The Astarojna Dominion

The Astarojna Dominion, more commonly referred to as Astarojna or The Dominion, is a militaristic Absolute Monarchy located in the far north-east of Kashura. It lays claim to all the corrupted lands around The Sea of Jezabel which are encircled by The Kazovka Range and The Severos Mountains. Realistically though only the parts of their territory north of The Wardens are inhabited by anyone, as those lands were mostly spared from most aftereffects of The Burning of The First Tree (see. The Elven Strain).
Historically, Astarojna has laid claim to all lands east of The Worldspine, seeing it as their destiny to liberate Elvenkind from The Gods that would chain and enslave them, leading them to turn their weapons on their own kin.
Due to its isolated position, so far removed from the wars and worries of the rest of Kashura, The Astarojna Dominion has found itself in a position of negligible influence. Most people west of The Worldspine have never even heard of the place. Finally, with the continued absence of The Queen Reborn, Zaras Astarojna, The Astarojna Dominion has found itself in a sort of succession crisis in the past five decades. Since her last death, not a trace of the immortal queens whereabouts has been discovered, and while the core territories of The Dominion are still governed by aristocrats and officials trying to hold the nation together, their external territories in the south of The Devoj Wilderness have since seceded to form their own nation: Velavastok.

Territory:

While The Astarojna Dominion claims to be the rightful rulers over the entirety of The Devoj Wilderness, in practice it only really controls the lands around The Sea of Jezabel which are encircled by The Kazovka Range and The Severos Mountains. The core of the nation lies north of The Wardens, where its capital Zarasgrad can be found.
South of The Wardens lie The Stigmata, Islands and remnants of The Burning of The First Tree drenched in otherworldly corruption. These Corrupted lands are inhospitable to most regular life, twisting them into mockeries of nature. Despite this though, Astarojna has launched a series of expeditions into these lands in the last few decades in an effort to expand and finally begin the process of recolonization of their ancestral homelands.
Finally, far in the north-east of Astarojna lies the island of Bostrova, a mostly frozen chunk of rock rich in silver and tin, serving as both a prison colony and labor camp for The Dominions criminals.

Government:

While The Astarojna Dominion is in theory an Absolute Monarchy, its rulers do not follow a hereditary line of succession. At least in the regular sense, for it is believed that following the first Queen of The Dominion, Zaras Astarojna, every successive ruler has been a reincarnation of the late queen, following the beliefs of The Satuva , the predominant faith within Astarojna.
As protocol dictates, upon her death, an assembly of seekers consisting of former confidants, guardians and personnel close to the late queen are sent out into all corners of the continent, searching for the child which now holds her immortal soul.
The speed at which these seekers discovered her whereabouts in the past varied, but it usually took at most two decades. Since the immortal queen's last death however over 5 decades have passed, with no trace of her yet to be found. Many of the people instated before her death to maintain The Dominion during her absence have since died, replaced by individuals without direct connections to her highness and more importantly, without her oversight. These acts, matters which used to be considered unthinkable just half a century ago, are nowadays commonplace, born out of necessity, as a nation cannot operate without leadership.
This however has not stopped many people, especially those living farther away from the heartlands of The Astarojna Dominion, to call its authority into question. Why after all should they be subservient to an empty throne, or even worse, one occupied by a pretender Queen or King, which lacks the foresight of an eternal intellect?
Those people eventually rose up, declaring their independence and forming The Free Cities of Velavastok. In the meantime, Stanis Ambroja, a male Nayavela (see: The Elven Strain) and descendant of one of the late queen's confidants has taken up the mantle of holding the nation together, at least for now.

History:

Having found its origin around the time of The Burning of The First Tree (see: The Elven Strain), The History of The Astarojna Dominion, reaches far into the mist of prehistory over 1000 years ago.
Zaras Astarojna, herself a supposed descendant of one of the generals which led the charge on that fateful day, united the splintered Nayavela and founded the city of Zarasgrad. Over the coming centuries the dominion flourished under her leadership, as new cities were founded and the Nayavela slowly recovered, brought back from the brink of extinction.
As The Astarojna dominion slowly grew, so did its military might, and with it, the thirst for expansion. Convinced of their birthright and no longer willing to tolerate their kin beyond The Kazovka Range be enslaved by their divine masters, The Dominion declared war on The Tutelars to set their brothers and sisters free.
Under the charge of The Queen Reborn, Astarojna launched countless invasions into The Devoj wilderness. While many of these conquests resulted in failure, the ones that didn’t ultimately resulted in great territorial gains for The Dominion, especially in the lands north of The Emerald Sea. Through decades and centuries, The Dominion would carve out the territories which nowadays make up most of Velavastok, and shape nature to their whims until all influence of The Tutelars had been eradicated in the area.
It would not be until the year of 18 SF that the dominion would lose its grip over those territories, not from an outside threat, but from internal discontent. After all, The Queen Reborn, which had held the seat of sovereign for almost a thousand years, had still not been found over 3 decades after her last death in the year of 18 PSF. As such, those southern territories seceded with little resistance from the central government, as they had enough trouble maintaining unity in the core territories. From this act, The Free Cities of Velavastok were founded, and even though they are now separate, they still pursue their rightful mission to eradicate The Tutelars once and for all.
Meanwhile Lord Stanis Ambroja has taken over as temporary sovereign of Astarojna, holding The Dominion together in his queen's absence.

Culture & Society:

As a nation founded by the Nayavela, the culture of The Astarojna Dominion is very much a product of their beliefs, history and philosophy:

Anti-Religious Zeal:

As a state built atop the principles of The Satuva, The Astarojna Dominion is a place naturally suspicious of religious activity of any kind. While not all religions are outright banned, their practice is still heavily stigmatized, as is the construction of houses of worship, the holding of public sermons and similar acts.
Far from being an intolerant doctrine preached from above though, this anti-religious Zeal is commonplace in almost every part of society, and while the severity might vary, one will be hard-pressed to find a friend of the faiths here. Clerics, the most dedicated servants of the divine, are therefore almost unheard of within The Dominion and even Paladins, even though they are not necessarily servants to divine masters, are a lot less common than in other parts of the world.
Those few that do exist however are part of one of The Kizrak Orders, small militant communities focused on cultivating the strongest and most disciplined warriors of the entire Dominion. Many of them even serve as The Queen Eternal’s personal honor guard… or at least they used to, before she vanished 50 years ago.

Uncompromising Meritocracy:

Another of the more notable points of influence The Satuva has brought is The Dominions focus on merit and aptitude, especially in regards to leadership. In general tolerance for ineptitude is extremely low, competition (both friendly and hostile) amongst peers is high and only gets more cutthroat the higher one climbs the social ladder.
Noble Houses entrusted with certain tasks and jurisdictions by The Queen Eternal take extreme measures, almost unheard of in the other polities of Kashura, to ensure that the next generation are well-suited to their future duties. It is for example not unheard of for the patriarch/matriarch of a Noble House to disinherit entire generations, should none of them suit their high standards.
In the past the people of Astarojna could rest easy, knowing that their infallible queen was ultimately the one that appointed and removed people from their positions. This would ensure those in charge were in fact the best for the job, and even though the general culture of Astarojna has led to people being pretty good at policing themselves and each other, the queen's absence has nonetheless diminished public trust into new officials appointed without her oversight. There is after all a world of difference between “pretty good” and “without error”. To visitors from outside this all might seem quite strange, and while it might seem admirable that rich and poor people alike would be so willing to subject themselves to such extreme scrutiny to ensure the success of their nation, this has also contributed to an almost suffocating peer pressure culture.
As one traveler from Dracoris put it in his travel diary:

“The Astarojna Dominion is a place where everyone feels like they must constantly prove themselves or be left in the dust, and this feeling is not so far from the truth.”

Laws & Institutions:

The Laws around Kashura generally don’t vary all that much from one another, murder and theft is pretty much illegal everywhere for instance, this section will therefore focus only on the noteworthy:

The Zakonik:

The Zakonik is the code of law used within The Astarojna Dominion and its courts, and was supposedly created by The Queen Eternal Zaras Astarojna herself. As the story goes, the queen wished to distill all her wisdom on the topics of justice, mercy and righteous punishment into writing, so that justice could still be enacted even in times of her absence.
Far from being easily comprehensible though, The Zakonik was so large it required an entire library for storage alone, as The Queen Eternal saw it necessary to cover every possible eventuality that could possibly come up in a court of law. A positive is that, at least supposedly, this would mean that there would be a clear and right judgment to every possible crime or supposed crime ever committed. A negative point though would be that, to analyze and memorize all this knowledge, one would basically have to dedicate their life to its study. In consequence: being a judge of Astarojna is not an occupation, but a way of life. It means dedicating your life from an early age to the study of legal texts. It means living and breathing the collective wisdom of an infinite being, and ensuring that her will be done. To be a judge means to hold power even above worldly rulers, as they too are subject to the will of The Queen Eternal.
How successful they were in fulfilling this arduous task in the past is debatable, though thankfully Queen Zaras Astarojna was usually around to fix their errors and punish them accordingly. As for the past 50 years, well… we’ll let history be the judge of that.

Major Settlements:

Zarasgrad - Named after Zaras Astarojna, Zarasgrad is the oldest city and capital of The Astarojna Dominion. It is a port city in the heart of The Dominions core territory and a hub for the state's trade and bureaucracy. As of 32 SF, the city has about 20.000 inhabitants, almost all of them Nayavela Elves. Sokolov - Roughly translating to “The city by the river weeping tears of red”, Sokolov is The Dominions main industrial base and where most of the polities' weapons, armor and tools are produced. It is home to many clans and houses which have passed down and improved upon their techniques for hundreds of years, and currently has a population of around 10.000 people, almost all of them Nayavela Elves. Vitra - Also known as "The city of howling winds", Vitra is a prison colony and labor camp located on the isle of Bostrova in the far north-east of The Dominion. The mountains of Bostrova are quite rich in silver and tin, but the overwhelming cold makes it an extremely undesirable place to live. No better place than this then to send all your convicts as free labor, so they can earn their freedom by bringing wealth to The Dominion and its people! Most people in Vitra are either convicts or guards keeping those convicts in check, but there are also those who make a living off of providing those guards with essential services. Overall, Vitra has a population of around 3.000 people, around half of which are Nayavela Elves. Zaparojni - Roughly translating to “Westward”, Zaparojni is the first major frontier city of Astarojna and serves as a vital military base to protect the heartlands from any possible incursion from The Delsi River. Besides that, it is also home to some of the greatest scholars of The Dominion which study the corruption of The Crimson Wilds. This is due to the fact that the city is close enough to be able to procure fresh samples without having to… well, live in lands mired in corruption. The city is currently home to around 7.000 people, most of which are Nayavela Elves. Zalisnost - Also often referred to as "Fort Zalis", Zalisnost is the second major frontier city of Astarojna and, similar to Zaparojni, serves as a vital military base. Zalisnost is the place from which The Dominion exerts most of its control over The Sea of Jezabel and into the south of The Devoj Wilderness. It is currently home to around 5.000 people, most of which are Nayavela Elves. Karminova - Roughly translating to “Crimson Sands”, Karminova is the newest frontier city of Astarojna, having been founded just about 80 years ago. It is the first successful attempt at creating a permanent settlement in lands deeply mired in otherworldly corruption, and mostly serves as a research outpost, as well as a retreat for the poor and eccentric. As of 32 SF, Karminova is home to around 1.500 people, almost all of which are Nayavela Elves.