Name: (Don't go too nuts, keep it at least pronounceable) Flag/emblem: (picture or description) Demonym: (What are your people called? Such as English or Americans or the French) Description: (A summary of your nation goes here; basics on what's going on and what the country is about. Traditions worthy of note go here, recent history, unique traits,...)
Economy: (Just describe the major industries, activities and how they are organized. What are notable exports and imports? What is your nation lacking? Base this off the rolls.)
Religion: (if present, more than one?)
Geography: (Jungle, grassland, mountains, etc. PLEASE be sure to identify where on the map you are, preferably by posting a clip of the region you wish to occupy. We may have to move you around to make it work. Don't be shocked if you don't get all the area you requested.)
Population: (will be rolled for)
Demographics (Makeup of your population; ethnicities, languages, minorities.)
Notable Locations (An overview of important cities, military forts, wonders, and Historical Landmarks (which is to say, along the lines of the Taj Mahal or the Pyramids at Giza))
Personalities of Note (Important people in your country; leaders and the such, people that factor heavily into your RP. At the very least, the ruler (de facto and/or de jure, probably other characters such as priests, heirs, rivals, ambassadors, your important generals or administrators.)
Institutions: (Major institutions of the nations, such as legislative bodies, corporate organisations/guilds, families, most importantly, the military.)
Military Organisation: (professional/militia/levy/..., doctrine, tactics, equipment, though the latter can be put underneath as well, etc.) Troop Total: (keep reality and upkeep in mind, e.g. 3% of your population as full-time professional soldiers would be a whole lot) Army: Navy: Other: (Such as siege equipment, a secret service, internal security, important mercenaries, or paramilitary forces, etc.)
Subject to Revision, Still Partially Under Construction
The Fulmen Nati
Demonym: The Fulmen, The Nati, Demihumans, Savages, Primitives
The Fulmen Nati are a subgroup of genetically distinct humans isolated in the jungle vales of the continent's Western edge. They live in twelve divisive regions centered around large city-villages, with several regions being controlled by despotic warlords who constantly wage battle with each other and rule using fear and terror. The populace has a strong, culturally ingrained religion which is omnipresent throughout all of their society, and a ruling thearchy exists in the form of a gathering of twelve senior shaman, one from each region. The senior-most shaman is chosen to serve as the Lugal, a conduit for the will of the Fulmen Nati pantheon's foremost god, for a period of up to a year, after which they die and must be replaced. As such, the roster of shaman amongst the gathering is constantly shifting and changing as the years pass by. The thearchy has no formally recognized authority, but retains de-facto control of the nation due to their vast cultural and traditional influence.
Government: Oligarchical Theocracy. A ruling body of Shaman control all of society due to immense traditional and cultural influence over all affairs of note. Most mandates and decrees are passed down from the senior-most Shaman, the Lugal, who serves as an alleged conduit for the will of the Fulmen Natis' foremost god. The nation is thus said to be governed according to divine providence.
The Fulmen Nati lack any form of official currency, and still use a barter and trade system involving goods and services. All forms of material wealth tend to flow in one of three directions - subsistence utilities, local warlords, and the local priesthood. The common people use most of their resources to tend to their own needs, while Warlords contribute fortifications and military utilities, and the Priesthood focuses on public works. In the Fulmen Nati tongue, the word for 'Trade' means the same as 'Mutual Raiding.' City Villages do not nominally trade, but goods are regularly stolen and shifted between population centers by skirmishing forces.
The Fulmen Nati worship a pantheon of seven gods. Tafari, God of Awe and Power. Tiamat, Goddess of Despair, Anguish, Rage, and Rancor. Sathanas, Goddess of the Unknown and the Ineffable. Poe, God of Chaos, Madness, Inspiration, and Art. An, Goddess of Wind, Breath, and Grace. Mannet, God of Matter and Motion. Mot, God of Sterility and Death.
The gods came to the world after it had already been formed, and choose it as their new home. Each of them took a form within the universe, becoming embodiments of the physical laws and nature of the world itself.
First was Tafari, who became the Star. All power, all life, and all change flow from him and the light he emits. He is worshiped through demonstrations of might and superiority. Various states of mind, such as Awe, Terror, Confusion, and Euphoria are all associated with him, and as such he is also the god most responsible for prophetic visions and dreams. An infamous prophecy told long ago stated that the God Tafari would know three laments, and upon the third, the end of the world would dawn. Thus far, Tafari is considered to know two laments.
Second was Sathanas, who became one with the aether and the outer boundaries of space, forever unseen and intangible, working in ways alien and unknown even to the other members of the Pantheon. This resulted in the first lament of Tafari, who could no longer see his sister, no matter how swiftly or how far he flung his light. Sathanas is worshiped through the contemplation of unknowable things; upon her holy day it is customary to have one's dwelling rearranged by a stranger and then attempt to reason why each change was made.
Third was Tiamat, who became the essence of Form and Shape, embodying the bones of the Earth as an opposite to the position of her sister, Sathanas. She is said to define the nature of all things through their shape and qualities, and as such is associated with the personality and mind. The Fulmen Nati believe that only despair and rage can give rise to true strength and as the source of all personal drive (Sorrow and Anger. The happy are complacent). As such, Tiamat is worshiped as font of these two extremes. She is worshiped only on moonless nights by bathing in tar.
Fourth was Poe, who attempted to manifest his form directly upon the world itself. Because of the nature of the world, he shattered into countless pieces upon the attempt, each piece being flung to one of the world's countless corners. Each shard of the god remained alive, driven mad with pain and existential agony, and so began to twist and distort the weft and fabric of the world - thus, the shards of Poe are said to make up the essence of all reflective surfaces. Poe is therefore the god of Chaos and Madness, embodying disorder, but is also the source of all inspiration, daring, and spirit. On Poe's holy day, one is expected to create a great work of art, and then subsequently destroy it in public.
Fifth was An, who also desired to manifest their form directly upon the world. Seeing her brother's failed attempt, she shaped her mind into a needle, and her body into thread, and thus pierced through the fabric of the world and wove herself through it. However, as she continuously pulls herself through the world, her body unweaves itself behind her - thus giving rise to the phenomena of wind. She is worshiped through Dance.
Sixth was Mannet, who also desired to manifest upon the world. However, fearful of attempting to do so as Poe had, and not being as graceful as his sister An, Mannet lacked any clever means of doing so - until he noticed that light shed by Tafari could fall upon the world without being destroyed, despite originating from his divine body. Thus, Mannet infused Tafari's light with his essence, and fell upon the world, seeping into the ground. However, his plan fell short when he found himself unable to emerge from the Earth, distributed across its entire surface as heat and warmth. Thus, Mannet became forever trapped, his struggles to form a body manifesting as the shifting and malleable nature of matter. This resulted in the second Lament of Tafari, who felt great anguish upon having unwillingly trapped his brother. Mannet is worshipped through the art of metalworking.
Seventh and last of all was Mot, God of Sterility and Death. Mot, being greedy and envious of the entirety of the universe and the holdings of all his siblings, refused to take form within the universe itself, instead remaining without it. He thus embodies the void of potentia, and so is the God of Sterility - the absence of potential. Mot is well known for his greed and his insatiable hunger, and so constantly devours pieces of the universe, and is responsible for entropy and death. All things are said to eventually wind up in Mot's belly, which is vaster and darker than the deepest and darkest of oceans. Mot was originally worshipped through sacrificial rites and ritual dismemberment with the mummification of the removed appendage. However, after the incident involving the Necromancer Tien'camot, worship of Mot is actively discouraged.
The Fulmen Nati occupy a diverse range of biomes. Most of their land is made up of swamp and marshland, giving way to thicker tropical jungles and heavy vegetation. Many of these swamps and jungles are nestled between massive mountain valleys, and the region is host to multiple mountain chains. Around the outskirts of their jungles and valleys is largely rocky riverland. The region is home to some of the most extreme altitude points on the continent - the mountain of Fulmen Vigra is possibly the tallest mountain on the continent, while the Baleosus basin is perhaps the deepest massive depression present.
The Fulmen Nati population went through a severe genetic bottleneck in the recent past, resulting in a marked genetic drift away from baseline humans. Demihumans have skin that is tinged with a faint green hue, akin to that of trolls. They tend to be somewhat stronger physically than regular humans, but have a lower overall blood pressure and problems with blood clotting, meaning they heal slowly in comparison and take longer to shift their bodies into high gear.
Notable Locations:Fulmen Vigra: The sacred site atop the Mt. Limen, where the influence of the Fulmen Nati's foremost god is said to be strongest.
Fuliperlitt: The largest, most developed city in all the Nati lands. It is the crowning jewel of their civilization, built into a plateau in the shadow of Mt. Limen.
Apricor: The tower citadel, a massive temple built in honor of the gods, built atop a large meca near the Northern shoreline. Home to a large number of religious scholars and prophets, and also a center of training for their holy order of warriors.
Iugulum Mot: The Sunken City-Village, rumored to have been devoured by swamp itself as an offering to Mot in a plot facilitated by the high Priest Tien'camot. Said to be cursed and haunted by revenants and wraiths, few dare to venture near it.
Baleosus: A city-village built into the Metfall basin, Baleosus is the most industrialized city present amongst the Nati lands. Most of their mineral wealth and metalwork originates from here. It has several large, hand-carved shafts of stone that are nearly two miles deep in the Earth, with mines and barrow passages branching off of each.
Radix Arx: A city-village built into a series of underground ruins. Most of the population is made up of the subterranean Last Family, and almost qualifies as a micro-nation unto itself. Most of the internal going-ons of Radix Arx are unknown to the outside world.
Tien'diad: Tien'diad is a warrior of great repute and fame, said to be thrice blessed by Tafari, Tiamat, and An to never fall in battle. Rose to prominence after defeating the twin Warlords Sirn and Ara'chatuh in a trial by champion engagement between two skirmishing militias. He was once favored to replace them as a Warlord, but eventually dedicated himself to a Holy Purpose and now serves the Religious Order.
Warlord Charis: Warlord of the city-village Ecsigent and the surrounding region, Charis is far and away the most singularly bloodthirsty of the five warlords. Infamous for using fire to great effect and commonly leading skirmishes during storms. Charis has standing orders to summarily execute any women who bear her approximate appearance after learning that the warlord Nallot favored concubines who resembled her.
Warlord Nallot: Warlord of the city-village Satus, who is considered the most civilized. Most likely of any of the warlords to openly deal with outsiders, and has a keen mind for trade. Has a fondness for exotic creatures and possessions. Despite being somewhat reasonable, he is still quick to use his forces as leverage and has a short temper. He is also rumored to pay handsomely for slaves with a particular look about them...
Warlord Balefor: Warlord of the city-village Baleosus and the entire Metfall Basin. He effectively controls the flow of all minerals and metals in and out of the basin, and is thus in an incredibly advantageous political and economic position. He is a relative newcomer to the five warlords, and nobody is quite sure what his intentions are. He will launch raids and skirmishes at others as a matter of course, but is largely unaggressive and seemingly content to sit where he is and consolidate his power. The word is that he is willing to buy slaves from foreign powers in bulk, doubtlessly to serve as laborers in the Baleosus shaft mines.
Lugal Aigen: The newly installed Lugal of the Fulmen Nati, previously high priest of the city-village of Fulperlitt. Known for being firm of hand and decisive. Has turned their gaze outwards to the other nations and lands on the continent. May or may not be a Demigod of unfathomable power.
High Priest Iimah'lutah: The current senior-most high priest of the Lugal's gathering, Iimah'lutah is also the nominal leader of the city-village of Apricor, and is therefore unofficially the head of the entire religious order. Somewhat overzealous and stern, unwilling to accept compromise.
High Priest Tien'camot: The exiled priest. Said to have caused the now-cursed city-village of Iugulum Mot to have sunk into the swamp as an offering to his god, Mot. On that day he was exiled from the gathering, and his seat was cursed to forevermore remain empty and to seep with the blood of those he slaughtered. It is said that Tien'camot is a necromancer, capable of raising the dead to serve his will, and it is also said that Mot has gifted him with immortality.
The Gathering of High Priests under the Lugal: The Lugal and the gathering of high priests nominally control the entire nation. The Lugal is said to serve as a conduit for the will of the Fulmen Nati's foremost god. As there is a strong, deeply ingrained cultural religious heritage throughout the entire land, nearly everybody will do as they say without hesitation. Their priests and scholars roam throughout the land, preaching and serving the common people, and they control the order of holy warriors.
The Apricor Prophets: A group of 12 prophets who live in seclusion at Apricor. Are said to have abandoned their individuality in order to operate as a single entity, capable of inducing prophetic visions of unparalleled clarity and purpose.
Tafari's Questors: The order of Holy Warriors who serve the priesthood. Questors are sworn to protect the priesthood and otherwise enforce the path of Tafari. They are zealouts, and are entirely uncompromising in their beliefs. They technically operate independently of the priesthood proper, and as such can sometimes be witnessed operating as bands of warriors journeying through the wilderness, unaccompanied by members of the priesthood.
The Effulgent Scholars: A guild of Religious Scholars from all the city-villages, the Scholars collect tomes of lore and accumulate knowledge in pursuit of the greater glory of the Fulmen Nati's pantheon.
The Regional Warlords: Five warlords, each ruling over a regional city-village of the Fulmen Nati with an iron fist. Each of them rules through fear and the authority of the sword, but they are universally respecting of the religious order, and most of them even keep priests as advisers and counsel.
The Free Family: A single lineage within the Fulmen Nati which is said to control more than half of all the wealth that flows through the nation, spread across the city-villages but nonetheless united under the common banner of family. While pious, they are known for being power hungry and ambitious, and the family is rife with petty internal politics. They unofficially own, run, and operate much of the Fulmen Nati land. The only real opposition they have comes in the form of the five regional warlords.
The Blooded Family: The Blooded Family is not so much a group as much as it is a racial hierarchy. Any species and race can become a member of the Fulmen Nati, and when they do, they join the Blooded Family. In essence, the Blooded Family includes any non-Demihuman member of the Fulmen Nati. As the Blooded Family is currently nonexistent amongst their society, there is not much opinion of them.
The Last Family: A genetically isolated lineage even within the Fulmen Nati, they are a single family who control the city-village of Radix Arx. They are incredibly wary of outsiders, and are hesitant even to let other Fulmen within their society. Almost their entire population worships Mannet alongside Tafari, and they possess a large number of cultural traditional and laws which make them almost alien in comparison to the other city-villages.
The Venerable Aspirants: A large, prestigious organization that acts as one. The Blooded Family is infamous for their participation in annual holy day celebrations. They exist in order to raise orphans and the desperate as sacred warriors who participate in glorious competitions and bouts during das of celebration, with the winners being sacrificed by by tied to a lightning rod. Needless to say, mortality is quite high, and the Blooded Family is always looking for new individuals to fill their ranks. The glory of Tafari is always in need of fresh blood.
The Cult of Mot: Ever since the incident at Iugulum Mot, worship of the God of Sterility has been all-but outlawed. That does not mean he has no followers remaining, however, and here and there, scattered throughout society, his few remaining worshipers practice in secret.
The Cult of An: A heretical group of religious practitioners who were eradicated more than a decade ago for their sacrilegious practices. Rarely spoken of, if ever, and even then only in whispers.
Organisation: The forces of the Fulmen Nati are divided between five divisive regional warlords and the religious order. While the religious order nominally controls and manipulates each of the warlords and their forces, ultimately each of them are closer to enemies than allies. Skirmishes, raids, and border engagements between warlords are common.
Troop Total: 160,000 Individuals, consisting mostly of skirmishers.
Army: There are five different standing armies amongst the Fulmen Nati, all boasting different numbers, tactics, regional influence, equipment, and so forth.
Navy: The Fulmen Nati have a nonexistent navy. The closest thing they have to boats are rudimentary rafts used to navigate large swamps and rivers. Naval warfare is entirely unknown to them.
Holy Order: The order of Holy Warriors that protect the priesthood operate on an entirely different scale and utilize different tactics relative to the guerrilla forces of the warlords. They tend not to travel in groups larger than seven though, and so are not a true military force per-se, although if they choose to congregate they could form an intimidating army.
ESSENTIALS
Population Density (Population - 3,200,000) - Regionally Dense; A good amount of manpower for the military and economic purposes, with social infrastructure strained more at a regional basis. Civic projects range from affordable to expensive. The nation requires a stronger economy to sustain itself.
Economy - Stagnation - The economy is performing adequately, though there is room for improvement. There are certain limitations on the economy that are bottlenecking real growth, such as a restriction in investment capital or insufficient demand, however. There is some unemployment and economic unhappiness among people in the lower income brackets, and there is a degree of criticism in what can go wrong, even if it hasn't gone wrong yet.
Urbanisation - Semi-urbanised: There are several towns and a few cities present, ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand inhabitants.
Technology - Slowly Modernizing: The industrial infrastructure is in the process of improvement, and this is a teething process. But the economy is seeing increased activity because of this investment. New technologies are becoming domestically available. However, there is a degree of dependence on imports, including in terms of the expertise to modernize the economy. Metallurgy is limited to bronze products.
Domestic Political Stability - Growing Unrest
GEOGRAPHY
Largely consists of jungles and hills, with swamps, marshes, and mountain chains.
RESOURCES
Mineral Deposits - Rich deposits of metals and minerals such as copper, lead, coal, usable stone.
Valuable Mineral Deposits - Trace deposits of rare earth metals.
Unique Materials - incense, dyes, ivory
Agriculture - crop based, food surplus that is decreasing over time
MILITARY
Military Focus - inferior army and navy, ranged focus, bad infantry and cavalry ratio (15:1)
Military Recruitment - Forced recruitment
Reliability - Levies are of decent quality, generals play politics, decentralised
Military Size - small core of professional units: requires some upkeep, easy to equip/supply quickly, seasonal levies
Military Technology - Antiquated, your nation lags behind the rest of the world, and stubbornly clings to ancient traditions.
Military Training and Morale - Highly Trained; Low Morale, levies are of decent quality but low morale
Military Leadership - Competent; Rose to their positions through experience and battlefield exploits; decadent
Military Reputation - Unpopular domestically; considered devious by foreigners
Siege Equipment - practically non-existent, instead your army relies on grapling hooks and infiltration
Description: The Drastonian Empire is a growing Empire on the continent, and this means that the quality of life is growing for many. Though it goes through varying levels. In the villages life is still rural, many are who serfs work the land for a minute percentage of the profits and their homes. There are a few who are wealthier, such as the local smith or physician but there may be only one of each per village. Alongside the human population are the ‘Indentured Species’, meaning that anybody else of another race, apart from human, caught inside Empire territory is forced into servitude. Each Indentured worker is given a one hundred and twenty five hour working week and in exchange they receive one fifth of a hovel, two meals a day and two working outfits. In the towns there is a similar set up except the number of men and women working in industry is much higher, there is also more men and women working on public projects and the number of Indentured workers living on slums, on the out skirts is higher. Again in the cities this is scaled to a much higher extreme. The slums around cities are fairly huge, the number of men working in industries is high and the public works are fairly effective. With a large force of slave labour it allows more money to be spent on improving the lives of the citizens and reduces the costs of farming and logging. Making food and rural products fairly cheap, though iron products and imported goods a little more expensive. All of the cream of the ventures has given the royal family and administrative powerhouses quite a very high quality of life.
History: To be fleshed out with others.
Government: Constitutional Monarchy – The Drastonian Empire has a single head of state, an Emperor, who comes from a long family line of Emperors. The Emperor has divine right to make any law, or veto any law passed by a parliament, however if a total consensus is reached in the parliament then the Emperor cannot veto a law, or must allow his own law to be vetoed. The parliament is selected by the Emperor every fifteen years from a list of candidates. A requirement to be a candidate is to have held a position of administration for a minimum of ten years, to be older than thirty five and to have property/asset value in the Drastonian Empire equal to, or double, the national average. An administrative position is filled through a ‘first past the post’ method of election where males, over twenty one, who own property can put one vote towards a candidate of their choice. Anyone who has the right to vote has the right to run as a candidate and administrations are broken up into counties. Each city or town is its own county and then a maximum of three villages can also make up a county. With each county surrounding lands are also included.
Economy:“I would much rather my wealth grew up to me from the dirt, than I be forced to dig it out myself.” – Source Unknown The Drastonians have never been ones to scar their land with deep trench mines or large logging encampments. Instead they choose to beautify their land with huge rolling fields of crops. Grains, fruits and vegetables are cultivated in carefully planned expanses of farmland that allow for the careful development of more heavily populated locales of urbanisation and industry. The Drastonians know that the world needs to eat and this is where most of their wealth comes from, large depots filled with crops ready for transport to the farthest reaches of the continent. Alongside this the finest spices are grown, cash crops, that allow the Empire to supply some of the finest people and families with the spices that let them enjoy their hedonistic lifestyles. However with steady population growth the control of the food market is shrinking. Instead the Empire is beginning to expand its development of industry and refined goods. Iron is useless unless a man makes it into a sword, just as gold is worthless until it can be turned into coin. Smithies and workshops are subsidised and supported, in exchange the government reaps reduced costs when buying up the stocks that are produced. These savings are then used to offset the cost of such massive imports of raw materials, and finally the finished goods are then sold again, giving over a fair profit too the country. Industry is also self-sufficient in regards to its wood needs. Large forests of hardwood are maintained and cultivated, much like crops, so that they can maintain the growing industry and survive for generations to come. Though some small share of the hardwood is available to export it is not a number one reason for wealth.
Religion: The Maxis family is worshipped as being ‘god-like’ however no actual deity is promoted and so there is no state religion. Most are allowed to follow their own faith, except Indentured workers who are allowed no faith.
Geography: Will expand further north to take up more space if needs be and am also happy to be moved.
Population: 7,200,000
Demographics: Gender breakdown: 54% Male – 46% Female Ethnic breakdown: 68% Human – 12% Dwarf – 8% Elf – 2% Other Citizenship Breakdown: 78% Citizenship – 22% Indentureship Primary Language Spoken: 87% Drastonian – 13% Other (Unofficial)
Notable Locations: Drastonia – The nation’s capital and the hub of all life in the Drastonian Empire. Also the location of the ‘Floating Palace’, the imperial home of the ruling family and the traditional base of government, though the real home is almost always the Houses of Parliament. Population numbers around 16,000. Golden-Fields – The home for most of the Indentured Servants and the location for the most heavily farmed land. Alongside this there is a number of barracks’ so as to keep the Indentured in line. The population is around 20,000. Drason-Port – The home to the Imperial Navy and the nearest port to Drastonia, a hub for trade and transport in the Empire. The population is 11,000 at the most.
Personalities of Note: Imperial Family - Emperor Titus Maxis IV (32) Princess-Consort Eliana Maxis (24) Prince Titus Maxis V (6) Prince Julius Maxis II (4) Princess Julia Maxis (4)
Army – Lord-General Commander Lucas Lucitii (41) Lord Commander Quintus Macro (37) Lord Commander Stafus Bastii (38)
Navy - Lord-Admiral Commander Tritus Halus
Institutions: The Maxis family - The Imperial Family for over twenty generations now. The Lucitii family – A proud and noble family who stretch back to the founding. Have always been in the politics and administration, as well as military branches. The Ordos – The Secret Police used by the Imperial family for whatever purposes his Imperial Majesty wishes. The Admiralty – A board and school that trains and prepares those tipped for naval promotion. The Founders League – A board and school that trains and prepares those tipped for army promotion.
Military Organisation: The military is a professional establishment with a great deal of career soldiers, making it an effective fighting force. Alongside the professional army every citizen is expected to fight as a Levy if the need arises, although every citizen has the right to elect an Indentured to fight instead of them in the times of war, which almost every citizen attempts. An average soldier will be given an iron helmet, leather gambeson with iron pauldrons and leather graves. Alongside this each man receives a dress cloak that is the royal shade of purple. Each man is given a long sword and after this a man’s skills are judged and he is then put into a branch, be it archer, sword or cavalry regiment. Organisation and discipline are foremost alongside being the most advanced. It is for this reason that a standard uniform/inventory is kept for each man. Marines have a similar uniform however it is blue, to show the connection to the navy rather than army. The Empire employs no one doctrine, instead allowing for each general and officer to employ their own tactics to the situation as they see fit. However officer’s training school does teach a set few base doctrines. The navy is a big part of the Empire as they have a rare supply of hardwood which allows them to skilfully craft an effective flotilla that will perform above your standard lumber. Troop Total: 85,000 men full time. Army: 40,000 Spearmen 15,000 Long bowmen 6,000 Mounted Lancers 4,000 Mounted Knights 2,000 Engineers 4,000 Other staff 10,000 Indentured labourers Navy: 1500 sailors, 800 marines and 700 other staff. 3,000 men in total. 10 Caravels, with a crew of 30 men each. 10 Carracks, with a crew of 75 men each. 15 Galleys, with a crew of 30 men each. None of the above include if a compliment of marines is added, which is around 40 men a compliment. Other: The Empire boasts a fair sized collection of siege engines. A few trebuchets and siege towers remain in storage, being maintained, in parts. Meanwhile plans for ladders and rams are stored for creation in the field. As well as this the Empire maintains a secret police known only as The Ordos. It is a fairly small group of elite soldiers who work in secret carrying out the Emperors will, there is an air of mystery and fear that surrounds them and many of their missions are covert. Though they do little outside of the Empire, within the Empire they are a powerful tool.
Other Growing unrest within the Indentured is becoming a problem. With other species now making up almost a quarter of the population they are a large group and if there was a mass revolt, the army would be in fairly big trouble. Already several more outspoken slums are becoming unruly, with fights and stand offs occurring from time to time. There is also a large number of bandits operating in some of the more remote regions of the Empire and this is having a very adverse effect on trade and the transportation of goods around the Empire.
ESSENTIALS Population Density (Population - 7,200,000) - Regionally Dense; A good amount of manpower for the military and economic purposes, with social infrastructure strained more at a regional basis. Civic projects range from affordable to expensive. The nation requires a stronger economy to sustain itself.
Economy - Stagnation - The economy is performing adequately, though there is room for improvement. There are certain limitations on the economy that are bottlenecking real growth, such as a restriction in investment capital or insufficient demand, however. There is some unemployment and economic unhappiness among people in the lower income brackets, and there is a degree of criticism in what can go wrong, even if it hasn't gone wrong yet.
Urbanisation - Semi-urbanised: There are several towns and a few cities present, ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand inhabitants.
Technology - Modernizing: The industrial infrastructure is in the process of improvement, and this is a teething process. But the economy is seeing increased activity because of this investment. New technologies are becoming domestically available. However, there is a degree of dependence on imports, including in terms of the expertise to modernize the economy. Metallurgy is limited to iron products.
Domestic Political Stability - Growing unrest in cities
GEOGRAPHY Largely consists of plains and hills, with tropical areas.
RESOURCES Mineral Deposits - Minimal deposits of metals and minerals.
Valuable Mineral Deposits - Trace deposits of rare earth metals, predominantly silver, some marble quarries.
Unique Materials - Spices, hardwood
Agriculture - crop and small livestock based, food surplus that is decreasing over time
MILITARY Military Focus - Decent army and navy, good infantry and cavalry ratio (5:1)
Military Recruitment - Volunteer Force Military, levies in wartime
Reliability - Levies are of decent quality, generals play politics
Military Size - small core of professional units: requires some upkeep, easy to equip/supply quickly, seasonal levies
Military Technology - Rapid Modernization, your nation does not lag behind the rest of the world, and even sets the standard on some levels.
Military Training and Morale - Highly Trained; High Morale, levies are of good quality but low morale
Military Leadership - Competent; Rose to their positions through experience and battlefield exploits
Military Reputation - Popular domestically; considered small but capable by foreigners
Siege Equipment - Developed, seasoned corps of engineers and sappers; Loyal and capable
OXFRIEGHTDemonym: Oxfrieghtians
Description:
A relatively small and peaceful empire of a few millions, Oxfrieght uses all of its manpower's efficiency, thus granting its place as a rapidly modernizing and industrious empire, lead by its unquestionable, great leader. Each worker is practically subsidized by the government, granting him a free house and free meals, all in return for his contribution in the production chain. Those who want to pursue specialized jobs like medical assistance, craftsmanship, etc can learn specialized education if they have the capital for it.
The government encourages its citizens to live in cities, which created a semi-urbanized country, with the capital city reaching some 25,000 inhabitants. This, in turn, moved people away from traditional agriculture to more modernized jobs, which made Oxfreight much more prone to food shortages. Its scarce natural resources, including metals and minerals, challenges Oxfreight and limits its industrialization somewhat.
"Live to work, we take care of the rest" -Government propaganda
Government: Socialist Dictatorship. The government grants its citizens housing and jobs for free. These are upgraded if the citizen is hard-working or important. People who are unable to work, however, get bigger meals for free from the government. All works of literature, journalism, art, music etc are allowed, but they cannot diss or insult the government. The penalty for this ranges from forced labor to death.
Economy: The nation was blessed with pearls and dyes, which they trade to other empires. Those industries are also highly modernized and highly staffed. On a good year the nation might trade away some of its agricultural products away. Some processed gold and gold products like jewelry is traded away. Excess weaponry is traded away at a very high price for its high technological value.
Religion: 70% of the nation's citizens are Atheists. They believe the universe and the earth was created as a result of natural evolution and natural mechanisms over the course of billions of years.
However, the remaining 28% are Plagarists. They believe the world was created from nothing over the course of three days by the God of the Gods Plagarium and his children Alpha and Beta. Alpha is Plagarium's helping hand, assisting him in creating the earth and man, while Beta is considered a rebel, and the one who injected evil and hatred in humans and animals. Beta was banished to the underworld, where the non-believers and those who sinned go, while Alpha went up to the heavens with Plagarium and promised him and all the animals, that all who believe in both will reach to the sky.
The remaining 2% believe in various religions from other empires.
During the last 100 years, a public turmoil and debate had risen between the two main religions, and even brought Oxfrieght to the edge of a civil war after a Plagarist killed 19 people in an Atheist gathering in the name of Plagarium. The pro-Atheism government quickly got a hold of the situation, executed the Plagarist and began suppressing the Plagarist minority.
Geography:
Mainly consisting of tropical areas and plains, though some forests are present.
Notable Locations
Barzel - Oxfrieght's capital, consisting of 25,000 people. The government building is stationed there, as well as many military and metal-centered industries.
Shipshill (Pronounced Ships-Hill) - Oxfrieght's second largest city, consisting of ~10,000 people. Its position, a hill, made it a prime location for some military bases and watch towers.
Oxfrieght Fort - Oxfrieght biggest and main port, consisting of ~500 high-class trading ships.
Freight 12 - Oxfrieght's biggest and largest military base, training and housing more than 50% of its military. Most military plans are planned in the Freight 12. Most of the military industries are stationed there.
Personalities of Note
Great Leader Yuard (You-aard) Craftsman - 32 years old. Son of the previous leader, Usri Craftsman. Yuard is somewhat disliked by the general populace for increasing work hours, aggressively industrialising the empire by forcing some to move to the cities and for deciding to execute the Plagarist who burned 19 during an Atheist gathering. He is pro-Atheist and isn't afraid to express so in public, even considering issuing taxes or other penalties on Plagarists because of their religion. However, he flipped the economy from a loss to a profit with its industrialization plans and encouraged higher education to increase the technological level of his empire.
Institutions:
Governeban (Goo-ver-neh-baan) - The government building, located in Barzel. A large, white building, built like an ancient greek pantheon. It is the home of the Great Leader, and includes a large, polished garden.
Military
Organisation: Oxfrieght takes pride in its military's high morale and training. Each soldier is required to have at least 4 years of military training before even setting foot on a battlefield. As such, the Great Leader believes that a full, frontal assault on an enemy is the best way to defeat its army, believing Oxfrieght's army is so superior, that it can defeat any foe. Its generals are carefully picked and must sign a paper stating they will dedicate their lives to the military and the Great Leader. Troops are taught to carefully listen and be loyal to the generals.
Troop Total: About 90,000 full-time soldiers (~2.5% of pop)
Army: Oxfrieght gives new recruits the choice of enlisting to the ground troops or the navy. Many citizens pick the navy due to its highly modernized ships and the public perception of ships being "cool" and "hip". Those who wish to enlist to the ground troops, though, begin as simple soldiers and, as they go up in ranks, have the choice of "upgrading" themselves to cavalry units or siege engineers. This makes Oxfrieght's cavalry regiments small with poor morale, as well as being not modernized as the navy or soldiers (if at all). Many people who reach the required ranks do not wish to join the cavalry regiments because of those reasons. The siege engineers and sappers, however, are highly trained and of excellent quality.
~55,000 in Navy
Of which:
~750 admirals
~35,000 in Ground Troops
Of which:
~10,000 engineers and sappers
~500 generals
~3,000 cavalry
Navy: Oxfrieght's navi is large and modernized, and is big enough, according to the Great Leader, to take on the navi of any other empire.
Other:
ESSENTIALS
Population Density (Population - 3,600,000) - Sparsely populated, regionally dense; A good amount of manpower for the military and economic purposes, with social infrastructure strained more at a regional basis. Civic projects range from affordable to expensive. The nation requires a stronger agriculture to sustain itself.
Economy - Slow Growth - The economy is performing well, though there is room for improvement. There are certain limitations on the economy that are bottlenecking real growth, such as a restriction in supplies or insufficient demand, however. There is some unemployment and economic unhappiness among people in the lower income brackets. You heavily are dependent on trade.
Urbanisation - Semi-urbanised: There are several towns and a few cities present, ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand inhabitants.
Technology - Rapidly Modernizing: The industrial infrastructure is in the process of improvement, and this is a teething process. But the economy is seeing increased activity because of this investment. New technologies are becoming domestically available. However, there is a degree of dependence on imports, including in terms of resources and supplies. Metallurgy is high-tech, even steel lies within your capabilities.
Domestic Political Stability - Relatively stable, religious unrest
GEOGRAPHY
Largely consists of plains, forest, with tropical areas
RESOURCES
Mineral Deposits - minimal deposits of metals and minerals.
Valuable Mineral Deposits - Trace deposits of rare earth metals, predominantly gold.
Unique Materials - pearls, dyes
Agriculture - crop and small livestock based, food shortages are seasonally common
MILITARY
Military Focus - inferior army but excellent navy, superior ranged units, bad infantry and cavalry ratio (12:1)
Military Recruitment - Volunteer Force Military, additional levies in wartime
Reliability - Levies are of decent quality, generals are fiercely loyal to the ruler
Military Size - medium core of elite units, relative to total population: requires some upkeep, relatively easy to equip/supply quickly, seasonal levies
Military Technology - Rapid Modernization, your nation does not lag behind the rest of the world, and even sets the standard on some levels.
Military Training and Morale - Highly Trained; High Morale, levies are of poor quality with poor morale
Military Leadership - Competent; Rose to their positions through training; decadent
Military Reputation - Popular domestically; considered small by foreigners
Siege Equipment - State of the art, seasoned corps of engineers and sappers; Loyal and efficient
Name:Flag/emblem:Demonym:Description:Government:Economy:Religion: (if present, more than one?)
Geography:Population:DemographicsNotable LocationsPersonalities of NoteInstitutions:Military
Organisation:
Troop Total:
Army:
Navy:
Other:
Other
Special traits, remarks, boons and flaws
ESSENTIALS Population Density (Population - 3,600,000) - Regionally Dense; A good amount of manpower for the military and economic purposes, with social infrastructure strained more at a regional basis. Civic projects range from affordable to expensive. The nation requires a stronger economy to sustain itself. Economy - Stagnation - The economy is performing adequately, though there is room for improvement. There are certain limitations on the economy that are bottlenecking real growth, such as a restriction in investment capital or insufficient demand, however. There is some unemployment and economic unhappiness among people in the lower income brackets, and there is a degree of criticism in what can go wrong, even if it hasn't gone wrong yet. Urbanisation - Semi-urbanised: There are several towns and a few cities present, ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand inhabitants. Technology - Slowly Modernizing: The industrial infrastructure is in the process of improvement, and this is a teething process. But the economy is seeing increased activity because of this investment. New technologies are becoming domestically available. However, there is a degree of dependence on imports, including in terms of the expertise to modernize the economy. Metallurgy is limited to bronze and some iron products. Domestic Political Stability - Quite stable GEOGRAPHY Largely consists of jungles, mountains and hills RESOURCES Mineral Deposits - Rich deposits of metals and minerals such as copper, lead, coal, usable stone. Valuable Mineral Deposits - Trace deposits of rare earth metals. Unique Materials - spices (nutmeg, cloves, pepper), silks, whales Agriculture - crop based, food surplus that is increasing over time MILITARY Military Focus - inferior army but excellent navy, ranged focus, bad infantry and cavalry ratio (15:1) Military Recruitment - Rotation system Reliability - Levies are of decent quality, generals play politics, loyal to the state Military Size - medium core of professional units: requires decent upkeep, somewhat difficult to equip/supply quickly, seasonal levies Military Technology - Slowly modernizing, your nation somewhat lags behind the rest of the world, instead has some levels of expertise. Military Training and Morale - Highly Trained; Low Morale, levies are of poor quality but excellent morale Military Leadership - Competent; Rose to their positions through training and experience; decadent Military Reputation - Popular domestically; considered weak by foreigners Siege Equipment - Developed, seasoned corps of engineers and sappers; Loyal and capable
Description: An old and beautiful nation, steeped in its tradition and history. Largely located among three of the major rivers, Arman-Arhus can be described as the font of fertility- they have an extreme abundance of food to feed their citizens. Formed from the personal union of neighbors Arman and Arhus, and since before forming their unified geopolitical body they were in a personal union, the last several generations of rulers have ruled over both Arman and Arhus.
the Founding- Happened around 1800 years ago; The event that saw the political downfall of the previous and numerous Nuvian states and saw rise to new, though small, Human kingdoms, many of which saw Nuvians and Humans living in (relative) harmony.
the Bastion Era- The period in history seeped in conflict, during which several human kingdoms fell and others rose due to conflicts with the native nearby elvish population. The era is marked by a prominent quote made by King Canis Mede: "If there must be war, let it be in my day, that my children may find bastion and have peace."
the Gemnon Era- The period in history following the wars with the elves that involved a reformation of the economy and government which resulted in a golden age for those in the central plains. One prominent figure rose above all and drug his Kingdom out from the smoldering ruins brought by the elves: Gemnon Jardis, ruler of the small Kingdom of Arhus.
the Oathswearing- Event that saw the creation of a new Kingdom- When one King Jardis III, ruler of the Kingdom of Arhus, fell deeply in love, he promised this woman half his Kingdom. She passed before she received the message, but King Jardis honored his offer and extended the proposal to the woman's family. The woman's brother- Andromus- accepted, and so the nation-state of Arman was born, under the oath they would be forever loyal allies to Arhus- and so it was.
the Union War- Some 300 or 400 years ago the only son of the ruler of Arman had died before he could bear children, so the title of heir was to be rightfully given to one of his daughter's husbands, who was the ruler of a region in Azraca. Of course, the Armanians would rather have a more closely associated bloodline from Arhus take the throne, but the lord from Azraca pushed his claim forward with force; this resulted in armed conflict in which he invaded Arman. While the Armanians held them off, their allies in Arhus committed to a counterattack only to find themselves helpless against the unusual tactics of Terusite warriors. Their exhibition was lost, though back on the other front the Armanians found a Pyrrhic victory. This encounter allowed the Terusite military to gain a reputation as being devious; and to solidify a new heir for centuries to come, Arman and Arhus entered in a personal union, with the then ruler of Arhus, Ormos Zemuzil, now ruling over both Arhus and Arman.
Nowadays, neither side holds the conflict in bad taste, and many have long forgotten about it. Relations have improved greatly between the Commonwealth and the Dominion; both sides realize that a friendly demeanor between them is both more profitable and useful than holding bitter grudges.
the Noble Riots- About 100 years ago the Kingdoms of Arman and Arhus banded together to become the Commonwealth they are today; the change also ushered in a new governmental structure, as well: a Republic. This robbed the de jure nobility that was present of their power and sway, and the subsequent choice to not reform but abolish the privy council sent the upper caste into an uproar. Many refused to send their workers to work the fields, threatening torture if they did so, and some even took up arms.
The House of Not was hastily established to deal with nonviolent threats as a new coda of law was written; the one that still stands today. Orwarriors were sent to deal with the situations where violence was involved, and when things began to settle down only a few were dead. However, they were held as martyrs to a now bitter upper class that do what they can to sway the public to vote for their candidates- a political war that still rages today.
Government: Republican Dictatorship- the elected representatives show absolute power over the nation, and do so until death. In essence, an Absolute Monarchy with a leader too humble to be crowned king.
Economy: Largely dependent on food much like the population- though in Arman-Arhus' position, they have enough of an abundance to do both well. They also sell the linens and flax they don't use for themselves. The real bottleneck is the food exports- since many already grow their own food anyway, it provides a much smaller profit margin, not to mention shelf lives make some items difficult to ship. Having only recently become a Republic has also hindered them some, as a lot of the populace is coming to terms with free trade.
Arman-Arhus:Fulmen Nati -- food/small barter goods: metal
Religion: 64%- the Ternion- the major religion of Arman-Arhus, revolving around their small pantheon of one major goddess and two lesser gods; Edesu, Goddess of Fertility and Growth is the major Goddess; Nulo, God of the Sun is a minor god, and Cuomac, God of Rain and Storms, who is also a minor god. Worshipers belong to the "Triarchy", and are referred to as "Triarchates", regardless of rank inside the clergy, unless you are the Church's head, in which you are the "Grand Triarchate". Normally, one god/goddess is chosen as a "patron god", though the other two are still worshiped- Edesu is, by far, the most popular.
20%- Ruutism- Arguably older than the Ternion, Ruutism is the last remnants of the ancient religion instated in the indigenous populace before Arman or Arhus were formed. It emphasizes balance between all things and heralds a mythical figure named Ruut to which the clergy hold themselves to as they attempt to achieve perfect balance, like Ruut is said to have done. Pain must be held with euphoria, with sadness comes happiness, storm follows the calm; these are just some of the tenets followers of Ruutism uphold.
10%- Piology- An unfortunately too-popular "religion" that emphasizes giving up all material things in order to achieve a higher state of mind. The leader of this movement is unknown, but the powers that be do their best to warn the populace of its presence or of any institutions they control that are actually fronts.
6%- Other- The weird, the esoteric, the exotic, but the otherwise harmless and small religions, sects, and cults that can be found in Arman-Arhus, who uphold a freedom of religion despite some protest.
Geography: Largely consists of plains and hills, with some mountainous areas. Arman-Arhus hold two "major" cities, Kyk and Zanzeb, and the rest of the countryside is filled with small villages and farming/fishing communities that dot the landscape along the rivers.
Population: 5,300,000
Demographics and Language:
Among worker class- 50% Human -- 46% Female, 54% Male 20% Nuvian (Racial descendant of the indigenous population. Humanoid, but skin tones vary from red-toned to caramel brown) -- 56% Female, 44% Male 10% Other 15% Dwarf -- 40% Female, 60% Male 5% Elf -- 38% Female, 62% Male
Among citizen class 60% Human -- 54% Female, 46% Male 25% Nuvian -- 49% Female, 51% Male 5% Elf -- 53% Female, 47% Male 5% Dwarf -- 50% Female, 50% Male 5% Other
Among upper class 80% Human -- 42% Female, 58% Male 10% Nuvian -- 40% Female, 60% Male 5% Elf -- 60% Female, 40% Male 5% Dwarf -- 45% Female, 55% Male
Languages:
Armanian- 48% Arhusian- 50% (Citizens born in the Commonwealth learn both at a young age) Ruutian- 1% (Left over from the remnants of the indigenous peoples) Other- 1%
Architectural Style: Almost entirely brick-driven, featuring clay, stone, red, and adobe. Ziggurats commonly take the place of temples (And sometimes other functions, as well), and most hovels, or buildings general, are very square in shape, often times taller than they are wide. (Think ancient Mesopotamian mashed with an Aztec-like look.)
Apparel- Workers, Citizens, and the Upper-Class: Those who work and till the fields often wear very little clothing, due to both their chosen line of work as well as the warmer climate that Arman-Arhus has been blessed with. Workers tend to not follow trends and focus more on use; workers are often short-haired or bald and this goes for both men and women.
Citizens of the cities do follow trends, however, and often wear layers of loose linen robes pertinent of the Arman-Arhus style. Since many who actually live in the cities are merchants or otherwise small shop owners they often grow their hair and beards out to try and resemble the nobility.
The upper-class sets the trends, which more often than not tends to be the long hair and bushy-bearded "wildman-noble" look for the men and the tempered, beautiful, and modest look for women. Linen is, by far, the most used resource for clothing among common citizens and upper-class alike, though the upper-class tend towards blues, purples, and golds more so than the common citizenry. Golden headgear is also popular- whether it be a simple tiara or an exotic pattern-laden mitre.
Apparel- Military: The standing force tends to wear very little armor, since Arman-Arhus both does not have reliable amounts of metals to make both armor and weapons, and out of sheer tradition and "respect for the ancestry". One's civilian robes are often modified to be short-sleeved, and if any armor is to be worn it is leather or hides, or very thickly woven linens. Metal helmets are about the only strictly armor pieces Armanian warriors wear, as the smiths have crafted a technique to make a reliable head piece from a single sheet of bronze or iron.
To make up for the lack of armor a warrior must be trained in the use of a body-sized shield, and these are made of wood since such has been easier and relatively cheaper to import. Often times a small sheet of iron or bronze will be added as well, though only for the elite warriors.
Because of these large and cumbersome shields an Armanian warrior's selection of weapons is limited- spears, swords, tridents, axes; anything that relies more on thrusting or chopping rather than powerful slashes. This is where most of the metals used for warfare are pooled into.
Though they use it mainly as an export, Arman-Arhus' supply of flax has also allowed them to make reliable bowstrings for their archers.
Notable Locations:
One of the two major city-hubs in Arman-Arhus, featuring the Great Ziggurat of Edesu as its centerpiece. Though it mainly acts as a trading hub, training grounds, and clergy headquarters, it is also home to a sizable portion of the population; around 7,000 permanent homes can be found here, not counting temporary abodes.
The second of two major cities, featuring a unique circle-shaped layout while also engineered to allow the river to flow directly through it. Small canals are built alongside the roads for those seeking a more scenic view, though docks have also been erected along the main waterway to allow small merchant vessels carrying their goods inland to stop and do business. Zanzeb is more of a trading hub, and as such is smaller in population, numbering around 4,500.
Located in Kyk, the Great Ziggurat of Edesu is where one can find the upper echelons of Triarchal clergy. Shrines and statues line the numerous hallways, and for the most part the important priests and heads of the church make their home here.
Personalities of Note:
Ketua Falahad Setuin- Current acting Ketua, or ruler of Arman-Arhus.
Orketua Vaad Ur- A prominent and popular Orketua, or general in the Arman-Arhus military. Comes from the Ur family, who have served as prominent figures in the military for centuries.
Orketua Krag Pukos- A young but rising Orketua who is the recent addition from the Pukos family, an otherwise customary military bloodline.
Grand Triarchate Oluro- The current standing Grand Triarchate of the Church of the Ternion.
Institutions:
the Ur Family- One of the most respected and longest serving military bloodlines found among the Armanian ranks. Frequently presents generals of great promise and tact, though they also tend to be very egotistical and cunning.
the Pukos Family- Another military bloodline that is very large. Aside from size, they haven't done anything to set themselves apart from the other militant bloodlines.
Church of the Ternion- Organization that touts itself the leader of worship of the Ternion. Though they occasionally reform a bit here and there, they largely stay out of politics and prefer their position as a public conduit for peaceful worship.
Traveler's Guild- Responsible for the several dozens- if not hundreds- of "wayposts" that dot the roads in Arman-Arhus, who are so reliant on their road system that they allow the Guild to exist in the first place. Wayposts are set around a days trek from one other along roads, and act places where those travelling can stop to rest and eat.
House of Not- Exist to operate solely as a judiciary system to which the acting Ketua may sentence convicts.
House of Wealth and Service- Where most economists and analysts spend their time and do their best to provide factual and statistical reports on the state of the economy. Was actually controversial when it was established, as many saw it as the Ketua trying to re-establish the very privy council that was just abolished.
Combe Academy- the most prestigious military training institution, existing solely as the lone school to train and prepare Oathguards for Arman-Arhus. Though there are many different academies and yards for training common soldiers, Combe stands above them all in instructors and curriculum.
Military
Troop Total: 79,500 (1.5% of pop.) Army: 74,500 in ground troops-- --61,000 in footsoldiers serving under 60 generals (General term for Soldier is Orwarrior ['Warrior of Light' in Armanian]) --6,000 cavalry --1,000 chariots --3,000 in engineer corps --4,500 other (Logistics-men, squires, advisors, etc.)
Navy: 5,000== the Armanian idea of a 'navy' is a bit skewed, being a largely landlocked nation. However, they do employ the rivers as waterways to transports goods and manpower, among other things, so they keep a small standing "navy" to protect them, which mostly consists of small crews on equally small galleys or war canoes- certainly nothing that would survive on open seas. The crew of these ships are amphibious fighters and could loosely be considered Marines. In fact, the only reason Arman-Arhus keeps this navy is due to their food surplus- were the army not so well fed as it is, these warriors would be the first to go.
Other: The Armanian military upholds their forefathers' traditions, and as such fight in a very traditional style- in a staggered line with spears normally in front and archers either behind or at the flanks. Non-spear wielding infantry is either behind the spears as well, or integrated into the line. Cavalry and chariots make the far flanks. The military has been able to operate fairly well largely because they are able to be kept very well fed and fight for a modest and reliable wage. The main detriments are the lack of technology, lack of innovative strategies, and the ambitious generals, who constantly seek to glorify themselves against one another.
Orwarrior- "Warrior of Light" in Armanian and Arhusian, the Orwarrior is your basic, trained footsoldier that makes up the backbone of the Arman-Arhus military. They are in superb physical shape: months of physical training takes place before any sort of weapon training begins, and combined with the generous and homegrown rations allowed by the food surplus, Orwarriors tend to be very brawny men and women. They generally are equipped very lightly: cloth or linen robes with the occasional leather chestpiece or pauldron. Helmets are standard issue, made of iron or copper, and are simple in design. Most Orwarriors use spears or axes alongside their large, wooden shields. They carry swords or daggers, as well, though only resort to using them if they are separated from their aegis. "Orwarrior" is also the term given to archers, though they receive slightly different training.
Ketwarrior- "Warrior of Horse" in Armanian and Arhusian, the Ketwarrior is your standard light cavalry unit. Arman-Arhus tends to not field many Ketwarriors, due to their domestic horse breed taking a long period of time to mature, but their horses are strong and fast. Ketwarriors receive all the training of Orwarriors and more. Their attire is similar to Orwarriors' as well, though a Ketwarrior forgoes a large shield in favor of a smaller, lighter shield that is easier to use on horseback. Their choice of weapons is similar, as well, though longspears seem to be the go-to for most.
Oathguard- The elite that are handpicked either by the Ketua or an Orketua and are commonly used as personal guards for both. They are, however, a standalone unit, and one that will often only be employed in the most dire of situations. An Oathguard is often picked for exemplary service; upon being picked, they are subjected to an incredibly rigorous and physically straining training regimen- what emerges is a strong, disciplined, loyal, and valuable military asset.
Aside from appearing physically stronger than most Orwarriors, Oathguards are made to look more intimidating by the iron masks they don in battle. Oathguards are also allowed some metal armor, though since Arman-Arhus is always lacking in metals, it is still fairly little. Instead, Oathguards are requisitioned metal-reinforced shields similar to that of an Orwarrior's. An Oathguard's sheer strength allows them to carry the heavy shield with ease and still use a long and sturdy spear or axe.
Curwarrior- "Warrior of Wind" in Armanian that was also adopted early on by Arhusian generals, the Curwarriors have double roles as both front skirmishers and assault men. They are even more lightly armored than Orwarriors, if they wear armor at all, and many forgo the helmets, as well. The only armor commonly donned by Curwarriors are leather boots or sandals to protect their feet, for the coda of these troops is speed and momentum.
Their first role, skirmisher, is accomplished by them being trained in the use of small and light, though still lethal, javelins, of which they carry a bag of on their backs. They are often thrown from a short range and are often meant as a form of return fire against enemy skirmishers.
Their second role, assault, comes from their large swords and axes that often require the use of two hands. The size of these weapons carried with the momentum and speed of the unarmored fighters allows Curwarriors to also function as an on-the-fly shock force, following up a javelin volley with a hefty charge. These large blades are less useful in close quarters and make it difficult to maneuver, so Curwarriors have very little staying power.
Num-u-Ket: Basically means "charioteer". They can be considered, to some degree, the Oathguards of cavalry. With a larger chariot with the wheels located at the middle, rather than the back (as earlier chariots had done), and being drawn with two horses rather than one, a Num-u-Ket is able to hold three warriors in a single chariot: one dedicated driver, often moderately armored; one spear, shield, and sword wielding warrior; and one bow or javelin wielding warrior. Since combat from chariot is entirely different from that of a horse or foot, an entirely new school had to be erected to train charioteers, and thusly they field only a small amount of them, if they field them at all. Much like the Oathguards, they are an expensive but effective war asset that is often only employed in the most dire of situations.
Rorwarrior- "Warrior of Water", the Rorwarrior is an amphibious marine-like unit that is often stationed on the war canoes or small galleys that Arman-Arhus can barley call a navy. Apart from the environment they fight in, there is little to distinguish a Rorwarrior from a common Orwarrior.
Other:
Lament of the Dead- The Armanian nation’s people are a people rich in culture, and the dead are often revered and this is a song of regret and vengeance. The morale all who sing such a song is nearly unbreakable, and they will fight beyond the limits of exhaustion under its thrall.
Inbred- The leadership has a history of family being a little too close. Closer than most morally upright are comfortable with, fuck closer than many evil things are comfortable with. This has several issues, one: the leadership is about as intelligent as a bag of especially stupid potatoes. Two: leaders tend to use ‘Mum’, ‘Sister’, ‘Daughter’ etc rather interchangeably.
Contagious Culture- Armanian culture is, for lack of a better word, contagious. Whether it be due to the old and famous writers and painters or out of respect for the nation's long history, bits of Armanian or Arhusian culture can be found on nearly all corners of the continent, if only in the smallest degree.
A Call for Reform- the abolition of the former privy council and the de jure nobility were some of the final steps in the gradual change from a strictly monarchistic state to an open commonwealth. However, many have voiced their doubt in the current leaders and have made sure their stance is known, adding only more to the growing political unrest.
ESSENTIALS Population Density (Population - 5,300,000) - Regionally Dense; A small amount of manpower for the military and economic purposes, with social infrastructure strained more at a regional basis. Civic projects are expensive, since most of your citizens till the soil.
Economy - Slow Growth - The economy is performing adequately, though there is room for improvement. There are certain limitations on the economy that are bottlenecking real growth, such as a restriction in investment capital, amount of labour or insufficient demand.
Urbanisation - slightly urbanised: There are several towns and but only a handful of cities present, communities generally range from a few hundred to a thousand individuals.
Technology - Slowly Modernizing: The industrial infrastructure is in the process of improvement, and this is a teething process. But the economy is seeing increased activity because of this investment. New technologies are slowly becoming domestically available. However, there is a degree of dependence on imports, including in terms of the expertise to modernize the economy. Metallurgy is limited to bronze and some iron products.
Domestic Political Stability - Quite stable
GEOGRAPHY Largely consists of plains and hills, with some mountainous areas
RESOURCES Mineral Deposits - Moderate deposits of metals and minerals.
Valuable Mineral Deposits - None.
Unique Materials - flax and linen --> textiles
Agriculture - crop and small livestock based, extensive food surplus
MILITARY Military Focus - Decent army, decent infantry and cavalry ratio (7:1)
Military Recruitment - Hereditary, with certain blood lines born to serve, levies in wartime
Reliability - Levies are of decent quality, decentralised units
Military Size - small core of professional units: requires some upkeep, easy to equip/supply quickly, seasonal levies
Military Technology - Slow Modernization, your nation does somewhat lags behind the rest of the world, instead holding to traditions and conventions.
Military Training and Morale - Highly Trained; High Morale, levies are of good quality but low morale
Military Leadership - Competent; Competitive; Corrupt
Military Reputation - Popular domestically; considered impetuous but capable by foreigners
Siege Equipment - antiquated, seasoned corps of engineers and sappers; Loyal and capable
Name: The Land of Jukku Flag/emblem: Stocks of golden wheat on a beige background Demonym: Jukkians Description:
Government: Despot
Ascension Laws:
The dictator adopts an heir while in office, this adoption is honored after the dictator dies.
If there is no heir, the country goes into martial law and the three governing lords figure it out by any means.
Economy: The Land of Jukku has a booming agriculture, providing a food surplus to the citizens in the form of cattle and various crop products. Despite Jukku’s great agriculture, they are known internationally more for their deposits of precious gems, stone, minerals, salt and exports of porcelain and porcelain made crafts.
Religion: The Land of Jukku is home to many very different religions, and as a consequence, houses religious strife.
The Major Religions:
Geography:
Population: 8,000,000
Demographics
70% Jukkians - world language
30% foreigners - world language
Notable Locations
Glazed Palace - capital building
The City of Gorra - capital
The Pit - giant arena
Lunni Marketplace - Largest shopping and selling center in Jukku, it is found in the city of Lunni.
Personalities of Note
Despot Pukko Derni, ruler of all - Dictator
Kerrak Loo- Marshal of the Military
Frakka Jakka - Minister of Economy
Institutions: (Major institutions of the nations, such as legislative bodies, corporate organisations/guilds, families, most importantly, the military.)
Military Organisation: (professional/militia/levy/..., doctrine, tactics, equipment, though the latter can be put underneath as well, etc.) Troop Total: (keep reality and upkeep in mind, e.g. 3% of your population as full-time professional soldiers would be a whole lot) Army: Navy: Other: (Such as siege equipment, a secret service, internal security, important mercenaries, or paramilitary forces, etc.)
Other Pro: Bread and Games: Bread for the people to keep them fed, and games to keep them entertained! With these the people are kept happy as they can get easily. But of course they demand bigger and larger spectacles as time goes on. You must keep those people happy! Riots are the penalty for failing to taste the mood of the crowds! Con: Gluttonous Pigs: Your people just can’t keep themselves from eating more than their share. Actually, more than they’re, their neighbour, and the merchant across the streets share too now that we think about it.
ESSENTIALS Population Density (Population - 8,000,000) - Adequately Dense; Lots of manpower for economic, public and military purposes, and social infrastructure (housing, roads, public buildings, sanitation) is only under some pressure. Civic projects are quite affordable.
Economy - Rapid Growth - The economy is performing adequately, though there is room for improvement. There are certain limitations on the economy that are bottlenecking real growth, such as a restriction in investment capital, amount of labour or insufficient demand.
Urbanisation - highly urbanised: There are several towns and lots of cities present, communities generally range from a few hundred to several thousand individuals.
Technology - Slowly Modernizing: The industrial infrastructure is in the process of improvement, and this is a teething process. But the economy is seeing increased activity because of this investment. New technologies are slowly becoming domestically available. However, there is a degree of dependence on imports, including in terms of the expertise to modernize the economy. Metallurgy is limited to bronze and some iron products.
Domestic Political Stability - Religious unrest
GEOGRAPHY No results - based on further rolls I'd say mountainous with some fertile regions.
RESOURCES Mineral Deposits - Moderate deposits of metals and minerals, large stone and salt deposits
Valuable Mineral Deposits - Marble
Unique Materials - Porcelain, gems
Agriculture - crop and cattle based, extensive food surplus
MILITARY Military Focus - inferior navy, strong army, decent infantry and cavalry ratio (6:1)
Military Recruitment - Hereditary, with certain blood lines born to serve, levies in wartime
Reliability - Levies are of poor quality, decentralised units
Military Size - medium sized core of professional units: requires upkeep, relatively easy to equip/supply quickly, seasonal levies
Military Technology - Slow Modernization, your nation does somewhat lags behind the rest of the world, instead holding to traditions and conventions.
Military Training and Morale - Highly Trained; High Morale, levies are of poor quality with low morale
Military Leadership - Somewhat Competent; Competitive; Corrupt
Military Reputation - Popular domestically; considered craven by foreigners
Siege Equipment - Outdated, seasoned corps of engineers and sappers; Loyal and capable
[hider=The Estucar Imperium WIP]
Name: The Estucar Imperium
Flag/emblem:Demonym: Ecstucarians
Description:
A small but very militaristic empire of only 1 million in pop, Estucar uses every man and sometimes also women it can and puts them to work, whether that means to farm, join the army, and many other jobs. Everyone is at work in the nation, to help grow the nations strength, or to help make its leader, Augustus Benedetto the 2nd. All workers who are not in the military are payed the same salary, allowing for very little class growth. Those who join the military, which is most of the people, are payed more the higher they go, with the lowest ranked getting a salary lower then the average on land, and the highest ranked getting payed 10x the amount of an average worker. This though, is not all, there is a secret group in the military, known as Mors Piratae, those who are allowed into this group, get payed 2x higher then a general in the army, and are allowed to keep the riches they steal from raids. Thats right, those who are allowed into this secret group are pirates. The Mors Piratae are used to steal everything they can from trade ships, and most of the time, they steal the ship itself. They are allowed to keep the wealth on the ship, but they must give over anything that can be used to advance the nations military to the king.
Government: Monarchy
Economy:
List of Productions and Trade goods:
Mineral Deposits - Moderate deposits of metals and minerals.
Valuable Mineral Deposits - Trace deposits of rare earth metals, predominately salt.
Unique Materials - textiles (linen, lace, some silks), fish oil, pearls
Agriculture - crop based, slight food surplus that is increasing over time
Religion:
The Main Religion (Batalism)
Type: monotheism (slightly patriarchal)
Direction: outwards
Focus: harmony with nature
Deity: The God of the Wind and Battle
Titles: The Leaf-Shaker, The One, The Armor-Smasher
Divine Interaction: somewhat uncommon
Involves: meditation
Afterlife: is incomprehensible to the living and can be reached by the living, with effort
Supernatural: malevolent nature spirits, benevolent nature spirits
Worship: solemn individual meditation in temples
Holidays: very few
Holidays Celebrate: martyrs, the harvest
Major Holiday(s): happen only once every several years
Clergy: both genders
Function: inquisitors, spiritual protectors (often via magic)
Lifestyle: spartan
Family: none (celibacy required)
Chosen: raised from birth to be clergy
Distinguished By: bound to a certain location Cultural Aspects
Symbol: involves repeated shapes and is very stylized
Holy Color: crimson
Passed Down: via a few holy books with little commentary
Creation Myth Type: world-parent
Mortals' Origin: grew from the earth
Major Myth/Symbol(s): the journey, the river, the resurrection
Deadly Sins: despair, indifference, envy, neglect and apostasy
High Virtues: temperance and responsibility
Associated Artform: poetry/psalms
Coming of Age: 16 years old
Coming of Age Rite: happens at once for a group of similarly-aged
Marriage: happens after prolonged courtship
Marriage Rites: begin with several days of seperation
Death Rites: last up to a week
Major Taboo: bodily functions
Prevalence: believed by many
Outsiders: are forced into hiding
Geography:
The Northern most points on the continent (Sorry cant draw it, I dont have anything to edit pictures atm) Largely consists of hills and jungle
Population: 1,000,000
Demographics
Gender breakdown:
49% Male – 51% Female
Ethnic breakdown: 62% Elf – 18% Dwarf – 20% Human
Citizenship Breakdown: 88% Citizenship – 12% Indentureship
Primary Language Spoken: 97% Estucarian – 3% Other
Notable Locations
Estucar City: The Capital city, located at the northern port of the nation. It consists of 50k people and holds the castle of the king.
Estuca Mountain: The tallest mountain in the kingdom, reaching a height of 3000 Meters.
Kaag River: A river that runs through the nation Horizontally, it holds a large supply inside of it.
Personalities of Note
(Important people in your country; leaders and the such, people that factor heavily into your RP. At the very least, the ruler (de facto and/or de jure, probably other characters such as priests, heirs, rivals, ambassadors, your important generals or administrators.)
Institutions:
(Major institutions of the nations, such as legislative bodies, corporate organisations/guilds, families, most importantly, the military.)
Military
Organisation: (professional/militia/levy/..., doctrine, tactics, equipment, though the latter can be put underneath as well, etc.)
Troop Total: (keep reality and upkeep in mind, e.g. 3% of your population as full-time professional soldiers would be a whole lot)
Army:
Navy:
Other: (Such as siege equipment, a secret service, internal security, important mercenaries, or paramilitary forces, etc.)[/indent]
Other
Special traits, remarks, boons and flaws
[/hider]
ESSENTIALS
Regionally Dense Population (Population - 1,000,000) - Small amount of manpower for economic and military purposes, but it also means that the social infrastructure is little strain. Educational costs and civic projects tend to be cheap.
Economy - Stagnation - The economy is performing adequately, though there is much room for improvement. There are little limitations on the economy that are bottlenecking real growth, such as a lack of funds or resources, tech limits. There is some unemployment and economic unhappiness among people, and there is a degree of criticism in what can go wrong, even if it hasn't gone wrong yet.
Urbanisation - Semi-urbanised: There are several towns and a few cities present, ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand inhabitants.
Technology - Slowly Modernizing: The industrial infrastructure is in the process of improvement, and this is a teething process. But the economy is seeing increased activity because of this investment. New technologies are becoming domestically available. However, there is a degree of dependence on imports, including in terms of the expertise to modernize the economy. Metallurgy is limited to bronze products.
Domestic Political Stability - Quite stable
GEOGRAPHY
Largely consists of hills and jungle
RESOURCES
Mineral Deposits - Moderate deposits of metals and minerals.
Valuable Mineral Deposits - Trace deposits of rare earth metals, predominately salt.
Unique Materials - textiles (linen, lace, some silks), fish oil, pearls
Agriculture - crop based, slight food surplus that is increasing over time
MILITARY
Military Focus - inferior army but excellent navy, relatively decent infantry and cavalry ratio (8:1)
Military Recruitment - Hereditary, with certain blood lines born to serve, levies in wartime
Reliability - Levies are of decent quality, generals play politics
Military Size - Large, relative to population: requires considerable upkeep, harder to equip/supply quickly.
Military Technology - Slow Modernisation, your nation lags behind, you are dependent on what you can buy, pillage or otherwise take from others, but have certain fields of expertise.
Military Training and Morale - Badly Trained; High Morale, levies have medium morale but are bad at following orders
Military Leadership - Competent; Corrupt; Decadent
Military Reputation - Popular domestically; considered dangerous by foreigners
Siege Equipment - Outdated but effective, seasoned corps of sappers
A god-man was forged in the sins of the unworthy and the pride of the old kings. A god-man was quenched in the blood of the high men and the low. A god-man was drawn up from the great throngs of the damned, stolen by fate from doom. A god-man- our King- stands atop the world, and he finds it wanting.
Name: The Divinely Anointed Kingdom of Khumer
Flag/emblem: The emblem of Khumer, usually beaten out of brass and iron rather than weaved in cloth, is that of a wide-eyed sunwheel-sunburst, ringed with flaming tongues, encircled by leering snake and straddled by glowering bull. There is no enforced style on the eye, leading to various depictions and expressions on the part of the craftsmen and commissioner, but is most often forged in an unfocused, dilated gape, with bloodshottedness simulated by the careful spattering of human blood.
Demonym: Khumerian or Khumite
Khumer is the longest-lived and most famous in the series of sorcerer-kings' realms that scar the history of Tanis, as well as the most doggedly vile and pompous. Stretching back some thousands of years, legend has it that the ancient state of Khum was formed in the center continent on the thence-named Sea of Khum by the demigod-king Nebayrdinuzar, the leader of an exceedingly cruel race of cannibalistic giants, themselves claiming divine heritage, and all others proclaiming them devil's spawn. Once, in this antideluvian era, they claim to have held sway over all of civilized Tanis, though whether this is fact or aggrandizement is unclear. The sheer size of their empire would be their undoing, as the men of Khum were thrown out from their holdings in a flood of rebellion by countless tribals and aristocrats of 'lesser' stock. That race of men and its collaborators were scattered to the far corners, to carve out their own petty realms, mimicking the rise and fall of Khum. The only successor-state to survive is Khumer, taking much more than mere namesake from its progenitor by unfailingly maintaining the necessary brutality that brought Khum to power in the first place.
Nestled in the southwestern Serpentsback mountains, the fortress-towers and ziggurats rise out from the rock and fire like jagged nails in the cross of the world. In the days of old, the region was the preferred retreat of Nebayrdinuzar and those successors- by lineage or scheming and murder- whom cared not for the gentle waters and warm green of his formal and practical seat of power, instead preferring the naked, primal brutality of the ash-wastes that he and his imitators saw as the original state of divinity, when the Sun's blood first spilled on the earth. Countless pits were dug for slavekeeping and sacrifice, by fire and crushing and murder by the sword. Horrendous beasts, twisted and maligned to survive in the Serpentsback, were captured and broken, to wage war and provide spectacle for the endless thirst of bloodsport. The blood of Khum's high men was purer here, more mad, more vile, and they kept a stature two heads above the other men of the world. Khumer was a plague to all tribes around it, nomad or city-dweller. And though its territories have fluctuated in losses both steady and sudden with only uncommon reclaimations in the face of coalition, the core of Khumer has refused to move, the brass gates have remain shut, a work of stone and metal and blood to make the world tremble.
Such has been the way for the past millenia, with the other sorcerer-kings dying away or falling into exile as mere hedge wizards and court viziers, offering mystical advisory to those lords, governors and khans bold or foolish enough to employ them. With the rise of the Flayed King, there have been stirrings within and without Khumer. Stirrings of war and ruin, of a restoration of some measure of the old Empire; to straddle the sea of Khum once again and put the fear of the 'true' gods back into the races of men. Such stirrings, too, have been the way of things for the past millenia.
Stirrings they will not remain. (TO BE CONTINUED)
The governing of Khumer is a pyramidal absolute despotism. While it has fluctuated between monarchic succession, election by peer, and bloody-handed coup, there has been one constant; the word of the King of Khumer, claimant to the throne of the world as Emperor of Khum, is absolute. Or at least, absolute insofar as he can make it so. The Serpent and Bull are cannibal godheads, acquiring their positions at the head of the world by devouring all in the seats of power above them, and all below who threatened them, and the Khumerian aristocracy mimics this closely, often literally. If one is strong or clever enough to strongarm their way into another's position, or to strongarm others into doing the deed, then it is done. Only so many deep schemers will retain themselves in middling positions. If the murderer-ascendant has made his way upward by luck or exceeding deceit and not by merit or strength, thus proving unwise in stewardship of his new holdings, be they a lowly slave market and its supporting infrastructure, a township's governance, or the Throne of the Bloody Eye itself, then a hopefully more competent or at least less incompetent murderer-ascendant will take his place. From heel to head, this is the way of things in Khumer, and this is the only true law; all others are only lawful as far as the lawmaker and his underlings can enforce them, and are by no means written in stone.
The economy of Khumer, thanks to the severe depletion of natural resources and chilly relations with the peoples around them, revolves largely around two products; slaves, and alum. Slaves are a simple matter, take flesh from one state or tribe, and sell them to the next one or many over, no matter the difficulty of finding an unobjecting and morally unscrupulous market. Khumerian traders have their ways, and are quick to find new ones. The flesh-trade dries in coalition wartime, as the excesses of Khumerian raiders grow intolerable, but the need for cheap labor by the greedy sees the market return in time. Alum, on the other hand, is a more complex matter. As both a disinfectant, a highly regarded cure-all, and industrial aid, alum mining is even more lucrative than Khumer's salt mines, and even more vital. The abominable amount of filth produced by the Khumerian society's excesses and brutality is nightmarish, and with how little water there is in Khumer to go around- it is not an exaggeration that blood flows and is drunk more commonly- it is vital that drinking and sewage water are both as clean as possible. In water and alone, in various forms, it is spread over cuts as disinfectant, over the body and filth to dispel foul smells and humors, and consumed to 'purge demons of the gut,' a side effect of the lattermost being a widespread form rickets that deforms the bones, giving both native-born slaves and Khumite highborn an unpleasantly jagged, ridged quality at joints and along the spine. In industry, it dissolves steel, dries and preserves hides during tanning, aids in the process of paper marbling, improves the viscosity of ceramic glaze, acts as base for alchemically flame retardant solutions, is used in pickling, twice-leavens bread when added to baking powder, and so on. A robustly useful product, much is consumed domestically, but the so-called white blood of the gods is common enough to make for a lucrative export market.
"In the First Day, there was naught. There was no earth, and no sky, and nothing swam, walked, crawled or flew. And from the black, the Sun shone forth, and spake, 'let there be blood!' And the blood, from which all things sprang, flowed forth as Sun split his belly with fire and death. In its coagulation, its elements of earth, sea and sky split apart, and a cruel firmament was made, one which demanded cruelty of its victims, if life they wished. His children rose from the spirit of the blood, and the Sun spake in his dying; 'I have given all this to you, and it must return one day in kind! Bring me my blood!' And his children were faithful. So they set upon one another with tooth and nail and the light-drinking glass, and drank the blood of one another that they may be most prime, giving no thought to their own will in the matter. The greatest drinkers of our age are Snake and Bull, the most holy Snake and Bull, and their greatest servants are the men of Khumer, without doubt. But as the former grow fat, and bloated, we shall no longer be heel, but head, and they shall be neither. We will feast on their flesh as they have on ours, and we shall make slaves of the rest of this rotten world. Then, they will learn our ways, and when we are complacent, will subject us to the same fate of replacement by cannibalism. Such is the way of things."
- From the recent psalms of Apocrypha-Prophet Hashenkut, Novel Musings Divine and Otherwise
The religion of Khumer is, to most people, a nightmare, a fever dream born and manifested out of cannibal blood-sickness. The mythology itself is only vaguely cemented, centered around the creation myth of the blinded sun-godhead committing to the suicidal creation of the world, before commanding his creation to pay back the debt of what he had given. This debt was in blood, and the sum for the creation of everything was more than any could pay; the debt was infinitive. From this philosophical-metaphysical base, along with an esoteric focus on the transmutation of blood into mystical power, came the basis for the cult of Khum. The debt cannot be repaid in full, but one can become the most favored debter, as in the present case of Snake and Bull, likely anthropomorphized forms of the danger of the old Khumite pasturelanders whom would be often bled and killed, by the former with poison, and the latter with auroch's horns. Thus, he whom repays the tortured, dying godhead the most in blood will, logically, receive the least degree of forcible debt-taking from the spiritual realm; by spilling blood and murdering others, one avoids the same fate falling on oneself.
There is little concept of idealized karma, beyond the cause and effect of open malevolence usually being rejected by force, and thus the philosophy is 'do unto others as brutally and quickly as they would do to you before they do.' Death is largely inexplicable, but traceable to not causing enough to others. From here, the Khumite cults diverge heavily into innumerable separate camps, following after their own learned masters of metaphysical legalism, masters of the art of twisting Law and Debt. Ritualized transfer of sin (although what constitutes 'sin' is usually up to the learned masters to decide, regardless of previous assertions by scripture or priesthood, and can more often be identified with 'ill fates and curses' rather than 'wrongdoings') either to animals or humans- with or without following blood sacrifice- is very common, as is preemptive eschewing of vows; one cannot take on a debt later that he has before said shall not truly be a debt, nevermind that he whom one would be indebted to does not know this. An unspoken truth, in this sense, cannot be a lie, as is the common thought. This kind of legalism and law-cheating is pandemically common to Khumerian philosophy, and viewed as a holy necessity in exulting the divine (insofar as it serves the self) and the efficient paying of debts (largely on personally-interested basis.)
Khumer is an ash-waste. Situated in volcanic wakes and acidic salt flats, it is terribly inhospitable for man. The earth flows red, and the air is choked with smog and sulphur. Outcroppings of rock and glass are common and sharply angled. Flatland bowls readily give way to sudden cliffs and switchbacks. Though the ash makes the ground fertile where it is not choked completely, the best agrarian lands of this like are reserved to the thick-blooded classes, while the thin-blooded subsist on hardier crops in poorer lands, hunter-gathering, and necessitated cannibalism. The flora is near-universally scrubby and sparse, with trees being bare of leaves, knot-covered and wounding by sucking creatures that have grown tolerant of the poison sap. Flowers are rare, most often the subject of annual bloomings, while those that bloom year-round are often immensely poisonous, with fields of such deadly specimens forming unusually calm, peaceful patches in the never-ending chaos of Khumer's natural order.
Population: 4,200,000
Demographics (Makeup of your population; ethnicities, languages, minorities.)
Once considered completely impregnable, the Blister of the Bull remains in the modern era a terrifying edifice to Khumer's brutally monumental architecture, as well as the monumental architecture of its brutality. It is a series of fortress complexes surrounding the capital, unique more in the manner of construction than in its scale; it was made largely through the shifting of cooling lava, by magic, tool, and hand. The death of thousands of slaves was necessary to see it erected, swallowed up when the thin grey-black sheath over the red blood of the earth burst or succumbing to bone-deep burns, and to this day there are warped skeletal remains of those halfway submerged. The conventional masonry is largely sharp-angled and aggressively pompous, while the shaped lava formations have a characteristic pustule-like appearance, alike to boils and sores, lending a doubly eye-hurting quality to the Blister. Fortresses copied after its model and construction, if not its scale, were erected throughout Khumer to guard the passes and switchbacks into the country as well as the personal estates of sorcerer-lords.
(An overview of important cities, military forts, wonders, and Historical Landmarks (which is to say, along the lines of the Taj Mahal or the Pyramids at Giza))
A lowborn draftee brought up from the meagerest standing, he was victim to the death-marches of Aheid's jihad against Famarqudian loyalists and Khumerian soldiers both. Surviving the taking of his skin, his face, and his eyes, the Flayed King rose by intrigue, murder, and the favour of fortune to take a throne never meant for him, to wed a wife whom could not love him nor sympathize with him, and to lead some of the greatest legions and mightiest men on the continent. Wracked by visions in nightmare, he sees without seeing, acts without acting, kills without the sword, and for a purpose he does not believe nor understand, he will change the face of the world in the purity of his spite.
(Important people in your country; leaders and the such, people that factor heavily into your RP. At the very least, the ruler (de facto and/or de jure, probably other characters such as priests, heirs, rivals, ambassadors, your important generals or administrators.)
TO FILL (Major institutions of the nations, such as legislative bodies, corporate organisations/guilds, families, most importantly, the military.)
(professional/militia/levy/..., doctrine, tactics, equipment, though the latter can be put underneath as well, etc.) Troop Total: (keep reality and upkeep in mind, e.g. 3% of your population as full-time professional soldiers would be a whole lot)
ESSENTIALS
Population Density (Population - 4,200,000) - relatively populated, regionally dense; A good amount of manpower for the military and economic purposes, with social infrastructure strained more at a regional basis. Civic projects range from affordable to expensive. The nation requires a stronger agriculture to sustain itself.
Economy - Slow Growth - The economy is performing well, though there is room for improvement. There are certain limitations on the economy that are bottlenecking real growth, such as a restriction in supplies or insufficient demand, however. There is some unemployment and economic unhappiness among people in the lower income brackets. You heavily are dependent on trade.
Urbanisation - Urbanised: There are several towns and a cities present, ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand inhabitants.
Technology - Rapidly Modernizing: The industrial infrastructure is in the process of improvement, and this is a teething process. But the economy is seeing increased activity because of this investment. New technologies are becoming domestically available. However, there is a degree of dependence on imports, including in terms of resources and supplies. Metallurgy is high-tech, even steel lies within your capabilities.
Domestic Political Stability - City riots
GEOGRAPHY Largely consists of plains, hills, mountains
RESOURCES
Mineral Deposits - minimal deposits of metals and minerals.
Valuable Mineral Deposits - Trace deposits of rare earth metals, predominately salt.
Unique Materials - alum (wide variety of uses, here: pigment fixing, medicine), truffles and citrus
Agriculture - cattle and small livestock based, food shortages are seasonally common
MILITARY
Military Focus - inferior navy but excellent army, superior spearmen, bad infantry and cavalry ratio (11:1)
Military Recruitment - Volunteer Force Military, additional levies in wartime
Reliability - Levies are of decent quality, generals are loyal to the state but decentralised
Military Size - medium core of elite units, relative to total population: requires some upkeep, relatively easy to equip/supply quickly, seasonal levies
Military Technology - Rapid Modernization, your nation does not lag behind the rest of the world, and even sets the standard on some levels.
Military Training and Morale - Highly Trained; High Morale, levies are of poor quality with high morale
Military Leadership - Incompetent; Appointed; Decadent Military
Reputation - Popular domestically; considered dangerous rabble by foreigners
Siege Equipment - Decent, seasoned corps of engineers and sappers; Loyal
Pro: Slavers: Yours is a nation that embraces and uses slavery, there is little distinction between those who enslave wholesale and those for whom slavery is a punishment for grave crimes. Either way, there are those they regard as simple property with no rights. Slave loyalty is a fickle thing, but the slavers have a simple solution to such a minor concern, a disobedient, troublesome or just plain worthless slave is quite simply sent to the (alum) mines to work the rest of their meagre and miserably short lives. The threat of this is often enough to ensure the loyalty of other slaves.
Con: Turnips and Radishes: Your peasantry has the singular honour of having the single worst diet in the world. Your more worth-something citizens simply must get every food worth eating leaving your peasants with the two worst foods of the medieval world. And sometimes (if your rulers are cruel enough) brussel sprouts are on the peasants table too. Of course its nobody’s fault when the peasants rise up in revolt (If your food was as revolting you might revolt too.)
Pro: By Terror Thou Shalt Wage War: There can be no doubt that as a military entity Khumer is efficient and brutal, but further so as a sociopolitical one. While few men would willingly subject themselves to the horror of living in Khumer's lands and systems, to throw themselves in chains under those exceedingly cruel men, yet fewer would like to face the cruelty of the Khumerian highborn or their much-repressed slaves. Better to go into captivity amongst exceedingly cruel men than be eaten alive by them, or vice-versa. With little or no fight, some states in history have become vassals to Khumer when faced with the inevitability of conquest to spare themselves the butcherous ruin that would follow refusal to submit. Although such days are long past with Khumer's sorry state and the ease of successful coalition, soldiers will nonetheless face wildly fluctuating morale and force organization when faced with the Khumite question; an organized formation might be feeble and giving, or an unbreakably, rabidly fearful mob- fighting as many more men on the personal level- might lose all cohesion. Either may serve as wheat to thresh for the Khumites if the enemy commanders do not retain control of the situation.
Con: O Daughter of Babylon: Conversely, the terror of Khumer and all its iniquities leaves few men alive to speak any favorable thing, to have any good notion of it. It is a black-hearted man, either by malevolence or fear, who would make any deal with the priest-statesmen of Khumer. Legitimate diplomacy with that black realm is ill found in this era, and even secret overtures are few and kept as careful secret. The Khumerian highborne as a race are rarely considered humans, more often as demons given flesh, both for their stature and the stature of their moral monstrosity. Therefore, Khumer can expect an absolutely frigid political climate, if it is not warmed by fire and blood.
Salamander or newt – colouring, shape and nature vary
Demonym: Vathrcasi, Vath
Description:
Kings are thirteen in a dozen, ruling their dusky kingdoms, clans or tribes –which usually is little more than a single city and surrounding region- with vain pride. The very nature of their kingdoms is dynamic, for what is to say that when a leader dies his eldest succeeds? More often than not, his tiny realm is carved up between his sons who either fight one another to the death, or succumb to larger, more powerful neighbours. The Vathcrasi are unified culturally rather than politically, although every small ruler owes allegiance to the High-King of the nation.
Fierce as they are, infighting is common and considered normal to keep their warriors practiced and alert. Blood, wealth and power keep the political wheels turning. However, the warlike Vathrcasi people sail up and down the coast intent on trade or plunder during periods of internal stability, dependent on the strength and influence of the Vath High-King.
In the past, Vathcras was inhabited by a people with dark hair and copper-coloured skin. They were a strong but rather passive culture, and so fell prey to foreign invaders from the sea. An elite of blonde, golden-eyed warriors was established, as the dark skinned indigenous populace was slowly assimilated. Presently, the Vath are a people of copper or bronze skin with yellow or ashen hair and pale eyes, though the further one travels from the coast and into the highlands, the more often dark-haired individuals manifest. The seed of Vath has yet to be sown everywhere in the land.
Government: Decentralised Monarchy – many kings and princelings, one High-King, early feudal system
Institutions:High Vath Council – Inner council of the Vath nation comprised of twelve individuals and led by the High-King. While legislative matters are up for debate in other assemblies, it is the High Council who drafts and ratifies them. Diplomatic and other matters revert back to this council’s decision.
Council of Viceroys – Political body meant to discuss both domestic and foreign policy, anything from agriculture, to legislature, to persecution and declarations of war. While this council is well within its rights to make propositions, actual decisions are the prerogative of the ruling High-King (provided, naturally, there is one). It is large and has no determined set of members, since any influential individual is allowed access.
Council of Captains – Oligarchic body responsible for the appointment of officers, sanctioning of official missions/raids and organisation of ships, military or mercantile. Delegate and leader of the Council of Captains is known as the High-Admiral, who serves as one of the chief magistrates at the court, and has a seat on the High Council. This is an assembly of mostly military commanders.
Economy:
Vathcras’ economy is twofold; based on land and sea. While its valleys are lush and fertile, few land is actually suited for agriculture. As such, the Vath have taken to terraced farming for their crops such as rice and sturdy variants of wheats that are able to handle the hotness and humidity, as well as a plethora of fruits. Other edible produce is drawn from wild species of comestible plants (e.g. sugar, grape, date, …), hunted for or dug up (turnips and roots). The Vath also supplement their diet by keeping herds of goat, tiny sheep and a small sort of buffalo. The latter also aids them in tilling the fields and paddies.
The other source of wealth, and in some views more important source, is water. Whether river or sea fishing, the silver bounty of the marine world adorns many a Vath plate. In addition, their gastronomy is expanded with squid, crustaceans, swamp lizards (of ranging sizes) frogs and even underwater plants. Not only do the Vathcrasi draw food from the lagoons, rivers and ocean, but being so accustomed to the intertwining streams and sea, it is also of great commercial value to them. When the Vathcrasi do not raid or fight, they trade. Whether that be among themselves or abroad depends.
Timber is big business in Vathcras, for wood has a vast array of uses. Most notably, the woodcarvers produce furniture, carvings and, of course, ships of all shapes and sizes. Incense and a small amount of spices are also drawn from the jungle, while dyes are made of the shells of seacreatures or colourful plant roots. Aside from what they can produce from the seawater, the hills of Vathcras also contain deposits of salt. This resource is terribly important, since it allows them to pickle and salt their food for extensive sea voyages. Furthermore, moderate deposits of metal have also been found and are being exploited, most cheaply by employing slave labour or indentured personnel. Only minimal sources of precious, rare earth metals are found.
Economic activity aside from farming, mining and forestry, is most heavily condensed in the cities. There are a large amount of artisans and craftsmen that process the raw materials into products much desired over the continent. The Vath mostly trade their wares for luxury goods (with which their elite buys social status), wine, processed metals and weapons, oils and textiles. Trade happens with an exchange of currency or goods.
Religion: The Vath worship a pantheon of deities of varying importance. Every river, creek or stream has its own spirits and gods or goddesses to whom prayers may be sent. Demons and ghosts are also prayed too. Usually, Vath rites dictate the use of incense and a sacrifice of blood, whether from an animal or human being. Relatively unimportant gods can be appeased with an offering of flowers, woodcarving, oils or fruit. Their visage can range from animal to man or a combination there of. Regionally, there can be a great difference in nomenclature and appearance but the chief deities are universally accepted. In addition, ancestor-worship is still practiced.
Ashnara, goddess of the ocean is the main goddess of the Vath pantheon, and usually depicted as a mermaid with a crown of seaweed. Her husband, Marl, is king of the gods and commands the power of storm and fortune. Other important deities include Yasmi, goddess of lust and love, Chiana of the Fields, Mor of the Dead and Karnu of the Sword, Gullah the jungle Gorilla lord, Bellu the Masked Deceiver. Yasmi and Karnu in particular are considered sacred, thought of as the ‘second duo’ after Ashnara and Marl. The goddess of lust specifically, is celebrated in rich temples and at lavish shrines with rituals of blood sacrifice and orgiastic frenzy performed before sensuously carved idols of ivory.
Geography:
A wet but fertile region, Vatchras is a land of hills covered in hot jungles that weep rivers. Creeks and marshes dominate the lowlands, while leaf-covered rocks rule up on high. There is aquatic much to see in Vatchras; the waterways coursing towards the ocean, escaping via more than a hundred estuaries and deltas, flowing around coves or large stone formations seemingly put there by giants, and tumbling from overgrown cliffs.
Vathcras’ jungles are dark and perilous, home to feline predators and ancient monsters such as the Mammoth-Newt.
Population: 5,000,000
Demographics
(Makeup of your population; ethnicities, languages, minorities.)
Notable Locations
Esebis - the Walled City
Situated on a wealthy coastal plain, Esebis or the Walled City is one of the biggest urban centres of all of Vathcras, and consists of several levels. Aside from its sheer size (over two hundred thousand people call it their home), Esebis is important for the amount of protection it offers the surrounding region. Built on a promontory jutting out into the sea, it is ideally located to organise patrols along the coast as well as further inland. Seat of the High-King, Esebis is the political and thinking heart of the fractal nation. Apart from the palace, temples and public buildings, Esebis also sports a merchant quarter, mint and many markets and workshops.
Shanizar - Paradise leisure city
Half a day from Esebis lies a young city, recently burst from its original confines. A lush city in all aspects, Shanizar is where many of the nobility have their manses and palaces. This is where culture is lived and breathed, where the wealthy dictate fashion, for aside from the royal court, Shanizar is the cradle of style.
Ormus - Hollow Rock
The threatening maw of a city built into the cliffsides. Most of Ormus is concealed within the hollow rock, hewn from the earth, including its docks and shipwrights. In many ways, Ormus is the centre of the military navy, for the majority of heavy war vessels have their anchorage here.
Hassor - Pirate's Roost
Built on a barren rock, Hassor is a refuge for independent traders and raiders. A flourishing black markets co-exists with the substantial official mercantile efforts. The city’s establishment changes almost every week, from a king to a prince, to a collection of powerful captains, an honest merchant, demagogic rabble-rouser or another more creative sort of tyrant. One thing is for certain, if you need something and cannot find it anywhere, you will in Hassor.
Personalities of Note
TBA
Military
Organisation: (professional/militia/levy/..., doctrine, tactics, equipment, though the latter can be put underneath as well, etc.)
Troop Total: (keep reality and upkeep in mind, e.g. 3% of your population as full-time professional soldiers would be a whole lot)
Army:
Navy:
Other: (Such as siege equipment, a secret service, internal security, important mercenaries, or paramilitary forces, etc.)
Other
Special traits, remarks, boons and flaws
Pro:Sons of the Sea: Masters of travelling on sea-worthy vessels, they build and steer their ships better than most when it comes to traversing the waves. Few ships are as fast as a 'Windrider', or crewed by such vicious warriors. The gods of the sea have favoured your people, they will often find the weather suiting their needs and the prayers of sailors seem heard most clearly. Those favoured by the gods rarely get the chance to drown.
By Marl’s cock and Ashnara’s tits: You are masters of any and every ship that was ever made. They can navigate around even the tightest reefs. Escape into weather that no sane man dare pursue them within. Bad weather? What the fuck do you mean this is bad weather? The rain’s pelting down, the waves roar high as a dragons ass and our men are in good spirits, and I mean the drinking kind. Our sails are full and we’re making good time! This isn’t bad weather, its GREAT weather. Now stop your complaints and row!
Con:The Bloody Altars of the Priesthood: The ‘Priesthood’ of your nation that handles all sacrifice and 'magical' power within your realm are a fixture of towns, cities and anywhere your people have gathered in large numbers. As such they can commit the necessary sacrifices anywhere (or unnecessary ones if they feel like it). Human sacrifice is still practiced, and without the proper offerings of blood, flesh and bone your people surely lose the favour of their sanguine gods.
Raiding Season, No Raiding Season: a big problem of your people is the importance of tradition, and well, traditionally only the summer, autumn and spring seasons are permitted for war and raiding. Come the weeks leading to winter any forces outside of your borders will want to return to celebrate and feast.
ESSENTIALS
Regionally Dense Population (Population - 5,000,000) - Adequate amount of manpower for economic and military purposes, but it also means that the social infrastructure is under increasing strain. Educational costs and civic projects tend to be affordable.
Economy - Stagnation - The economy is performing adequately, though there is much room for improvement. There are little limitations on the economy that are bottlenecking real growth, such as a lack of funds or resources, tech limits. There is some unemployment and economic unhappiness among people, and there is a degree of criticism in what can go wrong, even if it hasn't gone wrong yet.
Urbanisation - Urbanised: There are several towns and cities present, ranging from a few hundred to several thousand inhabitants.
Technology - Slowly Modernizing: The industrial infrastructure is in the process of improvement, and this is a teething process. But the economy is seeing increased activity because of this investment. New technologies are becoming domestically available. However, there is a degree of dependence on imports, including in terms of the expertise to modernize the economy. Metallurgy is limited to bronze and some iron products.
Domestic Political Stability - Quite stable
GEOGRAPHY
Largely consists of hills, jungle and swamps
RESOURCES
Mineral Deposits - Moderate deposits of metals and minerals.
Valuable Mineral Deposits - Trace deposits of rare earth metals, predominately salt.
Unique Materials - dyes, incense, timber
Agriculture - crop and small livestock based, slight food surplus that is increasing over time
MILITARY
Military Focus - decent army but excellent navy, relatively decent infantry and cavalry ratio (9:1)
Military Recruitment - All Volunteer Force, forced conscription and levies in wartime
Reliability - Levies are of decent quality, generals play politics
Military Size - mid-size, relative to population: requires some upkeep, relatively difficult to equip/supply quickly.
Military Technology - Slow Modernisation, your nation lags behind, you are dependent on what you can buy, pillage or otherwise take from others, but have certain fields of expertise.
Military Training and Morale - Highly Trained; High Morale, levies have medium morale but are bad at following orders
Military Leadership - Competent; Corrupt; Play at politics
Military Reputation - Popular domestically; considered rabble by foreigners
Siege Equipment - practically non-existent, instead your army relies on grapling hooks and infiltration
Strengths and weaknesses
See sheet above.
I'm still working on most of this. Feel free to give me any feedback though!
Name: Officially referred to as the Dominion of Terus, after the ancient dynasty that rules it. Sometimes simply called the Sultanate, the Dominion, or simply Terus. The land itself is named Azraca. Flag/emblem: The flag is a simple cloth of solid orange, with no symbols or other details. As far as an emblem, no symbol represents Terus more so than the arrow. Demonym: Terusite, sometimes Azrac Description: Far to the south of every realm of men, elves, and dwarves, there is one last kingdom before one reaches the end of the world. This kingdom is known as the Dominion of Terus. Once its people were mere nomads, wandering from valley to valley, a disorganized rabble that quarreled and waged war. Then small hamlets began to form, and great lords rose to power. These lords centralized the country and built cities to be the seats of their power. Then, over the years war and strategic marriages slowly united the land under the rule of one great dynasty, Terus. For the past two centuries the Terus have ruled a united Azraca, and the realm has never been stronger. Its growth has been slow, old traditions and backwards technology a great barrier to the wheels of progress, but at last trade with foreigners has begun to erode away these weaknesses. The Dominion of Terus has always risen to greater heights and always will, until the last of its people are dust in the wind.
Government: Feudal monarchy (Sultanate)
The ruler of the Dominion of Terus is the Sultan, who reigns as the king of the capital city of Marad, as well as the emperor over the other kings.
The Maliks, or kings as other lands would call them, are the next level below the Sultan. There are three Maliks, one for each of the other three great metropolises.
Below the Maliks are the Emirs, which administer specific districts within cities or vast swathes of countryside, in the name of the Malik that they are sworn to. The Emirs and their relatives hold most high-ranking positions under the Maliks, such as advisors, generals, and so on.
Beneath the Emirs are the Baigs, the lowest level of landed nobles. This caste could be considered similar to chieftains or knights. The Baigs live in estates and administer the local village or community, usually ruling over perhaps fifty to three hundred peasants. Traditionally the eldest son on a Baig will be groomed to rule over the area, the second eldest to serve as a backup and to fulfill some sort of position such as a tax collector of Mazman, while the younger sons seek out military careers. As such, while the majority of judges, clergy, and other low-level bureaucrats are Baigs, they exist more as a military caste.
Beneath the Baigs are the peasants. Lacking a title of nobility does not necessarily exclude one from becoming a bureaucrat under some other noble, joining the clergy, or participating in the professional military, but it is certainly uncommon for any of those positions to be claimed by a peasant. For the most part, the peasants are farmers, shepherds, and merchants; most have little desire to rule and the levy system makes joining the warrior caste of Baigs a somewhat distasteful proposition. As such, the peasants are generally accepting of their nobles and content with their lot in life. Though there is some disdain for commoners from some nobles, particularly from the Mirzas but also with some Amirs, the peasants are generally treated well enough.
Existing as an oddity in this hierarchy are the Terus (plural can be Teri). The Terus dynasty is so prestigious that their name is a title in and on itself; while the Sultan is named normally, his close relatives are all referred to by their dynasty's name as a sign of respect. Upon becoming too distant of a relative from the current Sultan, a Terus must change their name. This is to prevent estranged family members attempting to push their claim and usurp the throne, as well as to remove the Sultan's obligation to feed, house, and clothe a thousand distant relatives. In general, any relative of the Sultan close enough to hold the title of Terus is treated at least as well as an Emir, with some such as uncles or brothers approaching the respect of the Maliks. While the Teri do not rule per se, important positions such as grand vizier, ambassador, and Warlord are given almost exclusively to Teri, rather than to the relatives of the Maliks.
Economy:
General Overview: There exist four great cities, and these metropolises have long been hubs of manufacturing. As of the last decades, they have also grown to become major centers of trade. Great foundries exist where skilled smiths are able to work wonders with bronze, brass, lead, and precious metals. Other goods such as dyed cloth, leather, olive oil, palm wine, ale, and salt are also produced on a large scale by artisans.
Other Miscellaneous Information about the Economy:
Slavery has a long history in Azraca, and is still fairly common, although for the most part only the wealthy class owns slaves. Most slaves were captured foreigners or are descended from tribes that resisted submission to the Terus dynasty with particular ferocity, and ended up conquered and enslaved. While in some cases criminals are enslaved, they are usually treated with particular brutality and worked to death or freed after a time if their sentencing was not permanent. If a child is born into slavery, they remain enslaved unless their parents are freed.
Educating a slave is illegal, as is arming them and compelling them to fight. For the most part productive slaves are rewarded while lazy ones are given less food, as this has shown to be more effective at motivating slaves than brutality. Disobedience and attempts to escape are punished with flogging, while violence results in hanging by the rib. Slave revolts are rare, but when they do happen the punishments are unimaginably brutal.
Slaves are generally put to work on tasks that involve a lot of physical labor and are easy to learn, such as woodcutting or construction. Nearly all of Terus' miners are slaves, yet nearly all the smiths are freemen.
Plagues afflict Terus unusually often, which has been one of the contributing factors of the kingdom's relatively small growth over the past two centuries. Strong and healthy children usually survive through adulthood as the Azrac have over time became increasingly resistant to disease, but the plagues often manage to devastate the populations of elderly and infantile people in the regions that they strike. Still, the plagues have some minor positive effects. By culling the weak and elderly that need to be supported by others, it helps strengthen the economy. Still, that boon is largely offset by the decreased population growth caused by it killing infants.
Perhaps the largest and most noticeable benefit of the plagues has been in teaching the Dominion of Terus the importance of sanitation. The rulers understand the concept of quarantines and use them to mitigate the effects of plagues whenever possible, and the largest cities in Azraca maintain impressive infrastructure to support sanitation. Fountains and wells provide fresh water, bathhouses are available to the public (although there is a fee to enter), and the cities have invested in large, underground sewers. The sewers consist of large, lead pipes that are fed water (usually via pumps from nearby rivers rather than costly aqueducts). Public lavatories and trash disposal sites dump their waste into the flowing water, where it is carried away inside the pipes. Occasionally blockages occur. When this happens, the pumps that bring water into the sewers are stopped. Slaves and convicts are forced to perform the dangerous and filthy task of removing the blockage. Needless to say, this is essentially a death sentence as lead poisoning, disease, and the ever present danger of drowning tend to kill those that maintain the insides of the pipes.
The presence of the four massive cities leaves the realm with a problem, however. Feeding so many mouths would be a difficult problem on its own, however extensive use of slash and burn agriculture has added a logistical problem as well. Constantly needing to move their farmland further away from the cities in order to find fertile land, the grain and vegetables that constitute the majority of the realm's food must be shipped downriver or carted to the cities, a journey that can take several days. This state of affairs means that food is in high demand.
Similarly to the plagues, the problem of slash and burn agriculture has had some minor positive effects on Terus. The very real threat of food shortages means that the government keeps large amounts of food in store. In addition, the need for quick and efficient transport for the farmers has lead to the construction and maintenance of a good road system. Most farming villages have at least one road that has been cobbled with stones. While these cobbled roads are often still quite small, they help to lessen the hindrance that mud and potholes have on traveling carts. These smaller roads lead to larger highways to the major cities, but most farmers avoid that long journey and go small villages on the river. These river villages often buy grain directly from the farmers, and then take it by raft or boat to the cities to sell at a slightly marked up price.
To supplement their conventional farming methods, the Terusites raise herds of cattle and sheep in the rather infertile plains found between the cities and the proper farmlands. What little land within the cities and their surrounding areas that is both open and remotely fertile is covered with groves of olive and date trees. The cities have hundreds of fishers that harvest the bounty of the sea. In addition to all of those means of food production, the Dominion of Terus also imports large quantities of food. While they have no trade fleet of their own, merchant ships from distant lands occasionally come laden with exotic produce to sell for a good deal more than what it is worth in other places.
The Dominion of Terus has became increasingly reliant on trade with Arman-Arhus over the past decades. Caravans travel by land, the Armanians offering excess crops, linen clothing, and flax bowstrings in exchange for metalworks, dyes, sugar, and the like.
Within the past century, the Dominion of Terus has also established contact with the distant Ryuku Empire. The Azracs were impressed by these foreigners' advanced technology and wealth, while the Ryukuans greatly desired many of Azraca's resources. Naturally, a trade route soon developed. Opportunistic merchants from both nations began sailing between the two, the Azrac ships always flying the Ryukuan silver gear and yellow coins in addition to their own orange flag so as to receive immunity from the privateers sponsored by Ryuku.
The Terusites were glad to take Ryukuan gold in exchange for Azraca's famed leathers and the iron that they would have otherwise discarded in favor of bronze. Other miscellaneous goods such as sugar, exotic foods, and pearls are shipped by the boat as well, but perhaps the most important trade good for the Terusites is knowledge. The Emperor of Ryuku allows learned men (with the proper documentation) to bring friendly nations some of Ryuku's technologies, for a fee of course. The Terus dynasty was the first to begin hiring Ryukuan scholars and artisans to share their secrets, but now the other major lords are beginning to follow the trend. Slowly, this trade route is helping to modernize Azraca and better equip the Ryukuan army.
Religion: 98% Mazdacs, 2% other religions (the most prominent being traditional orcish tribal beliefs)
The Mazdac Faith consists of hundreds of various stories and legends from across Azraca and beyond, spread by mouth for centuries until there were too many for most people to remember. Eventually the Azracs finally developed a written language and began recording these stories as well as the stories of other lands and religions, which ended up being incorporated and mixed into the set of beliefs that now exist. Nowadays the Mazmen, as the clergy as called, teach from the holy texts known collectively as the Mazdac. These texts are the namesake of the religion as a whole.
The Mazdac Faith has no true creation story, merely believing that the world has always existed in some form and always will. Though followers of the faith believe in many various mythological and magical entities, one divine entity is considered the most powerful and venerated, the greatest of all gods. This god is usually referred to as the Lord of the Eternal Sky, though other names include the Great Hunter, Guide of All Arrows, Great Protector, Giver of Warmth, or his true name Selijuk.
According to the legends, Tanis was once a harsh, inhospitable land, filled with giants, dragons, and other even more unfathomable horrors. The devils and dark spirits found safe haven here and flocked in droves, until Selijuk cast his sight upon it. The gray skies turned blue, and the Lord of Eternal Skies descended onto Tanis atop a great horse, armed with a bow and a bottomless quiver filled with arrows tipped by pure fire from the sun itself. For nine months the Great Hunter rode across the land, firing arrow after arrow and felling the monsters by the thousand. After nine months, the world was reborn.
The shafts of those divine arrows that missed, for not even Selijuk is always perfect, rooted themselves into the ground and became the first trees. The dying breaths of the monsters and devils that the Great Protector slew turned into the winds. At last, his task nearing completion, the Giver of Warmth created a bonfire, an inferno the likes of which the world would never see again. Drawn out of the shadows, Selijuk's sons, the Azracs, arrived. With them came the other civilized races of the world: men, elves, dwarves, and so on. In their hands Selijuk left Tanis. As he Azracs were his children and had his favor, they received Azraca, the land furthest south where the sun shines brighter than anywhere else.
Once his children were settled and Tanis cleansed, Selijuk returned to the sun, his divine abode. From there, the god sits atop his steed and looks down upon the world and its people that are like ants. To catch Selijuk's eye and remind him that they are still his children, Mazdacs have a festival of eternal day. One day of each season, the temples to Selijuk build massive bonfires. Throughout the day they build the fire larger and larger, trying to rival the sun, and at night they run about with torches, lighting up their surrounding and trying to banish the darkness just as their god once did.
The Mazdac also has many stories about devils, monsters, spirits, and so on. Every star in the night sky is the heavenly home of some magical entity, though of course they all pale in comparison to the sun where Selijuk dwells. The Mazdac goes so far as to acknowledge the existence of some foreign gods, though it staunchly declares that neither they, nor anything else save one's ancestors, are required to be worshiped. Not even Selijuk need be worshiped, if one chooses not to; while reverence of him in life is honorable and worthy of respect, all inevitably come under his light upon their death. One can still be worthy of respect if he or she makes the choice to not meet Selijuk until they are face to face in the heavens. In this way, the Mazdac Faith is far more tolerant than most religions.
The body of the holy Mazmen usually consist of noble elders that have grown too old to rule or fight, giving their lands and obligations to their sons in order to free themselves to study the Mazdac and preach to the younger generations. Upon his hair turning grey, an Azrac man is considered an elder and can join the clergy, if they have the ability to read. Illiterate men cannot read the Mazdac, and so they cannot become shamans. It is this rule that means most Mazmen are former nobles, though there is the occasional peasant that learns to read and becomes a shaman. The clergy enjoy positions of respect amongst their communities, always looked well after, though they do have some responsibilities. First and foremost they are expected to preach regularly and bless everything from crops and cattle to newborns and arrows. However, they are also expected to study and practice the ancient medical knowledge contained in the Mazdac, serving as healers for their local people and sometimes for the military as well.
Should a shaman live to be so old that he naturally becomes blind, he is considered holy indeed. At this point he can no longer read the Mazdac and is therefore no longer a shaman, but instead becomes a seer. Seers spend the rest of their days offering advice and prophesying the future to any who would come to visit them. After they impart their knowledge and share what the spirits have told them, a seer customarily holds out his hand. The one who visited is expected to lick it, in order to obtain the taste of knowledge.
The religion is informally headed by the Blind Prophet who dwells in Khazard, the oldest city in Azraca and the most holy to the Mazdacs. The Prophet is always ritually blinded by fire so that for the rest of his days he sees only Selijuk's brilliance and what the spirits would show, rather than worldly lies. A great archery contest is always held shortly upon a Prophet's death, with hundreds usually showing up for the honor. The bowman whose arrows fly truest is said to be chosen by Selijuk, and so the shafts of all the arrows in the contest are heaped and burned, with the High Shamans of the other three cities heating bronze knives in the flames. Then, the winner's eyes are burned, removed, cauterized, and finally replaced with rubies.
If Selijuk once again chooses that person by allowing him to survive this ordeal, he is declared the new Blind Prophet. Though the Blind Prophet is by no means a secular ruler and he holds no actual power over the nobility or even the rest of the Mazmen, his word is greatly respected, his decrees nearly always upheld and any of his prophecies considered to be the will of the spirits.
Geography:
Azraca is a land of many flatlands and rolling hills, naturally protected by several chains of large mountains. Its wilderness is largely forested and rainforests exist in some places, mainly remote valleys and mountainous regions. The entire country was forested like that, but the Azracs have changed many parts drastically. The river floodplains and flatlands have been largely claimed for farming, woodlands destroyed by logging and slash and burn agriculture. For a day to a day and a half's ride from any large city you will be in a desert, the once fertile lands farmed so much over the centuries that they are now dry and have had their topsoil eroded away. Beyond that, for a few more days one will be in great grasslands, the soil too poor for conventional farming but still useful for ranching. Here vast herds of livestock, mostly cattle, are allowed to graze. At last, upon reaching the end of the grasslands one may find the stretches of farmland that feed most of the country.
Population: Approximately 3,200,000
Demographics Azraca is the ancient homeland of the race that call themselves the Azracs, and it is this race that makes up almost the entirety of the Kingdom of Terus. What few present in Azraca that are not of this bloodline are slaves, or people from other realms come to trade or serve as ambassadors. The exception to that generalization are the orcs. Several tribes have found refuge in Azraca, living mostly in remote, mountainous regions. Usually the orcs keep to themselves, but sometimes they come to the cities to work, trade, or offer their services as warriors.
The Azrac race are really more of an ethnicity and culture group of humans, though they consider themselves a separate race. Sharp eyes and tall, lean bodies as well as their culture itself make them fine bowmen. Most men shave their entire heads as a sign of youth and to stay cool in the sun, and only grow grow beards once they have achieved a venerable age and no longer toil in the heat for many hours on end. Both the male and female Azracs wear numerous earrings and bracelets, the men preferring gold and the women silver. They speak their own language, which others simply call the Azrac tongue. Their culture is rather fierce in nature, with great emphasis on being able to defend one's self and family and fight well. Archery is a very valued and respected skill, and this along with their natural traits and superior composite bows make Azracs some of the best archers in the world, despite beings technologically or strategically backwards in most other forms of combat.
As far as a description goes, Azracs usually stand a good few inches taller than most humans and have sharp, piercing eyes. They all have more or less the same golden shade of skin, a burnt orange that can shine in the light. They are acclimated well to their rather hot homeland, and their bodies run at temperatures slightly higher than that of the other races. They lightly sweat throughout most of the day, and while this makes their skin shine golden and beautiful in the sun it has also led to them earning a reputation amongst some other races as smelly and barbaric. The feeling is mutual; most Azracs are suspicious of other races, if not outright disdainful. Aside from the color of their skin and their smell, they can be told apart from humans by the sharp, high-cheeked and angled faces. They do not grow much hair and what they do grows very slowly, but what little they have is black.
Percentage of Races: 97.5% Azrac, 1.5% Orcish, 1% Others
Language(s) Spoken: Most only Azrac, the tongue spoken by the people that it is named after. Azrac has a written form, though with a few exceptions such as merchants that keep track of their stock, only the clergy and particularly scholarly noblemen ever learn how to write.
A bastardized form of Orcish, mixed with Azrac, is the primary tongue of the small tribes of orcs. Some merchants have picked up the languages of foreign traders, and some learned nobles understand the tongues of nearby regions.
Percentage slave population: 4%
Notable Locations
The Four Great Cities:
It is said that Marad was built atop blood and bones. It was the site of a great battle in antiquity, in which two migrating hordes of ancient Azracs encountered one another. Being bitter rivals, a bloodbath ensued with the winning side camping amidst a sea of their enemies' bodies, recovering their warriors' strength before moving on to fight new battles. Noting Marad's defensible and fertile location, the tribe often returned to camp there again. Eventually, when agriculture and permanent settlements took root in Azraca, that tribe settled in Marad.
The Terus dynasty are the latest in a long list of families that have ruled the descendants of that first tribe. Marad, the Terus' seat of power, is the capital of their Sultanate. Bricks and blocks of various stones as well as fired clay are used as the main building materials. The city has large, monolithic buildings of red, brown, and orange. It has massive walls with countless archer towers and catapults, resembling a colossal fortress more than a city. Famed for its warriors and gladiators, there are fight pits, barracks, mustering grounds, and armories everywhere.
The city has a population just shy of 200,000, making it enormous by medieval standards.
Fortifications:
Quite possibly the largest fortification in the world, construction began several centuries ago after the fall of Niraq at the hands of the Arhusians during the so-called Union War. Niraq's razed lands were abandoned, and the North Pass was considered too distant and too large to defend. Now paranoid about foreign invasions, the Terus dynasty decided to protect Marad and the rest of Azraca from Niraq's fate by building an impassable wall that would split the valley in half.
At first the wall was small and earthen, manned by regiments of the city guard from Marad. Nowadays, it is the garrison and training grounds for thousands of Strazari in addition to militias from nearby villages. This is due to the lawlessness of the lands beyond, as well as the Wall's status as the de facto northern border of Terus (the de jure border includes Niraq, going up to the northern pass). The Strazari regularly send rangers into the lawless lands north of the wall to deal with bands of raiders and outlaws that grow too large or become problematic.
However, over the decades nearby villages provided their manpower, and so the wall has undergone massive expansion. In the most remote places it stands perhaps fifteen feet from its base; near the gates, garrisons, and areas that need more defense it stands perhaps thirty feet high. At its narrowest the wall allows two horsemen to ride abreast on top. As in for the materials, due to the nature of its construction and gradual upgrades, it consists of an outer layer of stone and brick, with the inside of the wall usually consisting of earth. Any tree or other cover within a fair distance of the wall is routinely cleared, and in many places there are trenches and abatis in front of the wall itself.
Garrisons and watchtowers are placed at regular intervals along the wall's length, and a system of signal-fires and gongs allows for rapid communications down the wall. In the event of a large army attempting to attack the Wall in one of its weaker positions, reinforcements would quickly arrive. The Wall mainly exosts as a form of border control and to stop medium-sized warbands; a large army would likely be able to cross by breaching it in one of its weaker points, however doing so would cost many lives and having to move thousands of men and all their supplies over the wall would greatly hinder their progress. In the regions with actual gates, large castle-like garrisons exist with much more defensive ability. Storming a gate would allow for the enemy to quickly march through, though in the process of doing so the Walls' defenders would probably manage to kill at least ten times their number.
More of a landform than a fortress of some sort, the Grey Defile is a long series of canyons and ravines that cut through an otherwise mountainous, tropical, and extremely densely forested region. This makes it a chokepoint, as it is the only real pathway an army of any size could take heading southwest from Niraq into Azraca to threaten Dhirim and its lands.
The Grey Defile, true to its name, is a defile made of bleak grey limestone. Just a small section of the canyon system, the Grey Defile is a stretch that goes on for about a mile, at some points becoming so narrow that barely six men could fit between the sheer rock faces that make up the canyon walls. This alone makes it incredibly easy to defend. However, the local villages and small regiments of Strazari that defend it have made it even more defensible.
Both naturally and due to constructed walls and tunnels, the Grey Defile has been turned into an utter labyrinth that would turn around and confuse anyone that didn't know the area like the back of their hand. Small, well-hidden ledges and pathways allow the defenders to ambush invaders at countless points as they attempt to pass through, mostly by raining down arrows from above but also by some hidden points from which infantry could charge out. There is only one path through the labyrinth that isn't filled with traps, and rockfalls have been prepared in several locations to allow the defenders to cut off parts of an army from one another and to kill any fool unlucky enough to be caught in the landslide.
It was in this point that a coalition of the Dominion of Terus (and what few sovereign entities had yet to be annexed by the Terus) prepared an ambush and decisively defeated the Arhusians during the Union Wars, luring them into the Grey Defile before slaughtering half their army. The other half that retreated was pursued by vengeful Azracs all the way to the northern pass, leaving barely any survivors. To this day, there are still mounds of the skeletal remains of fallen Arhusians, piled up along the sides of the defile or in small niches. Their armor and weapons have long been looted or rusted away, but it is said that their souls still haunt the place of their defeat.
Similarly to Grey Defile, Swampwatch makes use of the fact that all of its surroundings are essentially impassable for a large army moving on foot. It is located in the narrowest point between the mountains and the sea, with dense mangrove swamps on either side. It is located on a hill, guarding a raised causeway that leads north, joining into one of the only roads that wind through the Eastmarch.
Rising out of the swampy waters are several towers on either side of the causeway, their poor foundations making them lean like plants bending towards the sun. From within these towers defenders can fire arrows, pour boiling water, and do all manner of terrible things to foes charging along the causeway. The causeway leads to a small castle, tunneling clean through the redoubt and out the other side. However, there are nearly a dozen portcullis and murder holes protecting the path. The redoubt itself has many archers towers and other defenses itself to defend the causeway.
The easiest way to get through Eastmarsh would be to avoid it all together; sailing an army down the coast and landing south of the marshlands and Swampwatch would be ideal. Failing that, it might be possible to traverse the swamp itself using canoes or perhaps rafts, thus going through the supposedly impassable swamps and skirting around Swampwatch, though one has to keep in mind the difficulty in constructed enough such rafts for an entire army and the danger of predators, as well as the possibility of crude boats sinking or capsizing.
Unlike the above three locations, Fort Strazari is not a critical defensive position defending one of the routes into the realm. Its location is of some strategic interest, but not much. The coastline it guards is mostly empty, though it does defend and ship cargo from several large mines that supply Dhirim, and a few smaller ones owned by Khazard.
Fort Strazari takes on the form of a small coastal town, with a large shipyard and dock. Atop a nearby hill is a castle, just barely out of the range of any artillery ships in the harbor. It does have several bastion catapults and ballistae, their massive size and advantage of being higher up allowing them to fire upon ships in the harbor. A large retinue of Strazari (as well as some other soldiers, dockworkers, and other workers needed to keep a settlement going) are garrisoned in the fortress year round, as it is their headquarters.
Fort Strazari is mainly used as a training grounds for new soldiers, however it also is home to the only military academy in Azraca. What few commanders receive formal training do so either as retainers to proved men, or as cadets in the costly school here. It at times also serves as a safehouse or resort for the Sultan and other high-ranking nobles.
Strategically located in the middle of Azraca's coastline, Fort Strazari usually bases a third of Terus' warships, with one third always on patrol and the other third based in the docks of the four great cities.
Other Locations:
Personalities of Note Terus Dynasty:
Ruthless, aloof, and calculating. It was deviousness, ambition, and treachery that carved out an empire for the Terus dynasty, not such pleasantries as honor, trust, piety, or tradition. Hakkim realizes and embodies this, a master at court intrigue and plotting, and a very competent leader by all standards. Hakkim cares for his precious Sultanate more than anything, though he does love his family as well (or at least a few of them).
Though nominally an ardent Mazdac, in reality he hates the clergy and the Blind Prophet that so often undermine his authority and prove to be thorns in his side. If there are any gods, he does not worship them as it was his family's greatness, not theirs, that created the Dominion of Terus. He is not an atheist so much as an anti-theist, though he knows better than to say such things as it would no doubt cause an uprising from the zealous fools that constitute half his realm.
Piercing eyes, a heartless expression on his face, and a deliberate and confident posture combine to make him intimidating, despite his only average form. True to his hatred of tradition, he wears no golden bracelets or rings as near all Azrac men do, nor wears the extravagant jewelry of the nobility. His hair is wrapped in a simple silk turban to keep it cool, while he is almost always seen with linen robes dyed the orange of his family. This unassuming appearance makes him look like something of a peasant when seen alongside his courtiers and vassals garbed in their silk robes colored with brilliant and lavish dyes from the farthest reaches of the world. However, there is no mistaking the Sultan; his demeanor and reputation ensure that much. A fool is the man that would mock his modesty.
Hakkim has begun to show signs of his growing age, his hair the color of silver. He has a great beard, as Azrac tradition dictates a man must grow once his hair greys. Suddenly sensing that his time is running short, he has only recently taken a keen interest in his son and heir. He does everything in his power to attempt to become a part of Suhail's life, imparting his knowledge and values upon the prince in an attempt to ensure that Azraca's (and through it, the Terus dynasty's) glory only grows following his inevitable death.
The Crown-Prince, only son of the Sultan, and heir to the Dominion of Terus. He has long been a retainer to Malik Uqais of Dhirim, though he is now beginning to enter adulthood. The Malik's personality seems to have rubbed off on him to disastrous effect; while an able commander and dutiful administrator, he is in no way brilliant like his father and he lacks ambition or initiative. He has the makings of a lieutenant rather than a warlord. He has few memories of his deceased mother and distant father, though this has changed as the Sultan is growing old and finally seen the urgent need to groom his heir personally.
The Sultan's cousin, son of a now deceased uncle. His personality is vastly different from that of the Sultan, and their personalities at times chafe. Truly, their relationship is good, yet it takes the cordial form of a captain's loyalty to his general more than a friendship or family bond.
Mundhalir is the highest ranking military officer in the realm besides the Sultan, personally commanding the Atarma while his subordinates command the other divisions of the standing military. He enjoys such honorary titles and epithets such as Warchief, General, Commander of the Faithful, High Marshal, the Brute, and the Giant. True to the last two monikers, Mundhalir is a hulking figure, freakishly tall yet still muscular and broad of stature. He has earned a reputation for his dogmatic belligerence; both in personal combat and as a general, he is utterly unyielding and incredibly aggressive. Rarely is he seen unarmored, and he is nearly always followed by several ensigns and companion warriors.
The elderly uncle of the Sultan, Lakhem's beard is long and white, his face wrinkled, and his body growing feeble. Still, he is sharp of mind and fiercely loyal to the family. A kind and trusting figure, he is of course not very well suited to intrigue or cutthroat politics, leaving that for others. He is one of the Sultan's foremost advisers, serves as the steward in charge of the palatial Redfort, and occasionally handles internal issues or more trivial matters of diplomacy.
A young man and close relative of the Sultan. Decadent and hedonistic, he is a disgrace upon the family. His debauchery and poor representation has earned him the loathing of the Sultan, while his arrogance has managed to win the hatred of Mundhalir as well. Still, this seems to be of no concern to Nuwas as he has resisted all demands and attempts made towards making him straighten up. He grew alongside Malik Dhashwal as a retainer to Dhashwal's now deceased father, and as a result is a close friend of the Malik. Nuwas spends his time away from the rest of his family, living as a permanent guest of honor in the palace of Alaba's rulers, the Hasan dynasty.
Twin sons of the Grand Vizier Lakhem, both embody the typical noble. Their personalities and demeanors are so similar that it is hard to tell them apart. Arrogant, prideful, and pompous, they embody the typical nobility. They are always wearing golden bracelets and earrings, jeweled rings, and exquisitely crafted amulets and talismans to represent their faith. If that is not enough to show their outrageous wealth and high status as members of the Terus dynasty, they each own countless silk clothing, no doubt having a robe for every color in the rainbow and every festivity or occasion imaginable.
Their main penchants carousing, courting women, and other 'noble' wastes of time such as poetry and hunting, they nonetheless both have silver tongues. Their persuasiveness, combined with their knowledge of several languages, makes them useful enough for the Sultan to at least tolerate them, unlike Nuwas. Currently Ayyam serves as the Dominion of Terus' ambassador to Arman-Arhus, while Amdar is the Ambassador to Ryukyu. Though they will doubtless impart some wise counsel if asked, they mainly spend their time wasting the family's money on local vintages until given messages to deliver or terms to negotiate with the local ruler.
The Maliks:
In short, Dhashwal is slothful, gluttonous, spineless, and obscenely rich. He sits in his great palace living in the lap of luxury, for the most part leaving the governing of his lands to a council of magistrates consisting of his friends from other wealthy merchant families. Dhashwal is a corpulent man that wear billowing silk robes to hide his form. Both he and the Sultan have too much wealth to even quantify, but for all that it matters Dhashwal very well might have more money than anybody else in Terus.
Dhashwal gets along well with Terus Nuwas. Sultan Hakkim and Terus Mundhalir both terrify him.
A middle-aged man and an able warrior and commander, Hizdahr has many virtues. He knows the virtues diligence and temperance, but his pride is his curse. His line stretches back more than a thousand years. His ancestors built the oldest (and once, greatest) city in the land, the city of Khazard that his family still rules to this day. Yet through the sloth and weakness of his last few fathers, the wretched Terus managed to climb their way to power and now the Khalils are mere vassals.
Hizdahr loathes the fact that Khazard seems to be on the decline, no longer commanding anything near the glory, prestige, and fear that it once had. Rather than emperor of the world, Hizdahr is a sworn lapdog of the Sultan, and rather than the greatest city in the world, Khazard is now regarded as the weakest and most worthless of Azraca's more metropolises. Though he is certainly competent of a strong temperament that the Sultan would like, their relationship is nonetheless strained by the fact that Hizdahr's hatred of the Dominion is a commonly known fact.
Hizdahr respects the old ways and traditions of the Azracs, barely able to tolerate the presence of the orcish tribes, much less foreigners and the modernization that the nation is undergoing. He burns with religious fervor, his zeal terrifying to any that see its true extent. He holds a great deal of respect for the Blind Prophet, often seeking the wise Mazman's counsel and seeing the Mazmen as the only ones that he can trust.
Hizdahr's only son was taken as a retainer by the Sultan. While this would normally be seen as an enormous honor, Hizdahr was clever enough to see it for the plot it was: raise the heir of Khazard away from his father, so that the Terus would have a loyal vassal. Seeing his son as essentially one of the Terus, with no hope of ever being able to imprint his values and beliefs into the boy, Hizdahr has made the painful (and secret) decision to disinherit his son and designate his like-minded nephew as heir to the city of Khazard.
Uqais is a soft-spoken man of a calm and loyal temperament, not quite a sheep yet still preferring to be a follower than a leader. The perfect vassal, he holds great respect for authority and is loyal to his liege. His passive friendliness means that he gets along well enough with nearly everyone. While some such as Terus Mundhalir or Malik Hizdahr look down upon men without fire and a spine, Uqais can only be pushed so far before taking a stand, so he has earned their begrudging respect as well.
Intrigue and plotting are not things that Uqais will take part in, and he is only a mediocre commander on the battlefield. His greatest strength lies in his kindness and charitable nature; the peasants love him for it, and he and his bureaucrats effectively rule Dhirim and run one of the largest industrial centers in the world, and one of the safest. He is considered a masterful administrator, though he lacks initiative he is able to effectively serve as a manager and mobilize the populace to work on projects that the Sultan orders. Unfailingly, he has managed to provide the Dominion of Terus with a steady supply of weaponry, armor, and other goods (mostly other forms of metalworks) for the duration of his reign, despite plagues and any other imaginable disasters that would bring progress to a grinding halt if anybody else were in control of the massive production chain that is Dhirim and its holdings.
Dynasties: Terus Hasan Khalil Akram Azam
Other Characters:
The current Blind Prophet of Khazard is ancient, having been old even in the elders' earliest memories. Some attribute this to black magic, a curse, or some other evil, whereas others interpret it as the opposite: Selijuk's will, and the Blind Prophet's divine powers and importance allowing him to live for stay on Tanis a bit longer than normal men are allowed. The Blind Prophet's name has been long forgotten, his white hairs all fallen out, his voice turned hoarse and his face turned resemblant of leather. He is rarely seen outside his temple and has not declared any great omens or prophecies in decades. Still, he will speak with those that he takes an interest in, and Malik Hizdahr greatly respects the prophet.
An Azrac spoken of only in whispers, his very existence doubted by many. Supposedly a descendant of the family that the Terus overthrew centuries ago when they took control of Marad, this would give him a righteous, and irrevocable, claim upon the Sultanate itself. According to the whispers of peasants, Fareed lives in the shadows, him and his secret supporters supposedly about to attempt overthrowing the mighty Terus after centuries of preparation and hiding.
The self-proclaimed Malik of Niraq and Sultan of the North, Ali is the warlord of a group of brigands occupying the land north of the Old Kings' Wall, supposedly based in a hideout somewhere within the sprawling ruins of Niraq. There are countless tales of his doings, but actual information is scarce seeing as there is one real account on the man and his doings for every thousand tall tales. Escaped slaves and convicts flock to his side, and his horde of bandits make a living out of the Sultan's reach.
As of late they have grown bolder and bolder, beginning to raid entire guarded caravans rather than lone travelers. Concerned that he will scale some part of the Old Kings' Wall and raid something of actual importance, the warlord Terus Mundhalir has decided to be proactive in handling this threat. He offers a bounty for any confirmed attacks on Ali's men, and has offered a title of nobility and a hundred pounds in gold to any man that brings the head of Ali himself. Mundhalir's attempts have thus far been embarrassingly futile; the Strazari have been unable to find Ali's base of operations, no offers of wealth or mercy have enticed defectors to reveal information about the bandits, and there have been numerous unsuccessful attempts by bounty hunters at bringing a random head and claiming to have slain Ali.
Institutions:
With the arrival of man in Tanis, orcish civilization has declined. Faced with distrust due to a past of violent encounters with nearly every other race, the orcs find safe haven in few lands. Azraca has been one of these few lands, willing to at least tolerate the presence of orcs if not warmly welcome them. Various small orcish strongholds exist subsisting themselves in remote locations of Azraca, and there are some nomadic bands that travel the countryside finding work as they go.
The orcs are usually not sworn to any lords, existing as oddities outside of the feudal system of vassals that controls nearly all of Terus. To avoid overstaying their welcome and maintain decent relations with the Azracs, orcish warriors often offer their services to any good cause that will accept their help. They do usually ask a modest payment upfront for their assistance, in addition to a prize for every enemy head that they take. Most lords are more than happy to pay the orcs' price to enlist the aid of some of the most ferocious warriors in the realm.
Located in a remote valley that consists of a hilly rainforest full of all sorts of predators, the Tarzak still live what is essentially the same hunter-gatherer lifestyle that they have had for the past thousand years. This hard lifestyle has created a fierce tribe of hunters, experts in guerrilla warfare. Their tribe is practically as old as the valley named after them, and yet they have always managed to resist subjugation.
The famous Tarzak Night Raiders, as their warriors are called, are a living legend. They earned their name and achieved this fame more than three centuries ago, when a great lord demanded an oath of loyalty from their chieftains, the ability to make use of their valley's natural resources, and the right to tax the tribesmen. The Tarzak's high chief replied by sending a parcel of tiger feces. Enraged by this insult, the lord declared war, raised a large levy, and moved to conquer the Tarzak. The issue was that the Tarzak had no true settlements, the lord's army marching in circles through a rainforest taking massive attrition in the hopes of finding a chance to engage the entirety of the much smaller army of the Tarzak's and win a decisive battle. The Tarzak never gave them that chance, preferring to stalk their enemies through the jungles in small groups and ambush at any opportunity.
Reinforcements streamed in as more levies were called as needed, and this dance stretched on for a period of months. Eventually the army was forced to retreat from the forest and plan for another invasion, as the harvest time came and the levies were needed on the farms. Stopping to rest in a castle on their way home, the army was utterly unaware that hundreds of Tarzak hunters had followed them out of the forest. At night the came, silently assassinating the watchmen with their bows and then scaling the castle's battlements in the dead of night. The Tarzak then proceeded to set fire to the wooden keep full of sleeping soldiers. It is said that the Tarzak's chieftains laughed as their enemies burned alive, some jumping off the battlements to their deaths. Those that made it to the gates and escaped the blaze, the lord himself amongst them, were quickly captured. As the legend goes, the Tarzak beheaded every last one of the survivors, leaving their heads in a gruesome pile before returning to their foreboding jungle.
To date they have never lost a single battle against any other group in Azraca, yet they are now sworn to the Terus king who can call upon the Night Raiders to fight his wars. This ironic twist came about when the Terus dynasty had managed to unify nearly half of Azraca under their rule and create an army the likes of which the realm had never seen before. At this point they would likely have been able to succeed where the ill-fated lord from the legends failed, and finally subjugate the Tarzak. However, the Terus wisely sought out a different approach; hiring the Tarzak as mercenaries and creating trade ties with them. Over time the Tarzak grew ever so slightly more civilized, retaining their lifestyle and traditions but trading for the bronze tools and hunting knives of the modern era. Eventually, once relations were close enough, the Terus offered the Tarzak a deal: join the Dominion of Terus, but retain the ability to govern their own lands with absolute autonomy and regulate trade with other parts of the realm as they saw fit. They were also exempted from all taxes, under the one condition that a contingent of the Night Raiders would always serve as an elite unit in the Terusite military. The Tarzak, after much talk and many gifts, eventually agreed to these terms.
Military
Terusite armies consist almost entirely out of levies, with what career soldiers that exist serving as elite units. This levy system makes their armies somewhat inferior, as their forced recruiting brings the economy to a grinding halt and keeping the levies for long periods of time is difficult and leads to problems. This does have some benefit, though; having a small standing army saves the realm huge amounts of money, and the part-time levies are generally of good quality. A martial culture and religion combined with the ability to easily manufacture bronze weapons and armor on a large scale make the levy soldiers formidable enough to hold their own against most armies.
While the Terus dynasty have used unconventional tactics and warfare to great success in the past, there still exists a deep-rooted, traditional strategy that generals mainly use. Traditional Azrac armies consist of five main parts: the reserves, the rear skirmishers, the phalanxes, the sideguards, and the front skirmishers. These are arranged with the reserve a fair distance to the side and away from the fray, the front skirmishers ahead of all other troops, the phalanxes behind the front skirmishers, the sideguard on the phalanxes' flanks, and the rear skirmishers safely behind the phalanxes.
The reserve usually consists of all cavalry. If possible they are strategically placed on both sides of the army, ideally hidden from the enemy's view but still relatively close. The reserve stands ready to flank the enemy, draw out the enemy, reinforce weakening sections of the friendly army, protect the front skirmishers from a cavalry charge, or cover a retreat. Since the reserve is often out of sight they usually are summoned to the fray with some sort of sound, often a gong or horn.
The front skirmishers are the scouts ahead of all other parts of the army. They consist mainly of light footmen, mostly peltasts, but with some horse archers and other various troops mixed in for support. Inside this division one will find the Royal Skirmishers bodyguarding the general, who is generally expected to fight here on the front lines. They, sometimes with the assistance of the reserve, will be the first to engage an enemy. They sometimes fight the enemy's skirmishers in close quarters, but their main objective is to attack the enemy's heavy melee troops from a range and then retreat, breaking their formations luring them in towards the phalanxes.
The 'phalanxes' consist of levied pikemen. Each individual phalanx can consist of 280 pikemen, 8 ranks deep and 40 men abreast. At the start of the battle the individual phalanxes are spaced out so that there are gaps in the lines for the front skirmishers to retreat through. Once the front skirmishers are through the phalanxes quickly move together to form a spearwall. The pikemen use shields that are strapped to their left arm, leaving both arms free to hold their massive pikes. When raised upright the pikes resemble a forest, with each of the weapons being over twenty feet long and ended in a leaf-shaped bronze head, with splints of bronze going a way down the shaft to prevent it from being easily broken. The incredible length of the pikes mean that it is not simply the first row of men that fight, but also four behind them. The fact that there are five individual rows of pikes that must be passed before one is able to even get within range with a shorter weapon makes a frontal assault on the phalanx suicidal. Decent armor, the shields strapped to their arms, and the upright spears of the back rows all combined render projectiles surprisingly ineffective. The phalanxes' one weakness is their flanks and their utterly worthlessness in individual combat; break their formation or flank them, and the seemingly invincible pikemen will have met their match.
The sideguard mainly consist of the rich and the nobles, as they are very heavily armored with bronze plate armor and large shields. Their weapons can vary from division to division, but swords and spears (much shorter than the pikes of the phalanx) are common choices. The sideguard, as their name implies, protect the extremely vulnerable flanks of the phalanxes' spear wall.
Lastly, the rear skirmishers stand behind the phalanx, mainly consisted of archers ready to arch their projectiles over the friendly pikemen and into the midst of a charging army. Their also fulfill a second purpose; if the phalanxes are somehow broken, the rear skirmishers cover their retreat, giving the pikemen a chance to regroup and form a new spearwall further back. Once the front skirmishers retreat from the oncoming enemy and make it behind the phalanxes, they join up with the rear skirmishers.
While Azrac strategy has changed so little over the past centuries that half the world probably knows its ins and outs, it is flexible enough to not be wholly obsolete. Indeed, part of the reason that it has survived so long and become such a deep-rotted tradition is because of its effectiveness. Even if an enemy general knows what to expect, without a massive advantage, stroke of luck, or some sort of trick, decisively defeating an Azrac army without taking massive casualties would be a difficult task.
As Azraca is feudal, all men are required to pay tribute to their lords, and all lords to the monarch. During times of war, this tribute takes the form of military support. Citizens are obligated to go to war if conscripted. Some equipment is provided for the levies, but much of it also has to be purchased. In this way, the caste system is preserved; the wealthy can afford to be heavily armored, able to join the cavalry or sideguard. As a result, they have a better chance of survival than those that can only afford the equipment to join the phalanx, or worse, the skirmishers.
The levies are entitled to compensation for their services, which often takes the form of a temporary tax exemption for their families or a share of any loot. This expectation, combined with the levies' aversion to long campaigns and the toll this takes on the economy, means that lords generally try to levy only as many men as they need and dismiss them as soon as possible.
The levy system is decentralized, meaning that the lords possess the right to control their own armies, rather than have the king simply put their troops under the command of some other general that would lead them to their doom. There is a fine line with this rule; they must still do what they can to support the war effort, and disobeying direct orders from a higher noble would have consequences. This rule generally only applies when the lords' armies are acting alone; if they join up with the army of a higher noble, that noble would command the force as a whole with the lesser lords taking leadership of the flanks, vanguard, et cetera.
Sapping has never been done extensively by the Azracs and artillery is largely used for defense rather than offensive purposes. Instead, when attacking a fortified position, Terusite armies usually either storm it or infiltrate it.
From the beginning of the siege to when the surrender or infiltration occurs, the Terusites will seek to demoralize their enemy and deprive them of any rest. They do thing by making the bulk of their forces camp a fair distance away from the walls, and then having small groups approach the fortress as close as safely possible. These small groups will make as much noise as possible, subjecting the defenders to the sound of warhorns, gongs, shouting, the hammering of rocks and metal, and occasionally the screams of butchered livestock (or captives). The groups only stay for a short time before returning to camp; in this way, the siegers do not exhaust themselves but the defenders are denied rest due to the incessant sound, day in and day out. The objective is to either provoke the defenders to the point of surrendering or making a move to sally out. However, sometimes particularly stubborn defenders will resist these efforts, and the Terusites must resort to infiltration.
Their method of infiltration is as unorthodox as it is brutal. Specialized groups (the most notable being the Tarzak Night Raiders) will choose a random, dark night. It might be a day after the siege begins or a hundred days, but eventually when the defenders have left their guard down the stealth troops will come in the dead of night. Longbows (or sometimes siege crossbows, with such technology now starting to become available) are used to snipe any watchers atop the battlements. Then, a small group scale the walls with the aid of grappling hooks, and then drop bundled rope ladders down for the rest. Within minutes there can be hundreds of soldiers atop the walls. From there, it is usually a slaughter. The fortress gates are usually opened and the main army storms in while the infiltrators simultaneously move to kill the unprepared defenders. Throughout this entire time, the tired, nearly-broken defenders are continually subjected to the horns and gongs, which means they often do not even hear or see the infiltrators until it is already too late.
The massive savings from keeping a rather small standing army means that the Dominion of Terus can afford to hire mercenaries when needed. These 'mercenaries' are usually auxiliary soldiers recruited from the citizenry of any nation that will allow Terus to do so, but the Dominion of Terus keeps an open mind about such matters and would not be opposed to simply paying another nation to use their actual army, or dealing with organized mercenary companies.
Standing Army Troop Total: A standing force of 40,000 soldiers is maintained (1.25% of total population). The composition is as follows:
The lords of each of the four major cities maintain a few large retinues of guardsmen, not only to keep the peace and suppress urban unrest within the walls of the city, but also to hunt down bandits and other criminals throughout the entirety of the surrounding lands administered by the city. However, in times of war these guardsmen are sometimes sent on campaign, leaving the cities with a skeleton police force or sometimes even forcing them to use vigilante justice for the time.
They can be considered medium-heavy infantry, usually armed with a falcata and shield. Their standard wear is thin boiled leather armor topped with bronze chainmail and then a white tabard to deflect heat. They also have leather boots and bronze helmets. In the hot clime that is Azraca most humans would get heat exhaustion in this armor by merely standing around, but the Azracs' higher body temperatures and tolerance of heat mean that such fatigue is usually not an issue.
These soldiers are the closest thing to constables in Terus, and are generally loathed by the peasant class. Suspected criminals are often brutally punished without trial, the captains play politics and attempt to use their influence to gain bureaucratic positions, and the soldiers are not the best of detectives, which means they often put little effort into investigating minor cases. They are still good enough at suppressing crime, although they do so mostly out of shear brutality and intimidation. Overall, it is they more than any other division that contributes to the local unpopularity of the military.
Atarma is an Azrac word that translates roughly to 'despoiler', 'pillager', or 'butcher of men'. They are feared and respected by all, their commanders answerable to none but the Terus dynasty. Anyone rich enough to afford a few warhorses and a suit of armor for both himself and his mount (this is no small cost, easily enough to buy a house or two) can join this elite division of the army. Though the Atarma are subject to grueling training year-round, they are taken care of very well during their service, and upon eventually being honorably discharged they are granted titles of nobility and awarded a very large sum of money by the king, far more than what they originally invested in their horses and armor.
The Dominion of Terus' military is often deemed inferior to those of many realms in Tanis, for a variety of reasons. The Atarma are not so, however, and with their training and unique composite bows they are not so antiquated as one might be led to think by their bronze equipment. The Atarma are very heavy cavalry, with the horses covered by scale armor. The riders are armored from head to toe as well with bronze chainmail.
They are armed to the teeth as well. Their main weapon of choice is the composite bow, a deadly weapon capable of outranging most conventional bows. The Atarma carry multiple quivers full of both bronze tipped arrows, bodkins for their good armor penetration and broadheads for their devastating effects on lightly armored enemies. On the sides of their horses the Atarma carry shields and large bronze sabers, allowing them to cut down fleeing enemies or break apart formations by charging in. While the blades are certainly deadly, their large size and awkward curve make them unsuitable for prolonged swordfighting.
The Atarma are often the first to engage an enemy force. They usually do so by quickly moving to scare off or kill any skirmishers ahead of the melee infantry. Then, they begin to barrage the enemy with arrows. Well trained, they are usually able to loose six to ten arrows per minute, even while moving. Even if most of the arrows miss, the horse archers are able to wreak havoc. Formations are often broken as hundreds fall wounded or dead with each barrage. The maddened soldiers often resort to a disorganized charge, which the Atarma will respond to with the Parthian Shot, a technique where they retreat while continuing to fire backwards. In this way they attempt to coax the enemy into a disorganized charge towards the Terusite skirmishers and infantry, which would ideally be able to easily overpower the demoralized and winded rabble that reached them. Sometimes the Atarma will take opportunity to further break apart formations through charges of their own. When this happens, they will attack the flanks of the formation, cutting down or trampling a few footmen before hastily retreating, as prolonged melee is risky and generally not worth it.
(Yes, I know that my rolls say the infantry to cavalry ratio is about 15:1. Keep in mind that this is just the professional army, though. In war the vast majority of the army would consist of levies, which would be almost all footmen, so that ratio would be accurate.)
Their name is somewhat misleading, as they do not necessarily serve the Terus family. Rather, the Azrac kings and other nobility have the unusual tradition of leading their troops in battle, not from atop a horse or behind the lines, but amongst the lightly armored skirmishers that engage the enemy before the melee infantry. This is by far the most dangerous and visible place to be on the battlefield, so a general fighting with the skirmishers demonstrates his bravery and makes the soldiers confident in their victory (unless the general is slain before his entire army, which has occasionally happened to disastrous effect). The Royal Skirmishers are the general's best men and personal bodyguard unit, so needless to say they are a force to be reckoned with and much more dangerous than the rest of the thousands of levy skirmishers that fight in any major battle.
They are lightly armored by the standards of normal infantry, but exceptionally heavy for skirmishers. They wear bronze helmets but the rest of their armor is made of thick, layered cotton hardened by brine, very light but still just barely sturdy enough to stop an arrow some of the time. They carry and shield and two throwing bronze javelins in their left hand, their first throwing javelins in their right hand, and carry a shortsword on their hip.
Their bronze javelins are deadly even against heavily armored enemies, and with their sword, shield, and helmet they are usually able to win a close-quarters fight with the enemy's skirmishers if they must. They never attempt to engage heavier infantry in melee if at all possible, and once they run out of javelins they retreat back behind their side's infantry.
Young orcs, eager to prove themselves and with a natural talent for violence, often leave their tribes to form warbands that offer their services to the various lords of the realm. These orcs have been influenced by Azrac warriors, adopting the fearsome and widely used composite bows in addition to bronze weapons and armor. These orcish warbands are far less uniform than all the other divisions of the standing army. Some auxiliaries consist of berserkers that fulfill the role of heavy shock troops, whereas others use traditional orcish tactics and weaponry to fulfill the purpose of raiders and outriders. In any case, all of the orcish warbands are well equipped and good at what they do.
Strictly members of the small yet fierce Tarzak tribe from the remote rainforests of an equally remote valley, the Night Raiders are experts at guerilla warfare. They serve as scouts, rangers, assassins, trackers, ambushers, and almost always are the ones sent to infiltrate enemy forts via grappling hook during sieges. The Tarzak wear dark green clothing that blends in well with vegetation and blends in with the shadows at night.
Living a dangerous hunter-gatherer lifestyle in dense rainforests, the Tarzak possess a talent for moving undetected as suits their role. They make use of the longbow rather than the composite bow favored by the rest of Azraca, as the humidity of their jungle home damages the glue in composite bows and renders them worthless. Regardless, they are capable or using their considerably larger longbows to snipe with great accuracy. Lightly armored, aside from their longbows they usually fight with nothing more than their large hunting knives. This is rarely a problem, as primarily they rely upon stealth and shining armor and huge weapons would only hinder their work.
Strazari is an Azrac word that translates roughly to 'watcher', or 'guardian'. The Strazaris are the wardens of the realm, patrolling the borders and dealing with any who would seek to enter the Dominion of Terus. The Strazari, along with some local militias from border villages, man the many defensive fortifications scattered throughout the realm.
In terms of equipment, the Strazari wear a combination of bronze, leather, and cloth tabards, their uniforms almost identical to those of the city guards. However, the Strazari are widely considered a step up from the city guard, as they are both better trained and better paid. They are trained to be proficient with shields, spears, swords, bows, riding, and occasionally even sailing and maritime warfare. This makes them rather flexible in terms of tactics and abilities, which is good seeing as they must fulfill a variety of roles. They patrol the borders on horseback, skirmish with bands trying to cross the border, defend fortresses when the realm is invaded, and hunt down pirates.
Army: The land forces consist of the aforementioned standing troops, in addition to levies. In the most dire of times, such as defending the realm during a foreign invasion, the Dominion of Terus could levy nearly all of its male population and raise an army of over a million, but arming, supplying, and directing them all would be difficult and the sheer amount of lost manpower would halt most work and devastate the economy for years to come.
Navy: The Dominion of Terus maintains a small fleet of less than a hundred ships operated by the Strazari, mainly used to hunt down pirates. This miniscule fleet would be no match against the navy of most nations; however all of the four major cities happen to be ports. This means that between the fishing vessels, merchant ships, and small transport boats that travel up and down rivers, the Dominion of Terus can conscript thousands of ships with all of their sailors if needed.
Since the Azracs are not known for being good shipbuilders and most of these ships were not designed for warfare in the first place, their wartime navy is considered inferior. Their ships are not meant for ramming and very rarely have mounted artillery of any sort. In naval battles the Terusites try to win with overwhelming numbers, placing dozens of soldiers on the decks of each of their ships. These soldiers either attempt to board enemy ships or set them ablaze by firing burning arrows or throwing fire pots.
Because they are not built for warfare, many of the ships would be sunk if they were simply rammed by an actual warship. Naval warfare is so dangerous and so many boats sink that it is generally avoided if at all possible. When it must occur, the Azracs usually bring small rafts and lifeboats aboard the larger vessels, so that there is at least a chance of survival for those that have their boats rammed.
Other:
Other Special traits, remarks, boons and flaws
ESSENTIALS
Population Density (Population - 3,200,000) - Regionally Dense; A good amount of manpower for the military and economic purposes, with social infrastructure strained more at a regional basis. Civic projects range from affordable to expensive. The nation requires a stronger economy to sustain itself.
Economy - Stagnation - The economy is performing adequately, though there is room for improvement. There are certain limitations on the economy that are bottlenecking real growth, such as a restriction in investment capital or insufficient demand, however. There is some unemployment and economic unhappiness among people in the lower income brackets, and there is a degree of criticism in what can go wrong, even if it hasn't gone wrong yet.
Urbanisation - Large Cities: There are a few very large cities with population in the tens of thousands; however, the rest of the land is mostly rural. Some smaller towns are dotted across the map, with population of several hundred to one or two thousand.
Technology - Slowly Modernizing: The industrial infrastructure is in the process of improvement, and this is a teething process. But the economy is seeing increased activity because of this investment. New technologies are becoming domestically available. However, there is a degree of dependence on imports, including in terms of the expertise to modernize the economy. Metallurgy is limited to bronze products.
Domestic Political Stability - Urban unrest
GEOGRAPHY Largely consists of hills and forest, some tropical areas
RESOURCES
Mineral Deposits - Rich deposits of metals and minerals such as copper, lead, coal, usable stone.
Valuable Mineral Deposits - Trace deposits of rare earth metals.
Unique Materials - dyes, leather, sugar
Agriculture - crop and cattle based, food surplus that is decreasing over time
MILITARY
Military Focus - inferior army and navy, ranged focus, bad infantry and cavalry ratio (15:1)
Military Recruitment - Forced recruitment
Reliability - Levies are of decent quality; generals play politics, decentralized
Military Size - small core of professional units: requires some upkeep, easy to equip/supply quickly, seasonal levies
Military Technology - Antiquated, your nation lags behind the rest of the world, and stubbornly clings to ancient traditions.
Military Training and Morale - Highly Trained; Low Morale, levies are of decent quality but low morale
Military Leadership - Competent; Rose to their positions through experience and battlefield exploits; decadent
Military Reputation - Unpopular domestically; considered devious by foreigners
Siege Equipment - practically non-existent, instead your army relies on grappling hooks and infiltration
Name: Kingdom of Tagha Flag/emblem: Demonym: Taghan Description: (A summary of your nation goes here; basics on what's going on and what the country is about. Traditions worthy of note go here, unique traits, recent history,...)
Government: Absolute Monarchy. The monarch appoints or reappoints representatives of distinguished families to the College of Nobles which in turn elects a successor for the monarch. The monarch appoints or reappoints governors that oversee all administrative duties in their respective provinces.
Institutions: Council of Ministers College of Nobles War Council
Personalities of Note King Ine Uraghoy II Queen Ifris Mandalan Governor Abelad Uraghoy-Sar Governor Yane Tolomin Mandad Mandalan
Military Troop Total: 140,000 Army: 110,000 Navy: 25,000 Royal Guard: 5,000
Other: Pro: Brave - Your people are strong of heart and spirit and will face down monsters, odds and mages with courageous resolve.
Pro: Elephants - Elephants are domesticated and bred and used for farming, construction, transport and many other purposes. In war, elephants play a crucial role in disrupting enemy lines, breaking morale and generally trampling men, horses and villages. Being of a more hardier and better trained kind, War Elephants are the prized possessions of the wealthiest of warrior nobles.
Con: Abrasive - Your people are just not likeable. Your personalities stink, your accents grind on the senses and... well... everyone dislikes you. Don’t expect to get quick allies.
Con: Corruption - Gold and the endless quest to get more of it moves citizens to crime, politicians to important positions and entire cities to the brink of disaster. Many wars and conflicts, both sensible and insane, have been started because of the plots of the greedy, the ambitious and the corrupt.
ESSENTIALS Population Density (Population - 7,000,000) - Adequately Dense; Lots of manpower for economic, public and military purposes, and social infrastructure (housing, roads, public buildings, sanitation) is only under some pressure. Civic projects are quite affordable.
Economy - Rapid Growth - The economy is performing adequately, though there is room for improvement. There are certain limitations on the economy that are bottlenecking real growth, such as a restriction in investment capital, amount of labour or insufficient demand.
Urbanisation - highly urbanised: There are several towns and lots of cities present, communities generally range from a few hundred to several thousand individuals.
Technology - Modernizing: The industrial infrastructure is in the process of improvement, and this is a teething process. But the economy is seeing increased activity because of this investment. New technologies are slowly becoming domestically available. However, there is a degree of dependence on imports, including in terms of the expertise to modernize the economy. Metallurgy is limited to iron products.
Domestic Political Stability - Ethnic violence
GEOGRAPHY Plains, hills, tropical regions, swamps
RESOURCES Mineral Deposits - Moderate deposits of metals and minerals, large coal and iron deposits
Valuable Mineral Deposits - Moderate deposits of rare earth materials, predominately gold
Unique Materials - ivory, "medicinal" drugs
Agriculture - crop and cattle based, slight food surplus
MILITARY Military Focus - decent navy, strong army with focus on cavalry, decent infantry and cavalry ratio (6:1)
Military Recruitment - Hereditary, with certain blood lines born to serve, levies in wartime
Reliability - Levies are of decent quality, disciplined units
Military Size - medium sized core of professional units: requires upkeep, relatively easy to equip/supply quickly, seasonal levies
Military Technology - Modernization, your nation does not lag behind the rest of the world, instead it sets the standard on many levels.
Military Training and Morale - Highly Trained; High Morale, levies are of poor quality with low morale
Military Leadership - Somewhat Competent; Competitive; Corrupt
Military Reputation - Popular domestically; considered dangerous by foreigners
Siege Equipment - Decent, seasoned corps of engineers and sappers; Loyal and capable
Flag A silver gear surrounded by six gold coins on a parchment-colored background.
Description A young nation who collectively calls their people Ryukyuans that has only been of notice for the last 200 years or so, but with an ambition that matches their large size that is both a bit militaristic and trade heavy. Formerly a small, backward island kingdom, the Ryukyuans saw the importance of rapid modernization and eventually, through a series of personal unions, conquests and vassalizations, they have untied many of the smaller tribes, kingdoms under the Ryukyuan flag incorporating many strong and skilled people into a single body. The government realizes how backward many of the tribes and areas are that they hold in the realm so, just as they did on their homeland, promote modernization. They have already made huge leaps in both civil and military tech as the urbanization is well underway.
Unfortunately, due to mish-mash of lifestyles from that combined areas, there is little money to be made domestically, so they look out to trade and rake in huge profits but those profits are put toward research and military and the imports needed to sustain the technology, thus some in the lower ladders won’t ever feel the effects of successful trade. Trade has also brought its own problems as new religions are introduced my sailors and foreign merchants. Some of those religious are willing to challenge the government for recognition and Ryukyuan religion with more than just words.
The Ryukyuan Empire tend to be nice people when they come to the diplomatic table, preferring to trade first. However they aren’t afraid of rushing into war, scratch that, at times they’re looking to start a war to expand their territory. Ryukyuan Emperors are also imfamous for the use of bribed bandits and pirates against nations they dislike to cause trouble, even at peace. They will attempt to exploit any opportunity to start a legitimate war to gain land. Ryukyuans seek to expand as much as they can and have already made plans for their explorers to voyage across the ocean in search of uncharted land. The ambitious nature of their people tend to spark small conflict in borders and trade on occasion, creating diplomatic
Dispute their aggressive expansion, they do seek to be on good terms with people they deem worthy and who trade with them. They offer their professionals in both military and civil fields to other nations as advisors who are less developed technologically then them in exchange for a supply of food and metal.
Ideas & Ideology Ryukyu, An Empire Under the Sun - Exploration & Colonization – They want to solidify their power through territory. They colonize and claim lands on the Tannis so they can grow their power and want to explore what could lie beyond the horizon for new opportunities and, if need be, leave the land all together and venture to their new Equal Arms – Social – Women and men, human and otherwise are put at an equal level in Ryukyuan society, as long they can wield a sword or hold a hammer just as well or better than the last person, the only thing that sepearates them is their class. To the Future! – Technology – There is nothing known as too advanced, as long as there is paper to being made and ideas being discussed, chances are there will be Ryukyuan scholars nearby, research and creating new ideas and creations to better the Empire. Ariashino – Military – Our soldier do not fear death, death fears our soldiers. The Ryukyuan Warrior Class is born, raised and trained to follow the Ariashino Code and die on the battlefield and glad accept it. Where they are found, they will fight to the bitter end before going on to the next life to fight again. ”Levies” – Military – While bandits and pirates are the most reasonable of folk, they now how to get things done and are not bound by politics. The Ryukyu Empire tends to hire these men to “steer” trade ships to their ports, the cargo almost always get to the ports, wither the ships remain afloat is a different story
Government The government follows a senate/monarch hybrid consisting of the Emperor and his advisors as the “Golden Branch” and an elected republican senate known as the “Iron Roots”. The title of “emperor” is granted to anyone who has the blood of the legendary Ryukyuan leader, Sonjin, meaning that even women are allowed to lead the country as long as they have legitimate proof they are of the bloodline. There have already been two Empresses of Ryukyu. In cases where there are multiple siblings contesting for the throne, the eldest usually takes power unless someone else is more popular with the population and challenges them to a duel to the death.
While the Emperor makes decisions that concern the well being of the whole land with the senate take care of the more local matters. The senators themselves are elected for 5-year terms and need at least a 75% approval by voters in their areas. However, senators do not rule over the land they represent, instead military families or clans, rule over the lands and are responsible for the well being of the land. However, the Emperor can overrule the clans if he so wishes.
Economy Heavy reliance on trade but the government tends not to interfere as long as profits are made and goals are reached. However, the government has a hand in all other industries as long as there is a sufficiently large enough company in said industry such as logging, fishing, cash crop farming, and quarrying. While the land produces little metals, it does provide with sturdy lumber and quality stone.
Ryukyuan craftsmen are known for their exquisite woodcarvings, majestic dyes and beautiful pearl jewelry. Most of the Empire’s trade is based on these luxury resources and the works made from them along side raw resources like timber and stone. Some especially talented artist can blend paint made from local dyes and woodcarvings to create colorful works of art that is quite popular amongst the Citizen and Noble classes.
Unorthodoxly, knowledge can also be bought from the Ryukyuans. Many scholars are willing to be teachers to other nations or be foreign advisors, however the government strictly controls the process and it is limited to nations on good standing with Ryukyu. Research papers and blueprints that are considered dated enough are sold more freely on the international market.
Red lights districts are also a common sight in major Ryukyuan cities. Filled with gamboling dens, taverns, and brothels, these “Akisaki Districts” give good entertainment for those who have money to pay. Due to the high taxes the districts provide, the government allows these places to exist with limited intervention. While there are Gynji who work here as entertainers for men, there is a notable distinction between “entertainer” and “prostitute”
Saltwater Pearls (Unique Grade) Dyes (Unique Grade) - Red, Violet (From Lac insects) - Purple (From Murex Snails) - Sepia Brown (From cuttlefish & Octopus) - Orange (From Gamboge Plants) - Blue (From Indigofera Plants) Clay -> Pottery (Quality Grade) Logs -> Timber (Quality Grade) Stone (Quality Grade) Salt (Standard Grade) Kumis, a type of alcohol made by fermenting milk (Quality Grade) Pitch/Tar (Standard Grade)
Agriculture Farming has always been problematic for the Empire, as many rivers that provide rich soil also tend to flood at random intervals, making farming in these regions tough. Because of this, farmers were forced to abandon the fertile rivers for the less fertile mountainsides where terrace farming is used to make good use of the land. There is a limited amount of livestock being raised; chickens and the occasional pigs are raised in the plains while goats are raised in some places by former nomadic tribes. The government always has a strict role in the farming industry to ensure food level stay above the margin, but seasonal food shortages still are a common occurrence. More recently, the government has been starting several irrigation projects to help the land with risk of floods.
Many crops such as wheat and most vegetables do not fair well in the poor soil of the safer regions of farming. The only things that do grow well are turnips and radishes along with some roots. The average Ryukyuan peasant’s is usually fairly nutritious to some degree, but not the tastiest. Food riots are common during seasonal shortages. The mountainous landscape of Ryukyu’s means terrace farming is the most viable option for growing the all-important rice and a limited amount of fruit and other, more appetizing vegetables. However, most of the time, only the Nobles and the military receive these more appetizing ingredients, so many peasants have join the military just so they don’t have to radish and rice everyday.
Fishing is one of the viable ways of getting meat on the to plate of most people. Ryukyu’s fishermen are very talents and skilled at all forms of fishing, wither it be with rod, nets, or even spears. Pearl divers also fish up rare oysters and shellfish on occasion and those rare deep-sea beauties are eaten by the Nobles or during holidays. Children also collect Murex Snails on beaches which are turned into brilliant purples dye.
Many rural villages also have groves which they can either grow fruit trees or hardwood tree. Fruits trees can only be grown in certain areas where the soil isn’t as bad while hardwood trees such as birch and pine are more easily grow. Groves of hardwood tree however aren’t used for lumber; instead they’re used to make pitch and tar with birch making superior quality “Ryukyuan Oil” for the Navy’s shipbuilding and pine for torches, candles and flammable materials.
Religion Main Religion: Inshingu Type: Polytheism Core Beliefs: Everything is a part of gods, living, dead or inanimate. The essences of the gods live along side humans on the mortal plain and humans will see the true forms of the Gods upon death. Rebirth.
Method of Worship: Burning of Incents, religious choir, prayer Place of Worship: Local shrines and larger, state-backed monestaries. Festivals: Major annual Festival that celebrates the creation of life by the gods and how the god taught them how to thrive. Smaller, monthly celebrations for mythical events or smaller gods Holy Symbol: The Tsuburi (Totem Pole-like structures but are much more simple and often only have a scroll rolling down the middle and a small alter at the bottom for incenses and sacrifices.) Important Items: Kumis, incense, mirrors, fruit. Afterlife: One will sit before a counsel of gods and their action in life will be judged as to decide what they will become upon being reborn.
Also Inshingu plays a large part in the people and their day-to-day actions, the government is completely secular from it. The Inshingu Order is the leading force of the religion that goes out to teach, convert and heal others.
Some native religious group however feel threatened by the conversion to Inshingu in anything and are very vocal (and sometimes more than that) against the government to the point of rebellion in some cases. There has been one case of a full uprising of paganism rebels since the founding of the Empire called.
85% are Inshingu 7% are believers of local/tribal religions 4% are Batalists due to contact with Estucar 3% are Plagarian due to contact with Oxfrieght 1% are Ternionian due to contact with Arman-Arhus
Geography Ryukyuan Claim
The lands of the Ryukyu Empire consist mostly of great plains carved up by might rivers and vast, dense forests on hills or mountains. Many Orc strongholds, dwarven keeps, elven villiages and human kingdoms and nomads were once scattered about before being annexed or vassalized into the Ryukyuan Empire. There was tropical jungle along the rivers at one point, but much of it has been used in the creation of the Ryukyuan Fleet.
The river in the towards the center is the “Kyodana River” referencing the original kingdom that had castles along the river. The southern most river which only barely is in Ryuykyuan territory is the “Kazahi River” which lead into the “Bay of Kazah”, an important center of trade and naval base. Although the rivers provide rich soil for farming, unprediable flood makes farming the soil impossible, forcing farmer to move to the mountains where there is less fertile soil.
*Humans refers to both Ryukyuans and the native people of those they incorporated into their lands (tribal, nomads, smaller kingdoms)
First Language
86% Shintoshi (Native Ryukyuan Language, taught in all schools.) 5% Elven 4% Orcish Runes 3% Dwarf 3% Other (Languages from nearby by nations via trade or tribal dialects)
Education Thanks to reforms and a drive of modernization, the education and literacy rate is high. This has lead to many becoming skilled at their jobs and very knowledgeable scholars, making the Ryukyuan Empire be home to some of the best schools and mind of the current age that are responsible for the Empire’s rapid modernization and innovations. A series of reforms known as the “Civil Improvement Program” made many civil services, schools included, very affordable to build to the point even in time when the Empire was strapped for cash, they could still support them.
Architectural Style Many two or three floor buildings dominate the cities and towns. Often the first floor walls are mad of entirely stone with the second using wooded wall with grid shaped and a paper/fabric blend to fill in the holes. Thanks to the efforts of Ryukyuan scholars, these buildings can go up to five stories high and widen to become apartments. (Think of Japanese on top of a stone base)
Wealthy estates are often only one or two floors tall and skip stonewalls on the first floor but they are very wide and expansive instead. Many estates also have underground basements and an open-air courtyard in the middle of the building (Japanese building style but with a Roman villa layout)
Hovels for the poor are tall, single floored “towers” with windows or completely covered by fabric. Wide circular tents are more common in rural towns. (Think Korean gazebo with fabric on the outside and Mongolian yurts).
Forts, however, are not designed by humans, but dwarves and orcs. The design look very geometric and heavy, many Ryukyuan forts lack the incredible visual appeal and marvels seen in some other forts, but the philosophy is “Pretty forts don’t look pretty when there’re rubble” is evident as the forts are reinforced, barricaded and defendable come hell or high water. (WW2 bunker styled)
Apparel (Working, Citizen, Noble)
The Working class favors the durability over style, wearing clothes made of rough, but sturdy fabric (usually burlap) over softer, gentler underclothing. However, due to the availability of dyes, colored clothing can still be seen in the Working class. The men wear rough burlap pants and a short bathrobe-styled burlap jacket over their shirts. They have limited footwear, earing either hard leather boots, often military surplus, or cloth foot wraps. Women wear either a burlap dress or a skirt with long socks. Women often cut their hair short while men tie their hair into a bun or go with a buzz cut.
The Citizens enjoy a more stylish array of clothing due to the nature of their social class. Both wear short robes similar to that of the Working class, but it tends to be made of more comfortable material and more intricately designed with more colorful dyes. Their foot wear of choice is either fur shoes or fur boots depending on the season, some of the wealthier might even don the wooden sandals worn by Nobles. Hairstyles for women tend to be long and smooth and often accompanied by some hair ornament while men tie theirs in a bun. Recently, having wild, uncontrolled hair is a popular trend amongst the youth of the Citizen class.
Nobles have the most ornate and decorative clothing, if not a bit unpractical. Both genders wear long, beautiful, and very comfortable robes that go to ankle length. The robes they wear have a myriad of colors and very delicate designs or even lace and thing gold wires. Their choice of footwear is wooden sandals or fashionable boots. Noble hairstyles for women are very similar to that ancient Japan while men in courts have a single, long braid based on traditional Chinese hairstyle. All noble also carry some small weapon like daggers and hand crossbows, some also have hidden weapons like swords in their canes.
Apparel (Warrior) Due to the lack of metal in the Empire, metal armor is reserved for only the most elite warriors. Most armor is boiled leather, stone plated mail or even lacquered wood. All armor protects to the waist with additional flaps that go down to mid-thigh level. Helmets are also a rarity, most unit wear simple hats made of leather.
During peace, some solider will wear there armor out in the open, but with a armband that signifies they are currently off duty and usually won’t wear any helmets or hats. Officers and generals wear fashion similar to that of the Nobles but wear their swords on their hips
Ritang – The Imperial Captial of the Empire with a population of 900,000. Located on the original island of Ryukyu. The largest and only gold mine is located here along with some of the best craftsmen and artisans who make things from the gold. It is also the center of learning in the Empire and home to the famous Royal Gardi Institute.
Talsong – A landmark city on the open plains that show the success of the modernization efforts of the Ryukyu Empire. Formerly a small trade post for various nomadic tribes, Talsong became a bustling city of 675,000 people with traders from all around. Imarahari Castle – A huge fortress complex that is the center of the nation’s heavy industry and military. Along side the garrison, there are 350,000 civilian living in the castle and its surrounding areas. Metal foundries here are kept under close watch due to the nation’s limited metal resources. The Imarahari Naval District is close by and is home to the Ryukyuan fleet.
Red River Delta -
Gate of a Hundred Golden Tsuburi – A religious temple for Inshingu worrshipers
Emperor Shitastu vi Ryukyu – 8th Emperor of the Ryukyuan Commenwealth, he is at a young age of 24, but is competent enough to know what he should and shouldn’t do. He tries to act in the best nature of the overall country but tries not to piss people off. He is well received by the general public after negotiating a trade contract that made enough money to lessen taxes during harvest. Nicknames “Kugizi Namagi” meaning “Noble Son” in Ryukyuan. Muchi the Devil Queen – A well-known privateer who is and a notorious womanizer who lead the Black Wings of Cold. She is a mercenary team for the Ryukyuan navy, but is not lead by just money alone. Shitasu had promised her a criminal record wipe and a nice admiral’s spot if she spent a decade in the Ryukyuan navy. She served 3 year of that term but has benefitted greatly from the new weapons and armaments granted to her by Shitastu.
Ceilus Roderick xi Pormada – Current head of the House of Roderick and Roderick Innovations, Ceilus is considered genius even by the normal standard of the House of Roderick. He is often cold to strangers and is strange by all accounts, but he does enjoy company that can keep up with his ramblings. He has not given an official opinion of the new Emperor, but was good friends with the previous Emperor, Shitastu’s father. Court rumors suggest he is trying to find the “Immortally Dust” but always ends up with a strange black powder. Denli Touksen di Beito – A legendary general who lead the entire Imperial army. He is more conservative, believing that the Ryukyuans should not follow an ambitious expansionist idea but instead develop their existing lands to the fullest of their capacity. He however does listen to the Emperor and does lead wars of expansion on the Empire’s behalf.
Guanxi Touksen di Beito – Retainer and best friend to the current emperor. He is very reserved, only speaking when he has full belief of what he says is worthwhile. People get to know personally say he is quite humorous to close friends. He is one of three military advisors for Emperor Shitastu and an experienced swordsman; he also has full honors of general dispute not having an army to lead.
Calmarr Orchmamer – A dwarven businessman who leads the Orcaxe Conglomerate. He is said to be amongst the most powerful men in the Empire. He has quite a boisterous personality, enjoy bragging of his business genius and wit. He has a hand in politics through a network of senator that he “financially supports” and will attempt to steer for things that will improve his profit margins.
Ojin zi Yamaguri – Head priest of the Inshingu Order and the Inshingu faith overall. He is a very calm, trangquil man but has proven to be very sharp and calculating at times. He is popular amongst the people and seen as a “folk hero” who belives Ryukyuans should not convert others to Inshingu, but have others willingly join the religion. He is quite fond of fine chinaware and Kumis, a locally produced milk alchol.
House of Roderick – A long, noble house decedent of a Emperor who once ruled over an area now under the Ryukyuan flag. Many in the family tree have been scholars, teachers, and inventors. They own their namesake company, Roderick Innovations, a research complex owned by the House of Rodericks. It has schools, archives, observatories and workshops and can be said as the sole reason on the Empire’s amazing technology.
House of Tokusen – Another long, noble house who hail from a nomadic warcheif, the family produces great officers and stagiest. The current head is Denli Touksen di Beito and its heir Guanxi Touksen di Beito. Denli is the General of the Army and Guanxi a retainer and best friend to Shitastu.
Inshingu Order – Essentially the Vatican City for Ishingus, The Order is situated in fortified mountain monastery that can act as a castle during war. They spread the Inshingu faith and also act as teachers and doctors for the Empire. Although Inshingu is generally a peaceful religion, they do train warrior monks and nuns as levies but they rarely make an actual appearance on the battlefield as they prioritize their religious duties first.
The Orcaxe Colgomerate – A business enterprise found by two dwarven families, the Orchammers and the Blueaxes. They own many of the mines and quarries of the Empire but have closely monitored by the military. The leadership changes every ten years with the other family taking over. Current head is Calmarr Orchammer who has a hand in politics.
Military
Troop Total: Around 128,000 in the standing army (~3.2% of population) 118,000 Infantry - 39000 Spearmen - 34000 Swordsmen - 1000 Inshingu Medics - 1000 Thousand Blades - 30000 Crossbowmen - 6000 Elven Archers - 6000 Officers and Generals 6,250 Cavalry - 4250 Heavy Shock Cavalry - 2000 Mounted Bowmen 33000 Navies - 5000 Officers and Admiral - 20000 Sailors - 8000 Black Wings of Cold 7750 Engineers/Logistics - 10000 Sappers - 70000 Engineer (Siege units) - 37500 Logistics (Baggage Trains, Convoys)
Leadership Generals of the Empire are handpicked from brilliant officers, war heroes and former warcheifs or tribal leaders; all of them are capable, competent soldiers with public adoration and often hail from military families. Children of the local ruling clan are also expected to become generals and officers. Each general has a custom, handmade Kaidaoshi, a single bladed, machete-like sabre forged by the best smiths in the empire, each one is unique and is often passed through military families. Being a general also grants them their own plot of land that comes with laborers from the government and during peace, life is nice and indulgent.
During times of war, must follow the “Sunset Doctrine”, forcing them to swear undying loyalty to the Emperor and his people. The Sunset Doctrine also places certain restrictions on generals and their armies in peace such as they must pay the laborers on their land healthy wages and are forbidden to enter politics while commanding an army in fear of a military rebellion. Soldiers have to preform a certain amount of volunteer work and guard duty per month in peace. It can be said that the Sunset Doctrine has made the army very popular amongst the populace.
Organization While its is less common in civilian life, racial profiling plays a big part in military organization. While humans are allowed into any of the armed forces, elves are restricted to the army as bowmen or scouts. Dwarves are often made into engineers and sappers along side their human companions. Natives humans however are the only ones allowed to be cavalry due to the fact that most ethnic Ryukyuans have never seen a horse, much less ride one.
The army does not discriminate on gender however, allowing women to serve. Many women join the military to get ahead in society or to follow their husbands who are often soldiers or officers themselves. There have been entire companies formed with these Oneikaju or “Goddess Knights”.
If a person exhibits certain talents or skills, they will be permitted to join a different corps or re-arm, no matter the race. For example, a dwarf who is good with a sword can become a swords man and join the regular army and an elf who is destructive enough can become a sapper.
On the field, regiment and brigade officers lead their units personally based on their own choice rather than listen to a general (mostly because the generals are probably having a drink). This forces each unit and soldier to act independently while still being able to coordinate with each other. The advantage of this is that when a higher-ranking officer is taken out, the unit can still fight with some semblance of order and efficiency and make the overall army unpredictable to enemies, as each unit is lead with some who favor a different type of fight. Due to this thought, each unit is smaller in overall size and considered tiny by the leaders of foreign armies whose normal units are three-times as big a normal Ryukyuan unit. The orders of a general still does out rule all other though.
Logistics Thanks to armories in all provinces and cities, barracks as common as stones and castles that dot the landscape, armies can always expect a fresh follow of supplies, spare weapons and new recruits. While the army requires a fair amount of peasant gold, it goes to good use as the Empire’s road and post stations are funded by the taxes, as is the army. The advent of technology means the Empire has ways to mass produce many of the weapons and armors need by the army thanks to blacksmiths located in or nearby the armories and castles. One of the reasons many people want to join the Ryukyuan army is that the army gets priority over the best fruits and vegetables and actual meat if one is ranked high enough. This idea of breaking away from bland rice and unsavory radishes for meals is a compelling offer more many.
While of less notability, naval logistics is something else the Empire prides on. Outside of the harbors of cities, there are also fishing villages and merchant colonies that are spread along the coast which often send supply boats to fleets at sea, keeping their food and ammunition stock constantly full in friendly territory. Pirate leaders that have been vassalized also give part of their looted supplies to the Navy’s ships.
Army The army of the Ryukyu Empire is threatening enough in their numbers, but their standing army of volunteer conscripts undergoes rigorous and harsh training to make them damn fine troops, heads filled with Ryukyuan ideals and determination, well worth the cost of their upkeep. Spurred on by the words of the Emperor and his loyal generals, they are willing to fight to the end for their nation. Some of the Empire’s most elite troops are famous for saying, “We don’t die. We regroup in hell to kick their ass again.”
The army prefers to use long range skirmishing to a straight up melee brawl. Great technical gains have been made with military technology overall, but ranged weapons has to be the greatest. Crossbowmen favor the Ryukyu repeating crossbow over traditional variants and while Elven archers use bows assisted by rudimentary pulleys. Dispute having little to no shields, infantry are durable due to their armor. As metal is fairly rare, stone coat-of-plates and lacquered wood armor is used amongst melee troops while boiled leather is given to archers and crossbowmen. Levies don’t even get actual weapons or real armor, as they are criminals “offered” freedom for service in the army, however, through prison brawls and other methods, most of them keep up a good amount of fighting skill meaning they aren’t complete push overs.
All soldiers have some knowledge of rowing and can use canoes and rafts as an impromptu Marine force. However, they rarely do this has the heavy stone armor they wear, while protective, is not ideal for swimming.
Hegasi – Ryukyuan for “Regular Warrior”, they are the bulk of the ground forces. Their training is brutal but it turns them into loyal soldiers of the Empire. They are armed with long, halberd with a slim spearhead at the end that pierces through metal and allow the Hegasi to engage enemy infantry with slashing weapons instead of thrusting weapons (Resembles Chinese Guandaos). They wear lacquered wood armor over padded cloth or rough fabric with a fur-lined hide hat. Their secondary weapons are double-edged swords made of iron.
Kengasi – Ryukyuan for “Royal Warrior”, they are heavier version of the Hegasi, wearing stone armor that consists of small stone plates connect with rope to create a coat-of-plates armor that protects them to their thighs. They wield heavy broadswords designed to cut down infantry while their armor lets them tank blows. They have no secondary weapon, but their stone plate gauntlets make for good medieval brass knuckles. Kengasi are a mix of strong human and orcs.
Lenogasi – Ryukyuan for “Ranged Warrior”, they are the main skirmishing units of the Empire. Armed with the Empire’s advanced repeating crossbows and short swords, Lenogasi provide excellent rapid-fire suppression and support. They wear light leather armor and a small iron breastplate over their chest along with leather gloves, boots and reinforced shin guards. While they are equipped with swords, it is unadvisable for them to use it as they only receive a day’s worth of training with them.
Uzbigasi – Ryukyuan for “Hired Warrior”, despite their name, they are not mercenaries. They are in fact convicts and criminals “offered” freedom by being levied into the army. They wear little to no armor and have little motive to fight. The only weapons they are given are things like farming tools, wooden clubs, and stone spears. While unreliable in fights, they are very reliable cannon fodder.
Elven Rangers – Elves recruited by the Empire and famed for their archery skill. Given advanced bows, Elven rangers make for an even more deadly force than the human ranged units. Swift and agile, they can also climb castle wall with little assistance and are quite deadly with their signature-curved swords. Many also are expert falconers, bringing their own falcons to the fight to distract the enemy.
Thousand Blades – Elite soldiers that serve as the Emperor’s personal guard and Special Forces made of only Ryukyuan nobles and swordsmen of the highest degree. They wear rare, full samurai-style steel armor pieces over boiled leather and even have metal helmets. They wield exotic and highly advanced steel swords that can decapitate limbs. These units are born of previous Thousand Blades and trained from birth in one of the Empire’s most prestigious sword school, swearing yearly loyalty to the Emperor. They will fight to the death and beyond as they’re famous saying, “Blades never die, we just regroup in hell to kick the enemy’s ass again.”
Calvary: Given the food shortages that seem to drop by often, many farms breed animals for work or food, not the military. Thus the ratio of infantry to cavalry is off by a margin of 12:1. Most cavalry is used as special units or bodyguards to generals. Surprising to most foreign armies, Ryukyuans are not the one who mount horse; it’s the native tribes and nomad, human or orc, who are part of their land who ride. Most Ryukyuans have never seen a horse in their life (most of the farm work is done by hand or oxen), much less ride one.
Heavy cavalry are the only units in the entire army to use shield along with their lances. The shields are made of the Rattan plant and unlike many of the Empire’s equipment, is hand made by traditional methods.. Light cavalry use shortened crossbows meant for use on horseback. There are special chariot horses that are mounted with siege crossbow, but they are considered part of the artillery corps.
Mounted Sentinels – Humans an Orchish Bodyguards of the Warrior class assigned to generals, they wear iron shin guards to protect their legs on horseback and iron chest pieces over thick animal hide armor. They use long steel lances and convex rattan shield that are uncommonly strong for their weight and even more so when reinforced with leather or hide. Mounted Sentinels are trained to take out enemy cavalry but are also very effective against infantry. Their horses wear a sort of flexible plate armor and also wear blinders.
Nomadic Raiders – Nomadic horse archers who use shortened crossbows and normal bows against infantry. They have a Parthian Shot, allowing them to pull of feints and fire from all angles easily. They wear armor made of thick animal hide and bone, giving them quite a terrifying look that can scare low moral or poorly trained troops. Although they are given swords, most prefer to use large battleaxes for some reasons. There have been multiple attempts to make them properly use sword as they are very ineffective with battleaxes on horseback, but nothing can convince them.
Navy: The pride of Ryukyu is their fleet, built using dwarven guides, human labor, orchish construction, and manned with elven archers; the Imperial Navy represents the diversity of the Empire. Assisted by their military research, the Ryukyuan Navy is considered second to none and is often considered superior to their army. Their ships are compartmented, reinforced with strong timber, and much of their crews are veteran fishermen or merchants who’ve spent more time at sea than at land. Ships are also equipped with the most advanced weapons capable like mounted crossbows, heavy catapults and torch-throwers.
Admirals are treated the same as generals and each ship is independently lead by its own captain, many of which started out as regular sailors. They also follow the Sunset Doctrine meaning sailors have to help out at shipyards and fisheries at peace.
The ships themselves are like tributes to the size of the Empire’s ambitions. Huge but sturdy and well armed. Each is roughly the size of three houses and as tall as one (mast not included). There are also smaller ships meant for harassment and crew by jackasses who get close to enemy ships to set them on fire. Sailors are given cloth or hide armors and a mix of short swords and two-pronged pikes.
Ships: Zhan Zhe Heavy Ships: The largest, and heaviest ships of the fleet, these look less like ships and more like floating fortresses. They can carry up to 300 men spread across three levels who can either board enemy ships or use the ship’s many specialized naval crossbows or naval catapults. They are slow and easily out maneuvered, but getting in range of one of them is a decision admirals will soon regret. Modified versions of them called Zhan Cui are used as admiral ships. (Think of he Nihon Maru from Shogun 2)
Oha Aritaku Medium Ships: These are the most plentiful ships in the fleet, crews range from 80 to 100 men. It large hull space make them ideal for trade during peace but also provide storage for ammunition and room for men at war. Each ship has three masts and has a full level of naval crossbows with smaller, repeating crossbows along the edges to take out enemy sailors. (Think of Chinese Junks)
Hawnajee Light Ships: The smallest of the ships in the navy, but some of the most dangerous. With only 50 crewmembers, these ships are fast and speedy, making them difficult to hit. Further more, newer models are armed with the Empire’s newest weapons, “The Light of Gods”, that fling flaming projectile out of a spring loaded tube. Some models still use various types of crossbow, but they are all armed with archer with large bows who fire flaming arrows, appropriate for a line of ships who translates to “Sea Fire”. (Think of Kobayas from Shogun 2)
A special wing of the Navy is specialized in privateering and pirating that are a cut above the rest of Navy’s normal pirate mercenaries are the Black Wings of Cold. They were once wealthy, legendary raiders but are now under the control of the Ryukuyan government after an agreement was reached with the leader that traded the erasing of criminal record for a decade of service. They are also used as “river police”, using smaller ships and rafts to patrol the rivers and find smugglers. If they find smugglers, they are allowed to keep what ever they find. They use modified versions of the traditional Ryukyuan naval ships, but also have their own creations.
Black Armored Nanbans: Sampan-styled rafts that are even smaller than the Ryukyu Empire’s Hawnajee Light Ships with a shallow bottom and a short, long hut with thin iron plates on the roof and walls with six small holes to fire from. They only hold about five men each, but they are fast and speedy and armored so even landing a hit on them will only do minimal damage. They are armed with six Imperial spring launchers, three on each side, that fire ceramic pots of pitch and alcohol that have been lit so they explode on impact
Black Seal Junks: Heavily modified ships based on the Ryukyu Empire’s Oha Aritaku Medium Ships. They carry two large mangonels that are mounted on turntables so they can fire in any direction. There are also repeating crossbows mounted on the sides and the overall ship is reinforced with foreign hardwoods that offer more protection than the normal wood used by the Ryukyuan Fleet. They carry up to 100 men at once, all of them excel at boarding.
Siege & Artillery:
Thanks to the Empire’s advancing technology, its Engineer Corps siege ability are second to none, supported by a large group of engineers but a small group of sappers. This is because the Empire believes that their war machines will always be more effective than muscle power for good reason. Sappers are actually veteran miners and stonecutters, while not the most professional they are effective but most importantly, loyal and dedicated.
The Ryukyuan idea of what a “sapper” has an uncanny resemblance to that of “arsonist”. While in most armies, sappers clear roads and build bridges, that task is given to the Engineering Corps as a whole. Ryukyuan sappers are trained to be destructive as possible without the use of fancy machinery. They are given ceramic pots filled with pitch or alcohol with a small fuse to throw at buildings and people on occasion. When they run out of their medieval Molotovs, they use large, two-handed weapons like war hammers and battle-axes to chop away. In fact, many sappers are actually prisoners who have been tried for arson or widespread destruction of property, effective as they are, some nations don’t approve of this practice.
Torch Thrower – A sort of spring mounted cannon, torch throwers also go under the Ryukyuan name of ”Kikotama”., literallt meaning “Ball of Fire” The projectiles they launch, while ineffective against stone, can do great damage to wooden structures and enemy units as the flaming liquid can stick to surfaces and burn very hot. They are often used aboard ships or on land as light artillery support.
Repeater Turret – While not really a siege engine, these little devils are crank-powered repeating crossbow who can achieve a decent rate of fire thanks to Ryukyuan technology. Very effective against infantry and are commonly deployed as support and castle defenses.
Siege Crossbow – These huge engines of war are exactly what they say they are, large crossbows that can repeatedly hit the same point over and over again with great accuracy
Fire Projecting Mangonels – Crack-powered catapults who fire heavy, flaming shots. While they take a while to set up, an experienced crew can fire two shots a minute (although their accuracy is a little off.
Military Projects
Wither by choose or by foreign spies, some of the Empire’s future military projects have been leaked. Some say the Empire did this to show off its potential strength while others say it’s a sign of how weak the national security its. Truthfully, it might be a bit of both.
Project Wind Hand – The Empire’s exploration into unconventional weaponry. Project Wind Hand tries to create a combination of an armored gauntlet and a long sword in hopes of creating something that can be both protective and good against infantry and cavalry
Military Traditions:
Pro: Tanis got Talent: Your people are good at what they do, it really doesn’t matter what it is, but due to this, there is less skilled labor overall as your standard are too high.
United We Stand: Your people are united in cause and motivated by your nation’s ideals, working to meet your ever-increasing standards as one. Overall, there is little ethnic violence as all races try to cooperate for the greater good.
Con: Turnip and Radishes: Your peasantry has the singular honour of having the single worst diet in the world. Your more worth-something citizens simply must get every food worth eating leaving your peasants with the two worst foods of the medieval world. And sometimes (if your rulers are cruel enough) brussel sprouts are on the peasants table too. Of course its nobody’s fault when the peasants rise up in revolt (If your food was as revolting you might revolt too.)
Overly Ambitious: The ambitions of your nation’s leader permeate through all classes, but sometime some get a bit too zealous. Border tensions are increased as peasants believe they can take land as they wish and merchants say they can set huge taxes. Obviously this doesn’t do diplomatic wonders, but they’re just jealous of your nation’s drive.
Divided We Fall Nobody likes to loose, nor does anyone like to admit that they were the ones responsible for it. Being a nation of many former tribes, kingdoms and people who once held grudges against each other, when things fall a part on the battlefield, people like to point fingers at their ancient rivals increase both national, ethnic unrest and slowing down the economy due to uncooperativeness. It is in your best interest to either keep winning wars or know what battles to fight.
ESSENTIALS Regionally Dense Population (Population - 4,000,000) - Adequate amount of manpower for economic and military purposes, but it also means that the social infrastructure is under increasing strain. Educational costs and civic projects tend to be affordable.
Economy - Stagnation - The economy is performing well, though there is room for improvement. There are certain limitations on the economy that are bottlenecking real growth, such as a restriction in supplies or insufficient demand, however. There is some unemployment and economic unhappiness among people in the lower income brackets. You heavily are dependent on trade.
Urbanisation - Semi-urbanised: There are several towns and a few cities present, ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand inhabitants.
Technology - Rapidly Modernizing: The industrial infrastructure is in the process of improvement, and this is a teething process. But the economy is seeing increased activity because of this investment. New technologies are becoming domestically available. However, there is a degree of dependence on imports, including in terms of resources and supplies. Metallurgy is high-tech, even steel lies within your capabilities.
Domestic Political Stability - Relatively stable, religious unrest
GEOGRAPHY Largely consists of plains, forest, with tropical areas
RESOURCES Mineral Deposits - minimal deposits of metals and minerals.
Valuable Mineral Deposits - Trace deposits of rare earth metals, predominately gold.
Unique Materials - pearls, dyes
Agriculture - crop and small livestock based, food shortages are seasonally common
MILITARY Military Focus - inferior army but excellent navy, superior ranged units, bad infantry and cavalry ratio (12:1)
Military Recruitment - Volunteer Force Military, additional levies in wartime
Reliability - Levies are of decent quality, generals are fiercely loyal to the ruler
Military Size - medium core of elite units, relative to total population: requires some upkeep, relatively easy to equip/supply quickly, seasonal levies
Military Technology - Rapid Modernization, your nation does not lag behind the rest of the world, and even sets the standard on some levels.
Military Training and Morale - Highly Trained; High Morale, levies are of poor quality with poor morale
Military Leadership - Competent; Rose to their positions through training; decadent
Military Reputation - Popular domestically; considered small by foreigners
Siege Equipment - State of the art, seasoned corps of engineers and sappers; Loyal and efficient
Strengths & weaknesses Pro: Talented: Your people are good at what they do, it really doesn’t matter what it is, but due to this there are less skilled labour overall as your standards are too high.
Con: Turnips and Radishes: Your peasantry has the singular honour of having the single worst diet in the world. Your more worth-something citizens simply must get every food worth eating leaving your peasants with the two worst foods of the medieval world. And sometimes (if your rulers are cruel enough) brussel sprouts are on the peasants table too. Of course its nobody’s fault when the peasants rise up in revolt (If your food was as revolting you might revolt too.)
Demonym: Most of the People go by Algonguions( Al-gon-gu-ions). Description: Algongun is a Empire that has sprang up over the last couple centuries. Though the economy is good and food is barely a problem the newest ruler see's a quirk in the empires defenses and is quoted to say she is going to fix that. Algongun is ruled mostly by a queen and her high government officials. Kinda like a beehive in the ruling sense. In the culture women hold the same respect as men, but wemon always are given the title of ruler due to tradition. Tradition also says that the Empress/ Queen can be courted by any suited from noble decent though they are rarely chosen as the newest Empress was chosen by the last as no good man had came.
Government: Monarchy.
Economy: The Algongun empire has a few main industries that helped form the empire as it now stands. Main industries are silk clothing which is valued as a trading material making up 20% of the industry. Perfume coming from the many marsh flowers which make sweat smells another 10% of the industry. They also have a big Salt Industry which takes up 20%. Agriculture in the planting is also a big Industry making up last 50% of the the industry in the Empire. Main Exports include Salt and silk. The Empire imports new tech from surrounding empires when traders can find a good deal. The Nations lack of funds or resources to invest further into the empires economy.
Religion: Cavifum, Like a egyptian gods sort of thing. But no one of them created the world or rules over the entirety of it. Certain Gods/goddesses control different aspects of nature. To respect the gods you have to respect nature.
Geography: Large mountians block the view to the see from more inland but a large river leads straight into the bay. Largely consists of plains which rolls on for a while till you get to the hilly segment. Marshes are common and surround their claim to the ocean and trading there. Fertile land comes in segments, mostly close to the coast in the marshes and plains. With out a a good strong river near by the plains and marshes barely flood allowing farms to build farms in the marsh and raise cattle on the plains close to the marsh. -Picture coming soon,-
Population: 3,000,000 people
Demographics There are around 2 ethnicities in Algongun called Tridycks and Magects. Tridycks have pale skin tones and mostly blue green eyes. This trait coming from the routes of the empire. Magects have a darker skin tone, still fairly light but darker than the Tridycks. Eye color goes from a really dark brown to a drakes green. Ethnic violence is common in cities because of the differences.
Notable Locations
-The Capital city of Matwau, is to say the largest city in Algongun. Holding the Empress's high tower and loyal family mansion. -Military fort at the beach sits next to the 1 mountain range in Algongun over viewing the bay. -Military fort next to the trading city. -The trading city of Belware, the number 1 spot for traders to set up spot if they are traveling to algongun. - The Mastridal Freedom fountain, The fountain was built onto of where the first empress killed her husband to become the one ruler by herself. The fountain is quiet beautiful and is one of the only historical landmarks still taken cared for.
Personalities of Note Empress Victoria, the newest ruler to lead the country. Very impatient on how the last empress had no clue how to further develop the country. She is trying a new system herself. The High General, Apin. Has been in the court for 10 years now serving as the one to tell The empress the militaries plans. Thought to have a crush on the new empress. Princess Noowa, Victoria's little sister who was bumped to be her heir after her mother past on. (Important people in your country; leaders and the such, people that factor heavily into your RP. At the very least, the ruler (de facto and/or de jure, probably other characters such as priests, heirs, rivals, ambassadors, your important generals or administrators.)
Institutions: The main Institution is The Cemona organization, which keeps the algongun's trade center operational and almost free of bandits.
Military Organisation: (professional/militia/levy/..., doctrine, tactics, equipment, though the latter can be put underneath as well, etc.) Troop Total:40,000 men. Women don't fight unless they are generals. Army:Not the best, basically made up of people who barely fallow orders directly. The new empress is out to change that in this time of stability Navy: Fair, but not the best the empress says they are the next to be upgraded after she works on the army. Other: Siege equipment is Outdated but effective, seasoned corps of sappers. (Such as siege equipment, a secret service, internal security, important mercenaries, or paramilitary forces, etc.)
Other: Algongun relies heavily on mercenaries and hired hands. And they are only as loyal as their pay check. The problem with a nation full of mercenaries is what happens when an enemy nation simply decides that they’re going to offer your men more than you do. There is nothing quite so terrible as half of your army packing up and joining the bad guys.
Though the Merchants leave aside a little ‘bribe’ money with which to get through those pesky little legal roadblocks and expedite trade, oh nothing illegal of course, just some sharp-edged coin to cut through the red tape, like getting into cities and getting the choicest stalls. You have a lot of money. Grease a couple of palms, for a little coin to grease a few palms can get you preferred status as the chosen customers of more than a few merchants. After all, they’ve all got such incredibly large families to feed.
The empire it self is full of corrupt people but since most of them are wealthy themselves from the economy they do stay under the flag of Algongun
The algongun empress can still marry a outside suitor but that suitor doesn't get as much political power as the crown herself.
This looks like an economically strong nation, a few wealthy city-states that have banded together for reasons of security and trade. You've got a lot of corrupt people. Your army seemingly consists of some elite troops, militia and mercenaries.
ESSENTIALS Regionally Dense Population (Population - 3,000,000) - Considerable amount of manpower for economic and military purposes, but it also means that the social infrastructure is under increasing strain. Educational costs and civic projects tend to be expensive.
Economy - Stagnation - The economy is performing adequately, though there is much room for improvement. There are little limitations on the economy that are bottlenecking real growth, such as a lack of funds or resources, tech limits. There is some unemployment and economic unhappiness among people, and there is a degree of criticism in what can go wrong, even if it hasn't gone wrong yet.
Urbanisation - Heavily: Your nation consists of many cities. Community sizes range from a few hundred to several thousands.
Technology - Slowly Modernizing: The industrial infrastructure is in the process of improvement, and this is a teething process. But the economy is seeing increased activity because of this investment. New technologies are becoming domestically available. However, there is a degree of dependence on imports, including in terms of the expertise to modernize the economy. Metallurgy is limited to bronze and some iron products.
Domestic Political Stability - ethnic violence in cities
GEOGRAPHY Largely consists of plains and hills, some marshes
RESOURCES Mineral Deposits - Moderate deposits of metals and minerals.
Valuable Mineral Deposits - Trace deposits of rare earth metals, predominately silver and salt.
Agriculture - crop and cattle based, slight food surplus that is increasing over time
MILITARY Military Focus - inferior army, decent navy, bad infantry and cavalry ratio (10:1)
Military Recruitment - Rotation system, strong mercenary contingent (4 regulars to 1 merc)
Reliability - Levies are of excellent quality, generals play politics
Military Size - mid-sized, relative to population: requires reasonable upkeep, harder to equip/supply quickly.
Military Technology - Slow Modernisation, your nation lags behind, you are dependent on what you can buy, pillage or otherwise take from others, but have certain fields of expertise.
Military Training and Morale - Badly Trained; High Morale, levies have medium morale but are bad at following orders
Military Leadership - somewhat competent; Corrupt; Decadent
Military Reputation - Popular domestically; considered decently sized but inexperienced
Siege Equipment - Outdated but effective, seasoned corps of sappers
STRENGTHS & WEAKNESSES (also, come up with one of each your own) Pro: A little money here and there: The Merchants leave aside a little ‘bribe’ money with which to get through those pesky little legal roadblocks and expedite trade, oh nothing illegal of course, just some sharp-edged coin to cut through the red tape, like getting into cities and getting the choicest stalls. You have a lot of money. Grease a couple of palms, for a little coin to grease a few palms can get you preferred status as the chosen customers of more than a few merchants. After all, they’ve all got such incredibly large families to feed.
Con: Mercenary Muscle: Your nation relies heavily on mercenaries and hired hands. And they are only as loyal as their pay check. The problem with a nation full of mercenaries is what happens when an enemy nation simply decides that they’re going to offer your men more than you do. There is nothing quite so terrible as half of your army packing up and joining the bad guys.
Name: The New Kingdom of Lastar Flag/emblem: Demonym: The Lastari
The Lastari are a relatively recent arrival to Tanis, their former distant lands having been lost to in a terrible war that devastated their home. According to Lastari legend their enemies had been the largest orc host to have ever been unified by an Orc leader. This Warlord, that the orcs revered as their god, had brought together the banners of ten thousand orc hordes to the borders of their lost kingdom and though several Lastari generals won victory after victory against these hosts it soon became clear that the Old Kingdom of Lastar could not support field armies any longer. The Lastari turned themselves inwards locking themselves in their fortress-cities with walls so tall that the highest siege tower could not reach them and archers so true that for every Lastari that was killed in combat it is said that two hundred Orcs were slain. However it was not combat that brought the old Kingdom low but hunger, and distance no enemies. Prior to the arrival of the orc chief no enemy of the Lastari had even managed to besiege even three of their fortress-cities simultaneously. Under the command of this Orc all nine cities were besieged simultaneously meaning no relief forces could be dispatched to break sieges nor could the inland cities receive any food supplies. Although their sieges lasted many years these inland cities had been the first to fall. Citizens driven mad by thirst and hunger would throw open their gates either to lead a desperate sally or to beg the mercy of the orcs. Whatever the reason these cities were sacked and burned. Eventually only the capital city remained as it had been able to supplement its own food reserves through fishing. (These orcs avoided water like the plague) Eventually though even these cities fell although the reason for their fall is lost. Some say traitors let in the orcs through a postern gate, others say that the orcs were finally able to clamber their way to the top of the city walls and into the cities over the bodies of the tens of thousands of their slain kin. It matters not. All that matters is what this final defeat meant for the Lastari. Those who had been able to flee aboard ships fled west , through seas they had never crossed and over deepest oceans where monsters roamed just beneath the surface. After an eternity adrift the lookouts finally sighted Tanis where they landed knowing themselves to be safe at last. This occurred nearly than a thousand years ago but the lessons of the lost war of the Old Kingdom will never be forgotten in the hearts of all Lastari. Never again will they allow themselves to be seperated and isolated from the rest of their kind nor would they allow themselves to be driven into starvation again. It is said that the present gluttony of the Lasatari is in itself a fulfilment of this vow. Finally the Lastari would never again tolerate an orc Kingdom near their borders. Men and women are equal in the Kingdom and partial nudity is not frowned upon as in other lands.
Government: Absolute Monarchy-A High king of the Lastari rules for life though- he is chosen from the prominent sons of the greatest nine families upon the death of the former king. This process has existed since the days of the old Kingdom and is devised to prevent succession crises. The only power denied to the High king is the Power to kill the heir to any of the nine families. He is advised by a Dwarven, an elven and a Desert folk High Lord and by a council of capable advisors.
Economy: The Lastari have always been proud of their craftsmen, who make up by far the largest proportion of urban centres. The most highly esteemed among these are the shipbuilders that produce the vessels that had once saved their people from extinction. Others include blacksmiths, carpenters and masons. Outside of the cities farms are mainly arable where all forms of vegetables are grow from pumpkins and potatoes along with Lastar’s reknowned vineyards where some of the greatest variety of wines in all Tanis are produced and traded all over the world. Pastoral farmers tend to raise larger herds of smaller animals such as sheep, poultry and goats rather than beef. In the desert and tropical regions to the south more exotic foods are produced such as Cocoa, avocadoes and several kinds of melons. The Desert regions are home to tall birds that stand on two legs that lay eggs the size of pigeons though these are notoriously difficult to domesticate. Lastar has several agricultural settlements that focus entirely on the production of silk and the reproduction of Lastar’s prized silkworms. Lastar’s forests are frequently home to large numbers of axemen whose work is absolutely necessary to fuel the fires of Lastar’s industry and build the solid seaworthy vessels that Lastar is famous for. The mines of Lastaria are plentiful in useful minerals but lack many of the minerals that lend themselves to luxurious lifestyles, because of this armourers and weapon smiths tend to do well whereas jewellers and silversmiths are few and far between. Lastaria’s primary exports are common metals, its plant and animal textiles and wine. Lastar is seeking to enter arrangements to import: Foodstuffs, high quality woods and steel
Religion: Lastar follows a Zoroastrian religion . Day is the kingdom of Altaiya a good, hardworking and benevolent diety whilst night is the realm of Molkor a demon of despair cold and death.
Geography: Largely consists of plains, desert, with tropical areas.
Can I be put on the coast between Azraca and Vathcras please?
Population: 8,000,000
Demographics
60% Lastari-Humans
The human majority of the population do not share the hardiness of the dwarves nor the grace of the elves yet they they do not posses the arrogance of the elder races either allowing them to accept new ways and not be bound the texts of old. The Lastarians in particular are very much disposed towards ship-building and travelling to explore the sights and tastes of the world.
20% Dwarf- Largest majority in the Kingdom these dwarves are very much appreciated by the the Lastari for their knowledge of masonry and craftsmanship. Some of the Kingdom’s greatest craftsmen belong to the dwarven minority that tends to live within its own community, content merely to pay taxes, and trade with what the ycall the big-folk. 10% Elf- The Elves are the Kingdom’s troublesome Minority have long tried to resist the Lastari Dominance of the coastal provinces, occasionally allying with the separatist Desert Dwellers to wage war on the Dwarves and the Lastari. The Elves known for being great bowmen would often pose serious threats to successive High Kings until 400 years ago when they were finally thoroughly beaten in battle and forced into lands away from the seas. Now once again they seem eager to wage war on the men who they believe have taken their lands. 10% Desert Dwellers These humans belong to very isolated communities based on family units that live in the desert regions of the Kingdom. They sleep under thin tents or even under the night sky around the few oases to be found in desert that comprises the south eastern border to the Kingdom. Any person seeking to pass through their land needs their guidance AND their permission and they never neglect to collect their toll. They are famous as skirmishers and have domesticated a desert beast with a sting and large pincers that they often use in battle.
There are six Principle cities in Lastria: three belonging to the native Lastrian humans each based on the Lastarian fortress-cities of old. Each of the other ethnic groups have their a city each(their capital) but are otherwise spread throughout smaller settlements to disperse their power. This was done after the lastarians first landed and subdued the old races.
Lastarian cities: Bar-Nenufar: ‘The City of Ships’. This is the capital of the kingdom, built on a small peninsula just off the coast of the mainland connected only by a narrow land bridge. Here live the men and women of the nine great families who can trace their blood back to old Lastar and can prove that they have not mingled with the other races from their new homeland. The people here are traders, warriors and craftsmen but above all they are sailors for all Nenufarians are taught how to sail should the need to find a new home ever arise again. In Bar Nenufar lies the High Temple of Altaiya which is the greatest temple to the deity in all Tanis where all citizens of the city and their guests may enter and study the hundred-thousand tomes of knowledge in its’ great library and can meditate in peace. No blood is ever to be shed in the High Temple save to preserve it from those who would shed the blood of the faithful in it. In the upper levels of the Temple live the clergy , from the lowest monk to the Prophet himself in the same type of accomodation. The High Prophet is said to speak directly to Altaiya and will only speak with the High King or lower members of his own clergy.
Bar-Tolkos ‘The Iron-City’. This city is a known to be a fortress even to those familiar with the fortress cities of Lastaria, with three walls each thicker and taller than the one before, and moats thirty metres wide it has never fallen to siege. Inside live the majority of the the kingdom’s soldiers in peacetime and only the families belonging to active soldiers or veterans may benefit from the city’s safety alogn with their servants. Whilst spartan compared to the other cities of the Kingdom it is not without it’s amenities, Bar-Tolkos is home to the continent’s single largest bathhouse with hot baths, cold baths, pools, steam rooms and oil rooms where servants cleanse the bodies of their patrons with scented oils and balms. This city is known as the healthiest city in the kingdom and many apothecaries and physicians have learned much from studying the various injuries faced by the Kingdom’s soldiers as well as the diseases that are common to large groups of men when they stay too close for too long. This is why Bar-Tolkos has perhaps developed the cleanest sewage system in the Kingdom and is spared many of the disease that similar settlements face.
Bar-Argan: The City of Markets. If a giant eagle looked down at the city it would not be able to see the streets except through the bridghly coloured materials that cover them from one building to another under these canvases and in the buildings themselves everything is can be found from wine to silver jewelry to weapons and toys as well as foreign goods. It is said that more money is made in the streets on Bar-Agran in a week than the city of Bar-Tolkos makes in taxes over a year. The merchants of the city are known to be shrewd yet hospital to gests from all around (except orcs) and between them possess a massive fleet of merchants vessels and several dozen private escort ships to protect their exports and imports.
Fosta-Dum, (Also known a Bar-Dum) this is the city of the dwarves, built into one of the few Mountain chains in the Kingdom the dwarves live mostly underground where they extract wealth from great seams of silver in the ground. Iron, however, remains the single largest export of the the Dwarf Capital. Although not as secretive and haughty as the elves the dwarves do not readily invite humans that are not friends to their people into their city and thus little is recorded of their city. The Dwarf Lord is the elected ruler of this city and the primary representative to the high King of Lastaria.
Kanistorion: City of the elves is not like any other it’s buildings are not made or stone nor found on the ground, instead elegant and narrow staircases lead onto elevevated platforms built atop the tallest trees in the forests of Lastar. The elves though relatively few in numbers guard the woods they see as their jealously making it difficult for the men to obtain the wood they need for their ships. This is often a source of conflict between men and elves. Their fine longbows make it difficult to armies to attack their lands without ensuing massive casualties. Although nominally part of the Kingdom, increasing numbers of Elves are keen to through off the shackles of human domination and declare independence. The Elven King is chosen by his people by vote.
Harnen: the city of the desert folk. Though too small in number to truly make up a city; the desert dwellers have brought together several tens of thousands of their people into the tent-city of Harnen. These desert folk have come together to protect themselves from external threats and to trade with one another. One key attribute of the tent-city is that is moves. Hardy as they may be even the desert dwellers need a source of freshwater and thus Harnen is set up alongside the Oases in the Lastari desert. However as many a foolish king discovered such wells are not inexhaustible and must be left alone for several years to be replenished by rainfall. Therefore every three years the people of Harnen, pack up all their belongings onto the backs of camels, mules and other beats and embark on a mass migration to the next well. These travels have resulted in the men of the desert travelling light and sharing little of the concern for controlling material wealth that their neighbours all posses Because of these migrations the men of the desert have a certain romantic appeal to them among the singers of the Kingdom who see them as undertaking a similar journey to the Lastari who fled to Tanis many centuries ago. Several permanent settlements exist as well although these are naturally much smaller and usually only make up several hundred citizens and are often found on the border between the coast and the desert. They are led by a High Chieftain chosen from among their people based on their combat ability and their ability to recite the beautiful, epic-length poems of their people.
Personalities of Note: High King: His highness Victor. Age 23 Tall dark and long haired King Victor often known as King Victor Longstrider as he spent many years of his youth exploring the lands around Lastaria travelling aroudn the continent on his vessel ' The Red Dawn' before beingchosen to serve as king. Victor has yet to choose a wife, traditionally royal brides have been chosen from local powerful families but many are concerned that due to Victor's nature he will seek to find a wive among the elves, the Dwarves or the desert people to brign stability to his Kingdom that is facing the risk of ethnic troubles. Observers who know him better advance the proposition that once again King Victor may look beyond the borders of his Kingdom and lead his people into lands further afield to claim riches and fertile lands and perhaps even a wife.
Institutions:
The Nine families: These are the old families whose lineage can be traced back to before the Great Journey over the Sea. High kings of Lastaria can only be chosen from among the scions of these families. Between them they control much of the trade and military might of the kingdom. Although the High King officially rules them he would be wise to consider their wishes as he relies heavily on their support to rule.(They are like Ducal houses)
The Clergy of Altaiya: This temple rules the spiritual lives of the Lastari and have the power to influence the common folk massively (less so with the nine families). The prophet can declare people both from within and without the Kingdom to be 'Servants of Darkness'- that is to say of the Demon god Molkor and all faithful followers of the faith are expected to make it a duty of theirs to kill the man. Before the fall of Old Lastar the Prophet used to call down inquisitions on nations of such heathens and large numbers of common-folk would flock to the Church's Sun Banner to defend the Prophet of Altaiya. The power of the clergy has since been limited but they still carry much influence within the Kingdom.
The Dwarven Council: A secretive council which is made up of the chief craftsmen and warriors of the dwarven people they send delegates to the capital to represent the interests of their people.
The Elven King: A lesser king chosen to rule over the elves by the elves themselves accordign to a strange practice where all men (AND WOMEN!) are given a say in the election of their king. This leader represents the interests of the Elves in the Capital.
The merchant-guilds of Bar Agran, this is a massively influential grouping of merchants and guild masters fro mthe economic heart of the Kingdom with its' own fleet and impressive resources. In the past the guild had rebelled agaisnt the High Kign but the army send from Bad- Tolkos quickly crushed their rebellion. They now act as principal money lenders to the crown obtaining a hefty sum of interest from the king each time he seeks to borrow money for a campaign. Their fleet now serves primarily to ward off pirates and to escort their vessels through troubled waters.
Military Organisation: The Lastari army is made up of volunteers in peacetime, with each Kingdom providing it's specialties. The Lastari tend to make up the majority of the fleet and the cavalry, the elves provide almost all archers, the dwarves make up the heaviest infantry whilst the men of the desert provide auxilary forces such as Scorpion cavalry and skirmishers. In times of war up to another 2% of the population can be recruited relatively quickly and equipped with basic leather armour and pikes but should not be relied on against decent enemy forces.
Troop Total: Permanent Volunteer force of 240,000 men (3% of the population)
Army: Lastari Humans: 100,000 -
20,000 knights and Lancers- Plate and chainmail armoured men at arms mounted on destriers.
50,000- melee Infantrymen- These warriors are equipped with as much iron armour can be spared and are serperated into three distinct classes- 15,000 Armoured Spearmen equipped with 5 foot halberds they excel and destroying cavalry assaults- They take great pride in being able to form hedgehog formations from which they rely on one-another who protect themselves in a circle denying enemy forces any angle of attack. 20,000 Swordsmen: These are soldiers who have spent their lives training to use bastard swords in combinations with their greatshields. Making up the majority of the Lastari human infantry contingent these men strike fear into the hearts of the enemy due to their height and heavy iron armour. Painted onto their shields are the sigils of the great houses that they fight for. 10,000- Beserker Axemen: These are the lightest armoured men of the army, usually clad only in leather, furs and whatever metal armour they have been able to scavenge. A good number of these men are 'volunteers' from city jails who have little to lose by going into battle and only redemption to gain. These men rely more on their ability to intimidate and terrify their foes than on armour. This sacrifice gives them the added benefit of speed. These men wielding massive double-bladed axes are known to desecrate the body of their defeated foes and many wear the skinned faces of their enemies over their own or take a tooth fro mdefeated enemies to wear on a necklace around their necks. The nobler elements of the army are not proud of these men but they know that they are entirely dependable and utterly without fear as they are often adminitered specific drugs just before battle to drive them into a frenzy.
5,000 Temple Fanatics: These are warrior-priests of the church of Altaiya. Their services are sworn to the High King and are often the elite units of the infantry and wear only the finest black armour from inside the forges of the high Temple. Little is known of their training as it occurs within the cellars of the high Temple which are forbidden to all who are not of the clergy. All that is known of these men is that they have never fled from battle ans that they have often fought overwhelming odds and won. When the bodies of these warriors have been examined it is revealed that their entire bodies are tattooed in the holy words of the Church and many believe that this initiation process is what eliminates their ability to feel pain. When cut these men bleed black blood.
20,000 Longbow men: These men are trained to fire a variety of arrows from great yew bows across the battlefield so that they rain down like hail upon the enemy. They use bodkin arrows to pierce enemy chain mail and light armour and lodge barbed arrows into the unprotected flesh of horses and lightly armored foes.
10,000 baggage train men: These include Foragers, Engineers and battlefield physicians
Dwarves 40,000
30,000 Heavy Infantry: These are the most heavily armoured men available to the High King. Despite their short height the dwarves are blessed with great strength and thus wear armour several inches thicker than that of the strongest man. The Dwarves traditionally wield War hammers or Battle Axes but increasingly they have taken to using adapted swords and shields.
10,000 Repeating crossbowmen- unlike men or Elves the Dwarves do not have the height to project arrows several hundred feet across the battlefield from great yew war-bows. Instead thanks to their ingenuity they have devised crossbows that can fire up to two dozen darts/bolts in quick succession before begin reloaded in 'clips'. The only disadvantage to this weapon is that it has a much shorter range than most bows and thus most dwarves choose to work in team using pavises allowing them to get closer to the nemy in relative safety.
Elves: 20,000
10,000 Longbowmen: Unlike humans elves wear little armour allowing their archers to move with more grace and speed. Whereas a skilled human archer might fire up to 15 arrows a minute a common elf long bowman will typically come closer to 23. This allows this auxiliary force to showers great numbers of arrows on the enemy in very little time pinning them in positions of weakness for the cavalry to sweep.
10,000- Spearmen: Elven warrior carrying a sword a shield and a spear these mighty warriors are often used to keep enemy infantry at bay whilst archers rain hell upon the enemy.
Desert men: 24,000
5,000 Infantry Skimishers these men are a lightly armoured men armed with javelins,throwing knives and slings whose main objective is to weaken an enemies infantry line before they make contact with the infantry of Lastaria. By throwing a variety of projectiles they prevent the enemy from adopting a single approporate defensive remedy.
10,000 Mounted Skirmishers: These men are very similar to their infantry counterparts but are mounted on camels or on horses and are often used to harrass enemy armies on the move before dissapearing into the countryside.
5,000 shock cavalry: These are the heavy cavalry of the desert men. The mounts themselves are armoured beasts with a venomous dard and a thick carapace. The men of the desert have domesticated these giant scorpions and have frequently used them very successfully to destroy enemy cavalry. it takes a very brave man to fight not only armoured rider but also a beasts whose carapace can withstand all the most direct blows.
4,000 Scythed Chariots: These Chariots are made up of three men teams; a driver a spear man and a bowman. the latter two protect the former as he drives his chariot into the ranks of enemy infantry mowing them down in great numbers if they are not sufficiently prepared. Often used in flanking Maneuvers.
Dwarves make up heavy boarding troops Elves are predominantly long distance archers for ship battles The men act ad officers, rowers and adapt to whatever role is needed as all Lastari men are formed to fight on the seas.
Other: (Such as siege equipment, a secret service, internal security, important mercenaries, or paramilitary forces, etc.)
ESSENTIALS Population Density (Population - 8,000,000) - Highly populated, regionally dense; A large amount of manpower for the military and economic purposes, with social infrastructure strained more at a regional basis. Civic projects range from affordable to expensive. The nation requires a stronger agriculture to sustain itself.
Economy - Slow Growth - The economy is performing well, though there is room for improvement. There are certain limitations on the economy that are bottlenecking real growth, such as a restriction in supplies or insufficient demand, however. There is some unemployment and economic unhappiness among people in the lower income brackets. You are heavily dependent on trade.
Urbanisation - Heavily: Many towns and cities are present in your nation.
Technology - Modernizing: The industrial infrastructure is in the process of improvement, and this is a teething process. But the economy is seeing increased activity because of this investment. New technologies are becoming domestically available. However, there is a degree of dependence on imports, including in terms of the expertise to modernize the economy. Metallurgy is on par, iron lies within your capabilities.
Domestic Political Stability - Ethnic violence
GEOGRAPHY Largely consists of plains, desert, with tropical areas
RESOURCES Mineral Deposits - Extensive deposits of metals and minerals.
Valuable Mineral Deposits - Trace deposits of rare earth metals, predominately silver.
Unique Materials - Wine (as in, exquisite wine), textiles
Agriculture - crops and small livestock based, food surplus slowly shrinking
MILITARY Military Focus - Decent army and navy, good infantry and cavalry ratio (6:1)
Military Recruitment - Volunteer Force Military, additional levies in wartime
Reliability - Levies are of decent quality, generals are competitive and play at politics
Military Size - Large, relative to population: requires considerable upkeep, harder to equip/supply quickly, they put a strain on your food production and economy; seasonal levies
Military Technology - Rapid Modernization, your nation does not lag behind the rest of the world, and even sets the standard on some levels.
Military Training and Morale - Decently Trained; High Morale, levies are of good quality with poor morale
Military Leadership - Incompetent; Rose to their positions through inheritance and election; loyal to themselves
Military Reputation - Popular domestically; considered large and dangerous by foreigners
Siege Equipment - Obsolete, you prefer to besiege enemies and starve them into submission
Strengths & weaknesses Pro: Monolithic: Your nation is a monolith. It stands astride the world like a colossus. Or at the least that is the impression it conveys to others and works to cultivate. An intimidating nation might just avoid conflicts it would rather avoid.
Pro: A Pirate's life for me: The men of Lastaria are all raised to be skilled sea men, their ships are elegant yet more durable than most. The great Journey over the Ocean has instilled in the people of the Kingdo mthe importance of good naval etiquette.
Con: Gluttonous Pigs: Your people just can’t keep themselves from eating more than their share. Actually, more than they’re, their neighbour, and the merchant across the streets share too now that we think about it.
Con: 'I'm not racist but....': The majority of the lastari look down on forigners as inferior people from inferior Kingdoms fit only to be swindled or dominated. This makes diplomatic initiatives very difficult as even the most willing and friendly ambassador will find himself straining to remain polite with the King of another nation if he feels that his time is being wasted.
He was as the brush fire. Swift and relentless. The Sun's baleful gaze made manifest. His war was the long day before the new season, before the farmers returned to their silted fields to plant a new crop, one baptized in righteously spilt blood.
Name: A Seihid (The Realm), A Seihid Pashrat (The Realm of Austere Clarity), Famarqud (Archaic, Considered Offensive) Flag/emblem:The Bright Auspice Demonym: Seihidi (Common Externally), Hesradin (The Free People; Common Internally)
Description Once, not too long ago, the land that is now known as A Seihid Pashrat was the demesne of a cruel Sorcerer-King, one of the last of his kind, a relic of a much more cruel and primal era in which dark ritual and bloody sacrifice was far more common than it had any right to be. His was a line that could be traced back centuries, millenia even, to the arrival of the first humans on the continent, on great, brightly painted ships propelled by legions of malnourished, scurvy-ridden oarslaves. His rule, as that of his predecessor and on and on, appeared absolute and uncontested, it was merely a fact of life in the far south, in that opulent, lapis-lazuli domed city known as Famarqud wherein he held court.
It was a paradise, of sorts, depending on your station in the great Sorcerer-King's political machine. It was a cityscape of diverse extremes, high and low, beautiful and disgusting, virtuous and depraved. So many recall the immaculate monument-lined plazas, the pleasure gardens perfumed by exotic flora, amphitheatres and arenas filled with jubilant crowds. Many more recall the dusty periphery, the winding streets that stank of human habitation and were fit only to keep their denizens alive and contained. It was a place entirely out of time, isolated by endless dunes on three sides and by a glimmering sea on the other, so carefully maintained by the cipherates and eunuchs of the so-called 'Venerable System'.
This was not to last, however, even given the admirably long period of rule that the Sorcerer-Kings of Famarqud, of many dynasties and bloodlines, had enjoyed. Their system proved ultimately unsustainable, and even as Famarqud grew to be ever richer, the systemic problems under which it suffered continued to fester out of sight and out of mind of the patrician, rune-tattooed overlords. A lax policing of the deserts, of the wastes that were thought to be entirely uninhiabitable - save by those deemed unimportant - would prove to be their downfall, for it was here, in the dunes and canyons that surrounded city of Famarqud on three sides that great change brewed.
It was here that the messianic warrior Aheid was banished, having been granted his 'freedom' to leave the bonds of servitude and the city itself if he so choosed. It was a sardonic gift that he had been given following his victories in the great arenas, for the great masters of the city long thought that it would be simpler to remove any slave of such growing prestige before any common rallying point could be found for the chattel slaves. Bread and games without any of the subsequent mess - there would be no choice in the matter. He would leave, or he would disappear and the narrative would be that he left. And so he did, for there were none amongst the gilded upper classes willing to offer patronage to the insolent gladiator.
And so life proceeded as usual behind the great frescoed walls of Famarqud, the great masters sneered down their noses at those they did business with and those they offered their sons and daughters and dowries to. Intrigues played out in the high courts while the grating song of bullwhips and shouted orders played out down below. A daughter of high prestige, the only child of the last Sorcerer-King Zelidizzar, was betrothed to the corpulent master of the neighboring realm of Khumer. It was a union that was distasteful to many, but moreso a means to an end than anything. A union of Famarqud and Khumer would have spelled great trouble for the other peoples of the world. It would be as the beginning anew of a second Khum Imperium. The only true concern is if barbarous Khumer customs would wind their way south if friendship was secured. The perfumed aristocrats would not abide by as much.
Meanwhile, in the wastes to the north, Aheid trudged onwards upon a desolate, stone-partitioned caravan road. His canteen was dry as bone, and no food remained in the pack he clutched with slackening hands. He, as many others, looked set to be killed by his freedom. One last, cruel joke by the slavers of the city. The buzzards circled, the bleached bones of men grew ever more common on the trail, but he did not give up. Not as far as he was concerned at least. He passed out and tumbled into the sand before he could surrender. But the tale did not end there.
Kessik riders, those who dared to travel the routes between the Famarqudian patrols in search of fat merchants and dead men alike, came upon his body there. He was not dead, and he would not die if they acted, and they knew this, and they knew just enough to decide that it would be best not to end him and take his meager possessions. The crone who decided much of the affairs of the tribe had, on the night prior, made each of them promise to draw no blood upon the road. And they did not. After all, it was unlikely that they would in Aheid's case, for many of them had come into the fold of the Kessik tribes in the same manner. Skilled warriors banished for their competence.
The young, half-dead gladiator-no-more was taken and shored up on one of the camels they had rode out. They retreated from the roads and took refuge in the shade, in a crevasse at the mouth of an ancient, violet stone canyon. It was there that they tended to him to ensure that he would not pass. Some strength returned to him, and they spoke, Aheid and the leader of these particular bandits. The man was known simply as Vahs, and his father had made the same pilgrimage. After some ruminating, especially in regards to the peculiar commands of the crone, they thought it best to return to their camp deeper within the maze of stone and sand, so that they might present Aheid to the crone and to the chief.
Aheid knew now a sort of kinship he never had before. These lean men of lean means had decided to rescue him from the carrion birds rather than make use of his meat and his rags as those back in Famarqud, desperate as they were, might have. Any suspicions he had were quickly cast aside as they treated him more like a brother than a prisoner. The rest of his journey was far more comfortable, he had company and food and drink, and he could enjoy the desert rather than be killed by it. The crystals and the mind-boggling rock formations of the canyons the Kessiks had secreted themselves away in boggled him, and as the sun descended it all become just that much more entrancing.
They became family to him, and he to them, in a short span of time. He had nowhere else to go, he had no knowledge of the rugged, cruel world beyond Famarqud's walls, and indeed he had no intention of abandoning these hospitable kindred souls. He grew stronger in body and spirit in their company, they taught him the way and will of the desert and refined the raw brutality of his swordplay into something keen and deadly by the teachings of the ancient martial art known as Ghiv Nujad, or 'The Fluttering Steps'. He was adopted by the Kessiks, and while their means were meager it was so much more to him than the squalor of the Famarqud slave quarters. He had become a master of his own fate. A free man perhaps.
Or perhaps not.
The mysterious crone, the wise woman of the tribe who had so quickly faded from memory as days stretched into months and months stretched into years, had finally decided to call for Aheid and allow him an audience with her. She had, up until this point, made herself into more of a recluse than usual, only lurking on the periphery, shrouded in tattered burgundy, watching as the Kessiks and Aheid grew closer and stronger. She who had once enjoyed a place of unrivaled power over the Kessiks had stepped back into the shadows from which she had emerged decades ago, if only to tug the slick strands of fate ever closer to their intended path.
She cultivated a leader by her absence. A decisive leader of men to whom the Kessiks readily rallied. A man whose incomplete formal education, the gift of a brazenly coercive Famarqudian nobleman to a rising gladiatorial star, had made him into an asset beyond his swordplay. He aided in the transcribing of old manuscripts, where the old scholars were now unable and the young scholars were unprepared. He deciphered the riddles of the mystic metal known as steel, refining the techniques of the Kessik smiths. He sojourned, with his fellows, deep into the dunes, the mountains, and the jungles on the hunt for artifacts and legends of old, wherein he took up a sword, one that was eight feet of rippling, pattern-welded steel carved with old scripts that were neither elfish nor dwarfish. And it was on these adventures that the Kessiks seized the greatest opportunity in their history.
An apathetic dislike for distant Famarqud would have been nothing more than that had Zelidizzar not thought to finally do what his ancestors could not and suppress Kessik subsistence raids once and for all. Clashes became more frequent and they became more chaotic as the faceless, cruel legions of Famarqud intensified their campaign of extermination in the north and east. The Kessiks would have said it was a stalemate, the Famarqudians would have said victory was inevitable, but neither side had truly gained the upper hand until King Zelidizzar blundered right into the hands of the ragged enemy.
He had in his heart great ambitions, he wished to see a Great Khum straddle the continent once more, to erect great works near and far and permit arcane discipline - and greatness - to reach all those with potential. He wished to see the upstarts, the pretenders, and the barbarians cast aside once and for all so a new golden age might be ushered in. His city and its residents, as wealthy as they were, could not fulfill this wish of his alone. Zelidizzar instead sought to make use of the maligned art of diplomacy and politics, to tame the wild men of the east. To fasten bridle and bit to the dread cannibal legions who had taken old Khum theology to its ultimate conclusion. To Famarqud, these men of the east, these 'Khumerites', were mad and just as savage as anyone else, but they were kin. And they were pliable and just as susceptible to the ambitions of world conquest.
It was their corpulent king, not quite man, but not quite beast, who the rune-inscribed Sorcerer-King reached out to. A man without an heir or a queen. Zelidizzar offered to him his only daughter, Najia, and with her the keys to the Kingdom of Famarqud upon his death. While suspicious of such an earnest offer, one in which Zelidizzar truly had little to personally gain, the king of the east accepted, and a wedding was to be had in the wretched capital of Khumer. One between the most basic of beasts, as highborn Famarqudians had said, and the most beautiful of princesses. It was above all else a marriage of politics and convenience.
Najia was privy to Zelidizzar's plans, and though her coming future as the wife of a gluttonous cannibal was distasteful to her, to put it lightly, she saw her father's reasoning. If the machinations of the Sorcerer-King and his Cipherates were fully realized she would control two thrones. An Empress of a new Khum Imperium, a sorceress whose power would be unmatched the known world over. It was a destiny she was keen on fulfilling, even if it meant being wed to a perpetually blood-flecked monster.
WIP
Government, Economy, Demographics, Topography Government: A Seihid Pashrat is, to put it as simply as possible, a theocratic monarchy, at least in theory. In truth, the political situation is largely one of trial and error, with absolute power having been invested in the messianic warrior Aheid. He has named no successor, and there is no obvious heir-apparent to whom the people look, and to make matters worse he has made no effort to produce an heir. He remains a bachelor, and a morose and disinterested one at that.
In practical terms, the nation is managed largely on a local scale, with self-governance and self-determination being conerstones of the new regime; more out of necessity than anything given the post-rebellion consolidation. Local clan chiefs or mayors are the new powers of the realm, and while their devotion to Aheid is largely unquestionable it has made for a mess of politicking and petty bickering. Many, these clannish leaders included, fear the coming chaos of a post-Aheid A Seihid Pashrat given that their devotion is to him and the faith rather than to the nation itself.
Those who were once considered the most vile of criminals by the cronies of the Sorcerer-King now find themselves holding positions of immense prestige and power. The unshackled slaves of former Famarqud now voice their own needs and wants without fear of the lash. It is a chaotic time, and it is not one in which effective government is readily apparent. All hinges on Aheid's word. A double-edged sword. Or perhaps a ticking time bomb.
Economy: The people of A Seihid Pashrat were left with no shortage of skills in their toiling under their old masters. A rudimentary knowledge of metallurgy and masonry both were left with laborers and senior slave taskmasters whilst more skilled, expensive slaves - apprentices and journeymen in their own right - had mastered the art of working steel, glass, elaborate jewelry, and works of grand art. In truth, it was the slaves and the dregs who ran Famarqud's economy in the days of the Sorcerer-Kings, whilst the grand masters simply provided and raked in the capital.
The issue of the newly freed underclass of urban slaves find themselves with largely stagnant prospects however. The dole of bread and broth, the necessary expenditure by the court of the Sorcerer-King to keep an able workforce, has been re-instituted now as a means of charity while Aheid and his ministers attempt to find a means by which to make these people useful, productive, and happy. Many have devoted themselves to the impromptu construction of monuments or the repair of the city and its outlying infrastructure, if only to keep their hands busy. They remain optimistic, even if the situation was not as easily resolved as they had hoped.
Those who tended to the fields, flocks, mines, quarries, and other such assets of the old aristocracy remain largely in their old trades, only now the wealth they wrest from the earth or nurture from infancy is theirs to keep. Many have sought to sell beyond the borders of A Seihid Pashrat, and a new class of petty merchants has sprung up from these old stewards of resources, occupying the vacuum created by the change of guard back in Famarqud.
Those who devoted themselves to the fight against the Sorcerer-King have either returned to their fields, to their tribal homelands, or have in increasing number turned to selling their services abroad. Hesradin mercenaries have found places for themselves in courts, armies, retinues, and guard forces across the continent, and have swiftly proven their merit and earned a reputation for loyalty and personal skill.
Religion:
Geography:
Population: 2,800,000
Demographics (Makeup of your population; ethnicities, languages, minorities.)
Notable Locations
Personalities of Note Aheid, Groom of Thura and Hand of Golud A gladiator turned messiah, now the master of all the desert and jungle that the old Sorcerer-Kings once ruled over. The burden of spiritual and political leadership weighs heavily on him, and the mistakes he has made weigh heavier on him still. Doubts grow in his mind, even as the people rejoice and give to him their undying devotion.
Zelidizzar, the Golden Serpent, Last Sorcerer-King, Last True Scion of Great Khum A man of immense power and cunning. It was he who had schemed, at the expense of his own daughter, to bring about a new Khum Imperium. It was he who, over the course of his reign, had spilled enough blood to make the Chif River run red. He met his end by way of the poison of a Hesradin assassin, far to the north, where he thought to hide and connive to reclaim his throne.
Mafrat, The Great Avenger, The Bearer of Golud's Blade Once perhaps one of Aheid's closest friends, and perhaps one of the most obstinate of Famarqud's slave warriors. He suffered much at the hands of the cruel masters of the city, and those close to him also suffered for his defiance. He now metes out justice on Aheid's behalf. Or perhaps bloody revenge. He inadvertently, in a fit of cruelty, set in motion a chain of events whose outcome will decide the shape of all the world.
Najia, Estranged Princess, Captive Queen, Scholar and Philospher Zelidizzar's only child, and perhaps one of his most tragic of victims. A woman of keen intelligence and cunning, whose competence may have made her into a truly formidable sovereign had Zelidizzar's machinations bore fruit. She now lives a sheltered life in a palace of black marble and dried magma as the reluctant wife of a sorcerer with no face and no skin.
Vahs au Thurid, High Chief of the Kessiks, Scourge of the North Aheid's savior, the man who offered him a hand where another might have simply murdered him. He stood as Aheid's staunchest ally and friend from his rescue to the liberation of Famarqud, and in the process was rewarded justly with the chieftainship of all the Kessik peoples, the wasteland wanderers and horsemen who formed the core of Aheid's righteous jihad. His people have set their sights on Khumer itself and re-affirmed in their hearts the old maxim 'He who has no enemy can not be slain.'
Jaumde Gudar-i-Hodol, The Pirate King, Lord without Land, Adventurer A giant of a man, broad of frame and standing at perhaps seven and a half feet in height. He is not unlike those fearsome northerners, save for in how swarthy and jovial he is. His ancestry beside, he proved to be instrumental in the fall of Zelidizzar's great city when he rallied the privateers of the southern seas and dashed aside the Sorcerer-King's dromons. He claims to act in the name of 'pure righteousness', and sees Aheid's new realm as an ideal vehicle for it. He is reluctant to kill, and has a reputation for mercy in his robbery of traders and naval vessels alike.
Shefa Visnartuli, Dervish of the Totem of Krausgnor, Boatbiter She is foremost amongst the tribes of jungle-dwelling peoples of eastern A Seihid known as Visnar, a warrioress who is notoriously skilled in the art of single combat and she has demonstrated as much time and again on the black soil of the Crou, the millenia old stone ring in which matters of Visnar martial honor are settled. She was among the first to approach Aheid following the siege of Famarqud, and has been the most earnest in earning his favor.
The Crone She found her way to the Kessiks, frail as she was, and as treacherous as the road was. She imparted on them wisdom and aid that marked her for a witch, albeit one of pure intent. Her origins were not known to those whom held her in high esteem, but it was she who knew of Aheid and who set him on the course towards Revelation. She disappeared on the eve of the final assault upon Famarqud much to the dismay and confusion of the people of the rebellion.
Yegri, Gray-Hair, Grandfather Famarqud A man who has seen perhaps eighty winters, and has seen nearly all of them as a thrall of the city. He was long ago removed from the harsh labor and servitude that his rheumy eyes and frail muscles prevented him from carrying out, and he was subsequently removed from the Slave Dole of bread and broth. He survived for many years off of the generosity of his fellow slaves, and became something of a community leader and rabble-rouser whose transgressions were enabled by the community's protection. He was afforded a more formal office as Mayor of Aheid's palace, and as a liason between the messiah and the people when the city changed hands.
Mikuta, Executor of Imperial Will, Spymaster and Cipherate Foremost A wiry, cruel man whose force of will, loyalty, and base cunning made him into the greatest covert asset of Zelidizzar. It was he who for a decade and a half ran the menacing Cipherate order and enforced the Sorcerer-King's will at home and abroad. It was he who unbarred the gates for the Hesradin assassins when Zelidizzar was most vulnerable. He has disappeared into the throngs of murderers and cannibals to walk the streets of Khumer's cities.
Muslah au Tijid, the Manslayer, the Backbreaker A man of Khumer and Famarqud descent, a warrior of great renown who once had the ear of royalty and nobility all across Zelidizzar's realm. He won his place of privilege on the bloody sands of the arena, and had seen fit to win friends amongst the nobility rather than march out into the desert to die. He has served as the master guardsman, the Revitar, of two royal households now. First for the ill-fated Zelidizzar and now for his daughter Najia. He is a man of few words, but he is fully aware of the influence he possesses and the talent with which he can swing his axe.
Hofarus Visnargabridah (or Hofarus au Bridah) One of only a few Visnar to have forsaken the old ways of the eastern tropics and seek his fortune in Famarqud, and one of an even smaller number to actually find said fortune. The dark-skinned man took a Famarqud-style name and carved out a niche as a purveyor of alchemical compounds, and he was no charlatan, he had a great talent for poultices and poisons alike, and many nobles would quietly do business with him. He escaped the fate of many of his peers, a march to the death, by way of sabotaging the efforts of a number of Zelidizzar's acolytes as they attempted to place curses upon the city.
Institutions (Major institutions of the nations, such as legislative bodies, corporate organisations/guilds, families, most importantly, the military.)
Military Army Organization/Composition: The armies of A Seihid Pashrat may at first seem a disjointed mess, a force composed entirely of those who choose to fight for their new state, and who do so in the fashion of a career rather than as a seasonal obligation. Those who intend to fight, to offer their absolute loyalty and will to wage war to Aheid and those he represents, will generally congregate under the banner of a more prominent warrior, a wealthy landholder, or a local chieftain. The quality of equipment varies wildly, whether it be on land or at sea, but as a rule that which the Hesradin carry into battle is generally of better quality than that of their neighbors. Steel is a common sight, as is well crafted and well maintained armor.
The Hesradin warriors, even those left with only the most meager of implements, truly shine in terms of personal skill on the battlefield. The soldiers of A Seihid are as a rule tutored in the art of Ghiv Nujad, or the 'Fluttering Steps', a collection of Kessik martial arts that developed over centuries of rugged living in exile, in the wastes north of Famarqud. The Ghiv Nujad ensures that each oathsworn warrior is just as effective as a whole, in a formation, as they are alone. They are not mere bodies to be placed in the meatgrinder, but rather a team of fierce, zealous killers working in unison.
As a rule, in order to mitigate the costs of what would otherwise be a prohibitively expensive fighting force, each leader of a band of fighters acts as something of a patron, and while they do receive a stipend for their service from Aheid's court it is primarily their duty to amass an effective fighting force. There are a great many such bands, ranging from only a few dozen men to a few hundred, and they tend to all have their own quirks, such as favoring a particular school of Ghiv Nujad or being in possession of an unusually talented crew of siege engineers, and while this breeds quality it also makes the task of Aheid's appointed generals all the more daunting.
Mustering an army of Hesradin warriors is guaranteed to be a chaotic affair, at least at first while the bands begin to trickle back to the city to prepare for war. They tend to rove, or even disperse, when their services are not required. There are those who take it upon themselves to shore up the patrol of A Seihid Pashrat's borders, where a select few man lonely watchposts and forts, a holdover from the days of paranoid Sorcerer-Kings. Others will go beyond the borders to seek their fortunes by plying their Ghiv Nujad in exchange for coin. However, there is no question that if war came to A Seihid its warriors and sailors would return in earnest. Defense of what they won is more important than any personal bounty.
Navy Organization/Composition:
Troop Total: It is speculated by those with an interest in A Seihid Pashrat, malicious or otherwise, that Aheid maintains a host of perhaps twenty two thousand warriors (22,000 army strength) on retainer. These are his chosen, his absolute best, those whose skill at arms is valuable enough to earn them and their patron warlords a full-time, year-round post and salary. The majority of these warriors are Kessiks, and as such a large complement of professional cavalry is available at all times.
The seafarers of A Seihid Pashrat maintain a small, tighter force of professional sailors, with around seventy-five warships (75 ships) of standardized, professional construction. They are built in the style of the old Famarqudian dromon given the ease of construction with pre-existing infrastructure and a knowledgable labor force. In addition the navy has the ability to levy privateering vessels, and in particular has close ties to those who count themselves friends of Jaumde Gudar-i-Hodoi.
Other: (Such as siege equipment, a secret service, internal security, important mercenaries, or paramilitary forces, etc.)
Other Special traits, remarks, boons and flaws
ESSENTIALS Population Density (Population - 2,800,000) - Sparsely populated, regionally dense; A good amount of manpower for the military and economic purposes, with social infrastructure strained more at a regional basis. Civic projects range from affordable to expensive. The nation requires a stronger agriculture to sustain itself.
Economy - Slow Growth - The economy is performing well, though there is room for improvement. There are certain limitations on the economy that are bottlenecking real growth, such as a restriction in supplies or insufficient demand, however. There is some unemployment and economic unhappiness among people in the lower income brackets. You heavily are dependent on trade.
Urbanisation - Semi-urbanised: There are several towns and a few cities present, ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand inhabitants.
Technology - Modernizing: The industrial infrastructure is in the process of improvement, and this is a teething process. But the economy is seeing increased activity because of this investment. New technologies are becoming domestically available. However, there is a degree of dependence on imports, including in terms of the expertise to modernize the economy. Metallurgy is high-tech, even steel lies within your capabilities.
Domestic Political Stability - Relatively stable
GEOGRAPHY Largely consists of plains, desert, with tropical areas
RESOURCES Mineral Deposits - Extensive deposits of metals and minerals.
Valuable Mineral Deposits - Trace deposits of rare earth metals, predominately marble and variant quarries.
Unique Materials - glassware, jewellery
Agriculture - small livestock based, food shortage are seasonally common
MILITARY Military Focus - Decent army and excellent navy, good infantry and cavalry ratio (5:1)
Military Recruitment - Volunteer Force Military, additional levies in wartime
Reliability - Levies are of decent quality, generals are fiercely loyal to the ruler
Military Size - small core of elite units, relative to total population: requires some upkeep, easy to equip/supply quickly, seasonal levies
Military Technology - Rapid Modernization, your nation does not lag behind the rest of the world, and even sets the standard on some levels.
Military Training and Morale - Highly Trained; High Morale, levies are of good quality with high morale
Military Leadership - Competent; Rose to their positions through experience and battlefield exploits; loyal
Military Reputation - Popular domestically; considered small but dangerous by foreigners
Pros: Watch towers: No matter what your military is like it is usually best to know BEFORE the enemy is knocking on your gates so you use a system of watch towers to warn you before the enemy gets to close.
Cons: Who cares about Hobbiton: You’re small, inconsequential, probably so hard to remember your citizens can barely remember your nation’s name. But that all goes towards keeping those filthy enemies out there from using a dragon to breathe down your small hairy inbred necks!
The Fulmen Nati occupy a diverse range of biomes. Most of their land is made up of swamp and marshland, giving way to thicker tropical jungles and heavy vegetation. Many of these swamps and jungles are nestled between massive mountain valleys, and the region is host to multiple mountain chains. Around the outskirts of their jungles and valleys is largely rocky riverland. The region is home to some of the most extreme altitude points on the continent - the mountain of Fulmen Vigra is possibly the tallest mountain on the continent, while the Baleosus basin is perhaps the deepest massive depression present.
