Ravenyard

According to legend, Ravenyard was founded two millennia ago as the Kingdom of the Raven. The Raven King raised soldiers from the darkness and swept through almost all of the North, his territory bounded only by the Dwarven mountain tribes to the South, the ancestors of the Lunahelm Raiders to the West. The territory covered most of what is not Fallencall and Amberreach . According to records, he ruled for over a thousand years. Scholars hotly debate this fact as he did not appear in public nor remove his mask for a great deal of that time. During his rule, he slowly parcelled off sections of his land to his children, allowing them to take their mother's name and append his surname - Jūn (君), meaning ruler. Each direct child of his formed their own noble house, with the intention that the eldest of descendants would serve on a ruling council. There were over 30 recognized noble families at the time of the Raven King's abdication. The ensuing wars and infighting significantly weakened the country. Over the last millennia, this number has steeply declined. The mage revolt of the 200s also caused a high number of families to lose their lives, titles, or territories. In the current day, there are approximately a dozen noble families in good standing. They oversee the country with minimal public infighting. They follow a feudal system, leasing land to the peasantry. The quality of life of the average common person is dependent on the current lord's benevolence, although most of the wiser lords remain wary that their power is dependent on their people not rising up in anger. Those who are born or marry into any of the -Jun families live in luxury.