Southmoor (/South-mor/)
History and Government
Southmoor is a ravaged land, wrought by civil war and destructive magics. The nation has its roots in the exodus from the Kcalsbury Continent, where refugees who did not settle in Nothgard, and who were not welcomed in Rhydien, moved beyond to petition for entry into Montbay. These refugees constructed their own loose communities, which loosely traded and cooperated, but never crafted a central framework for their governance. Still, a de facto nobility became entrenched as a result of village patriarchs, rich merchants, and other political leaders concentrating their powers, and battles for regional control became a common occurrence. In the background of these warlord-nobles - largely from the Kcalsburian exodus - were various Old Faith tribes, as well as Pharosian humans, who found themselves increasingly disenfranchised. Where there was once cooperation, there was now a growing power-majority, as native lands and villages became accumulated into the boundaries of local lords, often without any input. This resulted in many struggles, but eventually culminated in The Hill-Wig Revolt, which saw a coalition of tribes - led by the dominant Hill-Wigs - rise up to secure their own zones of control. It also saw the introduction of darker powers. Much like in Sylla, challenged nobles began to turn to the Fallen Ways to exert their control, while the Hill-Wigs themselves practiced various varieties of the Wild Ways. The consequence was an epic clash of outlawed energies, and the outbreak of a direct civil war within Southmoor, with most of the pragmatic nobles rallying behind Duke Varus Dracus Vossen in an effort to regain control of the country. Duke Vossen, the so-called Blue Duke, rules Anceledra, which remains as Southmoor's largest city, and it's most stable region, thanks in large part to the intervention and support of Lord Roderick Lhanbyrde of Montbay, who has a personal stake in stabilizing the land, before his own nation faces a tide of undeath and another Old Faith revolt. Today, Duke Vossen's influence can hardly be considered cemented. The Blue Duke still rules but a small proportion of his claimed state, and except for expeditions by The Witch-Hunters and The Ravencrest Society to eliminate especially dangerous creatures, he mounts no offense, not having the resources to do so. The rest of Southmoor is ruled by isolated warlords, by anarchist Fey, by Hill-Wigs and Wild-Witches, and by necromancers - which include rumors of the dread lich, Lorkat Bol's, return.Cities
Anceledra
Anceledra is the only city within Southmoor to reasonably claim to be its capital, boasting a population of one-hundred-twenty-thousand, a fourth of which are refugees in its outer "Tents District." The "Tents District" is less of a district, and more of a sprawling slum, where Rotspur and other diseases run free, and where foul beings feast upon the corpses left behind, for it is impossible to patrol. The only reason, in fact, that the Tents District has grown to have such a large population, is because it is constantly refueled by a tide of humans escaping from other parts of the nation. The city is directly ruled by the Blue Duke, Varus Dracus Vossen, who has dreams of reuniting the nation's official borders under a central state. Behind Vossen, Witch-Hunters run the show in Anceledra, holding even more power than the official churches of Nes, Merak, and Pyriel combined.Yelts
Yelts was once a prosperous city, a rival to Anceledra before the outbreak of the civil war. It has since become a city whose name is unspeakable without the chillest of shivers, for it has become renowned world-wide for its atrocities. Presently, three-quarters of the city stand reduced to rubble, the battered center blocked by walls constructed from the destroyed outer fragments. When necromancy came to Yelts, it came amidst a tide of peasant unrest, to both of which the ruling Duke, Lance Armel, provided the same response: death. A tide of violence swept the city, during which a combination of the guard, The Witch-Hunters, and vigilante city-folk were permitted to kill all suspected of conspiracy. The stacks of bodies attracted the plague, and Rotspur only compounded the deaths. The Duke, crazed and swept up within the riots, sought to annihilate this "hidden enemy" by toppling all places it could hide, and encouraged the destruction of the properties of those dead. As the city burned, the Duke himself met an end, at the tip of his guardsmen's pikes. The Captain of the Guard, Reginald Armand, then took control of the city, and ordered the murder of any suspected of participating in criminal activity - including unofficial murders, property-burnings, and conspiracies against his authority. Another tide of killings swept the city, but Armand solidified his powers, and now holds absolute control over the remaining city, which its people fiercely defend from the remaining center. The chance to desert has long past them - the outskirts are crawling with undead, disease, and feral men with minds corrupted through their terror, and nothing any man could fear inside stands up to the horrors that await beyond its tight-locked gates.Geography
Southmoor boasts a variety of environs, from the hilly plains of the west, to the dense and marshy forests of the east. Frog Lake once served as the nation's primary reservoir of water, considered holy among the native Hill-Wigs, but the outbreak of civil war has led to local reliance upon Southmoor's oft-dirty creeks, characteristically filled with muck and brine so thick the people have taken to calling it "water-soup." The High Woods were once a popular gathering spot for Kcalsburian settlements, as they stood upon the borders of Montbay, a hoped-for final destination for most. These woods are also the primary concentration of the Hill-Wigs, and, while the two groups lived in peace for quite some time, trespasses by the Kcalsburians resulted in most of these lands coming under Hill-Wig control during The Hill-Wig Revolt. Most Kcalsburians were uprooted during this time, and either illegally crossed south or fled eastwards, primarily towards Anceledra. While logging persists on the Montbayern side of these woods, the Hill-Wigs strictly outlaw it, and Southmoorian attempts to exploit resources were always a point of contention between the two groups. The Marshwoods in the east, on the other hand, have always been solidly under the rule of Kcalsburian migrants. Today, the Duke of Anceledra defines his borders as the beginnings of the Marshwoods, though he can hardly claim to protect all of his lands. The Duke of Yelts previously laid claim to the woods themselves, at least those east of the Mellow Brook, but his assassination lays such details vague, and the city has bigger problems. Loggers once prospered here, but have long gone quiet, as darker beings prosper in the dark recesses of the mucky forest. The lands in Southmoor's south, around the coast, are a battered floodplains, where shallow, salty waters sometimes flow in miles inland when the Sea of Stars wills it. This makes them relatively safe, as the undead abhor its waters, but also unpredictable in their own way. Anceledra itself can become separated from the mainland, protected only by its thickened walls, with nothing but water everything in sight, in every direction, once every couple of decades. Should this happen again soon, it would be disastrous to its many refugees, whose Tent District lies outside of its walls.Resources
Southmoor is almost completely cut off from trade, except for that which trickles into Anceledra directly from Montbay. Its southern neighbor, while supportive, also imposes high taxes and tariffs, and keeps the Grand Bay entirely walled off with its navy, preventing alternative routes of trade except through it and Southmoor's direct neighbors. Aid from them, however, is equally prevented - Yelts stands in the way of any route from The Vale, and the borders have long been closed as a result. Rhydien has been diplomatically silent for several years, in an attempt to support the Hill-Wigs in their revolt, and a route from there would cut across the nation, through lands which are certainly dangerous. The only real imports that come into Anceledra, then, are food supplies and alcohol. These come in exchange for a growing debt upon the Blue Duke's family, one which the Lhanbyrdes hope will be repaid when the nation finally becomes more stable. The ground beneath Anceledra is bountiful, at least, in basalt, due to the land being long-ago submerged beneath the sea. Basalt has grown increasingly valued in construction projects within industrializing nations, which has helped Anceledra somewhat, but not enough. The Blue Duke has been pushing to expand these mines as he feels the weight of his debts pile up, and there are plentiful and expendable refugees to do such work for him, in the hopes of escaping the dreaded Tent District. In the west, the Hill-Wigs heavily trade with merchants from Rhydien, including those from other parts of the world that are brave enough to pass through. Unlike the situation in the west, the Hill-Wig lands are substantially more stable and patrolled, and roads can be navigated without the threat of undeath, or bandit ambush - at least most of the time. Like the Anceledrans, the Hill-Wigs harvest basalt - albeit in smaller amounts - and sell their various furs, skins, and tribal trinkets, which are considered exotic decorations in Ciraeldon and Ganemyth.Ethnicities
The Hill-Wigs make up a significant portion of the population in western Southmoor, especially due to a flight of Kcalsburian settlers eastwards when The Hill-Wig Revolt began. Additionally, the Valsh can be found in the eastern part of the nation, especially within the forests and marshes, where they were often left alone.Diplomacy
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"Land of Plagues and Darkness"
Adjectives: Suthers (alternatively: Southers, Southmers)
National Animal: Snouter Rat
National Instrument: Timpani
Ethnicities: Suthers, Hill-Wigs, Valsh
Languages: Human Common (Pharosian Gultic), West Old-Tongue (Wig and Valsh)
Capital: Anceledra
Ruler: Duke Varus Dracus Vossen
Government: Feuding Factions
Hallmarks: Old Faith tribes, civil unrest, necromancy, disease
Characteristics: Superstitious, self-focused, desperate, determined
National Animal: Snouter Rat
National Instrument: Timpani
Ethnicities: Suthers, Hill-Wigs, Valsh
Languages: Human Common (Pharosian Gultic), West Old-Tongue (Wig and Valsh)
Capital: Anceledra
Ruler: Duke Varus Dracus Vossen
Government: Feuding Factions
Hallmarks: Old Faith tribes, civil unrest, necromancy, disease
Characteristics: Superstitious, self-focused, desperate, determined