The Principality of Skaðis
The reformed country of Giants and Giantkin
Structure
The Principality is, as its name suggests, run entirely by a Prince or Princess who sits at the top of the land as the supreme ruler. Their every whim is absolute law, and they typically lead alongside a second-in-command(Typically a court mage) and a council of advisers made up of the country's Clan Leaders, Chieftains, and other "Nobility".
Beneath them the country very much follows a feudal system where a simplified system of lords rules over vast fiefs, ruling over vassals who rule over serfs that work the land for their lord, who in turn serves a lord and so on until the Prince or Princess at the top.
Public Agenda
The public agenda of the Principality is neutrality, nonaggression, and the re-establishment of the ancient empire of the Giants that once spanned all of Frozen Spire Island. They wish to fix the negative connotation given to Giants and Giantkin over the millennia, and to this end they wish to provide a place where Giants and Giantkin can live alongside other humanoids without fear of hunting or danger.
Assets
After the Princess of the Principality, Halkaði Aesiva, founded the country at the end of her campaign of conquest that saw her unite every last tribe of Giants and monsters on the island and which culminated in the sacking and destruction of The Eastern Imperium's capital on the island and the capitulation of the forces aligned to The Venau Necrocracy on the island, she has gained the assets both countries left behind in their retreat from her armies, and the vast resources and assets that have existed on the Island ever since the previous empire of Giants collapsed long ago, during The Jotunhunts. This includes ruined fortresses, citadels, ruined cities, and vast arrays of resources both manmade and artificial.
Demography and Population
Most of the population within the principality is made up of Dai-Yukai, with Jotun and other Giants being the second most populous demographic within the country. The population is divided up into a myriad of tribes that dot the island the Principality is located on, and these tribes have only recently begun the move into civilized areas such as cities after the country was founded by Halkaði Aesiva.
Despite the country's newly founded nature, the birth rates of the land still remain low due to the low fertility rates of the Dai-Yukai and the infrequency with which they have children, as their inter-species fraternization often results in the death of the host in order to become pregnant and give birth to children.
Conversely, the death rate is high due to the still wild and barbaric nature of the lands the Principality holds, though this rate has begun to lower since the country's founding as the land slowly become civilized and learn the ways of culture and city life.
Territories
The Principality's lands encompass the entirety of Frozen Spire Island, the ancestral homeland of all Giantkind that was once theirs alone to hold in eons past but had long since been rendered into a wild and barbaric land after The Jotunhunts. Having recently reclaimed their homeland, Jotunheim(Or Frozen Spire Island, to the outside world) once more sits in the control of the Giants.
Military
The Principality's military is a wild, unorganized thing mostly organized into the component tribes that the warriors and soldiers of the army pay loyalty to, rallied and organized beneath the singular banner of the strongest among them, the Princess. Despite this unorganized nature, the Principality has one of the strongest military forces in the world...due to each soldier being a towering Titan sometimes up to nearly sixty feet(18.2 meters) tall that can flatten an entire armored convoy of hardened knights of more mundane races that are trained in the arts of combat and warfare for centuries, the military makes up for its lack of organization with overwhelming, brutal power. With legions upon legions of Dai-Yukai that never even deign to draw their weapons and simply walk over their foes, crushing entire regiments of armored knights beneath their towering blue feet as weapons simply bounce off their icy blue skin.
Religion
Though the Principality is relatively newly founded, it is nonetheless an incredibly pious and superstitious place thanks to the long and storied tradition of the barbaric tribes of Giants that unified to found the country. Carrying with them a religion that goes back thousands of years, the Principality pays homage to The Giant Pantheon...though unlike the Giants of The Kingdom of Aslaga, they primarily focus on the older and gentler Giant Deities such as Baldr, The Unbroken, Thor, The Stormson, Odin, The Lord of the Hanged, and Nyfau, The Giantmother and Ymir, The Frostbringer.
Foreign Relations
Naturally, as the country was founded at the conclusion of a war that saw Halkaði Aesiva and her massive army of Giants crush the forces of The Eastern Imperium and The Venau Necrocracy, The Principality has awful relations with The Eastern Imperium and are only one step away from outright war despite having only been founded relatively recently. However, though their relations with The Venau Necrocracy are rocky, they are not too terrible as the Lord-Commander of Venau's forces on the island had the wise sense to Capitulate to the Princess and her Giant Hordes, and thus were allowed to leave the island in peace with minimal loss of life.
Agriculture & Industry
As much of the island is frozen over and covered perpetually in fields of snow and ice, it is difficult for many to establish an agricultural industry here...though to the Giants who have lived here for millennia, it is not so difficult a task. With titanic strength they dig up mountains of soil and pierce beneath the lifeless tundra, cultivating crops in the fertile soil that dwells deep beneath the ground. Growing multiple strange but incredibly hardy crops that were developed eons ago by the ancient Giant Empire for growth in the island's harsh conditions that have since spread across the island in the intervening centuries, the Principality formed with a relatively large-scale and intact agricultural industry with several sprawling fields all across the island that produce food for its massive citizens. Likewise, animal husbandry is a booming business here as well, and due to the massive power of the Principality's Giant citizens it isn't an uncommon sight for monsters to be tamed into pets and food animals...beasts such as Rocs, Mammoths, Dire Wolves, and more are kept in large pens where their Giant masters use them for food, travel, and more.
As a final benefit to the country's founding, the tribes that were previously disjointed and warring have unified...and as such, have brought together the myriad of resources gathered from around the island such as vast Uttercold mines, sprawling Lumber industries in the nation's many snow-covered forests, and finally, the large amount of mineral resources and ores that dwell beneath the ground, particularly iron, copper, zinc, gemstones, and other valuable ores such as Adamantine...though these ores are often obtained in trade with the multiple Dwarven settlements dotted within the mountains here, and the massive central Mountain Fortress of Grandhelm that serves as the home for the Island's Mountain Dwarves.
Finally, the country has quite a large slave population as a relic from the island's previous warring tribes of Giants...each tribe kept numerous slaves for a myriad of small tasks and manual labor, and now that they have unified, slavery has become almost an institution in the newly established country...yet it is one that the Princess, Halkaði Aesiva, is working hard to reduce and get rid of, or at the very least diminish to nothing more than a punishment for those who have truly done them wrong.
Trade & Transport
Due to the country's infancy as well as the incredibly lethal and dangerous landscape of Frozen Spire Island which it calls home, the Principality's travel is most done through overland caravans protected by numerous heavily-armored Giant Warriors to keep the island's monsters and beasts at bay. Travel is also done in the air, on the Principality's numerous Rocs and other titanic monstrous birds of prey that have been domesticated by the powerful Giants who dwell there.
Trade is mostly done overland and over-air between the Principality's various tribes and cities, but flows exclusively across the seas through the country's southern port towns to the other nations of Mainland Ea.
Infrastructure
The cities of the Principality are mainly those looted from The Eastern Imperium and The Venau Necrocracy during their retreat from the Island, as the Giant Stonemasons and Citybuilders have yet to complete construction of the capital further inland, on the ruins of the island's old capital that fell to ruin during The Jotunhunts.
As such, much of the infrastructure here is yet to be constructed...though, the prisons and similar holding buildings have mostly been demolished. With the unique tribal punishment known as The Banahogg where offenders who break the land's law are ritually tied beneath the foot of a giant and are continuously trampled for a variable period of time in proportion to their crime, the Principality has little need for prisons. After all, few care to commit crimes again after living beneath the feet of a giant for a week or more, where each step shatters their bones, breaks their bodies, and crushes them yet they remain unable to die thanks to power enchantments on the ropes that bind them. Instead, special individuals designated "Wardens" are given the right to carry out the punishments needed for when crime takes place, where the offenders are shrunk if they were Giants and the ritual ropes are prepared that bind them beneath their Warden for the duration of their sentence.
This way, space is saved in the cities of the Principality and the Wardens who carry out the punishment are hardly infringed upon, as the tiny prisoners they contain are not big enough nor allowed enough freedom to both their jailors, so they often go about their lives in peace and even march to war while carrying out a punishment.
What was once, can be again.
Founding Date
2042 AF
Type
Geopolitical, Country
Alternative Names
The Principality, Jotunheim, The Land of Giants
Demonym
Skaðian
Leader
Head of State
Head of Government
Government System
Monarchy, Absolute
Power Structure
Feudal state
Economic System
Mixed economy
Currency
The Principality has adopted the Three-Coin system of Copper, Silver, and Gold as its official currency system to make it easier for creatures of other nations to come and live there.
Major Exports
Uttercold, Stonemasonry and other Giant crafts, Magic Items, Monsters/Beasts, Ships
Major Imports
Food, Manpower, Luxury Items(Silks, Ivory, Etc.)
Legislative Body
The Prince or Princess of the Principality is the sole legislative force in the country, and holds absolute power and authority.
Judicial Body
The Prince or Princess of the Principality is the sole judicial force in the country, and holds absolute authority over judicial matters...though, they often maintain a council of advisers to assist them in matters of judgement. Oftentimes, the sacred ritual punishment known as The Banahogg is used to punish serious offenders.
Official State Religion
Location
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