The Republic of the Northern Isles



Founded at the earliest of all the four empires the RNI is strong and stable empire. It is located on the Northern hemisphere in a wooded area.Including many smaller islands and huge tundra's the RNI lacks of mineral riches.This is compensated by their fast technological advance and good trade due to the ocean. Rich yet small in landmass the population is an average of 1.2 billion. This many people are all fed using the ocean and the vast grassland avaible.The people living here are muscular and smart but the fertility is very low.They have pale skins and speak an accent that is most similar to scottish.The people are usually happy but who doesn't have a bad day.Their Milita is a massive army in case a war breaks out,whilst NIFF their army is well trained,and equipped with the best equipment on the Northern Hemisphere.In the past many kingdom fought over the lands for supremacy to conquer the fertile grasslands.The small kingdom of Domestos emrged after decades by inventing a powder much similar to gunpowder,which can be made from the sparse resources around the area.Making basic guns and bows that were fired like rockets they won the everlasting war.The guns today rely on the same propellant,tho often mixed with real gunpowder to enchance the accuracy and travel distance.(Think of this thing as white/grey gunpoder)Now the Emperor is the highest man in the country.Whilst called a republic the RNI still has an Emperor.He gives out laws and commands like a Minister, but truly has supreme control.Every Domestian knows that the Emperor is the rightful ruler,and all true blooded Domestians obey him.But due to the other nations annexed,the Emperor declared a republican mask.He is good friends with the leaders of the Irodien Empire,like every Emperor before him was.He puts high pressure on militarization to deploy a passive defense.Leading in Technology no one is quite as developed as the RNI.Ahead by almost a decade,breach loading guns are a normal to the NIFF.Their buildings use Roman Concrete as there are many natural deposits of limestone that are easely accesible.There are always research going on somewhere in the Republic.Many people mean more inventors.And the Emperor pays well for military technology.May he live long.

Glory to the Republic!

"Welcome to the Milita boys!"

The Commerical Milita of RNI



The RNI Milita is the first form of army structure the RNI had.Recruited from common townsmen and those wanted to defend their brave country,The milita is a large fighting force.Due to the large number of people avaible the army reaches 500.000 constant soldiers.There is also nearly a million that could be called in any time.After the recruitement they are trained in many aspects of fighting.They exercise hard to be bale to carry more stuff,or run for more.Althought only every 1/5 goes into the actual NIFF the milita is a well trained army force too.This is compenstaed by the relatively common equipment they get.Every Milit member is equipped with as shovel to dig foxholes and every 10th has a carpenters tool to put up planks.They use muzzleloading flintlock guns,with smoothbore concept.These guns are fairly long to grant improved accuracy.These guns are reliable and are made using the sparse mineral riches avaible.



"Boys to the rescue'"



The NIFF(Norther Islands Fighting Force)

The NIFF is the actual well armed and full time army of the RNI.Well trained,well equipped and selected from the best of the milita,they are a force to eb reckoned with.Counting 200,000 active members they are a big military force capable of defending the territiry from most fronts.They have been deployed to help the governement forces in the Irodien Civil War,they made spectacular results.Equipped with the newest guns avaible to date, they have an excellent accuracy.They use backloading flintlock rifles.These are similar to the ones the Milita uses.But they have a slight rifled design.This grants above average acuracy,making them able to perfom marksman roles.But this also makes the gun really long,and hard to use by unskilled hands.NIFF forces are trained for a year before finally sent to battle.This makes them effective but any casualties are hard to resupply.They also have acces to some light artillery elements.Thses include basic smootbore bronze cannons,and low effiency mortars.In battles they often use Ballistas or Catapults to provide support,instead of cannons.





"Here comes the cavalry!"



The RNI also has acces to a small cavalry force that is used as a rapid response infantry.Armed with cold steel blades and a small double barreled snaplock rifles,they can rapidly respond to most threats.They are excellent at horseback riding,and train every day to improve themselves.They are also amongs the best soldiers on foot.The higher ranked troops can often shoot backwards whilst riding.In the past tho,there hasn't been many cases where they were needed,so their numbers are small.Using ancient methods to demoralise the enemy,there is always 10,000 of them.They are called Helrriders because of this.The horses they use are nowadays bought from the Kingdom of Stoludi,as those horses are the finest they have acces to.



"We stand,till we die"



Domestian Guards

The Elite of the elite,these fearless guards are chosen,from pure domestian bloodlines.They serve as the Emperor's Guards and perform survelliance roles if needed.No equipment is spared on arming them,making them the most armed force known to ever exist.They have a light leather armor,with steel plates on it.There are ancient engravements in the leather making them look even fiercer.They are armed with guns that the NIFF use,with the difference of being shorter,yet not losing from their accuracy.They also have acces to state-of-art Flintlock Revolver Handguns, made by Edron,the leading firearm supplier in the Republic.They have a training that is ruthless,and humiliating.This includes the last trial of being sent out in the tundra,and they have to survive for a month alone.During this period they are watched,not to die,but those who fail are dismissed and will be a shame to their blood.They are granted luxurious conditions once passed training,to compense for the tasks they are given.They are highly disciplined, and are not to be messed with.There are currently 300 Guards working for the Emperor.They also serve as Chief Military Advsiors and Generlas in time of war,when needed.





"Set sails,our home needs us!"



The NIN(Norther Islands Navy)

The navy of the RNI resembles many different designs.Big adn small ships,taking ideas from times when the empire wasn't united.This leads to ships flat and low,to ship-of-the-line's that are very tall and have 2 hulls.Although most ships have the commonly used designs,bigger ships occasionally go to extreme heights.The NIN has excellent warships made out of the finest wood.They use mortars on most ships,and Ballista.like mechanisms to shoot enemy ships.These are then fastly retracted by an automated mechanism,that is powered by a waterwheel below the ships.This make the ships rapid fire,but low on firepower.The flaw is that the RNI's leaders favor biger ships over small ones.Because of this there aren't many small ships in the fleet.This often leads to funny and embarassing situations when smaller ships get close enough to the hull,where the big ships can't hit them,and tis way sink the boats.The RNI is incorporating some metal designs into the ship rosta,but so far the never had enough material to mass produce any.Most Domestians know how to sail,but they are not good.Whilst the ships exceed in quality,the crew's skills are questionable.Mostly,only the officers are trained in Naval academies.Thank god everyone know how to swim.Their strentght lies in numbers.

The empire founded by the fierce mountain people of the vosta region. Based in the mineral rich western mountains and spreading into the lower foothills and valleys. The empires technological advancement has been stagnated in areas due to a 35 year long civil war. But the one area that the empire leads in is metallurgic technique. Allowing them to forge steel at a high pre-industrialist rate. With a population 500 million souls the empire trades its vast mineral wealth and steel for additional food. They are under the of a powerful rule of an imperial government lead by a powerful emperor advised by an imperial council the most powerful of them is usually the military advertisers called Governor-Militant. Expansionist and have a Machiavellian mindset using their military to intimidate or outright conquer there weaker neighbors.

The imperial legion

The empire main fighting force the legion a well equipped and highly disciplined fighting force. Armed with normal muzzleloading muskets as it the easiest way to arm the imperial legion. All male citizens between the ages of 16 to 25 are require to serve at least 5 years in the army. The due to large about of minerals found in the empires borders the legion makes use of a lot of different types of artillery the favorite is the. The imperial civil war change the tactics of the empire uses Napoleonic tactics on the battlefield. The legion roughly consists of about 550,000 legionaries.

Imperial Venator (hunters)

The empires elite sharp shooter unit armed with the only rifle in the empire these men make superb light infantry units. These elite units are deployed to cause chaos with there rifle. There is roughly 4,000 Venator in the imperial legion.

Imperial Cuirassier

The empire lacks a natural supply of horse the Irodiens have to import horse for there mounted forces. Due to there value they are exclusive used in Cuirassier while asses and mules are use by the stander army as pack animals. The main role of Cuirassier is shock cavalry as such they are issued sabers and pistols to use in a charge. There are 10,000 Cuirassierin the imperial military.

Imperial navy

The navy is the smallest branch of the imperial military. With only one port in the empire oversea trade is not a major factor in the imperial economy. Because of this the empire only maintains about 20 ship to protect trade ships and the only port city in the empire. All imperial ship are balance between firepower and maneuverability.

The Kingdom of Stoludi

Also known as the Kingdom of the Southern Isles.

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A mysterious and young kingdom that was founded hundreds of years ago after a group of pilgrims set sail in longboats, deciding to go drifting for a few months and seeing where they ended up. A month later, they landed on the shores of what would soon be Stoludi. Though it was, at first, just a handful of isolated tribes, the number of people ballooned and grew, until one Queen united them all. Queen Volkim brought the tribes together... some by force, some by bribery, others by simple talk. For over two hundred years, the dynasty Volkim started reigned peacefully. However, one day, a boat landed in the fledgling harbor of Katiraka. The strange man who disembarked promised wonderful things to the people of Stoludi... arms and armor, furniture, pumps, sewage systems, irrigation systems... he wormed his way in until Queen Ginholm V let him land dozens of fat, pot-bellied trade ships in the harbor of Haltien. Thousands of well-armed mercenaries swarmed out and overwhelmed the complacent Queen's Guards, then slaughtered Ginholm as she was getting dressed by her serving girls.

For the next forty years, King Tinnham ruled with an iron fist. The Kingdom withered and nearly died under his rule. Then a rebellion occurred. The proud people had enough of it, and overthrew Tinnham. He was slaughtered and fed to the sharks off the coast of Buxiang. The people cheered and danced and sang, heralding their new Queen as the harbinger of a new age. So she was. Over the thirty years of Queen Pictsun's rule, the country withdrew into isolation. Ships were turned back in the harbors or simply set upon by newly-constructed sea forts and warships. Travelers faced the same fate. The country went quiet for over a hundred years, refusing nearly all trade, ambassadors, and foreign travelers.

One hundred and ten years later, the heir to the kingdom, sixteen year old Annetan IX, began to repeal the laws and rules that caused the isolation of the kingdom. Slowly, the borders were open, and the flow of trade and people resumed. It's going to take a while for the people of Stoludi to acclimate, however. Annetan IX has reassured them that all is well, but they are still weary and distrustful, proud and anchored to traditions. They are a hard, roughly carved people, with pale skin and hard faces. They speak an odd tongue of warped symbols and pictograms, and have a singsong accent that utilizes the throat to accentuate letters (think of Norwegian accent tinted with Japanese). They rely mostly on the seas and the woods for food, hunting most of it, but also getting some from the more fertile Southern regions.

The technology of the Stoludian people is rather outdated, since progress stagnated during the century of isolation. It is catching up, but it is taking some time, so for now their cities remain huddles of wooden huts and other buildings, with log palisades being the main form of protection. This has slowed the population growth, and right now Stoludi has a population of around seventy million.

The people are proud and devoted, rooted in tradition and believing in the King. As a result of the isolation, the Government is still an inherited monarchy, with the Matriarch taking absolute power.

The Army

The Regular Force

The Regular Force is the standard infantry unit of the Stoludian Military. Made up of about 250,000 enlistees, these men and women are a fairly well-trained, devoted, poorly-armed force. They use smoothbore muskets with a dog-lock firing mechanism, and small steel daggers as their melee weapons. They are required to serve for ten years, more if they want. Leaving the Force without pardon or dismissal is punishable by a year in a royal dungeon or aboard a prison ship.

This is the oldest normal army in Stoludian history. They have been around since the Solidification Era, and even still existed during the dark days of King Tinnham. They were the main reason why Tinnham fell... because the Force turned on him, and left him without most of his force.

The Regular Force has a decent sized artillery unit of smoothbore, muzzle-loading cannon, and some mortars.

Children of the Righteous Thunder

These are men and women picked from the other parts of the Army, for good reason. The Children are the surgical tools of Stoludi, able to perform many dark tasks without regret, remorse, or pain. They are expert assassins, spies, saboteurs, and survivalists.

Every soldier in the rest of the military is watched after they first join. Most, however, are ignored after a while. Some are noticed. Those are narrowed down even further, and then, after a few years, the special ones vanish in the middle of the night. After a brutal training course over many months that has been rumored to kill some recruits, they become the dirty tools the Stoludian Queen needs.

If a person needs to die, a Child of the Thunder will escort them into the Beyond. If something needs to be destroyed, the Thunder will strike. If a ship needs to be sunk, a child of the Thunder will smite her. These people are nearly nonhuman. In fact... many say that they never die. They just transcend this world.

They use whatever equipment is necessary. Guns, knives, clubs, swords, explosives, poisons... nothing is off the table for these fellows. Their exact number is not known but no more than 600 exist.

Her Majesty's Guardians

An elite strike force. These are the top graduates of the standard program in the Regular Force. They are less numerous at about 80,000 soldiers, but they are better armed, armored, and trained than the Regular Force. This part of the Army is the nutcracker of the Queen. They are equipped with snaphance carbines, wheellock pistols, and long, sharp bayonets. The Guardians wear suits of light armor, with various carvings and decorations to make the soldiers look like predators and hunters.

The Guardians came about after the end of King Tinnham. It was decided that Stoludi needed a special force that was loyal to the grave, and one that could ensure the rightful heir to the kingdom would be put into power.

They swear an oath of loyalty to the Queen, and desertion is punishable by banishment or even execution.

The Tribals

The Tribals are, in fact, not tribesmen at all. They are actually cavalrymen that ride fast, lean horses and carry belts of wheellock or snaphance pistols, along with spears or rapiers. The Tribals are named as such because of their whooping war cry and savage behavior, where they will indiscriminately raze an enemy army to the ground.

The Tribals are farmers, bandits, traders, anyone skilled in riding a horse and willing to douse their thin, multicolored uniforms in blood. They have been around even before Solidification, and the unit might have been the unit that brought the Tribes together.

The Navy

While the Stoludian Navy is not the best in the world, it's sailors are exceptionally skilled and extremely devoted. However, Stoludian shipbuilding is unorthodox. For the most part, the Stoludian Navy has no huge capital ships. Most of their fleet is made of fast Sloops-of-War and caravels, with quick-firing cannons and tactics meant for speed and precision. Their largest ships might be considered corvettes in other navies. All of their ships have triangular lateen sails, with black dolphins painted on their sails.

The Drakun Republic



"Honour the Heart of the North"



Centuries, maybe even millennia ago the lands of Drakun were a great empire that despite its size held strength beyond any other of the time. During this time great strongholds were built throughout the lands, mighty bulwarks of stone, impervious to all but the grandest of siege engines. This legacy would only server to feed the flames of war as knowledge was buried, and history burned.

With the Emperor dead and no direct heirs to continue his line a war of succession rapidly consumed this world power, the Lords and Castellans of the ancient strongholds choosing to seize power instead of risking their weak claims in a court. These traitors holding the only material strength of the land became legitimized. Each given the title of Prince the new lords of Drakun became discontent with such secondary honorific, and war again crossed their minds.

Brutal, treacherous civil war become normal for those living under the princes, distorting their world views and culture until militarism became expected, even honored. Drakun became a land of war. Men became soldiers, soldiers became heroes, heroes became legend.

Appropriately enough it was the era of rebirth that brought an end to the princes, and the war. New technology and tactics saw the first and final downfall of the great Drakun strongholds, and for the first time in over a millennia there was peace and unity. In order to prevent such a meaningless war from ever again consuming Drakun the last remaining prince ceded his power and his throne to democracy, and the Drakun Republic was born from the ashes of the long dead empire.

Today Drakun is a prosperous land both enthralled with its own military culture and gripped by the innovations of the renaissance, the twelve elected chancellors and the appointed arch-chancellor govern as well as any democracy could expect with their proud and unified people numbering 400 million souls.

Drakun Militia / The Civil Forces



The glorification of war and soldiers is perhaps the only thing more entrenched in Drakun than the great strongholds of old, however without a war many soldiers and enthusiasts were pressured back into the work force. Despite this a large portion of the population still seek to capture the nationalistic spirit and have such turned to local watch groups and reserves which can now be found in most every town. While not an official division of the military and invading forces or local opposition will find quite the surprise hiding in the civilians of Drakun. However this lack of officiality is rather double edged as equipment and training is governed on a local level, often proving improvised. Only 2/5 soldiers carry modern breech-loading muskets, though these are of various, often dubious quality. The other 3/5 of the militia making due with outdated equipment ranging from near-modern muzzle-loaded muskets to crossbows which had once seemed advanced. The last republic consensus puts the number of militiamen at roughly 400,000 strong with the largest regional group numbering at 25,000. Reserve resistance fighters are estimated to stand around roughly 1.27 million strong but the act of calling them in would do irreparable harm to the economy.

The Arch-chancellors Lordly Infantry



Taken from the original knights of the Drakun empire this modern fighting force is considered one of the best in the world, sporting a rich history of generals, tacticians, heroes and so forth. Nationalistically enthralled, men have forced themselves through the intensive training requirements and into this army for the express purpose of becoming legends in the eyes of their country men. These high requirements have left the Lordly Infantry smaller than the average army, only fielding about 60,000 at any given time, but despite their size this force has been known for its over-whelming strength. Of course this is also in part because of the sheer amount of equipment the average infantryman is issued including a sappers kit, spare weapon mechanisms and often a surplus wheel-lock pistol in addition to their backloading musket.

The Mares of Deliverance



Since the advent of firearms, Drakun has largely neglected its cavalry divisions, allowing standards to become far more lax than the Lordly Infantry and reducing funding significantly. However, never eager to discard soldiers outright the lancers, hussars, and other such battalions were reshuffled and retrofitted into a force of modern Dragoons. This force was soon refunded and became the second largest branch of the military, just managing to surpass the Arch-chancellors Lordly Infantry at 63,000 cavalrymen. Effectively used as mounted infantry The Mares of Deliverance became infamous with charging across the with and breadth of Drakun, showing up to battles just in time to turn the tide, hence the name. Each equipped with a short barreled backloading carbine musket, a brace of muzzle-loading flintlock pistols and the traditional cavalry saber these soldiers rely more on maneuverability and massed fire then exceptional training.

Thunder-Men



The Drakun strongholds of old may never have fallen without field artillery becoming as industrialized as it had. Proven as the mightiest weapons of the age the Thunder-Men has always received priority among military divisions, even going so far as to become the largest at over 78,000. Thunder-Men primarily work with cannons and mortars but with so many recruits being poured into the division their duties were expanded into entrenchment, engineering, a secondary general infantry, and various trade crafts. If something needs done then its the Thunder-Men who are first mobilized, each man equipped with a large caliber, but shorter barreled muzzle-loaded musket.

The Sons of Drakun

Not satisfied with the already elite training of the Lordly Infantry a fifth military division was christened with the goal of achieving the maximal human ability. Strictly speaking this project is considered a failure as training proved either to long or intense to field a viable fighting force. Unable to fulfill such outlandish ambitions as creating super-soldiers The Sons of Drakun instead turned to mastering subterfuge and skirmish. Effectively spies with the highest level of military training this small band is used as council guards in states of emergency or as a disestablishing agent against enemies of the republic. As of today there are only 26 remaining soldiers who have completed training. All equipment is mission specific, ranging from musketoons for close range devastation to modern attempts of lightweight armor.

The Confederacy of Sawl was started up by multiple merchants who got fed up with their own governments for various reasons; taxes, respect, etc. The merchants banded together and set aside any hate that they may have had for one another, they wanted to make a place in their image where they didn't need to deal with that problem. They made landfall on the place they would call home and began to clear out the natives in the immediate area. A colony was set up and so was a port, allowing for more ships and trade. They began thriving. They had been expanding rapidly accommodate for heavy immigration, leading to the territory the have now.

In following years, Sawl went over a massive civil dispute and whether the country should be isolationist or not. The government at the the time said yay, a majority of the others did not want this though as they feared it would dwindle the economy. It wasn't until three years later, a two year civil war broke out over this. In the end the rebellion had succeeded and the the government had been eliminated. Now, it is led by an absolute dictatorship by the current dictator, Williams Sergio the I

Afterwards, the nation became more militarized in order to properly defend their lands from pirate and the natives in the surrounding area. Now with a population just under 300 million. They tend to be more industrial and trade worthy at most times as well.

WIP