Federation of Korvakal

The Federation of Korvakal is somewhere between a state and settled Ederstone wasteland united in struggle. It is a mountainous realm, with hidden lush valley sanctuaries and rugged, dangerous peaks. Some patches are monster-infested or bandit-filled hellholes; others are safe and secure. A hundred different towns, each with their own rules and with their own voices in government, make up the Federation.
Keeping this fragile network together is The Hidden City of Talkasten, an ancient partially-subterranean fortress-city whose exact location is hidden from foreigners. Talkasten is the first among equals, the biggest of the composite towns, but it does not rule unilaterally.
The people of Korvakal are known for their mysticism, their athleticism, their xenophobia, and their fierce independence. The Suneka , to them, means absolute loyalty and commitment. All foreigners are suspect until they prove their harmony - they can trade their goods or seek overnight refuge, but extended suspicious behavior and you'll wind up dead.

Structure

The ultimate authority in the Federation is the Korvakal Assembly, a massive legislature of 101 representatives for each town or clan. The Assembly elects a Tlakra, or chief executive, that rules for life. As the assembly does not meet every day and often is slow to make decisions, the Tlakra makes many of the important decisions.
The Tlakra leads Court of Tranquility, a bureaucratic-military body based out of the Hidden City of Talkasten and manages the execution of the Assembly's decisions. The Court of Tranquility gives de-facto representation to the Hidden City in government and denotes their "first among equals" status.

Culture

Gardening Chaos

Korvakal does not seek to destroy Ederstone, nor does it revere it. The creations of chaos are not to be destroyed, but to be purified - made manageable. There is good to be found in the wasteland, beneath the evil. It is similar to how bad situations or even seemingly bad traits are often vehicles for hidden blessings, and it is through Nema's wisdom that the good in a bad situation can eventually outshine the bad. This encourages a strangely optimistic mindset for a group of wasteland militarists, very focused on silver linings. 
In the rare instances where Ederstone fragments are found, the peoples of Korvakal quite literally garden chaos. The fragments are carefully transported to contained locations far from the main population and planted in a garden. The garden is then tended to by Kobold priests, who cut away developing monstrosities and encourage non-destructive life. Because of these Chaos Gardens, Korvakal stands at the forefront of Ederstone-modified crops.

Climbing, Running, and Coming of Age

For those who have the bodies to run, physical mobility is closely associated with coming of age. Upon turning 19, youths spend a year working as couriers - sprinting across the Overway and Underway in small groups - as a rite of passage. All of their lives they train for this: children from age 7 and up practice rock climbing, sprinting, endurance running, and canoeing. An adult is expected to be able to climb a rock face, run without tiring, and canoe through white-water rapids.

History

Ancient History

In the ancient days, prior to the rain of chaos and fire that The Chimera sent down in -100 DE, Korvakal was home to a great Prism trading kingdom. It is said that the Sunekans came and converted many of these Prisms to their ways, and that these Prisms were mistreated horribly by their kin. A great warrior from the neighboring Sunekan lands led a group of righteous warriors to aid these Sunekan prisms, and together they defeated the tyrants and taught the Sunekan ways to all. When the Ederstone bombarded the land from above, the Sunekan regime moved everyone they could to their most remote and secure city - which became the Hidden City of Talkasten.
For centuries, Korvakal remained a wasteland of remote mountain tribes and villages. The Yateka mountains protected them from the worst of the Ederstone creatures, but also isolated these groups and made recovery difficult. Many fled South, to the tribes hidden in even deeper reaches of the Yatekas. The river meant that many could still trade with the neighboring Sunekan lands, but the river was even closer to the heart of the Ederstone wasteland. Some of these river settlements were sailed to and claimed by the rising Sunekan power of 'Tuweska', but their presence was never as strong here as in the neighboring flatlands of Gatrev.
In 1454 ME, a kingdom of Korvakal was carved out by an unexpected outsider: a great host of Starspawn and some Kivishta cultists following a creature known as the 'Candleheart Angel': what had once been a Solar (or solars) mutated beyond all recognizability but still somehow (mostly) sentient. Where the 'Angel' came from is a matter of debate, but all agree that it drifted from North Stildane and accumulated followers across the South. The Celestial Kingdom of Korvakal was made from these conquering cultists. For years, the Hidden City resisted their conquest, but in 1499 the lower mines of the city were breached by strange creatures - and the Angel guided their followers through the tunnels to invade before the holes could be patched up. It wasn't until 1521, when a group of warriors was able to slay the angel and lead a revolt against the cultists that Korvakal was freed from its alien and arbitrary rule.

Modern History

The kingdom of Korvakal died with the Angel, but the routes it had carved out remained. The 'Underway', a series of tunnels connecting key settlements, was perhaps the greatest of these new routes, and allowed the Hidden City to trade and interact easily with the other towns. Slowly, this led to a new era of trade and prosperity - which only intensified when the neighboring Gatrev March began a grand offensive into the wasteland in the 1700s and 1800s. This offensive did sometimes displace local groups or creatures into Korvakal, and Gatrev briefly tried to conquer Korvakal in 1810, but for the most part the introduction of more Gatrevan weapons and tools counterbalanced the evils of this offensive. And by 1870, Gatrev had let most of Korvakal's peripheral villages go due to cost reasons.
What this whole process left behind was a great ecosystem of independent towns, tribes, and petty kingdoms. These all had local rivalries, alliances, and trade relationships. But when the wasteland hit back in 1896 with a great outpouring of hyper-aggressive monsters, these local distinctions became baggage and roadblocks to unity. It was in this desperate hour that the towns gathered together at the Hidden City to find a solution. But suspicion and bickering undermined these talks - until a faith healer, Occultist, and bard by the name of Elba the Bright came forward. Through skill, work, and a few great acts of magic, Elba was able to impress the largest groups and be elected provisional war leader.
Elba was a Sunekan heretic and mystic with some very strange ideas, that had been attracted to Korvakal's eclectic religious beliefs. They saw Korvakal as a possible new Suneka, which they believed could march across the wasteland and purify it with love and order. So when the greatest of the beasts were slain, Elba used their influence to make the alliance permanent. While they retired to train as many bards as possible for the new priesthood, the framework for a psuedo-state remained.
It took years of fierce debate and discussion, but the tribes finally came together to draft a founding constitution known as The Tablets of Harmony. The Federation has held together for a century now, and now seems to have settled into a status quo.

Demography and Population

Almost 800,000 humanoids live in Korvakal. 35% are Starspawn, 20% Kobold, 20% Prism, 10% Dryad, 10% Human, and 5% other.

Territories

Korvakal is 116 by 170 miles across, spanning the distance between the Itekir River and the highest range of the Yuteka mountains. The land is rough and mountainous, with lush temperate valleys and roaring rivers. To the North, East, and West, lay the great Ederstone wastes.

Military

The Korvek military is a mishmash of local warbands and militias, but the constant pressure of Stildanian monster attacks ensures that even the militias are highly experienced and skilled. These warriors typically prioritize speed over armor, and the Federation army sports large numbers of skilled light infantry and skirmishers. Monstrous cavalry can also be seen here, riding Ederstone-creatures such as War-Rams and Dire Geckos. Some tribes even have Wasteland mammoths to ride into battle. Matching these mounted forces, the common light infantry tends to be more mobile and agile than other warriors, as the towns and tribes traditionally prioritize long-distance running and climbing.

Religion

Korvakal follow the Sunekan, but a deeply divergent version of it. They consider themselves the True Culture, with the rest of the Suneka being a decadent and warped version of their religion. They take a slightly more Uvara-style approach to religion, with its focus on Gods of Salvation: they worship the Suneka incarnate as the Goddess Nema (Nema is the name of the universal order in traditional Suneka), who can select champions to protect the Harmony. 
Korvek Suneka tends to be less dogmatic and rules-oriented, and more mystical: the Nema guides and protects, and the nature of the true order may change according to the Nema's desire. Bards and druids are both seen as channeling Nema's light. Just like in the greater Suneka, places and animals are seen as sacred and part of the Nema.

Foreign Relations

Korvakal is generally friendly with its Sunekan neighbors, though its relationship with the Gatrev March is strained. For the most part, it sticks to isolationist foreign policy.

Agriculture & Industry

Korvakal is more needs-based than money-based economically. Hunting and farming are common occupations. The fortified valleys are farmed for wheat, potatoes, and buckwheat. Ederstone-formed crops are cherished here and help make up the difference: fruits and wheat that grow up vertical rock faces, half-silicon fruits that are edible to all races, and crops that thrive in cold rather than wilt. In the less-fertile or secure valleys, shepherding of goats and sheep is common. In the rivers, Giant Lobster are kept. 
Towns and villages often have small Prism-mines for food and metals, and work to produce their own tools and goods. Anything that cannot be manufactured in-village is generally made in the Hidden City or one of the larger towns.

Trade & Transport

Money and trade are not priorities in Korvakal. Traders are welcomed into the river-towns, but they are viewed with great suspicion and generally not welcomed in the interior. Some Korvek youths, who call themselves Worldwalkers, are encouraged to venture out of the region and explore the world as much as possible before returning back to Korvakal. These retired Worldwalkers are generally put in charge of local trade matters.

Infrastructure

There are two great road systems that unite Korvakal more than any political authority: the Overpath and the Underpath. The Overpath is a massive system of carefully curated bridges and roads, the maintenance of which is one of the main responsibilities of the component towns. Many of these are the famous rope bridges of Korvakal, which appear fragile and difficult to cross, but are actually extremely durable. 
The Underpath, meanwhile, is a series of tube-like stone tunnels deep under Korvakal carved out by ancient burrowing creatures. Some of these monsters remain in the corners of the land, carving new paths and digging new nests, but for the most part these have been abandoned. A number of these paths have been turned into roads by the local population. It is said that the Underpath is the only easy way into the Hidden City.
Both the overpath and underpath have a courier system that regularly carries messages between settlements. While some couriers use mounts, it is a traditional rite of passage to act as a foot-runner along these paths - so there tend to be lots of unmounted couriers running these routes.

"True Harmony's Home"

Founding Date

1899

Type

Political, Federation

Demonym

Korvek

Government System

Monarchy, Elective

Power Structure

Confederation

Economic System

Gift economy

Currency

Barter; also Sunekan Currency: Golden Lions, Silver Foxes, Copper Stars

Major Exports

Monster parts, furs

Major Imports

Steel, weapons, lumber, luxury foodstuffs

Legislative Body

The Korvakal Assembly

Official State Religion

Suneka

Location

Suneka (place)

Official Languages

• High Sunekan

Neighboring Nations

• Gatrev March