Kingdom of Holden
The Kingodm of Holden is one of the nine empires vying for control over Countermay. During the 2012 national Romance of the Nine Empires championship, both semi-finalist Natalie Warner and champion Sean Cassidy played a Holden deck.
History
The smallest of the empires is also one of the youngest. Throughout the wars and tribulations of the past century, the Valley of Holden has become a refuge of sorts for the free people of Countermay. Home to free thinkers and individuals from all regions, this refugee camp grew into a city that grew into a ragtag nation of adventurers, militarily weak but cunning and resourceful, an X factor the rest of the world could not ignore. In the War Against the God-King, Holden’s greatest hero, Simm Buxtehude, played a critical role. He forged an unstable alliance between Malchior, Arcanix, the Seelie of the Tuatha, the Ord and the newly arrived Displaced against the might of the God-King’s forces. With the help of the Seelie prince Dundareel, Buxtehude tricked the God-King into committing his forces, allowing their alliance to sneak the Displaced’s city-killing bomb into His presence. The resulting explosion vaporized Shad-Hujem and buried the Godhead Seat—his source of power—under a mountain of stone. Simm’s final action before he died of a strange wasting illness—“radiation poisoning,” the Displaced called it—was to crown Queen Genevieve and force the other empires to recognize Holden as their equal. Holden now has a permanent place in the Circle of Nine, though many are there who would see this upstart pretender nation of smashed and scattered.