Duchy of the Solicitous Boar

The Duchy of the Solicitous Boar was a duchy country destroyed by the wandering weevils.

Background

The region is remembered as one of the lands destroyed in three recorded outbreaks of the wandering weevils. The third of these outbreaks occured in the Duchy of the Solicitous Boar over 140 years before KQ3. The outbreak began some three hundred and sixty years after the previous outbreak in the Vale of Obscurity.

The country was named after its most famous tavern the Solicitous Boar. The reason why it was named after a tavern was lost to history.

The weevils were called up there by a sorcerer who wanted to increase his power. He had read about Entomon Wilson and wanted to follow his example. Instead of wasting time inventing the bugs he used those that had already been made. The sorcerer fled when he realized they were out of his control.

The tavern owner got the idea to drown the insects in ale. He got a few, the rest got him and and his tavern. When the bugs had eaten everything in sight and the land was destroyed, another sorcerer came, Ulan Vasx, and tried to set things to right.

The sorcerer conjured up a demon to dig a deep hole, right down to the center of the earth. Then he ordered the demon to blow a magical wind throughout the land and sweep all of the bugs right into the hole. When that was done, the demon dove down into the hole after the weevils and closed the hole back up. Where the duchy used to be is now a desert. A cursed desert. Because the demon walked there and the demon's breath touched everything within the duchy, nothing will grow. If any living creature even steps onto the land, it will die.

It would not be another one hundred and forty years until the weevils would be released on the world again in the Kingdom of Daventry, by the removal of a magical and protective stump, apparently allowing the weevils to escape from the center of the earth. .

Behind the scenes

The exact location of the duchy is unknown, one of the few clues being that it is apparently north of Daventry, or alternatively high up in the mountains (as the weevils were 'called up there') on the same continent. It may be located near or within the Endless Desert. The Endless Desert was also a kingdom that was destroyed in a similar way by a demonic creature, but unlike the cursed desert is not deadly to walk in (unless someone runs out of water).  It could be located in another desert south of Serenia.

If up in the mountains it may be located somewhere up in the Great Mountains, Hibestian Range, or Glass Mountains, or even the Westering Mountains. This might place it east of Daventry, or even south east of daventry. In which case it might be part of the southern kingdoms where Daventry's people fled when the three-headed dragon came to the land.

It is likely to be near the Vale of Obscurity (which was the previous place weevilsattacked), and Sideria which was the first place destroyed by the weevils. Assuming that the weevils didn't travel very far each time they destroyed a nation, and then went into hibernation.