The Khadoran Empire
Khador is a land of sweeping expanses, fertile plains, imposing mountains, and dense forests. Her people are the stalwart inheritors of an ancient civilization that once dominated the north. This history is ever present in the minds of the Khadoran people, as every generation repeats the tales of the legendary horselords. These fierce warlords banded together, conquered the weaker tribes, and fashioned the proud Khardic Empire. Some say the empire never truly fell but simply endured a dark age until it could emerge and evolve into the modern nation of Khador. In 606 AR, bolstered by sweeping military conquest, Khador’s sovereign declared herself Empress Ayn Vanar, and the kingdom of Khador became the Khadoran Empire, a continuation of this ancient legacy.
Since the dawn of the Iron Kingdoms, the Motherland has looked on her neighbors with contempt; the Khadorans never felt compensated for their suffering at the hands of the Orgoth. At the Corvis Treaties, Cygnar, Ord, and Llael all claimed lands that had once belonged to the Khardic Empire, a bitter pill to swallow combined with the suffering of the Khardic people in the centuries of the Occupation. It was not long before the proud Khadorans sought to readdress these borders. Over the centuries Khador has made numerous attempts to expand her holdings. Time and again Khador’s monarchs have felt the call to reestablish the empire of old, blurring boundaries with the blood of border wars.
The Khadoran people see their empress, Ayn Vanar XI, as the personification of their nation and call her the Pervichyi Rodinovna, the “Prime Daughter” of the Motherland. The conquest of Llael fulfilled the ambitions of generations, and this success has only emboldened the empress. More than imperialism, more than nation-building, for this ruler the ongoing war is the expression of a manifest destiny. The Khardic people by right should rule the Iron Kingdoms, and she is willing to expand Khador’s dominion by any means necessary. Her armies have marched south and struck down the great Cygnaran fortress of Northguard and with it claimed the entirety of the Thornwood Forest. Having redrawn Khador’s southern border at the northern bank of the Black River, the High Kommand and its legions pause to regroup before their next campaign begins.
To match her rivals, over the past centuries the Motherland has taken great strides toward reinventing herself as a major industrial power. As a result of unchecked mechanized growth, most Khadoran cities lie shadowed under a constant canopy of smoke and soot. Khador’s industrial revolution has wracked her citizens with growing pains, but the kayazy merchant princes and other royal supporters have no intention of backing from their goal of total superiority. While some noble families may wonder if the cost to ancient tradition is worth the rewards of the modern age, the grip of industrialization now spans the empire.
Khadorans are assiduous laborers who fervently devote their sweat and blood to their way of life. Patriotism is in their nature, and service is a badge of honor. Khador comes first, with religion and ethnicity following. Though the citizens are narrowly split between the Morrowan and Menite faiths, ancient religious feuds have been set aside for the call of the Motherland. Members of Khador’s Menite Old Faith practice their religion much the same as the ancient horselords did, and many of the aristocratic families are devout followers. Even so, the recent emergence of the Harbinger in the Protectorate threatened that solidarity as tens of thousands of citizens chose to heed her call to join the Protectorate’s crusades, and more may follow.
Khador’s steamjacks are built in accordance with the Motherland’s emphasis on endurance and raw strength, and her railway is a source of much pride. A nation once comprising pockets of ethnic societies, isolated in their remote forests and mountains, has transformed into an empire rising on a tide of nationalism. Her capital of Korsk is every bit as impressive as any southern city with its great factories, schools of higher learning, and glorious cathedrals.
The people of Khador have not enjoyed the fruits of the modern era as thoroughly as their southern neighbors, a fact that fuels their dreams of empire. Most Khadorans still work as unskilled laborers, although every year more of them join the ranks of craftsmen and the great cities of the north house branches of the Khadoran Mechaniks Assembly as professional and innovative as any of their Cygnaran counterparts.
Military service is required of every adult male in Khador, and women are equally accepted, though not compelled. More citizens pursue military careers than in other nations, and combat skill is well respected in all arenas of life. Even the politically powerful have served their time, creating lasting bonds that transcend class barriers. Only a small number of Khadorans seek to evade military service, generally those found among the criminal fraternities of Korsk and other major cities.
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