Chapter 35: One Big Massive Lore Dump! Part 2

Glossary/Old Info of the world

 

World

The world of Alterra was created a long time ago by numerous beings called the creators (name pending), as an experiment and proving ground for the life they will put on the world. The purpose of the world is not entirely understood by the residents of those living on it but they all know that one day a great calamity will happen that will change the world and open up whole new possibilities. The gods placed strict and somewhat unique rules onto the world, that was governed by something called the Celore (name pending), a special system put in place by them. The system was an everyday aspect of life in the world and governed power and so much more, it can be unique to each individual and can change from person to person, but largely held the same purpose, to help facilitate power and control, particularly when it comes to evolution and ranks, note that such things are merely just more streamlined with a few added features and does not impair what was already there or was already put in place. The way one accesses this system is through self-scrying, where one enters a meditative state and looks deep into their own essense to see what type of power or system they have that will make them stronger. The gods made it so that the world would operate on this system and when the time came that it would also bring out the calamity that will be the final test on all those who inhabit the world, once the trigger for the calamity was pulled and the races and nations of the world reached a certain level of power the final test will begin. There are many small tests throughout time that were called the times of horror where all people, demons, monsters, humans, worked towards a single goal, survival. All past hatred was gone temporarily, and everyone worked together to survive. The creators also created and allowed the potential for growth of dungeons that people can challenge to grow stronger and gain rewards. Because of the difficulty of this world the gods made it so one can gain power through the system for the system allows one to collect essence, that can be in turn used to empower themselves without the need to go through the slow process of training or cultivating, thought to do so one needs to meet certain conditions and drain the essence from a recently dead being. they also made many unique avenues towards that power. The Creators also made many female only races and change the ratio between male and female of other races, favoring the female sex over the male up toward 60/40 for reasons of reproduction, as one only need one male to impreganate many woman. This was done so that should there ever be a great reduction in population it can be fixed in a few generations, and through the system even women can gain great power that can match dragons. Due to this there is some back and forth between men and women and who has the greater sway in society. While the men are outnumbered, because of that they are also more valuable than the women. Women take many more roles due to the combination of greater access to power and just sheer numbers. Women take the roles of guards, soldiers, politicians , heads of households, and many more, and men are considered something to be protected. Thought that doesn't mean that men can't go out on an adventure if they want to. Polygamy is just a fact of life and is considered a good way to raise a family. But women can also just sleep with a man for fun and if they choose to, and get pregnant without the want for marriage and just raise the child themselves if they so choose. Single mothers are not frowned upon but are also considered a part of everyday society and the children of which are taken care of collectively. From what little people can understand of the world and how the system works, the Creators desire that people strive to be demigods in of themselves and when the final test comes it would open up a whole new world, promising the stars themselves for all willing to take them. Though some theorize that that is a test as well. The system works in that one must gather essence in order to help facilitate becoming strong, this was done by either gathering the ambaint essence in the air surrounding you or draining the essence of killed opponents. This is different from gathering ki to cultivate or mana to increase one’s magical power. Essence just helped reach the goal. The goal was to be as a god and strive to command a domain, faith was an energy source gathered from followers that could be used to bestow powers upon one's followers cementing your godhood in the eyes of your followers and thereby gaining more faith. The more faith energy one had the closer they can use that energy to transcend to godhood, or the closest thing to a god. The creators also made it so people and creatures can evolve into higher forms that are more powerful than previous selves. A human can evolve into a high human and become stronger and live longer than a normal human. A goblin into a hobgoblin and an elf into a high elf. These evolutions require a certain amount of power and most need meet sometimes specific criteria in order to allow evolution. These evolutions can take days to months for the change to take place but the difference between who that person was before and now are like night and day. The civilization of the world is a bit complex, no sprawling cities or large open farmelands, the world is too dangerous and populated by things that can kill the unwary to allow for that. Instead most people live in large super cities that contain almost all that they need and many outposts that surranced that city to keep it feed. Cites are usually found in hard to reach places, usually with a good food source and mineral wealth nearby for growth. When a potential site is found they usually make an outpost, then send people to hunt around it, slowly depleting the area around the site of dangerous creatures and using what they gathered to send back home. When the area is cleared enough they then make outposts around the primary outpost usually an hour or two walks away and then do the same as the previous outpost. Once the area is secured and they gain much wealth from all the hunting and gathering they did they start to expand the primarily outpost by making walls between the outar outposts and slowly connecting them and surrounding the primarily outpost. After that is done they then get to work creating buildings and farmland for the now new village. Once the town is complete they make new outpost around the village to protect it and supply it with extra food and resources as well as the potential for new optional expansion should it be needed. But because of the cost and time making new villages, towns and cities, most have to be done in secure areas and therefore may forgo rare potential goods that they can trade with other cities with Which is why they hire mercenaries who are willing to take the risk for high reward. They are also cases were a nation was powerful enough to make cities in hard to tame places for the resources they provide, or lands safe enough to settle down in, where city building was easy and threats were low. They are cases where people, outside the authority of their government will try to set up a village, in fact there are many such villages out there, some going years without outside influence, some dying without a traces or anybody the wiser, but a few actually are lucky enough or strong enough to prosper and are slowly integrated back into the nation they were once a part of. They are many such villages scattered throughout the world, but there is a saying, where one village lived, ten others died. Over the centuries, there are now many villages. The technology of the world is a bit complex in that in some areas it is very advanced but in others it might seem to be medieval. Take for example the airship, a newly invented piece of technology that has allowed many to skip over many dangerous lands towards their destination. Thought the air contains almost as much danger as the land it is revalitty safer and therefore a better investment than the slow way through dangerous territories. Another thing would be medicine, through alchemy and the magic healing arts, one can heal almost anything, but if asked what the body is made of or how it works most doctors couldn't tell you. They have magical shields on walls and can create pseudo elevators using levitation magic, they have flaming swords and other things but guns are a rarity and cannons are too cumbersome to move around. Steam technology is just now starting to make a name for itself, but magic technology is still the leading science in any field. People can make holographic panels with magic and can store vast amounts of matter in small chests. They have pseudo phones and many other magical gadgets that are useful for everyday life. The last thing that the Creators gave to the world was the awakened. The awakened were people who essentially awakened to a past life of theirs, usually coming with it a change of appearance and a new power. Though there are other types of awakened as well. The knowledge of an awakened, while not complete was usually more advanced then what is found in the modern times of alterra, but it wasn't always the case. The drawback of being awakened was the very real chance of insanity or just becoming plain weird. And the use of an awakened varied between person to person so awakened were all different. To become an awakened one usually had to go through a special ritual to awaken the part of the soul that contains one's past life or knowledge. Sometimes one was lucky that their mind would not be replaced by the new one that joins it and sometimes one was very lucky in that the two minds fuse and join to make a stronger soul and mind altogether. Because of the inherent risks and the cost to try and awaken a person, most don't go through it, in fact awakened are of the extreme minority and it's even rarer for a person to be awakened by accident or by birth. Despite this, awakening with any useful knowledge is very good indeed. Not everyone can be awakened.

Countries/Nations

 

Kingdom of Istra

-Government: (the largest island in the halfmoon sea). Istra is a parliamentary monarchy that formed after many merchants banded together to support the istra kingdom’s rebirth. The istranion royalty still holds power in the government. But for all intents and purposes, the day to day of istra is mostly ruled by a council and parliamentary system. Through new government reforms, the government can be composed of many that don't share the same race as the leading race of the nation ie. humans. Now Halflings, Merfolk, and Dwarves share the same political rights as humans and have gained seats in said parliament to represent themselves, one of the first kingdoms to do such a thing compared to other kingdoms where at most other races can only be second class citizens at best. The government even allowed the second class citizenship of a known monster-kin race known as the high-harpies or lesser bird-kin which has made the more purist faction of humans not at all happy, and neither has their neighbors. The kingdom is still a monarchy and therefore the king still holds veto power over some of the laws that pass through parliament but it can be overturned by a majority vote.

-History: the kingdom of istra was very small at first and surrounded on all sides with water, at that time very difficult to navigate. But the desire to prosper and reach out led them to trading with the merfolk on shoals island. This trading led to trust that made it so that the merfolk were given second class citizenship. Over the generations the istranion nation prospered enough to expand far and wide and soon peacefully annexed shoal island and claimed that from now on merfolk were equal citizens to humans, shocking many of its neighbors. This opening leads to the allowing of equal citizenship for halflings who have always been with them and the dwarves who the istranions greatly appreciated for coming from far away to work in their kingdom. Due to the very rocky terrain of the island allowing to corner off plots of land for easier protection and its relatively lack of monsters, has allowed istra to hold a fairly large population for its size. Also because of its geography its was easier creating mining outposts which was great because the island of istra was very rich in minerals. The fall of the kingdom of istra was do to a combination of civil war and constant invasions from its neighbors particularly from the baloes empire. Calling aid from the merchant sector for funds and their loyal citizenry to take up arms against the ones behind the coup. The istranion royal family were able to defeat the baloes backed rebels and secure their power base once more. The rebels led by a high ranking human supremacist noble was dissatisfied by the fact that there were so many non-humans that were gaining rights that might interfere with human’s rights as well letting commoners gain more representation in the government. the income that the kingdom gets from taxing its many merchants, and their desire to be always on the cutting edge of technology both magical and mundane, has allowed istra to maintain its sovereign and spread its influence even beyond the halfmoon sea.

-Culture: even before and after the fall and rebirth of istra, istra prided itself on its merchants, navy, and metercratic tendencies. The people of istra are always looking for a good deal and a chance to get ahead and make a name for themselves. Filled with self confidence and living in a nation based on promoting and rewarding the daring and risk taker, the nation of istra is filled with those who in any field strive to be the best they can be. A little arrogant, they can be a bit single minded in things they want and sometimes refuse to believe that they can't make a fair deal. The long years of dealing with other nations and races have made them very cosmopolitan, they won't judge a person based on looks alone and can make friends with just about anyone, but should one show they are untrustworthy they will have a hard time proving otherwise later. The citizens of istra are always good friends to have, no matter where you are, but can be the worst enemies. They don't like the baloes empire or its citizens very much, due to the role they played 60 years ago when they instigated a coup and tried to conquer the nation. They are known to work to perfect whatever role they are given in life, if they are a sailor they will work to be the best, if a soldier, an alchemist, or anything else, it's the same, they will strive to be the best at what they do in whatever capacity they are in. istranions tend to be a bit on the eccentric side. Istra is also known for its great seafood.

-Economy: as an island nation, it should be obvious that for it to have prospered so much was either to have an abundance of rare and valuable resources, be self sustaining, or have a knack for making a good deal, particularly for themselves. They were lucky enough to have a decent amount of the first two, but were they shined was in commerce. The island of istra was mountainous with veins of metals and other resources,and the surrounding waters were filled with fish that could be used to feed a decent population. But while it was enough for the short term, it wasn't when the population outstriped what resources they had. So taking advantage of their geography they set out to completely monopolize all trade that happened in the half moon sea. They did this by simply out competing all others that tried to out do them, and by always being on the edge of sailing technology to get the goods safer and faster then all other competitors. They also traded with whoever wanted to trade with, whether they were human or not, and traded farder than anyone else. Bringing rare goods from far away. Istra is also known for their mines which they have plenty of, and they have a fishing fleet that helps feed their nation. The fishing fleet not only catches fish but also hunts down dangerous monsters in the ocean both to get at their rare meat and for the high tier materials said creatures comprise of, this also helps make the ocean a bit safer to traverse.

-military: military wise they rely on their navy and air force. They are well known for their navy and their reputation as sailors. Over the years they also have increased their air force significantly and while untried, they are already more advanced than any other nation with few exceptions. They are not very much known for anything else other than their variety of different types of units. They don't have particularly strong armycore but what little of an army they have is very elite, filled with their best of the best. they do also have great relations with mercenaries. Many mercenaries companies have themselves based in istra. in exchange for lower taxes and farer deals, the mercenaries will fight for the island of istra and have vowed to never fight against Istra, many mercenaries are istrainens themselves and pride themselves on completing a job to the letter even at the cost of their entire company, because of that they are very expensive to hire. Over the years as the kingdom has expanded, their army has greatly increased, though they have strived to keep it as elite as possible. The expansion is also in response to the incident that happened 60 years ago when baloes tried to take over the island. The military is composed of both humans and merfolk, the humans comprise most of the army and the merfolk comprise most of the navy they have. High harpies and birdfolk are also now being allowed to join the military, mostly to join the ever growing air force the instranions are putting together. There have been some questions on whether to allow monster-kin ( the high-harpies ) to join, but so far they have been helpful and showed themselves willing to do their best to make their people accepted even if only as second class citizens.

-Religion/faiths: the people of istra follow many faiths, usually those around the moon and the sea. But their main faith is that of the goddess of the moon istra which is the name of the moon, and which the nation named themselves after, both due to their faith and due to the unique geography that is their island. The reason as to why they follow istra is supposedly because the goddess promised them a promised land in the middle of the sea when a time of great horror was upon them, they followed the visions of their people and found the island and then founded the nation that istra today. Istra doesn't just represent the moon but also the stars, thought sometimes it is believed that she is more of a star goddess then a moon one, there has been much debate on that matter. The goddess is also said to represent night as well. Followers of the goddess Istra have a better ability to see at night. The priests of istra can weave starlight, predict the future by the formation of the stars. Because of the effects of the moon on the sea and the need for stars for navigation many sailors pray to istra for guidance in their travels. Another goddess, thought not as big as istra is the goddess of the sea, water, and community, Aris. Aris is a very important goddess to the merfolk who highly value her for her protection from the many dangers of the sea, and sailors wishing for safe travel. Priests of Aris can manipulate water and sense when danger is coming on the seas, followers of Aris who have a strong community can also sometimes have a sixth sense, they sometimes feel, or know, when one of their own is in danger and a general direction of where that person is when in danger. They can also more easily understand those who they believe are a part of their community even if they have a bad grasp of their language, this is mostly due to the goddesses community aspect most believe. She also oversees the rains. There are many other gods and goddesses that call istra their home, one particular goddess of wind, air, and sky, as been getting a greater following as the years past due to a sailors desire to go faster and the many more airships and races that deal with flying such as the high harpies that have taken to istra and have come to call it home. Since istra is a merchant nation, there are also many major and minor gods of merchantry and trade. One of them being the god salvor, who is the god of good fortune, trade, and travels.

-customs: People put the image of the moon in almost all they make because they believe it brings good luck and the gaze of their goddess so that she can protect them, because if she doesn't see you how could she protect you. During the new moon people believe the goddess is taking a rest and therefore when it's a new moon people have the day off, so everyone essentially has a guaranteed day of every new moon should they wish to take it, which most due.

-society: istra is a cosmopolitan kingdom where many people can find a home no matter their background. But they also have a strong sense of identity as well. Their buildings are a mix of both utilitarian and elegance with curving and smooth designs that are easy on the eyes that swoop upward. There are many silver colors, since silver is taken as the color of the moon. Their armor and weapons also take on a distinct elegance design that doesn't get in the way of movement. Most of the silvery curve only smooth designs are for more religious buildings than common buildings so there are sometimes normal buildings and a more elegant one smack dab in the middle. Most of the islands towns and cities are in a constant flux of merchants and visitors going in and out of the nation. Because of that it is sometimes hard to keep track of everyone, so they set up a bureau of national security to help keep track of people who enter and leave as necessary. They do not have much of a tiered society and for the most part are all equal in the eyes of the law. Because of the amount of people of many different races that come and leave they are used to it and don't think much about it, so any anger they may feel about a person is more likely due to that person doing something they didn't like then it is just because of their race. Since there are many races that come to istra and sometimes stay to live, there are many buildings that are specifically designed to help them feel more comfortable. There are many elementary schools for free for those who wish to learn, it is mandatory for children to at least attend 2 years of the 4-5 year course for rudimentary math and language skills, and later the testing for and the practicing of magic.

-environment: the island of istra is very rocky, but what open land it has is very fertile. Since there is not a lot of space, people make due with what they have and sometimes build into the mountains or cliffs as a village, town, or city grows. The island is rich in minerals, and there is a few volcanoes that still burn but are not active, they are small. There are many deep caverns under the island filled with strange creatures but also very valuable minerals for mining. The sea around the island is calm and there are many villages that dot the edges of the island that live off the sea. Despite that there are not many places for large ships to traverse and get close to the island, any place that would allow docking with the island already has a town or city placed there and is no doubt heavily guarded. Slightly north and to the west of istra is shoals island, where a majority of merfolk live. It is an annexed island of istra and the merfolk who live there are under isteranain law. There are many other islands that are part of istra, istra hold sway and dominance over most of the half moon sea and have claimed it not just by force and skill of salesmanship, but also by creating many colonies that dot the half moon sea, expanding their influence and trade routes.

-Relations: its relations with other nations are usually good as they strive to leave a great lasting impression of themselves with everyone they meet. Usually with the exception of baloes who they do not like or trust very much and mostly try to interfere with their slave trade whenever possible. They don't make much trade with the stonewall alliance but they are always willing to accept any dwarves that come their way, so one can say its amicable. they see the Amar kingdom as a bit of a competitor in the dragon sea but not much else they are also amicable. They feel the alria federation is a bit hard to deal with but are always willing to try and make a fair trade with them for their art and rare magical items, also amicable. They don't make any direct trade dealings with the demon lands so they don't know what to think of them. They make lots of trade with the young kingdoms to the south who are trying to establish themselves in the beast lands, also amicable. The vampire lands are their biggest trade partner for the huge amount of food and items that the vampire lands produce and sell, but despite they great amount of trade they are only neutral. Fandor is another great trade partner for rare goods as they also tend to get whatever Kittar produces through Fandorin ports, but since istra also trades with the vampire lands which Fandor shares a bloody border with they also tend to be neutral mostly on the side of fanodor, since Kittar usually follows fandor they are also neutral. The eastern kingdom are the most difficult trade partners but also the best as the goods from the eastern kingdoms sell for a high price in the west, also they are neutral. They also have an alliance called the sisters alliance with other nearby nations who have been wrong or threatened by the empire, to show a strong front against the baloes empire, should they ever get another idea to invade.

-Notes: the Kingdom of istra consists of many mountains and sharp cliffs that help protect and nurture the kingdom and its people. Due to its terrain it is easy to create safe areas that allow for the expansion of the kingdom on the island. Also due to the rich mineral veins they have an abundance of resources they can trade. The kingdom of istra strives to be as self sustaining as possible since they are an island nation, the fear that they may one day be unable to get resources outside of the island is a real threat that has happened to them in the past. Moon and star elves also live and recently have gotten a voice in the parliament and are also first class citizens that came over when the alria federation was breaking up.

 

Baloes Empire

-Government: (largest nation in the region and in the center of almost all other nations). The empire is ruled by the emperor who is the ruler of both the nation is the direct representative of their state religion. The emperor delegates most of the day to day work towards the senate that helps govern its great and very large nation. Its religion states that each emperor that has ever been is the closest thing to godhood and that everyone should pray to him, or her, this is because everyone is well aware of the effects faith energy has on a person, giving them great power and the ability to evolve and ascend at a faster rate. But because most people wouldn't normally believe in a person for no reason the religion is indoctrination into people at birth and brutally enforced. The state owns many companies, in which to make money from, as well as the proceeds earned through their harsh taxes and tithes from their churches. Social welfare programs are practically unheard of, and there's little room for a free market. The government is authoritarian to the extreme. But it is with great annoyance to many, that when it comes down to threats from the demon lands it is the Empire people turn towards. Even though the threats from the demon lands have largely petered out and now its more a threat to the nations it once protected.

-History: a human supremacist empire and one of the largest in the region. The nation of Baloes was first founded over a thousand years ago and based its growth on the domination of its neighbors and the spread of its state religion. Using propaganda of its superiority and focusing on military might, the baloes empire is determined to rule the entire region and force out or enslave all those who are not human. The empire was first founded by an awakened during the demon wars over a thousand years ago. Born as a prince to a small fledgling kingdom, Balon the first made himself well known by killing a demon lord single handedly and helped lead the coalition army to rout the demon forces. He was one of the heroes that slew the demon king and ended the war. Through winning the hearts and minds of others and his charismatic oratory skills and politicking he convinced the nearby kingdoms to join as one to help create a united front against future potential demon invasions. With the new kingdom of baloes he returned to the demons lands but this time as a conqueror and carves large swaths of lands for themselves, pushing the borders of the demon lands back. Due to his efforts and the effect he had on his people, he was the closest to reach demi-godhood and lived for over 200 years leaving in his wake a golden age. He left behind a legacy that all emperors that can after him tried to outdo and failed. But as the nation aged it became more corrupt, the rhetoric that only demons are bad and should be purged widened and became the same for the orcs and the vampires. Soon all those who were not human became the enemy and therefore an excuse for invasion and enrichment of the homeland at the expense of all none-humans came about.

-Culture: as a whole the people of baloes are insular and care not for the ways of others believing that their way is the best. They love to make grand works of art and produce large building projects with wide open columns, their buildings something of a mix between roman and medieval architecture. A large portion of their population are religious believing in each emperor as the incarnation of Balon and therefore can do no wrong. There is great disparity between the rich and the poor and there is a large majority of slaves working at any given time in each city. Most of the slaves are none-human’s, even Halflings that usually have a special place in most human societies are not exempt from the treatment that baloenions give them, so many have fled like most other non-human races. They pride themselves on the great and grandiose cities they make, especially on the greatest city in the known world to them, their capital city of Baloes. The nobles and well to do leave live lives comparable to kings, while the majority live in squalor. Despite that there is great hope and pride in even the most downtrodden of their people as they believe one day they can make it big by joining the army and rising through the ranks, or through the many large trade guilds.

-Economy: their economy is one of the largest around and it shows that by essentially being the deciding factor in most nations trade ecomoney, by either cutting trade ties with one nation compared to the other or undercutting or over selling one particular good or another and flooding the market. Because of their large size they have the most resources available to them, but also because of the threat they perceive from outside forces, they need a lot of resources as well. It is the reason why they tried to conquer both Istra and Amar, for they both have large economies outside of Baloes empire. Should they have conquered both istra and amar there would be nothing to stop the second golden age of the baloes empire, they would use their newfound wealth to conquer the entire region once and for all. Because of this, istra and amar are both in their own alliance, amar being part of the stonewall alliance and istra being part of the sisters alliance. The economy is based on the fact that they essentially share a border with almost all known kingdoms and therefore get access to many kingdoms trade. They have an overwhelming slave force that works to the bone to help prosper the nation, using slaves mostly non-humans they force them to take the brunt of monster and beast attacks when creating new villages or towns. They are also forced to work in dangerous places for rare minerals and herbs that the kingdom deemed too dangerous to send others. While most nations have slaves in one form or another, the cruelty that baloes treat their non-human slaves is in a league of its own. Which has lead to many slaves trying to create uprisings and to sabotage their work inorder to get back out the empire. Another reason why the empire wishes to conquer amar and istra is because they have a unfortunate position of buying more than they sometimes produce, and due to the large divide between rich and poor and the corruption of those on top, the empires sometimes hemorrhaging the taxes they earn, meaning they need to get money from other sources inorder to help sustain their empire.

-Military: military wise the baloes empire haven't yet faced a problem they couldn't throw enough man power at. They have a huge army compared to other nations and they are not afraid to conscript more if necessary. Despite the lack of care for their sheer number of infrantery they throw to their deaths, the baloes empire take pride in their infrantery, their mobile troops and heavy infantry are the pride of the military, and it's only because they weren't very invested in mountain warfare or sea warfare that they haven't won against amar or istra, or so the generals say. The baloes military don't have a very large presence in the sea or in the air but they do have land down pat. But it isn't just their infantry they take pride in but also their siege weaponry. The military engineers are known to make the best of a situation and throw something together to help take their troops to victory. The military have distributed supply lines and large roads builts by thousands of slaves over decades and centuries to allow them to travevers their large nation far faster than most would expect of them.

-Religion/faiths: there is only one religion allowed in the empire, and that is the worship of the emperor. The emperor was an awankend that gained unique powers and oratory skills that helped him gain the loyalty of his peers and the hearts of his people. The awakened whose memories that were added to balon were either racist and, or authoritarian but with skills and knowledge on how to run a state and gain the people's loyalty. Many at the time did not see demons as people and were still trying to make an identity for themselves after finally gaining independence from the elves, who they resent for ruling over them with an iron fist. This made it easy for balon to unite most of the human kingdoms into one and a humanity first policy over all others. Balon is supposedly the god of order, light, and power. Many priests of balon can control light and live in a strict hierarchy with everyone knowing their place, they are also power hungry and have a slightly larger mana pool than others due to their god’s aspect of power. They can place laws onto people that, that person will have to obey or face the magical backlash. When someone breaks the laws of the nation they can somehow sense it. They are also important to the bureaucracy of the state. Anyone practicing faiths not of their own are liable to become slaves, but outsiders and merchants are given some leeway since they need their trade and such, so long as they don't make a habit of showing off their god too much. There are many saints that the people can pray as well for benefits such as healing or something or another. They are a few religions that have special exceptions to this rule, such as the god of banks and such and a few minor other ones thought they are not normally welcomed by the people who live there.

-customs: the empire has a few holidays, the founding of the empire, and the accession of their first emperor. They have a large variety of customs both due to all the people they conquered and to the many people who have tried to set up villages away from the empire's influence. The politics of the empire are very dangerous, with a lot of political maneuvering and even assassinations. Many nobles both minor and high have at least some dealings with the underworld of things. Because of this and the many gangs in the poorer community it is imperative that people distinguish between friend and foe, normally by wearing colors or symbols of their affiliation. Sometimes people wear multiple badges or colors of who they work for or are associated with to deter thieves and ner-do-wells. Some have taken upon themselves to create their own unique badge or symbol that represents themselves, putting it on clothes or weapons, such as hawk or bear. Because of this there are many items that have art painted on them or shaped in the image of an animal or symbol, the wealthy commissiong them from Lyra.

-society: the society of the empire is harshly stratified in that for the most part, unless you have power you do not have any real way to climb up the ranks. The people are downtrodden and desperate, many joining the armies in order to have three meals a day and a roof over their heads. It is even worse for those who are not human, even the halflings who have been beside humanity for the longest time are not exempt from some discrimation. In the end the discrimation is an outlet for those who are worse off. As one gets further from the center of the empire, the less discrimation a person of another race would see. If a person of another race looks mostly human then they are usually fine, if not they should have some friends with them just in case. Those traders of other races will have to sell and buy their goods through an intermediary in order to get any trading done. There are many large thieves and gangs in the capital of the empire and many are hired for their skills of espionage and assanssition. The buildings of the empire are either very astur due to trying to save money and time, or very gaudy as a projection of wealth and power. There are buildings of worship to the emperor in every city and town. The people are not necessarily evil, they are just indoctrinated at a young age, and any dissent from the norm is usually punished. The wealthy and the noble mostly view those of lower class and dispensable tools to be used and thrown away, something that the people largely resent. There are many revolts and riots throughout the year, it is something of a norm. The capital of the empire is built and incorporated into an old elven city, back when the elves ruled most of the region. The city is one of the largest in the world that had millennia to grow and expand.

-environment: the environment of the empire is temperate to say the least, it consists of many open areas of land and every so often a large forest. There are many monster territories in the empire mostly due to the fact that, as natural, most nations do not have a strict border and usually claim many areas that can have no village for days. Because of this there are many places that have monster activity. The empire also has the largest population in the region and it shows with the many villages that dot the landscape. There are also many old ruins of elven design, back when the elves ruled most of the region before they split off and lost much of their power, allowing the humans they ruled to take over. Every so often a large storm will pass through the empire, but it is largely calm most days.

-Relations: to say that baloes doesn't have any allies would be an understatement, any nation that works with or for the baloes empire does so because their corrupt and pocketed of the baloes empire, despite, or have no other choice. Sometimes all three. The actions that baloes takes do not sit well with other nations, and their superior than you act gets on everybody's nerves. But because of their size, wealth, and the threat they present, none can just ignore them.

-Notes: not all those who live in the empire think that non-humans are bad or should be treated that way, but those types of people are in the minority and keep to themselves. They tend to move away when they can for a brighter and more freeier nation to make a new home in. Baloes is the number one exporter of immigrants is a joke other nations say, but there's a real fear that one day they may have more balonions in their country then their own people, so trying to integrate them into their society is a top priority for any nation accepting them. some people in the baloes empire are sometimes not even aware of their nation's stance on those who are non-humans.

 

Alria federation

-Government:(west of the Baloes Empire). The Alria federation is one of the two oldest nations in the known world. Comprising most of the eleven nations and are ruled by a high queen that only changes every few centuries or at ruler death. The federation comprises numerous states that follow slightly different laws and customs and can even have a slightly different culture all together. The central authority figure is the high queen or sometimes rarely the high king that rules over the entire federation. The high queen has great political power and can declare war or even set national policy for the whole of the nation. The queen usually is elected upon ruler death, usually by the kings and queens and other high nobility of the many elven and fae nations that comprise the federation. Despite the great power the high queen has, there are laws to restrict said ruler as well as a council of high nobility that can legislate and pass bills in majority votes. Due to the long life span of elves, policy can take years and sometimes decades to implement or even get around, and politics in the predominantly elven run nation can get so cut throat that it would make even a baloenion sweat. Anyone can become a high queen or king which makes political maneuvering amongst the high nobility of the nation one of the most calculated of all other nations. The exemption of all are the keepers of the old laws, judges like ancient treants and fae that keep and catalog all laws and promises, they judge everyone and can even judge the high queen and strip her of her authority and title should it come to it.

-History:The Alria federation is thousands of years old and was largely founded in opposition against the encroaching young races and at the time the Night Empire ruled by the vampire lord Alcraz, now the vampire lands. The federation saw its greatest golden age after the war for day against the Night Empire and the defeat of its vampire lord pushing the vampires back to their homelands. Once the war was over the young nation spread out over most of the region and set an example to the younger races with their magic technology and earning the awe of neighbors. Using their momentum they spread their influence far and wide over the entire region and created many elven conclaves that still stand today. Unfortunately with their growing proprestity and opulence the elven people become more uncaring for the happenings that occurred outside their nation. The nation slowly turned inward and fractures started to arise amongst the many different types of elves and their culture’s. This fracture lead to a war that saw the dark elves leaving the federation to what they believe was a losing of the old ways, tired of the rising tensions they migrated away from the federation and established their own semi nation in the dark forest. This fractured the federation further and saw another elven culture leave towards the north. Followed by a civil war, the alria federation is a far cry from what it was before, they are still proud of their heritage and everything they accomplished, they wish to see again the days of their golden age. but after the civil war, they were content to let things play out until the Baloes empire started encroaching their perceived territory, they have since seen the other nations create a coalition against the empire called the sisters alliance, and there has been some debate whether or not to join it or not.

-Economy: the elves are masters of woodwork, art and rare enchanted magical objects. Their primary export is rare herbs, wood, and enchanted items. They are largely self sufficient and don't need much from the outside other than metals that they have a hard time getting. There is also a lot of trading between states that help keep the economy largely self sufficient and unaffected from outside influence. In turn their exports are rare commodities that many would pay top money for. The transactions they take between themselves and with other nations is largely calculated to make sure they are not too dependent and that it follows a plan for larger economic growth in the long run. Though due to the tension with the baloes empire, they have increased the amount of metals and provisions they get from outside and have largely increased their military funding to increase their overall military power. The elven communities also trade with the fae that live in the federation and the fae largely only trade with elves only through a barter system. The goods derived from the fae are rarer and can sell for a high price outside. They do not trade with the empire.

-Culture: culturally the elves are very diverse, their nation consists of many types of elves such as common elves, forest elves, and a rare few water elves. The high elves, the evolved form of elves, are usually the rulers and nobility of the elves. Each type of elf and nation have their own way of doing things, down from their art to the way they wage war. Elves are sticklers for following tradition and have followed said tradition for millennia and some even longer. They feel a large communion with the world around them and largely follow their birth type. Forest elves enjoying the forest, water elves enjoying and making a living off the water, and common elves make up most of what makes cities and the governments of their nation. There are many fae from dryads, alraune, fairies, and nymphs that make up a large part of their society and live alongside and grow with the elves. Taking large parts of their society but rarely leaving to be adventurers like others and leaving their home, though a very rare few do. Due to their fae and magical nature they are bound to, and the many dealings with fae that are also bound by said fae magic, elves are very serious about keeping their word. Since breaking it can cause a backlash that harms the word breaker, but this usually is for those who use magic in their word making. Even if no magic is used, fae expect the person they are talking to, to keep their word and to not lie. Tricks and word play aside. they have a healthy respect for any that have knowledge of magic and its use. Magic is almost an everyday occurance in elven society, as it is used for almost everything from making house to just cleaning themselves off after a long day’s work. Mages are very highly regarded and in elven society almost all go to school to learn the culture and knowledge of their people, making even the everyday elf grow up knowing a few spells. Due to their community upbringing as a child and learning much as school, many elves grow up as adults knowing more than most nobles from other nations, this plays some small part in why elves tend to seem arrogant. They are also very well known for their druids. Elves live for a long time and also take a while to mature, due to their long lifespan most elves take a long term view on life and plan ahead.

-Military: the elven military isn't exactly uniform considering all the different types of elves and fae that comprise the army, it is very difficult for the elves to properly organize such a diverse set up, including the fact that each state has a different method for raising and maintaining an army and the federation army is more of a mixed bag than anything else. Despite that they are one of the most powerful armies in the region, only second to the empire’s. Their diverse military while in some ways restrictive also is a huge boon to the elves. They have treants that tower over their enemies and can single handedly destroy a group of soldiers, fairies that can spy and sabotage enemy supplies, and many more. The elven army consists mostly of archers and mages. The military largely relies on outmanoeuvring their opponents and unorthodox military strategies and tactics. Largely consisting of hit and run tactics and when having the upperhand using overwhelming power to crush the rest. Using their druids to help use beasts to augment their army and to feed their army.

-Religion/faiths: the elves only have one god they follow and that is the goddess silva, who is a goddess of nature, life, harmony. Many priests of silva can manipulate plants far easier than other elves and live longer. They can heal the injured and sense when someone is injured from far away. The goddess is extremely important for them since she helps with child bearing. for the rest, many elves believe in spirits and elementals, there is also a form of animism where they worship some types of animals. Elves believe in the spirit of all things and value life even if they have to take it away.

-customs: the customs of the elves are to varied to explain, but the most common one is for elves who plan a life of adventure to take a token of their home with them and to bury a part of what is important to them at home in case they never make it back. Though there are a few who eskew that tradition. Elves refrain from piercing their ears unless it is for special reasons. Such reasons can range from killing a great and dangerous beast, achieving a great accomplishment, or reaching a high elevation in elven society. This does not mean they have to wear earrings for such an occasion only if they want to since too many earrings look very bad for elves so most won't have more than two on each side. Another method is tattoos.

-society: the society of elves is very varied, there are laws and rules in one place that does not carry over to the other, except for the rules laid down by the high queen and a majority vote, only those laws can be pushed on to all other elves despite origin or culture. The elves live for a long time, and their age to maturity is slower than most , sometimes taking 50 years for a baby to become an adult. Because of this, the upbringing of a child is very important, since one has a long time to shape a child to be whatever the parents usually want the child to be or to use their formative years to make sure their child gets the best education. School is mandatory for the elves, and with their long lifespan and how long it takes to reach adulthood, they have a lot of time to learn and grow to be productive members of elven society. This long period of studying and training means that when an elf reaches adulthood they are already a step above those who are from other nations, something that plays into their arrogance and pride. Their colors are gold and green and their buildings are open and elegant in design, with green and blues to help ascent the structure. They use crystals and plants to help create a truly out of this world image for just a mere building. The buildings look very natural and sometimes outsiders would easily get lost in an elven city without a guide. There are many beasts that roam elven cities, but they will not attack anyone unless attacked first, elven cities are in a way a form of neutral ground for the beasts of the forests, this is due to the many fae pacts and agreements, as well as the many druids that live and have tamed animals over the millennia.

-environment: the alria federation is home to the largest forests and to many fairy glades and other mythical and mystical environments not usually found anywhere else. Many rare trees and herbs can only be found in the federation, as well as a few fae. For the few outsiders that come to the federation they can easily get lost in the massive forests and never find a way out. Some forests are so large they have a lower, middle and upper level to themselves. Due to the unique nature of the forests, some are always in a state of fall, winter, summer, or spring, but those are small areas and are few and in between. The elven cities are massive and beautiful, each expansion is planned sometimes centuries before and building is done since they grow the building essentially out of the ground. This does not mean everything is made out of wood, only that the forest is a major component to their infrastructure. The cities of the elves are one of the largest in the world and designed like a beautiful painting.

-Relations: it should be obvious to anyone that the federation doesn't like the empire, they share a border through their vassel and have had constant raids on the outer villedges for slaves. Because of the constant aggression they have put much thought on whether or not to enter into the sisters alliance to help create a unified front against the empire and whatever plan that they might have for the rest of the region. They have a somewhat neutral approach towards istra, but despite some misgivings have allowed istra to have some land on the south west of their territory that they weren't really using. They don't really care for the vampire lands. They are neutral towards the stonewall alliance. They are not very much interested in anything else that doesn't concern them and the alliance so they don't really have any other relations with any other nation. They are an isolationist nation.

-Notes: despite their proud attitude they actually have good reason for it but behind all that they are willing to take anyone as a friend so long as they have proven themselves, and elven friends are great to have. They also accept half-elves though they tend to keep them at a distance, mostly because they don't know what to do with them, this does not mean they hate them or that they feel relations outside one's own race are wrong. Only that half elves grow too quickly and die a little too quickly for them to be trained and taken care of like any other elf, so they leave that to their vassel. Elves, in an almost cynical way, actually don't mind half elves since it helps their vassel grow in number, and they work hard to make sure that half elves have a stake in their nation to tie them to the federation and therefore have and extra manpower to call on in times of war, such as with the empire. They’re many young elves that wish to adventure into the outer world. The dark elves left for the dark forest on the other side of the empire, the moon and star elves left for istra, a few going up north and the snow, ice and mountain elves left for the north. Common, wood, forest, sun, high and a few other elves that didn't leave the alria federation after the fracturing. Despite having a large sea open towards the west, it is very rocky and hard to navigate, sometimes with sheer cliffs. They also don't care enough to have any real navel power, and instead focus on land power.

 

Stonewall alliance

-Government:(north of Baloes Empire). a group of dwarven city states in the mountains banding together for protection from the aggression of the baloes empire to its south and what used to be the greater alria federation. Normally stubborn to a fault and not getting along with other dwarven city states, the threat towards their south has changed much in how the dwarves view themselves as a people. Before they had somewhat of a friendly rivalry with each other, trying to outdo each one and other. Now they must constantly prepare themselves for the frequent raids for slaves from those in the south. Loosely tied together, there is no shared law or central government that binds these city states, but a deep sense of culture and honor that is heavily rooted into each and every dwarf that keeps this alliance together. Should one be attacked the others will react and retaliate as soon as possible. Despite being in the same position as the sisters alliance, they have decided to keep themselves separate due to the presence of the alria federation that when at its height of power tried to conquer some of the mountains to the north for their resources, which the dwarves lived in. each city state conducts themselves in their own way.

-History:They are well known for their stone work, architecture and blacksmithing. Dwarves are well known for their engineering both for building and war. Their beginning lies and ends with stone. They have no real history outside their mountains and city states. They are longer lived than humans but not as much as elves. They are a people who feel themselves oppressed by those who are constantly trying to abuse and use them. Thousands of years ago the elves tried to invade their mountains and so they banded together to stop them. When the threat of the elves left they went back to their ways. Dwarves are a bit on the isolationist side of things but this doesn't mean that they have a weak policy towards outsiders, they are actually a bit aggressive and know that their works are highly valuable but only trade with those they trust. When the empire started making moves towards the north, just like the alria federation used to do they reformed the alliance, they allowed the kingdom of amar to join the alliance since not including them would be a strategic mistake and leave an opening in their defense.

-Economy: dwarves have a bit of a mixed economy, they have currency true but it is mixed with bartering to a degree that leaves the value of their currency a bit of a mystery to outsiders. Dwarves rarely trade with non dwarves anyway, but when they do it's mostly in exchange for rare materials that can go back into being forged into something new. Or things that they can't get on mountains or inside them. They mostly trade amongst themselves for what little they need and fear that trading with non dwarves will leave them vulnerable to the machinations of outsiders. They are also greatly interested in works of machinery and value those who have knowledge on them. Despite being a human kingdom, they trade heavily with the amar kingdom, somewhat because they have proven themselves trustworthy allies but mostly because their kingdom runs right in between the dragon tooth mountain and cuts the dwarven city states in two. But for all intents and purposes, if you want dwarven goods you want to trade with the amar kingdom. There are also a lot of dwarves now living in the amar kingdom. Which helps bolster both the kingdom's economy and the alliances, to a great degree. Because of this trade, many dwarves have gotten comfortable with humans and other races to the point many more than usual to are leaving, to explore the world, offering their skills and bringing back home new techniques and goods for their homeland further growing the dwarven ecomoney.

-Culture: Dwarves value fine works of art whether wood, stone or otherwise and so have a large number of artisans that work around art that can be appreciated by the whole community, such as working stone to increase living space or blacksmithing to make weapons for the soldiers. Their art is mixed into whatever is practical and pragmatic, and they take pride in it too. They also take traditions seriously and value their word and they value their honor, which is a lot. They place a lot of value in things that are both practical and well made and disdain things that seem superfluous and unnecessary, though they do understand the need for good decor to bring art and ambiance. Their lives revolve around their work and the need to be the best of whatever task life throws at them, but that does not mean that they are no outliers. In fact there are quite a few that decide to explore the outside world, mostly ending up and settling in the amar or istra. Dwarves care not for slavery or toiling for the sake of making a shoddy piece of work. They will always value fine work, and good friends over money any day. They also value a good drink. They are utilitarian in their living. They also keep in mind the many generations of their family members that came before them, they care very much for their ancestors. Dwarves are also grouped into clans, each city state has a group of clans that fill one role or another, sometimes multiple clans doing the same task or competing with one another.

-Military:Their phalanx is like a boulder that can't be moved that many of their enemies have broken themselves on and are cut down by crossbow fire. Their war machines give them an edge that most nations would envy, and though rare, dwarves are known to send small groups of golems that can wreak havoc on any that get in their way. Like their work they take war in a more pragmatic approach and try to maximize enemy casualties while keeping their own nice and safe. They also strive to destroy whatever enemies that come their way as absolutely as possible to deter future ones from getting the same idea. Their approach is to simply use whatever means necessary for the destruction of their enemies, though they do follow the rules of war that state not to harm civilians and such. they take themselves to be very honoralbe and so disdan those who would harm innocents or rape and steal. They are the allies you want, and the enemies you fear. They have even greater war engineers than that of the empire. They are highly organized and regimented.

-Religion/faiths: the faiths of the dwarves are mostly ancestor worship, as well as the worship of spirits of earth and fire. They also worship great warriors, scientists and other defining people who made a mark in dwarven history. Due to their fragmented nature, they do not have a unified form of religion, only customs, cultures, and faiths that they follow, because of this their hasn’t been a dwarf the has come close to reaching demi-god before, since there were never enough people praying or worshiping said person to allow that. Dwarves also wont pray or worship anyone unless they prove themselves and not just because the godling has something to offer. The godling himself might not want to be worshiped. The hero worship can differ from city state to city state and there are very few heroes in dwarven lore that span the entire alliance. They also take their lore very seriously as it is something they are proud of. They have a tendency to forgive but never forget.

-customs: it is customary to, when an artisan, whether a blacksmith or otherwise, reaches a level where they gain the approval of their master and leave to start on their own, to make their own brand for whatever item they make. This is in hopes of gaining recognition for their work, but this is usually only done by master blacksmiths, since you only want to put a brand on something you feel pride in. if they belong to a clan, the clan symbol goes on top with theirs on the bottom. They also understand some people don't want symbols over their product so there are ways to hide the brand or to pay for the item not to have it. Sometimes new apprentices who leave their master to make it on their own form partnerships with some of the customers that come to them, in that in exchange for materials, the apprentice will turn those materials into something for the customer in exchange for nothing, lower price, or for the excess material that is left over. Such relationships can last decades.

-society: the buildings of the dwarves are big sturdy things that sometimes are used to help prop up the ceiling of whatever cavern they are residing in at the moment, because of that the rooms are more on the compact size and the buildings are very utilitarian to prevent any problems that might happen to a maybe important pillar of whatever town or city they belong to. Dwarves structure their entire town or city in a way that is most efficient for both walking around and for defense from any kind of threat that they might perceive. The society of dwarves have many clanes that can date back all the way to the beginning of whatever city or what have you of their clanes origin. It is a largely fair society where people are expected to work together in times of need, since it could take everyone to protect themselves from the many dangers that lie below and the threat of cave-ins from above. Miners hold an important part of dwarven society, they are responsible for the gathering of resources for the city, as well as the clearing out of rock for expanding and linking up or building a pathway to rare resources. They are also the ones that usually get attacked a lot due to the nature of sometimes traveling far from the protection of the city and digging into and exploring new caverns that might not yet be safe, because of this, miners are highly valued and looked up to, the same as blacksmiths who turn what miners dig up into useful products.

-environment: the tops of the mountains that the dwarves live in are snowy and filled with pine wood trees and wild wildernesses filled with monsters. And the occasional dwarf outpost or stronghold. The tops of the mountains are very cold and will require someone to come prepared with they wish to traverse their peaks. In the mountain are the cities of the dwarves that are very large and can sometimes contain ten of thousands of dwarves and sometimes even more. The inside of the mountains have been mined for a long time and because of that there are large open spaces where one can see very far before seeing the other end. It is very dark so only those with good light sensitivity or who have low light vision like the dwarves and elves and a few other races can properly see in the dark. The insides of the mountain is just as dangerous with unique monsters and dangerous not found anywhere else. If one goes down enough they reach the deep caverns, there is a layer of open caverns with strange fauna and plants that form their own ecosystem down in the deep caverns that spreads out to the entire region, if not more. The mines of the mountains are still very rich and due to the mana circulation some minerals can be replenished without worry of over mining, so long as they wait.

-Relations: they care not for the baloes empire and refuse to trade with anyone associated with them. They are very friendly with Amar and have great relations with them. They don't like the federation very much and don't trade much with them. They don't have any trading with the vampire lands or really any far off lands since they can't really reach them. They do some trading with the small kingdoms that lie around their border, mostly because they share the same feeling of distrust and dislike with baloes. They do trade with istra. They trade with those in the north as well, mostly through amar.

-Notes: dwarves are a hardy and driven race that are more show than tell, they value those with skills and those who are trustworthy. They live in large clans and that are usually focused on one aspect of their city state, such as one clan being the go to for all stone working or another for all paintings or another for beer. They reason for their strong drink is for their tough constitution which make it hard for them to feel anything otherwise. Not all dwarves have beards, some are clean shaven or very small and well kept, the reason why so many males have beards is because due to their tough constitution and their nature of being very attuned with the earth around them their beards are actually a lot tougher than it looks and is surprisingly fireproof, making it useful for blacksmithing. They can also sense tremors and the such in the ground making it easier for them to navigate in their caverns on top of their low light vision.

 

Vampire lands( Alcray )

-Government: (east of the halfmoon sea). The vampire lands are a collection of small vampire kingdoms that are in a constant political, and sometimes literal, war. The Vampire lands are, as the name describes, filled with vampires. The vampires rule both the living and the dead and have done so for a long time. Some vampires are older than both the empire and federation combined. Though not as large as the empire or federation, they are not to be trifled with. They have a strict hierarchy for both vampires and non vampires. For vampires it's blood thrall, blood bound, knight, baron, count, duke, archduke, lord, king, emperor, and god. For non vampires its slave, serf, peasant, servant, blood bound, soldier, knight, the knight not counting as a vampire knight. There are also other levels of non-human ranks such as advisers and others. This doesn't mean that there are free non vampires living in the vampire lands, only that it is rare. At the moment the highest ranking vampires are the vampire dukes, of which there are about 20 or so, and three vampire archdukes who are constantly fighting for power and influence amongst the other vampires in hopes of one day gaining the title of vampire lord and the power that comes with it. There are free factions, the pro war, they wish to unite and regain the glory days, the neutral faction, who do not care one way or the other, and the progressive faction, who wish to dominate and influence through trade and alliances with those outside the vampire lands. There are also many independent vampires that have their own land that are not in the pocket of any of the dukes or archdukes, many counts and barons who also want to see themselves rise up to prominence and those who simply bide their time seeing who will win. There is no unifying power for the vampires but there is a unifying culture that binds them, like dwarves in that respect. They have a meet up at a neutral territory at least once a decade called the dark ball, not necessary that all vampires come and many have skipped it quite a few times. They also come together once a century all the top vampires in the lands to determine the future of the vampire lands, discuss laws and challenge other vampires to duels, it is the closest to government they have for that one month out of a century. Arbitrated by a group of elders and ancestors, and the only neutral archduke of the vampire lands who has remained neutral but is far more powerful than the other two archdukes.

-History: the history of the vampire lands dates back even further than that of the federation. But for the most part it is known for the vampire lord Alcraz, and his desire to bring the entire continent under his rule. That brought him into conflict with the newly formed elven federation and his defeat later. Alcraz was a vampire unlike any other, he was awakened and had knowledge of magic that went beyond that time's understanding, with a sharp mind for governance and the ability to make allies out of would be enemies. Alcraze shaped the history of what vampires could be and pushed it further, there has never been another vampire lord since his time. Many of the traditions that are practiced today were made and practiced during the time of Alcraz 3,000 years ago. At the time of his accession to vampire lord, the vampire lands were even more brutal and unforgiving, the vampires lived in hiding constantly battling for survival at the time what was once called the dark lands with its many ferocious beasts and monsters that some still live today. Alcraz lifted them up creating rules and binding them together, giving them an identity that is now known throughout the world. The birth of alcatraz was around 4,000 years ago. The effects of the things that one man accomplesid are still felt to this day. But that does not mean that there was no culture or government before that, just that it was a far bloodier way of doing things and far more fragmented, with vampires being either bloody despots or constantly running and hiding. but there are still some vampires that prefer the old ways of doing things and not the new one that alcraz set into motion, though they are a minority. Alcraz before his death also created a bridge that would link up another continent for further expansion, while it was completed, it wasn't really used since his death as most vampires went into infighting for who will lead next, but now in recent times it is being used again.

-Culture: the culture of the vampire lands are of that of indulgence woven with tradition mixed together with the strive for perfection. They are the longest lived race and for all intents and purposes might as well be considered immortal. Because of this their parties and whatever amounts for holy or sacred day, is usually only celebrated once a century or so and sometimes not even then. Because of their beauty and long life, vampires believe themselves to be up there with perfection, this only gets proven further when they are also usually naturally strong, fast, smart, and gifted. For the most part there doesn't seem to be any drawbacks to being a vampire. There is a time that happens every few decades called the war of the young bloods, this is usually when a group of young vampires group together and try to invade fandor towards their north, in hopes of gaining land. This is because vampire lands are already filled with vampire barons, counts, and dukes that there is no room for any upward progression. This usually comulates into a small war to gain land to become the baron of, while most die in this war and no land is taken since fandor has gained much experience over the years dealing with this, it has proven to be something of a new tradition of the vampire lands, to send their younglings out to prove themselves. Not all young vampires take part in wars, some go on a life of adventure or try to stake land claims to the south of them in the beast lands near where the young kingdoms reside. Some of successfully established footings across the alcraz bridge, slowly expanding the influence of the vampire lands to the chagrin of all the other kingdoms. The vampires in an almost weird contrast of the empire, treat their slaves and peasants very well, they strive to uphold themselves to the idea of noblesse-oblige and therefore strive to maintain their domain and make it thrive, mostly since they want to gain wealth and power from doing so, though some take it more seriously and value the act of taking care of those under them. It is also a point of pride to show off how well the peasantry are doing as an indication of how well the domain is doing and therefore how great of a leader and ruler they are, the peasantry also have more rights then most kingdoms expect and enjoy a life of simple servitude. They are far happier under vampire rule than those under the empire, if there is to be an example.

-Economy: the vampire lands are one of the most self-sustaining lands in the entire continent. Due to their many necromancers, shadowmancers, and monster tamers, and the unique terrain of the vampire lands themselves, the vampire lands have a large surplus of workers that can work for little to no upkeep, being that the workers are undead and controlled by necromancers. This means that they can produce far more than what they put in. The unique nature of the vampire lands is that it is usually cloudy, but despite that the clouds are special in that they allow the sunlight through but just make it dim, therefore allowing plants to grow normally, and contrary to popular belief, the vampire lands are not as desolate as many think. Many of the monsters that live in the vampire lands are undead or carnivores or can simply live of the ambaint mana, that means that most of the lands, even if untended can be planted with plants that produce food and will largely go unmolested till time for harvest when the vampires that rule that land send their low tier monster or undead servants to gather the produce. Because of this large workforce, they can produce many of the simple goods that go into the wider world, with a little more time and artistic talent to the monsters under their control, such as goblins and hobgoblins, or more intelligent undead. They can produce even higher tier goods, such as magical tomes and staff, and many more complicated items that require sometimes years to make, something that the vampires and more intelligent undead have plenty of. Because of their knowledge they are direct competitors of the federation on magical items sold to the outer world. The number one export of the vampire lands is food followed by a mass of simple goods, then magical items. Due to some of their workers being undead they can make them work assembly style 24 hours a day without rest. The vampire lands also deal with slaves but in a surprising contrast they do not treat them as badly as those in the empire. Some people actually willing to sell themselves to the vampires in hopes of being blood bound, meaning that they will gain increase beauty, power and lifespan in exchange for their servitude, some are bought only to be set free in a nearby village ruled by the vampire, since they believe that a free peasant will be harder working and more loyal than a slave, even if their is slave magic to prevent and disloyalty. Thought vampires are very picky about who they bloodbound they do not mind settling into a contract to raise a person from the grave as an intelligent undead in exchange for servitude or some other profit, thought those ew that do go through this find themselves usually unable to go back to the nation they left as they will be unaccepted. Due to the fact that they have the only means to gain access to the demon lands and on any favorable position with said demon lands they are also the only way to get goods from the demon lands that may not show up at market otherwise. They also control the strait that allows ships to reach further into the mainland and the goods one can receive from the eastern kingdoms, because of these two facts they hold a bit of a monopoly on rare goods that feed into the halfmoon seas.

-Military:Military wise they are known for their necromancers and sorcerers, and hordes of the undead. Even the baloes empire is careful not to provoke the vampire lands. The vampire have an overwhelming number of disposable troops to throw at any problem, more so then the baloes empire does, and unlike them necromancers can bring back their own dead and the dead of their enemies as allies. Vampire armies are composed of monster tamers, necromancers, shadowmancers, sorcerers and vampire knights and soldiers. The decades and sometimes centuries of training means that even a lowly vampire soldier or knight is equivalent to a dozen or more soldiers. With hordes of shades, goblins, and skeletons, the vampire army is a sight to behold. Shades can only be hurt by light or magical weapons, goblins are easily replaced and can be raised once dead, and skeletons are disposable and whatever they kill can be raised to add to the army. Sorcerers can cast large and powerful spells and at a rapid rate, and the vampire knights can deal large amounts of damage to regular soldiers. For an air force they have a large number of harpies and vampire knights will sometimes ride wyrms into battle. Despite the fact that they have a large number of technically disposable troops, vampire nobles try to lead them carefully and try to preserve them as they believe in the ideal general and less troops lost the less they have to spend to replace along with decades of experience this helps achieve amazing results in this field. Vampire generals are one of the best in the continent and many from other nations try to recruit them and their decades and centuries of experience in the field of war, and with the constant infighting in the vampire lands, both literal and political, experience was something they had in spades. They also have an air force of harpies in large flocks and wyrm riders, they do not have any real airships though, mostly because of no central government that can help fund or produce such things, though some archdukes have about one airship as a matter of pride.

-Religion/faiths: there are no real faiths that the vampires believe in, the closest one could come to, to someone they worship is alcraz. Due to their pride, vampires are unlikely to believe or worship any god, unless they get something very good out of the deal or truly believe, since vampires already have great pride in themselves, the thought of worshiping something that has yet to prove themselves to them is ludicrous to them if anything vampire that serve a truly great vampire will have faith in their lord rather than in any god. There are some gods and goddesses of darkness and blood that make their home in the vampire lands, but they are not very large and vampires don't like competition unless it's them being worshiped. This does not mean they lack humility, only that they are very pragmatic and do not view things that could upset their control of their territory very well. Since oathkeeping and contract making is a big deal to them they compromise and invoke the goddess tellia, who is the goddess of blood, darkness, and contracts/oathkeeping.

-customs: it is customary to take on at least one bloodbound once a vampire reaches a certain age, mostly when they are young, such as children with someone of their own age, usually arranged by the parents, thought sometimes vampires will go through childhood without a bloodbound and choose one when they get older. Having at least one bloodbound is important to vampire society because a bloodbound can never betray the one they serve, which mentally helps the vampires since it means they have someone to trust outside their own family, unless they are in great relations with another clan or noble family. Peasantry will try to show off their kids and give great praise and try to convince vampires to take one of their children to be bloodbound since it's considered a great honor and some bloodbound can be lovers or even one of the wives of a vampire. Arranged marriages are also sometimes a thing that happen, though not very often.

-society: buildings in the vampire lands take on a somewhat dark and gothic look, both due to the fact that vampires enjoy that kind of aesthetic and to play the part of what many people outside the vampire lands perceive to be the norm of their society. This is not always true, as there are many more modern buildings as well. Vampire society revolves around a few important things that all vampires need to keep track of. One is power, how strong a vampire is in relation to another despite rank, or what political favors they have or own. Two is noble rank, whether that person is a baron, count, or duke. Three is ranked again, but whether the vampire is a vampire, greater vampire, or high vampire. And four, the most important factor in any assessment of a vampire and your place in relation to him/her is age, how much older or younger vampires are to you. Age holds the most important role in vampire society, one would have to do a lot and reach great heights to discount age. The colors of vampires are red, black, and sometimes dark blue, with ascents of gold and silver. Vampires live for a long time, but they age mostly around the same rate as a human but a tad slower until they reach maturity after that the vampire can choose to allow time to do its thing to give the vampire a more old and wiser looking appearance this is mostly done by parents wishing to look older than their kids and than grandparents wishing to look older than their kid again, if a vampire truly looks old than it is sometimes a sign that he or she has had many successful generations of descendents, for humans they are considered mature at the age of 16, for vampires it is 20. Due to their long lifespan they can master many magics, arts and many other things, but they have a very low birth rate, as well as a desire not to have too many kids in the first place. Vampires have a strong dislike for elves, sometimes leaning towards hatred or indifference. This is because the elves killed their vampire lord and taken what they believed was their right to rule over the entire region. Sometimes a vampire would grow tired of living, but not wishing to die, will instead intomb themselves and sleep until they are either woken up, wake up themselves, or die. Vampires are a bit perfectionist in nature and when something takes their fancy, will study it for years and decades before getting tired of it.

-environment: the vampire lands are almost constantly shrouded clouds that are unique and magical in nature, that it allows sunlight to pass through to nourish the plants but change it in a way to not harm the many undead that can prowl the vampire lands, its something of a mixed bag. Undead are only weaker in the light, such as some vampire’s, only few would die from being exposed to the light of the sun. Many plants have a form of bioluminescence. Some plants can only be found in the vampire lands, same with herbs and minerals that are unique to the vampire lands. The vampire lands are one of the most tamed out of the kingdoms, there are hardly and free roaming monsters about except in large forests, and most of the land is under surveillance since vampires are always looking for a good hunt that can test them and make them stronger as well as selling any of the materials that said hunt would bring them. The vampire lands are one of the safest lands out there, safer than most kingdoms.

-Relations: Many kingdoms in the vampire lands have ties to kingdoms in the demon lands since demons don't trade with baloes for obvious reasons, the only way for the outside world to get goods from the demon lands is through the vampire lands. The vampire lands and the demon lands are on very good terms with each other, despite the different cultures and lifestyles. The vampire lands hate baloes empire and dislike what is considered their sworn enemies elves, which can cause problems, they have never forgotten that the federation claimed victory after the death of their vampire lord. They view istra as a good trading partner, a source of wealth and rare goods, and the only real traders that are willing to trade with the vampire lands which means that vampires generally try to keep on their good side. Fandor and kittar have a strong dislike for the vampire lands. in an odd way, the vampire lands do not replicate that dislike, they instead view fandor and kittar as worthy rivals, thought if the vampire’s were to take it seriously and band together, then there would be nothing to stop them, and view the youngblood wars between them as something festive, thought that is also not replicated by fandor and kitttar. Despite this having youngblood wars, there is some trade between the three nations. The vampire lands do not have relations outside this small group, as they usually try to deal with their closest neighbors.

-Notes:Some claims state that the true masters of magic are the vampires and that should they finally put behind their petty politics and come together, they could rule the world. The vampire lands are the most mysterious of all the lands and are very secretive with what they know. The plants and animals of the vampire lands are unique in that they do not need to eat much for the growth of their kind and many of the plants are bioluminescent, allowing them to glow in the dark. Many magical and unique plants grow in the vampire lands that can not be found anywhere else.

 

Demon lands

-Government:(east of the Baloes Empire). Once a great demon king ruled the demon lands called the verta empire. But a great coalition and even greater heroes manage to defeat said demon king. Breaking the empire into many small kingdoms, each vying for control. Demon lords rose and fell but soon the Baloes empire, born from that very same coalition began invisions of conquest and crusades against the remaining demon lords. A few centuries after the fall of the malos empire, a fourth of the western half of the malos empire has fallen to the Baloes empire and its allies. Killing most if not all the remaining demon lords. Now all that's left are many demon dukes, archdukes and other minor demon nobles, fighting to regain their former glory. All bound together by old ways, but of late they have been political maneuvering, many demon nobles are getting tired of losing land and resources to the baloes empire and have taken to an agreement that should they be attack, they will temporarily band together to push their enemies them out, something the baloes empire does not like at all.

-History: it began a long time ago when the first demon king was nothing but a slave to a few human slave owners. Far back when the demon lands where not normally called the demon lands, back then the demon king was born a slave in a frontier kingdom, just a little far from the border of the current baloes empire. Tired of the pain and torture that he saw all around him he grew disgusted by the horror that was displayed all around him, as the nation praticed a more harsh form of slavery campered to others. After seeing all the people who he loved and were kind to him slowly die in pain and agony, he snapped and became awakened. Using the knowledge and power he gained from his new awakened self he orchestrated a slave revolt that lead to a full on slave rebellion that overthrew the kingdom and set himself up as the ruler of the then verta kingdom, verta for verdant in hopes that he would be able to create a beautiful land of open fields and freedom for all. Many from all races, dark elves, orcs, vampires, beastkin and many more can and flocked to his banner, a desire to change the status quo and be free without the fear of oppression from the mostly human and elven nations. With his growing power he soon conquered the neigering nations, breaking the slave trade and then turning and procceded to conquer the untamed lands that lied eastward. Creating the demon lands, the far reaching lands that we know today. After his many feats a coalition of other nations banded together to depose the now demon king and through many tough battles finally a victory that was barely won, killing the demon king and fracturing the verta kingdom, the then verta empire, creating the demon lands. Chronologically it goes to war for daylight when elves and vampires fought each other, then the fracturing of the alria federation, the rise of the verta kingdom and then the rise of the baloes empire and the fall of the verta empire.

-Culture: due to the nature of demons and the legacy of that their demon king left them, many demons value freedom to a large extent. Viewing slavery as abhorrent but valuing honerd bound oaths to a leader or noble to the extreme. Sometimes working in conditions as bad as slavlery but still willing to die for their honor bound person. Some demons who are not well off will sell themselves, as in giving an honor bound oath, in exchange for protection or other things. They value open honesty and integrity, but can still be playfully tricky. Their strength and penchant for magic are things they take great pride in and they value martial and magical professions highly. Due to the way they are treated as nothing but monsters they have decided to make a profession out of being monster tamers, something that also has become highly regarded. They incorporate monsters and help them in gaining evolutions towards demonhood and other high tier races, bustlering the their ranks. Demons are largely communal and tend to care for themselves and their neighbors and their kind before any strangers, but if you can make a friend of a demon, they are friends for life. Many demons have ties to and friends of vampires who they consider their long standing allies, mostly due to the fact they were neutral during the coalition war, ( though they did supply the demons under the table) and traded with them and still do to this day. Demons value strength in all its forms, whether it be martial or mental prowess, demons will follow those who they believe can lead them well.

-Economy: the economy is not a unified currency, as many demon nobles try to produce their own currency as they try to vie for dominance in the demon lands, due to this they operate mostly on barter which can sometimes make it difficult for outside traders or even their own merchants in acquiring goods to sell or buy. Many of the items for sale are a bit unique in that they are weapons or armor that is not usually found anywhere else. The things made in the demon lands are usually things that are made with rare and exotic materials that give weapons or armor special properties that can give a person an edge in any fight. As well as rare herbs and pelts and many other things. The only real trade partners outside of the demon lands are the vampire lands to their south. Because of this they are also the only real way to get goods they normally wouldn't be able to get anywhere else, something the vampire lands take advantage of regularly but not to the point of dishonorable. The trade route between the two nations is on a very long path straight through the mountains that split the two lands apart. Due to the trade between the nations and the consistent economic fighting of the demons creating their own currencies, currency from the vampire lands have been slowly adopted as an unofficial currency of the demon lands, most demons prefer to trade in vampire currency then their own for stability.

-Military:Military the demons boast great warriors and monster tamers, they are able to tame and grow hordes of monsters, their warriors are able to shrug off most wounds, and their mages can cause horrific aliments to their enemies. Many demons would rather die than admit defeat, particularly when fighting the baloes empire since they take slaves. Demons have great leaders due to the constant infighting between clans and nobles and are trained at a young age to battle and fight. Combined with demon physiology, demons can fight for hours where most will tire in minutes, their endurance and strength are far above that of most races. Despite what some might think, they do not rule by might makes right but by who is the best leader. They use the many monster tribes they befriend to bolster their numbers, and are known to take any advantage in war that they can other than the abhorrent unlike their baloes counterparts. Demons are also well known mercenaries that are worth the gold they ask for as they will fight till the job is done 99% of the time, one of the best track records to date, with istranian mercenaries coming a close second. This is also due to the fact like the istranians, they have contracts that make it so that if they die in battle their next of kin will be paid their share of the earnings.

-Religion/faiths: most demons don’t believe in a god that they might feel beholden to, seeing it as something like a form of slavery. Instead they respect the memory of their great heroes and follow the tenets or way of life of those that fell before them, or just make their own. They tend to follow a certain path they set themselves, such as a demon who wishes to be the best swordsman will follow, to the best of his ability the way of the sword to the exclusion of all else. Those few who do follow gods are highly loyal to their faith and believe with a deep reverence that would make priests who have spent decades of their lives, to their god jealous. They do their best to inbody the best, greatest, and goodest aspect of whatever belief they have or follow. Sometimes the following of a leader they put their trust in can lead to worship, laying down their lives for their leader to the point of death, even to sometimes pray to the one they follow. If you want to get a demon to follow you, do something like, unselfishly save their life or do something so grand for them, or something that they will feel like they owe you, and they will follow you to the ends of the earth.

-customs: some demons have a custom were they reflect on themselves at least once a month to see what they could have done better and if they were following their path to the fullest, sometimes this leads to introspection, and they give themselves time to untie all the knots they have in their minds. This can also be a form of meditation.

-society: most people believe that demons follow the strongest, this is not true, they follow those who they deem worthy, most of the time this does mean that it is the strongest, mostly because a strong demon can contribute more and protect more than a weak demon, and with the constant threats from the empire and the fact that a lot of their territory isn't as tamed as most civilized nations are, and the strongest of the fittest is a commonplace fact of life. A strong demon can survive longer and protect more people. Demons also do not judge based on appearance, mostly, the judge based on character, they might have some initial bias, in the case of those who come from the empire, but prove them wrong and they will treat you right. Since many demons are those who look vastly different from what is considered the norm appearance and the fact that they can increase their numbers through uplifting monsters, they are far more accepting of monsterkin and beastkin then other nations are, this helps bolster their numbers and diversified their skills and abilities that help whatever leader or minor demon nation that they reside in. in the demon lands there are less rules and laws then in other lands, but what laws and rules there are is not just highly enforced with few exceptions but even the populace are willing to go out of their way to enforce them, essentially making the entire race a race of people who do a lot of citizen arrests, because of their sense of honor, and the fact they can not afford people who put others at risk for their own gain. They are also a bit of a melting pot of ideas and customs, from the many races that reside in the demon lands, many fugitives escaping from their own kingdoms, trying to make their way up to the demon lands for a second chance at life.

-environment: the environment of the demon lands are very varied to say the least. When the demon king went eastward to claim the many unclaimed, and monster infested lands, he didn't quite colonize everything. Instead like most nations he left large swaths of land completely uncontested with the monster tribes that lived there, trying to integrate those monster tribes peacefully in a diplomatic way then just through force. The lands he conquered were very large and untamed and because of that there are many places that have no sight of civilization for days. But there are many magical forests and plains, filled with rare and exotic plants and animals that are not found anywhere else. The plants and the pelts of these creatures go for a high price and cant be found anywhere else, as far as people know.

-Relations: the demons hate the baloes empire, and will happily ally themselves with anyone who offers a proposition to in any way harm the empire. They consider the vampires as long standing allies due to the fact that they share similar histories with their leaders and the way vampires treat those under them far better than any other nation, as well as the fact that they are good trade partners and tend to help out economically and sometimes military through meranceries when the baloes empire does raids or invasions. They don't care very much for the witches living in the witching woods, they rarely do any trading with them and usually keep to themselves. They don't really have anyone else they trade with or get along with unless it is with those they trade with up towards the north or the vampires in the south. The dark elves are somewhat allies in their opposition of the empire.

-Notes: demons are not one to judge on appearance and they tend to rely on a more show then tell mentality when it comes to trust. Due to the many different shapes and sizes, as well as appearances some can take, they are very open and understanding and don't tend to judge. Due to this they are also open to making friends with the most unlikely of allies and foreigners. Despite the reputation they are a surprisingly peaceful race when you let them be, though they understand that can't always be. Many people believe that being a demon means someone associated with evil, for reasons. That is not true being a demon means that you have some demonic energy or power that most people fell unformattable around and some creatures become demon beasts meaning they become more violent and dangerous, but the two are not associated with each other demons the race are different than demons the monsters. Demons the race are more demon-kin than actual demons. Real demons are fare more dangerous and evil than the demon-kin.

 

Beast lands

-Government: (south of the halfmoon sea). A land filled with beastman and beastkin. The wild beast lands are filled with adventure and riches, where many rare plants and animals live. The beastman and the beastkin live in large tribes that for the most part, get along with one and other. The beastman look like anthropomorphic animals, while the beastkin look mostly humanoid with animal traits, such as eyes, ears, and tails. Beast lands are also usually mean lands that are wild and are home to many magical beast monsters, and not necessarily those that are home to beastman or other variants of beastman.

-History: beastlands usually come about when plants and animals grow magical or otherwise taking unique properties that can range from super speed or spitting fireballs. Thought sometimes beastlands are filled with beastman that usually evolves from some sort of monster or beast and grow to be bipedal and smarter forming communities and then culture and governments, sometimes completely cut off from other outside influences creating unique cultures that are not found anywhere else. There are many ruins in the south in the beastlands, that many adventures like to check out for loot, the ruins also show that their may have once been a thriving beastman culture that extended far and lasted for a long time, making many wonder what happened to it.

-Culture: when in beast filled lands there is no culture but when talking about beastman, they are so varied that it is mostly impossible to get a grasp on any one encompassing cultural layout, thought most of the time they believe in some sort of animism religion or shamanism or even some form of druidism when left to their own devices. What is taboo for one beast clan can be common place in another, and because of this, when beast clans meet each other for the first time they tend to fight and incorporate or exterminate the opposition, though there have been times when they open dialogue and try to work together. Many nations include monster lands and beast lands in their borders.

-Economy: there is no ecomoney for beasts, but for beastman they mostly either hunt or make the things they need or barter for everything else, they usually don't trade for things they think they don't need and therefore may be taken advantage of by outsiders who would trade valuable pelts for something cheap but the beastman consider valuable. There is no real economy but for those beastman who make constant contact with more civilized places they tend to be a bit smarter on the trade. Many people enter the beast lands for profit and training and the gaining of rare loot.

-Military: The beast lands are known for their berserkers, beast tamers, and shamans. Little else is known about the beast lands. Many of those who enter the beast lands unprepared are usually killed in short order. Which makes attacking any beastman tribe or otherwise a difficult challenge, especially since beastman will use the terrain to their advantage and attack when they have the upperhand.

-Religion/faiths: beastman and beast kin culture is unique from tribe to tribe, this means so to is their religion or faith. But for the most part they practice a form of animism, druidism, or shamanism. They have no high or over arcing god that incompases all beastman/kin except for the few tribes that pray and worship some form of minor animal deities. They are also practitioners of ancestor worship, like most primitive people. Because of the many varied religions and faiths, the power of priests and followers can be different from tribe to tribe.

-customs: customs are also very varied from tribe to tribe. Some do tattoos, some wear necklaces filled with mementoes of their greatest hunts, while others can be something completely different, there is no one customs that all tribes share, though there can be similarities with tribes have gotten to know one another over the generations.

-society: society is largely egalitarian with a chief or council that rules over the tribe. Some tribes are so large they can dominate or put pressure on other nearby tribes, creating pseudo federations or small kingdoms. They largely live simple lives with no great technological tools. This is not becaous they are dumb, on the contrary they are quick on the uptake when it comes to new ideas and usefull tools that they can use to better themselves and thier tribe, instead it is belived that they simple do not have the time that most long lived nations or races have to allow for any real technoligical progress, and their culture and society in a way prevents any questioning of the old ways of doing things. They are an open and amicable people while at the same time being closed minded and wary of strangers, this also varies from tribe to tribe. Some tribes have grown enough, both in power and size to be considered a young kingdom. Most of the beast man and kin tribes lie to the south of the half moon sea.

-environment: the environment of the beastlands are usually heavily wooded and dense with vegetation or trees, sometimes they are large swaths of jungle that even the best of guides can get lost in. some forests are so large, one can not see the sky. There are many exotic plants and herbs and animals that can only be found in the beastlands south of the half moon sea. Their are also large plains every so often. Sometimes the environment is similar to those of the north, but the deeper south you go the more heavily wooded it is. Because of the mostly unclaimed nature of the beast lands south of the half moon sea, many would be kings try their luck to carve a land for themselves to rule over. Many dangerous beasts and more live in beastlands, and therefore should be tread carefully on.

-Relations: relations between who's who reside in the beastlands and whose who do not are different for each unique place and therefore cant be a be all for any beastlands.

-Notes: there are many beastman and beastkin that come from beast lands but there are also many that grew up and lived their inter life without ever setting foot in any wildlife. They Are many nations that have beastman or kin that are important members of their nation have never known another place to call home or live, and are treated very well.

 

Amar

-Government: Amar is a monarchy ruled by a king and his two wives. They do not have many nobles, instead they have many governors that are under the king. The king rules with absolute power but he rules with a kind heart and just laws, treating everyone equally. Many of the races have representatives that each have a voice and a council that advises the king, all from metacritic backgrounds. Due to a shared enemy the dwarves allowed the amar kingdom to join the stonewall alliance, which has gone a long way to help prevent the empire from gaining a foothold into the region. The king's second wife must always be of another race then the main race in charge, in other words, if the king is human, he would have a human wife and his second wife would be either elf, beastkin or another race, and if the king is half elf, then he could choose ethier human, elf, or otherwise. The king that is chosen to rule next is one that is best out of all the king's male heirs, including the second wife. Afterword the ones chosen are given tasks to complete, that includes, martial, scholarly, and political and economic skills that prove their worth. This rule was set down to prevent any one race from completing dominating the monarchy, there are also many nobles of different races, in contrast to other nations they actually have only a few races that are not allowed to be first class citizens. They are open to allowing others from other nations to become second class citizens and if proven their worth, first class. This law sometimes leads to some political conflict.

-History: the amar kingdom is a relatively young one, only a few hundred years old, it was formed when many humans and other races tried to flee the expansion of the baloes empire as it expanded its borders by force or vassalisation. After many generations of hard work, they have brought their kingdom to be very prosperous and rich, the kingdom has also been very peaceful until the baloes empire grew greedy for its great wealth, and tried to take over. They failed but it was a wake up call for many in the amar kingdom and they have since then taken means to protect themselves making a great wall and fortress on the pass that's the only way through into the heartlands of the amar kingdom. The amar kingdom was added to the stonewall alliance and with their aid had repulsed the advances of the empire. They have even been able to expand to an island to their north, allowing them greater access to the north's trade and the many kingdoms that they have allied with and hire mercenaries from in case of further empire aggression.

-Culture: for many, life in the kingdom is slow, peaceful and fulfilling. There is much to enjoy alongside the beautiful scenery. The nation has very large farmlands and is known as the breadbasket of the north, another reason why the empire wishes for it. It is also well known for its spring and winter festivals that are grand affairs. The people are hardy, and hard workers, they are open and willing to accept others of different races and backgrounds. They are a melting pot of people with a unique aspect of their kingdom that draws people in and turns them into loyal citizens of the kingdom and its ways. There are many races that live in the kingdom and there are many villages filled with those many different races, it is very common to see them and they are accepted in all forms of work and high authorities if they prove themselves. They are very respectful of one another and are careful not to make things about race or the like, since they all worry about such things weakening the kingdom.

-Economy: due to the large farmlands that they have they are largely self sufficient and most of whatever else they need they can get through trade with their neighbors of the stonewall alliance and traders from the north on the dragon sea. but when they do trade southward or charter a ship to the halfmoon sea to sell their goods, they make a lot of money. They have a bit of a monopoly on most of the goods that come from the north, something that the kingdom of istra is trying to get in on but have not been able to have as much achievement as the kingdom of amar. Because of the great amount of food they produce, the mines they have, the trade they do with the dwarves and the north, they are one of the wealthiest kingdoms in the northern part of the region, something that the empire eyes them for. They are a source of very unique and exotic goods that can only be found through them. They also have large mines of rare, mystic stones and crystals used in many magical items.

-Military: there is nothing really unique about the military of the amar kingdom, instead they focus on versatility and defense to out stay, or outmaneuver their opponents, sometimes through sheer attrition. They have made a series of forts along the way to the heartland and capital of the amar kingdom that to this day, no one has been able to pass. They have lately started to focus on an air force due to the fact that airships can easily bypass their mountains and therefore one of their main defenses, they are also working on anti air weapons, but mostly working on light attack crafts to get rid of any potential airborne threats the kingdom might face. They are known for their wyvern riders as well. Due to their many different types of races, they do not have a one size fits all on armor, and because of that most armor is custom and enchantmented to better fit the wearer better, while a bit more costly, it has been decided to be a common practice to do this for most soldiers, just for the sake of having armor that is better and more maneuverable. They have made great progress over the years on enchantments that make armor size to the wearer better at cheaper costs. They revolve around squads of about 6 with a leader and, almost like an adventurer party, they are tasked to work together as one unit to achieve group specific goals with other squads. They are highly trained enough to switch to squad based tactics and army based tactics should the need arise, making them an extremely difficult opponent to deal with for outsiders since squads protected themselves as a team rather than like most armies where they are just a bunch of single units in a larger army. The kingdom also hires mercenaries to help with empire aggression.

-Religion/faiths: due to the many diverse backgrounds and histories of the many people who live in the kingdom, there are many minor faiths and large faiths in the kingdom. The kingdom allows all faiths to be equal with the exceptions of those who practice sacrifices and blood. Some of the more major gods that are worshiped are gods of farming, mining, and artisan. There is one religion that is fairly new, in that people have started to worship a chimeric like being, a god of evolution for monster-kin to become evolved and more accepted in polite society and with the many mixed race relationships, a goal of creating the perfect offspring by joining the best of both races into one.

-customs: they have a winter festival and a spring festival. While it's obvious for most kingdoms to have a spring festival in joy of a great harvest, the winter festival came about from many trades and settlers from the north bringing their own customs and cultures from the north, not everywhere do people practice and celebrate winter festivals.

-society: by far the kingdom of Amar is the most open when it comes to relationships between different races, it is considered rude to bring up anything about a person and who they are dating. Because of this there are many children that are of mixed race and society has adjusted to be more accepting of those of mixed race than most other nations. They are also very communal, they protected each other. There are many villages that are mostly elven or bearskin in population, and with the acceptance of many races, they have many people who are protected as part of the kingdom, and in turn they join the kingdoms armies, pay taxes, and contribute to the nation's economy.

-environment: the kingdom is very mountainous with many wide open areas filled with forest and arable soil great for farming and hunting. The mountains are rich in minerals and the forests are filled with wild beasts that are valuable for their hide and other things, along with plants and herbs that are useful for magic and other things. The climate is mostly temperate, with short winters and little snow. The kingdom has expanded to an island in the dragon sea that is a little colder than on the mainland. There are also many hot springs in the more northern parts of the kingdom and very rare dead volcanoes.

-Relations: they are very good friends with their neighbors of the stonewall, they view those of the north a bit like barbarians but good folk worth trading with. They view the empire with suspicion and dislike. They view istra with a sense of friendly rivalry since they are both known for their traders but also camaraderie because they are both targets of the empire. They don't really have any other relations with anyone else. They hire mercenaries from the north when they deem necessary, and have gone out of their way to make good impressions of those in the north for further trade and good relations.

-Notes: many slaves from the empire flee to the north where they are welcomed into the amar kingdom and given jobs. The kingdom has a program for such things.

 

Fandor

-Government: a monarchy ruled by a king, the heirs are chosen from the best of the children and those most likely to succeed. The king of Fandor is a largely beloved figure who cares deeply for the kingdom and its people. Lately there has been talk about joining Kittar and Fandor into one nation.

-History: about hundreds of years ago, two brothers, adventurers, fallen nobles, set out to explore the world and make a home for themselves. One set up near the half moon sea and founded fandor, the other near the witch woods named kittar, they have since been known as the brother nations due to their close ties with each other and the way they treat each other. The people of both nations treat each other like family and while they are suspicious of foreigners they will always welcome those of their brother nation. Due to the border shared between fandor and the vampire lands, there have been many raids by young blood’s, young vampire’s, trying to expand and claim territory for themselves, a more recent development that started around 400 years ago as even the long lived vampires need space to grow. The lands of fandor and their semi hostel neighbor to the south have made the people of fandor hardy and stoic, similar to their brothers east of them in kittar.

-Culture: the people have very little to celebrate, but when they do its in complete contrast to what they may at first seem. They celebrate with large open parties, food and mead piled high and singing everywhere. They tend to respect the spirits that they can not see and they strive to work with the land to the point that a small drudic culture has sprouted in their lands. The people are not very open or friendly and are hard to warm up to, but they are very caring, even of the strangers they claim to not like, and if opened up they can make great friends and colleagues. They treat their brothers from the east like family that haven't visited in a long time, opening their house and food to them, the two peoples genuinely treat each other like family and are both willing to help each other out. The food in fandor while simple is filling and warm, with great taste. There are many unused and old fey glades. due to the vicinity of being near the vampire lands, they are careful to respect the forest and the old ways, and properly bury or dispose of corpses so that they don't rise and their spirit comes back.

-Economy: the economy is a bit simple but well developed. They have four main exports, wood from long lived and magical trees, the slayers that are trained in fandor that are highly sought after, the crossbows that are highly prized no matter where they get sold, and finally their large silver mines that are very useful for selling and making of weapons the combat monsters and undead. Because of this, while they may not seem like it, they are a wealthy nation and many covet their silver mines that don't seem to ever run out as well as the woods that can only be got from fandor and Kittar. The peasants are also well off and seem to be happy with what they have, they are content so to speak and only trade for the essentials and rarely for anything else. They also trade with Talis and Troa to their north, and istra despite the fact they don't like the fact that they trade with the vampire lands. When in times of peace with their southward neighbor, they trade with those in the vampire lands.

-Military: due to the constant battles against the undead and many monsters in their territory, fodor's military have revolved around dealing with these threats rather than trying to build a more conventional army. They first started a slayers’ school, a school for the killing and studying of monsters, beasts, and undead that are harder to deal with than what conventional adventures can help with. Their cities, towns and even villages, are all like castles that are heavily fortified against the constant onslaught of monsters and other things that they have to deal with. Over the years they have developed weaponry that has since been the pride and joy of all of fandor, the fandorian crossbow. The fandorian crossbow is one of the most advanced crossbows in the world and is the pride and joy of every fandorian in fandor, highly protective of their crossbow they rarely if ever sell it to outsiders, and even small poor village folk would spend whatever they can just to buy a crossbow with a bolt and pass that down through family generations as a prized family heirloom. The crossbow is a work of art that takes months to make as it is enchanted and worked on tirelessly by professionals to optimize the crossbows fire rate, range, power, and ease of handling. The crossbow bolt is even more important, the entire tip is made of sanctified silver and enchanted to the maximum potential to be able to kill even the most hardy of undead. Fandor have learned their lesson trying to fight monsters and undead in a fair fight as monsters regain their lost numbers quickly and the undead simply replace themselves, due to this the fandoring crossbow and bolt was made to deal with the problems that they cause in their nation. They also take a page from the young bloods that use disposable troops, have taken to training mass amounts of beast tamers and summoers to help bolster their war and fighting potential and minimize the risk of losing soldiers and people. They have become the forefront expert in crossbow and summoning magic, as well as other areas, they have deemed as necessary to help themselves survive and thrive in the lands of fandor. Those who make the crossbows are also highly respected. Slayers are one of the most specialized fighters around when it comes to hunting and killing of dangerous monsters and undead, they sell themselves out as mercenaries or adventurers and are highly sought after. They are also well known for their light mages which they use to protect themselves from vampire shadow mages.

-Religion/faiths: there are many old fey glades, and due to the abundance of nature there are many old druidic circles and those who worship the spirits and the elements. They like most people pray to their ancestors and the heroes that have saved their nation in ages past. There are also many minor religions that come down from the north from troa.

-customs: hunting is a great pastime and tradition for those living in fandor. There are some who go out in the woods just to enjoy nature.

-society: whether man or woman, old or young, rich or poor, all are bound to protect themselves and each other when monster swarms and young blood wars start. Due to the wild untamed nature of fandor, there are many monster nests that if left unattend will soon oustrip any resources for the monsters in their area and search for a new place to call its territory which means monster swarms. Many children are brought up to be self sufficient, even the well to do, and trained to protect themselves and their families. Fandorians are always willing to help one another for the sake of their community and their own self interest. Because of the dangerous nature of their nation, those who put themselves over others are frowned on and usually not liked which can cause problems for said person involved, this doesn't mean there aren't loners, which there are, but even loners will try to help a little. Because of the need for manpower and an increase of military strength, people have taken to tamming large dogs and cats to help protect their homesteads.

-environment: there are many old fey glades that have gone unused but are still filled with natural energy that druids use for their spells. There are also very many old vampires ruins back when the vampire lands have expanded far beyond where the vampire lands are now today. These ruins are explored constantly for treasure and the killing of any undead that might rise from the old ruins. The lands of fandor are filled with thick forests and is very hilly. Due to the close proximity to the vampire lands, there are many cloudy days that fandor experiences.

-Relations: they are in great relations with their neighbor to the east, Kittar who they deem as a brother nation. They do not like the vampire lands to their south. They don't care very much for their neighbors to the northwest , Troa and Talis, but they don't hate them ethier. They don't like the baloes empire because they believe they are the reason why the two brothers were forced to leave their homeland in the beginning. They are neutral towards istra because despite being great trade partners they also trade with the vampire lands and they don't really like that.

-Notes: even though they are on bad terms, there is much trading going on between the vampire lands and fandor, and if honest, the people of fandor get along well with whose in the vampire lands, that is to say, not so much the vampires but the humans that are ruled by the vampires. Though in rare cases vampires as well.

 

Kittar

-Government: Kittar is more bound by a shared history and culture and honor then any real central authority. Whatever monarchy they have is not as effective or as centralized as most other nations. They instead have head chiefs over the many towns and villages in Kittar and the king then rules over them through majority vote when they are brought together. The only time they are truly working together is when they are repelling attacks from the vampire lands and from the witch woods. Because of the inepte government there are many who wish for Fandor to take over. Something that the king of Kittar doesn’t actually mind since he wishes to travel slaying monsters like his ancestor than pushing papers. Thought there are a few who don't want another nation, even if its a brother nation, taking over, even if they have to admit that they might do a better job. There are a few that fell like they will not respect their freedom and cultural differences.

-History: founded hundreds of years ago by the brother that founded fandor they have shared a border and history for a long time. They have always helped each other in times of need and have come to rely on each other to the point where both believe they are more one nation with two parts then two nations. Similar in terrain to fandor, they to had to deal with fallen fey glades and old dark fey that still roam the lands. They share a border with the witch woods that they are weary off due to the fact that many witches live in those woods and there have been rumors of kidnappings on the border with the woods. Less fortified then their southern brothers and with less population they tend to be very commual towards their in-group and don't trust outsiders very easily. They also have to deal with raids from Belzar which have made them constantly vigilant.

-Culture: they are far more respectful and superstitious of the old ways of the land they now inhabit. This has made them more solemn from an outsider's perspective and more reserved even to those outside their village. From a young age many are taught how to protect themselves and survive in the lands of kittar safely. They would carve glyphs and runes into trees to create wards against bad luck and spirits, they tend to always wear a protective lucky charm on their person at all times. The woods are thicker and darker near the witch woods and they tend to be more magical as well, this has made the people of kittar more careful about how they tread in the forest lest they accidently tread on an old ruin. They are always willing to welcome those from fandor like long lost families. The glyphs and runes also can be warnings or directions from previous travelers, they are hard to find unless you have grown up in Kittar.

-Economy: due to not having much to export, they have to work hard to stay largely self sufficient and only trade for things they truly need. Their main export is magical wood that sells for a high price and is easy to enchant, they also sell small magical totems that are supposed to bring good luck and protection. They also make a living as trappers and hunters, selling meats and pelts to help make a living. Their woodworking is highly prized and are sought after to make furniture for wealthy merchants that in turn sell to others for almost double or triple the cost. Due to their proximity to the witch woods they have access to very rare herbs and plants, which they sell for good money. Their wood workers are also very good at carving glyphs and runes on the wood making them be comminsend from merchants far and abroad for specialized carved wood sometimes.

-Military: unlike their southern brother they focus more on archy with bow and arrows than crossboss and are trained at a young age to be master archers and rangers. They also focus on the training of beastmasters to help them survive in the harsh lands of kittar. They do not have the wealth that fandor does to train those in the magical arts but they do have a robust druidic community that helps both the people of the land and defend them from things from within and from outside. They also have many slayers that come from their lands and many young are sent to the slayer academie on the border between fandor and kittar where people from both nations learn much from each other and deepen their bonds. They use hit and run tactics and traps to defeat their foes.

-Religion/faiths: they are far more intuned with nature and more respect it then most people and its dangers, because of this they have a large druidic community that you couldn't find anywhere else with the exception of those in the federation. They pray to nature spirits and nature fey.

-customs: they create a token of good fortune and protection on themselves that they create themselves. They are constantly engraving magical runes on nearby trees and even stone wherever they live in hopes of protection even though most are not literate in magical runecraft.

-society: they are similar to fandor in which they are raised at a young age to protect themselves and those they care about. Because of the abundance of druidic magic and beastamers their villages are almost similar in nature to elves in that they make use of the environment to help build their homes with walls and wards all over the place. They also suffer from monster swarms and worse, nightmare-like creatures that come from the witch woods which they always have to be vigilant for. Their homes are beautiful as they are lovingly cared for and filled with magical runes that glow giving it an eerie beautiful image. Even if they don't have much in the way of education most children are taught the basics of survival and are taught by a druid about the ways of nature, what to do and what not to do. There are small small fey left, mostly small fairies and pixies, that make their home alongside the homes of those in the villages sometimes. They are accepted and treated as part of the community. They distrust too much technological progress, they prefer things to remain mostly in nature.

-environment: the environment of Kittar is filled with forests, swamps, and not much else. Due to their close proximity to the vampire lands they sometimes experience many cloudy days. They also have some old vampire ruins. They also have old fey glades that have gone into disuse and worse, some have become corrupted by the negative nature of being near the witch woods, producing nightmare creatures.

-Relations: they have very good relations with their neighbor fandor to the south. They are very careful of the witch woods and what may come from it. They dislike Belzar since they are constantly trying to raid their villages and so they usually do tit for tat when raided upon. They don't really have any other relations with anyone else. Since they only have one ally to the south in fandor and enemies all around them everywhere else they have gotten very close to fandor and have been thinking of bringing the two nations into union, something that is a bit hard to do since they are very decentralized.

-Notes: sometimes they wear tattoos on their person, sometimes they are magical in nature.

 

Belzar(Land of nomads)

-Government: they do not have any central authority, instead they are divided into many tribes that maintain and try to expand the borders that is Belzar. They do every so often tend to band together and form a horde to attack their neighbors. The tribes are ruled over by a warchief and shamen in a form of dual rulership, one to tend to the everyday aspects of tribe life and the other for the spiritual needs of the tribe. Once every few years the tribes come together to discuss disputies and other things.

-History: a long time ago the belzarians used to live a nomadic lifestyle on the plains, but were pushed out when the baloes empire expanded their borders pushing into what is now modern day belzar and forcing the belzarianss to settle for a more sedentary living. They used to ride horses and giant lizards and many other large and mobile beasts, now they had to do away with many of those creatures as they were forced to try to farm the land and fail, forcing many to raid for the supplies they needed just to survive. It is said thought, that the original belzarians came far from the east, many thousands of years ago and that there is a larger nation to the east filled with belzarians, thought if this is true, no one as come from there or been there and back to prove it.

-Culture: they deeply respect their ancestors and the spirits they don't see, they believe they are loved by the stars and they view the stars with reverence. They wear tribal tattoos on the arms and necks. They are a martial society that revolves around discipline and meditation.they don't like the fact they have to do raids and would prefer to go back to their old lifestyle of roaming the plains. But over the generations, they have grown more bitter about what has been done to them and more hostile. There have also been some belzarians that try to leave their prison of belzar and try to make it in nations whose societies are more open to others. They also hold the stars in high regard and view them as sacred.

-Economy: they live on very little and try to save enough for the cooler months when prey is scarce. When in desperation they will raid nearby villages for whatever extra they can get their hands on. They trade mainly with others of their tribe and rarely with outsiders but there are those who try to start up friendly relations with outsiders for the goods they lack. They have heard of animals which they farm and they get most of their food from raising and eating the meat and cheese made from these animals which they also sell. They are the number one provider of rare cheeses and hides as well as most animal products.

-Military: the belzarians don’t have any real army organization but they are masters of hit and run attacks, and their warriors are not to be trifled with. Their cavalry is well known for its mobility and the archers that fire from their mounts. Their warriors are well disciplined and strive to master their craft to a razer edge. One on one belzarian warriors will prevail over any other opponent. They won't fight a battle they don't think they can win. They are honorable fighters that will refrain from harming innocents and children. When in times of need they band together in large hoards to try and reclaim their lost territory. This usually means raiding and pushing into the empire which is a constant drain on the empires resources. Though there is some worry that the empire will finally end the belzaringn threat once and for all.

-Religion/faiths: they worship their ancestors, the spirits and most importantly the stars, the worship gods of stars and such because they believe that stars can foretell the future and what is to come. They also believe they can get power from the different stars that are in the night stars. They also worship animal spirits. They also mediate and do self reflection.

-customs: they wear tattoos for many reasons, some for great achievements, what star you worship and which tribe you belong to.

-society: they are raised to be self sufficient and to take care of themselves and those in the tribe, they are very communal and with a tribe first mentality as they deem it the best way to protect everyone involved. Some have taken to being both farmers and herders while other tribes have worked together where one is the farmer and the other is the herder and they trade constantly to better help one and other. They are very open and accepting of others and have adopted those of other races, as they deem that you are one of their people so long as they hold to the values of the people and their culture. Because of this they are willing to accept and adopt others into their tribes usually when they are young.

-environment: many forests surround belzar in the witch woods and Kittar, and hilly terrain in Troa. belzar is very open plains with little pockets of trees and lake every so often. Belzar used to be bigger and some of the plains that used to belong to belzar is now taken over by the empire, reducing their land by a fourth. Because of the great terrain they can easily raise large numbers of herd animals and horses and other tamed animals that they can raise or sell.

-Relations: belzar has no allies, they are surrounded on all sides by those who don't like them.

-Notes: due to their open nature for those who have been shunned by society, they are willing to take in even some monster kin and bring them into the fold of their society. The country is more of a way of life than a national thing, they are willing to accept anyone who’s willing to live and become a part of their culture and people, so you many have many people from other nations and even some monster kin and demon kin in their communities. They have great force of will.

 

TROA(Theocratic republic of Agoria)

-Government: they are a republic whose seats are those of the highest authorities of their religion. They each have a vote on the running of the nation and set laws that oversee the entire country but for the most part, each and every religion governs themselves. The power and influence of religion in the nation is dependent on the size and how much of the tithe is taxed. They only ban a few religions, such as evil religions that use human sacrifice or otherwise, any religion that revloves harming others is not allowed, but this leaves alot of room for other religions, from cults that worship chickens to sex cults that have sex out in the open. In a strange way, it is a nation of extreme religious freedom, where they are open to all religions and cults that conform to the laws. Because of this they are also open to other races. In a funny twist of fate the main religion of baloes is not permitted in the nation.

-History: the history of troa, like most things is due in some part by the empire, when they disallowed other religions to the point of physical threat, many had to leave in hopes of new lands or nations that would accept them. There are many religions in the world, in part due to the meddling of the creators the system they put in place, which makes it so that anyone or anything can gain certain powers from the belief and faith of their followers. At first they were attacked and had a blockade of goods and resources by the empire, but when other nations stepped in to help due to many of their own faithful being persecuted the nation was able to flourish and grow. Now they are a force to be reckoned with, where many healers and priests come from they are the home to many divine or celestial descent and hold a monopoly on the many healing arts and other goods. The nation has become a haven for spiritual freedom in a way that no other has become.

-Culture: the people of troa can range from any extreme and everything in between, not all follow a religion, some instead many use the opportunity of living in such a place full of divine and celestial energy to find deeper meaning in their lives and the world around them. Many people come to take in the magistic and slightly haphazard architecture, and the many fascinating and weird religions. Many artists come to visit for inspiration to great effect and the cities are one of the greatest to visit. There are many different foods from those who worship a food god, many different clothes from those who worship fashion and many more different interpretations of life and gods and how to worship them or be in spiritual intuned with them. Many godlings come to call this nation their home where they can slowly gain a following without fear of persecution and maybe even be praised for it. The people are open and welcoming, or not, depending on the religion, but they all agree, that no matter what religion they may have, they all must band together when times are tough, putting their unique skills to use. Or risk the consequences.

-Economy: there are many strange goods that come from troa, many of healing or divine nature. Because of this, many visitors come to troa for healing of curses or great wounds that no one else can heal, petitioning godlings for aid or powerful priests or alchemists who specialize in healing, even the regular healers are a step above others in other nations. The school for healing and religious teachings is also highly prized and secular in nature to much surprise, as they teach whatever they can to save a life, and not necessarily based on believing one god over the other. Many traders buy in bulk healing reagents and divine materials to sell at other nations for great profit. There are many strange and interesting goods that can only be found in troa, and many healers are commisend from troa to work for those from other nations. Its beautiful cities and scenery are also a tourist attraction that brings in many every year. They can also enchant and create many unique and divine items that are not found easily anywhere else.

-Military: there are many different types of religions and while there is a centralized standing army under the government, due to the many differences that could arise between the soldiers it is difficult to properly organize the army. Despite this small flaw they have a large amount of unique fighters, warriors and mages that can not be so easily found anywhere else, and while it is difficult to organize them they tend to work together putting their different skills together to create a powerful force that many are hesitant to take on. The flaw in their army also works to aid them in a way where enemies can’t so easily determine what troops are what and what they do, so easily as troops from other nations, as what may have been mistaking a mage was actually a powerful warrior with a unique skill set, and with the many unique blessings that they can get from their gods their abilities and traits can differ from person to person. One thing is for sure, they have a lot of healers, if their troops are not taken care of or their healers, anyone trying to fight them will soon find that their opponent is back to full health before they even knew it.

-Religion/faiths: the religions in troa are too numerous to name them all, but there are a few large ones that should be mentioned. Telem is the god of sleep and dreams, he has a large following who, all they do is just sleep around and dream. He owns a large franchise of inns that cater to the middle to upper class people, and a few inns that are priced moderately enough for the more well to do of the poor. They are run by priests of Telem who magically imbues the inn to guarantee sleep, and even if willing to pay the extra price, they can help you dream whatever dream a customer wants. Telem holds many inns throughout most nations, from istra, to amar and more, even a few in the vampire lands. There are gods of healing, gods of warriors and more. Some people even have dual loyalties amogest deities, so long as the gods themselves don't mind and the aspects that the gods hold sway don't clash with one and other. The god Thram who is the brother of salvor is the god of banks and economic knowledge, he oversees the most likely option for good economic growth is the one chosen and protects his banks jealousy, just like telem, he is almost everywhere with how trusted his banks are and the fact that one can draw from their account from any bank, no matter where they are and how well they protect customers gold. So much so they are also allowed in some places in the vampire lands. It is so big that it secretly goes by another name and pretends not to be owned or run by a god and is even in the empire, to which the empire turnes a blind eye to due to the company's stance on neutrality in all things, in a funny way, making the bank one of the safest places in the world to be in. seraph is the goddess of healing, protection, and loyalty. The religion is an all female one and is what one thinks of as the generic healer in white robes that everyone knows about. Also paladins sometimes. There is one particularly well known god of food, with restaurants the world over, also sometimes the empire would turn a blind eye towards them.

-customs: there are too many different races and nationalities as well as religions to properly determine a custom that is for at least, most people.

-society: they are similar to the amar kingdom in that they are open to all people of all races and religions, but feel it odd if someone does not have a god or belief system that people follow, you could get away with saying you follow a certain path, but for the most part being a part of a following of a god is like being part of faction in the nation of Troa. the people of Troa grow up being very attuned with the knowledge of the divine and the spirit, something of a necessity in the nation considering the different types of religions and the sometimes cutthroat politics that comes with trying to sometimes win over followers. With the many gods that are sometimes fighting for space. Some religions operate niche positions in the society such as one particular religion who claims war over all things dirty and unclean and therefore they set out to make sure that the city is clean by washing it and managing the sewers and such. Sometimes in order to find employment who have to join a religion in order to make a living, this is where the idea of dual loyalty sometimes comes in.

-environment: the environment is very sunny and the terrain is hilly with wide open area and rivers. There are forests every so often mostly towards their borders.

-Relations: they have very good relations with many nations across the continent mainly due to the fact they are also the most welcoming to the religions that their home nations practice creating a sort of unity between them and other nations.

-Notes:

 

Durubia

-Government: ruled by a king that is all but beholden to the baloes empire the nation tries their best they can to keep whatever semblance of independence that they can maintain. The country is mostly ruled by those of strong mind and body and many are the mercenary guilds that call durubia their home. Sadly, it seems that the empire will have its way with the country, and have it become part of the empire.

-History: the nation was just a small settlement in the beginning that grew from the wealth that it gained from the ore from the mountains and the woods from the east. At first a very wealthy nation but as the mines dried up and the harvesting of wood became more difficult the wealth of the nation slowly dried up. The land was not very suitable for farming, with barely enough to get by, so with no other recourse many become bandits or mercenaries to make ends meet. This soon changed the nation into a mercenary nation where many will set out to make their wealth and fortune to bring back home. Overtime coliseums formed and many fighters came to try their luck in the fights for great wealth and glory. But as time went by the nations that bordered the nation of durubia was swallowed by the empire and the empire became their only trade partner left, leaving them in the unsavory position of being a vassal to the empire in all but name as the empire can threaten the economy of their nation without much push back, and with no allies nearby any thought of military resistance is all but futile. But there have been some talks about trying to join the stonewall alliance, but it may be too late as many have gotten used to the status quo and will have much to lose if things go south.

-Culture: the nation is a mercenary and warrior nation where how much you have is all that matters, they will do almost anything for a bit of coin and the desire to be wealthy and not worry about wealth is deeply ingrained into their psyche. Making one of the most tenacious of merchants along with it. They are also known for the amount of strong drink they drink and the fights that can easily happen out in the open. Many form groups for protection but through it all there is an honor amongst thieves mentality that most outsiders will do well to remember the unspoken rules that are put into play. Many that grow up in the nation grow hardy and ambitious to make a name for themselves. They value strength and cunning in many forms and connections with the right people can make or break a person. Give someone enough coin and you find someone to do almost whatever you want. You can almost buy anything in durubia and so some merchants risk the travel to the nation to buy goods that in most places might be considered illegal. They are also known for their auction house’s that trade in rare and hard to find goods.

-Economy: the economy of the nation is mostly based on the flow of outside wealth flowing in. to this end many become mercenaries to bring back that wealth from the outside back home to their families. The merchants from durubia are not to be scoffed at either as they will always drive a hard bargain for whatever gain they can achieve, some say they cheat or even scam, but those are only in the minority. They have a reputation of cheap manpower on demand and the empire is more than willing to make use of the desperate situation that the people of durubia find themselves in. every so often miners will hit it big and bring a temporary reprieve as they sell ores that help bring wealth back to the nation. Mines are large and long and very old but there are always those who are willing to plumb its depths in hopes of making it rich. The lumber from the woods east to them are also very valuable but are hard to get as the dark elves will contest the chopping of any of the old and magical woods in their forest but for those willing to put their lives on the line, it is well worth it as the wood sells for a high price. If the lands of durubia were a little more arable, their situation would be very different than what it is now. It is still the number one exporter of ores to the empire and because of that the empire holds a vested interest in making sure that it continues to be beholden to them. While it is true that when even a seam plays out, the number of ores that the country produces is still greater than most nations. But mining is also a danger since the deeper they go the more dangerous the monsters they have to contend with, making many miners lose their lives in the mines. This has made the mining industry, the logging industry, and the mercenary industry the top three causes of death in the nation.

-Military: due to the lack of money to field a large army or otherwise the government instead made all large mercenaries guilds paramilitary that operate on their own unless the nation is at war. The government itself runs a mercenary guild to help collect wealth for the nation and is one of the largest guilds in the nation. They are known for the veteran mercenaries, mercenaries that have vetran statues are highly paid and sought out for their skill and years of experience. The mercenaries guild is made up with all kinds of people with all kinds of trades, from fighters to rouges and self taught mages.

-Religion/faiths: the goddess of war, battle and honor stella, is the sister to seraph. stella is also well known to amazons who she also is worshiped by sometimes. stella is a valkyrae like figure that has a large following, mainly amongst women. Darum is a god of battle, blood, and bravery, where cowardice is very frowned upon. There are also a few other minor gods but those are the top two in the nation. There is also a god of industry that is well known.

-customs: mind your own business, don't poke your nose where it doesn't belong, and tip generously.

-society: most children brought up are brought up in hopes they would move out and bring money back in, they are trained, or sometimes forced to fight constant mock battles with parents who they themselves know little about fighting, in hopes that their children make something of themselves when they grow. There are many orphanages that are run by both the state and many people who have taken to them as a collective community necessity, viewing the children in them as everyone's children in hopes of raising them right and making sure that should they not make it back to their own children will be taken care of in case no one else will. There is also a seedy underbelly of society that smuggle mostly illegal goods that are banned in most nations. The miners, lumberjacks and mercenaries take great pride in the jobs they have, thinking of themselves as the backbone that helps their nation and its people and many people think so as well.

-environment: there are mountains to the north where they mine their ores, large magical forests to the east where they cut for lumber. Bright sunny days are a daily fact of life. The land is flat and the air is dry and cool, the land ismostly not arable and therefore there is much that farming can do to help sustain the population, most farming produces just enough for those in their community or town, and cities have to import their food to sustain themselves. They have recently taken to using some of the lumber they take and turning into peat to help with farming. There are few rivers and lakes, but it is not like a desert, just dry.

-Relations: they have no real allies nearby and as such they are desperate and dependent on the empire for their continued food and jobs, something they do not like very much.

-Notes:

 

Witch woods:

-Government: they have no central government and instead are divided up into clanes that have long standing feuds and alliances with one and other. They do not seek to leave their forest as for the most part they vie for dominance of the forest. For the most part, the most powerful of the clan is the de facto leader when the clans feel threatened by outside forces. There are about 7 large clanes and 20 smaller clanes. They have a school for witchcraft which is considered neutral ground.

-History: no one's really sure how old the witch's clans are or how long they have been around, some speculate that they have been around since even before the time of the alria federation. No one is sure where the witch's can from or how they came about but many are sure that no one should cross them.

-Culture: many are the strange magics that witches practice and each clan practices a particular magic that defines their clan and how they act. For the most part they deal in dark arts that even demons and vampires would show a distaste for, but for witches they view themselves as seekers of true magic and power. They tend to make pacts with beings beyond their understanding in exchange for who knows what. These pacts can go horribly wrong.

-Economy: they do not go looking for goods outside the forest, instead making due with what they have in the forest. Sometimes an outsider may wonder in and in exchange for a way out will trade something valuable. Each clan has villages of normal people that work the forest for the witches, they work due to the fact that their people are bound to the witch clan they are bound to, sometimes through magic compulsan. Sometimes they make deals with others outside the woods in exchange for goods not found in the woods, but they can go pretty badly for those who make deals with them.

-Military: the witches have many minions that they use as a fighting force but for the main part they use curses and other dark magics in order to deal with intruders or otherwise. They try not to fight face to face instead they will try to manipulate their opponent into their own demise. They use fear and psychological tactics to scare and demoralize intruders they deem threatening. Some clans specialize in puppetry magic, which is similar to golemancy except with wood and a different magical formula.

-Religion/faiths: they have one overarching goddess of secrets, taboos, and magic. And minor more evil kinds of spirits that they form pacts with in exchange for power and other things.

-customs: they are too secretive to determine what they have as a custom.

-society: each clan is headed by a small cloven of individuals that are either the most powerful, most resourceful, or the most knowledgeable, sometimes all three. These leaders are responsible for everything that happens in their clanes territory as well as the continuation of their clan and further power for it and themselves. They do not like outsiders, and for the most part the forest is their entire world and anything coming from outside of it, an alien. They are very insular and care more about dealing with each other than what happens outside their forest. There are also a few unaffiliated witch covens and take charge of small out of the way villages that the bigger clans dont even notice. The clans make sure to teach anyone who is able, their magics, the more witches you have and the more knowledge and more powerful than those witchs are, the more power the clan has. Sometimes they will kidnap young girls because they think they have the potential to be decent witches, if not then they are still useful.

-environment: the environment is very dark, due to the large overhanging trees that block most of the light of the sun from reaching down. It is also very swampy, but it is not an all one large swamp, more that there are many small swamps dotted all over the forest. The trees are large and old. It is easy to get lost in, and there are many dangerous creatures that call the place their home, also poisonous plants and creatures.

-Relations: whatever relations they may have would not be with outsiders and any relations they may have with other clans. There has been one exception when the vampires were at the height of their power, they were able to make a few trades with the witches and the vampire learned some of their puppetry magic in exchange for some of their knowledge on magic themselves.

-Notes: lately they have been times where the witches of the forest have become more open to trading from the outside due to the changing times. They also are specialists in puppet magic.

 

Monster Lands

-Government: there is no central government in the monster lands as like the beast lands they are not necessarily unified, they have many tribes and or meaning that they are wild and untamed and just have alot of what would be considered monsters in the land. Many nations have monster lands in their borders as borders are not a hardline thing but more of a projection of power and how quickly you can reach your borders within a certain number of days from your closest city, town, village. They can have mindless monsters or intelligent ones that rule over a small tribe.

-History: the monster lands have no history; they are lands that have been under monster rule or have been lands that have gone into disuse and have been reclaimed by mother nature, and or monsters.

-Culture: like the beast lands the monsters lands can have a varied form of cultures that are different from tribe to tribe. But there are cases where they take on the culture of the surrounding nation if enough outside influence seeps in. Due to the eat or be eaten life of monsterlands they can be very aggressive at first, especially of those who they think might take their hunting grounds, their livelihoods.

-Economy: sometimes some monster tribes will trade with other monster tribes and even outsiders but just like their culture what is valued and what is not can vary between tribe to tribe and therefore they can be difficult to properly trade with.

-Military: their military is whatever able folk they have. This is not a joke, some monster tribes will throw the entire tribe at a threat they feel needs to be dealt with. There are many different types of monsters to determine a military type.

-Religion/faiths: shamanism, druidism, spiritism, and many more, they are to varied to have one type of faith.

-customs: they are too varied to have a single type of custom.

-society: the strong rule and the weak serve, is what it is mostly like, in some ways similar to the beastlands.

-environment: caves, forests, plains, mountains, they can live anywhere and be anywhere.

-Relations: depends on the monster’s whether they are the type to make friends or not. Or the peaceful type or the type to talk or not, sometimes its on a case by case basis.

-Notes: there are many monster-kin’s that live in the world and they can either be accepted or rejected by society around them but that doesn't necessarily mean that all monster kin are like their monster counterpart, a prejudice that is a bit hard to overcome. They are more accepted in the demon lands. Monsterlands are the same as beast lands except with monsters. Both can also be called wild lands, as in lands that are wild and untamed.

 

Angel Conclaves

-Government: the angel conclaves each have their own set and style of governance, usually being a council of elders that rule over the entire clan. They are selected by skill, age, and experience from the community to help run the nation. They have a complex mix of social structure, hierarchical order and extreme freedom. In which they have few but very strict rules and the rest is based on culture and the way of things to help keep social cohesion, as well as the unspoken rules, that has worked very well for them so far.

-History: the history of the angel conclaves is a bit of an odd one, unlike most of the other races of the region they are not natives and actually came from a mass collection of floating islands that made an entire continent. They were the first to pioneer and use the airships that are now so prevalent in the region today. They shared it with those they came across in trades for goods and land that was out of the way. They settled in high mountains far from the reach of most races without the use of airships and made their homes in many lands and places in their migration from their floating continent. If asked why the left they will usually answer that it was in their nature to leave and explore and gather knowledge from all over the world. They came on great and giant, even for the modern times, airships that number about a dozen and they used those airships like colony ships and made their homes on mountain tops. They not only brought themselves but some bird kin with them and the amazons as well, there are some races that live in the conclaves that you can't find anywhere else.

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-Culture: the people of the conclaves are very curious by nature something they sometimes can't help, they are always striving for the truth and have one of the biggest libraries in the world that they share with other conclaves with entries going so far back as 5 or even 12 thousand years. They highly value knowledge and acts of kindness. They live in a very communal social structure that prioritizes the whole and individual at the same time and many in the community will strive to make sure everyone is happy in their place and if not that they go and find their happy place that will in turn help the community in some way. They are also very willing to explore or hire explorers and adventurers to go into dungeons or ancient undead ridden graveyards that might contain old or obscure knowledge. They are somewhat similar to troa in their religious practice but usually they venerate those who are on the council or those who are great figures that played a huge part in their culture such as their god of knowledge. They are also one of the few outside of troa to worship the gods that created the world and them in it. Their wings that they have on their backs are different from angel to angel, they can be retractable or fixed and they can be made with light or they can be made of actual feathers and such. They also have many aasimars that live in the conclaves like troa and they are taken care of since they have a chance to evolve into angels themselves. They are also very diplomatic and try to resolve issues without any conflict and in ways that benefit everyone. Because of that and their neutral stance on most politics they are recruited to be intermediaries between nations.

-Economy: they are great traders, similar to those of istra though they trade usually in different things, they are more inclined to make use of their knowledge as leverage and as a bargaining point. They also are the ones to go to if you want healing items and rare divine enchantment items that differ from troa. They are also usually hired by other nations to help run their airships since they have a reputation of being the best shipwrights, engineers and pilots in the region. They live a frugal lifestyle and try to keep themselves as self-sufficient as possible, they prefer to live happy and long lives sometimes just doing simple farm work or other mundane tasks and take pride in them. They are fair traders and have a good reputation that you won't be cheated with if you trade with them. Because of this they have a very decent merchant core that the conclave relies on to help gather the materials that their lofty cities may lack and the good reputation means they are welcomed in most trade ports.

-Military: they don't have any large military force, barely any at all, they use their diplomatic ties with other nations, particularly the amazon’s to call on aid should there ever be someone or some nation that has ill intent on them. Despite their small number they have very skilled warriors and mages, trained with the best knowledge on fighting and magic that they have gathered in all their history. They also have a very large air force, the largest in the region as yet and therefore many are not likely to try their luck against them.

-Religion/faiths: they are one of the few to worship the creators, the gods that created everything. This is an odd choice as most people worship the more current gods that they can see and see the benefits of praying to one god over the other more easily. The creators are the gods that created everything, but they do not provide much in the way of blessings that other gods do, theirs are a more subtle and simple form of benefits that unlike that of others were you to praying to a fire god could let you use fire without the need to use mana for it.

-customs: not so much a custom, but they don't like people touching their wings without permission.

-society: they live in a tier society where despite that everyone is treated equally and it's more that the higher the place you are in society the more responsibility you have for everyone around you. Since this can get pretty stressful they also have many games, toys, and other things to help people have fun and relax. They are the most advanced when it comes to toys and games, and are known to ship them far and wide for great profit. The Amazons that came with them are also very prominent in their society as they do what they can to help protect the angels, they are a form of warrior class for the angels, even though the angels have a form of their own warrior class that are dedicated to the protection of their people. They highly value knowledge, the more knowledge one has the higher your standing in society is. If an angel is a farmer they will strive to be the best farmer there is, if a scholar is the best scholar there is, if a warrior, the best warrior, angels strive to be the best at whatever role life has given them.

-environment: they prefer floating isles, or high top mountains, places that are hard to get to and have a good wind current for their ships. Because of this it can easily get cold wherever they decide to set roots in.

-Relations: they usually have very good relations with those that are their neighbors, the conclave in the south that borders the halfmoon sea as good relations with istra who they see as a good trade partner. They also have good relations with the amazon kingdoms that usually start up next to them who provide warriors to them. They have good relations with the staven republic, malor queendom, and the Asser queendom.

-Notes: just because most of the people in the conclave are nice doesn't mean that there aren't a few bad apples. Over the years they have integrated themselves with the culture and society around them and because of that there are many that don't live in the conclave anymore but in other nations with more open minded laws that allow for the mingling of races. They are well known for being extremely greedy for new knowledge and many are hired by other nations to be researchers for their country, and because of their neutral tendency they usually have no problem with this but that doesn't mean they will work on weapons for that country they are not one for helping the areas that might mean another's death. They have a huge floating island that has giant engines on it to make it move, while it doesn't move anymore, a very large city that acts as the angel conclaves capital lys their.

 

Amazon kingdoms

-Government: the government is a queendom with an absolute monarchy with a high chief that rules over all the other clans of amazons in the queendom. They take their culture very seriously and despite the need to change some of their ways to better live in their new environment they still view their ways as the best. They are very socially adaptable and are willing to make changes and concessions for ease of mobility around other nations, but usually draw a line when it comes to their own ways. They have many clans in their nation that all adhere to certain aspects of their culture and each play a role in the governance of the nation. The high queen rules absolutely and without question but can be replaced with someone who is usually stronger or has the backing of more clans. Each tribe as well governs their own way without much oversight from the high queen, and if they feel the high queen is being too oppressive they can make an appeal to whatever action or law that the queen put in place that they do not like.

-History: the amazons came with the angels and when they disembarked from their ships. They took over the surrounding unclaimed territories and made it their own to both protect the angels and to stake a claim on the new world they found themselves in. They are warrior people with archaic rules that they follow. They value strength but also intelligence as they also view that as a type of strength and seek out potential mates with either or both. They live and protect the angels because they need males of other races to repopulate since they can't produce on their own, which has brought into question how they survived so long before meeting the angels themselves. Another factor as to why they are so closely tied to the angels is because of their evolution, where it goes amazon, war maiden, valkyrie. Because of the nature to become Valkyrie the highest evolution and rank of an amazon many strive to breed with races with divine or celestial blood in hopes of giving their children a higher chance of becoming a Valkyrie one day. But that doesn't mean that they will only reproduce with those only of that type. They also have an ancient pack with the angels to protect them, something they take very seriously.

-Culture: as a warrior culture they are trained at a young age to respect authority and their ways. They are trained at a young age to be great warriors and fighters and to prove themselves worthy of recognition. Due to the fact that they are an all female race they require the need to mate with other races to produce offspring. Those who produce offspring are highly respected in the community. Like other nations they pratice polygamy where there are many women to one man, unlike other races they also pratice commual owenership of man where the local athoruity such as a cheif or mayor will purchase or hire a man or men to make themeselves avaible to the single woman in the tribe, clan, village, town, city. Something that is slowly catching on in other nations where there are too many unwed women who can't find a man or a harem to join. That doesn't mean that there aren't men that women can hire or lovers that they can mate with out there, but it is a new idea for the society at large. Despite being a very martial culture that doesn't mean that they revolve completely around fighting. There are many who also live outside the clans in other nations and they get along just fine. Many wish to serve worthy men or individuals that they think can provide worthy heirs, glory, honor or something else. They have turned fighting into something of an art form, while many other nations have dancing, the amazons take it to the extreme combining art and efficiency in every stroke and slash they use in fighting, there is no wasted movement in their art form of death. Only beauty. Their art and music are very refined and their archiculture is sturdy, utilitarian and artful, with many colors, marble paved roads, great stone columns, their cities and towns are just as beautiful as they are, and just as deadly as they have also been designed to protect from attackers. They also do communal raising of children should it be necessary.

-Economy: they usually hire themselves out as mercenaries. They are considered the best out there. Like most nations, they strive to be as self sufficient as possible. They also sell themselves as mercenaries to gain valuable fighting experience and to earn prestige and other proofs of courage and skill back home. They will seek out or go out on their own to seek a challenge. They don't have many things to trade with or really desire to trade. They are utilitarian and don't very much view the need to have a lot for the sake of having a lot and try to just keep things to how much they can carry.

-Military: obviously they have a very large military and many of their populace are trained at a young age so they can call up even more should they need it. They are very well known for their warriors, fighters, archers, hunters, and more that most would find common place. But the Amazons have taken such classes and made them something so much more and have turned fighting into something of an art form. Because of their great skill in fighting, they are considered to be worth 2-3 warriors worth for every opponent they face. Meaning that the enemy must come in great numbers in order to best them. Where they fall short is in magic but that is usually taken care of with their allies the angels.

-Religion/faiths: they believe in the goddess, stella, as well as many other female gods that have to do with honor, battle, and tradition. They also follow the faith of the spirits and ancestors.

-customs: sometimes they wear tribal tattoos of which spirit they are trying to invoke and sometimes as displays of great accomplishment. The tattoos are always designed to curve with the body. Not every amazon wears tattoos. Depending on which tribe, some enjoy wearing colorful feathers, while others wear parts of an animal they are proud to have hunted to show off.

-society: amazons live in a loose hierarchy of sorts, where it is the tribe, clan, than nation in which most amazons put their allegiance to. Each clan has certain differences from other clans, and those clans can have tribes that are different subtly from each other. An example would be the wolf clan, where amazons will follow the spirit of the wolf, they all gain some slight low light vision and increase of senses such as smell, but one tribe can differ from the other in that one tribe works on taming wolves and making them work alongside the amazons while another wolf clan tribe will work their bodies to take on the aspects of wolves and increase their natural benefits of low light vision and smell and gain all the benefits that come with being associated with wolves. This is the same for the raven clan and the clan of the cat. The most common type of clan most people would meet, as they are the most popular, is the battle clan. In amazon society martial ability is greatly admired but so are other occupations, such as weapon makers, armorers, as well as architects and keepers of history and knowledge. Farmers and such are not very well looked on, but they are very much accepted since they are required to help their nation prosper. Artisans are also very highly liked as well as priestesses who follow their gods. They also are willing to raise and train females of other races and nations.

-environment: they most of the time make their homes around angels, or sometimes wherever the angles are as they sometimes live with them. So normally mountains or hilly areas, but they enjoy wooded areas and plains areas as well, so if they are nearby they will live in such places if able. So whatever is nearby is the environment they will be living in but they prefer forests and open areas.

-Relations: they have very good relations with the angel conclaves but very neutral relations with all other nations around them.

-Notes: they view their society as something a bit superior to others but keep their opinion to themselves since they are wise enough to know where that will usually go should they voice it. They are a bit reserved; they take pride in their martial ways and skills but will not talk about it for fear of others thinking there are boasting, they are also aware that there is always someone stronger out there and some keep themselves humbly, something beaten into them at a young age. Since meeting halflings, who are also an all female race as well as goblins, they have taken some of them into their society and accepted them.

 

Staven Republic

-Government: the staven republic was formed by an awankend that, through the use of his memories, tried to form a nation with democratic ideals that will accept all that come to their borders. The leader of the republic is called the dictator who runs the nation for 10 years before being replaced by another who is voted upon by the populace. They have three branches of government. Those who work for the government in high office have short tenors and are responsible for keeping the dictator in check. The people's party is the largest party in the government at the moment. In times of strife the dictator can run for a second term, the amounts of terms are two max.

-History: the nation was formed when a awankend decided to try and create a nation of his ideals out of a corrupt one that everyone hated. Throughout the course of his life he led revolutionaries, wrote manifestos and distributed books across the nation. Through the course of 30 years he finally was able to overthrow the corrupt monarchy that oppressed the people and ruled the new nation for 20 years, up to his death, making sure to leave behind a legacy of many rules and laws on how the nation was to be governed and which direction it was to go. The nation had a rocky start, especially after their leader died, but by following through with what their dictator wrote down they were able to reach prosperity. The reason as to why he is called the great dictator is because that is what he said he was when he stayed in power for 20 years, too afraid to let someone else come along and ruin what he worked so hard for, so in a deprecating manner he called himself a dictator.

-Culture: the nation is a martial one with lots of free trade and a laissez faire attitude. They accept people of all nations, cultures, and races, except maybe for those in the empire. They are the nations with the most rights for the people and are proud of it and have a great amount of patriotic love for their nation to the point it can easily fall into nationalism. The nation has become something of a melting pot of ideas and thoughts where anyone can speak their mind and not get into too much trouble for it. They are a highly armed society and they are very prone to trying to make a quick buck as fast as they can. This and the unrestrained trade market has led many to get very rich and live a great level of life. Unfortunately this also means that there are many poor that exist in the nation and therefore have one of the largest slums around next to the empire, where most of their army recruits inevitably go to bolster their army core.

-Economy: they have industries that produce goods for trading firms and guilds all over the region. They are always willing to do almost anything for a quick buck, something that usually ends up backfiring on them. Because of this they are not considered very good traders and most must be careful not to get ripped off by them. Despite their bad reputation they are home to one of the biggest, next to istra and talis, holders of trade guilds and companies in the region and produce many of the things that istra usually don't, usually because it is also illegal. They have less rules and regulations on things that might be illegal and less things that are considered illegal. The monsters are relatively harmless compared to other places due to the constant hunting and they usually pay relatively well for it too, since even monster parts can sell they have a real overhunting problem.

-Military: they have a great reputation for their heavy infantry and a strong military cohesion and strong supply lines. Trained to the point that they can assemble a force and march it to the border within days of another nation getting anywhere near it. Because of their willingness to pay good money for mercenaries they also have a large force of them they can use should the situation arise to bolster their numbers. Not to mention the fact many in their nation carries weapons and are willing to use them means that any territory that the enemy claims could cost them dearly as most may not go down without a fight.

-Religion/faiths: they are an open society for those of other faiths, while not as open as troa it is still more than most. They are a melting pot of gods and faiths from all over the halfmoon sea.

-customs: (can’t think of anything at the moment.)

-society: due to their open nature they are willing to accept others of other races, except if they talk bad about their nation. They believe that they should try to spread their ideals to everyone no matter what nation or race. Due to their lack of regulation there has slowly grown a divide between the rich and the poor, as well as the dangers some jobs have the potential to have made the poor somewhat hate the rich and what they stand for. The nation is a hotbed for revolutionaries from other nations, and even their own, where they will discuss how they can overthrow their home nation and make it their own ideal utopia. Because of this there are what amounts to gang fights, over one type of ideology versus another that can start between those of the same faction. Because everyone is armed and hot headed over their ideals, there are a great number of deaths every year, something that is soothed by the great amount of immergration to their lands, though mostly those with extreme views themselves.

-environment: they live in a nice temperate climate that is good for crops with some forest nearby for the chopping of wood, they even have some mines, the land is mostly sunny with occasional rain storms.

-Relations: they have something of a revilarly with istra who they view as cutting into their profits and the fact that they have such different yet similar cultures. They look towards the Asser queendom as a possible expansion but since they are in the sisters alliance with them they are trying to diplomatically try and get them to join. They also wish for the malor queendom to join them and are thinking of giving both of them a special status of statehood in hopes of getting them to agree to join the staven republic and become a great nation. They view troa as an interesting brother of sorts.

-Notes:

 

Malor Queendom( land of magic and science)

-Government: an absolute monarchy with a queen at the top, the government and the nation revolves around magic and those of royal blood that do not prove themselves adept in magic usually do not get the chance to become heir though there are exceptions. Many of the top figures in the government are drawn from the top of the top in the most prestigious schools, basing their choice on who does what in the government on skill, making the government very meritocratic. The ruler is chosen from the best of the best in the royal family. They also have a program to try and teach as many people in the nation, opening public schools to help reach that goal, meaning that they have one of the most learned populace in the region.

-History: the nation was founded by mages who did not like that they were always usually called upon to war every time the nation went to war, so many mages from many nations left to call a land their own where they can study and practice magic in peace without the need to be beholden to anyone group or power that they feel does not deserve their time. While in the more modern times the likelihood of nations conscripting mages or people of talent all willy nilly has declined many in the nation still adhere to a respect of people's right to join the military or not. This has led to some problems though from time to time and the right to conscript anyone into the army is left on in the case that all the most prominent people in the government believe that their entire nation is at risk of ending, and even then they must get a majority vote. Because of their long standing of being scholars and mages first than anyone other trade they have, they had some difficulty getting any taxes, thankfully having mines of mana crystals to pull on and many magical and rare animals that live in the territories of their nation that can be sold helps alleviate the issue.

-Culture: first and foremost the nation is a nation of scholars and mages and therefore the ability of your magic or knowledge in a certain field carries with it a weight and statues that you can't really find anywhere else. Because of the ecentric tendencies of those who come to live and those who are born there they tend to have a mix of reserved and rowdy people. Debates are one of their favorite pastimes as they argue of one particular theory or another and its importance or lack thereof. They also are more prone to practice what they learn whether that is alchemy, enchanting or other things to the point many houses and items of clothing are covered in runes or burnt patches from failed tests. Because of this pionier attitude to discover new things and try them out they are one of the most advanced nations in the region and the magical goods made there are highly sought after. The people who call Malor their home take great pride in its progressive and open attitude to the desire to research as many things as possible to the point they have gone to not only research magic but also new types of technologies such as steam power and other non-magical contraptions or even fusion of both together. They are a people who are always trying to push the boundaries of what is possible and what is not. Due to their voracity for knowledge they even allow certain types of magic that is usually illegal but in controlled labs where they are allowed to be tested. There are also large libraries that they are proud of.

-Economy: they largely get their money through the many would-be students from wealthy families that spend a lot to send their children to learn in Malor’s prestigious academies. They also make a lot of money selling many magical goods that they make and are the number two supplier of airship engines that are used to power the ships of most nations second to the angel conclave’s. They also sell many convenient magical contraptions that help in everyday life such as stoves and refrigerators and many other things that many of the nation’s people take for granted as such things are more for the wealthy in other nations. They also cornered the market when it comes to selling books on magical learning or theory or even none magical knowledge as well. They have taken steps to even try and industrialize their economy through the power of magical devices that can do the work of many. And their mines of mana crystals and dungeons that they can get rare magical resources from help bolster their economy even farther.

-Military: they do not have a large infantry force but they more than make up for it with a large mage force. The number of mages in their army is one of the largest in the region and they take great pride in the innovations they have made to it to make it an even more effective fighting force. They have gone a long way to make mana barriers and long range magical weapons to make any idea of trying to attack the mage army head on seem suicidal, they are also very good at intel gathering, they combiend their love of learning and willingness to gather info about anything with their desire for national security making them have one of the largest “spy network” in the region. Using their many connections that have been made over the centuries for info gathering both for military purposes and domestic purposes.

-Religion/faiths: they do not particularly follow any god or goddess, to prideful. They instead try their best at whatever magic they have to improve themselves to a point where they do not feel that they need a god or goddess. This does not mean that there are not a few believers, such as the goddess of magic and knowledge, as well as a few others of that type, but they are more prone to an exchange of sorts when it comes to the divine.

-customs: ( under construction)

-society: in a society where the smart and the talented rise, it is difficult for those without those two to get very far, unless one is very persistent. But because of their importance to the nation everyone tries very hard to prove themselves in some way that they contribute to the nation in some way or form. They have schools from childhood to adulthood, but after a while any further higher learning requires money. They have one of the most skilled populace in the region and many are hired from other nations to work for them. They have a bit of a divide between those who do not work in some intellectual occupation and those who don't in that those who are scholars and mages sometimes look down on those who are not. Due to their higher standard of living, the populace are very happy and live lives far easier than those from other nations. They have also started working on artificial floating islands.

-environment: their land is unique in that it's very abundant in magical resources, especially from their mines that produce magic crystals. There are also an abundance of magical animals and creatures and plants.

-Relations: they have very good relations with their neighbors, the angel conclave that is to the north west of them, seeing in them the same desire for knowledge. They also highly desire to get into those great vaulted libraries of theirs to learn many of the things that lie far to the west of the great ocean. They feel that the staven republic is a little pushy, they get along with Asser just fine. They view istra as a good trading partner for the selling and buying of goods.

-Notes: they are known for their highly skilled mages and many nations try to recruit them into theirs for their knowledge and expertise.

 

Asser Queendom( land of Fertility )

-Government: an absolute monarchy with a queen at the head that rules with a gentle fist. The queen cares deeply for the populace and has governed fairly during her rule but now she fears that there are dark times ahead and suspects that the empire will try to make another move to increase its power and influence. They have a more traditional style of government but with the people in mind and a similar form of choosing their next heir as malor does. In that they choose the best to lead next.

-History: they have a long history of being a simple kingdom with a simple slow life. They are known for their fertile fields and large pastures that through the nation's entire life has gone to not only feed their nation but many of the nations around them. Their relatively lack of monsters or other dangers make it also a very peaceful place to live. Because of this thought many times the empire has tried to claim the nation for themselves or tried to vassalize the nation through diplomacy. But thanks to allies and their fairly large population for a kingdom their size they have stood strong against the empire and their influence.

-Culture: the life of an Asserian is a simple one, they are farmers through and through and most of the time they prefer it that way. They have large festivals that they do year round and always make sure to thank the land spirits for thanks on bountiful harvests. They live in a very communal manor and usually have their hearts on their sleeves. But many of their young sometimes wish for life of adventure and leave their idyllic life for one on the road, this is usually because as farmer families they can have an overabundance of siblings that might not leave much for the others to inherit or gain. They are open and trustworthy people and many a great adventure or hero have decided to retire to farm on those famous scenic landscapes till they pass of old age. They also have a big cooking industry, and even a few schools on cooking, their chiefs are highly sought after.

-Economy: they don't really have many iron tools so they are in high demand but for everything else they feel like they don't really need to splurge on anything fancy or waste their money on things they feel they will not need. Making them tough customers to sell to especially considering their penchant for haggling. They make their money through the selling of their crops and meat. And the dairy farms and wine orchards as well as a few other rare food commodities. They don't really have anything else to sell other than food and the export of many famous cooks that come from their nation.

-Military: military wise they really dont have much to say, they have a large army but they aren't really known for anything else. While other nations pride themselves on certain aspects of their military Asser doesn't have a real military history or a real desire to make a name for themselves as one. Because of this they are known to have one of the most generic armies out there. Despite that when their homeland is threatened they are also known to fight past what most would think is the breaking point. In a way they are known for their spirit and unbreakable resolve in the face of even the most hopeless of battles, as they will lay down their lives costly for their families, loved, and comrades. Many great heroes come from Asser, to a point that some have called it the land of heroes, where they are born and where they go to die.

-Religion/faiths: they pray to the god tam, god of fertility, farming, earth and endurance, and his wife vela, goddess of fertility, marriage, healing and plants, and his other wife delia, goddess of goddess of love, beauty, fire and cooking. The third wife is sela goddess of wisdom, governance, light and the sun. The fourth and final wife is felia goddess of childbirth, motherhood, water, and fertility. They make a parthenon for those who live in the nation. Finally are the earth and land spirits they pray to from time to time for small blessings. They are one of the few nations to have a complete pathanion of sorts. As well as some hero worship for the long dead heroes that came from the land and or protected it from danger.

-customs: they leave out a small portion of their food sometimes so any friendly spirits can come and partake of the meal.

-society: they are a down to earth type of folk where a hard day's work is a common occurrence that they do not shy from. When the time comes for them to relax, they do so in a big way with great food and drinks. Farmers make a sizable portion of the nation, and because of this they have a larger influence on the nation than most people would suspect. Because of the gods they follow they have an abundance of children and extended family to the point they deem anyone who lives outside their village as a cousin even if they are not, giving a sense of family even with those who are on the other side of the nation. They also extensively keep track of those who are in the family and who are not to make sure there are no problems when it comes to marrying their children. Something that has become less of a problem as society has modernized due to advancements in medical technology. They respect mothers, and cooks and farmers, all of which they deem as important parts of the running of their society. They are very loyal to the queen and for that matter most kings and queens that have reigned over the nation as, for the most part, they have all ruled in a benevolent way for the betterment of both the nation and its people. They do not have much in the way of mages or engineers or other more specialized workers, but they are hard workers that are willing to put in the effort in whatever task given to them without complaint. They care deeply for their family and hold marriage highly.

-environment: it is a temperate land filled with rolling valleys and small forest, and flattish land that is very fertile and holds farmland from horizon to horizon. The days are bright and sunny for most of the year, with occasional bouts of rain every so often. There are long winding rivers as well.

-Relations: they are in very friendly relations with their neighbors the staven republic and Malor, as well as the conclaves and the amazons. They don't very much know about the kingdom of istra since they have no ports and what is known is mostly general knowledge and hear say. They don't like the empire for obvious reasons. They feel that the vampire lands are a competitor to them as they also sell a lot of produce onto the market though not as much as themselves.

-Notes:

 

Lyra( Empire vassal state)

-Government: the state of Lyra is a part of the empire, even when the borders are drawn, Lyra is dyed empire colors. The only thing left of the former government is the failing old monarchy that still reigns over the state of Lyra, but with each passing generation they lose more power over their state and their position has slowly more and more become meaningless as time passes on. The current queen has lost much of the power of her ancestors and the position she has is more of a glorified governor over the state of Lyra than its ruler. Despite everything, the family has integrated themselves into the empire the best they can to retain what little they have for themselves and for the people they care for. They hold a particularly high peerage and position in the empire and they have made sure that they have made many connections to stay relevant.

-History: they have long been a long time competitor of the isterian kingdom when it came to trade and salesmanship. They prided themselves on their open and free education and free thought since they considered art in all forms to be the highest level of importance to them. Sadly this all went away when the empire invaded to gain access to the sea over trumped up reasons. Since then many of the empire's sailors and ships came from conscripted Lyranains, something the people of Lyra resent vehemently. They were then used to help the empire's failed invasion of istra in which many lives were lost. Despite knowing that istra had no choice but to sink many of the ships attacking them, they can not help but feel a little bitter about the whole thing, though their anger is justly and mostly set towards the empire. Lyra is still known for their art and plays and music that can still be heard in their cities, but sadly over time many of the brightly colored buildings have lost some of their hue and any songs or art that many even a little seem like treason are taken down and the artist or musician taken away. This has slowly bleed the nation dry of artistic talent as schools were closed and many were forced to look elsewhere for work or have narrowed their artistic talent so as not to get taken away leading to a slow stagnation as many are too afraid to try new things and push the boundaries of what is art.

-Culture: Lyra is known for its music, art, poetry, and food, which is considered the best around. The people are generally happy and seem to have a song ready to play in their heads to enjoy their day. The people are passionate about any artistic path whether that be music, poetry, acting, drawings, or cuisine. They are also known for their plays that gather world renown and many will pay large sums to see. They always tend to add a bit of color to whatever they own, taking artistic liberty to color their house or their clothes or even their armor, weapons, pets and more, and therefore have a robust artistic community that revolves around the odd art or two. They are the trend setter when it comes to art. They are known to experiment on everything to discover new tastes or sights or sounds, sometimes to their detriment, but they do what they can to push forward and move the boundaries farther than anyone else when it comes to their art. Their cities are built around the many rivers that feed into the sea and therefore they have many fish cuisines as well. They are known for their singing sailors and that their sailors are considered the second best in the world after istranion sailers, something they strive to prove wrong.

-Economy: with access to the ocean comes wealth, that and the fact that many land merchants come through the lands of lyra to get to Troa or staven has made them the competitor to istra for a long time. They export art, music, textiles, and the whimsical and hard to get rare piece of work that normally isn't found anywhere else. They import dyes, foodstuffs, and raw goods necessary for their art and textiles. Their sailors go far and wide to sell the many artistic goods that they are so proud of. Textiles are their number one export, which come in a variety of colors not found anywhere else. They also are the number one exporter of handmade goods, such as handmade carriages, chairs, tables, and many more. They are also the number one in exporting cosmetics throughout the region

-Military: as one would expect from a nation that values beauty and art over anything else, they have very little in the way of any real military, the only thing they are truly known for are their skirmishers and archers. Instead the number one way they attack is through spies and sabotage, with the many amazing actors and artists it's not that hard for them to dress up a person to make them completely look different, and that's how they usually fend off anyone that would normally have planes for their nation. Unfortunately the empire, once it decides on something, will do what it takes to do what it wants and they have no qualms throwing tens of thousands of soldiers with no planes or order other than to occupy Lyra. even if they wanted to Lyra couldn't fend off such a large force even with if their enemy was sabotage every step of the way, and in a span of a few years they fell, but the fact that it took so long for them to fall was something the people of Lyra take pride in since many didn't think Lyra could defend themselves properly for so long, giving them time and sending diplomats to a more agreeable terms with the empire instead of outright annexation, this was before the sisters alliance which was made in no small part due to the conquest of Lyra and the invasion of istra.

-Religion/faiths: they worship many gods and goddesses of beauty, art, and many others, some willing to do anything for the sake of making a masterpiece. But for the most part some pride themselves in doing great art without the need for gods, while others willing pray to gods of art and such to improve themselves in whatever artistic direction they wish to go.

-customs: they really like to have many different colors on them.

-society: those who can make works of beautiful art or masterpieces, those who can act with passion that can make people laugh or cry, those who can make a tear come to the eye from a poem or novel and even food, those are the people this society venerates and adores. It is one of the only places where one can become a superstar and gain a great following of fans probably in the world. There are many who are wealthy and willing to be a patron for those they deem with talent in hopes of being responsible for the next big hit. And those who have made history and change what art is for centuries to come are remembered forever. They are probably the only people who view artist talent greater than any scholarly talent one may have.

-environment: there are many rivers that go through the nation. They have a large bridge system that makes it easier for people to travel by land to get through as well as making some bridges big enough to allow some ships to sail through.

-Relations: they have good relations with everyone, the elves for their beautiful seamless art in wood working, the vampires for their dark, bold, and gothic architecture and style, the dwarves for their well made tools, so well done they might as well be considered art. They mostly view things in terms of art and beauty, so even if you are ugly, if you can sing beautifully or produce something of beauty, they will like and value you. The only people they don't like are those from the empire who they view as borish with their lack of pride in their work which shows itself in their shoddy weapons, or furniture or the fact they barely if at all have any meaningful work of art. The only thing they can give them is that they have impressive architecture in the large buildings they make, if not for its looks.

-Notes:

 

Talis

-Government: Talis was once a city state that grew into what it is today, but they still remember their roots and still hold to the old ways in such that the ruler of talis is still called the city lord. Talis has one of the largest cities in the region. There is a council of 21 that rules over the state of Talis with the city lord being the only one chosen amongst themselves to hold the most executive power. They have very open laws and it is where most of the guilds such as, adventures, explorers, hunters, gatherers, merchants, and subjugaters reside in due to the favorable laws for such guilds, and for good reason, many of the guilds leaders are one the council, so they have much say in the goings ons of the nation. In a way they are an oligarchy.

-History: The foundation and the creation of the nation of talis is in no small part due to the banding of the guilds to create an outpost that was to the beginning of the city of talis. The reason why it was built was because it was trying to get into the most unique location in the world, one of the most unique types of dungeon, if it even is that, that holds much danger and wealth for all those who seek it in its depths. This pit, drew many people to mine and gather what they can for great wealth, but at the time of its foundation, many nations, did not want to invest in such a costly endeavor, so the guilds banded together to make profit off the pit, taking on the risks, with huge payouts that later helped establish their nation. Many people died in the early years of the building of the first city of talis, but the many lessons learned along the way has helped the nation and the guilds, how to properly govern themselves, something they have shown all throughout the region with the rules and regulations on how they expect to those who are apart of the guilds to act it also helped them learn how to properly manage far flung guild outposts and gave them a form of legitimacy in other nations, thought those same nations look on with scrutiny at the thought of having something that can be closely tied to another nation’s agenda right into the middle of their country, because of this many concessions were made to allow the guilds to operate in those nations in the form of a charter of sorts that helped ease tensions and allow accountability for all involved. They do not allow dark guilds such as the thieves guild or assassins guild to operate in their nation.

-Culture: they are people who don't care who you are or where you came from but what you are going to do and if you are going to make it or not. Talis is a land for opportunists of the world, who are willing to risk it in order to make it big. People from all over come to talis so most don't care if you are human or not, just what you can do. Because of this mentality and the semi un regulation of wealth and the guilds influence, many believe it is the land of wealth, where giant merchant guilds make their start and grow to reach out throughout the entire region.

-Economy: the economy of talis is wealthy to say the least, the guilds that run the nation are also the ones that have branch out throughout the entire region and make their money through the trade they do all over the place. Whatever problems may have their first response is to throw money at it, and let the many people who come to the nation desperate for that money to take care of the problem. To say what they import or export will be difficult and can be best summarized as, everything. They are the guilds. They trade in everything. They are the adventures, explorers, merchants, and more. Many nations will have problems if they all went and left, and with all the branch offices and such bringing home money as well as the pit that produces a large amount of wealth in of itself, they are rolling in cash.

-Military: they don't really have a military, whatever defense they rely on is by the guilds the country relies on. Because of the diverse nature of the guilds, one would not be able to determine what the nation spelizes in, but with its diversity and the teamwork most groups that work for the guilds show as wealth has great wealth backing any military endeavor, they can easily become a formidable foe for anyone foolish enough to try and take them on.

-Religion/faiths: like troa, they are accepting of the many faiths that their workers and employees that come from all over believed in. they are open to everyone and that also means to every god and goddess, with a few exceptions for obvious reasons.

-customs: they are too diverse to determine any custom, but there is sometimes a certain custom that ranges from guild to guild.

-society: they are somewhat like the staven republic, in that there is a slight divide between the rich and the poor, though thankfully it is not that great and many believe that they can make it big. Most people think that talis is a land of immigrants, but there are many people who are born and grew up there as well. These people are not as filled with wanderlust as those who come to their nation are, seeing to often dreams and hopes dashed. They instead are usually the ones that are hired as employees of the guilds or they work some small establishment such as a restaurant or inn.

-environment: the land is very mountainous and hilly with a large pit that goes down so far you can not see the bottom.

-Relations: they strive to have good relations with every nation, including the empire, as they work to rake in greater wealth and influence in the world.

-Notes:

 

Arboria (Alria Vassal State)

-Government: the government of arboria is ruled by elves sent by the alria federation to govern the state of arboria. Something that the people who live in arboria resent. Those who are not pure elven are not given much say in the government of arboria, despite being in the minority in the country compared to other races that call the nation home. Thankfully there are representatives of their own kind to act as intermediaries for their people. And mayors are of those of their own kind as well instead of elves.

-History: arboria was found, or at least retained, after the collapse of the alria federation, back when they had most of the region under their control, as the nation fractured they were able to retain arboria by passing laws to placate those who live there, while retaining as much control as possible. The nation was in a way, made to act as a buffer between itself and the other nations springing forth through its fracture. Arboria was, in a way, made to allow half elves to semi govern themselves. Elves live long lives but do not have the population to field large armies, but half elves live almost as long as elves with greater population growth and they can breed with each other to produce more half elves, so the idea was made to make a state where they can tie the many half elves and maybe a few other races to the federation through the state of arboria, with some governance and guidance from the federation of course. Through arboria, the alria federation has just enough manpower and economic power to rival the empire.

-Culture: the culture in arboria is somewhat of a mix of the federation and many of the younger shorter lived races, due to the many half elves that live there. Their architecture is also a mix of elven and other races, being far more urbanized than that of the federation. They are far more communal since they don't feel like they belong anywhere else, they either don't live long enough or live too long, either dying before their friends or out living them, depending on which race. They are very accepting of those who are also of mixed race, whether they be half dwarf, human, or otherwise, they feel like kindred spirits and over the years many half races have come from all over to call arboria their home, bolstering the population and bringing new ideas and culture to their land. They are very accepting of those who feel out of place due to their race and are willing to take in anyone, even some monster-kin races, and allow them to call arboria home. Because of this and more, those who call arboria their home are willing to fight and die for it and those others that live there with them, no matter the race. They are the most open nation out there amongst istra and amar.

-Economy: the economy is a mixed bag of all kinds of things, they sell and trade in just about anything. But largely they strive to be as self sufficient as possible since they do not have anything special that they can export. They are a bit isolationist. There is one thing they are known for and that is their ability to produce arms and armor that are very well made. As well as export of wood and rare medical plants.

-Military: they are the army that the alria federation relies on for all the things they can't do, because of this, arborian military is the one that fields the armies that take to the field and occupy territory so should they need to if they ever go to war, in a way their economy is tied to the funds they receive from the federation to grow their military, so most of the populace in one form or another has to do with the military.

-Religion/faiths: they do not share much in the faiths of the elves, feeling it a bit out of place, instead they follow a god of chemiras, and evolution. They also share some faiths from those from outside the country from those who come to make arboria their home.

-customs: their customs are varied from all those who come from all over to call arboria their home.

-society: the nation of arboria is somewhat of a military state where most of the focus is on the military and its growth. This is influenced by the federation to be a useful shield and weapon against the empire, something the citizens of arboria do not like at all. The nation is ruled over by governors sent by the federation, meaning those who actually live in the nation do not have much of a say in its government. There is a divide between those who are full blooded elves and those who are not. This has caused problems before, especially since the governors of the nation do not enjoy the other half races that come from all over to call the nation their home. There have been revolts a few times, and the constant military readiness that they force on the people despite the decades of relative peace have put the people of the nation on edge to the point they have grown tired of it. They do not feel that the federation has their best interest at heart. Due to the constant emphasis on military ability, the people of arboria are reared from a young age with at least some knowledge on how to fight and or be self-sufficient.

-environment: the lands of arboria are heavily wooded, but not as much as the federation is, they are still known for their large forest and beautiful landscapes.

-Relations: they do not have much in the way of relations outside their overlord in the federation, with the stonewall alliance to their north and the empire to their east the only nation they have any real relation with is that of asser to their south.

-Notes:

 

The Union

-Government: a collection of city states that have banded together to prevent themselves from being swallowed by the empire. Each city state runs its own laws and such but they all follow a leader that they have chosen amongst themselves to lead them in their defense.

-History: when the region finally threw off the yoke of the federation and the empire was just beginning, there were many nations that cropped up, mostly centered around large cities and their lords. As time went on those nations were slowly being eaten up by the growing empire, soon the many of the smaller nations realized that they needed to band together if they wish to keep their independence.

-Culture: while the culture can change from city to city, it's mostly the same, and the people feel united against the empire.

-Economy: it's a bit different from city to city, but mostly they rely on many different avenues for revenue to prompt themselves up.

-Military: union soldiers are not that superior to those from the empire but where they shine is in strategy. The ability of the officers to take a group of many different people and cultures and use them in an effective manner is second to none. They have great cohesion and they can take forces twice their size with their tactics alone.

-Religion/faiths: due to the many different member states, and their close proximity to troa, they are very accepting of many different faiths that call the union their home. For the most part they have no state religion, but each city might pay homage to one particular god or goddess over another.

-customs: they are too numerous to count, but they are also very similar.

-society: due to the constant threat from the empire the people of the union are very unified. Many of the cities are heavily fortified and they have produced great stomansions and architects which they are also well known for. Traders and travelers come from all over to visit the union for their beautiful and robust castles and the different foods, clothes, and other goods that are different from city to city make it a very great vacation place to visit.

-environment: the environment is temperate and pleasant, with good soil for crops. The area is very well developed so there is not much threat from monster attacks. They are also well known for the many flowers they plant all over the union, giving a nice scene to anyone coming to visit.

-Relations: while large they know they can't defend against the empire alone and with the skirmishes that happen every so often they need help and much aid. Not only that but raids from belzar is a hassles they have to deal with. Because of this they have made allies with troa and even from some belzarian tribes in hopes of defending against the empire.

-Notes:

 

Young Kingdoms

-Government: a collection of small states, baronies, and colonies that have sprouted over the centuries in the region south of istra. They either have ties to their parent nation or are independent glory seekers hoping to make a kingdom for themselves in the mostly untamed lands to the south.

-History: while it is true that the southern region was open to colonization, during the termultunies history of the alria region and the costs associated with claiming wild and dangerous lands, the development of the region has been inconsistent at best, and with natives, monsters, and more attacking any new outposts and even long standing ones, expansion in the region has been difficult if not sometimes impossible. But many ambitious and desperate people, or those who are looking for a new life and home to call their own, come to stake claim to the potential wealth that lies in the region.

-Culture: the culture is a mix of many nations from all over, and is fairly young enough not to have any foundational cultural identity. Most people are strangers to one another, but even newcomers who wish to stay, need to work together in order to survive. If there is any culture the people of the young kingdoms have to give people a chance, since they can help everyone survive in the long run.

-Economy: the wealth of the region has been mostly untouched for a long time, and unclaimed, meaning that anyone wishing to strike it big can lay claim to new resource deposits and live the wealthy live until they die of old age or too much of a good time. With the many raw goods and exotic ones passing through the kingdoms, they are relatively wealthy if not for the fact they need finished tools from the outside and their lack of infrastructure makes it difficult transferring large quantities of goods to the ports in any reasonable time.

-Military: there is no real military in the young kingdoms, any force of arms is tied up protecting what little people have and using it to acquire new wealth for further development of whatever nation they are beholden to. They are diverse and varied.

-Religion/faiths: they are too numerous to properly count, many godlings wish to make their homes here to try their luck in establishing their own little kingdom with whatever cultist or followers they might have.

-customs: no proper customs have been made yet.

-society: due to the sometimes large influx of people trying to make a home in the region, the people who already live there can sometimes be a little collous since most of the time they are either crimmales trying to lay low, or foolhardy glory seekers who will soon die. They live in very communal and integrated villages that rely on everyone doing what they can to survive, the loss of one is very great and they have a need of the many outway the needs of the few mentality. While not extreme in this kind of mentality, they nevertheless practice it to some degree in order for the whole to survive. They care very much for every death that happens, but move on the best they can, for the sake of those who are departed. Those who live closer to the ocean, where infrastructure is more improved, one can find ports that are very similar to what can be found anywhere in the half moon sea. Those who live near the coast live more comfortably than those in the very bleeding edge of the frontier, sometimes creating a dichotomy and a bit of friction between the two. Which is not very surprising as the young kingdoms are made of many little nations vying for control, almost similar to that of the vampire lands in their desire to be considered a true kingdom with legitimacy over the other, this means there can be great rivirly between the many people who live their, though when tragedy strikes or a great threats comes, they are willing to set aside their differences to work together for everyone's sake.

-environment: there are many rivers that go deep into the region, but the deeper one goes, the more dangerous it becomes. As one goes deeper into the velar region, the more forested it becomes, with the occasional hill or small mountain or two, sometimes even swamps. The further you reach towards the coast the flatter the terrain and more developed the land becomes, and safer as well, relatively speaking.

-Relations: they have relations from all over, from each kingdom, guild, faith, faction and more that is either promoting them or has ties to them, even the vampires have youngbloods that have moved to see if they can make a name and a home for themselves in the velar region. This unfortunately means that the empire has also tried to stake some claims in the region, much to everyone annyonce. Those colonies do not last long as the slaves and peasants sent by them usually revolt and claim their new home as their own.

-Notes:

 

Eastern Kingdoms:

-Government: the governments of the eastern kingdoms are similar yet strange, and can sometimes differ from region to region. Eastern kingdoms are more of a catch all for all those who live to the east of the alria region. Not very much is known about the government or political structure of those who live in the east.

-History: the tales of nation building differ from kingdom to kingdom and from region to region, there is no point in trying to get into detail at this point.

-Culture: the culture of the eastern people differ from kingdom to kingdom and from region to region, there is no point in trying to get into detail at this point.

-Economy: what is little is known of those who live in the eastern region is by the goods and the very few people who come over from there when they come to trade. They are mostly known for their spice, silks, strange and exotic plants and animals, alchemy, and most importantly their different practices and knowledge alien to those in the alria region. Those who can make go trade partners in the east will always have a means of making good money.

-Military: not much is known of their military, only that it is similar yet different in practice.

-Religion/faiths: there are many gods, godlings and faiths that the people of the east follow or do not, there is no point in trying to name them all or go into detail at this point.

-customs: costumes differ from kingdom to kingdom and from region to region, there is no point in trying to get into detail at this point.

-society: societies differ from kingdom to kingdom and from region to region, there is no point in trying to get into detail at this point.

-environment: environments differ from kingdom to kingdom and from region to region, there is no point in trying to get into detail at this point.

-Relations: relations differ from kingdom to kingdom and from region to region, there is no point in trying to get into detail at this point.

-Notes: the Eastern kingdoms are just a name for the numerous kingdoms that are far to the east of the halfmoon sea. Their culture, people and politics, an enigma to all but the few who have made contact with them or have learned of them through scholarly pursuit or otherwise. As of late some of the knowledge of the eastern kingdoms has made it to the more western nations, in particular istra, who have even made a class on the magics and arts of the eastern kingdoms and have even been able to pull a few teachers from there to teach at their academies.

 

Northern Kingdoms

-Government: there are many small kingdoms in the north with a few larger ones borderline the dragon sea. There are many petty kings that set themselves up, and usually its the strongest that survive in the cold north.

-History: many a king that got their roots was a warrior of sorts that slayed a particular monster or another and found and founded a nation to rule. They have a history of exploration of the far reaches of the north and some of the north western seas for are valuables and other useful materials to bring back home.

-Culture: culture differs from kingdom to kingdom but they share much in common with each other.

-Economy: most of what is sold at market to amar is pelts and rare minerals that are not normally found in the south. For those who have access to the sea, they have a good source of food to rely on so that they can put their efforts into other things, such as mining and hunting game not just for their meat but for their pelts. Different from those in the further north where access to a good food supply is a bit more difficult.

-Military: what military they have is mostly used to retain and protect what they have from monsters and beasts that roam the cold snowy region. Mostly soldier wearing thick hides for protection and warmth.

-Religion/faiths: religion and faiths, differ from kingdom to kingdom but for the most part hey usually follow some god or goddess of flame and cold, ethier to warm them or to keep the cold out or other reasons.

-customs: customs differs from kingdom to kingdom there is no point in trying to get into detail at this point.

-society: society differs from kingdom to kingdom but they like culture share much in common with each other.

-environment: is mostly the same, a mountainous region with some valleys in a very cold climate that has long winters.

-Relations: relations differ from kingdom to kingdom there is no point in trying to get into detail at this point.

-Notes: the valer region

Southern Expanse

 

-Government: not much is known about the southern expanse past the young kingdoms, only that they are filled with insect and lizard tribes as well as a bunch of monsters and other kinds of beings not yet found anywhere else. What type of governmental system if any at all is still a mystery, but most presume that it is similar to tribal ways.

-History: no one knows exactly what history the south holds, only that supposedly ancient ruins of great civilizations dot the region, some might still be around.

-Culture: who knows what the people of the south practice?

-Economy: who knows what the people of the south trade in?

-Military: who knows what is the strength of those who live in the south is<

-Religion/faiths: who knows what gods they worship

-customs: who knows

-society: who knows what type of society they live in.

-environment: the southern expanse is a large jungle like terrain that sometimes open into large plains and swamps.

-Relations: who knows who their allies and enemies are?

-Notes: this is a dumd down version of what is going to be something bigger.

 

Wild lands/untamed lands

-Government: wild lands are a catch all for beast lands, monster lands, and other types. They are when no known civilizations has any real control over what is outside or inside their border. Where monsters, beasts, bandits, and more reside.

-History: these lands are known historically for the potential expansion for any nation willing to foot the bill as well as a source of income for any willing to properly maintain it.

-Culture: is largely the same for all other types of this kind of land.

-Economy: whatever economy there is is based on whether the beings living their are intelligent enough or care enough for wealth.

-Military: whatever lives there

-Religion/faiths: depends and varies.

-customs: varies

-society: varies

-environment: varies

-Relations: varies

-Notes: they are mostly called wild lands.

 

Westward mysterious

-Government: the angels don't talk about it and no one has yet been able to reach that far west.

-History: the angels are tight lipped about it, the only thing they say about it, is that their people were born there.

-Culture: they don't talk about it.

-Economy: they don't say.

-Military: they had airships and the amazons to help and that is all.

-Religion/faiths: the creator gods.

-customs: the same as before, mostly

-society: the same as before, mostly

-environment: large islands and small continents floating in the sky.

-Relations: don’t say

-Notes: the angels are very tight lipped about their original homeland, some suspect something bad happened there that forced them to leave, though they do not say what.

 

Fanloss (fang loss mountain)

-government: strict caste system

-History: a mountain formed during the war for daylight, when the elven and vampire armies clashed and the vampire lord died. The fight raged so hard and fierce that both sides used their ultimate magic and the aftermath created a volcano that scared the region. It is now home to a new type of people that have been affected by the large amount of magic used. Some say that the land is cursed and that is why the people have their skin like that. It is also home to a new type of undead that rise every so often to attack.

-Culture:

-Economy: it is very difficult for them to grow food on their land, despite the ash being great fertilizer. They sell the ash and the many minerals that rise out of the ground from the many rivers of lava to make money.

-Religion/faiths:

-costumes:

-society: the people that live on the mountain have pale skin that looks like it has been covered in ash all over their body. This is their actual skin not ash at all. The higher they are in the caste, the more their skin shows more white skin and the ash coloring becomes more like a tattoo several inches thick. This tattoo helps them channel and use both darkness magic and fire magic.

-environment:

-relations:

-notes:

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