Frenbeltag



The Duchy of Frenbeltag is a region in the eastern parts of the kingdom of Yurgenschmidt, and currently holds the state of a middle duchy. The current Archduke of Frenbeltag is Florencia's elder brother and his first wife is Aub Sylvester's elder sister.

The territory is bordered by the following other territories:
 * The duchy of Ehrenfest to the East
 * The duchy of Ahrensbach to the Southeast
 * The former territory of the duchy of Zausengas to the North
 * The former territory of the duchy of Trostwerk to the Northwest
 * the former territory of the duchy of Scharfer to the Southwest
 * The former territory of the duchy of Werkerstock to the South

The duchy's colour is light-blue.

During the civil war Frenbeltag decided to put their support behind the faction of the first and later fourth princes and actively participate in the fighting. Their side ultimately lost the conflict. While initially merciful, after serveral incidents caused by nobles from defeated duchies the new king gave in the pressure of his allies spearheaded by Klassenberg and initiated an extensive purge.

Among the executed nobles was the Aub, his first wife and their chosen successors, leaving the son of the Aub's third wife to take up the mantle, despite having been raised as a vassal and never receiving the education of someone expected to play an active role in politics.

All this caused the duchy to lose much of it's political power and led to massive mana shortages, even more severe than those in Ehrenfest. Their current place in the duchy rankings is fifteen, the lowest of the middle duchies.

Due to both the Aub and his first wife being the respectiv siblings of their Ehrenfest counterparts, they have a very strong position in negotiations with their neighbor. This enabled them to repeatedly ask for Ehrenfest to fill small chalices for them during the Dedication Ritual, even when the Ehrenfest temple didn't have the spare mana capacity to fill them all, requiring Sylvester to use the mana of two imprisoned criminals to supplement the mana of the local priesthood. At times Ferdinand is able to mitigate this effect to a certain degree, but not always.

During Rozemyne's coma Ehrenfest was no longer providing as many chalices to Frenbeltag as prior, leading the duchy to struggle more and more.

Once Rozemyne woke up again and started attending the Royal Academy, Rudiger - the son of the archducal couple - carefully inquired about whether she was already engaged with anyone, hinting at Frenbeltag seeking to strengthen their bonds with Ehrenfest even further, with another marriage between the two duchies.

Hearing how the archduke's children of Ehrenfest were helping with the Spring Prayer inspired Rudiger to ask his parents for permission to do the same. Likely due to how desperate the situation in their duchy was, they gave him their permission and as a result that year's harvest was considerably larger than the previous ones. The effect was big enough that it even brought hope back to the dejected nobles of the duchy.

Te great benefit that just Rudiger alone joining Religious Ceremonies in the temple had on the harvest of the central district had a big knock-on effect on the duchy. Soon the Aub began sending other archduke candidates along to the temple and encouraged the Giebes to also supplement their small chalices with some of their own mana for spring prayer, further increasing the harvests all over the duchy. This not only resulted in the situation of Frenbeltag improving markedly, but also caused the local nobles' opinion of the temple to increase significantly.

Having felt this difference first hand Aub Frenbeltag tried to convince other duchies suffering greatly from the mana shortage to implement similar changes, but initially his advice fell on deaf ears due to the strong prejudice against the temples. With the royal family endorsing Ehrenfest's Dedication Ritual at the royal academy however, they hope this issue will change.

At the Interduchy Tournament of Rozemyne's third academy year, Constanze suggested a joint research project between Frenbeltag and Ehrenfest to investigate and document the precise improvements of their duchys' central districts respective harvests following this change, which Ehrenfest seemed receptive of. If it comes to pass the project will be helmed by Wilfried and Charlotte, since Rozemyne is expected to once again be unable to remain at the royal academy next year, which would be disruptive to leading any joint project herself.

Apart from the business side of things, Aub Frenbeltag and his wife also learned that there is a good chance that their respecitve siblings in Ehrenfest might be expecting a child, since Florencia has shown signs of pregnancy, albeit it is not certain.