Kingdom of Karzado

Karzado is less a country, more an invasion that never stops. It is a small state made of poachers, adventurers, looters, slavers, and those who seek to carve out a place for themselves beyond the watchful eye of traditional society. It is also a very new country: Karzado invaded the land only thirty years ago, and the initial wars only ended twenty years ago. It is only in the last few years that the first generation of Karzadans born on stolen land are coming of age.
Very little is illegal in this country, and most social norms vary by town or by community. While one settlement may have strict religious prohibitions on drinking, brawling, and general bad behavior enforced by religious paramilitaries, another might ignore anything short of premeditated murder.
Anyone with sufficient ruthlessness and luck is able to make something out of nothing here. The Karzadan crown hands out "free land grants" to basically anyone who asks - with the minor complication that the land is already inhabited by native Loanuans. Some families try to fence out the original inhabitants, some approach with murder or enslavement on their minds, and some rare families try to make peace with their "new neighbors". Regardless of approach, the land is stolen and life is violent here by default. Loanuan warriors regularly raid, competing homesteaders sometimes raid as well, and the government here acts with overwhelming violence whenever it detects someone breaking one of its few rules.

Structure

Karzado is ruled by Queen Karza Ezeken, the founding sorcerer. Beneath her are the Queensguard, her personal war party and men at arms. Below Karza and her enforcers, authority depends on where you are. Each town rules itself, every farm rules itself, and several aristocrats even have their own microstates within Karzado.

History

The Rurana

Karzado roughly occupies the area that had once been a Loanuan treaty group known as The Rurana. The Rurana have a long history of adaptation and compromise: they raided the invader kingdoms during times of weakness, and traded with them during times of strength. The Rurana were a little more centralized than most of their neighboring treaty groups, and regularly met at a central sanctuary and trade hub known as Hinlotha. A single tribe, the Ritirana, operated as the protectors and leaders of Hinlotha and were known abroad as the "monarchs of Rurana". 
The Rurana spent much of their history as a buffer state for the Kingdom of Analona. They were a nuisance and even a threat on occasion in that they limited expansion into the forests or mountains, but they were generally more useful as allies than enemies. This changed in 1939, during the infamous poaching expedition of Zalana of Zonostra - a foreign aristocrat whose hunger for Meako birds triggered a series of wars between Analona and the tribal treaty groups. The Rurana, having worked with the Analonan military, had an acute understanding of Analona's geography, weapons, and tactics - and proved to be exceptionally dangerous opponents. And while they had raided Analona in the past, the Analonans had gone too far this time and provoked a true Ruranan military campaign. Not only had the Analonans stolen birds and trampled old treaties, they had slaughtered Rurana's traditional allies within Analona, the Walokaran Meako. The Rurana drove out nearly all Prism settlements and mines in the nearby mountains, and launched deadly revenge raids deep into Analonan territory. For ten years, the relationship between Analona and the Rurana deteriorated. 
A new peace seemed possible in 1950, when the Archduke of Loanua declared independence from the Kingdom of Linorn and sent an emissary to the Rurana offering them autonomy, protection from poachers, weapons, and stability as a self-governing fief within the new Kingdom of Loanua. The Ritirana accepted, and crowned themselves the Marquis of Rurana. The other tribes were none too pleased with this declaration of feudal overlordship, and several acted out by continuing their raids against the Analonans. Within several years, the Ritirana had managed to convince almost all of the Rurana to sign into their feudal contract, though, and the raids petered out.
In 1955, the Kingdom of Analona declared its own independence from the new Kingdom of Loanua. The newly independent Analona was ready to try and get even for the raids the Rurana had made in the 1940s, and Rurana received its own call to arms from the Kingdom of Loanua demanding that they fight the Analonan "rebels". The Rurana called in their allies - the Keamara League and the Eohanna League - to invade with them. This invasion was not well coordinated and the tribal allies mostly approached the war as raids, while the Rurana tried to tangle with Analona's full military. It was a messy war for the Rurana and a costly one - they committed every resource they had to it, only to have the rug pulled out from under them when the "Kingdom of Loanua" collapsed completely in 1959. 
Then, in 1960, the selkie Khilaia invaded and put the entire war on hold. The Rurana and Analonans were still at each other's throats, but both accepted selkie overlordship and were therefore forced into peace. The Analonans were particularly annoyed, as they were in the process of devastating the Ruranan lands. From 1960 to 1990, the Rurana turned inwards to focus on recovering their lost numbers and warriors - but that rebuilding was still underway when the Karza's invasion swept in in 1990. 

Queen Karza and the Founding Four 

Karza Ezeken was born on the Garadek mainland in 1904 to a Prism clan in service to the Cult of Sacred Geometry in the Kingdom of Ezekos. Karza trained under them as a dragon sorcerer through her youth, but left to become a mercenary not long after coming of age. After a decade of mercenary work, she met her lifelong partner in crime, a Prism from Eastern Garadel named Alor Lightwalker. Alor had been wandering for several years after a brief career as a magic item thief in the East, and his ultimate goal was a safe new life in Loanua.  
In 1960, Karza and Alor left their lives as contracted mercenaries to sail with the selkie fleets to Loanua. They did not find the paradise they expected, but they did find a number of opportunities to ply their trade and build wealth. Karza truly found her passion as an adventurer in Loanua. For about five years she poached, raided, and built her reputation as an adventurer. But in the late 1960s, she began to explore other avenues for profiteering, notably land speculation. Rather than just act as a hunter and warrior, she began working as a surveyor and cartographer. She emerged as the premier land speculator and salesperson, though much of the land she sold was not hers to sell in the first place. 
In the early 1980s, some of that dubious land speculation and sales started to haunt the pair. Poorer families and communities that had pooled their gold and had been sold false hope and opportunity began dogging her steps. Her reputation was souring, forcing her to sell deeds to mainland companies and aristocrats. Alor seemed content to settle down as a rich swindler, but Karza was offended at this outrage. She was determined to revive her public image, and so she mounted a political campaign across the invader kingdoms. She argued that the Loanuan tribes had no right to block their access to resources and that it was the weakness and elitism of the aristocracy that prevented the island from being properly conquered and distributed among its deserving residents. She encouraged people to ignore their local governments to conquer and raid the tribal lands as they pleased.
Her weirdly class-war anti-state rhetoric did manage to attract a lesser paladin of Theia the Liberator named Linara of Alaran, who began acting as Karza's spokesperson and agitator. Karza also began to attract other adventurers to her banner. Two of Loanua's most seasoned adventurers partnered with Karza's business and became her fast friends and allies: the ruffian and sharpshooter Azetaji Samvarek, and the bard Vanya Starflower. Azetaji and Vanya had their own beef with the governments of the coast, and began dreaming with Karza of a state by adventurers and for adventurers. 
The late 1980s became tougher for Karza: her paladin representative was most certainly organizing the lower classes for her own planned revolution, and Karza was starting to look like a potential rebel. But Karza was able to carefully walk the line of appearing like a pro-poor rebel and a pro-establishment businesswoman, and with the help of her new allies she was able to gain financial backing for a grand project: a grand invasion of the lands of the Rurana, to both circumnavigate selkie prohibitions on an invasion of the Rurana and dispose of all these rabblerousing poor communities. 
To begin their invasion, Karza and her adventuring allies hit the leadership of Rurana - kidnapping their children, assassinating the Marquess in the hostage trade off, and killing as many of the leading Ritirana clan as possible before heading back East to rally their troops.

The Settlers

Loanua has been a dumping ground for people who have nowhere else to go for many centuries. In the 1300s and 1400s, disgraced merchants and mutineers fled to Loanua to become pirates. In the late 1600s and early 1700s, religious communities fled to Loanua seeking refuge from the Zihari schisms on the mainland. And improved shipping technology and increased selkie presence in the 1900s allowed for consistent travel to and from Loanua for those who could ordinarily never afford it. 
Many of these groups settled into the Southeastern kingdoms when it became clear that Loanua was not the vast paradise continent it was advertised to be. Southeastern Loanua is the most thoroughly colonized part of the island, with the fewest traces of its original inhabitants. It was also horribly devastated by the great Huakan invasion of 1750, which decimated the population, and by massive Huakan raids and invasions from 1750 to 1810. So, naturally, new arrivals that don't fit into Analona or other kingdoms tend to end up as peasants in the Southeast. And the Southeastern kingdoms don't tend to have immense respect or tolerance for these wanderers. This all makes for fertile ground for anyone carrying promises of social mobility and free living. Many there were eager victims of Karza's land scams and welcomed Linara's anti-noble rhetoric. And when Karza offered them weapons and free land in a new kingdom just for them, many communities excitedly agreed.

The Invasion

The invasion was a circus from the beginning. Linara, the Theian paladin, did her best to hinder recruitment wherever possible. The Southeastern kingdoms were incredibly suspicious and often interfered with recruitment as well. Once recruited, the settlers had minimal training and very little awareness of where they were going, and frequently picked fights along the way. And once the invasion was launched, the amassed settlers, poachers, and adventurers rarely coordinated. Some seemed to assume the fight was over before it had begun, and abandoned their formations to seize land plots for themselves.
Even with the concerted efforts and wealth of Loanua's four greatest adventurers, the invasion would likely have failed without support from the Kingdom of Analona. But, with Analonan soldiers organizing and supporting the adventuring army, the Rurana were surprised, outgunned, and outnumbered. Karza crowned herself Queen of a new kingdom, and for a moment Loanua simply sat stunned. And then the infighting began: a group of rival adventurers led by a spellsword named Drena of Anashtra tried to topple Karza from her throne the moment the main chunk of Rurana territory was secured. Karza was able to defeat and exile Drena, but the distraction provided a perfect opportunity for a Ruranan counterattack. The Keamara League, Eohana League, and Sarasuko League all invaded the fledgling state at once. Chaos reigned. 
Drena and the exiled adventurers swung around the next year with their own army of disenfranchised settlers (many of whom were the settlers Linara had convinced to stay behind for her revolution) to invade the neighboring Keamara League. The Loanuan tribes were distracted now, allowing Karza to wrangle her forces back into line. She began rapidly fortifying her newly captured lands, using Ruranan slave labor whenever possible. Immense pressure from the surrounding tribes forced Karza to let most of these slaves go by 2000 - but they were unable to wipe Karza's new kingdom off the map completely.

Karzado Independent

When the Keamara and Eohanna agreed to their ceasefire in 2000, Karzado was entrenched as an unfortunate reality. From 2000 to 2010, the Founding Four ruled together as co-rulers, each with their own castle: Karza leading from Karzadel, Alor watching over The Pits, Vanya reigning in Senora, and Azetaji and his family reigning in Featherhold. Over time, the others died of old age or retired, and Karza was left as the sole ruler of Karzado - just as she had always known.

Demography and Population

Between 8,000 to 12,000 humanoids live in Karzado permanently. 30% are Human, 30% are Dryad, 25% are Prism, and 15% are Other. 
The population is a curious mixture between homesteaders, town-goers, and wanderers.

Territories

Karzado is roughly 11 by 11 miles across. The Ruraina mountains act as the Eastern boundary, and the rest of Karzado's borders are porous and uncertain. The Southern part of Karzado is thin forests and open plains; the Northern part is forest, that turns to hills. 
How to even define Karzado's territory? Karzado is a larval state, an illusion of a country draped over a framework of violence. Their lands are whatever they can occupy, and their armed settlers are in an eternal back-and-forth with the surrounding Loanuan tribal groups. 
Six towns serve as the epicenters of Karzado's power, where all influence radiates from: 

• Karzadel, the fortified capital and center of Karzado's power. It occupies the ancient meeting ground, trading post, and sanctuary of the Rurana tribal group - Hinlotha. Now, it is a hive of adventurers and settlers watched over by a violent military regime. Known as the Hunter's Palace
• Senora, a divided and confused mess of a town that was also built on a Loanuan sanctuary. Really more of a series of disjointed villages connected by compressed and fortified homesteads. 
• Kazalka, a newly-minted castle that was thrust into township when it became the go-to sanctuary for failed homesteaders. 
• Erebel, a hyper-religious town founded by a cult that combined a puritanical strain of Saraka with the extreme elements of Zihari. Now a home to several religious groups seeking space away from the prying eyes of the state. Probably the least aggressive of these towns, but the most domineering towards new settlers. It is like five tiny extremist theocracies in a trenchcoat.
• Featherhold, a fortified, militarized town that is run like its own tiny dictatorship. Strict in culture, clean in design, and open in its goal of conquering more land for its fledgling aristocracy.

Surrounding these towns are dozens of satellite communities. Some of these satellites are autonomous family homesteads, some are community hamlets or villages, and some are glorified trading posts.

Military

Karzado's military is primarily composed of militias, with each town or village having its own independent military. The greatest of these little armies is the Queensguard of Karza, a group of professional heavy infantry and cavalry. Senora has a group called the Roughroad Rangers, who are expert sharpshooters and trappers; Erebel has its own tiny standing army; Kazalka also keeps traditional heavy troops for its garrison; and Featherhold has several druids to support its infantry.

Religion

Karzado has a policy of complete religious tolerance. Most settlers are Saraka or Zihari, though there is a growing Pratasam community in the North.

Foreign Relations

Karzado is economically and militarily dependent on the Kingdom of Analona, and could be defined as an extension of Analona's influence. More specifically, Karzado is an extension of the Analonan military - Karzado is one of the few colonized kingdoms of Loanua that does not answer to the Khilaia, and Karzado's leadership is far more loyal to their settled Loanuan counterparts than any foreign power.
Karzado is on exceptionally bad terms with all native Loanuan groups. The Keamara League to the South, the Sarasuka League to the West, and the Eohanna League to the North all are in perpetual conflict with Karzado. This conflict mostly plays out in small-scale raiding and skirmishing rather than full-fledged war.

Agriculture & Industry

Many newcomers in Karzado have settled down to farm and ranch; many Prism settlers have settled into the mountains to mine. Not much of a manufacturing sector exists.

Trade & Transport

Trade is what keeps Karzado alive: pelts and birds taken illegally flood into Analona, and weapons and food come in return. There are three roads connecting Karzado to the Kingdom of Analona: The Copper Road in the North, the Westpath in the South, and the Sacred Path through the mountains.
The Copper Road, which is densely forested, is fairly secure from outsider raiding parties but has something of an internal issue with rebel Rurana tribes and bandits. The grassy Westpath has its problems reversed: the road is carefully locked down by ranchers and outposts, but is vulnerable to raiders from the Southern plains. And the Sacred Path is a route through the mountains known only to the Rurana.

Take What Is Yours

Founding Date

1990

Type

Geopolitical, Kingdom

Demonym

Karzadan

Government System

Monarchy, Absolute

Power Structure

Feudal state

Currency

Garadek Gold Moons, Silver Suns, Copper Stars

Major Exports

Moa birds, eagles, furs, horses, lumber

Major Imports

Steel, textiles, food

Official State Religion

Saraka

Location

Loanua

Neighboring Nations

• Keamara League
• Kingdom of Analona

Related Plots

• The Calm Before the Storm