Know Thy Neighbor

Because every good German state has to have neighbors, I present to you the neighbors to the south, the Landgraviate of Ober-Schweinsberg.

The ancestors of the current Landgrave received the land in gift after the first Landgrave, then a landless knight, raised and personally led a body of men into the stronghold of a powerful robber baron to rescue the kidnapped daughter of a nearby Duke. His success in not only rescuing the daughter but eliminating the band of robbers endeared him to the Duke, earning him not only the grant of the land of the former Baron but also the hand of the Duke's daughter in marriage.

Such, at least, is the official history, though there are those mostly from neighboring provinces who contend that the robber Baron was actually a partner to the Landgrave-to-be, and the entire kidnapping plot was simply a scheme to allow the knight and the daughter to marry with the father's blessings.

Regardless of the rumors, however, the Landgraviate is a small but proud country with a long tradition of arms and has been known to provide mercenary companies to many of the larger states in their various conflicts through the years.