Nation Name: The Kingdom of the Red Dragon Flag: The Head and shoulders of a Golden Dragon on a red backdrop with twin dragon-like silver serpents coiling around it. Government: The Kingdom of the Red Dragon is not actually a Kingdom, not since the fall of the empire with the same name. The Government is in fact a Republic with the elected leader being elected from the male siblings of the previous ruler. The Red Council is made of representatives that largely hail from the powerful merchant families and guilds. While the Red Council is officially elected by the people, all that means is that those with the biggest purses get in and those that don't make space for themselves. The Red Council holds all the power of the Kingdom but the Dracos Inquisitos, the 'ruler', is the only one allowed to declare war and can force a three month trade embargo on any family or nation without having to consult the Red Council, after the time frame he must have their approval to continue it. The Council can, however, replace the Dracos Inquisitos with one of his male siblings if they have a 95% majority in the favor of a single sibling, thus keeping the moderate balance of power and allowing them to both keep the other in check. Structure: Top: Dracos Inquisitos Next: Red Tradracos (Minister of trade), Red Diplomacist (Minister of Foreign affairs effectively) and Red Guild-master (Minister of Guilds) Below: All the other 60 members of the Council split unevenly between the three ministries To counter the purely mercantile Power of the Red Council there is also the Dracos Imperium, generally lead by a relative of the Inquisitos purely due to the Dracos Imperials wanting to keep in favor with the ruling family so they may remain unhindered in their work. The Imperium is the religious arm of the nation and holds the power of the commoner levels of society even if most of its members have help their positions over generations as it is a very tradition orientated form. The Imperium has two tasks, that of spreading the faith of the kingdom and that of moderation over the Religion and its restrictions, the Imperium being able to ban or restrict such things as forms of technology and set the Laws of the Religion, which even the Red Council dare not go against, and vote for which tribes or clans, etc. are suitable for the Kingdom to make dealings with in the eyes of the 'Red Dragon' their diety with the Dracos Imperlius (leader of the Imperium) holding the power to stop any vote in the Imperium. Economy: The Kingdom of the Red Dragon is effectively a merchant republic and so the vast bulk of its economy comes from trade with the north Andarans as they are the only 'northern' power that has effectively set up shop on the southern continent. This allows them to hold a monopoly over trade between the two continents after having gained the trust of most of the local tribes, nations and other such powers. Leader(s): Nicoli Vacialtali - Dracos Iquisitos Serge Vacialtali - Dracos Imperlius Important People: Flavius Medici - Imperial Admiral Giuseppe Calcalius - Red Tradracos Lucius Medici - Red Diplomacist Pasquale Oridentalis - Red Guild-Master Desired Map location: Important Locations: The City of Dracos, A city entirely floating in the bay, the Capital hosts floating docks stretching as far as the eye can see getting luxuries and necessities from, and sending luxuries to, the northern continent. The City of Dracos holds the Red Council and its center is dominated by the 'District of Trade', effective an excuse to keep all the rich away from the poor and allow those who hold the power a way of avoiding those they 'serve' the center of this district stands the Red Palace, where the Ruling Family (currently Vacialtali) reside and the Red council meets. The Gate to the South, The 'Gateway' to the city but almost a city in its own right. In an attempt to keep the populance of the Dracos 'pure' this fortified menace keep those who don't appear to be 'pure' (not of the North) out of the city but, to keep relations with the numerous tribes around the Kingdom, not to actually restrict those who have good reason to be there (they get an armed 'guard' to keep them 'safe'). Because of its strategic importance as the gateway to the Capital it is the main barracks for the Kingdoms small military. The Temple of Dracos, situated on the edge of a steep cliff overlooking the bay this temple has been restored from a local ruined temple and is the home of the Dracos Imperium. Weapons are strictly not allowed and so the temple is protected by a significant portion of the army, but even they are restricted from entering the temple if they have a weapon equiped. Cultural Overview: The Kingdom holds two 'feast-avals' a year, one is held on the Inquisitos' birthday with the other being held on 'Dark Dragon Night' which coincides with the winter solstice. On these events the commoners celebrate with national holidays, often spending time with their families and the upper classes are all invited to attend a Feast in the palace where some of the most exotic foods known to man are consumed. There are also a whole host of religious occasions throughout the year, each and every one providing a national day of rest to all who feel they can afford to take it and a bit of upped pay for those who can't. The other main festival of the Kingdom is held biannually and is the Floating of the Dragons, its foundation is in the praise and worship of their god the 'Red Dragon' but its main use is to show of the navy to the nearby tribes to act as a deterrent to any hostilities from them, all the tribal leaders are invited to the palace to watch from its upper floors while the majority of the festivities are held outside the city with large expanses of agricultural land being turned into a large party where money is spent, wares are traded and many drunks are fined, providing more wealth to the Kingdoms overflowing coffers. The main event of the 'Floating of the Dragons' is the massive show of their navy with a glorified fishing boat being set alight and guided by other ships to make sure it sets nothing on fire and sinks in the ocean. Technology Overview: The Kingdom has all of the finest technology that money can buy but develop little to none of it themselves, purchasing any technology from the old world they feel can make their lives easier, safer or more profitable. The Kingdom relies almost completely on trade, with food being supplied by the more trusting tribes and large stores of grain being imported from the north to keep the city stockpiled in the case of a war, be it with the north or the south. Outside of the city the technology, other then that of the army, is fairly basic with very little setting the Kingdoms own farmers apart from that of the tribes surrounding it. Military Overview: The Kingdoms army is very well equipped but hosts an outdated organisational system, with each Guild hosting its own troops with the Dracos Inquisitos fielding one man for every one the guilds field so as to keep a Guild from taking over by force. Their navy is also well equipped but, with the distances concerned the ships hulls are also pretty outdated, with newer guns and things being 'upgraded' from the ones existing since very few northern countries are willing to sell their newest ship designs, even to the highest bidder, therefor they must make do with slightly older warships (even if there trade-ships are the finest money can buy). Their airborne forces consist of a small number of weakly hulled elan powered airships with powerful guns that spend most of their life floating on water rather then air as the distances and costs involved in the elan supplies are currently not considered worth it by the Red Council and the Imperial Admiral, the Imperial Admiral being the sole chosen by the Inquisitos to lead his Navy and, more recently, airborne forces, while allowing the Inquisitos to command his own land forces.