# The Kingdom of Corvel — Political Geography

The master reference for Corvel's kingdom structure, duchies, proximity map, and location registry. Consult this file before drafting any scene that references a duchy, noble, travel time, or place name outside Drenwick.

---

## The Kingdom

**Corvel** is a single kingdom. Six duchies, one crown, one monarch. Noble titles are inherited and confirmed by the crown. The crown operates through writ and council — it rules bureaucratically, not ceremonially. "A royal writ" is a real threat; grand audiences are rare.

- **Monarch:** King Halvar Rethen III
- **Capital:** Varenhold, in the Crownhold
- **Duchies:** six (Thorngate, Aldermere, Wenlow, Vethmarch, Sudermere, plus the Crownhold held directly by the crown)

Drenwick, Phelan's home base, is a provincial river-junction city in the south of the kingdom — far from court and far from the eastern frontier. The real seat of power lies north.

---

## The Six Duchies

| Duchy | Position | Seat | Ruler | Character |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| **Thorngate** | North | Thorngate | Duchess Pamira Varnesse | Old blood, widowed, estate under quiet financial strain. Uses her jurisdictional standing to deflect Compact delegations. |
| **Aldermere** | North (peer to Thorngate) | Aldermere | Duke Garrett Holven | Moderate, horse-breeder nobility. Married into the seat. For a decade he has been quietly acquiring distressed noble debt across the north — including, recently, an unresolved obligation left behind by Duchess Pamira's late husband. He has not moved on it. He could. The duchy Charlette Fields calls "the northern provinces." |
| **The Crownhold** | Central-north | Varenhold (capital) | King Halvar Rethen III *(held directly)* | Bureaucratic crown rule. Late 50s, widowed, competent-but-tired. One heir. |
| **Wenlow** | West | Wenlow | Duchess Isolde Merrenwood | Agricultural heartland — grain, livestock, wine. Rich, pragmatic, deeply tied to the merchant guilds. |
| **Vethmarch** | East / frontier | Arvale Keep | Duke Cason Arvale | Young, ex-military, inherited recently. Holds the mountain frontier, Vethek Pass, and the Vethani Crypts. Pathfinder-adjacent. |
| **Sudermere** | South | Drenwick | Duke Roderic Velthane | Absentee landlord at Velthane Hollow on the southeast coast. Lets the guilds run Drenwick. *This is why Phelan almost never thinks about nobility.* |

### Noble ranks
- **King** — one, confirmed hereditary
- **Duke / Duchess** — six, one per duchy, confirmed by the crown
- **Baron / Baroness** — multiple per duchy, invent as needed
- **Landed gentry** — minor nobility, not titled. The D'Nardis family sits here (matches canon: "minor nobility, territory between cities"). Leon D'Nardis is from this layer.

No counts. Corvel does not use the title.

---

## Proximity Map

```
                                   NORTH
                                     │
         ┌──────────────────────────┴──────────────────────┐
         │                                                   │
         │   ╔════════════════╗        ╔═════════════════╗ │
         │   ║   ALDERMERE    ║════════║    THORNGATE    ║ │
         │   ║   (Duke Holven)║ peers  ║ (Duchess Pamira)║ │
         │   ║   ★ Aldermere  ║        ║   ★ Thorngate   ║ │
         │   ╚═══════╤════════╝        ║  • Athel        ║ │
         │           │                 ║    Repository   ║ │
         │           │                 ║    (E coast)    ║ │
         │           │                 ╚════════╤════════╝ │
         │           │                          │           │
         │     ╔═════╧══════════════════════════╧═════╗    │
         │     ║         THE CROWNHOLD                 ║    │
         │     ║      (King Halvar Rethen III)         ║    │
         │     ║         ★ Varenhold (capital)         ║    │
         │     ╚═══════════╤══════════════════════╤════╝    │
         │                 │                      │          │
         │    ╔════════════╧═══════╗     ╔════════╧════════╗│
    W ───┤    ║     WENLOW         ║     ║    VETHMARCH    ║├── E
         │    ║ (Duchess Merrenwood)║     ║ (Duke Arvale)   ║│
         │    ║    ★ Wenlow         ║     ║  ★ Arvale Keep  ║│
         │    ║   grain, wine       ║     ║  • Vethek Pass  ║│
         │    ║                     ║     ║  • Vethani      ║│
         │    ╚═════════╤═══════════╝     ║    Crypts       ║│
         │              │                 ╚════════╤════════╝│
         │              │                          │         │
         │    ╔═════════╧══════════════════════════╧═══════╗│
         │    ║             SUDERMERE                      ║│
         │    ║         (Duke Velthane — absentee)         ║│
         │    ║                                             ║│
         │    ║   ★ Drenwick (river junction)               ║│
         │    ║   • Greymarch Barrows (~2h S of Drenwick)   ║│
         │    ║   • Velken's Drift (~3h SE of Drenwick)     ║│
         │    ║   • Caldburn (Phelan's prior town)          ║│
         │    ║   • Brenwick (east of Drenwick)             ║│
         │    ║   • Henwick (rural, east — orchards)        ║│
         │    ║   • Saltern Cliffs (SE coast)               ║│
         │    ║   • Velthane Hollow (duke's coastal estate) ║│
         │    ╚═════════════════════════════════════════════╝│
         │                                     │             │
         └─────────────────────────────────────┼─────────────┘
                                               │
                                          SEA (E / SE)
                                           SOUTH
```

### Geography notes
- **Two rivers meet at Drenwick.** One flows roughly southwest from the Crownlands direction (the northern road follows it upriver); one flows east to the sea. The confluence is what built the city.
- **Sea on the east / southeast.** Sudermere holds the coast. Saltern Cliffs sit at the southeast edge of the kingdom.
- **Mountains on the eastern border.** The "eastern ranges" from Book 2 canon — the whole range falls inside Vethmarch. Beyond the mountains is either wilderness or a neighboring realm (undefined, room to grow).

### Travel reference
| From → To | Time | Mode |
|---|---|---|
| Drenwick → Thorngate | ~4 days | carriage (canon) |
| Drenwick → Thorngate | ~3 days | horseback direct |
| Drenwick → Varenhold (capital) | ~6–7 days | carriage via north road |
| Drenwick → Vethek Pass / Vethani Crypts | ~2 weeks | overland, hard terrain |
| Drenwick → Saltern Cliffs (coast) | ~1 day | river barge + short ride |
| Drenwick → Wenlow town | ~2–3 days | cart/carriage west |
| Drenwick → Greymarch Barrows | ~2 hours | walk south |
| Drenwick → Velken's Drift | ~3 hours | cart SE |

---

## Location Registry

Every named place established in Books 1 and 2, plus the new duchy seats introduced by this file. Canonical source of truth for continuity.

| Place | Type | Duchy | First mention | Significance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| **Drenwick** | City (river junction) | Sudermere | Book 1 Ch01 | Phelan's home base. Guild-dominated. Multiple districts. |
| **Thorngate** | City | Thorngate | Book 1 Ch04 | Compact's northern regional office. Pamira's duchy seat. ~4 days N of Drenwick. |
| **Athel Repository** | Pre-Compact ruin | Thorngate | Book 3 | 45-acre eastern-coastal site on Pamira's land. Walled pre-Compact research compound + three cliff-face mines. Sealed perimeter gate with adaptive ward. 6-level underground repository beneath the Descent Building. Dragon colony in Mine 1. Surveyed 20 years ago by Devod's Pathfinder team; opened by Phelan in Book 3. See `world/locations/athel-repository.md` (to be created during Book 3 drafting) for full site detail. |
| **Caldburn** | Town | Sudermere | Book 1 Ch04 | Phelan's prior residence. Uneventful per guild background check. |
| **Brenwick** | Town | Sudermere | Book 1 Ch12 | East of Drenwick. Former ghostveil moss site, acquired by Compact. |
| **Henwick** | Rural / orchard | Sudermere | Book 2 Ch01 | Devod's delivery route source. East of Drenwick. |
| **Greymarch Barrows** | Pre-Compact ruin | Sudermere | Book 1 Ch05 | Underground sealed repository. ~2h S of Drenwick. Killed Jonael's brother Tomael. |
| **Velken's Drift** | Abandoned magical ore mine | Sudermere | Book 1 Ch12 | Ghostveil moss site. ~3h SE of Drenwick by cart. |
| **Saltern Cliffs** | Coastal landmark | Sudermere | Book 1 Ch12 | SE coast. Ghostveil moss growth site. |
| **Velthane Hollow** | Noble estate | Sudermere | This file | Duke Velthane's coastal seat. Explains his absence from Drenwick politics. |
| **Vethani Crypts** | Pre-Compact tomb | Vethmarch | Book 2 Ch04 | Source of Mallory focusing crystal. |
| **Vethek Pass** | Mountain pass | Vethmarch | Book 2 Ch15 | Devod's Pathfinder operation site, ~23 years ago. |
| **Arvale Keep** | Duchy seat | Vethmarch | This file | Duke Cason Arvale's seat. Frontier fortress city. |
| **Aldermere** | City / duchy seat | Aldermere | This file | Duke Holven's seat. "Northern provinces" in earlier canon. |
| **Wenlow** | City / duchy seat | Wenlow | This file | Duchess Merrenwood's seat. Agricultural heartland. |
| **Varenhold** | Capital city | Crownhold | This file | King's seat. Walled, bureaucratic, not ornamental. |
| **The Cairns** | Pathfinder relay network | crosses duchies | Book 2 | Not a place — a network of old Pathfinder waystations used by Ledger for intel. |

---

## Civil Contracts (Marriage, Deeds, Inheritance)

Corvel runs its civil contract law through the crown registry, one office per duchy seat. Property deeds, guild charters, inheritance claims, and marriages are all filed at the same counter under the same crown seal. **Marriage is a civil contract first.** Religious ceremonies exist and vary by faith, but they are optional and legally irrelevant — the registry filing is what the crown recognises. Commoners and middle-class citizens generally file only; nobility often pair the filing with a ceremony for political or dynastic display.

For Drenwick residents, the filing counter is the **Drenwick court house** in the Guild Quarter. See `world/locations/drenwick.md`.

### Crown Papers (Civil Identification)

Every adult subject of the Corvel crown carries **crown papers** — a folded parchment card issued by a crown clerk, bearing the royal seal pressed into wax along one edge, plus the subject's name and birth year written in a clerk's hand. Issued once at adulthood (or at naturalization for immigrants); replaced only if lost or damaged. The wax seal is the authenticating element — crown-registry counters across all six duchies and the Crownhold carry **reference plates** mounted under the counter lip, physical (non-magical) stamp-verification tools used to confirm seal authenticity.

Crown papers are required for civil registry filings (marriage, deeds, inheritance), guild charter signings, noble-adjacent transactions, and any crown-recognised contract. Most adults carry theirs folded in a pocket or purse. Older cards develop characteristic creases from long folding.

Crown registry counters **cross-check marriage filings against both crown records and all six duchy records** for prior joint contracts. A prior contract in any duchy blocks a new filing until the prior contract is resolved.

### Marriage Filing Procedure (Summary)

1. Both parties present themselves at a duchy-seat crown registry counter during posted hours.
2. Filing fee (amount varies by duchy; **six silvers in Sudermere / Drenwick**).
3. Name exchange — clerk records each party's name from their own statement.
4. Papers exchange — clerk verifies crown papers against the reference plate.
5. Clerk reads the standard clause, asks about existing joint contracts across the crown and six duchies.
6. Clerk stamps the page at the filing minute.
7. **Ten-day waiting period** (amount varies by duchy; **ten days in Sudermere / Drenwick**) before the contract takes full legal effect. Automatic — no return visit required.
8. Parties are handed one copy of the filing.

Non-religious default. Ceremonial add-ons (rings, pastors, feasts) are not part of the civil procedure.

---

## The Crown and the Compact

Formally, the Arcane Compact operates under crown charter and pays tribute to Varenhold. In practice the Compact has grown powerful enough that the crown picks its battles. The crown's mechanism for pushback is the duchies: noble estates retain **advisory jurisdiction over Compact regulatory matters on their own territory**. A duke who chooses to exercise this jurisdiction can deflect Compact delegations without contradicting the Compact's charter. Most dukes don't bother. Duchess Pamira does, and that is the entire political axis of Book 3.

The crown is aware of the imbalance. Whether and when the crown acts is the political runway for Books 4+.
