Mendev
For well over a century, the defining fact of life in the crusader kingdom of Mendev was the Worldwound: a reality-warping Abyssal rift west of the realm that threatened to consume all of Golarion. Heroes from across Avistan and beyond answered the call to meet the demonic horde. As the years rolled into decades, however, and the hope of victory grew ever fainter, the once-bright crusade began to tarnish. Infiltrated by fiendish agents sowing treachery and paranoia, the crusade’s inquisitors turned their tools against indigenous Mendevians, whose animist religions seemed suspect to the crusaders. On the front lines, the steady toll of battle forced commanders to accept recruits who were more often than not criminals and exiles driven by desperation rather than conviction.
Then, just when it seemed that all might be lost, a miracle occurred: a small band of brave souls discovered and carried out a ritual to seal the Worldwound, slaying the demon lord Deskari and ending the existential threat that had defined Mendev for decades. Seemingly overnight, the demonic host collapsed into disarray, Queen Galfrey’s army swept forward, and the Fifth Mendevian Crusade declared victory.
Now Mendev faces the long, hard task of rebuilding a nation that has almost forgotten who it was before the war. Queen Galfrey stepped forward to become Iomedae's new herald, and most of her holy knights have departed, with many marching south to face the resurgent threat of Tar-Baphon—although a few have instead chosen to square themselves against evils such as the nascent demon lord Treerazer in Kyonin’s Tanglebriar. In their absence, the fledgling civilian government is hard-pressed to meet the nation’s needs. Chancellor Irahai, appointed by the queen before her abdication, is a wise and clever governor, but hobbled by the widespread belief that her authority holds less weight in comparison to her predecessor.
Political divisions that were suppressed under martial law—such as between native Mendevians, who have long been pushed to the margins in their own land, and the foreigners who held authority during the crusade—have risen in peacetime. The end of the crusade has also meant an end to the money and labor that outside faiths and nations sent north to stave off the demonic threat, leaving Mendev with only its own war-depleted resources to draw upon.
In addition to these difficulties, Mendev still contends with supernatural menaces. The sealing of the Worldwound did not eliminate the demons already on Golarion, and Mendev remains crucial as a staging ground for holy champions who have pledged to fight until the last fiend has been driven out. The frost-antlered shades of the Estrovian Forest and the cursed ruins of Icerift Castle, ignored during the war, remain threats as well.
Yet this cold and perilous land holds wonder, too. Mendev’s immense forests, white-crowned mountains, and snow-swept steppes are starkly beautiful. Scattered among them are the bones and dreams of dead generations, some who tried to tame an unyielding land and some who sought escape from the horrors of a seemingly endless war. All of them, and all their treasures, have vanished under snow and trees—but not all are forgotten. Today, Kellids from the tribes of lost Sarkoris are returning to reclaim their devastated homeland. Some crusaders, hoping to atone for the cruelties inflicted by overzealous fanatics in the past, have sworn to help them. Knowing this, the surviving demons have taken to hiding their own soul-poisoning magics as relics of indigenous Sarkorian faith, as most outlanders cannot distinguish true relics from false ones.
Then, just when it seemed that all might be lost, a miracle occurred: a small band of brave souls discovered and carried out a ritual to seal the Worldwound, slaying the demon lord Deskari and ending the existential threat that had defined Mendev for decades. Seemingly overnight, the demonic host collapsed into disarray, Queen Galfrey’s army swept forward, and the Fifth Mendevian Crusade declared victory.
Now Mendev faces the long, hard task of rebuilding a nation that has almost forgotten who it was before the war. Queen Galfrey stepped forward to become Iomedae's new herald, and most of her holy knights have departed, with many marching south to face the resurgent threat of Tar-Baphon—although a few have instead chosen to square themselves against evils such as the nascent demon lord Treerazer in Kyonin’s Tanglebriar. In their absence, the fledgling civilian government is hard-pressed to meet the nation’s needs. Chancellor Irahai, appointed by the queen before her abdication, is a wise and clever governor, but hobbled by the widespread belief that her authority holds less weight in comparison to her predecessor.
Political divisions that were suppressed under martial law—such as between native Mendevians, who have long been pushed to the margins in their own land, and the foreigners who held authority during the crusade—have risen in peacetime. The end of the crusade has also meant an end to the money and labor that outside faiths and nations sent north to stave off the demonic threat, leaving Mendev with only its own war-depleted resources to draw upon.
In addition to these difficulties, Mendev still contends with supernatural menaces. The sealing of the Worldwound did not eliminate the demons already on Golarion, and Mendev remains crucial as a staging ground for holy champions who have pledged to fight until the last fiend has been driven out. The frost-antlered shades of the Estrovian Forest and the cursed ruins of Icerift Castle, ignored during the war, remain threats as well.
Yet this cold and perilous land holds wonder, too. Mendev’s immense forests, white-crowned mountains, and snow-swept steppes are starkly beautiful. Scattered among them are the bones and dreams of dead generations, some who tried to tame an unyielding land and some who sought escape from the horrors of a seemingly endless war. All of them, and all their treasures, have vanished under snow and trees—but not all are forgotten. Today, Kellids from the tribes of lost Sarkoris are returning to reclaim their devastated homeland. Some crusaders, hoping to atone for the cruelties inflicted by overzealous fanatics in the past, have sworn to help them. Knowing this, the surviving demons have taken to hiding their own soul-poisoning magics as relics of indigenous Sarkorian faith, as most outlanders cannot distinguish true relics from false ones.
Type
Geopolitical, Kingdom
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Head of State
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