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Demonsul · 05-24-2019, 01:41 AM

Spheres of Influence:

[Image: c19a02824ac4bd46d70ca51d1bd742bd.png]

In the last century, peace has reigned by and large between the human realms and their neighbours. The leaders and kings are united in concord by their Alliance and freed from having to fear the monstrous races lurking beneath and beyond the mountains. They have turned their gaze to both inwards development and outward expansion overseas. This is a changing age, a rising age of humanity. Technology is poised to begin advancing rapidly, casting aside old manual tools for new machines, and magic is being harnessed in new and ever more powerful ways.

In this world, you will control a state. Either your country is a part of the Alliance, or it exists on the fringes of it. Peace has allowed states in the Alliance to focus less on defending themselves from nearby rivals and more on vaunting themselves to new heights, and as a result, we are on the cusp of a new era.

The wind is changing. Tumultuous times lie ahead. How will you lead your people in the coming decades? Will you build an empire that spans the globe?

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Alright folks, I know states games have had rough going on Eagle Time and didn't survive the transition from Chocpi super well. That's why I'm going back to basics, building this one from parts I know work, and hoping it can stick it out and make this one of the longer-running games.

For returning players, the new thing in this game is the Alliance. Players will (hopefully) mostly start in a large defensive alliance that will discourage wars of aggression within its borders and demand that all members protect each other from outside threats. Starting in the Alliance is optional, but inflicts no penalties on your country other than the need to follow its rules on not being aggressive towards other members, and to volunteer a small defensive force to help patrol its borders. The Alliance will have a voting council, allowing players to vote and influence NPCs to vote with them, and put forward votes on issues if they desire. This could lead to the Alliance becoming stronger and more united over time, if guided right, or else could result in its collapse.

This game will be split into a two-turn system, as has been established to work. There will be diplomatic turns, where you can interact with other players, make diplomatic deals, starts wars and engage in intrigue and sneakiness to your hearts content. These will be followed by long turns, during which you will send me commands in a PM that will dictate how your country unfolds over a ten year timeskip. Once that's done, we will have another diplomatic turn, and so on.

Almost everything official is PM-based, and you are free to send PMs to other players. The only key rule in that regard is that all in-game communication needs to be seen by me, the GM. During diplomatic turns, you may also send commands to me for things like sending spies or making agreements. Once a long turn starts, you can no longer strike new deals, and must submit long turn commands. Once everyone has submitted commands, the turn will be resolved, ten years pass in-game, and diplomacy can resume.

You will be playing as the leaders of the country you create, which means who you are playing at can change if, for example, you have democratically elected leaders or are overthrown, whether it be due to gross negligence and popular revolt, a coup of your own devising, or another player's spectacularly successful assassination attempt. Over the course of the game, you will be able to invent new technologies and expand your nation's dominion across the map. There are no winners in this game – though if you feel particularly vindictive, you could ensure other players lose.

Be advised, you will be arguing about the things that happen in this game for years. Salt is still being spilled about one of these games I ran eight years ago to this very day.

APPLICATION:
Country Name: What do people call your country?
Country Colour: What colour represents you? What are you going to try and paint the map?
Government: Who rules? How do they rule, and how are they viewed?
Leader: Who is in charge at this exact moment? What are they like?
Society: Who lives here, and what is the country known for?
History: How did this country come to be? Is it old or young?
Alliance: Is this country a part of the Alliance, or is it merely on their border?

Demonsul · 05-24-2019, 01:42 AM

CODEX

Conventions and Articles of the Alliance:

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Alliance conventions are held every ten years, coinciding with diplomatic turns. At these conventions, new articles are proposed and debated, and the Alliance diplomats are able to meet and discuss the affairs of the world.

The Alliance has a Council, consisting of its more influential members. Currently, the Council consists of Kor Vurneus, The Unity of Nature's Friends, Tiranóg, Nova Kalla, Khuln Kalduhr and Praterre. The Council's main power is that each member is allowed to propose one new article at each convention, to be voted on by all the other states. Each vote is decided by simple majority; if there are more yes votes than no votes, it passes.

Votes are currently assigned as follows;

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List of Past Articles:

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Power and Numbers:

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Non-Player Countries

Maps

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Primary Races of the Alliance

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Humans:

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Dwarves:

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Other Races of the World

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Orcs:

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Elves:

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Lizardfolk:

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Goblins:

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Bugs:

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History Timeline

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Cidellus · 05-24-2019, 02:12 AM

Country Name: Khuln Kalduhr "The City of Steel Fire"
Country Colour: A nice dorfy blue.
Government: Khuln Kalduhr is led traditionally by a King or Queen elected by a Khulnazan (a moot held by the dwarven council: the Thullmazet) from the old monarch's children. The Council is appointed by the monarch legally, but is traditionally composed of the heads of the hold's clans. The monarch legally holds absolute power, but is advised by the council.
Leader: King Thedrin II Ultarthull ("Ironbeard the Second of the Clan of Ultar"). He is tall and broad for a dwarf, standing at 4'11" and weighing close to 250 pounds. He has solid black hair that hasn't yet gone to gray, a giant black beard, and steely blue eyes that shine with adventurous spirit. In battle, he wears an ancient suit of Runic Adamantine plate passed down from ruler to ruler since the Golden Age, and wields the finest Khuln Kalduhr firearms available. He has dual Runic axes looped at his side in case of melee. He wears a blue cape emblazoned with the symbol of Khuln Kalduhr, and usually wears an elaborate helmet into battle that protects his beard. Aside from being a great warrior, Thedrin also possesses an excellent singing voice, often singing with his men prior to battle. He has a strong hatred of bugs and goblins alike, and a healthy respect for the races of the Alliance. As with many dwarves, Thedrin can also be stubborn when he's made up his mind, ruthless against those who have wronged him, and incredibly loyal to those who have done right by him. He is also very sentimental, and places great importance on remembrance and reflection on past events.

Drawing of Thedrin courtesy of Corn:

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Society: Kalduhr is home to to a massive population of dwarves, many of whom are refugees or descendants of refugees from lost holds. The hold houses all manner of stout dwarven professionals, but the hold is most famous for its production of artillery and firearms. A Kalduhr cannon or firearm is second to none, or so these dwarves claim.

The dwarves worship a number of gods, but the most prominent are:

Norakhin - God of Governance, Order, Ceremonies, Commerce, Fortune, and Family. Name means 'Respected Counsel'.

Okgron - Goddess of Crafting, Innovation, Wisdom, and Inspiration. Name means 'United Vision'.

Thrardoul - God of Death, Funerals, Curses, and Mourning. Name means 'Father Death'.

Dordare - Goddess of War, Vengeance, and Fury. Name means 'Silver Song'.

Olilsia - God of Healing, Life, Birth, and Compassion. Name means 'Merciful Heart'.

Erinwilda - Goddess of the Unknown, Chaos, the Wilderness, and Colonization. Name means 'Warden of the Wilds'.

Dhu - The planet itself. Stone and sand are their skin, magma their blood, water their tears and sweat, earthquakes and tremors their wrath. They are the supreme being, the creator and home of all life, origin of all prosperity.

History: Kalduhr was founded approximately 2,996 years ago by a mighty and legendary king named Ultar. He was reputed to have a beard made of pure steel, and his axe once knocked a giant's head CLEAN off with a single strike! Under his reign and the reign of his descendants, the House of Ultar built Kalduhr into a mighty center of smelting and forging as vassals of the High King.

Their brave warriors fought in the War of Reprisals against the Elves, leading to a weakening of both sides before disaster finally struck. The dwarven capital of Verdaral was taken by a massive hive, marking the beginning of disaster after disaster as the High Kingdom collapsed completely. The Royal Clan refused to leave, choosing to stand their ground and die with their empire. The Adamantine Throne was defiled, and all was believed lost. This was not true, of course! The daughter of the High King, his last living heir, made her way to Kalduhr with many Verdaral refugees. In due time, she was married to the heir of Kalduhr, and the two lines became one.

Now reigns the great-great-grandson of this union: Thedrin II. First of three children, Thedrin spent his early years as a warrior adventurer, and knows well the many courts that make up dwarfkind. He is known as a resolute, brave, fearsome, and vengeful adversary and a loyal, steadfast friend.

Most of all, he is a dwarf of action.

Taking up the ancestral Axe of Ultar, he promises to end his father's Age of Recovery, initiating the Age of Reclamation! It is his goal to assume the mantle of High King, recover the lost holds, and restore the lost glory of the dwarven people!

KHULN HA THULL! ("CITY AND CLAN!")
GRO ZA YAMDRA! ("UNITED WE STAND!")

Alliance: Khuln Kalduhr has been a member of the alliance since its inception, standing as eternal enemies of the Bugmen wherever they stand.
Dwarven Vocabulary:

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Dwarven Creation Myth

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MQuinny1234 · 05-24-2019, 03:22 AM

APPLICATION:

Country Name: Kor Vurneus

Country Colour: Dark Blue +Flag

Government: Who rules? How do they rule, and how are they viewed?
The rulers of Kor Vurneus are the Kimarisal, a group of Knights and Scholars whom serve a being they call Cimeies, a holy-order, a theocracy. Under them are the typical nobles who govern the bureaucracy and day to day ruling of communities, the smaller lands and villages and towns. Sometimes, a retired military member of the Kimarisal or a more studious member will rule a major town or city with help from lower nobles, or also rule over an area with more defensive strategic or financial importance for the nation that the Kimarisal would rather have a more direct hand in governing over.

The Kimarisal group is equally the leaders of Kor Vurneus's military as it is the rest of the country, they just delegate a bit for the more peaceful matters. Most members of the Kimarisal, and entirely the ones that are Knights, are beings they call Andrasics. They don't like to show this side of themselves to outsiders of the nation, or to explain the nature of it, and so mostly the Scholars deal with the outside diplomacy, but it's at best an open secret that the Knights of the Kimarisal are beings of great physical power, awareness and durability. All Andrasics have a seal tattooed over their heart, made of silver ink. The citizens of Kor Vurneus view the mysticism and aloofness of the Kisarisal with some fear, but it's considered a great honour to strive to be a member, and few when offered the chance to join the order refuse it outright. This is as the Kimarisal are known to be either stoutfast defenders of Kor Vurneus from the encrouching bugs and evils of the world, and noble and hard-working agents to protect and guide the people. So, whilst Nobles are fairly common place leaders of local organisations and lands, the Kimarisal are a rank above that.

The Kimarisal have a head Knight who deals with more military matters, and a head Scholar whom handles... well, almost everything else. Scholars can be bureaucrats, spies, scientists, mages, diplomats, etc, and so tend to be a very busy and varied bunch of people which gives their head Scholar no small amount of headaches. Knights are generally soldiers, but can also be medics, architects, engineers and battle-mages also. The head Knight has the title of Velpit, whilst the head Scholar has the title of Cregit.

There are also the Priests, whom live solely in the fortress of Kor Malocens Laquiem.

Leader: Velpit Nitor and Cregit Exiro. Velpit and Cregit are their respective titles.

Nitor is a slightly tall woman with short golden hair and light brown eyes, looks like she's been in her 30s for a long time. Wears heavy black metal and silver armour, and carries a sword, shield and a large crossbow on her person. Her symbol of office is of a silver wolf head facing to the right. She is not known publicly very well, and is normally located at the front lines of the mountains between Kor Vurneus and the buglands. She is the Knight commander of the 20 legions of Kor Vurneus.

Exiro keeps his face covered normally, but his name is more well known and presence is seen around and outside the country. He has golden hair also, but much longer, down to his waist, and dark grey eyes, and the same palish unblemished skin as Nitor but a naturally darker tone. He is much more varied in his clothing, sometimes heavily garbed in brown simple clothing and robes, others in black fabric and medium armour of iron and silver. Keeps a short sword and knife on his person. His symbol of office is of a silver raven's head facing to the left. He is the Scholar Principal of the people of Kor Vurneus.

Society:
The region is a human majority populace, there is a distaste for elves and their history and a light primitive fear of Orcs, despite their original help against the bugs. The people outside the military aren't known for much, a quiet serious folk who's industry is still a little primitive and simple, in that it focuses on food and materials for the war machine that is Kor Vurneus's military might. Most traders focus on gathering supplies and allies, focusing on gathering bulk resources and keeping an eye out for anything that may add to Kor Vurneus's war efforts. There is sympathy for the dwarves and their plight, and they greatly appreciate dwarven craftsmanship and the materials the under-folk can offer in metals and weapons. Families tend to have large numbers, and communities are tight-knit, but all have a significant portion of members that have been sent off west to help defend the Bronze Pass, which unites all the people of Kor Vurneus in pride and loss.

The land of Kor Vurneus is more useful for materials and resources than farming, which, is a problem since they need both but food is harder to do without than good metal, even if you're a soldier. Currently, the problem Kimarisal is putting itself to is either finding some kind of animal or crop they can introduce that'll flourish and be edible, or finding outside trade partners. A good war front required a healthy country behind it, like in a battle, a powerful swing and a strong stance requires good legs.

The most common 'faith' is the veneration of a being known as Cimeies. The history of Cemeies is not particularly well known, mostly being a collection of stories both featuring Cemeies in high-fantastical adventures, and of soldiers and heroes who venerated him or were blessed by him in some way, becoming unto like him as his avatars or favored beings. In these collections of stories, there are 71 other beings, said to be related to him in some way that sometimes appear. Some he opposes regularly, some are friends, some stories involve interacting with or finding favour or battling these beings instead of focusing on Cimeies. The genres differ greatly as well, there are romances, comedies, tragedies, great sweeping epics of mortals fighting against wicked machinations of greater beings, debates of morality and philosophy with members of this pantheons championing causes. It can almost be said that the religion of Kor Vurneus is found in all of it's literature and characters. Even factual tomes will have passages and quotes of great works from these 72 figures. There is more detailed knowledge on these 71 other beings but knowledge of them is the purview of the Scholars and other members of the Kimarisal. Obviously other books have been introduced to Kor Vurneus, but typically without the introduction of an edited edition, formatting it to fit in with the lands written works, it does not find much ground.

Cimeies is a patron saint of soldiers, and is depicted as a handsome black-clad warrior with reddish-blonde hair with wide golden wings and a shining golden aura. He is a being of battle, but also the act of finding lost or hidden items and treasures, and the pursuit and art of literature. It's common for homes to have a small idol of him to pray to, a local celebration and festive activity involves the hiding of gifts around town for children to find, and most books include a quote of his at either the start or beginning of the tale, perhaps as a blurb, hint or summation of the books morals, as a final lesson and to seek a blessing to Cimeies on the tome. In battle, his virtues are strength of spirit, to keep one's mind and sense of self steady despite the horrors and chaos of war, and courage, to know that the odds and failure of a challenge in front of oneself do not truly determine whether one should fight. Logic is an import and valued tool in war and in life, but it strips away the delusion that a situation is better than it is, and fear is born as the price to see what true steps one must take in one's conquest, and so both courage and a clear mind are needed to snatch victory from reckless defeat or hesitant cowardice. Partly because of Cimeies, soldiers are expected to know their letters, and many retired soldiers return home with an expanded knack for reading and writing, and a wider knowledge of literature.

Other religions are allowed and thus to pray to other beings too, as Cimeies is hardly the god of farming or art, nor is claimed to be a creator deity or an all-seeing high-father, it is just believed that he looks after and blesses Kor Vurneus's soldiers, and is thus a major figure to a large aspect of the countries populace and been incorporated into the culture over the centuries. Although, rather than other religions, mostly idols of the rest of Cimeies pantheon are prayed to, if applicable. Opinions can be wide and varied about what some of the more minor beings purviews are, but hey! It works well enough normally.

History: Roughly 162 AF. The name of Kor Vurneus has existed since before the country's title, and public records imply that what became the country was originally just a minor region, based around a fortress set into a lone mountain. Those curious about Kor Vurneus's history can easily enough find that the capital city of the country, Patorian, exists under the eastern shadow of a solitary mountain called Mons Solunus, and on this mountain is the fortress Kor Malocens Laquiem.

The region began to grow slowly after the collapse of the Tharassan Empire, a far-off point of stability during the ensuing chaos of the sunken city. This was also the time that the first legends of Andrasics can be found, knights travelling under moon-light skies, and under strange oaths and following unknown quests. A spree of assassinations and attacks took place, burgeoning kingdoms snuffed out, societies exterminated and rising heroes and villains alike pruned. A decade later, and their presence seemed to fade outside their own growing kingdom, but never finished entirely, and their goals undetermined, since many wicked kings and noble saints had gone ignored.

Myths of wandering warriors and determined hunters and enigmatic agents continued and more details were added to the legend. The lack of blood of their victims, the request of invitations to homes and lodgings, strange prayers and tongues spoken by them, inhuman strength and tenacity and wild frenzies, animalistic speed and monstrous senses, weakness to silver and purifying herbs. Red eyes, pale skin, golden hair and lupine fangs, shrouds of darkness and silent movements that hide their passage, but for the calling of night birds and bawing of wolves that give away their presence.

Legends, of course, and old ones at that. In reality, Kor Vurneus grew slowly with the influx of refugees and the city of Patorian formed itself as the new public center of society. From the fortress of Kor Malocens Laquiem, descended leaders of the new society, to set up rulership and law of the growing land, forming the public group and image of the Kimarisal. Legends of the hero-saint Cimeies are introduced and a public military is set up to enforce the law and guard the bounderies of the new country. Things were good for a few centuries.

And theeeen shit went to shit. Because buuuuuuuugs. Thankfully, after the initial assault, the Kimarisal summoned all their Knights from their other borders and did their best to set up a defensive wall that managed to hold long enough, whilst being pushed back still, for support from the other realms to appear and a united front to succeed. Glory to the Alliance! For the last century, Kor Vurneus has become singularly focused on replenishing the lost Andrasic Knights and agents lost in the initial incursion, and to try to overcome the knock-back they suffered so they can start pushing back and begin to grow as a country again instead of the treading water they are currently doing. The bugs shall be defeated and the lands and civilians of Kor Vurneus and beyond will be safe again.

Alliance: Yes. YES. PLEASE HELP!

Vancho1 · 05-24-2019, 03:45 AM

Country Name: The Unity of Nature's Friends (The Friends/Unity/Leafies)

Country Colour: A lovely living green

Government: The Unity of Nature's Friends is organized in a communal society. Local affairs in each settlement are decided by community meeting, while the affairs of the nation as a whole are governed by the Elders' Circle. Elders are wise and respected members of their communities who are elected to serve a higher purpose. They come from all walks of life, and some notable mages have been elected as Elders quite early in their lives. The Elders' Circle is headed by the Guardian of Nature, who is chosen from among their number. The Guardian is considered the foremost authority among the Unity, and is trusted with the well-being of the whole nation. It is rare that the Elders go against the Guardian, as it is tradition and custom to come to a consensus and find a solution that works for everyone. A Guardian will usually serve for around ten years, though some serve only a short time, while others may lead the Unity for decades.

Leader: Guardian Alyn Loras "Sings-with-birds". Alyn is one of the younger Guardians in recent years, at a (relatively) youthful forty-three. They are a skilled mage and have a close affinity for birds, which they use to keep an eye on the situation across the lands. They were elected for their skillful handling of a crop failure in their home town, as well as negotiating agreeable conclusions to some land disputes and showing a high aptitude with magic and a keen desire to learn and apply knowledge. They are currently married to Robb Wiley, a silversmith, and have two children named Finch and Edwic from their previous partners. Alyn and their two exes remain friends, and share custody of the kids. They sadly have much less time to spend with family since being elected Guardian.

Society: The Unity is an agrarian pacifist nation, consisting mainly of humans but welcoming to all. People usually live in small to mid-sized towns, with large and productive fields. There are a few larger cities which are important centers of trade and craft. The Friends try and live in harmony with nature and others around them. They put a large importance on education and personal enrichment, and enjoy culture and the arts as well. Their main specialty is a deep knowledge of the natural world and nature magic, which allows them to enhance the growth of plants, communicate to an extent with plants and animals, improve the fertility of soil, and purify the environment. The Friends put a high value on skillful trade and craft, and pride themselves on making good, quality tools that last. They are generally apprehensive of recent advances in industrial technology, but are looking for ways to integrate them into their current way of life.

Although they are very peaceful, the Elders' Council maintains a small corps of trained fighters for community defense and to contribute to the Alliance's efforts to keep the bugs back. Though few in number, they are unmatched in discipline and esprit de corps. Many who choose to fight are also magically gifted to an extent, using their abilities to heal and protect their friends. The Unity also trains battlemages who are capable of magically enhancing their allies' abilities, granting such traits as improved vision, speed, toughening skin, strengthening bones, and so on. The battlemages can also take part directly in combat, transforming themselves into half-beasts who fight with the ferocity and strength of many soldiers. The most powerful among them can transform themselves fully, becoming huge, magical versions of their animal forms. It is rumored that the Guardian is entrusted with even deeper secrets, and can call upon the life-force of living things around them for power in times of desperate need.

Members of the Unity are known for calling fellow Friends "Brother", "Sister", or "Sibling", and for calling strangers "Friend"

History: The roots of the Unity date back to 168 AF, when former court mage of the Tharassan Empire Floris Neophytos emerged from the wilderness after being missing for over a decade. Known for being one of the few mages at court critical of the plan to raise Emperor Nemo to godhood, which led to his dismissal from court, he was assumed to be dead, either killed by Nemo's assassins or simply perished far from home in the Imperial hinterlands. Floris had always been interested in elvish magic and craft, but during his time at court he was more motivated by harnessing the powerful magic that the elves were said to possess in the past. After returning from the wilds, Floris was a changed man. His personality was much different - instead of being self-centered and power-hungry, he became a quiet, caring, and generous man. He became a wandering sage, helping villagers with their problems and crops. At that time he started calling himself Floris "Speaks-With-Trees", and began preaching a lifestyle of peace, respect, and harmony with nature. His way of life attracted followers, and soon entire towns began listening to his teachings. Floris eventually settled down and codified his beliefs, writing a small book called "Unity and Friendship With Nature". From that book, his followers started calling themselves "The Unity of Nature's Friends".

When Floris reached the end of his life, he passed down his knowledge to those who had been with him the longest. He told them that after his exile from court he was pursued by Emperor Nemo's assassins. Starving and desperate, he fled deep into the wilds, losing himself in the thick and untamed lands. For many days he waded through marshes, walked through high grasses where wild animals grazed, and struggled through the deep woods. Finally, at the end of his strength, when even magic could not give him energy or propel him farther, he collapsed by a natural spring. The next thing he remembered was hearing a voice offering him help and a soothing feeling. He thought he was dying and seeing an angel of the gods, but the vision persisted. Finally his fever broke and he had the strength to sit up. Floris saw lying around him some fruit, which he immediately started eating. Over the next few weeks he figured out that the voice he heard came from a very large and old tree which had roots throughout the mineral pool of the spring. He learned that it was innately magical, and even though it didn't have a brain or mind in the sense that we know of, the tree was intelligent and had taken pity on him. It had directed the squirrels and birds that lived in its branches to feed him while he was sick, and the larger creatures of the forest to care for his body.

Floris spent the next several years learning from the forest and speaking to the trees and the animals. He learned many secrets and studied how to be a steward of the land and give back to those who rescued his life. He eventually decided to leave, telling his new friends that the rest of the world needed to learn as he did. He departed with the blessing of the tree's spirit and a newfound mission in life. As Floris died, he entreated his friends to be wise and caring, and entrusted his closest companion, an old herbalist named Chloe, with the honor of being the Guardian of Nature, the inheritor to his mission.

In the intervening years the Unity's influence waxed and waned. They remained popular among the peasantry, who always welcomed the magical help, and inspired a few peasant revolts (most notably in 237 AF and in 322 AF, both of which established short-lived peasants' republics). Along the way, different Friends would have their own communications with powerful living beings, such as Brynn "Sky-Hunter" who spoke with the Great Bear and learned the secrets of assuming animal form, Liara "Whispers-in-the-wind" who calmed hurricanes with the knowledge of plants which had seen many storms before, and even ones of dubious veracity like Jamie "Stone-Blood" who claimed to have learned the language of dirt and rocks from a mountain. The current polity dates back to 554 AF, when a group of Friends managed to convince a few cities and their surrounding towns to follow their way of life in the wake of a succession crisis and civil war in their kingdom. This time, the Unity decided to take a more cautious approach, and when order was restored they offered to pay tribute as vassals and provide food and high-quality goods in exchange for local autonomy. The strategy worked, and over the next several decades they spread their teachings until finally the monarchy peacefully abdicated in 601 AF. The Unity was mostly left alone after that, trading with its neighbors and occasionally paying tribute in exchange for protection from attack. By the 650s they were relatively self-sufficient, having trained a sufficient number of people in the more offensive and powerful arts passed down from Floris and others to defend themselves. By that point, the Unity had stopped active expansion efforts, mostly focusing on tending to its own and occasionally sending itinerant mages out into the world to help strangers in need. When the Xei swarm threatened to overwhelm the realms of humans, dwarves, and orcs, however, they quickly sprang to action. The Unity claims that their negotiators were essential in the formation of the Alliance, though others may disagree. It is indisputable, though, that they contributed a valuable part of the defense force, cementing the Unity as a free and independent member of the Alliance.

Alliance: The Friends are a founding member of the Alliance.

Gods&Religion:
The Friends don't have a unified religious structure, instead venerating the many gods of the various human peoples (and some gods adapted from the dwarves, elves, and orcs). However, the dominant pantheon in the region is as follows.

Nobody knows what came before the Gods, and whether there was a beginning or if the universe is cyclical. However, the first among the gods to awaken was Issaya the Green, She who tends the garden of the world. She is the mother of the human race and aided her fellow gods in coming forth. When they formed their first circle, the Gods came together to shape the world into its current form. They did many great acts, living much as we do, and left their marks on the world. When they were finished and satisfied, they left for their realms, said to number among the stars, from which they oversee creation and occasionally provide miracles, answer prayers, and empower demigods. Those worshiped by the Unity are:

Issaya the Green, She who tends the Garden: First-born among the gods, mother to humans, Goddess of nature, fertility, life, love, and beginnings.
Bookrin World-Shield: God of duty, honor, and law. He is the protector of the world, and is patron of those who stand guard at the Bronze Pass
Sumai the Singer: Gender-fluid God of music, culture, art, and trickery. He/she/they are known by many names and is said to have invented theater.
Orryn: The Wandering God, patron to travelers, said to walk the world on occasion.
Emolyn Huntress: Goddess of the wilds and the hunt. Also known as Emolyn Stormbringer in her aspect as the goddess of rain and storms.
Waha: Goddess of fire, the forge, and craft.
Volomir: God of the Sea, older brother to Emolyn.
Arria/Arryn/Arrol: Goddess of day and summer/God of night and winter/God of twilight, spring and autumn, and change. A three-faced god known by three names.
Doric, the Last: God of Death, Fate, Prophecy, and Endings, they were the last among the gods to reveal themself. They do not speak except to the dead and those who are doomed to die, that is to say mortals. It is said they offer a choice to each soul - whether to be reborn again in new life, or to pass forever into the realm of the gods and be judged by the others. They send visions to prophets. They alone have no realm or temples.

Protoman · 05-25-2019, 09:15 PM

Country Name: The Nogroon Khanate.

Country Colour: Red as the Border-Time Between Night and Day.

Government: A tribal theocracy led by a Khan of Khans, the Child of the Angels, Priest of the Great Gods, Bringer of Their Wrath, Wellspring of their Love, Scourge of the Sinful and Protector of the Living.

Leader: Anora Khan, Evenstar, Child of the Stars and the Horizon, Khan of Khans, Priest-Mage and Warrior of the Nogroon. An Orc of great piety and courage, Anora Khan was known from a young age to have great skill with magic. Trained as a warrior and a priest-mage, she defended her tribe to the age of thirty-seven, when the Prophet of the Great Gods chose her as the child-incarnate of Harr and Sved. Filled with confidence, holy purpose, and the wisdom of the Steppe, she now looks out across the plains and dreams of newcoming glory.

Society: The Nogroon Khaganate is equally a unique phenomenon on the steppe and a product of it. It holds true to many of the cultural norms of the Orcish steppe. The gods are the same as they have been throughout, with the tribesman's lives being presided over by Meltemay of the Ocean, Gangadir of the Mountains, Oraima of the Skies, Aljarik of the Sea of Grass, and Hezmiri of the Winding River. They also share the same multipolar understanding of gender as most Steppe-Orcs, with genders (categorized as such as they are part of a system determining traditional marriage practices and certain social expectations) being determined by the god an individual's soul is determined to be most aligned with. The social expectations do not pertain to types of jobs, so much as how the individual in question is expected to conduct themselves therein (as described in later sections). Challenging the rulings of the priests who make the determination has known to be done, and corrections often happen. Some people have been known to rest between the categories, and this has been widely accepted in the Nogroon (given their Khan's status, and the Prophet's approval). A traditional Orcish marriage typically is made up of one of each group, creating a circle said to mirror the marriage of the gods (though exceptions have been known to exist, and could become more widely accepted in time). It should also be stated that Orcish language is pronoun-free, though they respect species that do use pronouns, and they will broadly accept whichever pronouns are assigned to them, as the terms are devoid of cultural weight in most of their eyes. Those that do care are taken seriously by their kin and spoken of in their preferred pronouns when speaking a language that uses them. Misgender someone and they'll brain you, because respect matters.

They do not discriminate against those of other races who might choose to join them, seeing it as the duty of all orcs to serve the gods, but accepting those who decide to take that duty onto themselves as kin. They have a strong sense of justice, believe in economic equality (even if social equality tends to be rigidly structured at times), and see it as their duty to stomp out unrighteousness wherever they can. Crimes are typically punished by demanding the person take on greater responsibilities for their tribe for a period of time. Imprisonment and banishment are reserved for serious crimes. The most serious crimes - those such as kinslaying, for example - might involve a person being sacrificed to the gods on a pyre in order to cleanse their soul for their next reincarnation.

History: An old tribe but a young power, the Nogroon have spent centuries as a small group of families, wandering the steppe and fighting for survival - utterly mundane, totally mediocre. This was the case until only recently when an old, wandering Orc - Nakihat, a nomad among nomads - met them on their traditional migratory route. Grizzled and wise, he claimed to be a prophet, receiving word from the Gods about the Nogroon, and about their destiny. One day, he said, they would create an empire which would stretch across the steppe, a Khanate of the Great Gods. Under this Khanate, he said, peace would reign, justice would be brought to the enemies of peace, and righteousness would reign for centuries.

The Nogroon dismissed him as a doddering old man seeking refuge from the harshness of the steppes. The more they learned of the man, though, the more he seemed credible. When they entered the Great Sunset City, Shono, a crowd of the elderly began to form around him. They bowed at his feet, and gave him gifts of flowers. These elders told the Nogroon that Nakihat was once a high priest of the Tsusny Khagnate, the strongest tribe of its day. For decades, with Nakihat as the Khan's right-hand man, the Tsusny prospered, and it came closest of to conquering the steppe. When the tribe's Khan grew bloodthirsty and wicked, Nakihat turned his back on them, condemned them, and began his life as a lone wanderer. The tribe was said to have fallen apart within days of his departure. This alone was not enough to convince the Nogroon, for Nakihat could have been a mere political opportunist, leaving when the time was right. Next, Nogroon warned the tribe of a band of raiders that would attack from the east, and told them exactly how they might guard their flank. They were skeptical, but when the time came, they were ready. Not a single Nogroon died that day, in spite of the numbers against them. Still, they gathered he could be an excellent tracker, and a strategist. Finally, one night, Nakihat provided an undeniable miracle which could not be explained by matters of trickery or knowledge or even magic. He told the tribe that a sign would be given to demonstrate that one among their ranks had the soul created by a pairing of the Angels of the Great Gods. That very night, a star fell across the sky, fading into the horizon. Nakihat begged them to chase it, swearing that it was the very sign he had foreseen. The tribe's leaders humored the old man, as by now many whispers had reached their ears of people believing his words. After hours of riding, they found a hunk of burning metal buried deep in the earth; a fallen star. This was the sign they needed.

And so they listened as Nakihat declared one of their rank - an Orc named Anora - the soul-child of Harr, Archangel of the Horizon and Zved of the Stars. They listened as he declared it her duty to follow the horizon and unite all of Orckind under a single banner, as the Khan of Khans, leader of the people of the Great Gods and their Heavens Upon Earth. She would unite the city of the Sunrise and the city of the Sunset, and under her governance, all Orcs would be freed from violence and wickedness. They listened as he directed them in their conquests, taught a new generation of priests, and united them beneath Anora, that she might ride upon the world. They listened as he directed them in their subjugation of nearby tribes. They listened as he demanded that they not vassalize them as so many other Khans would, but to bring them into the fold as new members of the Nogroon. Someday soon, he said, there will be no Nogroon, no Ukhel, no Mori; only Orckind.

Anora was humbled by this duty. The pious orc was already a skilled warrior and priest-mage, and to serve the Great Gods was her greatest wish. She vowed to fight 'til her job was complete, and the smiths of the tribe crafted for her a suit of armor and a battleaxe from the Starmetal which signaled her rise. The entirety of the tribe has been swept up mirrors their Khan's piety. The power of this zealotry, the skill they have attained under Nakihat, and their incredibly powerful priest-mage class will soon be one the likes of which the steppe - and perhaps the world - has never seen. The prophet is on his deathbed; an uncertain time awaits. But Anora strides forward to lead her people into a new era for all orcs.

Alliance: The alliance has not recognized the Nogroon thus far. Why should we, who fight for the justice of the Gods, beg for entry? If they treat us well, they will be treated well.

[Will fill in more cultural shit over time! This is mostly for me to doodle about mythology and alternative gender systems and social stuff and yeah!!!]

Conceptions of Gender, Religion, Culture:

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The Meltemi are expected to be stoic and utilitarian, speaking and acting in cool-headed manners. The Gangadiri are expected to be high-minded and thoughtful, to speak to the bigger picture, and to try and enhance group cohesion. The Oraimi are expected to be observant, detail-oriented, and independent. The Aljari are expected to be high-minded idealists, often carried away by flights of fancy and hot tempers. The Hezmiri are expected to be calm, peaceful, and to focus on group cohesion. People have been known to challenge gendered expectations, but the more conservative elements of orcish society have also been known to push back, as even orcs aren't perfect.

Orcish religion revolves around the land, and orckind's relation to it. They worship the Five Great Gods, though they do not deny the existence of others. Their origin myth goes as such: In the beginning, there were only two things: The Great Abyss, and the Divine. The Abyss is that which is not; emptiness; calm. Divinity is perfection; fullness; righteousness. It is without time, that which all minds are oriented towards, and it is the Ultimate. From the Material Divine, the Great Gods coalesced. First came Meltemi, child of the intermingling of Divine and Abyssal. As she observed the emptiness, she spoke a word, and out came Oraima, born of sound and connection. They spoke to one another, and their voices intermingled and harmonized, birthing jolly Hezmir, lover of Music. The others followed soon after; as they looked for something to do, they moved, and the universe gave birth to the horizon, and Aljarik arrived to create the plains so that they might have something to cushion their step. When they grew bored, their desire for Difference gave birth to the mountains. At the highest peak, they found Gangadir sleeping, waiting.

This land they wandered would be the Holy Land; and they would give birth to the first life - the grass, the animals, the first things which breathed and the first things which died. They
gave birth to the angels, to hope, and to justice. Then, they lived in happiness with each other, turning their eyes away from the land they had created. New gods were born; new lands spilled out from the Holy Land, new life, thinking life. When they awoke from their long, loving embrace, they found a broken world without justice. They found conflict, hatred, and strife. These creatures were new, not at all theirs, but the gods loved them all the same; and so they made the Orcs, that they might bring justice about on earth as the heavens desired. As Orcs were given the freedom of Aljarik's love, some strayed from the path; but all remember their divine duty. They must protect the Holy Lands, and save the weak from the reign of the cruel and the merciless. They must bring justice to the world once more.

The History of The Prophet Nakihat:

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Nakihat was born to a scrawny tribe, more a family than even the most minor of roving bands. Things were always scarce; hunger was a constant. He left his kin at a young age, when his eyes could barely reach past the summit of adulthood, hoping to be neither a burden nor burdened. He joined a band of brigands and raiders, a group of the desperate and hopeless who had taken to attacking settled peoples, looting their villages, and even robbing their fellow Orcs. He shed blood, and fought, and stained his very soul red, bringing shame to his Night-Mother, Meltemay.

He lived in sin and desperation for some ten years, until one night, his eyes were opened. Nakihat had always been a vivid dreamer, and on this night he dreamt of the Deep. He dreamt of water and dark; of the daily fading of the sky, which allowed the sea-on-earth and the sea-in-heaven to be one. He dreamt of the ocean that was void, of the Moon Above shining down on him and the Moon Below reflected, gazing up; he dreamt of being trapped between them. He dreamt he was drowning, and as his lungs filled, he dreamt that he was loved.

He awoke feeling a deep drive to meet a singular purpose: He had to go to the place known Bronze Pass. It was the will of the Goddess, and he knew it, though he knew not what for. And so he left his band, pursued by them as a deserter to the edge of the steppe. He rode out from the holy land, and rode, and rode further than he ever did before, his spirit dwindling with each passing moment. He arrived at the pass and found himself amid a group of Orcs who would one day be known as the Tsusny, who rode out after hearing rumors of great catastrophe. Together they fought, mismatched as they were standing alongside the Settled. They fought with all their heart, and as they fought, Nakihat's eyes were opened.

He understood his purpose. He understood the futility of their battle. He understood that even victory would be only short-lived, a temporary reprieve from the unceasing tide that was the Xei. He understood that these Settled could not be expected to handle this alone. It was not just. The Great Gods struck him with another vision. He stood atop Gangadir's great peaks, stared out across the world and saw only void. The sweetness of Aljarik did not kiss the fields, nor did the finality of Oraima's kiss grace the land. There was no life or death; only barrenness. Emptiness. Void.

It was in that moment his magic was awoken. He was not formally taught, but he felt the wisdom of the Great Gods coursing through him. He cast spell after spell, fighting alongside Ganzorig, the leader of the orc band, and when the dust was settled, the alliance had won. The orcs did not stay to shake hands and engage in pleasantries. Justice had been served. They had a home to return to.

As the Alliance of the Settled was forged, another alliance was born on the steppe. Ganzorig and Nakihat felt love blooming on the battlefield, and as they spoke, they found they shared the dream of a great united steppe to stand against injustice. In little time, they pledged themselves to one another and married. Together with the survivors, they formed a tribe of their own, and Nakihat was declared high priest. When Ganzorig and his Aljari spouse Naranbaatar had a child, Nakihat joined in raising them. Together, they saw their dream start to bud and blossom, as they created the greatest Khanate the steppe had seen in some seventy years. When Ganzorig was struck by an arrow some twenty years later, Nakihat was stricken with grief.

The tribe's law being Rule-By-Inheritance, the once-child Sarnai took the reins of the Khanate. Nakihat had loved them as his own, and swore to be a loyal adviser to his kin. Except, when matters of rule came, Sarnai took the path of brutality rather than righteousness. Theirs was a rule of fear, one of executions and pillage, of steel and fire. Greatly troubled by his kin's wrongdoing, Nakihat tried to reason with the Khan - but was met with deafness. There was familial love between them, but Sarnai was convinced that justice could only be enforced upon the steppe through fear.

Nakihat ignored the visions for a long time. He ignored the gods as they called him to leave his tribe behind. He wanted so much to believe that things would turn out differently. They did not. When he finally gave in, it was quick. He left without warning; did not say goodbye to his kin; did not tell his own children he loved them. To do so would kill him, he was convinced. It made little difference to him. By then, he was an orc of nearly sixty years. Without a tribe, he would surely die. He exiled himself to Gangadir's embrace, and there he waited for Aljarik's love.

Except it didn't come. Not in one year; not in ten. In that time, the gods gave him visions; visions of what he would have to do, visions of how he could redeem himself and his dream. Fifty years passed in the cold and desolate wastes. He was ready to ignore the appointed time and hour when the gods gave him a final vision to spur him on: a memory, perfectly relived, of his pledge to Ganzorig; his pledge to unite the orcs, for the justice of the gods.

And so he had no choice. Tears in his eyes and curses for the underhandedness of the gods on his lips, he stepped down from the mountains in order to join the Nogroon...

Corn · 05-26-2019, 05:19 AM

Country Name: The Freed Bay Post (FBP)

Country Colour: That of the Strongest Envelopes. And also, it reminds me of the busy bees I think of them as.

Government: Well intentioned Meritocratic Bureaucracy. And, still, a work in progress for them. It took some time to get there, as well as some perfectly-coordinated prompting and collection of feedback, but we're here boiz. We figured it out. Hopefully. Mostly.

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Basically, the place runs on this bureaucracy and a loop of Community Has Problem -> Problem is handled locally if it can or delegated higher if it can't -> Community prompted to give feedback on solution -> These collections get condensed into something manageable, and go into considerations for making new laws and protocol for handling such Problems in the future. Rinse and repeat. Due to this process, it's quite possible the political system will change entirely by endgame. Idealist babies are still trying to find their footing, after all.

At the head of state is the Postmaster Paramount, who is elected by the Council of Postmasters (who are the heads of the Greater Departments) and from a list of suitably able candidates from the Department of Post. They basically oversee... Everything, relying on the Postmasters for counsel and application. Managerial heads for the departments themselves elect the department Postmaster, similarly, when one steps down. They're life positions for now, though the Council has the ability to remove them from power under a convoluted set of circumstances. They'll work on it. The greater departments oversee smaller departments which will only increase as we find comedy in adding them, and merge with others, and shift around. Basically: Postmasters -> Administrative Greater Departments -> Smaller Departments -> District Post Offices -> The Local Post Office

GREATER DEPARTMENTS:

Department of Post: (Postmaster Paramount) The actual fucking postal service. They believe it'll take someone who can apply their ideals to the smaller communities they used to serve, to be able to bring their nation safely and ethically through the greater world.

Department of Internal Affairs: (Postmaster Deputy) Handles the collection and analysis of community feedback/handles general wellfare of the people/oversees a budding lower department of Education, which is of rising importance. Sort of a catch-all right now, but the Postmaster Deputy ensures the concerns of the people are always on the table.

Department of Security: (Postmaster General) Handles the military as a more official force, as well as town guardship and travel escort, which is important currently as they're a new and slightly less secure of their standing nation.

Department of Agriculture: (Postmaster Agronomist) Look. They're starting out pretty fucking agrarian. It's important to them, and keeping themselves fed enough to devote manpower to other tasks is high on their to-do.

Department of Economics: (Postmaster Treasurer) I mean it says it on the tin. Handles the money, and is out to promote less agrarian economic activity, will be handling industry. Plus, someone's got to remind these chucklefucks what they can REASONABLY do. Gosh darned idealists.

Department of Foreign Affairs: (Postmaster Envoy) The newest one! Will handle diplomacy at large, the newest addition to the Greater Departments. Since. They're somewhat on their feet now, and ready to make friends with the world. And deliver their fucking mail.

Leader: The Postmaster Paramount, Gaara Dubois. 37, with bright green eyes and already greying red hair. And a tattoo of the word- Ten years ago she'd been an ordinary courier, just trying to get by and do well by her town of Arolle, marked as the west-most on the map. Nine years ago she'd been on the front line of the rebellion, pike in hand, escorting the last Postmaster and his entourage into the castle of their oppressor to deliver the news. Eight, and she ran one of the first sets of messages to the Alliance, promising goodwill and aid as they'd always done, just under their own rule. Since then, she'd gone back to her home, and worked, quickly finding herself in a position to turn Arolle from the precariously-maintained town it was to a thriving city, well-in-touch with its neighboring Khuln and the Capital, as much as any city closer. There's work yet to do, but she's proud of what she's been able to accomplish there.

She's serious, devoted, and moreso than that, she is very, very anxious. Her appointment to the position was a surprise, and one she intends to accept and make good on, but the weight of the country is more than that of her city. Finally, they've gotten things... Kind of straight, and whatever happens under her is going to be their first official impression in the world.

Pressure, dudes.

Society: Are they still the Pratois? Jury’s still out on that one. It's a little difficult to describe the society as a whole, as so large was the conquest of the lands within that there isn't just one. It's a largely agrarian bunch, people who bust ass in the day and take their leisure time afterward very seriously, but any further detail varies wildly. There are many humans of different cultures within, many bearing similarities to the many neighbors of the FBP, and some all their own. Pockets of peoples all over the place. Humans, Dwarves, Polytheists of many denominations, Monotheists, it's a real mixed bunch. Most of the Dwarves live close to the mountains and Yvielle River, and around them are humans whose gods sometimes resemble theirs, when not still followers of the old King's beliefs. They're mostly bound by that attitude of kick ass then kick it, and their common language, instilled by previous rulers. As of right now, the push toward the daytime asskicking has been more pronounced, as the methods and role of higher-ups changed so significantly, and there's a fair amount of unease about it.

Also, historically, these peeps have been SO chill with the Dwarves. They've got a ton of Dwarven loan words, and do a fair amount of trade with the holds.

The old King's Goddess and the most popular pantheon I'll describe later, I don't think it's THAT important up front but it'll be there. If it matters sooner than I expect, King's religion is monotheist with the idea that the world has always BEEN and the earth goddess was the first life from the ground which brought all else into existence. It says the gods of others were the first of THEIR kind, but not holding the life-giving power She does. The river is named after her.
Main pantheon is your standard stupid big pantheon only some of the gods are similar to the dwarves and there are dwarven Chosen Heroes in the stories.

History:
In what is sometimes described as the mildest human revolution, a militia of perhaps a thousand marched up to the gate of the old Praterran capital. The gates, held open, by a line of uniformed couriers, the patches on their arms noting a presence from every province. A small section of them accompanied a man inside, by the name of Gaspard Page, and in a stillness of the King's fear, a message was delivered.

"13 June, 780
Correspondence for His Highness, in the Grace of the Goddess, King Blaireaux :

"Tonight is the last that Praterre is held in Loïc's reign. Shamed would he be of his own, should he have seen it come here. Blood of men in the streets, for following orders, for making do, for deigning to speak. Long has the house of Loïc been stagnant, content to lounge and play and see the decay of their home. Longer still has the house been negligent, before borders were secure, the edges of the country under turbulence while the capital remained safe without care. Now, there is only cruelty in its wake, and Praterre can be no more in the hands of a king content to the following:"

The list of complaints for Blaireaux was long. Suppression of speech, literal shooting of the messenger under the reasoning of 'political games' that did not exist, violent paranoia that made them look dangerous, leaving the edges of the country to the whims of whatever lords he didn't care enough to oversee, becoming of less contribution to world affairs than a land so wide ought to be. He couldn't handle the interior, he couldn't handle anyone else, and when it got bloody, enough had become enough. Simply put, he was no longer the king. It had been decided. But their decision was inspired, the spirit of old Unity-based rebellions in their considerations.

To you, in good will, despite all call to have none, we leave your ancestral home. Arable land to farm, forest to hunt from, the river to drink of and ride. The line of what is to be yours is drawn on the fresh map, which we have provided for convenience. Further, we establish the following, to the eyes of the King, the People, and the Alliance in time:

1: The King, his Men, their men, shall all be free to travel within the lands of the state, on equal good will to our own.

2: The service of courier is to be extended to The King, his Men, their men, should they choose, with no fear of compromising their right to speak, and correspond privately.

3: No Violence shall be done to the King, his Men, their men, or his lands, unprompted by violence upon Us.

This is an offer of peace, from a people left without it. It is Our hope that you will consider it. Your family's service to the country has been noted, and you have been relieved of service.

To your lands, DeLoic, for no longer are we ruled.

Cried from the People of the land, as transcribed and delivered by the Freed Bay Post."

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Alliance: Yes indeedy, a fresh member of 8 years!

As for the state within theirs...

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Names

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Notes for me, things I'm collecting from other apps, don't mind this:

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Arcanuse · 05-28-2019, 09:59 PM

Mh. Just posting to express interest at the moment, might have an actual application later, time permitting.

Do have some questions about goblins, though.

It's mentioned that goblins reside in deep ruins, which (would be)/is relevant and handy. But how about swamps?
Will/have goblins reside there, or is there preference for other locales such that they won't live in a swamp if they don't have to?

Second, it's mentioned that goblins liberated themselves (though questionably successful) from the magic of the land. How, exactly, did that work?
Does magic not work on them? Are goblins unable to use magic for themselves, but may be its direct beneficiary/victim?

Edit: While I'm at it, how exactly would the average (generic) goblin government function? Tribes? Formal governments? Excessive betrayal for shortsighted personal enrichment?

Ubersketch · 05-28-2019, 11:18 PM

How do you make your maps? They're very pretty.

Demonsul · 05-29-2019, 01:32 AM

Goblins live all over the place, but they only really thrive underground (particularly if there are above-ground places worth raiding nearby). Goblin government forms are cruel, tyrannical and frequently overthrown from within. Goblins are as capable of magic and affected by it as much as humans, having just lost the innate connection to the magic of the land that orcs had. And to be clear, goblin factions are not playable.

And thanks! I just make my maps in GIMP.

Pharmacy · 05-29-2019, 05:19 AM

Country Name: Orbona, or Orbonian Coalition of Tribes. Sometimes romantically/euphemistically called “Kingdom of the Innocent” or “Kingdom of the Lost” for sordid reasons.

Country Colour: Brown, like the dirt they live on and eventually return to.

Government: Tribal Kingship. The Orbonian concept of leadership is being the Biggest and the Strongest. The idea of what “Biggest” and “Strongest” generally means “Being Taller Than Everyone Else” and “Being Real Good At Fighting,” but can be loosely interpreted in many directions for shrewd leaders trying to hold onto their job (and their life). Leadership have absolute power and the term lasts until death (by natural causes or more commonly, murder).

Half-Elves who are neither Big or Strong to rule coalesce to loose, self-governing tribes. Tribes are left alone most of the time until the Leader demands something from them, which they must be obliged to do with no regard for their feelings.

Leader: Bigfist Manystabs, the Biggest and the Strongest. She is the descendant of the infamous Bigfist Bonemuncher, but she earned her right to leadership through the time-honored tradition of beating the shit out of her predecessor. Her ancestors would be proud. She is the very model of the ideal Orbonian Half-Elf, aura-wise. Straightforward, impatient, vulgar, and yet oddly charming. Also. Big and uncomfortably buff. All Half-Elves are but she is especially so. Probably has something to do with the primal magic unique to the Orbonian school of thought.

Society: Orbona population consists almost entirely of Half-Elves, humanoid descendants of elf-kind. Also known as “Orbonians,” “Helves,” “Demi-Elves,” or “Cave Elves” to lesser extent, the vast majority of Half-Elves in Orbona are born or descended from human-elf couplings. “Orc-Elves” (Half-elves with an Orc parent or are from Orcish descent) do exist in not-insignificant populations but remain a minority in Orbona.

Orbonian names are surname first, personal name second. Surnames are evocative but simplistic compound words (ex. Moonclaw, Strongleg, et cetera). Personal names are compound words describing the deeds the Half-Elf take pride in (ex. Killwolf, Stealgood, et cetera). Personal names may change over the course of the Half-Elf’s life, especially if they are the ambitious sort. Surnames are inherited from whichever parent wins (or survives) the ritual combat during marriage ceremony. Yes, this makes Half-Elf genealogy an absolute nightmare to study.

Orbonian society is characterized by “might makes right.” That the Biggest and Strongest deserve what they take, as long as they have the Bigness and Strongness to back up their claims. Martial prowess is prized, measured in material by the number, the rarity, and complexity of war trophies a Half-Elf may obtain over the course of their life.

Despite their propensity towards violence, Orbona are very protective of children. Children are communally raised in a “Baby Pit” (note: not a hole, but a creche) by designated caretakers. Parents or parental figures are obliged to visit once in a while, to socialize, to provide one-on-one bonding and fulfill emotional needs. Sex education and reproductive health is surprisingly modern. Contraceptives are effective and normalized. A neglected, unwanted child is the ultimate nightmare for an Orbanian.

Orbona have a piecemeal pantheon. The majority of gods are appropriated from other religions and tend to be gods who are physical powerful or at least powerful enough to make a show of force. One of their few, original figures of worship is “First Child” (also known as “God-King-Child,” “Prince-of-Cities,” “the Biggest and the Strongest”). First Child is a maybe myth, maybe actual historical figure who purportedly taught the Half-Elves the basics of civilization and made the world safer for the Half-Elves to live with his magical power of being the Biggest and the Strongest.

Orbona had not formalized a magic system. However, trained individuals have the supernatural ability to induce themselves to a Bigger and Stronger state of physique. Scholars are baffled (and/or terrified) by this phenomenon. The current theory is their Elven heritage allows them the gift of magic but the gift has warped to a primal, aggressive form by hardship. We Just Don’t Know.

Orbonian justice is brutal, primal, and very “let God decide.” Punishment can be hard labor, gladiatorial combat, exile, et cetera, depending on how severe the crime is. Disputes often default to “trial by combat,” although Half-Elves are getting around the concept of regular (boring) trials. Punishment for unforgivable crimes are spectacular, painful executions – being fed alive to hungry animals, burned to death, et cetera.

Orbona are indifferent towards most outsiders, often viewing their allies through the lens of pragmaticism. They have a pronounced bitterness towards Elves (for abandoning them) and by extension, the Dwarves (for their indirect contribution to their sordid existence). They absolutely loathe Goblins (for understandable reasons).

History:

You think Elves would be content to live their immortal lives after their hollow “victory” in the fifty-year war. However, the war left scars on Elven culture and society and was certainly not helped by the quiet, but universal trauma of the inability to ever produce an Elven child again. Elves, for all their superiority, are prone to human weakness and weakness leads to. Mistakes. Living, helpless mistakes.

No one knows why Elves abandon their half-breed children to die but We Can Take A Guess. The site of abandonment is the St. Orbona Forest, so-named after the human Saint-Protector of Children. Orbona is a temperate forest full of appropriate-biome animals like deer, falcons, wolves, et cetera. Following the major river through the forest reveals a modest-sized valley, pock-marked with limestone caves. This is where the Elves abandoned them. Out of sight from their eyes, and more importantly – out of sight from their enemies, who would surely exploit this to attack the dwindling Elves.

The early days of Orbona was characterized by misery and violence. The Half-Elves were too young to properly fend for themselves and the caves were packed with Goblins, who did not mind the windfall of Half-Elf veal. The mortality rate was miserably high but the Elves kept abandoning their offspring enough that one of the abandoned children was at least old enough to muster desperate bravery against the Goblins. That child was the First Child, Prince-of-Cities, God-King-Child, the Biggest and the Strongest, et al. No one is really sure what exactly happened, but he turned the tide of war with his Bigness and Strongess. The Half-Elves had a chance to survive.

After Goblins became a non-issue, the Half-Elves stabilized, multiplied, and squabbled amongst themselves. Orbanian history was a perpetual cycle of boom and bust as the problem of survival was gradually eclipsed by the problem of politics. A Half-Elf would conquer all the tribes only to perish, throwing the society to disarray until another enterprising Half-Elf gets ambitious again.

This repeated enough that one of the Half-Elves, Bigfist Bonemuncher, managed to succeed where his predecessors failed by Actually Using Diplomacy And Tact in addition to the usual violence. After Bonemuncher established himself as undisputed power, he (slowly) established things the Half-Elf at the time could never think of, such as Talking Instead Of Fighting, Education, and Trade Routes Between Tribes And Also Between (horrified gasp) Outsiders. When asked why he done such unspeakable things, Bonemuncher purportedly explained he was So Fucking Tired Of Having His Naps And Bone-Munching Interrupted, which. Fair enough.

It has been a few generations. What can happen next?

Alliance: Orbona is on the border of the Alliance. Half-Elves did participate in the Bug War, but more out of pragmatic purpose (safety of their country, proving superiority over the Bugs, exotic war trophies, et cetera) than any true sense of camaraderie. However, the Alliance proved themselves to be the Biggest and the Strongest at the end of the war, so the Half-Elves are thinking about joining them. Maybe.

Galloglasses · 05-29-2019, 11:44 PM

Country Name: Tiranóg

Country Colour: Red

Government: Tiranóg is a hereditary monarchy, with the Ríoch holding the powers of the Gavel and Sword, both supreme commander and supreme judge in legal matters. This tradition goes back into prehistory as far as Tiranógians are concerned, being a unification of the powers of the General and Admiral of the initial fleet that brought the Tiranógians to this island in the first place from the Great Mist after some calamity in their previous homeland of which not even the legends speak about. Tiranógian history begins at the Great Mist and no further back. Wether any of this is actually true or not is a subject of great speculation in Academia, as is where exactly the Tiranógian homeland was initially.

The result, however, is the same, the Ríoch, that is to say the Ríoch, is both High Admiral of the Red Fleet and Supreme Commander of the Crimson Guard, the military forces of the Kingdom. The Collegial Estates is the legislature of the land and is made up haphazardly of the various merchant and mercenary guilds, Noble families, Ecclesiastical and Monastic representatives and the Lord Mayors of the larger cities. The College as it is known, controls the power of the purse and may propose and vote on legislation in a Unicameral structure. The Ríoch may also propose or veto legislation that makes it to his desk and while he is in charge of the disposition of naval affairs and foreign policy, he has to petition the council for funding.

Leader: Ríoch Geród I, of House Mk Killodén. Ríoch Geród's reign should, in truth, never have happened. Born the tenth consecutive son of Ríoch Lughic VI the High Handed, Geród had absolutely no illusions about his place in life, and contented himself with traveling the world with friends, adventuring, exploring and learning as he went. While this made him a man of the world in many respects, it meant he purposefully neglected the art of statecraft he had been educated in, something which didn't particularly annoy his family as they too, didn't expect him to be involved in rulership or governmental affairs, having more than enough sons to take on the Crown should something unforeseen happen, and enough spares to use in diplomatic, military and administrative affairs. All that was expected of Geród, was to not embarrass the family or Tiranóg, and this he managed well enough.

Then came the Night of Lights, traditionally a period of festivity for the nation, celebrating cultural continuity and Naval tradition and honoring the gods of Tiranóg; Ashurian, Heran, Klorian, Feramór, and a dozen others. For this reason the Royal family was gathered in the Grand Cathedral along with almost the entirety of the Collegial Estates.

that was when both the Cathedral, the College of the Estates, and a significant chunk of the Royal Palace was obliterated in massive explosions which rocked the capital city to its core. While fires were started, they were quickly contained by the city's emergency services, and the fact most of the buildings were made out of stone also helped to mitigate the spread. But the damage was done.

Almost all the heads of the noble families were annihilated, as well as the leaders of the most prominent guilds of Tiranóg, the Lord Mayors, both elected and hereditary of the towns and cities, the Abbots and Abbesses of the monastic orders, and most of the Bishops of the Churches and Orders of Priests. In one fell swoop, the entirety of Tiranóg's economic, Diplomatic, Administrative, Social and Military leadership was decapitated. The country seemed doomed to descend into immediate anarchy and chaos if it were not for Geród's late arrival.

He had been recalled from a particularly long and extended absence from his homeland for the sake of the festival, so he had gathered his adventuring friends to join him on his journey home but had been waylaid by foul weather. He had arrived merely hours after the devastating event and the Captaincy, namely the prominent captains of both the Crimson Guard and the Red Fleet, more or less kidnapped him and shoved a crown on his head.

Now Geród, barely more than twenty years of age, the man who was never to be Ríoch, had to reign in a country in utter chaos. The alliances between the noble families were shattered with the deaths of their heads, the scheming and politicking guilds who were unruly at the best of times, now were each individually jockeying to replace their own murdered leaderships, the Church in crisis with a substantive portion of its leadership annihilated and useless in the short term for helping calm down the panicking populace, the towns and cities of the country suddenly finding themselves without a voice in the capital throughout the crises with no way of knowing whats going on. What was worse, however, was with so many people so badly effected, there was no clear adversary to blame for the event. Gerórd now had absolute power and neither the intention nor the desire to have it, and if he didn't use it soon, he'd lose it forever, and Tiranóg might just enter a dark age.

More troubling still is the Vault of Ancients, the familial treasure vault survived the attack. The regalia was removed for the emergency coronation ceremony haphazardly witnessed by the captains and Geród's adventuring friends, and administered by a low tier monk as the Ecclesiastical authority. Tradition held that the Sword of Avalon held a secret for each Ríoch, but no one but the Ríochs knew what the secret was, rumor and legend abounded but the Ríochs never commented on it and it was the farthest thing from Geród's mind when he held it. But the truth was the sword spoke a prophecy to each Ríoch who held it when they were crowned, just a few words and was silent for the remainder of its use in that Ríoch's service, it whispered six short words into Geród's consciousness for his prophecy.

"The Doom of Tiranóg Has Come."

Society:
-=Social Structure and Behaviour=-

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-=Religion and Spirituality=-

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Tiranógian religion is considerably different from the continental humans, consisting of sixteen major gods: Ashurian god of Ríochs and Ríoch among Gods, Heran called the Blackhand God of Crafts, Klorian Goddess of Summer and the Forest, Feramór Goddess of the Seas, Ghrund God of the Storms, Vernír Goddess of Spring and the Fields, Cerihwl Goddess of the Hearth and Home, Usildrún God of Warriors and Soldiering, Aérhwin the Hidden Queen Goddess of Metal and Mirrors, Berindorm Goddess of Autumn and Protector of the Elderly and Dying, Wyhvern God of the Otherworld and its Portals, Dúin God of the Underworld and the Deep Waters, Cathén Goddess of Winter and Fire, Mírlainn Goddess of Roads, Llweuin God of Hunting and Fishing, Dén God of Sailors and Shipwrights.

Among those gods are 60 canonically recognized minor deities, both of divine and ascended human origin and their respective families of demigod offspring, both those ascended to full godhood or who remain in the Otherworld. Tiranógian religion is strictly formalized, hierarchical and has a weirdly well recorded history of its development and formalization of its recognized Canon of the gods, in which it acknowledges the obscurities of past interpretations and how things were regarded in early stages of Tiranóg's existence. Given the mystifying origins of Tiranóg, this obsession with uncovering history of the gods can be seen as an extension of the cultural obsession with their own history. Its religion makes formal distinctions between Tiranóg's gods that they brought with them, and those more native to the continent. The major gods are all 'Ancestral', which the Church is certain came with them from their old homeland, a third of the Minor deities are 'Adoptive', being recognized deities the Tiranógians encountered during their time in their current homeland, with the remaining two thirds of minor gods belonging to the Ancestral House. It is worth noting that some of the continental gods are officially worshiped as minor deities in Tiranóg, even ones that would be considered major gods elsewhere, but an alarming portion of the minor gods in the Adoptive House are neither found on the continent nor among the other nations Tiranóg shares its island with and the origin of the worship of these gods is utterly mystifying to historians.

The Church is hierarchical and unified, with the priesthood trained in all the rites and rituals of the gods, holy day observances and services to the people of Tiranóg, with such a large pantheon, Tiranógian priests have developed a reputation as being hard working and perpetually busy tending to religious affairs, to such an extent it is often joked that Tiranógian priests tend to be scatterbrained when dealing with other matters, such as being able to tie their own shoe laces properly. But otherwise they are regarded with a great deal of respect in society. The church handles its affairs with delegating matters to monastic orders and orders or piesthood who specialize in certain matters, such as historical research, works of charity, tending to specific gods and their rites where they are ost widely practiced by the people (such as orders dedicated to Feramór and her worship and rites being particularly active in harbour cities). Despite this limited specialization all priests are thought all of the rites even if they end up using some more than all the others, so any priest can perform sacramental and liturgical needs as they arise, with monastic orders dedicated to prayer life and other affairs the Church sponsors work in, often supplementing their income with provided more mundane services such as carpentry and beer brewing. The Church is headed by the Hierophant who is elected amongst the Bishops and Abbots of the Church with the Ríoch's approval, just as the Ríoch is crowned by the Hierophant.

The Tiranogian concepts of the Underworld and the Otherworld are worth explaining. The Underworld is not considered the place where the dead 'reside', but rather the place where the dead 'begin'. The soul of the deceased descends to the underworld, the realm ruled from afar by Dúin, who does not reside there. It is a realm of shadows and secrets and lost things, and it is the goal of the deceased to be found by Dúin. How one does this is unknown beyond legendary traditions that even the Church has yet to work truth from myth after all this time, but once one has been found by Dúin, they are guided upwards and outwards to the Otherworld. The Otherworld itself is not the afterlife, but like the Underworld, it is 'on the way'. It is a realm adjacent to the physical realm, populated by strange things and wonders, influenced by and influencing the dreams of mortals, the Fae are known to populate it but seem as divorced from it as they are from the physical world. The dead are guided by angels who do not show them the way, but merely guard the soul as it travels to the Afterlife where the gods reside, when the soul arrives there is entirely up to them and how they overcome the challenges and marvels of the Otherworld. The afterlife itself is mysterious in the Tiranógian tradition, with little known other than that is where the gods themselves reside and from whence angels come and go. The Demigods of Tiranógian tradition reside in the Otherworld until they have achieved some unknown feats that elevate them to true godhood, and many stories and tales are told of lost souls and dreamselves meeting with the demigods of old and the great adventures they lead int he Otherworld.

Devoting oneself to one god, or a few gods is acceptable in society, but frowned upon when that devotion is considered out of place, such as elevating one god out of place above the others, or otherwise attempting to delegitimise or demean the other gods, such action is considered heretical in the eyes of the Church and doubly so if committed by the clergy. As such Tiranogian religion is neutral regarding foreign gods, recognizing that other gods may indeed exist, afterall, a good portion of the minor gods of the Adoptive house are gods worshiped elsewhere. But because of the focus of the church on Canonical investigation, foreign promulgation of outsider gods is not tolerated officially, and missionary efforts and the construction of religious buildings not of the gods Tiranogian Canon are forbidden, but foreign interpretations of the Minor gods Tiranóg recognizes are tolerated, as well as the construction and traditions regarding those gods to an extent. Foreigners and immigrants are welcome to worship their native gods in Tiranogian society privately, and allowed to have shrines in the privacy of their homes, and visitors are not expected to know, agree, or even understand the distinctions Tiranógians make regarding the gods, as a result intermarriage with worshipers of foreign gods is tolerated so long as offspring are brought up in line with Tiranógian canon. Syncretization is frowned upon and often quashed, and interpreting gods as merely being aspects of the same god worshiped by other religions and cultures is not taking seriously by the Tiranógian Church, being viewed as a lazy way to interpret the gods, seeing similarities as meaning sameness, as if the gods needed to fool us by wearing different masks for every group of mortals on the planet, while also acknowledging there are indeed some similarities between the gods of Tiranóg and those of other cultures, as a result the Tiranógian church is not too keen on evangelizing other cultures.

This is all largely a result of the Tiranógian obsession with trying to uncover their origins, and the desire to not muddy the waters by muddying their view of the gods. Resulting in a highly developed theological and philosophical tradition developed out of what once was indeed a very muddy and unclear tradition of legends and folktales. The church is as a result largely traditionalist and conservative, especially in social matters. Given Tiranóg's martial character and traditions, families and high birth rates are encouraged to help maintain a high population as is investing in healthcare by both the Church and State. Private healthcare is allowed and encouraged but vetted to prevent illegal or subpar performance, private healthcare is often funded by the noble classes as part of their duties to the navy as well as out of self interest, while the common man still has the baseline healthcare

-=Mystical Traditions=-

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The nature of spirits and fae is also a significant interest to Tiranóg culturally and theologically. The Fae, which are viewed with superstition elsewhere in the world, are viewed as another extant race by Tiranógians, albeit a mystical one not entirely in tune with this plane of physical existence. They are not considered 'spirits', are believed to possess their own wills and intellects, but the status of them possessing a soul, or rather, an adequate separation between soul and body as mortal races have, is an unanswered question in Tiranógian mystical tradition. They are presumed to possess a form of 'matter' of sorts, that constitutes their physical form, but it is not presumed to be the same as make up the mortal races or physical creation, which may explain their mercurial and capricious natures, and their seeming inexplicable abilities that defy conventional explanation, both arcane and mundane. Spirits are also a much more nebulous concept of which there is little canonical agreement, other than they are neither fae, nor gods, nor angels, nor men, and is generally a catchall term for everything from ghostly undead, the shades of spirits, to spiritual elementals, to ethereal spirits surrounding places, organizations and people. Angels are another catchall term referring to those beings in direct service of the gods but while being of divine origin, are not of the same 'kind' as the gods, indeed, they are very often compared to the Fae in terms of their abilities and substances, being viewed as a spiritual 'race' or collection of races just as the Fae are, but being almost entirely spirit, they 'are' their own souls in a sense, which distinguishes them from the Fae whose nature is more ambiguous and considerably more 'mortal' than Angels are considered to be. Any similarities between the two orders of creation is broadly considered superficial from a mortal perspective.

Veneration of the angels and praying to known ones is regarded with much the same attitude as veneration of the saints of the Church, but worshipping of Angels as divine themselves or equal to the gods is considered heretical as they are lower than even the demigods. Worshipping the Fae is considered apostate and superstitious, 'You might as well worship a powerful human wizard' is often the drawn comparison, given the Tiranógian view of Fae as another intelligent race and not divine at all despite their unusual and mystical nature.

This endeavor and toleration of mysticism and mystic traditions, is a result of efforts of nearly a thousand years of cultural refinement of untangling myth from fact and is ancillary to Tiranógian theological development, but the ethereal nature of spirits and the Otherworld frustrate concrete discernment and as such, the religion has developed a tradition of Mystics and Mystical prayer in order to discern true revelations from the gods. There are almost as many Tiranógian Saints who were mystics as there were those blessed by the gods for their simple faith.

The revaltory nature of the mystic tradition helped a great deal in the formulation and interpretation of Tiranóg's theological understanding of the gods, the nature of the other realms, the Fae, the angels and even the nature and relationship of the demigods and of the gods to humanity. Particularly of interests was the repeated revelation of the ascension of some mortals to godhood amongst the 'Ancestral' minor gods, with at least one major god, Heran the Blackhand, being confirmed to have originally been an ordinary human in the Old Country, and that the demigods are indeed the offspring of gods and mortals, though not all of them. How any of these things came to be is yet another subject of studying in Tiranógian mystical and Theological tradition.

-=Mercenary character and Noblessé Oblige=-

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Given Tiranóg's naval tradition and longstanding arrangements with other nations, its nobility are unsurprisingly focused on affairs relating to the military and the navy. As a result of this and their own self interest in mind, many noble families invest in goods and services making naval life far more tolerable to both their sons and by extension the common sailor and marine. Better healthcare, more effective and efficient means of sanitation and nutrition on ship to fend off scurvy and the other horrors of long time spent at sea. However, life at sea is never easy, no matter how much you invest in making it so, so the nobility of Tiranóg are noticeably more down to Earth and practical in non-formal matters than their contemporaries in other societies, due to sharing the same harshness of life as common shipmen do. A consequence of this is a strange blending of Paternalistic Comraderie shared between the classes, with the nobility displaying a fondness for the men under their command and their wellbeing and the lower classes in turn expecting a certain degree of competence worthy of the noble's respective station in return for their professionalism.

This has in turn developed a system of compensation and professionalism among the common classes regarding the navy. With many men signing long term contracts, while not much better paid by comparison to sailors of other nations, they receive much better care and as a result, much higher morale, with regular rotations on shore back home, so no sailor spends more than eight months of the year at sea (enforced by law, unless otherwise it cant be helped such as shipwrecks, with significant compensation owed to them and their family for breach of this clause), resulting in significantly high rotations of crew every six months or less. This has been in place so long that most ships have an 'On year' and 'Off year' crew with differing rates of rotation depending on that ship squadron's duty for that year, allowing them to trade crews throughout the sailors contracts maintaining fresh faced, rested and high morale crews throughout the year without sacrificing experience with fresh faced poor bastards they shanghaied at the nearest port. Making Tiranógian sailors amongst the most long lived, experienced and dangerous sailors on the seas. Skills which sailors freed from their contracts often sell to the highest bidder.

It is no surprise then, that a lot of mercenary guilds have their homes in Tiranóg, being both a safe harbour, with a culture civilized enough to give many a rich mercenary the life he would want after retirement, but also just rough enough that he would not grow disgusted with it and many a veteran of the Crimson Guard and Red Fleet find their way into these guilds. Seeing this the Tiranóg government wisely decided to cultivate this culture, both to effectively 'police' its worst aspects without actually policing it and driving away a valuable source of manpower and expertise, and incorporating the more powerful guilds into its formal structure, thereby giving them a stake in Tiranógian society and an incentive to police their worst aspects and drive away the more unreliable and scummy elements of the mercenary world. Smaller and Newer guilds are forced to 'toe the line' as a result, all without Tiranóg becoming unattractive to their businesses.

One unexpected result of this cultural cultivation, was its attraction of adventuring guilds and their ancillary services. The distinction between an Adventurer and a Mercenary may be a fuzzy one at times, but generally adventurers found Tiranóg a useful hub area from which to meet, organised and launch their expeditions, and in hindsight it should have been obvious cultivating the more useful mercenary guilds would result in the adventuring guilds popping up not long after. Being more individualistic, eccentric and specialized then bands of mercenaries were, their presence was beneath the government's notice in terms of being useful to the state, and trusted that the established order would handle any wildness they brought to things. It was these such individuals that had garnered Geród's fascination and resulted in him adopting the lifestyle he had from a young age and, frankly, there were worse role models to choose from. Not much, but they existed.

It is worth nothing despite the country's heavy emphasis on duty, noble obligation, mercenary economics, theology, mysticism, cultural tradition and academic scholarship, especially with regards to archaeological and historical research, Tiranóg almost complete lacks an arcane tradition. With the study of magic being not unheard of, but severely under represented in academic circles and uninvested in. This may change in time, but Tiranóg is a very practical nation in this regard and while trading in magical artifacts, resources and enchanted goods is all well and good, it is not specialized in.

History: Tiranóg is a very old country, so old its earliest records barely take note of its nearest neighbours that share the same island as it does, despite the Dwarves almost certainly occupying the mountains before the Tiranógians arrived on these shores. Said Dwarves don't seem to have any records of the Tiranógians at all until the first delegation met their kingdom hundreds of years ago, long after Tiranóg had coelesced into a coherent nation, the dwarves preferring their privacy to an extreme extent. Indeed some of the legends are so old, that the things they describe make it doubtful they are describing the lands Tiranóg currently resides in at all and are speculated to be speaking about the Old Country, which the first Tiranógians set sail from before getting lost in the Great Mist.

Its earliest records were founded under the reign of Ríoch Donncadh the Old, Geród's distant ancestor, and detailing the kingship going back a further ten generations, of which only three are considered verifiable. Much of Tiranóg's history consisted of fending off piratical raids from across the seas from other nascent nations and wars with its neighbors before the coming of the Insectoid menace. After which the formation of the Alliance and Tiranóg's accession to the group negated the need to maintain the kingdom's massive navy. To prevent the dissolution of the navy and the radical change in Tiranóg's society, Ríoch Lurich the Hand of Llewyin founded the agreements necessary to position Tiranóg as the Shield of the Alliance's waters, thereby continuing the nation's necessity, while keeping the navy sharp from regular battles at sea to defend the Alliance's trade interests resulting in the enviable position Tiranóg occupies today after 90 years of unprecedented peace.

Wether that remains the case in the future remains to be seen.

Alliance:

Vancho1 · 05-30-2019, 07:34 PM

Added some gods to the end of my post.

ProfessorLizzard · 05-31-2019, 06:47 PM

Country Name: The Crescent Wastes
Country Colour: Lime radiation... (#32CD32)

Government: Constitutional Monarchy, with a multiparty government. The power is in the hand of the prime minister of the Waste Parliament, while the actual Monarch is more of a ceremonial role, touring the lands, cooking the largest dire shrimp on the barbie they can found.

Leader: Captain Ovis, the current prime minister. Head of the Lime Green Party, Captain Ovis strong enough to wrestle a gelatinous cube into submission, and has written a famous book about wilderness survival (which is mainly about figuring out which spiders are unsafe for eating). Under his leadership, the country managed to reclaim the ancient capital, or at least, make it safe for the true clean up to begin. And now he steered the country to look outwards, evangelizing about the necessity of moving away from magic, and the adoption of the new, safer, coal burning technologies...

Society: Wastelanders are a mishmash of survivors of several ancient ethnicities. They have been affected by the wild, chaotic magic of the land, so some of them might have vivid hair, standing in spiky shapes, and other minor quirks. Some say it is the result of local animal DNA radiating into their bones, but this is an unproven concept, even if some of them do secrete jelly like substance, similar to what gelatinous cubes are made of.

The people of the land, due their bad history with Tharassa, are wary of magic. They try to spread warnings about its misuses, and how it could affect innocents, like themselves. For this, they have many great pamphlet factories, along with traveling demonstration and medicine shows. They also show a great interest in newer, less dangerous technologies like steam power.

They are not really warlike, however, they are very aggressive at protecting their territories from wild animals and would be treasure hunters. However, Zmon mercenaries frequently join raids against bugs, and were there at the battle of Bronze Pass.

History: There are multiple cultures living under the umbrella term of 'Wastelanders'. In the ancient times, they were an alliance of four city states: the Rzis, living in the coastal plains of the west, who cultivated many resilient and nutritious plants, Zmon , the small island, who could tame even the most devilish beasts, and the Mnu, who shepherded giant birds on the plains of the larger island, and finally, the Hmeg, who lived in the mountains among the trees. Out of these, Hmeg was elected as the leader, due its richness in resources. However, the monarch of the nation was never from Hmeg, as to separate Ceremonial Powers from Official Powers.

This didn't last long, as Tharassa quickly subdued and conquered them, and converted the region into their very own breadbasket. There was an attempt at assimilating the 'barbarians' of the area, but the four territories fiercely kept their customs and mysteries. One day, when Tharassa exploded and sank, they gained their freedom... for a few minutes, before a wave of corrupted magic (and regular tidal waves) crashed over the land, creating the Crescent Wastes.

Hundreds of years have passed, and the people of the wastes had to build up from the ground up. Slowly, inexorably, but they are regained what was once theirs, even if it is just a pile of rubble. Now they turn their eyes towards the neighbouring lands: they demand their voices of warning to be heard...

Alliance: It is, but only recently.

SupahKiven · 06-03-2019, 07:16 PM

Country Name: Nova Kalla/The Nova Kallan Republic

Country Colour: Pink!

Government: Nova Kalla functions as a case of representative democracy. As Nova Kalla consists of a collection of city-states and colonies united under a single name, duty falls to the people to select those that they best want to represent them. Every three years, Nova Kalla hosts a week for elections, known as Selection Week, where in each city-state and colony that is a part of Nova Kalla will work to choose two candidates that they feel best represent them. These selected candidates are then sent off to Judraa, the founding city-state of Nova Kalla, to attend the High Assembly of Nova Kalla. The High Assembly, from there, works to create and enforce Republic wide laws, as well as working on foreign affairs, managing the official navy and its related forces, and other such widespread matters. Those within the High Assembly are capable of being reelected as frequently or infrequently as desired, though all members of the High Assembly must formally 'abdicate' and return to their home city/colony during Selection Week, permitted to return only if they are reelected.

In addition to Selection Week and the High Assembly, Nova Kalla has an official City Committee in each city-state and colony. These City Committees consist of elected individuals, and work on a smaller level, enforcing laws and governing individually for their respective locale. Every other month, each City Committee can send messages to Judraa and the High Assembly if they so desire, alerting the High Assembly to any complaints the people might have.

There are no formal 'leaders' within City Committees, as they are merely a collection of elected representatives. In a similar way, there is no one identifiable 'leader' within the High Assembly, with two representatives for each City Committee. However, there is an official 'Emissary', chosen by the High Assembly itself. The Emissary serves as an official diplomat, oftentimes as the official diplomat for Nova Kalla for foreign affairs. Their main tasks outside of any High Assembly duties are to attend any meetings with foreign powers, act as Nova Kalla's spokesperson to the Alliance, and have their name on official Nova Kallan governmental documents.

Leader: Cassiopeia Porveria of Tourma. To some a strange pick, Cassiopeia is nonetheless an Emissary that the people support. She is a straightforward and concise individual, one who does not mince words. Yet her care for the citizens of Nova Kalla is obvious, and she holds her position as Emissary for a reason. While on the smaller end of humans, Cassiopeia still has presence, and commands respect from those she speaks to. It's hard to ignore her or her bluntness, but she does not lack respect for others.

Society: Nova Kalla is a mercantile society, and thus the concept of main importance in Nova Kallan society is 'flow'. While normally just a word, 'Flow' is more of a concept in Nova Kalla. Flow is something most Nova Kallan citizens believe in. Flow is the natural movement of the world. People, animals, plants, weather... everything 'flows' the way it was meant to. Everything and everyone has a purpose, and to disrupt that purpose is considered incredibly rude at the least. Likely arisen from the need for recognizing the 'flow' of the ocean and the mists in order to enter and leave the main isle of Nova Kalla itself, the concept of Flow is important to Nova Kallan citizens.

Outside of a general belief in the concept of Flow, there is not a particularly unifying concept amongst Nova Kallan citizens, which can be attributed to its status more as a collection of city-states rather than a completely unified society. Each of the four main places within Nova Kallan society has its own personal feel due to its development within Nova Kalla itself.

Judraa - Often considered the 'capital' city-state of Nova Kalla, Judraa is noted for its slow pace. Judraa's main export is the famous Kakarao Fruit. The Kakarao Fruit is a slow bloom, one that requires special tending so that it may continue to thrive in its quickly changed environment. Thus, those in Judraa are noted for their patient and attentive approach to problems. However, Judraan citizens have been known to be slow to act, and their decisions tend to come slowly as well, due to their patience overriding their sense of urgency.

Tourma - Tourma, despite not acting as the 'capital', is probably the most famous city-state within Nova Kalla. The reason for this is that it controls the bay, and has the largest harbor within Nova Kalla, and focuses mainly on fishing and travel. Due to this unique position, Tourma has the largest focus on 'Flow'. Those from Tourma are accustomed to constant movement, and are known for their adaptability and personability. Most traders and travelers to Nova Kalla never leave Tourma during their stay, and as such the city-state has developed to be very accommodating to travelers. The largest lighthouse in the Guide Lights system, the Eye of Flow, is present here. Tourman citizens have been known to be easy to influence, however, and their constant Flow means many are less studious than they could be.

Vins - To those outside of Nova Kallan society, Vins is the most forgettable of the four city-states. And yet, within Nova Kalla, it is regarded with much respect. Vins deals with growing more conventional crops for Nova Kalla, and works to keep Nova Kalla fed. Those within Vins are prized for their dedication to hard work and personal strength. People from Vins are prone to honest work, and are typically a very helpful folk. Citizens of Vins are frequently non-confrontational, which might sound good, but often means their strength is not used when needed.

Niphara - Newer to Nova Kalla, Niphara is still valued. Its lands are known for their dedication to animal breeding and domestication, and is a source for both pets and animal products. They are also, after Tourma, the most knowledgeable as to aspects of shipbuilding, and their harbors hold much of the Nova Kallan Navy. People from Niphara are said to be traditional and dedicated. They like to stick to their ways, but not without reason. They are good at what they dedicate themselves to, and take pride in things like lineage and succession, honed through time and practice. This comes with the obvious caveat that Nipharan citizens tend to be stubborn, and sometimes don't give when it's better that they did.

History:

SpoilerShow

Unlike many other places, Nova Kalla as a society is young. Despite being situated on a comparatively small land mass a bit south of the heart of Alliance territory, what was originally the island of Fuurbota was surprisingly easy to overlook. For decades, it's existence was more of a myth than anything else, with some unusual atmospheric phenomena and ocean currents acting as a natural smokescreen, redirecting many who would have otherwise arrived safely on Fuurbota's shores. Those who were not as redirected as others saw a strange island shrouded in fog and swirling currents, and assumed a ghost island. It wasn't like stranger things hadn't happened.

Fuurbota soon became a famous story. Some told of an island that would draw travelers in with the promise of treasure, only for the waves and the fog to pull their ships in, never to be seen again. Others claimed that the island itself had risen from the sea, rife with underwater creatures mutated by the air, and that legions of scale covered creatures would one day set sail and attack the mainlands. Yet others claimed that the ghost island was a safehaven for those who wanted to not be found, and that anybody who was able to crack the code of the confusing currents and fog shrouded trials would arrive in a place that could never be found.

For those who want to disregard myth, however, the story of Nova Kalla is simple. Again formerly known as Fuurbota, the island found itself mostly unoccupied until recent years. Not much found the island home, save for a form of unique vegetation known as the Kakarao Tree, which produces the Kakarao Fruit, a fruit with a tough outer shell and a sweet, syrupy inside. For the most part, Fuurbota remained void of civilization, as far as anybody was aware. Fuurbota was a ghost island, and seemed like it would remain shrouded in mystique and myth.

Things changed around the year 624 AF. A ship that seemed rather cobbled together arrived on the mainland, bearing identification of a ship thought lost at sea. Those aboard the ship claimed that they had arrived from the city-state of Judraa, and that they had come to barter their supply of unique fruit for metals and other building materials. When questioned, the ship goers explained further. They said that those among the mainland would likely know their home more solidly as 'Fuurbota', the ghost island. They claimed that society had risen on Fuurbota, one pieced together from everybody from shipwrecked travelers to those looking for a second chance at life.

Apparently, society on Fuurbota had been going for decades, under no formal name. There had been small scale conflicts, the creation of borders, and peace treaties. From the resolutions rose three small city-states. The smallest of the three, Judraa, controlled much of the Kakarao Fruit production, due to their hold on the more wooded western portion of the island. To the northeast was Tourma, a fishing city-state due to their position near the island's gulf. And finally, the largest city-state to the south, was Vins, which focused more on conventional farming due to their access to flat land. The three city-states lived in relative balance, trading amongst each other and realizing that attempting to kick the ass of the other two would only lead to their own ass getting kicked. Still, there was much they needed and didn't have, so the three city-states grouped up and sent out a trade ship.

Their contact with other nations grew soon after, though they adopted a new name so that people would stop asking if their traders were ghosts. And so the city-state nation of Nova Kalla broke into the world. One of the very first things Nova Kalla did was take a nearby island into its fold. A nearby island, one to the south sought to join Nova Kalla, desiring safety without needing to change their ways, and seeing Nova Kalla as a way to achieve those ends. The island, known as Niphara, was accepted, providing its wealth of domesticated animals in return.

Nova Kalla became known as a trading nation amongst the other civilizations out there, neutral lands available for passing through to swap goods and currency. They built up a rather sizable navy due to their waterlocked position, and began a simple exploration of the nearby lands, with a few scouts sent off on longer ventures. Nova Kalla did its best when the Swarm struck. It joined the Alliance, and served more of a support system, mainly in the form of providing supplies and ferrying them around, alongside people and anything else that was needed. It was also around this time that Nova Kalla began creating its 'Guide Lights', a system of lighthouses that help direct incoming ships onto the island proper. The most notable of these is the first, and largest, known as the 'Eye of Flow', sitting near the major harbor in Tourma.

Nowadays, Nova Kalla has continued in its mercantile demeanor. It continues to serve as a trading hub, while looking for other opportunities elsewhere. It has recently settled a few colonies on the eastern islands, and hopes to gain a few new resources for trading purposes.

Alliance: Nova Kalla is a proud founding member of the Alliance

Anomaly · 06-18-2019, 01:24 AM

Country Name: The Antipode Coalition

Country Color: A questionably magical purple.

Government: Power in the Coalition is divided between two main entities - a democratically-elected senate that manages most of the country’s day-to-day affairs, and a council of mages and researchers that oversees various arcane matters, research concerns, expeditions, and so on. Said council is made up of representatives from both the main city of Antipode and the smaller outposts overseas. The council is, in itself, led by the Director of the Antipode Institute, the single most prestigious title in the whole of the Coalition.

Leader: Director Aztra Narilis, a lizardfolk who only very recently rose to leadership. Moderately tall, with purplish-gray-scales and a prominent blue bioluminescence from scars that snake their way across a good portion of her body. Her left arm is a clearly-magical prosthetic made from equal parts metal, treated wood, and glowing crystals, which functions adequately as a focus for magic and rather poorly as an actual arm. The Coalition hasn’t invented better prosthetics yet, give them time. Relatively young, idealistic, and sometimes a bit overzealous, she aims to reform the Coalition for the better while setting her sights on the heavens themselves. She came to be the Director after the last one, and a good chunk of the council, was blown up in the same terrible accident that left a large chunk of the island infected by the arcanophage.

Society: The Coalition is home to a wide variety of races - humans, dwarves, orcs, and even the occasional half-elf - but the majority of its population are, surprisingly enough, lizardfolk. Many of the cultural traditions of the Coalition come from the Empire of the Moon, owing to its roots as an imperial research colony - and yet, many of these traditions have been secularized or discarded over the years. Particularly, cultural taboos regarding things like “literally going to the moon, where the gods are supposed to live” have been mostly discarded. There’s a lot fewer corrupt nobles around, too, mostly because there’s no nobility.

Naturally, a major focus of society in the Coalition is research - or more generally, the pursuit of knowledge in all its forms. Prevailing belief is that all of society’s ills can be solved with enough R&D, along with the notion that more knowledge is always better - if you can find something out about the world, if you can recover some lost magic from an old ruin, if you can uncover secrets by poking weird things with sticks, you should. This has given the Coalition a reputation for being dangerously irresponsible, a reputation sometimes backed up by things like, say, blowing up their own research institute and filling the wilderness nearby with magical mutant wildlife. More on that later.

The Coalition is largely peaceful, most of their military focus being on defense. High walls, magical defense turrets, a navy of magical ships patrolling the seas as needed, and so on. However, due to the danger inherent in many of their research expeditions, they have shockingly well-equipped field teams for when they really must get into a fight. Avoiding war is a priority for them, but if they need to go fight some bugs, they won’t be completely useless.

History: While the humans and dwarves of the former Tharassan lands were busying themselves with an apocalyptic invasion of bugs the likes of which was yet unheard of, the Empire of the Moon was busy with rather less (for now) horrifying things. At the height of the Fourth Dynasty’s power and decadence, a glorious expedition was mounted to the west, and a great colony of mages and scientists was established, for the study of the mysterious eastern lands and its people and resources. Or western lands. Alliance territory is pretty much halfway around the world from the Empire, after all. The people of this colony got right to work, documenting wildlife, conducting flagrantly inaccurate anthropological studies of the area, and learning of the region’s myriad technologies - not to mention mounting expeditions to discover sunken Tharassan secrets.

For quite some time, the colony kept to its own, changing its research focuses with regularity and refusing to have any part in this “Alliance” and its politics. However, as the Fourth Dynasty began to decline, things started to change. Orders from the imperial government became few and far between - as did the ships carrying supplies, equipment, and - most importantly - research assistants. By necessity, the Coalition became self-sufficient, turning its research to better methods of agriculture, bringing the brunt of its arcane prowess to building up a mighty mage-city around its original laboratories, and even opening trade negotiations with its nearest neighbors. Before anyone knew it (let alone themselves), the Coalition had developed into an independent country of its own. No one was terribly broken up about this - the Empire of the Moon wasn’t exactly the best government to find oneself ruled by.

A few years later, realizing that being a country was hard, the governing mage-council decided to set up a real government. That way, they’d have far more time to pursue their own areas of magical and scientific research instead of having to figure out what in the bloody hell an “exequatur” is. With people who actually knew what they were doing put into power, the Coalition began to prosper as a haven for research, knowledge, and education both magical and mundane.

Two more outposts established by the Empire of the Moon were contacted and ultimately brought into the Coalition - Mistwatch to the south, near the islands now known as the Nova Kallan Republic, established to research the unusual phenomena surrounding the island; and Szalva Outpost far to the east, established to study the mostly-unexplored islands in that part of the world.

In 761 AF, the Coalition formally opened diplomatic relations with the states in and around the Alliance, and opened its borders to immigration. The population of the Coalition grew steadily after that, gaining a notable population of humans, dwarves, and even a few orcs and half-elves. No elves, though. Elves think they’re too good for science. The Coalition still declined to join the Alliance, having little immediate interest in fighting the bug menace when they were still getting established as a country in the first place. The three islands prospered, developing new magitechnical innovations like the world had never seen before.

In 786 AF, disaster struck. A violent explosion rocked the Antipode Institute, collapsing an entire wing of the building and causing the breach of several dangerous experiments. In the explosion and the containment efforts that followed, several council members and the Director himself were killed, and the city was moderately damaged. Most notably, perhaps, was the release of an infectious magical agent known as the arcanophage, which settled on the damage portion of the city - though much greater amounts drifted on the wind into the wilderness to the east.

The effects of this infection are still being understood - it was apparently a secret project of sorts being conducted by one of the deceased council members, and the explosion also destroyed nearly all of her notes. Known effects in sapient life include a notably increased affinity for magic, a slowed rate of aging, an increased incidence of a variety of chronic health conditions, and varying degrees of unsightly physical effects such as scarring, hair loss, calcified growths, and bioluminescence. Interestingly, in non-sapient life, the arcanophage causes rates of mutation not observed in sapients. Naturally, as much of the agent settled in the wilderness, this has led to the existence of all manner of strange and magical animals and plants. Cleanup efforts are still ongoing.

In the aftermath of the disaster, an institute researcher named Aztra Narilis was able to rapidly climb the ranks all the way to the position of Director. In light of what happened, she pushed the council toward reform of the Coalition’s research practices, specifically advocating for increased research transparency, putting a stop to unregulated “secret projects”, and banning research on particularly dangerous subjects within the city itself. She also pushed for the Coalition to join the Alliance, to facilitate cooperation and the sharing of knowledge with their neighbors. But along with her reforms, Director Narilis has ambition. In the Empire, it’s believed that the moon is the home of the gods, an Olympus beyond the reach of mere mortals. And it’s there that Director Narilis is setting her sights. A whole new world to explore. New discoveries to make. A more secure place to conduct experiments.

We’re going to the moon.

Alliance: Yes, if only recently. Research should be shared.

Demonsul · 06-21-2019, 03:42 AM

790 AF
Diplomatic Turn

The Alliance continues onwards into the future, approaching its 90th anniversary. Few would have thought, when the armies arrived at Bronze Pass all those years ago, that it'd still be going strong today. At the time, they thought the countries of the Alliance would collapse back into infighting within the decade. And there has been infighting; the Alliance hasn't been foolproof in preventing conflict. But it is nothing like the blood there once was. The peace has seen the flourishing of new societies and ideas, including an entirely new kind of revolution. But more change is coming. Steam pumps are being puzzled over, as engineers try to consider how to transform them into practical engines. The dwarves are stirring from their holds, looking outward, back towards their lost homeland. And in the west, something stirs beneath the surface of the buglands.

Khuln Kalduhr has been on every diplomat's lips lately, as the new King Thedrin II has raised a grand host of dwarves. This has upset the balance of power in some people's minds, but such a force may be a boon to the Alliance. Certainly, it has many of their dwarven neighbours looking to them with hope.

Kor Vurneus continues as it always has, holding back the tide of the bugs and fortifying the borderlands of the Alliance. Even the goblins view them as targets, despite their militarization. As the mightiest land power of the Alliance following the fall of Praterre, it now falls to them to serve as the sword and shield of their allies.

The Unity of Nature's Friends has long existed to the far east of the Alliance, peacefully minding their own and helping those who gave them friendship in return. But with the changing days, and the much-anticipated invention of a practical steam engine on the horizon, how long will their peaceful lifestyles last?

To the northwest, in the heart of the orcish steppes, a new power has risen. The Nogroon have united a number of regional tribes, and are assimilating them into the fold. With their power on the rise and a holy mission from their gods strengthening their wills, they are proving to be a potential contender for the unclaimed title Khagan of the East. Perhaps an even greater destiny lies in store for them; only time will tell.

In the heart of the Alliance, the Freed Bay Post stands proud, having won their independence and established themselves as a stable country. Their postmen still roam the Alliance, as they once did under the king of Praterre, delivering messages to high and low alike. Now, wherever they go, the fire of freedom goes with them.

North of the Alliance, in the deep forests along the coast, the half-elves of Orbona have risen and united. Now, after generations of establishing themselves, they have begun to emerge from their woodland home. Though seemingly primitive, they have great power and might, and only time will tell whether they will be a friend or foe to the Alliance.

In Tiranóg, catastrophe has destroyed most of the country's leadership. With an unexpected king pulled from nowhere, the country staggers onwards, stumbling forward long after some had expected it to collapse into anarchy. Whatever Tiranóg becomes after this calamitous shift, it won't be the same as what it was.

In the Crescent Wastes, the cleaning of the magical contamination in the wilderness has reached a tipping point. Now, at last, the country is widely inhabited again. Though the region still a shockingly dangerous place to live, the Wastelanders have once again made it their home, and are at last turning their gaze towards the flagrant abuse of magic abroad.

The wealth of the Alliance continues to flow through Nova Kalla. Though pirates roam the seas, the fleets of Nova Kalla and Tiranóg are more than enough to preserve the Alliance's trade lanes and keep prosperity flowing. On the islands themselves, the people of Nova Kalla stop and wonder to themselves; do we truly have enough money?

The Antipode Coalition, meanwhile, struggles with a deficit born of repairing the damage done to their majestic Institute. With the arcanophage largely contained, they now look to rebuilding and replacing what was lost in the disaster four years ago. The Alliance was cautious to welcome them before. Will they aid them now?

Time grinds onwards; the 10th Convention of the Alliance is due to begin soon. Scheduled every ten years, it allows the Alliance to get together and decide if it wants to change any of its constitutional rules, which are few and far between. Until then, the countries and neighbours of the Alliance are free to meet and discuss their issues, as things are sure to begin happening soon...

Protoman · 06-21-2019, 05:39 AM

A raven flies to the far flung reaches of the continent.

To the People of the Alliance,

A new sun is born in the East of the Holy Land. It wishes to make its presence and intentions known to you. We are the fire that will soon consume the Great Steppes. We are the justice that shall thunder throughout the whole of the steppe, ringing in the ears of the whole world. We are lovers of peace, and defenders of the weak against the wicked and the hateful.

We are the Nogroon. And we hope this message reaches you swiftly.

For every individual who has suffered at the hands of our sinful brethren: Rejoice, for the reckoning will soon rain down upon them. We will seize their lands, see their tribes brought to reason, and see the wicked punished for their crimes. We will guarantee you a peaceful border, now and forever, for the gods want an end to the suffering of those of each and every race.

For every individual who has suffered at the hands of the marauding invaders from the Deadlands: Rejoice, for today, a great ally is born among you. The anguish of those of the central continent has been seen by our Great Prophet, and it will not stand. We are not of your alliance; it is not the nature of the steppe to bind ourselves to paper and legality. But you have our word, from now until the death of all, lest the world rise to prevent us, our blades will cross with your enemies whenever you are in danger. We are at your side.

For every individual who lives by greed, though; for every individual who prospers off the suffering of their neighbor, or who terrorizes their own people; for every individual who is consumed by avarice and strength and hatred and injustice: You are the enemy of the gods. Pray that you do not come to blows with the Nogroon, for the light of righteousness follows us forever.

These are the words of the prophet: "And let it be known, I fought at Bronze Pass; I saw suffering, I saw death; I turned from my sin and from my wickedness then, and sought the light of peace. Alas, peace is ill-coming in a world of deceivers; and war must be made to safeguard justice. As the war for the steppe rages, let it be known that our hearts are with you, our brothers and sisters in life, and that we stand by you now and forever."

We are told you have a fantastic letter delivery system in your Alliance. We invite you to send letters, and we promise our response will be swift. In the name of peace, I bid you go, and in the name of justice, I pray your lives are guided toward prosperity.

Anora Khan.

Corn · 06-22-2019, 05:30 AM

Not too long afterwards, a courier arrives in the capitals of all Alliance states. The envelopes are sealed in wax and sprigs of ivy, the emblem of the Freed Bay Post stamped into them. The stamp on the corner, a lovely painted flax flower. The backing papers inside shine in the light, golden in color, probably mica. The letters begin predictably, the title of the leader, the name of the leader, and “Distinguished Ally,” and then they continue:

Correspondence from the Freed Bay Post Wrote:Good day, esteemed friends, may this find you well in your homes.

We are aware that since the last Alliance Convention, there have been shifts in the lands around the usual hosting. In this knowledge, that we would not wish to press upon those difficulties further, and that this is to be our first Convention as members in our own right, we would like to extend a hand to our fellows.

Formally, we offer to host the Convention this year. Bras-Tendues will be in a lovely state in the usual season, and has been revived in such a manner that we would be proud to have you all. It is not far from the traditional meeting-place, and should not make for a harsher trek than one would be accustomed to. We hope you will accept our continued good will in this manner, and will await inquiries, acceptance, rejection, whatever the appropriate case.

As always, wirh camaraderie and diligence,
The Council of Postmasters
VIA:
Postmaster Paramount,
Gaara Dubois

Cidellus · 06-25-2019, 03:54 PM

The King of Khuln Kalduhr would like to publicly state his intended proposals for the next meeting of the Alliance Council, to be considered by all involved.

1) Following the peaceful conclusion of the Postal Revolution, the King of Praterre is no longer the dominant power in Praterre. Therefore, Khuln Kalduhr will propose a redistribution of Praterre’s votes between the Kingdom of Praterre, the Freed Bay Post, Ecrithur, and Des-Accor. As the Freed Bay Post now has the largest population, economy, and military out of the Pratois states, Khuln Kalduhr also suggests Praterre’s council seat go to them.

2) The induction of Kingdom of the Crescent Wastes into the Council on account of their recent growth in economic and military power, as well as population.

Khuln Kalduhr states this early so as to give the Council and Voters time to consider the measures.

Demonsul · 06-26-2019, 03:09 AM

Pratois Attack on Freed Bay Post

The noble-knights of Dentienne have rode to war, marching out into the Freed Bay Post to "put down the rebellion" and get their "deserved lands" back. Supported by mysterious mercenaries, they have emerged into Freed Bay Post territory and started trying to occupy the nearby villages.

As this happened, their "mercenaries" turned against the noble-knights and assaulted the force, taking most of the Pratois attackers captive. By the time of the news of the attack broke, it was already over. Now the noble-knights and their retinues are held in the "mercenary" camp just inside the border of Praterre, not far from the entrance to Dentienne.

Nobody is really sure what is going on yet.

Cidellus · 06-26-2019, 03:45 AM

Thedrin sat in a roadside inn eating his morning breakfast, sipping his coffee, and reading his newspaper.

His eyes fell on the recent headline.

He spit out his coffee.

ProfessorLizzard · 06-26-2019, 11:44 AM

A message to everyone from the Crescent Wastes:

"Well, well, well, everyfriends!

Thankfully the bloodshed of the innocent, rightfully angry folk has not been slaughtered by these so-called-nobles. I am a bit concerned about the mercanaries turning quickly, but I am certain, they are of noble intentions, and they will even donate all the money they got from the Supposed Knights to the common folks of the Free Post Friend Lands. This would truly show how heroic they are!

You'all's truly,
Captain Ovis
"

Galloglasses · 06-26-2019, 12:48 PM

Geród, in the company of his friends swore obscenely in Tiranógi for an extended period at the news.

"Can I go a day without some new crisis, popping up!? Whats next, Thrassia rises from the waves and tries to take back their empire? By all of the gods!"

Corn · 06-28-2019, 01:29 AM

As soon as relayed horses are able to carry them, non-standard delivery indeed, messages arrive in the capital of all Alliance nations sparing that of Kor Verneus.

Correspondence from the Freed Bay Post Wrote:[Title of country name]
[name of person if acceptable]

Troubling news has no doubt reached the far corners of the Allied lands, and the matter of the Pratois attack is, as of this penmanship, still under investigation. On the understanding that our own look into it should be insufficient at this time, we would like to invite an investigative delegation from yourself, as well as those of other Alliance members. They have been simultaneously informed. An awkward situation, to be sure, but one we hope you will forgive, as we attempt to understand the matter together.

As always, with good will and doors open,
Postmaster Envoy,
Katerine Vigneau