Full Name of Nation: The Shadow Downs
Common Name: Downsmen
Government Type: Hunter-Gatherer, Tribal
Technological Level: Tool Age.
Demonym: Downsmen
Dominant Species: Man
Cultural Traits: Brutally violent.
Language: A system of grunts and growls.
Population: 100 000K
History: Eking out a living in the foothills that rest at the knee of a great mountain, these people have recently discovered the use of tools, and begun to revere the shadowy hills of their home, and the protection they give.
Military Type: Guerrilla fighting tactics led by a dominant male.
Population in Military (%): 75%

Full Name of Nation: [As the species acts by reflex and hormonal signals, there is no official vocal name.]

Common Name: Mycelia. Colloquially, 'fuzz'.

Government Type: None.

Demonym: Mycelian or fuzzy.

Dominant Species: Fuzz is a connected body of fungal tissue, mostly soft and fibrous like mould, but capable of interlocking into hard or elastic shapes, such as tubes. Fuzz exists only to expand by decomposing any organic matter it encounters, out-competing native species and eventually driving them to extinction. When an area of fuzz has exhausted its nourishment and is not contributing to the continued growth at the periphery, it goes dormant and eventually dies.

Technological Level: Adaptive. The growth reappropriates nearby objects into its architecture but manufactures no objects of its own accord. Fuzz exposed to more complex stimulus will reuse or respond to it in more complex ways. Fuzz has no memory- When stimulus is removed, it will very gradually revert to the state it was in without that stimulus, and will have to be re-exposed in order to 'learn' again. However, complex growths with positive results will slowly spread through the mass provided that form of growth has the tools required to function. Living creatures can be stimuli. For example, idle fuzz in a moist environment may culture algae or small plants symbiotically to produce nutrients for itself, while coastal fuzz exposed to shellfish may reuse nearby sources of calcium to produce its own covering.

Cultural Traits: Uniformity, unsustainable consumption, impassiveness, grey colour.

Language: None. Fuzz cannot speak (derp) or be taught to write. It may try to use basic symbols it is exposed to, but does not consciously understand their meaning.

Population: An irregular growth of various density, ten kilometres long from furthest end to furthest end. Growth speed depends on the availability of organic matter and the climate. There is only one growth of fuzz- Attempts to 'plant' a sample outside of the main body will always fail.

History: The mycelia was for untold aeons locked away in a subterranean chamber with no access to the surface. A series of landslips and the erosion of several hundred years exposed it to the surface, where it began to grow.

Military Type: Currently the best defences fuzz has are smooth vertical walls strutted by sticks and mycelium and imbedded with stones, a few metres tall at their highest. These develop at the periphery of the mycelium where it has been actively and persistently damaged, usually over the course of a few weeks.

Population in Military: >1%.

Common Name: The Confederacy

Government Type: Confederation, democracy

Technological Level: The Confederacy has, in general, little use for technology, besides in war, agriculture, and architecture. In these three domains, however, it is firmly bronze-age in position, using bronze-tipped spears, and basic siege weapons.

Demonym: Nahudese, or Confederate

Species: The Nahud Confederacy oversees the Oriat, a curious strain of life that are almost two entirely different species, the oriat swarms, and the oriat drones.

Oriat drones are mindless creatures which, though physically imposing, are little more than animals by themselves. However, in groups, their behavior changes: they seem to have a subconscious link between each other, and packs of oriat drones will act in unison as if they were a single organism, able to react to things that others in the group can see. The more drones are in a pack, the stronger this connection is.

Eventually, the hive mind becomes sapient, and this collective intelligences are known as oriat swarms. Each swarm is nevertheless an independent organism, with its own personality and ambitions. It is these swarms who, banding together, have formed the Confederacy, to protect their fragile existence from the predations of other species- and the ravenous hunger of predatorial swarms, who would seek to consume other swarms to grow in power.

Drones, individually or in swarms, live primarily underground, digging expansive tunnel systems designed to defend their egg nests from other colonies.



Cultural Traits:

Language: Drones can only communicate through clicks and pheromones, and due to their immaterial nature, swarms are also unable to physically communicate with other species. However, their psionic powers allow them to possess hosts, though this is difficult for them, and generally only the largest of swarms have a permanently dominated organism to communicate for them.

Population: The exact number of drones under the control of the confederacy is both massive and thoroughly inconsequential, due to their unintelligent nature. The population of the confederacy is instead better measured by the number of swarms. To date, there are twenty-seven swarms within it, of greatly varying power.

History:

Military Type: There is little in the way of diversification among the Confederate military. Swarms typically wage war by sending thousands upon thousands of drones against the enemy (generally other swarms), with the victor generally being the side which can either out-number or out-maneuver the other. Morale, for obvious reasons, does not affect Confederate warfare, and therefore their battles tend to very long, and very bloody.

When two swarms are locked in battle, they fight not only with their armies, but also with their minds: the swarms will engage in a mental struggle, with the victor quite literally stealing away the opponent's army.

This kind of psionic warfare, however, does not work well against other species, as the biological differences make establishing a mental domination over them exponentially more difficult than on drones. Thus, most swarms don't bother attempting to possess foreigners in battle.

Population in Military (%): (Gonna have to have a chat with the GM for this one, given my species's social structure)

- Igetia (I-gee-sha): De facto most powerful and influential city-state in the league. With a population of approximately 80’000, the city has the capability to project its power throughout the League and beyond, and works with other powerful cities to control the nation. Igetia’s population is primarily composed of native Igetians, but immigration from other city-states within the League have introduced significant minorities of Defterosians and Asimians into the mix, along with a number of ethnic and cultural groups from smaller, satellite cities. It is primarily a city of merchants, with food coming primarily from fishing and limited agriculture.

- Defteros (def-ter-oss): The second most powerful city of the League. Originally a colony of Asimi, it overtook its founder and was granted independence. It now maintains a population of approximately 65’000, primarily Defterosian Asimians and immigrant Asimians, as well as smaller numbers of Igetian merchants and others from smaller city-states within the League. The economy of the city is based on fishing and a rare form of blue dye, found in the shells of the Sapphire Mussel. It is this product that has made Defteros grow in wealth and power (similarly to how the power of Phoenicia came from their supplies of purple dye.

- Asimi (ass-im-ee): The oldest city of the League. Originally operating much like Phoenician cities in our world, its leaders recognised the benefits of having strong and willing allies as opposed to rebellious and unreliable subjects. For this reason, it granted its colonies (such as Defteros) equal status within the League, a concept created by the Asimians to maintain the influence of Asimi and benefit from strong alliances. Today it maintains a population of around 60’000 citizens, most of whom are employed in silver mining and semi-nomadic animal husbandry, particularly that of sheep, from which Asimi gains wool for exports.

- There a number of other cities in the League, but the above are the three most important. Others include: Chrysos, Marmaro, Lina (from which the League’s supplies of linen come, making it the fourth most important city), Derma, and Aposchi.
Empire Alignment: The central government of the League has a policy of neutrality on outside affairs, but does occasionally hold votes on direct intervention if the interests of the League are believed to be under threat. However, individual cities are not prohibited from going to war on their own, but are not permitted to seek or expect aid of either humanitarian or military form from the central government (see the governmental structure below).

•Founding: The origins of the League of Free Maritime Cities come from the ancient Asimian Empire. Asimi, one of the oldest cities in the region, established a number of colonies and fought several wars with the surrounding powers, eventually dominating the coastline of much of its home continent. However, because of Asimi’s extensive diplomatic and mercantile relationships with other ancient nations and tribes, several far sighted members of the government (there is no record of their ever having been an absolute monarch in ancient Asimian texts) were able to predict the unrest and rebellion caused by exerting direct control over a political entity’s possessions and were instead able to promote more autonomy for the colonies as an alternative. This culminated in the First Treaty of Asimi, in which important colonies such as Defteros and Chrysos (a gold-mining colony) were granted practical independence under a strong alliance and free-trading pact. All signatories of the Treaty, a total of 7 different cities, were given seats in the central government (the Maritime High Council) and the Asimian Empire was divided into zones of influence. Although the Treaty was viewed by some as a bad deal for the Asimians, the city was able to retain the highest level of control over its ‘equal’ counterparts, almost total monopoly over internal trade for around 150 years, and received the largest zone of direct control.

The earliest internal conflict came about when the southern portion of the direct zone of control of the city of Derma attempted to achieve recognition as a separate entity within the League, under the leadership of the city of Aposchi (app-oss-chee). This resulted in the League Civil War, with supporters of Aposchi (including Asimi, as the internal government of Asimi believe a more divided League would be easier to control) on one side, and cities which were attempting to exert more direct control over their respective zones on the other (including Derma and Marmaro). Eventually embargoes and blockades of Derma’s supporters forced them to withdraw support for the suppression of Aposchi, and a direct assault upon Derma by Asimian-led coalition forces caused the Derman government to capitulate. A new government was put in place and made to recognise Aposchi as an independent city, with its own zone lines being draw at an emergency Maritime High Council meeting in Defteros. To this day, this conflict remains the greatest dividing influence within the League.

Modern Igetian historians attribute the continued survival of the League to the unifying force imposed by the period of League history known as the Great Insurgency, when barbarian tribes from the surrounding lands migrated into League-held territory. Just 1 year after the establishment of Aposchi, these barbarian invaded both it and its northern neighbour Derma, besieging both cities and overrunning much of their zones. However, a decisive joint victory by Aposchian and Derman ships over the barbarian fleet off the small town of Symvivasei in the northern part of the Aposchi-governed zone secured time for a coalition of Asimian, Defterosian and Marmaron reinforcements to arrive. A year later, the Treaty of Symvivasei was signed with the barbarians, which, in a clever diplomatic move by the Asimian Supreme Doge, secured the withdrawal of the barbarian tribes from the League’s territories by covertly convoying them south towards the lands of another regional rival, the larger and more militaristic Hillic Empire (long since extinct by now).

As the League at this point predominantly spoke Asimian, cultural development of language was slow and relatively unimportant. Some cities developed an accent, or different common phrases and nicknames for different things, but overall language was not an issue.

The religious aspects of the culture refined itself during this period, with the ancient scriptures of the Asimian faith being shared and produced in greater quantity. During the Civil War, an attempt was made by Derma to alienate Aposchi from the other cities by accusing their minor doctrinal differences of being heretic, but this did not result in any kind of schism or divide in the Asimian (religion) faith.

During the middle period of League history, the accession of Ignetia in the Ignetian Accession Crisis caused a great deal of internal strife, almost culminating in a second civil war. The constitution of the League permitted the accession of other cities with their own zones, but Ignetia was already a rising power and it was thought by many that the inclusion of such an entity within the League would destabilise the balance of power. Asimi in particular opposed its accession. However, as Ignetia was strongly influence with Asimian culture and had long held strong trade agreements with individual cities in the League, the vote in the Maritime High Council resulted in a narrow ‘yes’ decision. Asimi was prepared to intervene with military force, but this only served to alienate the other cities as the threat was deemed unconstitutional. Defteros and the similarly rising Lina in particular supported Ignetian accession, hoping to challenge Asimian hegemony and achieve their own dominance.
This eventually culminated in the Treaty of Marmaron, where Asimi assented to the inclusion of Ignetia on the condition that a 50-year limit to 60 ships be imposed upon the new zone.
The Ignetian Accession Crisis is deemed to be the main reason for the decline of Asimi as the foremost power in the League – with population decline coupled with an overstretched naval force, Defteros, Lina and Ignetia rose to fill the power vacuum.

At the crucial point during the power transfer from Asimi to Defteros and Ignetia when their militaries and trading fleet were approximately equal, the decision to acquire the iron-rich lands on the coast of the Hillic Empire by military force was made. However, despite the collapsing of the Hillic civilisation coupled with the force of the League’s fleet, internal division between Asimi and Ignetia and poor, inexperienced leadership resulted in a catastrophic failure and embarrassing withdrawal. The Hillics, suffering from their own internal division and foreign invasion unknown to the League, were unable to militarily respond, especially with the League-aligned tribes on their northern border breathing down their neck.

A cultural revolution occurred during the middle period of League history, with the decline in Asimian influence and the growth of Ignetia’s. Ignetian culture, though heavily influence by Asimi, nevertheless exhibited several differences. These included shoes turned-up at the toe and shorter tunics and robes, sharply different to the traditional long robes and mantles of Asimi.
Religion changed little during this time, though minor doctrinal differences increased in size and distribution. A small sect based in Chrysos did attempt to split off from the Asimian faith, but it was largely marginalised and became increasingly unpopular as time went on.

Full Name of Nation: Dwarven City States of Yngvar
Common Name: Dwarven States, Cities of Iron
Government Type: Alliance of 12 Dwarven Lords (semi-tribal, semi-democratic)
Technological Level: Iron Age
Demonym: Dwarves, Ironskins
Dominant Species: Dwarves
Cultural Traits: Metalworkers, craftsmen, superior strength, honor-bound, longevity (up to 300 years), deny magic
Language: Dwarven (sharing many old norse traits)
Population: approximately 120,000 adult males (they hide their women and children thus no account on them)
History: Dwarves were a nomadic race splintered into multiple clans until they found the mountainous area of Yngvar with its surface rich in iron
Military Type: Armored shocktroops, siegecraft, defensive battle using the mountains and iron-plated stone walls
Population in Military (%): 5% of the adult males between the age of 30 to 100 (at best 1-2% of the whole population)

Full Name of Nation: People of Free Seas
Common Name: Oceania
Government Type: Monarchy - Currently led by Empress Tageria
Demonym: Ocean, Naga
Language: Ocean
Population: 250 000

Technological Level:
Naga technology is covered by a haze of mystery, as they utilize uncommon materials mined from the seas. Their overall level is around the middle Iron age. As creatures of the ocean, the Naga are master shipbuilders - Their ships are powered by sails, equipped with a rudder and hydrodynamic hull, and their warships mount catapults on rotating platforms.

Dominant Species:
Naga: The naga are part human, part serpent. While their species is mostly land dwelling, the inhabitants of Oceania have flourished in aquatic environment, despite being able to live on land. As such, they resemble eels more than serpents, and very little is left of their humanity. The men are thickly built, with humanoid torsos merging into a serpent hind section. Their scales are large and thick, and their heads are reminiscent of dragons, showing little sign of their ancestry. The women are tall and slender, with fine scales covering their angular features, but they often have other deformities, such as additional pair of arms.

While the women do not possess the strength of the males, they have innate magic skills, most often manifesting in psychic abilities. On average, the Naga are one of the most intelligent races, however their caste based society makes their population growth rather small. As predators by nature, the Naga are fairly war loving. Their lifespan is in the two hundreds.

Cultural Traits:
As the children of the deeps, the most stunning feature of Oceania is it’s architecture. Ocean buildings are part aquariums and fountains, serving to provide their inhabitants with their more natural habitat. They only occupy small, easily defensible pieces of land, and as such chose the island of Oceania at their surface dwelling. Their largest city is naturally a sea port called Prisma.

The Naga are a society where women and men are equals. Instead, they are fragmented into several castes (Aristocracy, Religious, Warriors, Spellbinders, Workers and Slaves), which affect their daily lives to a great extent, up to the point of their cities being built in height-tiered concentric circles. This makes the species a highly organized one, with clearly defined hierarchy and thus capable of great feats in any field despite their relatively low population.

What the land dwellers might find odd is the lack of clothing and armor, but the Naga have little need for either because of their scales.

Most of their work is also connected to the water. Their main source of food is fishing, and much of their income comes from trading by sea.

History:
Very little is known about the history of the sea naga. It is assumed that a larger portion of their empire is actually on the bottom of the oceans all across the world. Those are, however, strict isolationist. The fraction that colonised the Oceania island is but a small part that no longer has ties to the main group.

The Naga came from the seas and took the former inhabitants by surprise. the war was short and brutal, with the Naga obliterating the former human city state and founding their own empire. After their base was established, they finally sought contact with other nations in the world.

Military Type: Mixed professional and conscripted. Understandably, Navy is the largest arm of their military forces, needed to defend their trade routes. Their technologically advanced fleet combined with the amphibian nature of the species makes them very hard to defeat on the sea.

Population in Military: 10%, 7 of which are conscripts on 5 year tour of service.

Most sanfures they stand about 6'8 for males and 6'1 for females. Their bones are tougher have a more angular structure to them and their muscles system stronger due to the harsh condition on their homeland. They developed a bi-cardiovascular system (which means they have two hearts), as well as a higher metabolism, evolving larger lung compactly due to the mountainous terrain, there blade like front teeth and more rounder back teeth is believe to come from a past omnivorous habits, dark colored hair, and there one color eyes ranging from different shades of grays. They prefer colder climates but can tolerate warmer climates.