Worldbuilding Wednesday #3 - History of the Fenneclands (Patreon)

Before it was the Fenneclands, the homeland of the sheep and goats was known as Aries. A land of proud mountaineers and plainsmen, they guarded their borders fiercely with a tight ring of warrior tribes, each led by a mighty Ram. The interior of the country was the king's domain, but the ring was for the Rams.

Highly xenophobic and tradition-bound, the Ovine kingdom refused entry and was very picky with who they traded their precious wool with. This made them very unpopular with neighboring counties, especially once the Canine Empire began sweeping through the continent.

King Dolphense and the Darlings

The Ovine nation stubbornly held out against the Canine Empire for years, but their resources began to dry up as they were denied trade on all sides. The current king, Lem Dolphense, had little experience with leading armies, allowing the Rams to just sort of do their own thing, which often led to infighting and breaks in the border. His popularity dwindled further and further as they lost more and more land, and he spent most of the early years of his rule in a deep despair.

It was then that Renard Darling, an upstart but charming young nobleman from across the Bourbon Sea snuck his way into Dolphense's court and approached him in private. Darling had held a not unsignificant amount of land outside the domain of the Canines for some years now, and rumors of his luck and craftiness got around quickly.

"I have a proposition for you, friend. Listen to me and I can assure you and your people both see prosperity."

Dolphense knew that any plan that Darling was behind was probably a better one than he could ever craft, and they shook on it. Darling became Aries' not-so-secret benefactor, rumors of their alliance intentionally disseminated among the people. The sheep were a proud people, but they could not dispute the quality of the new foodstocks and weapons that were mysteriously coming in, and when their border was broken by the invading forces, Renard and his men finally revealed themselves, personally turning the tides of battle. He had taken on the qualities of a folk hero, the Fox Sheperd, friend of sheep.

Dolphense's popularity skyrocketed. His friendship with Renard and his wife Fantomet was well-publicized, and their first child was born within Aries' borders. Spurred on by the bravery of his friend, the King took to the front lines to personally push back the invading dogs, and was tragically slain doing so. It came to no one's surprise that Dolphense, an heirless king, chose to pass his throne onto the man who pulled their country through its darkest hour, unorthodox though it was, but cheers turned to murmurs of confusion as Renard immediately passed the crown off to a small Fennec nobleman named Folly.

As it turned out, Folly had promised the hand of his only daughter Zerda to Renard in exchange for a kingdom of his own, in what was intended as an impossible challenge. And yet Folly got his kingdom, Renard got his second wife, and Aries got a new name: The Fenneclands. 

Oh. Also, Folly immediately signed a treaty with the Canine empire.

People were pretty pissed for the first decade or so, but after a while it became hard not to admit things were better for them under the Darlings and Canines than they'd ever been under the Rams. Especially once Folly died and succession passed over the late Zerda and onto the young Vix Darling, who was technically an Aries native. Still, Dolphense became a symbol of martyrdom for them. A King who'd given up everything for his kingdom, betrayed by his closest friend.

Of course, the real Lem Dolphense died comfortably from old age, kicking back in a small private cottage in the countryside of Sorveil, far away from the stresses of leadership.