The Grand Duchy of Stollen

One of my favorite blogs to follow is the Grand Duchy of Stollen.

If you have never checked it out, you are in for a treat! From the site:

Campaign Geography

The Grand Duchy of Stollen (purple) is a small, unimportant place, surrounded by a gaggle of equally insignificant territories. The Electorate of Zichenau is to the southwest (light blue). The Mark of Schleiz (dark green) is a historically contested region, rich in timber, game, and copper that is controlled at present by Zichenau. The surrounding principalities, too minor to enumerate here, change sides whenever the political winds shift over this particular corner of 18th Century Europe. Nevertheless, they furnish the occasional body of troops to one side or the other in the ongoing struggle between Stollen and Zichenau.

The background that is given to the fictional provinces and the commentary is priceless - not to memtion the love of war games and toy soldiers. An example is the grand duke:

Grand Duke Irwin-Amadeus II, The House of Schöning-Ochsenknecht zum Stollen

Here's the Grand Duke sans his much-loved lobster costume, with two left claws, at the behest of his ever-patient and long-suffering English manservant Hives, who holds that a gentleman should never, ever. . . ever present himself publicly while dressed as a large crustacean.

Quick - you have to check out this site! Definitely one of the best!