Raevo
Far to the north lies Soma’s rival for control of all of Ostoya. Raevo is a province ruled by wizards, a magocracy that fights to abolish the Soman nobility and find a way to end the undead supremacy.
A delicate balance of power exists between the two provinces. While the Raevans are technically at war with the Somans, they are sometimes forced to work together to repel the Bürach Empire. Thus, both are incapable of destroying the other while their common enemy exists.
Raevans built their city of Castalore with incredible foresight—they knew that they would one day be besieged, whether by an invading Bürach force or by their own countrymen, so they built their city as a fortress from its inception. Castalore sits atop a cliff and is shaped like a snake coiling upwards. High stone walls and a ten-ton steel portcullis protect the lower city. The higher one goes up the spiral, the more affluent the neighbourhood; at the very top sits Nightingale Tower, the magocracy’s seat of power. Raevo openly supports the Order of Dawn in their bid to fight the Crimson Court. Whether this support is entirely benevolent or merely pragmatic remains to be seen.
Politics and Leadership
Raevo is currently ruled by the Lady of Masks, Mina Taliesin, and her Council of Mages. The Masked Lady is a turbulent figure bent on overthrowing the Soman government and dominating Ostoya. Each minister of the court is guarded by their own golem bodyguards.
While the Raevans enjoy a higher standard of life than other provinces, they are essentially a police state under the watchful eye of the magocracy. Any act of disloyalty or dissent is dealt with quickly and unequivocally.
Economy
While Raevo does not have mining resources as extensive as Soma, it does possess more arable land. Supplementing this by fishing and hunting, Raevans generally have a more stable food supply and thus a higher standard of living than their counterparts in Soma.
Where the Raevans possess their real edge is the burgeoning industry of crafting magical items. The Raevans greatly admire magic and have the highest concentration of wizards and alchemists in Ostoya. The skill of their artisans has generated fame for Raevo and their wares are highly sought after in other nations. In particular, golems are considered the pinnacle of craftsmanship in Raevo, though the prohibitive cost of making one makes their production rare. Still, any visitor to Castalore will doubtlessly marvel at the city’s roving bands of golem honour guards.
Soma has enacted strict edicts against magical items and has blocked trade routes going to Raevo to weaken their economy, yet the mages have still found ways to smuggle goods in and out of the province. Finding out their trade secrets would certainly put one in the good graces of the Soman nobility.
History
Raevo was founded by a young diviner, Lissandra, who dreamt she would one day raise a force that could defend Ostoya from those who would despoil it.
She followed her visions from her hometown of Voyd to the high cliffs to the north. Here she raised the settlement known as Castalore with her family, which grew into a fortified whaling town.Though the town thrived, Lissandra herself grew withdrawn, spending her time looking into the mists across the sea. Eventually, she took a rowboat and vanished into the east.
Several years later, the townsfolk were surprised to see a lone, unmanned rowboat emerge from the mists and dock at the pier. In the boat was a wax-sealed envelope containing a note, which said that all who had the talent for magic should travel to the Ravencourt Sanctuary, if they wished to learn the craft. Most of the townsfolk thought it was just a hoax, but ten young men and women boarded the boat against their elders’ wishes. The boat bore them away into the mist.
When they returned seven years later, they came home as wizards. But not all of them returned—one was missing, and the mages could not be made to tell what happened to their lost member.
The wizards improved the conditions of the town and eventually turned it into a city. They established themselves as leaders of the republic and fostered its economy. Every seven years, another boat would come from the mists bearing the same invitation. Those who had potential would go into the mists and return as mages—but always, the Sanctuary kept one student as its due.
When news spread that the Soman nobility had become vampires, not all citizens fell in with the new regime. The few who rebelled took advantage of the aristocracy’s war with the Bürach and settled in the northern province of Raevo. There they established ties with the existing government, forming a republic. By the time the Crimson Court could turn their full attention to the dissidents, Raevo was ready for them.
In the Ostoyan civil war, Soma possesses the larger army, composed of battle-hardened veterans from the war against Bürach and supplemented with strike teams of undead. On the other hand, Raevo has its wizards. Their magic enables them to match the greater numbers of the Somans and beguile soldiers into fighting each other. To deal with the undead horde, the Raevan mages turn to their strategic allies, the Order of Dawn.
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