Saturday, January 16, 2010

House Baldwin Territories

House Baldwin. There is a lot of area that makes up the relatively small but significant Kingdom of Jerusalem. In the setting, House Baldwin lived on and the kingdom of Jerusalem became stabilized because of the man power generated by the Latin exodus.

Millions of Europeans tried to escape the Nomad Horde. This increased the capable manpower available for sustaining and establishing the Latin Kingdom. As the population swelled, there was pressure for greater organization and fairer distribution of the limited resources of Palestine.


House Baldwin was in a decline towards the 13C, bowing before more powerful nobles and houses that arrived from the west. It was in the outbreak of civil wars where the house matured into a cohesive middle ground between the European and the Palestinian inhabitants.


Interestingly, the inheritors of House Baldwin legacy are not related by blood to the original line, instead it has become a common practice to adopt capable heirs regardless of blood relation. This is because of the savagery of the civil war, that attempted to unify the fractured lands against the threats of their neighbors as quickly as possible. This meant the soldiers were forgiven, but their masters, the heirs, and families, were punished severely


Instead of organizing it per City or Town, I feel the organization is best achieved through groups of various networks. A group of settlements strategically depend and culturally connected best represent a fiefdom, more precisely than by individual city or town.


There are too many unknown villages that exist within each of these territories to be completely ignored. These villages can serve as the background of so many potential adventures. Characters who are men-at-arms will need these obscure villages as part of their background.


The title has a link of the "Best" map for running this game I have found so far. Looking at my copy of GURPS Fantasy Harkwood inspires me to do a much better job.


Next Up... (hopefully)

Random Village Generator - *(what I want out of a village generator) This should be able to roll up the following: Village main economic produce/role, secondary economic role, power center (religious, military, bureaucratic, noble), condition (wealth, morale), current problem in the minds of the population, current problem of the "power center" (which can be different from the people) and... anything else that will speed up GM improv...


Random NPC Generator - Looking for one online that will do European names (germanic or french).



Principality of Antioch (16 locales)
  • Antioch (town, now city)
  • Albara

  • Marra

  • Apamea

  • Zerdan

  • Artasium

  • St. Simeon

  • Laodicea /Latakieh

  • Gibellum

  • Alexanderetta

  • Castle Biza (oldenbourg p. 312)

  • Castle Athareb (oldenbourg p. 312)

  • Castle Kafartab (oldenbourg p. 312)

  • Artasium

  • Zerdan

  • Artasium

County of Edessa (10 locales)

  • Edessa

  • Ain-Tab

  • Coris

  • Ravendal

  • Madrin

  • Melitene

  • Hisn-Keifa

  • Samosata

  • Turbessel

  • Tulupe

Principality of Damascus (16 locales)

  • Damascus

  • Adratum

  • Bostra

  • Assalt

  • Baalbec / Baalbek

  • Emesa

  • Tadmor

  • Hamah

  • Gadara

  • Homes (oldenbourg p.301)

  • Rasheiya (oldenbourg p.301)

  • Kiswe (oldenbourg p.301)

  • Ezra (oldenbourg p.301)

  • Mazerib (oldenbourg p.301)

  • Bosra (oldenbourg p.301)

  • Jerash (oldenbourg p.301)

Principality of Allepo (6 locales)

  • Allepo (town, now city)
  • Artasium

  • Manby

  • Harran

  • Rakka

  • Shaizar (oldenbourg p.301)

Principality of Armenia (5 locales)

  • Adana

  • Tarsus

  • Tunor

  • Mamistra

  • Marask / Marash

County of Tripoli (10 locales)

  • Tripoli (town, now city)

  • Arqa (oldenbourg p. 375)

  • Margat

  • Tortosa

  • Castle Rouge

  • Bortoun

  • Gibilet

  • Mons Ferandus

  • Chaedes Chaveliers

  • Apelias

Principality of Jerusalem (20/sq km; Pop 420,000) (39 locales)

  • Jerusalem (Pop 12,500)

  • Beirut

  • Sidon

  • Tyre

  • Banias

  • Acre

  • Cesarea

  • Arsuf

  • Jaffa

  • Ibelin

  • Azotus

  • Ascalon

  • Gaza

  • Daron

  • El Arish

  • Kerak of Moab

  • Segor

  • Kerak of Monreal

  • Elim

  • Belfort

  • Toron

  • Montfort

  • Safed

  • Castle Jacob

  • Hattin

  • Tiberias

  • Nazareth

  • Belvoir

  • Baisan

  • Sebaaste

  • Neapolis

  • Maribel

  • Lydd

  • Jerico

  • Ramleh/ Ramla

  • Blanche Garde

  • Bethlehem

  • Hebron

  • Daron



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