(WIP)
Region Number: A12
Nation Name: The Holy Union of Forgehall
Nation Leader/Name of Nation's Parliament: The Council of Orders - For every Saintly Order of the Holy Union, a Scribe (clergyperson) of particularly high standing acts as representative Councilor. The Council is the oldest institution of Forgehall and formal basis of all other power, but it has seen its role wane over the last several decades. While dozens of orders used to fill its ranks, now only the Great Eight are represented: the bureaucratic Tarabayi, the warrior-sailor Kizilsafi, the elite Warg Guards of the Tabithayi and Ghafari, the scholarly Yadirayi and Koldari, the merchant Dijuri, and the peasant councils of the Hayani.
Grandmaster Sokola Tarabayi - Official head of the High Goblin state, the Grandmaster is a Councilor elected by their peers in the Council of Orders to a life term. Though known as something of a prodigy as an administrator, the young Sokola will always live in the shadow of the predecessor who hand-picked her, the late Grandmaster Nagda Tarabayi. It was Nagda, after all, who oversaw the revitalization of the High Goblin state and the Reconquest of Old Forgehall, a legacy the current Grandmaster can only hope to preserve, not exceed. But even without room for grand ambitions, Sokola maintains the reformist zeal and stoic determination of any good follower of Saint Taraba. She dutifully works to tie up the loose ends Nagda left, from minor corruption in the Order to the completion of the High Goblin census.
Grand Ibun Nemag Yadirayi - With the major transformations of the Holy Union that began twenty years ago, the old confederations of scholars and theologians became insufficient to the needs of the centralizing High Goblin state. The Council of Orders created the post of Grand Ibun to speed along the reforms, bringing the management of all the academies of Forgehall under a single office. Like the Grandmaster, the Grand Ibun is elected from among the Councilors, but must be a high scholar (Ibun) to qualify. Naturally, the current Grand Ibun was not only a renowned theologian, but one of Grandmaster Nagda's closest advisors. But unlike the current Grandmaster, Nemag is reaching the end of his years. His failing health and dwindling energy have recently limited his political role, and already whispers in the Council discuss who would be a fitting successor.
Hetman Loi Bashiyi - The newest office of the Holy Union, the Hetman is a military governor charged with the management and defense of the expansive mainland frontier taken in the Reconquest. Though technically subordinate to the central government, the Hetman's relationship to the Grandmaster is practically that of an equal partner. Just as the Grandmaster is spiritual successor to the centuries-past Saint Kizilsaf the Greatfather, the Hetman is successor to the recently-dead Saint Bashi the Champion. The current Hetman, former Councilor Loi Hayani, changed her name as a symbol of this succession. She enjoys wide support among the peasant councils and reborn hill tribes of the Frontier, but her rapport with New Forgehall and the Grandmaster is tense at times.
Nation Banner: The Grandmaster (Tarabayi Order, Primary Flag):
The Red Caps (Kizilsafi Order, Professional Army/Navy Flag):
The Hetmanate (Hayani Order, Mainland Flag):
Race: Goblins
Capital City: New Forgehall (Seat of the Grandmaster) - A bustling island metropolis the High Goblins built 200 years ago, when the invasion of lizardfolk and dwarves drove them from Old Forgehall. It is the largest, densest, and most highly-developed of the Holy Union's cities, as well as home to most of its institutions of power. It holds a population of over 100,000 goblinfolk.
Old Forgehall (Seat of the Hetman) - The ancestral home of the High Goblins, where the old United Provinces of Forgehall rose to a brief moment of glory and wealth before being quashed by jealous neighbors. After the Reconquest, all the heathen architecture of dwarves and lizardfolk was razed, while the ruins of the ancient age of Queen Taraba underwent restoration. The city remains more a patchwork of partially-restored ruins of old and recently-demolished ruins of new than an actual settlement, but it has attracted an impressive population of 60,000 nonetheless.
Other Major Settlements:The mainland portion of the Holy Union is dotted with innumerable villages and small towns, but no settlements come anywhere close to matching the glory of the mainland capital of Old Forgehall, let alone the national capital of New Forgehall.
Gross Population:~300,000
Exports:Ships, Gunpowder
Brief Nation History:
