Kalmasan Samraj
Most of Kalmasa is within the domain of the Kalmasan Samraj, which controls all of Kalmasa except for the lands to the north of the Cochicoatepetlan mountains. The capital city of the Kalmasan Samraj is Solkar, a port city in Donava, in southeastern Kalmasa. The Kalmasan Samraj is composed of provinces established when the lords of these former independent kingdoms, the rajans, submitted to the authority of Samrajan Mahendran I, signaling the end of the War of Brothers. These provinces continued to be ruled by their aristocratic families, headed by the rajan of that province. The provinces pay taxes and provide conscripts for the Kalmasan army and navy to the central government seated in the capital city Solkar on the western coast. They have rights and powers outlined in the Varjanya Charter.
The Kalmasan Samraj has grown to extend its hold over most of Kalmasa and various colonies in other lands. Before the Samraj, individual rajans ruled the Kalmasan people in separate kingdoms. Each rajan controlled a territory on both land and sea. They were merchant lords and raiders who explored and exploited that which was available to them. When not conquering other peoples, the rajans were at war with one another.
It was Lord Mahendran I, then rajan of Donava, who envisioned what could be accomplished if the kingdoms were united under a single government. Through superior ships of his design, tactical genius, ruthlessness and the support of the ancient school, Vidvanya jen Dharmu and the United Temples of Evran, Mahendran conquered one kingdom after another. Over a violent twelve year period known as the War of Brothers, he succeeded in shaping the Kalmasan Samraj.
Since its founding, the Samraj’s focus has always been expansion. Mahendran knew that it was the only way his legacy could continue to survive. However the aggressiveness of this expansionist policy has depended largely on the current ruler’s desires and abilities. The Samraj is a tributary system where the rajans and their former vassals, the jagidars administer law, collect taxes and maintain soldiers for the Samraj. After the founding of the Samraj, rajans are such in name only, retaining their title, and certain privileges including hereditary seats on the Imperial Advisory Council.
The various provinces have different characteristics, but generally, cultures are divided into northern and southern Kalmasa. The provinces of northern Kalmasa are much younger than those of the south. Slavery is prevalent and there is a marked separation between the Eshtem ruling elite and the native Calmaxtec commoners. The peasants work mainly as tenant farmers and the slaves on the large plantations, lumber and mining operations that have slowly spread inward from the northwestern coasts. There, the rajans and jagidars hold absolute control over the populace aside from a few free cities possessing government charters.
The provinces of the south are older and well settled with many established towns and cities. Here the Eshtem and Calmaxtec peoples have lived, worked and loved side by side for generations and most of the population are Tlanelolli, ‘mixed’. The rajans of the southern provinces have less absolute influence due to the power of the merchant class, trade guilds and the governments of the large chartered free cities and towns. This requires the rajans and their jagidars to be more diplomatic than in the north. Some of the nobility of the south are themselves tlanelolli. Slavery is outlawed throughout the southern provinces, though prisoners, including debtors, perform forced labor for the samraj.
The common people of the Kalmasan Samraj are mostly a mixture of Eshtem and Calmaxtec or pure Calmaxtec. The elites of the Samraj are mostly of pure Eshtem descent, but since a little before the War of Sovereignty, powerful merchant houses of mixed heritage have risen in status and married into the Eshtem noble houses who were desperate for cash to fund their wars and debts from expansionist policies that took place during the years before the war and to fund other efforts now that a period of peace has reemerged.
Eshti is the official language of the Samraj, but most people in the south speak Kalmasi, a patois of mainly Chol'ak' and Eshti, while those in the north mainly speak Eshti or their own people's native dialect. Traditional Eshtem culture is more socially strict than that of the Calmaxtec, especially in manners of familial relations. The United Temples of Evran is the primary enforcer of these cultural values, their Eyes enforce 'morality' in the larger cities. They see themselves as the defenders of the spirit of the Eshtem people, holding together a culture that is in danger of being swallowed by a larger, 'foreign' culture and their deities, some of which the Eshtem temple priests name demon lords, 'mahanaras'.
Since the Treaty of Ekara, the Kalmasan Samraj has focused on consolidating their remaining colonies in Torvalen, keeping the Samraj from unraveling and generating wealth. Envoys travel to the foreign nations on Okaluan, Volenar, Barendar, Kemesh and Heimval, promoting relations and trade. In their remaining colonies, the Samraj is stationing more soldiers and building fortifications as well as offering more autonomy (and bribes) to the local native leadership.
Even so, many of the rajans are demanding the central government to send more legions to guard their own lands. Thousands of war veterans were released from duty before they qualified for pensions and cannot find work. Some have turned to brigandry and piracy in the provinces or joined gangs and crime syndicates in the cities. Some rajans are threatening to refuse to send collected taxes to the Samraj if forces are not sent to help put down this rising menace. As a result, the government has increased contracts with mercenary groups such as the SBSS to go after these criminals.
Despite these difficulties, the Kalmasan Samraj remains the most powerful nation in Torvalen, with the largest army and navy as well as the support of the powerful dharmati battlemages trained at the Vidvanya jen Dharmu.
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