Kingdom of Analona
Analona is the rising star of Loanua. Its cities are bustling, its ports are wealthy, its population is booming, and more and more outsiders arrive every day to seek opportunity.
For centuries there have been tales of Loanua: the Island of Adventure! It is this island paradise where adventurers can find their fortune, where the land is free for the taking and the animals are so docile that you can just walk up and carry them off without struggle for their furs. The fierce predatory birds are dangerous, true, but those who capture them can bind them for free magical powers. But it wasn't until the Selkie takeover of the island some half a century ago that the trip became something affordable and possible. And Analona, as The Khilaia's favorite, is the primary destination for any such adventurers. They bring a steady stream of wealth, ambition, and military prowess to the kingdom- but also a fair amount of discontent. Analona has dealt with this by steadily expanding - both into their neighbors and into the island's interior.
To keep the growth going and the kingdom stable, it is a non-stop expansion of industry overseen by an increasingly militaristic administration. Analona was once a land of peace and a promise of co-existence, but the demands for profit (both by incoming adventurers and their Selkie overlords) has smothered that peace and killed that promise. The new Analona has only one promise: that Loanua must kneel and feed its hunger or perish.
Structure
Analona has traditionally operated as a standard feudal monarchy, but the coup of 1960 and arrival of selkie backup allowed the new Lorkek dynasty to centralize authority under themselves. The new model standing army that was organized by the Lokreks has since assumed a fair amount of power over the state, rising as the feudal nobility is slowly abolished.
- The Overseer is the representative of The Khilaia and technically have the most power. For the most part, they just hand down orders from the higher-ups and focus on defending their position from other selkie admirals.
- The Governor-King is the absolute power of Analona, dictating all laws, assigning military and judiciary appointments, and setting the kingdom's policies.
- Grand Marshal is the power behind the throne as the head of the military. While the Governor-King is he technical leader of martial matters, they also have to deal with law and trade. The Marshal is devoted entirely to military matters, and they move as the army incarnate.
- The Barons manage wealthy estates, often devoted bird-ranching and cash crops. A small number of barons remain from the purging of feudal titles.
History
The lands of Analona have been inhabited by humans long before the Architects arrived on Halika. These humans have been typical Loanuans- fishing, hunting, gardening, fighting, talking. In the late 790s, the heartlands of Analona were known as the Walokara treaty area, inhabited by around 112 bands of Walokaran culture. The Walokara were one of the first commercial groups of Loanua, happily trading with merchants for metal tools and foreign luxuries. They were also one of the first groups to happily embrace Blue Weniko.
But, like so many things, the Walokaran age of prosperity did not survive the invasion of 900. The dragon sorcerer Alvera Whiteflower arrived on Loanua with iron and flame, and she saw in Loanua a personal kingdom to call her own. Alvera came as a conqueror, not a colonizer, and was content with allowing much of Loanua to exist as it was as long as they obeyed and paid taxes. But while Alvera had no desire to force Loanuans into cities, she did want her own personal Meako army as well as fortresses and palaces to call her own- and she used violence to force locals to build these for her. Analona was one of the regions she envisioned as a military center, and from 905 to 970 the Walokara built and manned a network of fortresses and outposts for the Alveran dynastic regime. These forts, as centers of taxation and warrior-training, became centers of trade and commerce as well between Western Loanuans. One in particular became more of a trading post than a fortification: Tailotha, the lakeside town that would eventually turn into the modern bustling capital city.
The World After
In 970, the Alveran regime finally finished collapsing from internal squabbling and Loanuan revolts. The ensuing civil wars and chaos saw many of the old Alveran fortifications abandoned (even Tailotha itself for a brief period). The old ways returned as the civil conflict intensified the foreign plagues introduced by Alvera's retinue, and many tribes retreated inwards. This period of chaos slowly petered out and formally ended in 1070, with the great peace of Whalena. The Paladin-Queen Shorin Whiteflower (Paladin of Haru ) toured the island and negotiated a formal peace. The Alverans retreated to the Southeast, where they established a formal feudal state (which became a colonial project after Shorin's death) and left Analona to return to its old ways. The Walokara assumed power again, but things could never be the same. The new generation had grown up under a military hierarchy- and the Walokara were ruled by a military monarch rather than being a decentralized alliance and trading group. They built a grand palace-lodge in Tailotha and formally declared themselves the Kingdom of Walokana in 1072.
From 1072 to 1251, Walokana competed with its neighbors for dominance. The peace had ended outright foreign invasion, but the rise of pirates and adventurers had begun to put serious pressure on the island's tribes. Walokana sought to weaponize these newcomers- using them as a weapon against their rivals and sharing in their loot. In 1250, a new invasion hit the shores of Loanua: another Dragon-sorcerer Dryad, this time with troops from far Eastern Garadel. While Alvera had been a native of the Northwestern plains who had been accustomed to co-existing with nomads, this new sorcerer arrived with a sorcerous clique that had little tolerance for Loanuan ways of life. His name was Noren Lekarek, and he chartered his grand expedition based on the tales of the adventurer Coconi, who described her native isle of Loanua as a magical island paradise of riches. The second great invasion was far worse than the first in many ways: the colonies saw massive expansion, meako-birds were captured in large numbers for export, local clan-groups were forcibly dismantled, and the invaders granted lands to a foreign feudal aristocracy that sought to dismantle Loanuan life on a fundamental level. In 1251, Walokana was conquered by the invaders and the kingdom was granted as a duchy to the human sorcerer-knight Analora of Zonostra. Analora cared more about luxury than power, and focused mostly on renovating Tailotha and its surrounding forts than truly overhauling the land. In these small centers of power, Analora planted her colonies (styled in the ways of her distant homeland)- and the rest was tolerated as long as it obeyed. Despite her comparatively soft touch, Analora was brutal in her campaign to crush all competition and her descendants deified her even as they intermingled with the remnants of the old Walokanan elite. And so the duchy was known as Analona instead of Walokana.
Cocolo the Ghost and His Merry Flock
The Dukes of Analona kept firm control of their new lands even as Noren's great Kingdom of Loanua collapsed. The West and inland Loanua were never truly subjugated and proved to be miserable unprofitable. The Kingdom withdrew to the coasts, particularly the East, and focused on asserting dominance over the profitable Northern lake area. For a time, the Dukes of Analona were left to their own devices. They often appealed to the inland tribes to trade and secure their borders, using the Ember League of Zihari as a religious-trade tool to slowly secure power over the border-groups. But as the duchy grew prosperous, the colonies and the Walokaran pastoral natives began to clash- and the duchy unsurprisingly chose the loyal colonial settlements. While the Walokarans were still allowed to exist when convenient for the nobility, those who ran afoul of the system were expected to submit and abandon their traditions and culture. And those who resisted faced terrible violence. To protect people from that violence, a Meako bandit-rebel by the name of Cocolo the Ghost arose as a famous thorn in the duke's side. Cocolo was a mysterious figure, possibly a member of the old military establishment who defected with his warband when told to attack local Walokara rebels. He rode across the island on his moa, raising the ghosts of old Loanua to fight beside him as an immortal army (many believed he was a ghost himself) and leading the tribes in rebellion. From 1310-1325, Cocolo raised hell across Analona- losing often but always returning to fight again. Dangerously, Cocolo offered a share of his loot to those colonists who would join him- and increasingly large numbers of poor settlers abandoned their ways of life to join the Walokara. In 1325, the Duke finally caught and killed Cocolo, hanging his body from the tower walls of Tailotha. But the tower wall was transformed into a pilgrimage site for the poor and downtrodden of Analona, as the legend of Cocolo and his merry flock live on to this day. Among the urban poor, he is the champion of wealth redistribution; among the Walokara, his ghost will rise one day to drive out the invaders for good.
Adaptation
While Analona had put down its rebellion, the Loanuan kingdom was not so lucky- it shattered into civil war in 1395 so badly that the peace of 1400 simply divided it into feudal fragments. Analona became the Kingdom of Analona- independent but very vulnerable. From 1400 to 1430, local rebellions and a panicked migration of settlers to the Southern kingdoms forced the new kings to institute a series of reforms, known as The Laws of Equal Living. These reforms recognized the ancient treaties of Walokara as retroactively signed and drafted by the Analonan monarchs, and therefore valid protections and resource rights. This only intensified colonial panic, and soon the settlers remained only in the five towns. Coexistence began to appear possible, as those urbanites who remained shifted their ways of living around their new reality. In 1430, Analona accepted vassalage to the Southern colonial kingdom of Whalena and became march-kingdom- and the reforms stopped but were not repealed. Thus began an unsustainable and uneasy peace. The rise of the Red Weniko truly put fear into the hearts of the march's leadership, and blue Wenikan priests were given financial support and backing. Several Red raids that Whalena was unwilling or unable to stop convinced the March-lords to turn to the local tribes for protection instead of Whalena. The possibility of Analona rejoining old Loanua began to form as this drift towards the interior grew and Whalena turned inwards. From 1430 to 1700, Analona became the middle ground and meeting place of the East. While there was conflict over the semi-legal sale of Meako birds to foreigners (this oscillated from legal to illegal based on which faction was in power), Analona was fairly stable during this time.
Why Does It Keep Happening
In 1700 and 1740, two waves of invaders known as the Nonikar arrived on Loanuan shores. Western Garadel had been more and more rich, settled, and international from the 1580s to the 1700s, and many semi-nomadic coastal groups were rocketed into positions of power. They jockeyed for control in this new order, as magical weaponry and foreign technology and investment poured in. One of these groups was the Nonikar, in the Southern area of modern-day Linorn. As said empire of Linorn carved out its place, the Nonikar abandoned the idea of local land dominance to build an empire of boats and islands. The Nonikar were internally very politically unstable, expanding rapidly and collapsing with each new regime. The first invasion in 1700 was primarily to reign in the coastal kingdoms- including Analona, which submitted in late autumn to the approaching army. The second invasion was led by the Empress of the Nonikar herself, a Half-Dryad Master of the Way of the Open Palm named Oneva the Dragon. Having been forced to flee the continent entirely by the growing empire of Linorn, Oneva saw Loanua as a potential new homeland.
The modern state of Linorn in relation to Loanua
While the Nonikar were less inherently hostile to local ways of life than the invaders of the 1250s, they were hungry for profit and power. Even as many of their warlords went rogue, they would target local patches of Loanuan land to carve out new petty kingdoms. the 1740s were a time of immense crisis and chaos, especially as the East, led by Analona, tried to co-opt the invaders while the West focused on driving them, out. This boiled into a terrible three way-religious war between Sarakan extremists, Red Weniko, and Blue Weniko. Analona was not at the heart of this terrible fighting, but it was not exempt- and the kingdom (now a duchy again) was ripped apart. The urban settlements formed their own faction aligned with Sarakan extremists and led by a rogue priest-commander, while Sarakan moderates and blue Weniko tribal priests held the countryside. The Blue faction won temporarily in 1751, only to find the remnants of the Sarakan faction returning to power on the coattails of a new Nonikaran commander in 1753. Parts of the splintering Blue faction turned to Red Weniko in the fallout, and the new duke ultimately had to divide the duchy into "blue" and "sarakan" pieces in the attempted peace plan of 1760.
The Nonikar-led Kingdom of Loanua finally stabilized from 1759 to 1800, and this "divided Analona" policy remained in place. But as the kingdom finally collapsed again from 1800 to 1810, the peace imposed upon the land was lifted. Civil war again broke out from 1809 to 1815. But as a new peace was being written out by the newly-independent King of Analona, new invaders arrived: The Empire of Linorn, here to collect its "lost colony". Analona surrendered without a fight, and Linoran troops marched into Tailotha in August of 1815. The new Linoran archduke of Loanua and organizer of the occupation was a Prism by the name of Kitarn the Firebringer- a hard-headed and brutal militarist with little time for disobedience. He imposed his own peace: Weniko was to become a mystery cult of Saraka and join the priesthood. All priests of either side who disagreed would be sent to the Goddess Tira via public incineration. Kitarn's brutal occupation reforged Analona and created a new order: one that valued cities and farms above tribes, that made Sarakan religion mandatory, and that valued strict legalism above all else.
Linorn held Analona as a colonial duchy from 1815 to 1955. Like others before them, Linorn quickly lost the West and center of Loanua to rebellion, but held onto the East and North as long as they could. The Walokaran tribes struggled and resisted, but centuries of war and foreign rulers had left them tired. They disintegrated into the rising tide of sedentary feudal life, through violence, religion, and the collapse of the local ecosystems. The last rebellion of the Walokara was the Last Ride of the East in 1940, where the last of the Walokaran elites attempted to fight a foreign merchant and their Analonan military entourage to free forty-five captured Meako birds. They believed that their sacrifice would begin a great Meako uprising across Loanua, but it only led to the dissolution of their now-unprotected tribes.
The New Order
Linorn's archduke of Loanua rebelled against their overlords in 1950, beginning the end of Linorn's influence over the island. In 1955, the local duke of Analona seized independence once more- but only briefly. Just as soon as Analona became free once more, The Khilaia saw a potential opportunity. In 1960, the great selkie fleets launched an invasion of the colonial kingdoms, forcing them into being march-kingdoms for the selkie empire. The independent king of Analona attempted to resist selkie dominion, but ultimately was overthrown by his marshal. That marshal, Novaria Lokrek, became the new queen of Analona- and used the opportunity to abolish much of the nobility and establish direct control as a military dictator.
Novaria was focused more on internal enemies than external, and sought peace with the free Loanuan tribes to the West. Under her rulership, Analona rose as the primary port of the selkies in Loanua- and its population exploded. Novaria focused on intense internal colonization and development, ranching Meako birds for sale rather than hunting them and buying off the surrounding Loanuans. From 1960 to 1990, peace and co-existence were the words of the era. But while times change and rulers change, the hunger of the markets never sleep. In 1990, Analona covertly supplied and guided the outside adventurer Karza Ezeken, who carved out her own petty kingdom in the interior of Loanua before signing very favorable agreements with Analona. Karza's kingdom of Karzado has masked the advancement of Analonan settlers and an outpouring of poaching, violence, and illegal land seizure. As the decades have gone by, Analona's hostility and imperialism has grown more overt- and many worry that they plan their own great invasion of the interior.Demography and Population
230,000 humanoids live in Analona, which has undergone a massive population boom in the last century.
45% of the population are humans, 30% of the population are Dryads, 10% are Hybrids, 10% are Prisms, 2% are Selkies, 3% are Pearl Pangolins.
30,000 of the population lives in the five small cities dotted across the kingdom, the rest live in small towns or villages.
Territories
The kingdom of Analona is 87 miles long and goes as far as 42 miles inland. Much of the land is coastal, with the Katuma mountains to the West serving as the natural border. Much of this stretch is warm temperate forest, though there are more arid patches in the center west and northeast. In the center North lies Lake Lorika, known for its excellent fishing, wonderful climate, and good surrounding farmland. 3 islands- Navalea and Vakalea in the North and Zozilea in the South- serve as trading outposts not far from the shore.
Military
The Analonan military has three formal groups and one informal: the Overseer's Navy and Marines, the Field Army, and the Garrison, as well as the informal Border Militias and Adventurers.
The Field Army is the heart and soul of the Analonan military. It is a professional and meritocratic standing army that runs much of the actual state apparatus. It is an infantry-focused military group dedicated to winning open field battles. As such, it focuses on armor and ranged superiority: heavy infantry wielding swords and halberds that protect a mass of archers, crossbowmen, and handgunners (soldiers who wield fairly early handheld gunpowder weapons with poor range and accuracy but excellent for massed fire against cavalry and swooping eagles). Supporting this is a small contingent of cavalry and Meako bird cavalry- whose job is less to break enemy formations and more to lure enemy Meako into the range of the main army and harass enemy ranged fighters once their Meako are gone. Analonan Bird Cavalry is flatly inferior to Loanuan tribal Bird Cavalry in traditional combat, but has been innovating in the use of grenades to try and even some of the odds. Lastly, Fire Termite-fed Dragon Sorcerers (as well as a small but growing number of Moon Druids) provide magical support. The Field Army is dangerous in any circumstance, but is lethally efficient in destroying any large, organized force of Loanuan tribal warriors-which typically use large numbers of hunting and skirmishing bows (which can be ignored by sufficient armor), light infantry (which are vulnerable to ranged weapons and armored troops), and elite bird and horse cavalry.
The Overseer's Garrison is the elite support and naval force of Analona, and is loyal not to the Kingdom but to the Selkie Empire. The garrison is almost entirely a naval force composed of armed merchant caravels, and while it can easily shut down any port in Loanua, it has difficulty moving inland. Its most effective land force is the Nafenan Warsingers- a group of war-bards from Eastern Nafena, primarily composed of Vetevic Choricals and Half Prisms. The Warsingers have acted as the Overseer's personal retinue for decades, and have since largely settled in to have children of their own (which are often trained as warsingers as well). These elite bard-soldiers have two main purposes: to capture enemy Meako (and their birds) on the field of battle, and to act as the Overseer's secret police. While the Overseer avoids direct participation in politics, the potential for mind control or memory-reading by Warsingers acts as an ambient threat intended to keep the locals in line. As investigators and police, they primarily focus on monitoring upper-crust Analonans who have voiced discontent with selkie rule, Analonan leaders who might potentially embezzle money, and rival Selkie captains. As soldiers, their purpose is to act as auxiliary units to the main army and quickly identify and capture valuable targets (and later, interrogate them and prevent escape). Other than the warsingers, there are a few other small groups of auxiliary troops from abroad, but none of these are large enough to be worth noting.
The Analonan Garrison is the brute force behind the other two. Once the enemy army is defeated and their Meako are captured or chased away, it is the Garrison's job to do the heavy lifting of occupation. They are the chafe, the criminals and spares who are not worth training. Units of them sometimes are conscripted into the Field Army to run supply lines and act as support troops, but most work in constructing fortifications and manning those fortifications. The Garrison soldiers, while not particularly good at combat, still are trained and armed and they have a major advantage: they are incredibly numerous and can be very quickly conscripted and trained. Analona's population boom means that the Garrison simply has the kind of numbers advantage no other island group can muster.
The secret fourth pillar of Analona are the frontier militias- unofficial armed groups along the West that often latch onto charismatic incoming adventurers or mercenaries to strike into foreign territory independently of the kingdom's military. While technically illegal, they often find de-facto support from the kingdom- particularly the Land Garrison. The common Garrison troops are often the ones who sell the militias their weapons, and have been known to defect to join particularly promising adventuring campaigns. Some Garrison officers not only accept, but encourage this- creating semi-legal smokescreens for profitable informal invasions. These only incur punishment if they disrupt Analona's trade relationships or if they fail while carrrying an Analonan flag. The adventurers in question can be quite strange and dangerous characters- they represent an assortment of violent psychopaths from around the world. But why am I counting this as military? Partially because they are directed as a weapon towards Analona's enemies; partially because veterans from these expeditions are often selected as officers for the Garrison and soldiers for the Field Army. So they ven diagram between the militias and the military can look a lot like a circle.
Religion
Religion here is strictly Sarakan in public, though private worship of any god or religion is allowed. Religious minorities are forced to become Sarakan mystery cults in order to have any kind of legal public worship.
In order to deal with the substantial population of syncretic Weniko communities descended from the original inhabitants of the land, the Cult of the Lovers Arakara is the official body for managing and organizing Weniko-adjacent traditional Loanuan festivals and religion. The Cult of the Lovers has a very specific version of local Weniko that is views as legitimate and it is not in any kind of religious communion with greater Weniko. In fact, it is pretty hostile to outside Wenikan priests, who it often tries to police or drive out. The Cult of the Lovers is seen as traitorous in the West for this reason, but lower-class peasants descended from Loanuans see it as their greatest advocate. The Cult often intercedes in their favor, protecting local traditions and language and even guarding more controversial peasant-loved shrines (such as "Cocolo's Wall", a site of worship for an old peasant hero that almost destroyed Analona in the distant past).
Other mystery cults exist for Vetevism and traditional Zihari (the Order of Tira the Reborn and the Cult of Mirizi the Ascended, to be specific). The Temple of Daykai also exists as a mystery cult of Hamekun, though the elevated status of selkies in Analona means that it is largely autonomous and separated from the great Sarakan structure.
As for the Saraka faithful, Analona has been the capital of Loanuan Saraka since 1975, when the Land Priest of Loanua moved their station to Tailotha (where a large temple had been prepared). The Land Priest manages the Sarakan priesthood for all of Loanua, and is an influential figure. Technically, they are subservient to the Arsha of the West (based in Linorn), but practically speaking they set religious policy for the island.
The mystical Order of Nitren the Season-Turner is popular among Loanua's more pious colonists and often manages public festival in Analona. These ascetics are known as the Monks of the Four Seasons, and are known for their strict discipline, body modification, and acts of physical prowess. There are Bards among them, but every full member of the order can use the Way of the Open Palm. Fierce warriors when necessary, they practice their arts in dance and public nonlethal sparring (which is often incorporated into dramatic pieces of opera an theater). They are often sought after for guidance and blessings, and they preside over Loanua's version of the most important festival of Saraka: the Day of Renewal, a grand feast-day when all sins are forgiven and symbols of the evils of the past year are set aflame at midnight. The Order of Nitren is in charge of ceremonially blessing the day with dance, as well as lighting the great pyre of sin at midnight. The Cult of the Lovers is expected to prepare the final wicker statue of Marana representing Loanua's past to be burnt by the Order of Niten as the final offering, as a way to absolve Analona of guilt, ritually destroy the past, and put to rest the conquered restless dead.
Foreign Relations
Analona is a colonial vassal of The Khilaia and all off-island diplomacy is handled by the selkie fleets. Analona's domestic goals are the consolidation of the entire island under their rule. To this end, they switch stances and identities fluidly to try and stir as much trouble as possible without having it be directly connected to them. Analona understands that as long as it is favored by the Khilaia, it will be able to dominate the island easily if it isn't targeted by an island-wide coalition.
Analona tries to carefully play all sides of Loanua, trading with and allying Loanuan tribes while also seeking to gain whatever advantage they can pushing inland. They prefer to elevate moderate trading groups and divisive radicals, hoping to gain as much clout as possible while also potentially feeding into a second round of Wenikan religious conflict. This also has the side effect of scaring other coastal kingdoms into Analona's sphere. Through careful intrigue and politicking, Analona has managed to bring the entire coast (except for a few of the Northern lake kingdoms and the Kingdom of Akitha in the Southeast) into its sphere.
While Analona could probably integrate most of these protectorates into its territory (especially the smaller ones) in a matter of weeks, it has been avoiding any rapid expansion that might potentially lead to an invasion from the West. It has been carefully preparing its future territory for annexation, though, so don't expect that to last. While the agents and diplomats of Analona work overtime to appear friendly and content, this is the camouflage of a predator waiting to pounce.
Agriculture & Industry
Analona's economy is based around agriculture and raw resource production. In the temperate center, peasants farm wheat, potatoes, rice, dryad-food, and yams. Lumber-yards are also common in these areas, to fuel booming construction and shipwright industries. The lake area and coasts also have a great deal of fishing and salt-gathering. In the North and West, the herding of cows and sheep is common. In the Southwest, the concentrated Prism population focused on mining, as well as large amounts of iron and steel production.
On top of these raw resources, the ranching of Fire Termites (for dragon sorcery), Moa Birds, and Giant Eagles is common along the more arid areas of the West and North.
Textile, tool, and weapon production is all common in the towns, as well as dye production. In the North, there are a number of excellent vineyards and breweries as well. Beyond that, most luxury goods are imported.
Trade & Transport
The selkies have a total monopoly over all of Analona's trade, and set the tariff and trade policy of the island unilaterally. Coastal merchants must have selkie friends to hope to ascend beyond the rank of peddler here. Inland merchants that trade with other Loanuan groups are easily able to escape these taxes, but must navigate the often-chaotic Loanuan inland.
Guilds are incredibly weak here as compared to other areas, and guild accreditation is not enforced by law. Anyone can come here and set up business doing just about anything- which means that there is a lot more people entering business and competing within those fields, but a lot fewer social safety nets for lower-middling class families.
Education
Sarakan temples often teach basic literacy, but little more- Analona is not a place of great scholarship, as many of the libraries have been burned and many of the old teachers killed.
Founding Date
1960
Type
Geopolitical, Colony
Capital
Demonym
Analonan
Government System
Monarchy, Absolute
Power Structure
Unitary state
Economic System
Market economy
Currency
Garadek Gold Moons, Silver Suns, Copper Stars
Major Exports
Moa birds, giant eagles, lavender, whale oil and meat, exotic lumber
Major Imports
Tar, steel, gunpowder, fire termite oil, medicine
Legislative Body
The House of Scales
Judicial Body
Court of the High Judge
Official State Religion
Parent Organization
Location
Controlled Territories
Neighboring Nations
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