Signy of Highshield Champion Lore
Signy, the Baroness Highshield, is the descendant of Sigmund the Highshield, twenty-three generations after his time. She grew up idolizing him, and modeled her life on his. As Sigmund did, she strives to be a friend to the common folk, inviting farmers and soldiers to dine at her table and finding more kinship with them than nobles and courtiers. Her humility does not please the established nobility, however, and they oppose Signy at every turn.
Where Sigmund ruled in a time of war and strife, Signy has, until recently, ruled during one of relative peace and stability. Nonetheless, all is not well in Highshield Barony. Signy’s predecessors did not cultivate Sigmund’s spirit of generosity and camaraderie. Instead, the barony witnessed generations of careless rulership, corruption, and apathy, and this misrule has taken its toll. Peace brought indolence and avarice to the ruling class, who greedily demanded more and more from their tenant farmers. Forced to tighten their belts again and again while the nobility grew fat, the peasants lost their trademark generosity and humor and became more callous and untrusting. All of this distresses Signy, as she attempts to revive the spirit of joviality that once permeated Highshield.
One way in which Signy is attempting to rebuild her barony is through improving relations with its greatest ally: Swiftcreek Brewery. It has been friends of Highshield for generations. Seeds from Highshield’s renowned crop were given to Swiftcreek to help foster their original private agricultural endeavors, and are a large part of Swiftcreek’s success. To this day, Swiftcreek gives Highshield preferential treatment, selling to the region at a discount and donating alcohol to enliven Highshield’s festivals. In exchange, Signy has been a staunch friend and frequent patron of Swiftcreek, and advocates on their behalf should conflicts with other baronies arise. With King Tayba’s War raging, Highshield has signed a security pact with Swiftcreek, and vigorously prosecuted those seeking to use any of its lands as a staging ground for raids on the brewery.
Signy, like her ancestor, is not content to merely issue decrees and entertain guests. She has a fighting spirit that she indulges as part of a ferocious anti-corruption campaign she has fearlessly conducted since her rule began. Many petty landlords, moneylenders, and bandit gangs have faced her scrutiny, often meted out with steel and sweat. She refuses to bear the shield of her namesake, not yet believing she is worthy of it.
Her willingness to engage in personal combat, whether at the head of an army or in duels with malcontent nobles, has inspired awe, anger, and jealousy. One merchant, contracted by Highshield to import works of Dwarven metalcraft, was personally affronted when he was correctly accused of embezzlement. Rather than have his crimes revealed in court, he insisted on an ordeal by combat to prove his innocence. Signy agreed, if only to send a message to any others who might try the same thing. The merchant, having never met Signy personally nor witnessed her strength and skill, was duly humbled when she smashed her zweihander into his plate armor again and again, leaving him bruised and battered and eventually knocked witless to the ground.
That merchant was only one of many contributing to Highshield’s stagnation and moral rot. Thanks to Signy’s efforts, this decline is slowly being reversed. But the old guard, upset that their negligent status quo is being disrupted, are attempting to form a united front against Signy. It is only a matter of time before a decisive tipping point arrives. Signy can only hope that enough of the common folk aid her when it does.