and to some cheekier people the Chlotarian Empire.
Capital City: Aaixen

From the Dynasty of the First Champion; King Cauroman of the Faramundian dynasty

A young King burning with ambition. Cauroman is raring to start trouble, as young men so often are. To bring honour to God, his people and ancestors. Now that the wounds have healed from the civil war between his royal father and uncles, there is nothing the mighty Chlotar Kingdom can’t do. They are the mightiest Kingdom Visandza has seen since the fall of the Heavenly Kingdom of antiquity. The time has come to expand its borders and seize new lands. To establish an Empire the likes the world has never seen! And if anyone can see this done, it is King Cauroman. Of all four barbarian kings, beware this one the most.
He is more than just the next link in the long Faramundian Dynasty, for Cauroman has been distinguished with the blessing of the Hierophant of Udos, and selected by God specifically to usher in a new era. The establishment of a universal order and the unification of all tribes of humanity. He won’t just live up to the deeds of his ancestors… he will exceed them.

Chlotar Characteristics:
Mentality: Chlotars are disciplined, strict , zealous in their worship of God with no patience for fine garments, trinkets or any kind of luxury. They insist on a rigorous military tradition and a simple lifestyle. They are as such by default hostile towards pretty much all their neighbours.
The Lamperts for their outright hostility to god, the Tautans for their ultra-decadence and hedonism, and the Eodaens for being honourless schemers embracing false idols.
The Chlotarians regard themselves as God’s chosen, and that is probably because they are. They are driven by a prophetic purpose to unite Visandza into a single order, and determined to overcome, persevere and smite down their many enemies. Not just for God’s sake, but for survival’s sake. The Chlotars are convinced firmly that humanity needs God in the age of trials ahead.

Visually: Chlotar warriors tend to wear scale armor, iron nasal helmets and a cape or an animal pelt serving as cape. While scale armor is expensive and harder to obtain, even the footman Chlotar is distinguished by an obligatory cape with a basic tunic. Their dress code, even in battle, is rather austere. Chlotar men often have long shoulder-length blond hair and sport long drooping mustaches.
In battle the Chlotars are renowned for their throwing axes, which the warriors throw prior to hand-to-hand combat with the aim of splitting shields and disrupting the enemy line. In melee Chlotars commonly employ spatha swords and lances.
Like the men, Chlotar women commonly have long hair, always braided and sometimes going as deep as their waistline. Where men wear capes covering only the back, women wear long cloaks covering up their whole bodies. While in ancient times there were such things as Chlotar female warriors (particularly in battle against the Locust), when it came to wars between human tribes that role has mostly eroded -- except for rare cases for the daughters & sisters of chieftains.

Chlotar History:
Chlotar history began in the deep north inhabited by a mighty tribe ruled by two brothers; Chlotacher and Lambertar. A legend goes that this particular tribe was struck by an evil disease killing off all its youth. To resolve it, Chlotachar knew the tribe had to turn to God to cure the blight. But Lambertar’s refusal to do so caused the disease to persevere unchallenged. After a heated dispute, the tribe fractured indefinitely. Those loyal to God joining the clan of Chlotachar’s, and those that refused to submit to God joined the clan of Lambertar. When the hateful Lambertar left, the disease was at last lifted from the north.

Chlotachar’s clan was to mark the beginning of what later grew into the Chlotar tribe. Though for long after this they were an insignificant and weakened tribe amongst many. Until the Divine Locust, an evil race bent on annihilating all mankind, was approaching. To shield the fractured peoples of the north, God sent a Champion, a splinter of himself. His name was Pharamond, a mighty warlord tasked to champion the northern tribes and unite them into a confederacy of tribes. And together they repelled the Locust from the north. Following this victory, the confederacy named itself after the tribe that brought the most sacrifices and fought the most valiantly of all; the tribe of Chlotachar. While few of the original clansmen of Chlotachar survived this battle, it marked the beginning of a closely allied barbarian confederacy which collectively named its members ‘the Chlotars’ in honour of their sacrifice.

In a vision, Pharamond was foretold the inevitable doom that awaits the new continent without the revival of a New Heavenly Kingdom to govern it under providence of God. The Celeseans had proven themselves corrupt and evil, now alienated from God. Only the much purer and noble Chlotar peoples could embark on this divine mission. As such Pharamond set the Chlotars on the path of conquest and empire building, inviting Celesean scholars to the north and drawing in neighboring tribes seeking Pharamond’s protection against the spreading Locust.
The conquests of Pharamond’s descendent, Clodovech, are responsible for the present borders of the Chlotarian kingdom. It was through belligerent expansion into every direction with scores of impressive victories in battle, primarily at the expense of the Tautans. The Viigoc armies that served Tautom were ultimately disillusioned with their own inept King and saw in Clodovech a True Warrior King they could relate with.
As per ancient Chlotarian custom; when the King dies his Kingdom will be divided between each of his sons. Clodovech had four sons, and as such four Chlotarian kingdoms emerged following his death. After two decades of infighting, one of the royal brothers eventually came out on top; King Carlovech, father of Cauroman. Through blood, sweat and tears and various vicious crucibles against his own kin, Carlovech ultimately reestablished the same boundaries that his father’s kingdom had, but at a price. As to not repeat the mistakes of the past, King Carlovech vowed to ensure the transition of power towards his two sons would be one without suicidal infighting.
Following a visit to allied King Eathelbehrt of Eodaland, who supported Carlovech’s claim against his three brothers, he was unexpectedly betrayed by the Eodaen host with poison… in an attempt to cripple and divide the Chlotar Kingdom once more. On his deathbed, Carlovech summoned the two princelings Cauroman and Dagobert with the revelation he had been hexed by the treacherous Eodaen King and their pagan magic. And they were to vow on their forebear that they unite to punish the Eodaen King.
To avenge their father, the two Chlotar kings marched their armies north to the land bridge dividing Eodaland from mainland-Visandza, where King Cauroman challenged King Eathelbehrt to single combat. There Cauroman slew the Eodaen king and avenged his father, but was mortally injured in the process. Afterwards Eathelbehrt’s brother, Badastan, bought King Dagobert and the Chlotar armies off with a great sum of Eathelbehrt’s gold, jewelry and other possessions, thereby avoiding war. Carlovech was avenged and the dispute was settled… For now. Though suspiciously only Badastan seemed to have benefitted from Carlovech’s death.

After healing in Holy Udos, King Cauroman has recovered while King Dagobert mysteriously fell ill, leaving Cauroman control of the whole of the Chlotar Kingdom. While recovering in Udos, Cauroman heard the plight of the Udosian people and their Hierophant against the aggression of the ruthless Lampert King Dalgiserius and his encroaching hordes… Looting temples, attacking pilgrims and committing all manner of sacrilege against the worshippers of God. The Hierophant fears Dalgiserius is now eyeing Holy Udos itself as to complete the Lampert conquest of the Amalian peninsula. Cauroman pledged her that he would return with his army to defend the Holy City against Dalgiserius.
Udos can now find a true ally in King Cauroman, and at present Chlotaringen prepares for war against Lampertia…

Capital City: Skadania, with Skadan Castle as royal seat.

From the dynasty of the Second Champion; the reign of King Dalgiserius of the Alboinid dynasty

Dalgiserius hates God. That very three-letter word makes the bile rise in his throat and his teeth to grind. The very mention of God has his skin boiling red with wrath. Every night, King Dalgiserius ascends onto Skadan’s castle roof to curse, challenge and insult God with the spewings of dark heresy, curses of treachery and chants of heretical wizardry. This is in fact routine and comprises the greater part of his daily activity. Beyond the desecration of temples, the iconoclasm of idols and the violent persecution of the faithful, the battle against God is a deeply personal vendetta. For the king stands personally on the roof of the highest tower of his royal castle, (a tower which he had constructed for this purpose, in fact!) raving, ranting and cursing at the overcast skies with a sonorous voice thundering through Skadania, striking the citizenry numb – torn between the wrath of Dalgiserius and the wrath of God, which the folly of their King might any day incur…
He keeps at his court a glorified band of warrior-nobles known as the Gastalds, who serve him out of fear.
His first and only daughter, Princess Dalgiserata, (named after her father) is the only person that still loves her lord father. For he had not always been this vicious. The Princess works diligently to protect the King from those who seek to bring about his downfall, but especially to protect the king against himself.
It is clear to many that the king is growing increasingly erratic, utterly consumed by the hatred of God that spawned in him. Though none, not even his dear daughter, could say what has transpired to make King Dalgiserius the way he is.

Lampert Characteristics:
Mentality: Lamperts are known for being a bitter and brooding people keeping mostly to themselves. Mistrusting to all foreigners, each of them more sinister than the other. You will find few Lamperts outside of Lampertia, even when their current King is an absolute vindictive tyrant. Even when the Lamperts have every reason to move away, tribalism and loyalty to blood is so deeply ingrained in their culture that they will not. The Devil-you-know is still preferable than the lordship of a foreign alien.
Their most hated rival tribe are the Chlotars. Though out of all the tribes, the Lamperts and Chlotars are the most alike, with both boasting a proud warrior-tradition and shared origins in the distant north.
The key difference is that Chlotars are on the offensive, ambitious and ever outward looking, while the Lamperts are on the defensive, paranoid and inward-looking to their own affairs. Fear and suspicion to outsiders paired with hatred for God is what resonates strongly with the Lampert.

Visually: Lampert warriors are distinguished by their unique use of lamellar mail, a military dress code they adopted(robbed) from the Amalian Celeseans. They have no rules concerning facial hair, and as such Lamperts often come sporting long dark beards. The trademark weapon of the Lampert is the Hellbeard, or Halberd pole-axe, and spiked metal clubs, a crude form of mace from their barbarian heritage.
Lampert women meanwhile are known for being plump and similarly sturdy as their menfolk, often accompanying them to battlefields as shieldbearers and nurses -- and in rare cases getting involved in the fight themselves. If they wear armor, it’s never lamellar but a hauberk, and even may use goats’ hair to cover their faces with fake beards.

History:
Lampert history began in the far north of Visandza, a land said in ancient legend to be ruled by twin chieftains; Lambertar and his brother Chlotachar.
After God sent an evil plague to kill the children of Lambertar and many others, Chlotachar scorned them; stating this was punishment from God for their neglect of Him. Then when Chlotachar demanded Lambertar renounce his leadership of the Tribe a brother strife followed. In the end Chlotachar exiled Lambertar and all the others that lost children to God’s plague. The bitter northern exiles joined Lambertar’s migration southwards.
The two chiefs and their split clans grew to become the Chlotar Tribe and the Lampert tribe respectively, and both tribes have long since forgotten their common ancestry to become the bitterest of enemies.

A century later, as the Heavenly Kingdom was devastated by the divine locust and the world broke, the Lamperts seized the opportunity to move further south into the depopulated lands of the Celeseans, going as far south as the Rudine mountains. There they built their first permanent settlement; Skadania. It was to be their staging ground from whence to raid the Heavenly Crownlands. But when the Lamperts were themselves cornered by a horde of Divine Locust, God sent the chieftain Alboin to champion the Lamperts, and under his leadership a coalition of Lamperts and Celeseans drove the Locust out of southern Visandza in four victorious battles. To reward the Lampert tribe (and quell their relentless raids), the Heavenly Kingdom ceded them land in northern Amalia, a rich peninsula in the south of Visandza. However Alboin and his followers were not satisfied with the less-fertile and rugged terrain of northern Amalia, and steamrolled southwards to seize the rest of the peninsula as well. The Heavenly Kingdom was too fractured to put up effective resistance and was itself on the verge of collapse. The Lampert conquests in Amalia were to be the foundation of the Kingdom of Lampertia, with Alboin as its first King. The Lampert tribe finally ended their migration and settled down to work the lands and build a new nation. The Champion Alboin founded a royal dynasty that endures to this day; the Alboinids. However the arrival of the Lamperts displaced the Amalian natives, who were themselves driven deeper south in the lands around Udos, where they vow vengeance on their barbarian oppressors...

There’s an oral legend passed from generation to generation in the Lampert tribe, speaking of a final battle with the tribe of Chlotachar where once again humanity will be tested. The outcome of which shall determine the survival of Visandza.

Capital City: Tautom

From the Dynasty of the Third Champion: the reign of King Orso of the Balti dynasty

Universally referred to as simply a King, rather than a High King as the Kings from the other 3 dynasties, for the Balti Dynasty has lost the power and prestige it once held to the expansionist Chlotars. Orso and his fathers believe that in a world without paradise, man must create its own paradise. As such the troubles afflicting the rest of the world, long since overrun by barbarians, should all be shut out. Orso believes the best way to deal with the Chlotars… is to simply ignore them! Those primitive Chlotar party crashers with their fetish for violence and conquest don’t have the navy to seize the Baltian islands, nor the machinery to breach the walls of Tautom! And those perpetually angry Lamperts? What a bunch of hate-filled dumb brutes. And don’t even get Orso started on those pretentious Eodaens, they’re nothing more than a glorified pirates bay. None of their types are welcome in Tautom lest Odovakre’s quest for reviving the Heavenly Kingdom be truly squandered. Within these fortified confines and inconquerable walls of Tautom City, life is paradise. The people of Tautom live worlds apart from the outside world. Forget the rest of Mainland Baltia – Cauroman can have it. Hopefully he is happy with it. The Tautans didn’t need those fertile lush green fields and rolling hills anyway. Meanwhile King Orso will continue to entertain his great seraglio of wives while savoring casks of rich flowing wine imported from the finest plantations of Syrome.

Tautan Characteristics:
Mentality: Tautans are wanton and free, shamelessly so. Any absolute authority has hitherto failed to bind them. They have no tolerance for tyrants and will defend their personal rights and freedoms -- which King Odovakre had won them -- with a religious zeal. Due to their self-serving nature there is never a lasting unity in the Tautan people. Their quest for a benevolent society is through the happiness of its people… Achieved through worldly pleasures.
The only times when Tautans unite, it is in defiance of autocrats, be that from outside or within. This is often perceived as an inherent disloyalty to their own faction’s leadership, but Tautans themselves do not see it as such. Because in times when need is great, surely the Tautans will come together under the King’s banner and fight to the last. Yet whenever there is no apparent immediate threat, they will resume their complacent lifestyles.

Visually: Inside the walls of Tautom, the civilians and warriors alike tend to wear single-piece garments such as loincloths and togas, often a combination of the two. The warriors make sure to oil their abs as to make enemies insecure in their own manliness for not having such a magnificent and athletic bodies. Or at least, that’s the general idea. There is a tendency for Tautan men to shave, particularly on their body, for how else will they make those abs glisten pure in the radiant sun? And if they do have beards they must keep them trimmed. Due to Viigoc influences some of the more sensible in the Tautan garrison still come adorned with more practical chainmail and scalemail, much like the warriors of the barbarian kingdoms. And their assortment of weaponry is a lot more diverse and exotic than anywhere else. Rule of thumb: if it exists, Tautom probably has a pair lying somewhere.
In Tautom nakedness isn’t particularly frowned on. In the warrior class the only things that have to be covered up are the face and the junk. And I kid you not when I say there are Viigoc warrior-women wearing chainmail bikinis. They probably understand that the armor is useless and fetishistic, but they presumably do so to make statements of bravado much like the men with the oiled abs do.

History:
Originally a rumpstate of the Heavenly Kingdom of Antiquity, the Realm of Baltia was positioned in the east of Visandza with many holdouts and cities along the coast and islands in the Sea of Tears, as a bulwark against the races of Locust. Following the breaking of the world the continent of Visandza was settled by droves of refugees from the Eastern continent, most notably the Viigoc tribe and their King Odovakre, the Third Champion.
The Viigocs are a fierce tribe, with a history of alliances and rebellions against the Celeseans, yet during the apocalyptic war against the Locust fighting closely side by side. After the world broke, creating the Western continent of Visandza and the eastern continent of Ostrapathia, the Viigocs were the last humans still remaining in Ostrapathia. Unable to escape, they were doomed to die on their own. But in this hour of need God recognized their strife, and answered by sending the Viigocs the Third Champion; Odovakre.
The Heavenly Kingdom promised the stranded Viigocs ships to ferry them across the Sea of Tears to the safety of Visandza. For days the Viigocs awaited sails on the western horizon, but the Celeseans never came. All the while the Divine Locust were creeping in on the stranded Viigocs… The tribe would have given up all hope, but Odovakre inflamed the spirits of the despairing Viigocs to brace manfully for the imminent assault. After seven days of relentless fighting, Odovakre used his Holy Sword, Weihshairus, to slay the Locust King in single combat. After which the Locust assailants relented at last, and the Viigocs lived to see the new dawn. Finally Ships from Visandza arrived, not of the Heavenly Kingdom, but of barbarian sailors from Eodaland and their King, Hengist. The Eodaens ferried Odovakre and the remaining Viigocs across the sea, after which the Viigocs and Eodaens vowed eternal friendship between their tribes.

Arriving in Visandza, Odovakre learned why the Heavenly Kingdom did not fulfill their promise of help; their capital had been annihilated. What the Viigocs found was a ravaged Celesean rumpstate, where the surviving Celesean lords bid Odovakre be their new King. And so the Kingdom of Baltia emerged, and on the ruins of the Heavenly Capital was built the City of Tautom.
It was a Kingdom with a Viigoc army and King, and a Celesean government structure and population beholden to the new barbarian overlords. Later when the Lampert hordes migrated southwards to invade the Celesean rumpstates, the Viigocs on the frontier withstood their eastern advance, but were stretched too thin to thwart the Lampert invasion of Amalia.

Overtime the royal Viigoc lineage was bred out through marriages with members of the old Heavenly government, who sought the blood of God’s Champions that ruled Visandza after antiquity. That it may link it to its own ancient dynasties, and the Baltian Kings of today long since embraced a Celesean identity.
After three centuries of neglecting their frontier defenses, most of Odovakre’s Kingdom was lost at the hands of the other Barbarian kingdoms. Clodovech, King of the nascent Chlotar Kingdom and grandfather of King Cauroman, invaded Baltia with an army comprising many tribes and barbarian races, and in a disastrous turn of events the bulk of the Viigoc army defected to him. The Kingdom of Baltia lost all its mainland possessions and has been reduced to the confines of its capital city, henceforth mockingly named the City State of Tautom. The southern Kingdom of Amalia suffered much the same fate; having been reduced to the Holy city of Udos. While the Tautans themselves might blame the loss of their continental holdings to the aggression of the Chlotars and the treachery of the Viigocs, the more self-conscious will attribute the downfall of Baltia to the complacency of Odovakre’s descendants and inept leadership of the royal senate.
The Tautan people, those that are paying attention to the doom at their doorstep, understand that in these times they will need a hero to save them from their impending annexation or annihilation… And they can certainly not expect to have the same freedoms and way of life under Barbarian rule. What good are their freedoms if they are not willing to protect them?

Capital City: Cantaware

From the Dynasty of the Fourth Champion to enter the world: King Badastan of the Horsa dynasty

You may have heard rumors that the Usurper-King Badastan worships a Squirrel. To that it must be added that it’s not just any Squirrel but rather a magnificent Golden Squirrel-demon by the name of Xeaxaenot! Also Badastan is not a usurper, you clearly misread that – His Excellency King Badastan Horsa is rightful claimant of the Eodaen throne. But while he has the support of many of the Earls that budged to the worship of his squirrel idol, he was likewise met with opposition loyal to ‘God’. Particularly from the loyalists of his deceased elder brother Aethelberht. In the eye of some Earls, Badastan has unjustly usurped the late King, going so far as to claim that it was Badastan that was responsible for the assassination of Carlovech and by proxy also set up Aethelberht’s demise... As only a Splinter of God can kill another Splinter of God, the number of possible culprits can be counted on one hand. Needless to say Badastan is a bit of a shady figure, and the Earls are not fully unanimous in their support. Aethelberht still has a son, and some of the Earls are secretly vouching for him to take the throne.
There is division in the realm of both dynastic and spiritual nature. Though the King’s cunning did spare Eodaland an invasion from King Dagobert by coercing him with a sum of money his henchmen plundered from Aethelberht’s estate, in compensation for Cauroman’s mortal injuries and Carlovech’s death.
Badastan has with this act all but consolidated his Kingship over Eodaland. At this point the son of Aethelberht will be powerless to challenge his uncle.

Soon afterwards, however, King Dagobert fell terrible ill… leading some to suspect the Squirrel King’s treachery is once again at work.

Eodaen Characteristics:
Mentality: Eodaens are solution oriented, utterly pragmatic, always open to negotiation to settle disputes, seeking compromise, and not nearly as stubborn and single-sighted as all their neighbors. This works to their advantage. Particularly as they do not have the number of manpower in their population to rely on aggressive expansionism alone. But don’t mistake their diplomacy for weakness, or their craftiness for cowardice.
Eodaens are adventurous and like to put their sticky paws in the honey of others. By which I mean to say; Eodaens like to be involved in affairs abroad. Wherever there is something to gain, whenever something interesting happens; they want their people to be represented. Eodaen sailors, merchants and sell-swords can be found in every major international hub.
Eodaen traveling adventurers tend not to travel in just groups of marauding men, but bring their women and families with them with the purpose of eventually colonizing new lands.

Visually: Eodaen warriors tend to wear long hauberks and cloaks, with their leaders wearing Sutton Hoo helmets. They also have their own brand of blade unlike those on the mainland known as the Seax. Today Eodaens come with squirrel-themed idols and acorn trinkets around their necks and waists. Eodaens associate hair and facial hair with social hierarchy. Only old men, Earls and squirrel-priests may have long beards, whereas young men and warriors either shave or keep their beards short. Mustaches are fine.
Eodaen clothes are largely tunics and animal skins, and jackets of sheep wool. They have the same custom of wearing capes and cloaks as the other tribes do, but for Eodaens it’s less a fashion & cultural statement and more out of necessity to stave off the ocean wind.

Eodaen women aren’t known to be pretty. Don’t tell them this. Due to the relatively scarce population of Eodaland (partially due to the climate change that is gripping the northern coasts), the women have assumed some of the work and manual labour the men would normally be doing. This includes sailing, but not soldiering.

History:
Long before the world broke, the Eodaens were a collection of tribes that lived at the far northern coast of the world-continent, territories originally tied to the mainland. Following the breaking of the world and the invasion of the Divine Locust, the Eodaen territories were torn from Mainland Visandza to become a group of islands, one of which Eodaland.
The Eodaens started out as a sea-faring confederation of tribes that grew to a regional power in the then-newly formed Sea of Tears. There are some related groups and tribes on the Visandzan continent south of their island/peninsula that are culturally aligned to the Eodaens, but never joined their north-sea confederacy, such as the Radbounds of Dorestead.
The Fourth Champion that God sent to humanity was Hengist, spawned amongst the Eodaens. He was originally a corsair that defended humanity against the Locust races in alliance with the Viigoc refugees of the east, and helped ship many of them to the safety of Visandza. When the Heavenly Kingdom collapsed, so too did its renowned maritime armada. Hengist shouldered the responsibility of being humanity’s naval power in its stead, absorbing the remnants of the Celesean fleet to keep the Divine Locust contained in the east. Normal human weapons and the archaic spears, seax-swords and arrows of the Eodaens were largely insufficient to deal with the Locust. Hengist knew the greatest weapon to be employed in defense of the new western continent was the secret weapon of the Old Celesean; the Mirror Towers scattered on islets in the Sea of Tears. Thus the Eodaens skillfully manned them to fire light-beams at the Divine Locust until at last they dispersed.
To this day, the Eodaens pride themselves as being the defenders of Visandza and the greatest maritime power post-antiquity. However centuries of peace and Locust-dormancy have made them complacent, and the Eodaens of today are hardly as valorous and prestigious as they once were. The majority of the Eodaen navy are nominally of the same ‘fleet’. But in truth, the Eodaen sailors are largely all rogues, having turned to petty piracy and with no qualm seeking employment from foreign lords and different kings across the known world. Their allegiance is no longer to the descendants of King Hengist, but the highest bidder. Eodaen mercenaries and acolytes can be found in just about any corner of the world. More of the Eodaen fleet is pledged to the Celesean Island-state of Syrome than it is to the King of Eodaland. A smaller number of them, particularly those that were exiled for their rejection of the Squirrel-Demon, are in the employ of King Cauroman in laying the foundations for a Chlotar navy.