The Vertox Monarchy
The rich pastures and fields of southern Ituin are home to the militaristic Vertox Monarchy. The despotic Vertox nation, ruled by the matriarch of the Vertox family, is a matriarchal society that encourages power and domination. Not only are women seen as superior to the men, many men (as well as impoverished folk) are enslaved and forced to work in the vast farmlands that compromise the nation. Those who do not wish to work are instead trained as powerful warriors and spellcasters and sent on the battlefield to fight.
The people of the Vertox Monarchy know their place in the hierarchy and do not wish to change it, for it would not only be suicide but it would change practices that have been established for hundreds of years. However, all folk in the Vertox Monarchy know who their true enemy is - the arrogant and elitist Dithian Empire.
Structure
The Vertox follow a relatively strict hierarchy. At the top is the Matriarch who is all-powerful and makes all civil, diplomatic, and military decisions. Status in the Monarchy is determined by either military rank or wealth, with military officials and rich families having most of the power and influence. At the very bottom of Vertoxian society, there are slaves. The slaves work endlessly as laborers on farms or industrial buildings and most of them are males. As an overarching status structure, women are seen as superior to men - this factors into everyday life and leadership positions are almost always restricted to women.
History
Once part of the Dithian Empire, the Vertox Monarchy wasn't independent until much later. The Dithian Empire had fallen into a dark age due to rapid inflation, and now no one could afford food. Emperor Myron Dith sent the recently unemployed miners as well as his eldest daughter Sofia Dith to the fertile farmlands of southern Ituin to establish farming settlements to restore the economy to what it once was. By 990 CE, these settlements were self-sufficient, with the largest one being Carthus. The biggest problem to these settlements were frequent barbarian and monster attacks. Thus each settlement was constructed with defense in mind, and the farmers were trained in simple weapons to protect their farms from attack. Lady Sofia Dith soon married Lady Mellanna of House Vertox, a family of powerful sorcerers, thus giving the Vertox family unofficial governance over the new region by the turn of the new millennia.
House Vertox had always been a matriarchy, and their ideals had persisted through time and eventually to this new land. Their daughters would be trained in the arts of wizardry or military science while the sons would become manual laborers and engineers. Over the next hundred years, the Vertox matriarchs would influence the people of south Ituin to take after their way of life. However, the wounds of the dark age still lingered in northern Ituin. While a moderate plague swept through the south, House Vertox used their arcane knowledge to try and develop a cure, or at the very least a means to stave off death from this plague. The faith of the north was appalled by this use of magic and disregard of faith, and so tried to smear the reputation of House Vertox. They claimed sorcery to be the root cause of the troubles in the past and the evils of the present, and branded the family as heretics. To say the matriarch at the time took it hard is putting it lightly. In a dramatic and horrific display of defiance, the family matriarch walked into Novaria and conjured an army of undead from each graveyard in the city, which she sent to pillage and defile all the major temples. The Vertox Monarchy had just declared its independence.
The Dithian Empire was not too pleased by this display and responded with force. A battalion of soldiers and mercenaries invaded the southern part of Ituin. However, they were met with far more resistance than they were expecting. Each village they came across had fortified walls, and even the farmers rose up to defends their homes from the invaders - something they had done against monsters in the past. Though this invasion was sent home, it was clear the war had just begun. The Vertox rapidly developed their military; each of the matriarch's daughters were given the rank of general and assigned an army and they also expanded their battlemage training.
As the Dithians used the war as a means to further push their agenda of faith onto their people, the Vertox took the opportunity to push their own agenda of matriarchal supremacy. By their logic, it was the ideal of men who began this war, and so they must be held responsible. As the war demanded more and more resources, the Vertox conscripted most of the females into the rigorous army and battlemage training, while forcing the males to stay and perform the manual labor of farming and building weapons. This labor soon became no different than mandatory servitude - the unfortunate and awful practice of slavery. Thus is the price of war, according to the Vertox.
Military
The Matriarch possesses all military power in the Vertox Monarchy. Military decisions and strategies are decided upon and conducted by Generals, some of whom are the daughters of the Matriarch.
The rest of the military is similar to other structures in the world, though leadership positions are reserved for women only.
Agriculture & Industry
The southern parts of Ituin are vast, fertile fields that make perfect land for farming. Though the growing season is somewhat short, the vast amount of farmland available (and slave labor) allow the Monarchy to feed its people and have plenty to spare for storage or exports.
Type
Geopolitical, Stratocracy
Training Level
Trained
Veterancy Level
Veteran
Government System
Monarchy, Absolute
Power Structure
Feudal state
Economic System
Traditional
Controlled Territories
Neighboring Nations
Neutral
The Monarchy sees the Empire as a potential threat, both having comparable military strength.
Irrelevant
The Sultanate disapproves of the Monarchy's stance on slavery.
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