The Petty Midway Princedoms

The Midway Princedoms, as they prefer to be called, have long been a haven for pirates, anarchists, exiles, and anyone who can't seem to make it in more civilized nations. The Princedoms are by no means a unified nation, but rather a constantly shifting group of city-states and fiefdoms, each at war with the others both to gain more power and to prevent their own demise.
History
The Lands of the princedoms were colonies of the Hegemony of the Reik in the Third Age, conquered from the various D'shar tribes that inhabited the lands orignally.
The Reik wished to forge an empire of commerce and maritime power, and did so by establishing cities along the shores of the nearby mainland. Producing raw resources and exporting them back to the home island of the Hegemony, wealth rarely flowed back into these colonies, unless it was needed to further expand the exploitation of the land, or establish forts to withstand the roving native tribes.
During the beginning of the Fourth Age, the rival Tremalking Empire collapsed, allowing the Reik to bloom with trade and seapower. It was during the Mettenese rebellion that things began to fall apart for the Hegemony.
Inspired by their Tremalking cousins, the mainland colonies on Midway rebelled as well, causing the eventual dissolution of the Hegemony of the Reik, no longer having the resources of the two continents to exploit.
Near the end of the Fourth Age, there were two powerful kingdoms that emerged from these rebellions on the Midway Mainland; Wisland and Ausstra. They waged war against each other as often as not, and at times fought battles against the Reiklanders who once held dominion over them.
However, during the events of the Second Fall, both these nations collapsed, and no such successor state has emerged in the Fifth Age. Having been resettled by the small number of survivors of these two kingdoms, the region has suffered from constant wars between the new, variously titled princedoms.
Government
There is no central government in the Princedoms, save a loose affiliation of city-states called the Resplendent Council which meets annually in Ziggismont. The amount of different princedoms that form this council is in constant flux as princedoms are often destroyed, conquered or new princedoms formed.
Beyond the council, each city is ruled by its own smaller council or despot, and the warfare between the nations makes the Resplendent Council often little more than a technicality. Civil war is another common threat to stable government, with assassination and betrayal a simple fact of life in these tumultuous princedoms.
The most vicious of these civil wars occur when powerful lords who have been paid vast sums to act as mercenaries in distant wars return to find their princedoms taken from them.
The only thing that can ever unite the various petty states is a serious threat from their neighboring nations, even then every single lord vies to be in charge of whatever ramshackle army is assembled to thwart the outsiders.
The organization of these rare conglomerate armies are almost as chaotic as the princedoms themselves with each petty lord trying to out do his rival with feats of battlefield heroism.
Geography
The Midway Princedoms are located in the marshy lowlands, badland crags, and river deltas of south western Midway, along the shores of the Sargasso and Southern seas. The region borders the Zagron Mountains and the Serkland Caliphates in the north, and the western borders of the Halfling Moors to the east.
There are few roads throughout the land, and the branching web of the Massel River and its tributaries provide the primary means of transportation through and within the region. Spread throughout the land are city-states and fortresses of various sizes and populations, some of which seem to appear overnight, and many that are wiped off the map just as quickly in the constant feuding between settlements.
Inhabitants
The people that make up the Midway Princedoms are a diverse lot, the only thing most seem to have in common is that they are not the sort of people any civilized creature would want for neighbours.
The princedoms seem to attract a wide range of rogues and outcasts from deposed princes to mad sorcerers to religious firebrands. Though the people who inhabit this land come from a huge range of backgrounds they are all self reliant and hardy, those who are not do not last long in the princedoms.
While many inhabitants of the surrounding lands think of the people of the Midway Princedoms as back stabbing curs, they would be wrong, as one of the codes of the Princedom Common Laws is that oathbreaker must die (usually in a very painful manner). As a result most people from the Midway Princedoms would die before they broke their word but are also very cautious about giving their word in the first place.
The Princedom Common Laws have a heavy influence on the lands inhabitants and almost all respect these laws as those who don't often suffer severe consequences.
Religion
The nature of the princedoms cynical inhabitants means that they are often ill disposed towards religion. Still, there are those who follow the teachings of The Mandate, and others still who follow the Faith of the One God.
Cities / Kingdoms Rathenburg Teutoren Brammont Messen Schwerren Mergenheim Leuberg Berchenstadt Regenstadt Lincow Obergreubenstadt Mocklenheim Arhenstort Saxonnia Heslin Pomeran Schillmont Linsau Wismonstadt Elster Falkenheim Alorft Ziggismont Vogglin Mainland

Type

Political, Confederation

Location

Midway

Neighboring Nations

• Serkland Caliphates