The Northern Marches of Huncle were the northern provinces of the Kingdom of Huncle.
For long a frontier of humanity to the wilderness of the north, these northern marches were border lands, scarcely populated and only barely tamed, founded originally due to military needs, against the northern human and Kanov pagans, Orcs and goblinoid bands.
They existed before the First War of the Power, but where extended significantly to the wilderness, the wild lands to the north. Nominally vassals of Huncle, they where rather independent factually, due the weakness of the Hunclech monarchy. Most of them where human marches, but there was as well grey elven settlements, as the Mark of Cairie.
There were important Grey elf settlements to be found in this region as well, where human authority was far away.
History
The first Northern Marches: the Valley of the Arg and Cairie
While the Five Kingdoms of the Northwest originated from the lands of the Weseuros, by the creation of Sargos, Degoland, Huncle, Tardos -and later, La Cruz- the southern border of the Five Kingdoms was clearly defined by the Osorio river, but the northern borders weren't as defined, being called the Wild Lands or the Wilderness.
Slowly, free settlers will move to the north -to the fields of Argia-, and this migration process will strengthen due the wars during the Five Warring Kingdoms period.
These free settlements, set in a dangerous frontier where lawfully done under the power of the Hunclech monarch, but the needs of the settlers of coin and protection meant that the King of Huncle decided to make the March of Argia to the north -which basically was a move to free their northern vassals of some tax and military feudal obligations, in exchange of not requiring anymore royal protection.-
Later, along the Arg river will be founded as well the marches of Haut and Passage -long after the actual settlements had flourished in the region-, setting a northern border for Huncle that largelly was left in it's own due the weakness of the Hunclech monarchy.
Not only escaped human serfs, second sons of nobles or poor farmers will settle in the Wild Lands of the free north to escape the wars of the south, but as well grey elves will decide to settle these northern lands, escaping from racial percussion: and so will be founded the March of Cairie, which in it's own was the only Grey elven nation among the Five Kingdoms.
As these northern colonies were working hard to endure the hardships of life, they where struck -as the rest of the Five Kingdoms- by the First War of the Power, as an army of the Dark Legion of Demons marched down from the north, sacking and destroying in it's path -and setting the colonisation efforts a setback of decades-.
The second colonisation: Goelathia, Lysandia, Vin and Haven-Morrow
With the defeat of the Dark Legions and the end of the war, many of the occupation forces of orcs, goblins and demons of the Five Kingdoms escaped to the north, to the Wilderness.
This worried the Hunclech monarchs, and while there was already being launched a large and ambitious colonisation project by the humans and elves in Polforia, the Hunclech decided to colonise the north, extending the northern marches.
After the destruction of the First War of the Power -and a long demonic occupation-, there was a large number of refugees who had lost all -and as result of the demonic occupation of about twenty years, many former collaborationist, heretics and demonic cultists, and as well half-breeds, be result of violation or consensual unions with the demonic occupation forces.: all of them who had been marginalised by society- who will march to the north.-giving the Northern Marches a reputation of demonic cults, hybrids and heresy-
To try to counter this, new high nobles where appointed by the Hunclech monarch -which clashed with the previous history of lax monarchic rule-, resulting in political turmoil -and even more rebels will escape to the Northern marches after the failure of the Rivieries.
The northern marches will extend themselves to the north -which worried the dwarves of Helmed, who began their own expansion westward, into the Wilderness, to cut-off the human expansion.
The Karentian Christian church, worried in it's own by the fame of a safe haven for heresies and demon worshippers, and interested in the conversion to Christianity of the Navaarmen, will found the prince-bishopric of Haven-Morrow.
With the expansion of the Northern Marches, Helmed and the conversion to Chirstianity of Navatiak, in the maps it looked like all the north had already been settled and divided: but this wasn't the reality of the scarcely populated northern wilderness, where there still where wild tribes that resisted.
As again the Marches had escaped from direct royal control of the king of Huncle, wars and struggles between the marches became more and more common, and many of the Marquises began to dream of a royal crown.
But as the cities of the valley of the Arg became richer and more populous, the Hunclech monarch began to take an interest into bringing the northern marches back into the royal fold.
Reaffirmation of the Hunclech royal authority
While the Sargonic wars delayed any attempt of the Hunclech crown to reassert their rule on the Northern Marches. the Return of Demons and the beginning of the Second War of the Power will give the opportunity to the Hunclech kings.
The campaigns of the demons of the 2440 against the Five Kingdoms in Sargos and Degoland, but as well against Nortender and across the Barlans and into Erenian and across many mountain passes of the Dargoina Mountains, demonstrated both the weakness of the Northern Marches to coordinate their defensive efforts and their vulnerability from an invasion from the Dargoina or from the north, if not for the Order of Nortender.
Because of this, the kingdom of Hunclech took the opportunity to reaffirm the royal authority over the northern marches, renovating the vassalage, bringing more settlers -more loyal to the crown-, paying stipends and building castles and garrisons to control the mountain paths.
This process was resisted in principle -specially by the richer Marches of the Arg valley, Argia, Haut and Passage.