I'm working to try and understand the "major players" in each county at the end of Anarchy assuming everything goes "according to the script" in the GPC. Understanding that it is very unlikely an *entire* county would be controlled by any one individual and that everyone's campaign will be different, I've tried to over simplify things and list the primary individual (or individuals) who are controlling the various counties. If someone is allied with or a vassal to another major player in the GPC, I've listed the major player in his place. For example, Nanteleod doesn't seem to be in complete control of any counties, but seems to have warlords who have allied to his cause, so I showed "Nanteleod" as the "major player" controlling that county.

My primary source was the Book of the Warlord castles tables. I also used the GPC and Saxons a bit to fill in gaps. Does this look right?

Ascalon: Idres, King of Cornwall
Bedegraine: Derfel, Duke of Lindsey
Berroc: Ulfius, Duke of the Vale
Caercolun: Cwichelm, King of the Angles
Caerwent: Cwichelm, King of the Angles
Kent (Cantium): Æsc, King of Kent
Clarence: Corryn, Duke of Clarcence (Does he ally with Nanteleod?)
Dorsette: Idres, King of Cornwall
Gentian: Ulfius, Duke of the Vale
Glevum: Nanteleod, King of Escavalon
Hantonne: Cerdic, King of the West Saxons
Hartland: Cwichelm, King of the Angles / Æscwine, King of the East Saxons
Huntland: Cwichelm, King of the Angles
Jagent: Idres, King of Cornwall
Lambor: Æsc, King of Kent
Linden: Derfel, Duke of Lindsey
Lonazep: Derfel, Duke of Lindsey
Sussex (Regnentium): Ælle, King of the the South Saxons
Rydychan: Lady of Oxenford / Ulfius, Duke of the Vale
Salisbury: Countess Ellen
Silchester: Ulfius, Duke of the Vale
Summerland: Cadwy, King of the Summerlands
Thamesmouth: Ælle, King of the the South Saxons
Tintagel: Idres, King of Cornwall
Tribruit: Independent? Nanteleod?
Wuerensis: Independent? Nanteleod?

Well, at the end of Anarchy, Nanteleod is dead. Before 508 and Nanteleod's death, Corneus is the Duke of Lindsey, not Derfel.



Ascalon: Idres, King of Cornwall

Yes.


Bedegraine: Derfel, Duke of Lindsey


Nope. Count Sanam of Bedegraine. He is clearly in control in GPC 510.

Note that the events are a bit misleading in the 'End of Anarchy', since they refer to the events DURING the Anarchy. So While Bedegraine Castle seems to have been taken by Baron Edar temporarily, by the end of Anarchy, Sanam has taken it back. Look at Bladud's Mound, for example, all the events predate 509.



Berroc: Ulfius, Duke of the Vale


Looks more like split between Ulfius and Aelle, the south of the river part seems to belong to Saxons.



Caercolun: Cwichelm, King of the Angles


By the castles, yes, but I think there is a mistake here. Camulodunum (Colchester) is taken by the East Saxons in GPC, and it is never said that Angles take it from them. If Angles have taken Camulodunum too, then they have basically taken the whole of Essex. I'd rather change the castle list and have Angles claim the northern Caercolun (Vigor, Hawthorn) and the East Saxons have the rest.



Caerwent: Cwichelm, King of the Angles
Kent (Cantium): Æsc, King of Kent


Yep.



Clarence: Corryn, Duke of Clarcence (Does he ally with Nanteleod?)


Well, in my campaign, Nanteleod whill be dead by the time Corryn inherits, so no. By GPC, Clarence does ally with Nanteleod, which I find a bit displeasing, given the Gloucester-Clarence Feud and Gloucester being in Nanteleod's camp from 501. In my campaign, Clarence allies with Cornwall and gets beaten to submission by Nanteleod.



Dorsette: Idres, King of Cornwall


Nope, Praetor Jonathel, who manages to beat the Cornish invasion back in 500. King Idres never returns again in GPC.



Gentian: Ulfius, Duke of the Vale


Maybe as an overlord, but the heir of Sparrowhawk castle is still alive... Charles, Baron of Sparrowhawk.



Glevum: Nanteleod, King of Escavalon


Nope, he is dead. Even before that, you have Sir Saraviz (and later, Sir Nascor) claiming to be Lord of Glevum (why not Duke???). In GPC, you have Duke Escan of Gloucester, but there is also Duke Escan of Cambenet, so it might be a naming mistake. They are Nanteleod's vassals until 508 at least, and 4th Edition implies that the vassalage extends all the way to 531.



Hantonne: Cerdic, King of the West Saxons
Hartland: Cwichelm, King of the Angles / Æscwine, King of the East Saxons
Huntland: Cwichelm, King of the Angles
Jagent: Idres, King of Cornwall


Yep.



Lambor: Æsc, King of Kent


The h*ll? Should be Baron Edar of Lambor.



Linden: Derfel, Duke of Lindsey


Yep.



Lonazep: Derfel, Duke of Lindsey


Sir Hector de Brun might object.



Sussex (Regnentium): Ælle, King of the the South Saxons


Yep.



Rydychan: Lady of Oxenford / Ulfius, Duke of the Vale


Up to the GM. In my campaign, yes. In other campaigns, they might leave the usurpers in power whilst Ulfius does nothing, which seems to be the BotW default, since the usurpers are still alive at the End of the Anarchy list.



Salisbury: Countess Ellen
Silchester: Ulfius, Duke of the Vale
Summerland: Cadwy, King of the Summerlands


Yes.



Thamesmouth: Ælle, King of the the South Saxons


? Divided between Aesc of Kent and Aescwine of the East Saxons was my impression.



Tintagel: Idres, King of Cornwall


Yep.



Tribruit: Independent? Nanteleod?


Lost in the Forest Sauvage, who cares? (Meilyr, Earl of Tribruit in GPC.)



Wuerensis: Independent? Nanteleod?

Each castle seems to have a different lord, more or less, so no one head honcho. They do unite behind Nanteleod (who has a bigger army than anyone else in the vicinity).

I guess I should adjust my timeline from "end of Anarchy" to "right before the Battle of Wetwood" since that's really what I'm trying to get at. As always, very helpful Morien. Thanks, I really appreciate it!

Happy to be of service. :)

I was going through the list and noticed that Praetor Jonathel is not mentioned anywhere in BotW, which is a shame given Jonathel's role in the Heartblade scenario & mention in the GPC.

There is Sir Robustus at the end of the Anarchy, and then we have Sheriff Garanthir at the End of the Boy King Period, who holds Durnovaria Castle for King Arthur. Oh well, I can always change it back to Jonathel in my campaign.

I was going through this section too. Honestly I had completely overlooked Jonathel until you mentioned it because it just has a small little footnote in the GPC. Glad you mentioned the Hearblade scenario. I can't wait to run that adventure and would have completely missed the opportunity to tie these together.

I am still working on organizing the Idres campaign. Basically it looks like he storms through Cornwall (which makes sense because there aren't a ton of Knights or castles in that region) until he gets to Doresette. It seems like Praetor Jonathel / Sir Robustus organize enough defenses to discourage Idres from continuing his campaign to the east and he decides to attack King Cadwy in the Summerlands. He appears to have some success until Cadwy (and I assume Jonathel / Robustus) are reinforced by Nanteleod.

I'm going to be reading through your notes about the alliance with Idres closely because one of the PKs has already suggested an alliance with Cornwall / Brittany would be useful (to count Roderick) and we haven't even had the feast of St. Albans yet.

I might mention that Cadwy shows up in the Heart Blade, too. Of course, Somerset is mentioned explicitly as a Christian kingdom in that, and Cadwy is very much not the mysterious pagan wizard king that he has become in BotW. :P

In our campaign, I plan on using Clarence to distract Idres from banging his head again on Dorsette. It made less sense to me to have Clarence go along with an alliance with Glevum (via Nanteleod), so they'd be turning to Idres for help. This would work even without Salisbury being in Cornwall's pocket: the shortest route to Clarence is through Somerset.

Why is your PK suggesting an alliance with Cornwall to Roderick prior to St Albans? To make up for the failure of the Estregales alliance in 494?

Exactly. We are in 494 and with the failed embassy to Estergales and Malahaut, the player asked me about Cornwall and Brittany/Armorica. I explained that Idres was loyal to Aurelius (but in my campaign is bitter that lands traditionally belonging to Cornwall were given to Gorlois) so they thought he would be a good ally for Uther. The PK has a hate Saxons passion of 19 so he is trying to figure out any possible way to help defeat the Saxons.

I was going through this section too. Honestly I had completely overlooked Jonathel until you mentioned it because it just has a small little footnote in the GPC. Glad you mentioned the Hearblade scenario. I can't wait to run that adventure and would have completely missed the opportunity to tie these together.

I am still working on organizing the Idres campaign. Basically it looks like he storms through Cornwall (which makes sense because there aren't a ton of Knights or castles in that region) until he gets to Doresette. It seems like Praetor Jonathel / Sir Robustus organize enough defenses to discourage Idres from continuing his campaign to the east and he decides to attack King Cadwy in the Summerlands. He appears to have some success until Cadwy (and I assume Jonathel / Robustus) are reinforced by Nanteleod.

I'm going to be reading through your notes about the alliance with Idres closely because one of the PKs has already suggested an alliance with Cornwall / Brittany would be useful (to count Roderick) and we haven't even had the feast of St. Albans yet.

I have been looking at Dorsette in some detail in that period with the idea of possibly using it as an alternate PK start area.

From the combination of BoW, BoU, and BoM it looks generally like the better defenses and more organized parts of Dorsette is the eastern side.
You have the following:
Durnovaria (walled city); includes the sheriff in a castle in the city, plus being the home location of a "Baron of the Robe".
A royal castle at Pass (Corfe) and also a large royally owned quarry nearby. (So I consider most of Purbeck Island under Uther's control initially.)
Tegwared, Baron of Weir Meadow [Wareham] - a walled market town (an average barony)
Kynon, Baron of Meadowstream [Wimborne] - a walled market town (an average barony)
Bow and Arrow Castle [Portland] belongs to Edaris, Duke of the Marche (This is the farthest west I can find a castle)
Sulien, Count Bedegraine has Castle on the Shining Stream [Sherborn] (Rich Baron) (This is actually in Jagent. And the location of an abbey as well.)

The Castle on the Eagle's Hill () - M&B is built by the locals and then captured by King Idres (I presume in 500) - I am not sure where this is located. Probably western Dorsette, and possibly corresponding to an old hill fort.

There is also mention of a Baron of Twin Rivers appearing and having a M&B castle by the Boy King Period. The book says it is in Devon, but I think the actual location is on the other side of Dorset and would correspond with modern Christchurch. (This matches the old name of Tywnham, and the two rivers as well.) And makes sense as lands being (re)taken from the Saxons in Hatonne during that time period.

Given this my take on western Dorsette in the Uther and Anarchy period is that where the power is concentrated in 2-3 barons in the east there are a larger number of minor barons in the western part of the county, a swath of royal forest, and tracts owned by abbeys (Black Abbot's [Abbotsbury], Stone Abbey of the Giant [Cere Abbas], and the area around Spearshaft [Shaftesbury]. So the western part of the county is less organized and thus more vulnerable to the invasion from Cornwall. I only see the one M&B castle that might be in that area other than the castle in Portland owned by a Great Baron. The only other fortifications would probably be fixing up an old hill fort as a temporary refuge.

As for Jonathel it should be pretty easy to bring him in at about any time by having him succeed Sir Robustus as the leader of Durnovaria, or at least of its army.