous, even after both realms became part of the Alliance of Adalmearc, trade always flourished between these two kingdoms when not interrupted by war. A sign of this was that Tricaster was the second-largest city in Korndale. The name of the city was not meant to infer that it contained three castles or such; rather that it lay on the crossroads between Valcaster, seat of the jarls of Vale in Adalrik, the southern harbour city of Portesur in Ealond, and Plenmont in Korndale. Thus, Tricaster began as a crossroads between three major cities and grew into a city. Its importance as a facilitator of commerce was shown by how in Ealond, a common unit of weight for gold and gems was called a 'troy pound'; named after Troyes, which is how Tricaster was often pronounced in a shortened fashion in Ealond.

Tricaster had a tumultous history. Despite the many conflicts with Ealond, the prosperity of Tricaster was a good sign of how important trade with Ealond was for Korndale. Unfortunately, said prosperity also often made Tricaster a tempting target for aggression from Ealond, and the city was under attack many times. The most famous of these was the bitter siege of 793, where a weakened Adalrik and in turn a weakened Order tempted the king of Ealond into invading Korndale, seeking to add Tricaster to his territory. The siege was most famous for how it ended. All its defenders were killed save one, who recovered from his wounds: the renowned knight Sir Étienne, the most celebrated hero of Korndale. The reason for his fame is briefly described in the entry for the Order.

Ties to Adalrik

The strong ties to Adalrik were shown by the fact that the royal line of Korndale was the only one to have been allowed marriage into the royal line of Adalrik. Typically, the royal house of Adalrik jealously guarded their ancestry as descendants of Sigvard and rarely allowed others to receive the title of dragonborn. An exception with Korndale was made, however, and on more than one occasion a princess of Adalrik was married to a prince of Korndale. This meant that the kings of Korndale were technically dragonborn and thus contenders for the throne of Adalrik. That was countered by the Adalthing, however, by decreeing that the succession of Adalrik was agnatic; being descendants of Sigvard through matrilineal descent thus excluded the royal line of Korndale.

Ties to Hæthiod

Korndale also had close ties with Hæthiod, whose salt mines were vital to the agricultural industry in Korndale. In the days before the Alliance, being closely aligned with Hæthiod helped Korndale to resist the influence of Ealond and Adalrik. After becoming part of Adalmearc, this need was reduced as Korndale wisely aligned themselves closer with Adalrik; but the salt trade continued to be of great importance between the two realms.

Culturally, Korndale resembled Ealond most closely. The dialect of Mearcspeech between the two realms was difficult to tell apart, both when spoken as well as in choice of vocabulary. However, the people of Korndale, especially in the east, might at times use terms associated with Hæthiod rather than Ealond. The natives of Korndale were also more likely to use words of northern origin than people from Ealond might be.