Elective Kingdom of Arkhera

Structure

The Kingdom of Arkhera is a feudalistic elective monarchy, wherein the monarch (elected as a successor by the previous monarch) technically governs over all provinces while in theory, unelected nobility enact the monarch's will locally.
In practice, however, while the capital city of Deathsport has a large population and monetary resources that allow for a powerful army, it's nothing compared to the armies of any united province's combined forces. As such, Arkhera is often disunited, a political tug of war between nobility with petty goals and priorities.
There are seven provinces: The Plains of Death, the Sea of Daemons, the Forests of Winter, the Sanguinas Territories, the Great Vale, the Forests of Summer, and the Iron Hills. Each of these provinces (save the Plains of Death, which is led by the monarch) has an overlord/overlady who rules from a provincial capital city, and has numerous minor lords and petty nobility who theoretically serve them.

Culture

Arkhera is an often paradoxical society. Theoretically united but culturally disparate, set in its feudal ways yet ironically one of the most racially and culturally diverse nations of the world, Arkhera is a balancing act of contradictions that somehow keeps on fighting despite itself.
Arkheran identity usually centres around pride in diversity, honour, or organisational 'superiority', with interactions with foreigners usually demonstrating the relative ignorance of Arkherans in the process. This has earned them the nickname 'brown-neckers' by Ilazari and Yukishimans, referring to their apparent practice of having their heads in their arses.
Despite this, they genuinely do have one of the most culturally diverse and mostly accepting societies in the world. While the official religion of the kingdom is the Arkheran sect of Jaranese Pantheism, Madaki and Arkheran variants of Renewalism, Elarondian and Arkheran variants of Eternalism, Moon and Star Worship, Malassaian Chromatism and even nontheism/maltheism are accepted and popular depending on the province in Arkhera. This diversity unfortunately leads to in fighting, as while culture as a whole accepts many faiths, adherents to certain exclusionary faiths don't always share that goodwill, and when said adherents are also nobility, you often get religiously motivated feuds within Arkhera.
Some lords care little for the peasantry beyond their value as workers and tax contributors, but the cleverer lords have come to realise the value of a mercantile class composed of low born entrepreneurs, leading some cities to in essence be a noble backed plutocracy. Here, unprecendented hope in the lower classes is leading to an Arkhera that desires any and all citizens to be capable of making meaningful change.
All in all, Arkhera is a diverse nation in flux. Sometimes the nobility rule with an iron fist, some cities are zealous theocracies while others are in the makings of giving immigrants an Arkheran Dream where anyone can rise to power and influence. Arkherans may be decried as ignorant of their surroundings, but perhaps they're merely dancing to the beat of their own drum.

Public Agenda

King Landon Shearwater's official mantra is currently the clean up of the criminal underworld plaguing Arkhera and addressing the inherent fragmentation a feudal system creates. This does not jive with numerous lords' agendas, so for now this lofty goal is oft derided as a pipe dream the former alcoholic will not live long enough to fulfil. King Landon wishes for Deathsport to lead by example, and so he has implemented extreme measures to enforce the law within the capital city.

Assets

Arkhera's major exports are gold, silver, copper, tin, redstone, ilmenite, liquid shade, jade, malachite, rubies, jaspers, rice and cured exotic meats such as aurochs and terror bird.
Retained assets include their armies, which each city and in numerous cases towns have, though rarely are these factions fully united. There's also disparate magitech sold to the highest bidder, a locomotive system that transports goods swiftly across trading partners, and portions of the aforementioned exported resources are retained within the country.
Imported and rare resources include chocolate, tobacco, spices, poultry, Yukishiman technology and rarely advanced Galdusian magitech.

History

Time immemorial: Orcs evolved upon Arkhera from other, more generic humanoids and became the dominant native species. Seers and Beastmasters similarly evolved as less dominant species on the Isles of Ver'ghan and Wor'ghan.
10000 BGA (Before Garlan's Ascension): First settlement of gnomes.
9900 BGA: The first true Arkheran city, Parakos, is built.
9800 BGA: First settlement of humans and elves.
9300 BGA: First settlement of goblins.
5300 BGA: Colonisation by Galdusian Spellbinders, nation annexed into the Golden Galdusian Empire.
4400 BGA: Golden Galdusian Empire collapses, Arkhera annexed by Ilazari Plague Empire.
4150 BGA: Ilazari Plague Empire internally collapses, Arkhera forms necromancer-dominated freehold. During this time a daemonic city neighbouring the local Plague Obelisk, the City of False Faces, is created.
3500 BGA: Madaki and Naliman Empire simultaneously occupy Arkhera as a strategic resource hub.
3450 BGA: Madaki Empire agrees to settle for the northern half while Nalima settles for the southern half.
3000 BGA: Fledgling Yukishiman Empire defeats Madaki and Naliman Imperial presence on Arkhera and declares it a part of their empire.
2650 BGA: Lara the Liberator arises from the south of Arkhera as a Naliman-Arkheran rebel, successfully ousts Yukishiman influence from southern Arkhera.
2645 BGA: A combination of Arkheran rebellions spurred by Lara's success leads to Yukishiman abandonment of Arkhera.
2000 BGA: After centuries of turmoil and tribal wars, Arkhera reorganises into a rendition of its post-Ilazari state, as a system dominated by necromancers. Necromantic noble houses are formed, and racial rights are suppressed for all non-necromancers and spellbinders.
1500 BGA: After substantial turmoil, racial rights progress to the point of non necromantic or spellbinder races being allowed to become nobility.
1200 BGA: Elarondian elven noblemen immigrate and subsequently genocide the native seerish population of the Isle of Ver'ghan, renaming it to Sanguinas Isle.
1000 BGA: Madaki elven noblemen immigrate and influence the north-western province of the Sea of Daemons.
900 BGA: A conservative spellbinder group hoping to retain magocratic interests known as the Order of the Shade is formed.
700 BGA: Jaranese philosophers immigrate from the south, reigniting interest in Naliman culture such as Lara the Liberator and converting most peasants to Jaranese Pantheism, as well as founding the city of Godswater.
400 BGA: Malassaian immigrants come in multiple waves; one reaches Godswater and are exterminated for their religious beliefs while the other reaches the north east and are accepted as a nomadic community.
200 BGA: A gnomish cultural renaissance happens, leading to numerous magitech advancements that make spellbinder/necromantic power appear to be challenged.
170 BGA: Threatened by gnomish innovation, the necromantic establishment massacres the city of Havenport, enraging the community at large.
140 BGA: A seerish family, the Verawors, correctly predict the downfall of a gnomish mining family in the Iron Hills and occupy their city in their moment of crisis, taking it over. The necromantic establishment defends this move, citing anti gnome rhetoric.
40 BGA: The necromantic establishment, fearful of numerous hostile factions gaining cultural prominence within their kingdom, implement numerous racially-driven reforms at the urging of the Order of the Shade.
3 BGA: Garlan the Great, a human warrior, convinces a group of disenfranchised former noble lineages and peasants affected by the latest reforms to form a rebellion and fight.
0 AGA (After Garlan's Ascension): Garlan the Great wins his rebellion and becomes the first king of the Arkheran Royal Electorate. Though spellbinders and necromancers are despised by the population, Garlan does not allow for their genocide, and allows the noble houses of Wrathaek, Soren and Khanas to persist.
55 AGA: Yal'miroen Boathis, Fourth King of Arkhera, decrees that spellbinders and necromancers will be held culpable for their ancestors' crimes, as will seers such as the Verawors.
72 AGA: Unwilling to accept continued genocide, a necromantic-seer hybrid named Abraxas attacks the Electorate and despite his best effort loses, leading to the extinction of the Houses of Soren and Wrathaek, and the surrender of the Houses Verawor and Khanas.
143 AGA: King Alton Godswater expresses a deep contrition for the persecution of the necromancers and spellbinders, officially stating that Abraxas was correct and pays all declared remnants of necromantic families affected reparations. Some saw this as a move to identify remaining scions to later exterminate, however, and never identified themselves.
152 AGA: The dark elven Axol family resigns as lords of the Shrine of the Dead, becoming full time noble servants of the Royal Electorate, leaving the city to its spellbinderly stewards, the Abraxas family.
499 AGA: A racially motivated massacre of necromancers in Deathsport that the king, Yal'gerar Boathis, refuses to condemn, drives Lord Eridius Abraxas to rebel in a campaign for true racial equality, backed by his brother Parthus.
500 AGA: Eridius Abraxas is executed for treason, his brother and family disappear, and his son, Rhaeus, is spared but forever traumatised, vowing complete nonagression for his entire life.
547 AGA: A political crisis between the high elven houses of Werenthos and Sinhelios erupts as heir to the Divine Halls, El'arwyn Werenthos, ascends with his father's death, but in addition his betrothed, Kel'hera Sinhelios, also dies. Lord Kel'nas Sinhelios suspects the new lord of murdering both in a power play, but the king, Silas Godspeak, is too senile to act.
548 AGA: Landon Shearwater ascends as King of Arkhera and immediately terminates the employment of the brilliant Royal Wisdom, Melancholy, for humanoid experimentation. He appoints Komekk Axol as his successor, and in a show of good faith to the downtrodden Abraxas family, appoints Lady Quira Abraxas as Royal Advisor.
550 AGA: Countess Razarkha Fel'thuz attempts to kill her brother ex-husband Rakh during a non fatal honour duel and gets exiled.
551 AGA: Numerous political crises erupt in the Forests of Winter: Amerei Gemcutter, youngest bastard of Lady Marissa Gemfire, goes missing, and a rapeworm epidemic hits the city of Ashglass.

Demography and Population

Humans (24%)
Elves (22%)
Orcs (20%)
Goblins (19%)
Gnomes (8%)
Seers (2%)
Beastmasters (2%)
Spellbinders (2%)
Necromancers (1%)

Territories

Arkhera (mainland)
Sanguinas Isle (part of territories)
Isle of Wor'ghan (technically within domain, generally unenforced)

Religion

Arkheran Pantheism
Jaranese Revivalist Pantheism
Elarondian Eternalism
Neo Arkheran Eternalism
Madaki Renewalism
Peregrinian Renewalism
Malassaian Chromatism
Moon Worship
Zoros and Aster Worship
The Old Four
Daemonism

Justice and Fairness

Maps

• 

  the Arkheran Isles

  A map of Arkhera and its nearby isles.

Founding Date

0 AGA (day of Garlan's Ascension)

Type

Geopolitical, Kingdom

Capital

Deathsport

Alternative Names

Brown-neck Land (Ilazari, Yukishiman slang)
Land of the Ignorant (Madaki slang)
The Land of the Savage Ships (Malassaian slang)

Demonym

Arkheran

Leader

Landon Shearwater

Leader Title

King

Head of State

Landon Shearwater

Head of Government

Landon Shearwater

Government System

Monarchy, Elective

Power Structure

Feudal state

Economic System

Market economy

Currency

Arkheran Gold/Silver/Copper Pieces

Major Exports

Gold
Silver
Copper
Tin
Redstone
Ilmenite
Liquid Shade
Semiprecious Stones
Rice
Exotic Meats
Magitech

Major Imports

Chocolate (Luxury)
Tobacco (Luxury)
Spices (Luxury)
Rare Galdusian Magitech (Luxury)
Poultry
Yukishiman Technology/Weaponry

Legislative Body

Royal Electorate of Arkhera

Judicial Body

Royal Electorate of Arkhera
Local Magistrates

Official State Religion

Arkheran Pantheism

Subsidiary Organizations

• Royal Electorate of Arkhera

Location

Arkheran Isles

Official Languages

• Common Tongue
• Old Galdusian

Related Ranks & Titles

• King

Neighboring Nations

• Freehold of Ilazar
• Soltelle Empire
• United Kingdom of Elarond

Related Ethnicities

• Arkheran
• Elarondian
• Galdusian
• Ilazari
• Jaranese
• Madaki
• Malassaian
• Yukishiman