The Grand Duchy of Rimini

The Grand Duchy of Rimini is located in the far northeastern part of the Tempest Coast. Until 30 years ago, Rimini was simply an influential independent city in the region, ruled by a City Council made up primarily of merchants. The Mir family, heads of the most important merchant house in the city, effectively ruled that council. Saltin Mir, perhaps in response to the growth of other nearby nations, declared that Rimini would become a Grand Duchy, and that he would be the Grand Duke. None had the wealth or power to oppose him, and he was a good leader, so the Grand Duchy was born. A few nearby towns were persuaded to join the duchy, and it took the shape it has today.

The heart of the duchy is the city of Rimini itself, and the fertile lands of the valley of the River Greve. The marshy Alavan River forms the eastern boundary, and the northern edge of the WitchWood defines the southwestern boundary. It stretches to the foothills of the Iron Spire Mountains beyond Beren Combe in the north. In all, the Grand Duchy covers roughly 2,000 square miles.

Grand Duchy of Rimini
(in Hexographer - 6 mile hex scale)

Rimini is important, and has prospered in recent years, because of its location. The city of Rimini is where the Great North Road (east-west) meets the Coast Road (north-south) coming up from Mercia to the south and continuing into Alsberg to the northeast. This road junction occurs at the western end of Stillwater Reach, where the River Greve empties into the sea, and where there is a good harbor. This confluence of trade arteries has made Rimini a very advantageous location.

Rimini is the only city in the realm, with a population of 12,500. Caledon is a prosperous fishing town of 2,500. Greva sits in the middle of prime farmland in the fertile river valley, and has 2,000 inhabitants. Beren Combe is a mining town located in the hills in the northern part of the Duchy, and has a population of 1,000. Talengard (described below), has a population of 750. The total urban population is 18,750, with another 75,000 living in the rural areas, for a total population of 93,750. Most of these people live along the road and river corridor from Caledon to Talengard. Rimini is one of the more cosmopolitan cities in the Northlands, and is one of the places containing artisans and master craftsmen in large concentration. Metalworking is a big business, using both iron and precious metals mined from the hills near Beren Combe as well as raw materials coming out of scattered mining settlements and the Dwarf hold of Torhaven north of Nandra.

The current Grand Duke is Zefran Mir, son of Saltin. Zefran has been in power since his father's death ten years ago. As his years of rule have gone by, Zefran has become less interested in the daily running of the duchy, which is largely handled by his advisors and the City Council (which does still exist), and spends most of his time working to achieve his dream (some might say obsession) of making Rimini the center of knowledge in the Northlands. To this end, he has rebuilt the ruins of Talengard, a castle site from the Elder days that sits high on a rocky bluff overlooking the River Greve. This complex contains a library, a number of sages, and several temples, including ones dedicated to Tomin (Knowledge), Crastor (Magic) and Valerin (Music and Poetry). Zefran is spending some of his own family fortune (which is quite immense) on this project, and it is having some success at attracting the types of learned people that he desires, such as sages, bards, research-oriented spellcasters and the like.