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Sir Rabe isn’t sure exactly what his father means, given that this snakemen upset will of course be crushed soon enough, scales and all, but he’s glad to see him move on from his daughter being wilful again. If Pa really disapproved really, the halls of Castle Rabe would definitely have heard of it by now. Or at least the echoes. If she is wilful as a result, so be it. Every man among them would lose their right hand before seeing her shed a tear. Young Lady Brunhilde Rabe typically gets what she wants, at least from her family, and right now it seems she wants to get married to the pretty southern boy. Ma would be happy to see her happy, and that is enough. None of this is said between the two gruff Montbrun mountain men, such talk of feelings and wishy washiness belongs in the halls of soft southerners. Real men have better topics to discuss, such as war.
The collection of vales and hills that Lord Rabe claims rulership of are close enough on any map but in reality largely decentralized due to the nature of the geography. The hamlet of Bielefeld is less than a few minutes away as the crow flies, but a full days trek through the winding mountains. While the territory is large on paper, most of the real resources, population and wealth is concentrated to a handful of valleys in between the dominant ridgelines of the mountains. Passes both to other areas of Montbrun and the rest of the continent are critical, and well manned by watchtowers and permanent or held in trust by clans to much the same effect. There are other passes through the Montbrun mountains range, those that lead East into the Slithering Wastelands. They are few and far between, some of these are known only to local clan leaders and all in Rabe lands at least are little more than goat trails that at most could accommodate a handful of desperate or daring trekkers.
The only major passes elsewhere in Montbrun, those that one could feasibly move an army through, are each dominated the three mighty citadels known as Törwatcher Gates. These three mighty gates, each named after an ancient Montbrun saint, are in turn held by the three most powerful families in the Duchy. House Alderagues control Gabriel’s Gate to the South. House Norwache sits in the cold reaches of Peter’s Pass, also known as Norgard to the pagan Norsikaans. The Duke Montbrun rules from the largest of the three, claiming the name of the Törwatcher for themselves in the name of their illustrious ancestor that fought side by side with Cain and Adam in eons past.
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