NAME: Elven Paganlands

OVERVIEW:
West of the Elven Forests are the Paganlands, a stark contrast to the beautiful groves and meadows, instead filled with infested wealds and misty taiga's. The Paganlands were once the grand and majestic land of Lomillar before being corrupted by The Pagans, otherworldly malevolent forest spirits. Occasionally, their whispers of power lure Wood Elves to their lands, or drive them mad and attract exiles. The weak, vicious, and deviant: All are welcome and loved by the Pagans' twisted hearts. And one day, when the old kingdoms crumble to the merciless millstone of time, The Paganlands will pour across the world, bringing with them the Pagans, to spread their power throughout the land.

RACE AND CULTURE:
The main races of the Paganlands are the Pagan Elves and Furbolgs, though outcasted and criminalized members of all races may walk amongst the various Circles.

The Paganlands worship Pagans, alien spirits of Chaos that have overwhelmed and devoured the Spirits of Lomillar, taking their places as the Forest's spirits, deconstructing the Order and Peace they brought to Lomillar, and replacing it with Madness and Chaos. The cause of such a gruesome overtaken being the indulgence and sacrifices that the Elves of Lomillar, drunken with luxury, had partaken in. The Pagans are in constant competition amongst themselves, dragging their circles into small-scale Holy Wars along with them. The more followers a Pagan has, the more power they grant to their Shamans. Worship of the Pagans consists of sacrifices, be it material resources, sanity, or flesh...

Pagan Elves were once Wood and High Elves, until the Touch of the Pagans permanently scarred them, warping their mind and contaminating their soul. Nearly all Pagan Elves are insane by the standards of most mortals. While most of them are naturally born, hundreds are made each year as entire pilgrimages of outcasted Elves journey to the Paganlands. Pagan Elves need not be naturally born. So long as an Elf submits to the power of the Pagan, they will be born once the Paganistic power corrupts their soul and mind.

Furbolgs are bearlike Beastmen, once peaceful, until the day the Pagans came and devoured the forest spirits. Since then, the jovial Furbolgs have become grief-filled and angry, grinding away at their axes. Yet despite their hatred for The Pagans, they can do naught but heed their will, as they pledged their lives to the Forest Guardians, which, technically, the Pagans have become.

GOVERNMENT:
The Paganlands are divided into individual Circles, all bound by a treaty. The Shaman of each Circle has control, though the Pagans they worship could easily override their decisions. For decisions to effect the entire Paganlands as a whole, each Circle Master convenes at the City of Pagans, a city fueled with Bans that prevent any two Pagans from attacking each other, and vote. The power of each Pagan determines the weight of a Circle's vote, yet the Circle dedicated to the Alpha Pagan, currently That Which Takes, has upmost authority, yet the position of Alpha Pagan has a curse. With so much power and command at their disposal, the Alpha Pagan hardly concerns itself with the ongoings between the smaller circles. It's last command was that all Circles contribute forces to a new era of Conquest, led by his Shaman, before going mute to all attempts at Attuning.

Currently, the Alpha Shaman is an elven man by the name of Arrick Clearmind, a powerful warrior who fought his way to the favor of Irrich the Clare, Pagan God of Chaotic Battle. Yet the other Circle Masters speak ill of him behind his back. Rather than sacrificing his own sanity or resources, Arrick prefers bloody conflict to sate his Pagan, lest it be rudely disturbed from it's blissful eternal feasting.

INDUSTRY:
The Paganlands are undeveloped. They have no currency, instead trading natural goods, such as crops and wares. More often than not, providers are small farms owned by family's that provide a portion of their earnings, and woodsmen who scavenge from hostile wilderness. In the military, soldiers are given short supplies, making them learn to adapt, if making them slightly less formidable in combat than other armies. They can survive weeks in lands other generals would consider logistical suicide.

MAGIC:
Lore of Shadow
Lore of Death
Lore of Beasts(Furbolgs only)
Daemonology -- Pagans

MILITARY:
The Pagan army's lower and more plentiful ranks are more adaptive in surviving landscapes, making it easier for them to hold down positions in natural environments over fortifying cities and fortresses. Many of the Core soldiers are weaker than most other armies, yet less plentiful. The reason for such is that Pagan Daemonology requires sacrifice, be it of lives or sanity, to make contracts with Pagans that grant them the ability to manifest in the physical world.

Without Pagans, however, Pagan armies are still plenty capable. Their mortal soldiers often break conventions of others of their type, such as Dark Rangers, with more melee power for less infantry, or the Werebear Barbarian, which gives up its clarity and thought for raw power. A weakness of the Pagan army is it's reluctance to retreat and be controlled, as several soldiers live for the chaos of battle, making what would be small defeats for other armies into catastrophic failure on the Pagan armies.

Core:
-Dark Ranger
-Crazy
-Mara Cavalry
-Mara Archer
-Black Hound
-Heretic

Elite:
-Cultist of War
-Child of Black Soil
-Blight
-Furbolg Barbarian
-Furbolg Shaman

Rare:
-Champion of the Pagans
-Pagan Brute
-Elder Blight
-Black Golem

Lords:
-Pagan Knight
-Psychopath
-Shadow Assassin
-Paganmaster
-Furbolg Warlord

Heroes:
-Master Shaman
-Speaker of the New Gods
-Pagan Avatar

Named Characters:
-Irrich the Clare: General of the Pagan armies, who possesses an unnatural clarity amongst Pagan Elves. While several of his equals talk behind his back, he is respected as the best military genius to carry out the inevitable conquest.
-Tanglebane: Once king of the Treants, Tanglebane is a pessimistic Blight, who passes by his boredom through killing those who enter his domain.
-Eireth of Sprawl: Queen of Sprawl, an overgrown city that is continuously being reclaimed by nature, despite the best efforts of the Pagan Elves to survive. Yet despite her city's state, she has claimed dominance over a single Blight, which begrudgingly carries her upon its head.
-Duth Rageheart: The prophet of the Furbolgs, believing that "rage shall set us free".
-Samia The Shifter: The master assassin of the Paganlands. Myths state that she can quite literally turn into shadow.

NAME: The Divine Confederated State of Zvagheldt and Iorge: Zvageorg.



OVERVIEW:
The State of Zvageorg is a massive confederation of smaller states and territories under a single Tyrant being responsible for a lot of the current balance of power by it's size and connection to water as well as very large border. The Confederation has a very large army that is constantly expanding, re-arming and training because the days it was at peace are very few.

RACE AND CULTURE:
Humans are the only ones who populate the Empire without fear of ending up as a citizen's lunch, though via anointment in the Holy Rivers the men of Zvageorg have gained the strength to conquer many of their neighbors. The State has an ancient history; it all started in the geographic area known as Zvagheldt. There were plenty of villages of man, but what there was in common between them was that they were ruled by foreigners with different appearance and odd tongues, or even non-humans. One day however, this all seemed to change when a hero said to have been anointed at birth in the blessed rivers to give him his great stature, strength and wisdom. He slayed many of the outsiders but with each village he brought some of the rulers before the villagers, and told them that either they vow to lead lives of goodness to their fellow man, and to also anoint themselves and children in the blessed rivers or he would let the horrid enemies go who would inevitably think up a punishment for the peoples.

Eventually the hero let his name "Iorge" be known and after single-handedly slaying almost all which presented threat to local human hegemony he came to rule as Tyrant (for that was the only name known to use for governors to the people) of the people, creating a golden age full of advancement and prosperity, and making a large family as example to his people. Eventually, the relatives of the foreigners he slaughtered plotted against him, and convinced the peoples under his rule that he was truly oppressive, and that he himself was going to steal some hidden treasure of the land and run off with it. Thanks to their vile sorcery, it worked. Eventually the people banded against him and under the guise of a feast tied him to a stake which they lit on fire to the glee of the conspirators about. Miraculously, the gag that the tricksters recommended be put on him burned before Iorge himself did, and he uttered a final defiance telling the people to hate the alien, the sorceror, and the traitor or enemy within. Angrily turning around, the people launched the first ever Crusade and rapidly expanded the territories of their lands wholly exterminating many a race in their path. After nearly a decade, they were war weary and in their hero's name established a state and religion, Zvageorg for the former and the grand cult of the Crusader for the latter. Old Gods were put on "the choir of the Saints" and more or less forgotten, and ever since then people have anointed children or conquered humans in the rivers of the state whilst launching great Crusades to expand it's land quite often.

Recently, after having a massive growth the Empire has slowed down it's expansion with Crusades and now wages the "long war." Slowly it expands by building a few villages here and there, by building roads into borders that didn't have them before; it spreads like a disease to surrounding areas into which the culture, religion and ideas go and eventually, they snap to soundlessly annex territories. This has already happened to an island territory just off of the mainland's coast called "Varjengrad," several foreign villages, and a whole city state was swallowed up in the last decade.

The culture is very reminiscent of 14-1700 European culture with a language comparable to Viennese German (the cockney British of the time/area).

GOVERNMENT:
The State is an ultra-authoritarian autocratic theocracy with a single, more or less monarchic leader. While governing is obviously delegated to various smaller rulers across the state the ruler, known as "the Tyrant" (ironically this has no negative connotation in the Reichspiel) always has the last word. He is generally picked by a secret meeting of Priests across the nations, and will usually be some sort of hero, though they are careful to make sure he isn't all brawn. That said, he is also largely a puppet for the secretive Religious order. Zvaghalf does have a nobility but nobles can rarely if ever wriggle out of military service, and have limited equity to the lower classes (meaning, that the government makes sure they too get a decent dose of oppression). Entering lower nobility is also very easy, one simply has to enlist for a military position with a very high mortality rate like a cuirassier or sapper and survive after six years of service.

INDUSTRY:
The Empire is arguably the most advanced nation of the world, and if not then almost surely the most advanced of the human ones. This, combined with a very large expanding area and a moderate but swiftly growing population (that has a “live to serve” mindset) means that even with 90% of the usual workforce at war the Empire still has a production capability to be reckoned with. Additionally, the Empire is rich in both minerals and fertility of soil, and while the society adamantly clings to traditional gender roles it is not scared of putting women into the workforce when men are working; in fact it more or less forces them to do so.

MAGIC:
Magic is forbidden on penalty of death in Zvageorg but there is heavy use of Clerical powers of all sorts, not to mention anointment the strengths given to the peoples by being anointed in the holy rivers of the land.

MILITARY:
Unlike most human nations, the state does not make use of arquebuses and gunpowder and pike and shot to quickly arm a deadly force, and instead delegates this matter to mechanical crossbows. The reasoning behind this is that crossbows are quick to train with and the Empire has many veterans willing to teach. As such, remaining stores of gunpowder allow it to amass a large armada, huge reserves of artillery and all sorts of interesting new weapons with the black stuff. Their military can largely be described as being extremely practical and efficient, having had it's art perfected by necessity over a very long time.