Ustalav

Stories have it that the Kingdom of Ustalav was a perfect fairytale realm once upon a time. Then, a thousand years ago, the reign of the Whispering Tyrant plunged the country into gloom, doom, and undeath. After the Shining Crusade defeated the Tyrant, they left the remains of the land to its own devices - no aid, no outreach, just charge in and kill the lich and leave. Ever since then, the Stalav people have been skeptical of knights in shining armor. Fairy tales have teeth.

The last vestiges of the Old Kingdom, as they called it, attempted to reclaim power in the shape of their own fiefdoms and baronies. For a while people sort of went along, mostly out of exhaustion and resignation and well...they're not liches, right? Could be worse. Only lately, between the nobles infighting and the broader oppressions of hierarchy, several counties have broken away from the rule of blood and embraced a growing sense of democracy. These counties are known as the Palatinates, as opposed to the Principality of the Old Kingdom. So if ever folks get drunk and rant about politics, it'll go something like that...though to be honest, Ustalav is a country of quiet drinkers. "If you see something, say nothing, and drink to forget."

Now the Stalav people are aware that they live in a land peppered with monsters and barely surviving, but there's also a sense that this is normal. Sure yeah some passers-through talk about their homelands like they're so much better, but are they really? The country to the north is apparently just a massive encampment of Iomedan crusaders trying without a ton of success to prevent hordes of demons from ravaging the land. Head east instead and there's some kind of magitech wasteland pushing its borders into the River Kingdoms, which are basically all bandit country if the stories are true. Go west and there's an orcish civil war. People can say what they like, but Stalav people can probably be forgiven for taking a look at a lot of really bad options and deciding that, hey, we work with what we've got, you know? If that means werewolves, then so be it.