Carthmoor

[revanne]

Carthmoor is a royal Duchy at least by the time of Kelson,  and therefore presumably provides a considerable income and also manpower for feudal levies,  and yet it appears to be totally devoid of towns at least according to the map in the Deryni Adventure Game. Am I  missing something and if not is it acceptable to invent places as long as they are appropriate i.e. not Las Vegas or the like.?

[Evie]

Don't see why not, I invented places all the time! 

[Jerusha]

The maps of Carthmoor seem to have forgotten that towns exist.  Invent away - especially if it means a new fanfic is in the works! 

[Elkhound]

Either that or find some good reason why there are no significant towns.

[Evie]

I think it's simply that Carthmoor doesn't really figure all that much in the stories (that I can recall anyway), and therefore when it came time to put towns onto the maps, no one thought to make locations up to put there. It's mainly mentioned in canon in connection with "Prince Nigel, Duke of ...." But I'm certain the man is duke of something besides blank space!

[DesertRose]

Or even Duke of something besides acres upon acres of farmland. 

[Evie]

My poster map shows Point Kental as that lowest tip of southwest Carthmoor, and it appears that New Argeod is in Carthmoor as well. Haut Eirial might be in Lendour if the river just south of it marks the border, but just barely so. It's hard to tell how far east the duchy extends before it runs up against the Corwyn western border. It could end at the foothills of the Lendour mountain range, or continue past that as far as the Rhengarth River that empties out into Coroth Bay just west of the city itself. (Personally I suspect the mountains mark the border, but the map doesn't make that clear.)

[Elkhound]

Perhaps it is like Algaria in David Eddings' "Belgariad"?

[Evie]

It's been so long since I read the Belgariad, I don't recall a thing about it anymore, other than that I enjoyed the books.

[DesertRose]

IIRC (it's been a while since I read them myself), Algaria was a rather large country in land area that consisted largely of grassland, and the population were mostly nomadic herders of cattle and horses, so there really weren't any cities or towns to speak of in Algaria.

[Laurna]

When I get home, I will look in the codex, but I recall when Mooryn was split, one of the royal Fistil's designated one Deryni family to receive  the Carthmoor lands and the Corwyn lands were made an independant Duchy. About a hundred and fifty years later the Haldanes awarded Carthmoor to be the duchy for the king's brother, I think Duke Richard was the first( I'm at work and can not confirm this.) I would imagine the  coast line is filled with fishing villages and the rest is farm land, But there may be some interesting old ruins of Deryni Manor homes on the hills. Perhaps it is like the most Southwestern portion of England. You will have to tell us. I was incorrperationg a tiny bit of that old Deryni family into the  history of the Rengarth era,985, so I would love to hear of new towns and villages there.

[Shiral]

I think it's simply that Carthmoor doesn't really figure all that much in the stories (that I can recall anyway), and therefore when it came time to put towns onto the maps, no one thought to make locations up to put there. It's mainly mentioned in canon in connection with "Prince Nigel, Duke of ...." But I'm certain the man is duke of something besides blank space!

Nigel, the new Duke of Carthmoor goes to visit his new Duchy. Soon rides back to Rhemuth in a fury and bursts into his Royal brother's study:
"Brion, you never TOLD me that the Duchy of Carthmoor is just a big drawing with no towns in it!"
Brion:  "Well, you never ASKED!"

[Laurna]

Love it Shiral.

For those who don't have the Codex, I will give a brief history of Carthmoor as listed there. The ancient Kingdom of Mooryn evolved from the withdrawal of the Byzantyun Empire after 561. It was Deryni-ruled until the last King died in 833.  His daughter Brionne had already been married to Festil I's eldest son, Festil II. When she died in 835. Mooryn was broken in half: Coroth was given to a Dominic Du Joux as reward for helping King Festil I to Gwynedd's throne, and Carthmoor was reserved for younger sons of the King. The Deryni Festilic dukes were disposed in 917 by the regents and the title passed to Rhys Michael Haldane and his sons.
There is no mention of specific towns in the Codex, but it does state that there are "an assortment of lesser Earldoms and Baronies lying between it and the Duchy of Corwyn to the East."

On the Codex map there is St Ultan's near Kilchon on the southern point. There is St Perpetua along the coastline South of Abbeyford. Abbeyford is on the Lendour river. As Evie states, the poster map has New Argeod (a one time Deryni monastery) just south of Abbeyford. And Haut Eirial is in the hills on the boarder with Lendour.

St. Ultan's Priory was an order of the Ordo Verbi Dei. Abbot Ultan from the 5th century had been a keeper of bees, "from which, it is said, he learned to hum like a bee... he devised a completely new theory of harmonious chant, and founded an academy devoted to the promotion and study of coordinated syncopated humming in ecclesiastical choirs."Codex page 251
I don't find any information on St. Perpetua.

Being of more temperate climate, although likely windy from the Sea, I see Carthmoor as rocky coastal cliffs, cleared rolling hills and farm land, with scattered woodlands.

Revanne, have fun traveling in Carthmoor and let us know what you find.

[revanne]

Thank you all - that's very helpful

I was actually only intending a very short chapter on the Valoret ghost but things have rather got out of hand!

[TKnTexas]

"Thank you all - that's very helpful

I was actually only intending a very short chapter on the Valoret ghost but things have rather got out of hand!"

I was not aware that the story teller had options in this?