County of Alasend

On paper, this is just a normal county part of the Duchy of Gwynllan     The County seat is held by House Selwyth. Currently the land is held by a sorceress in her late fifties. She has multiple heirs. The first in line heir is a son known for being skilled in battle but especially well-lettered, currently serving at the front of the Fumaya-Swynfaredia war.   Most of the baronies are held by Selywth lords and ladies. One barony is held by a bloodline sorcerer and another barony is held by a member of House Gorisonad, the Barony of Breezes.   The Barony is Breezes is NOT strictly hereditary, and has rotating barons and baronesses. On paper the ruler of the Barony of Breezes is appointed by the Countess of Alasend, but in practice the baron or baroness is selected by the Gorisonad upper echelons. This Barony of Breezes is considered the cushiest assignment in the Gorisonad coalition, because it houses a luxury palace. A lot of older dragonbloods choose to spend their winters here.

The main industry here is reagent harvesting.   The area has some farmland, but County is mostly forested. The farmland is to feed the locals, not for export.   The area produces timber, but the county harvests trees very conservatively. The Selwyths prefer to keep the forest relatively wild in order to maximize reagent availability and as an olive branch to the Stewards.   The Barony of Breezes is a sort of luxury resort for dragonbloods, so it fuels a bit of a tourist industry. The palace has a pleasant climate, gentle breezes and is relatively close to a lot of high end wineries in neighboring counties.   The native reagents are best suited to Transmutation and Invocation magic, but the area boasts a lot of alchemists, so due to the science of alchemical reagent transformation, they can produce whatever reagents they want.

The area boasts valuable natural resources, but relatively few manmade assets of note, with the major exception of the Palace of Breezes. A sort of resort area for dragonbloods controlled by House Gorisonad and their allies.

House Selwyth is known for sneaky stuff and for bending the rules when it comes to necromancy. The County of Alasend represents their attempt to put a respectable face forward to the other houses.   Since the Duchy of Gwynllan is a hotbed of Fremiss-on-Fremiss intrigue, House Selwyth has tried to use the County of Alasend as a third wheel to accrue favors and influence in both House Fremiss-Angharad and Gaerwyn par Fremiss-Bryallan.

Long ago, this was a colony of the Elven Empire that rebelled. The area saw it's share of coups and rotating dynasties before it was eventually annexed into Swynfaredia.   Since falling under the management of House Selwyth, House Selwyth has deliberately let the forest reclaim a fair bit of farmland. House Selwyth made a rare overture to the Nonagon and made an arrangement with the Stewards of the Dominion giving them more autonomy here in exchange for reagents.

Stewards of the Dominion and Stewards of the Gift both have a major temple here.   The Steward of the Gift temple has temples of several of the rest of the the Nine clustered near them making this holding relatively more pious than most of Swynfaredia.