Umber

Originally ruled by a tiefling queen, affectionately referred to by her people as the Dauntless Queen or the Empress.

• According to rumors, the Lich King killed her publicly around 2 centuries earlier in the year 660o.a..
• Mixed rumors reported that the Empress' public decapitation was a mere misdirection yet still others say that she was confirmed dead. Since the Lich King's recent demise (year 849o.a.), the Volarian Seekers who were hired to help restore Vitania's magicks claimed to have rescued the Empress, yet she has remained aloof to the public eye, leading some to question these claims.

Umber is the sister city to Volaria, and was once a beautiful mountainous kingdom surrounded by water, making it well fortified. It baffles many people how this place was so quick to go to utter ruin by the Lich King.

• Historically, Umber was originally set up as a refuge for the tieflings who suffered from prejudice for their heritage but had become a place welcoming to all.
• Lord Kilaeth of Volaria was good friends with the queen and the two kingdoms often traded, providing Umber with some of Volaria’s technology, slowly making it more and more advanced.

The Dark War started with the very sudden demise of Umber. It’s still unknown what exactly went down. The War’s technical start was about 200 years ago in the year 660o.a., but some postulated it was an inside job that started earlier than that.

With that, however, Umber did not change into the darkness that it is today overnight. Only in the past 15 years has this darkness and the influx of monstrous creatures really appeared, which some claim acted as spies. Since the Lich King died, these monsters have slowly left, but many still remain.

Until his demise, the Lich King ruled for nearly 200 years. However, of note he had a drastic appearance change. He did well to maintain a facade as a charismatic elven man with long black hair, using his lich form only to intimidate when necessary. It appeared like he tried to base his Elven persona off of Lord Kilaeth, likely to try and subconsciously win over trust. However, slowly his care to maintain the graceful Elven form became unimportant to him. He still occasionally used it and potentially other guises based off of rumors, but no one was really sure.
The city itself maintains a dark and bleary condition as the kingdom tries to get back on its feet.

Even through the Lich King's reign, people still operate with normal jobs and mostly normal routines, but there were strict curfews and regulated meeting numbers. The public practice of any religion was also considered illegal and dealt with accordingly. It was considered treasonous and people found guilty of such simply disappear… Holy symbols sparked confrontation from the Keepers and if you were caught with your holy symbol again you would be severely punished.
Keepers are people or magi-tech machines who had sworn allegiance to the Lich King and acted as the kingdom enforcers.
Present day politics: Keepers no longer have a political leader to follow and have fallen into disorder as they attempt to rectify how to manage the leadership change. Some Keepers wish to maintain strict order and their tradition while others directly oppose such ideologies. The laypeople are unsure of what is to happen next.

Ruler: up for grabs, so it seems
Capital: Blessing
Predominate Race: None
Known for:

• Advanced technology like Volari, but largely disfunctional
• Bleary
• Keepers are the law enforcers and the only thing keep Umber organized while there is a change in leadership

Keeper Slogan: "Keep the peace. Keep everyone accountable."

Included Organizations

• The Everyman

Propaganda: old propaganda: The Lich King’s propaganda consisted of telling people that Umber has been suppressed, that the Empress pandered to Volaria, which has squelched Umber’s capacity to grow and has given Volaria the advantage if ever that Kingdom were to invade as they know too much of their inner workings.
Merchanting: Under the Lich King, there were less rules constricting the trading system with less standards being implemented for quality control or authentication of product. However, import was regulated heavily, which would drive up the prices of imported goods, but in that case, merchandise in Umber would likely be able to sell at a premium. Export would also likely be moderated more heavily than before, but only in the sense of making sure that certain products are not being smuggled out of the Kingdom (i.e. weapons, magi-tech, etc.)