Castium

Land of the Three Lilies

Geographical Location

Castium is a middle land country south of Tirtuial and west of Xastile. Castium is well known for having a well oiled economy and the capital city of Gorthou is one of the prime trading locations for those who travel via ship. Castium gets the most outside trading from Gebrijan and Draconis as well as getting plenty of trade from Kroyhiel and Gastor. While still primarily made up of humans Castium actually has one of the most diverse collection of races in Ivoura. One can often find rarer races in local taverns or out on the street.

Religion

Castium is very open when it comes to religion, though evil gods while not outright outlawed are very much frowned upon. Even non human deities are worshipped in Castium with Bahamut the Platinum Dragon being the most popularly worshipped deity other than Chauntea the goddess of agriculture and Lathander the god of birth and renewal. The largest temple in Castium is the Chapel of the Road dedicated to Lathander the Morninglord.

Center of Trade

Castium cities are often highly populated and crowded sometimes to the point of being outright uncomfortable. Gorthou the largest city is ever expanding with smaller towns and villages outside the city walls. Sudicá the city farthest south in Castium is also a port city but is also next to the Podbil river meaning it gets more trade from countries along the Podbil river. Many of people in Sudicá are immigrants from Xastile or Kroyhiel. These refugees have led to a massive overpopulation issue in Sudicá, this has led to disease, overaccumulation of trash and filth, loss of jobs, and finally increased criminal activity.
The final city of Castium is Stalwicke which used to be the second largest city but has since been overtaken by Sudicá. The reason for a massive loss in population in Stalwicke was heavily caused by the Flight of Arcanus. Many large rocks and chunks of the flying city fell upon Stalwicke destroying a large chunk of the city and killing thousands of people. Stalwicke has never recovered and now only a small walled off district of the city is populated. Outside of that district amongst the ruined buildings are now hives of bandits and monsters.

Royality and Political Climate

The current ruler of Castium is King Duncan Sildred who has been the ruler of Castium for twenty years. He is known for being kind and generous, however in his old age is also rather sickly. Duncan is popular to the poor but isn't well loved by some of the noble class for varying reasons. King Duncan is married to his second wife Queen Anastasia Rosile, she is close to thirty years younger than Duncan. King Duncan has three children his oldest is Prince Bethad Sildred, the son of King Duncan's first wife. The other two children are Elizabeth and Maria daughters of Anastasia and Duncan.

Prince Bethad is the next in line for the throne of Castium. Rumors have circulated that Bethad was actually a product of incest between King Duncan and his sister Anne Sildred. People believe this because of Bethad's unique eye color which was the same as Anne Sildred's. Bethad has had a strategic mind and is a strong military commander unlike his father who was often a weak one. Its said that he was able to beat his father and other nobles in chess since he was around five years old. He is the current commander of the Castium armies.

War on the Horizon

In recent days the armies have been rushing to the northern border near the small village of Rusnod. Border tensions are rising between Castium and the Krolestor Empire and in all likelihood will lead to war in the coming months. With how strong the Krolestor have been in the past many believe that Castium will be the next to fall to the Krolestor Empire.

Type

Geopolitical, Kingdom