Stralk

In the northwest corner of Falen there is a long stretch of land known as the Scorched Heath. It was once a fertile region of hills and pine forests, but once touched by elvern sorceries and merciless goblinoid armies, the land was left irrevocably scarred. The same could be said for Stralk and its people.   
Stralk is a nation born of pain and savagery, and in those things they now revel, and in their own twisted way, thrive. Within its charred borders obedience is the law, and death is the penance for failure. It is a nation held together by will and domination and the fear of the crimson god that gave them the dark drive to survive in a realm where no one rightfully should. All swear fealty to the Red God, and give worship in the form of the blood and pain of their enemies, and themselves. 
There is not a nation on Aramanth that has not seen the crimson sails of Stralk ships arrive to terrorize their ports or their ships and any people in the surrounding lands have long ago either fled to safer realms or been taken as slaves. The only nation near in proximity to them to stand resolute are the Dunlish Hobgoblins, and the two nations exist in an almost constant state of war with one another.

Structure

Stralk is ruled by a monarch, but there is little organized structure beyond that. The nation is stratified by nature of the strong over the weak. The ruler commands their inferiors in the ordering of the kingdom, and they in turn do the same. Those who fail, or show weakness in their leadership, are killed and replaced. Those who take issue with this are free to take up a blade themselves, but woe be unto any who fail, for the Red God ever seeks the blood and pain of the living. 
There is no organized economy in Stralk. They have no currency and only the most basic forms of barter occur. Duties are delegated and enforced through the threat of pain and death. There is little care for finery or material advancement beyond things that enhance ones martial ability or bring better ways to appease their ever-hungry deity.

Culture

The strong rule the weak, and this is the sole guiding rule for the ideal Stralk. Strength, intelligence, capability, and a willingness to kill are the traits most valued. Sacrifice in the form of self-mutilation or the torture and death of others can grant one clout within Stralk society, but without the willingness to kill and take more than that, clout is seen as little more than false posturing.
Familial bonds are nonexistent in Stralk. Couplings do occur, but the constant struggle for supremacy means these often dissolve into blood. Women are favored for they can produce children who in turn can grow to serve and kill, or otherwise be a sacrifice to the Red God.

Public Agenda

For its centuries of existence Stralk as vacillated between a desire to expand and conquer and the desire to raid for slaves, food, and little else. Presently it is the latter sentiment that dominates the opinion of the Stralk rulers, though there are those who desire otherwise.

Assets

Stralk has no currency and does not trade. Magic and cyphers that cannot maim or kill are of little interest to them. Their land has little airable land left, and fewer natural resources to exploit. What they have is what they take, and what they take is almost always consumed only to enable the taking of more.

History

Stralk was once a relatively peaceful colony of the The Commonwealth, and remained so for nearly two centuries. When the Voidgate War came to their lands, they had long been abandoned by their parent nation. They fought as best they could, but they were no match for the merciless and mindless hobgoblin armies and the elf sorceries or directed them. 
But it was an act of creative malice that would alter the fate of Stralk forevermore. The elves made use of an Ancients relic they uncovered, testing it against the land they had all but conquered. The result was an entire landscape marred beyond recognition. Volcanos sprang up from the ground, poisonous vents opened in the earth, and almost all vegetation died. The elves made note of these interesting developments, and left the destroyed land and the corpses of the nation they had destroyed.
But not all had died. A scan few thousand survived the cataclysm, though almost all had been pushed to madness. In their madness they met a collective vision of a great being born from the destruction of the relic, born from their blood and pain and death. 
It had fed upon these things, and it hungered for more.
And so the cult of the Red God was formed, a cult that soon codified into a fully-fledged religion the became the driving philosophy for a people who would bring the terror wrought upon them to all they could find. All that was holy was the blood, and it was most holy when bled from one's foes while they lay screaming for mercy.

Religion

The Red God was formed from the pain and deaths of tens of thousands and purified through the use of an Ancients' Artifact. It is a force that feeds off the power of blood and the pain induced in its extraction. It makes its will known through the Red Priests but ultimately has few tenants beyond its sanguinary desires. Its faithful believe the Red God gives them strength, wit, and ferocity in exchange for their worship, but the Red God is quiet in this regard.

Even the Mightiest Shall Bleed.

Founding Date

-481 SE

Type

Geopolitical, Kingdom

Alternative Names

The Red Nation, Land of the Crimson God.

Demonym

Stralk

Government System

Monarchy, Absolute

Power Structure

Unitary state

Economic System

Barter system

Currency

None.