[i][b]The Kingdom of Stoludi[/b][/i] Also known as the Kingdom of the Southern Isles. Location: [hider=My Hider] [img]http://i.imgur.com/6Nto5Pe.jpg[/img] [/hider] Flag: [img]http://i.imgur.com/p9OTTXL.png[/img] 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. [b][i][u]The Army[/u][/i][/b] [color=007236]The Regular Force[/color] 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. [color=ed1c24]Children of the Righteous Thunder[/color] 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. [color=004b80]Her Majesty's Guardians[/color] 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. [color=ec008c]The Tribals[/color] 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. [b][i][u]The Navy[/u][/i][/b] 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.