Skaligdæ

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Map of Skaligdæ

Skaligdæ is an immense island north of Antarctica and south of New Pytharnia in Bahuna, in the southern hemisphere. The island has mild summers and cold winters. Most colonists are from the Pallathantic, especially Thrace, with a large Throvian minority. The largest inhabited cities are on the coast which affords a more moderate climate and more direct access to windships and sky vessels from abroad.

Aurician Rule

The Aurician Senate today appoints the Vice Lord-Governor General of Skaligdæ. The island enjoys nearly complete freedom in internal matters but must defer to the Aurician governor in all foreign matters. Additionally, the Aurician Empire also claims all mineral rights on the island and has prepared charters for select corpora mercia to secure such resources. The Over-provincial Assembly consists of the representatives of landholders. As Skaligdæ does not have a long history, there are very few native aristocrats.

Technological Development

Skaligdæ is rustic to most observers from the Pallathantic. However, modern military equipment and methods have ensured the safety of the colonists from the island's indigenous orcs. There is single dragonrail line that joins cities of the coast and the largest city of the near interior. Titancraft industry is basic and consists largely of maintenance and repairs. There are no major titancraft manufacturing concerns in the colony.

History of Pallathantic Colonization in Skaligdæ

Thracian captain Midiankumir Gandas led an expedition of nine skycraft which discovered the island in 2468, claiming the land in the name of the King of Thrace. Orcs were discovered and slain in due measure to make room for coastal settlements. In the following one hundred years, Thracian colonists and other subjects of the Kalikán trickled into the northernmest tip of the island, bringing gontha, skycraft, and other crafts to the land. Only a few hardy colonists and political exiles came to the remote land and more Pallathantic people who left their homelands preferred New Pytharnia and other colonies in Orrhymby and Bahuna. Intrepid explorers penetrated the interior of the land which is a subarctic climate. Some returned with accounts of a mountain wasteland covered with pine trees or tundra. Most did not return and were assumed slain by orcs or to have succumbed to the harsh climate. The colony maintained ties with its fatherland through annual visits, but the Thracian Viceroy had nearly complete control of the island and ruled with an iron fist, reminding the colonists of the continual threat of orcish invasion. The vast distance to the Pallathantic made for little chance of complaint to the King of Thrace. Many early colonists came from a similar climate in the Jaggudorns. But unlike the Jaggudorns, Skaligdæ offered land for settlement and herding. Only the orcs stood in the way.

Skaligdæ is famous for rugged mountains, snow, and tractless forests

The Great Sky War brought the colony into the attention of Pallathantic rulers. Before the signatories of the Treaty of Tauhad (2576) could gather in the Ithrads, Aurician agents sped to the southern hemisphere and led a revolution against the Thracian Viceroy, then claimed the island in the name of the new Grand Duchy of Aurice. Similar agents were sent to New Pytharnia, but could not secure the island. Later, news of the Treaty of Tauhad (2576) came to the Thracian Viceroy. Official envoys of the treaty signatories were sent to all the colonial holdings. The Treaty required that Thrace be stripped of all her colonial holdings and their independence ensured. The treaty did not use the term 'sovereign' and this left matters uncertain. Disagreement over the rule of both Skaligdæ and New Pytharnia erupted into conflict between partisans of Aurice and Asbardy in the Skaligdæse War, 2576 to 2586. Aurice retained patronage of Skaligdæ but relinquished all claims to New Pytharnia which came under the patronage of the Archduchy of Asbardy.

Bijälian Rule

During the rule of House Bijäl, Skaligdæ became an over-province administered by a vice-ducal governor appointed by the Grand Duke of Aurice. As the colony had been originally kept under the strong grip of the Thracian Governor, the new vice-ducal governor was a breath of fresh air that brought Aurician rule into favor with the colonials.


See Also