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Aloria has seen the rise and fall of many powerful nations and states across its millennia of habitation. Some held power through their arcane knowledge or sheer population, others due to the expanse of their territory or strength of their economy. In the modern day, a healthy blend of many factors make up the most notable of these powers in Aloria, the majority Ailor in origin due to the spread of that Race, and their enormous growth in power in the past 300 years.
Regalian Empire
The Regalian Empire is a nation built on its strong naval power, and near-relentless expansion as demanded by the faith of Unionism, which also originated with the first Emperor of the nation. The Regalian Empire is so powerful it has absorbed other significant Ailor powers in Aloria, but recent years have seen it struggle in the face of magical events and political instability. However, the Empire is rapidly evolving to meet these problems.
- Leadership and Government: The Regalian Empire is run on an imperial system with an Imperial Family and attached Imperial Court resting above a civil bureaucracy of Ministers and other leaders. The current Emperor of the Regalian Empire is Alexander I, but he has been missing since the summer of 310 AC.
- Populations and Faiths: The Regalian Empire is dominated by the Ailor Race, as many millions of them live in the heartland of the Empire, Corontium (also known as the Regalian Archipelago) as well as in the regions the Empire has conquered. However, the Empire has also taken foreign lands rife with other Races and allowed settlement of parts of Corontium by many other Races and Cultures, meaning any person can be from the Regalian Empire (save the Bralona).
- Relations and Opinions: The Regalian Empire made a number of enemies and allies in its early years which have recently been flipped on their head, or rapidly changed to the circumstances of the world. Nations under their sway are beginning to slip from Regalian control, while the Songaskian Masaya has become a far more neutral party where before there was great hostility. The newest threat to the Empire is the resurfaced Allorn Empire.
- Military Strength: There has always been a strong military base in the Regalian Empire, first for their conquest of all of Corontium, and then of other nearby nations. The Regalian Military was built on the back of the navy, which helped them achieve vast success in conflicts like the Chrysant War, but recent years have seen a greater emphasis on the land forces of the Empire. The Regalian Military has also recently shifted away from the levy system, and now fields professional soldiers called Tenpennies.
- Economic Strength: The economy of the Regalian Empire has been one of their weaker elements in recent years due to trade disruptions, and heavy reliance on singular areas for particular resources. The Empire also only trades within its borders, and with smaller nations who have signed the Navigation Acts, agreements which often set up the Regalian Empire to protect a region militarily in exchange for greater local access. The Acts are also often the first step toward Regalian annexation, and some states are extremely wary of such deals as a result.
- Symbols and Emblems: The Regalian Empire is often represented by a purple banner with a golden or yellow stripe down the middle of it. Other symbols include the Unionist Eye emblazoned on a purple banner and the blue-purple-blue striped flag of the Imperial Family.
Sovereign Ithania
Sovereign Ithania is a powerful state absorbed under the Regalian Empire in 150 AC who has begun to pull away from the Empire’s control in recent years. Despite these issues, Ithania and the Regalian Empire continue to work together on multiple goals.
- Leadership and Government: Sovereign Ithania is usually led by a Sovereign Queen, a female leader elected to serve for life from a collection of the nation’s High Princesses. Each High Princess rules over a region of Sovereign Ithania, forming a network of city-state-like provinces known locally as the Ithanian Hivres. Each Hivre then has its own local courts and politics. The current ruler to Sovereign Ithania is King de Gosselin, as he led a successful invasion of Ithania from Corontium seeking to re-energize the homeland into a more active state, and to give men greater roles in Ithanian society. This has only half-succeeded, as all indications show he prepares to have his eldest daughter elected the next High Princess, perhaps even before his reign ends.
- Populations and Faiths: Sovereign Ithania has a majority Ailor and Teledden population, with a sizable Maraya minority. Other minorities, silently seen and not actively recorded on any external census, are Asha and Eronidas slaves. Sovereign Ithania has an even split between Unionism and Estellon worship, with minorities of other faiths. However, a number of these are not acknowledged in the Sovereignty, since they are secretly practiced by the enslaved beings of the nation.
- Relations and Opinions: Sovereign Ithania has been part of the Regalian Empire for over 150 years, but recent events have shaken that strong tie. They have also been granted a new right in 309 AC, that of a Heartland, and have begun to formalize their own sphere of influence in Westwynd and beyond, to the concern of many in Regalia fearing they have empowered a future rival. The Allorn Empire lies directly south of Ithania, but relations are limited between the two bodies despite their similarities. The Sovereignty remains hostile with northern regions, as it has for decades due to repeated raids, and they are hostile to the Ashal Kingdoms to their south which threaten Ithanian trade.
- Military Strength: Sovereign Ithania once had no military, instead relying on the Regalian Empire. For a great amount of money, the Empire parked a permanent army in Ithania to serve as a source of defense, in addition to naval assets. However, when the new Ithanian king invaded and conquered the nation, he renegotiated this deal, freeing Ithania of this tax burden, and allowing them to focus on building their own local defensive forces. Their army is now the second largest of the Ailor nations, behind only the Regalian Empire.
- Economic Strength: The homeland of the Ithanian people has a rich array of resources to draw upon for their economic strength. The plantation system of the Allorn Empire remains strong in the Sovereignty, worked by thousands of slaves and producing an array of cash crops for easy sale. Other elements of the economy include the mining of beautiful stones and gems, as well as providing their banking expertise to others.
- Symbols and Emblems: Sovereign Ithania has symbols synonymous with those of Ithanian Culture as a whole. Their formal flag is a white circle with a white star on a halved field of light gray and dark blue, with a pale blue bird resting slightly over the top of the circle in the gray half, and the star in the dark blue half. Varying flags show the moon in different phases or feature a cluster of three stars. The bird is commonly lacking features, though sometimes it is a crane, the symbol of House Ivrae de Sange.
Daen Governate
The Daen Governate is one of the most difficult to maintain possessions of the Regalian Empire. Often half in rebellion, half aggressively loyal, the region forms the heartland of the Daendroque Culture, a fiercely independent people who have long resisted the centralization the Empire desires. The region is also known for its active criminal underbelly, long a source of further friction between the locals and the Empire.
- Leadership and Government: The Daen Governate is a mix of small governorates, viceroyalties, and other forms of leadership overseen by a High Viceroy appointed by the Regalian Empire, and located at the capital of Daenshore. This figure then works to maintain order in the region, usually with limited success. Few last their full five year term.
- Populations and Faiths: The Governate is majority Ailor, and majority Daendroque Ailor at that, as the region is the heartland of their people. The Governate is incredibly diverse when it comes to the non-Ailor Races that make up its sizable minority, though notable populations in this number are the Eronidas, Maquixtl and Asha. The faith that dominates the Governate is Unionism, which can sometimes cause great friction within individual criminals or criminal groups due to sins and negative deeds. Other faiths, practiced by the other Races and some other Ailor Cultures, also exist but are usually engaged in quietly.
- Relations and Opinions: The Daen Governate has difficult relations with the Regalian Empire, but also with the nearby Allorn Empire. The Regalians are viewed as modern oppressors and uncaring of local traditions or customs, out of touch with the Daendroque and worthy of no respect until that changes. The Allorn, and many Teledden meanwhile, are viewed as the ancient oppressors, worthy of contempt and physical harm, a serious issue when the Regalian Empire is seeking to avoid a war with the Allorn Empire. The Governate does not get along with Sovereign Ithania, viewing them as Teledden collaborators, though it often has positive links to the Ashal Kingdoms which rest nearby.
- Military Strength: The military strength of the Daen Governate is complex. Local militias, usually very unofficial militias, exist across the region and are little more than briefly legitimized gangs, called on at the direst times. The bulk of the region’s defense comes from the Regalian Empire and its soldiers, few being native to the region, while those who are may find themselves ridiculed for bowing to Regalian ways. The Empire also maintains a naval presence in the region, to hunt pirates and prevent other crimes, this being a far more acceptable route for the Daendroque to get involved with the Regalian armed forces.
- Economic Strength: The Daen Governate is a crossroads of Westwynd, sitting between Corontium and the Allorn Empire, Ithania and the Ashal Islands, and so sees many traders, spies and more to visit, trade, and do deals behind Daendroque doors. The state also has its own native resource-gathering operations, often in the lumber industry, which causes friction with the Yanar and their allies.
- Symbols and Emblems: The Daen Governate, as a network of different cities and charters, has a range of different images, emblems and symbols used to represent its local territories. However, a striped flag of orange, yellow, and orange again, usually stamped with an emblem of the Unionist Eye, is commonly used to denote the state in an official capacity within the Regalian bureaucracy.
Ashal Kingdoms
The Ashal Kingdoms are a loosely united group of Asha states which sit on the Ashal Islands, isles in the south of Westwynd which retained ancient Dewamenet technology throughout the era of the Allorn Empire. When the Asha broke their bonds in the Cataclysm, they fled to this region, guided by what few free members of their society still existed. Together, they reactivated the dormant technology to build a paradise that has remained until today.
- Leadership and Government: Each Ashal Kingdom is headed by a Queen, who oversees the affairs of her land with varying degrees of power. For instance, the Queen of Nakhoor, Semat III, has a council of highly powerful Asha technologists who help to run her state, the main control center for many of the Living Metal operations on the other islands. In contrast, Queen Azsamakh III of Khene oversees the protection of the many tombs across her lands, and has a council of warriors and priests to aid her.
- Populations and Faiths: The Ashal Kingdoms are only populated by the Asha, and no foreigners are allowed to live in the region save those traders, artisans and those that support them in the Fair-port of Hesepah. The region is heavily dominated by the Faces of Baskarr, the rebuild faith of the Asha people from their ancient lost beliefs, but Ordial Cultism also thrives and is acceptable among the mortuary cults that maintain the Asha tombs and handle matters of burial.
- Relations and Opinions: The Ashal Kingdoms despise both the Allorn Empire and Sovereign Ithania for their continued use of Asha slaves, as well as their massive Teledden populations. Raids and attacks on trade ships of both states, even sometimes attacks on their port cities, have been a longstanding tradition in the Kingdoms, usually with the aid of a Corsair Fleet. The Corsair Fleets, while separate from the Kingdoms, often resupply in the Ashal Islands. The Ashal Kingdoms have a neutral stance on the Regalian Empire, their opinion once rather negative due to the Empire’s continued use of slaves, but strong emancipation efforts and the Empire encouraging settlement in Corontium’s south in recent years have resulted in the neutral tone adopted today. They exist in the military pact known as the Crown Alliance with the Regalian Empire, but this is strained due to the actions of the Corsairs against states allied to the Regalian Empire.
- Military Strength: Ashal Kingdoms all have their own standing militaries, augmented by Living Metal machinery and wildlife trained to serve as battle mounts and warbeasts. Their navies are the Corsair Fleets, though each Kingdom does also possess a small, swift local navy of their own. The Asha have not forgotten their enslavement, and are well prepared to ensure the Allorn never repeat their past successes. The Kingdom with the greatest military is Akhiza, ruled by Queen Montuetamun II, a warrior of great skill.
- Economic Strength: The Ashal Kingdoms lack a traditional economy, for all needed by their society is provided by the Living Metal which turned the arid, dead islands into paradises, albeit desert paradises. Their production of Gold, from the wealthy Kingdom of Gizkh, is well known as well. However, the Kingdoms rarely trade with outside powers, as they lack for little, and don’t see a need for commerce. Despite this, the Fair-Port of Hesepah bustles and suggests that the general Asha populace may yearn for more from the outside than their leaders and most public figures would want.
- Symbols and Emblems: The Ashal Kingdoms each have their own local symbols for their individual nations. However, when they are joined, they are commonly represented with a mammalian paw pad-print of gray or gold on a field of white and yellow. This paw represents the five isles the Kingdoms call home, while the field of white and yellow represents the deserts, and their cities.
Allorn Empire
The Allorn Empire was formerly the greater power in Aloria, and ruled a significant part of the civilized world for numerous millennia. However, the Cataclysm and Wildering brought it to an end. In 309 AC, its first Empress Talea apparently returned, alongside previously vanished Estellon deities. Successor states to the Allorn Empire, largely Teledden and Fin’ullen regions, promptly swore allegiance to her, and since then, the reborn Allorn Empire has worked hard on a number of projects. However, the Midnight Order, the spy organization of the Empire, has worked hard to ensure the border between the Empire and the rest of Aloria remains strong. Thus far, oftentimes rumors are all that filters out of this state, and its true goals or long-term plans are unclear.
- Leadership and Government: The Allorn Empire is ruled once more by its first leader, Talea, a Teledden Archmage who died millennia in the past. How she returned is very unclear, and groups like the Suvial resist her claims to dominion, believing even if this is the real Talea, her rights and power died with her the first time. The structure beneath Talea in the Allorn Empire is currently unknown.
- Populations and Faiths: The Allorn Empire covers a vast span of territory, with many Races inside its borders. The Teledden dominate, for the nation is in their homelands, while the Fin’ullen are another large population. Beneath them in number are the slaves, Ailor and Asha most common, but also Allar and others. The faith of Estellon has been reinforced across these populations aggressively since all of the gods seemingly returned to Aloria, though where they dwell is sometimes a mystery as the sites of the greatest temples lie either in the sea, in the hands of others, or in abject ruin.
- Relations and Opinions: The Allorn Empire, while shrouded in mystery since its formation, does have some clear goals in mind. It seems eager, after some time of preparation, to engage the Regalian Empire in a direct conflict, making various probing efforts against local Regalian allies like the Daen Governate to create such an action. They also seem eager to convert Sovereign Ithania to their cause, with whispers of secret emissaries and Midnight spies making their way north. However, the Allorn Empire is also involved in conflicts with the Sendrassian Empire to the south, and in a stalemate three-way war between the Sendrassians, the Dread Empire, and the lands of the Suvial. Oddly enough, there has been little indication of hostility toward the Ashal Kingdoms, but many believe this is only a matter of time.
- Military Strength: The Allorn Empire formed from states in various forms of disrepair and damage following the Dread War and prior years of conflict. However, with the Estellon gods apparently returned, and Talea herself supposedly in the fray, many suspect the armed forces of the Allorn Empire may now be considerable.
- Economic Strength: The Allorn Empire is an insular economy, much like the Ashal Kingdoms ironically, though this is due to the ancient ways of the Teledden. Their economy, fueled by slave labor and Magic, allows many to live in comfort, while those who do not desperately desire to. Trade between regions of the Allorn Empire, and in the underground smuggling that takes place between the Allorn and groups in the Daen Governate, appears to use the same enchanted promissory notes as it did before the Allorn Empire re-emerged.
- Symbols and Emblems: The Allorn Empire had little unifying heraldry even at its apex generations ago, the diverse array of imagery for noble families and regional powers not lending itself well to a singular image. However, with the return of Talea, the Allorn Empire has adopted a flag of white with a teal-blue cross. It is said sub-organizations within the nation then add single, simple symbols in one of the four boxes formed by the white divider.
Trivia
- Other major world powers include the Songaskian Masaya of Farah’deen, the Confederated Hadrityas of the Qadir, the distant lands of the Sihai in Jadeheart, the Dread Empire of the Kathar, and the Sendrassian Empire of the savage Allar in the south of Aloria below Hadaria.
- The Regalian Empire’s power appears to have plateaued, if not decayed in recent years, a fact members of the Imperial Family are sure to remind others of as they seek to fix this issue.
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