GryffonDurime
2008-12-23, 09:49 PM
So, a friend of mine proposed this setting to me, and this is my heavy-handed attempt at writing it. Please take it with a grain of salt and the intended jocularity. Without further ado...
The Many Kingdoms of Arpegei
Arpegei has never been a land that has known unity or peace. More a loss confederation of city-states than a unified empire, Arpegei has nonetheless held a single name and a similarity of culture, with various powers banding together to enforce the region's borders against the nameless throng that rages beyond the horizons of the Many Kingdoms. An empty throne sits at the heart of Arpegei, an artifact from a distant past and the first and only attempt to unify the Many Kingdoms. Power is allotted to the mightiest clans of the Many Kingdoms, with most ruling their respective states either directly or indirectly.
The Many Kingdoms are scattered throughout five loose provinces: the Thrice-Sacred River Province, the Alder's Rock Province, the Endless Coast Province, the Chaos Imperium Province, and the Rampant Lion Province.
Provinces of Arpegei
The Thrice-Sacred River Province
The Thrice-Sacred River Province was once the heart of the Many-Kingdoms as the first region to be settled properly. While it still plays host to the Empty Throne of the Emperor-That-Never-Was and, thusly, is the technical center of all Arpegeian politics, it is now more a throwback, a remnant, and a curiosity. The titular river, known as the Arne, traverses the entirety of the Province, resulting in it's great fertility; those who live upon it's banks collectively refer to themselves as the Sons of Arne, the foundation upon which the Thrice-Sacred River Province originally came to power. Nonetheless, it is the people of the imperial capital of Ghai Gak who represent most foreigners stereotype of the Province. Ghai Gak itself is a regal city, beautiful if patchwork in its intergration of many architectural styles throughout the development of the Many Kingdoms.
Capital: Ghai Gak, City of the Empty Throne
Ruling Power: None, though they are nominally still vassals of Dein Dei
Major Exports: Grain, Rice, Bonded Labor
The Endless Coast Province
The most populated and powerful of the Provinces, the Endless Coast regulates the western seas at the edge of the Many Kingdoms. The kingdom of Dein Dei, formerly native to the Thrice-Sacred River Province, annexed the Endless Coast Province and have since flourished, migrating the center of their cultural power from Ghai Gak to the coasts. Dein Dei is ruled over by a council of mages known only as the Wizards, natives of the Endless Coast Province who have garnered both great magical potence and incomparable financial wealth.
Capital: Hawk's Roost
Ruling Power: The Wizards
Major Exports: Enchantments, Official Currency, Weaponry, Raw Metals
The Rampart Lion Province
In the northern reaches of the Many Kingdoms, the Rampart Lion Province stands as a land of sophistication and regrettable awareness of such. The people of this Province are often held to be aloof or dramatic, though none doubt their skill and success—this Province controls an impressive population and considerable economic clout second only to the Wizards and Dein Dei. The Clan of the White Wolf rules over the Rampart Lion Province, comprising an informal family of several thousand, most adopted but some born into the Clan. The Province itself has a startling lack of “mortals”--an old saying attributed to the Ghai Gak envoy goes “If you find yourself among the company of men in the Rampart Lion Province, you've not avoided the beasts—merely mistaken them.” Unlikely and unflattering as such a claim may seem, the honest fact is that the Rampart Lion Province boasts nigh-impossible populations of otherworldly creatures that often masquerade as more humble beings.
Capital: Requiem
Ruling Power: Clan of the White Wolf
Exports: Supernatural Ephemera, Technological Goods, Spice
The Alder's Rock Province
If one was to correctly render the name of this province, it is closer to Aldehrac, but then, that is the issue with being a smaller, more distant province: your name is often imposed upon you by foreign tongues and foreign purses. While nowhere near as influential as the Rampart Lion or Endless Coast, the Alder's Rock Province is home to a fascinating array of noble houses that compose their standard of government; both native powers and foreign immigrants have settled in the Alder's Rock. While many foreign-born houses are accused of consorting with demons, Alder's Rock features a flexible but fair judicial system unheard of in the Endless Coast, wherein judges are asked not to apply rigid and inflexible standards, but rather employ temperance and sagacity.
Capital: None, officially.
Ruling Power: The Noble Houses—Ringers (Native) and Sevenths (Foreign)
Exports: Foreign Goods, Firearms, Horses
The Chaos Imperium Province
No reach strikes as much fear into the hearts of the Many Kingdoms as the Chaos Imperium Province. Seated along the border with the Alder's Rock Province, the Chaos Imperium is said to have fallen into madness and depravity to defend the borders of Arpegei. Demonic or cthonic entities are often employed as borderguards and servants, and none have ever broken through the region's profane limits. The average life expectancy in the Imperium is 34% lower than anywhere else in the Many Kingdoms, but it also faces the greatest external (and, for that matter, internal) strife.
Capital: Mytho
Ruling Power: The Church of the Elders
Exports: Madness, Depravity, Cadavers
Lesser Powers of the Many Kingdoms:
The Green Ronin – While a small force, the Green Ronin are the largest independent power in the Endless Coast Province that is not directly under the thrall of the Wizards or Dein Dei. Organized as a mercenary corps, the Green Ronin, despite their uniform garb of verdant armor, display great diversity, but are united by their common image as heroes and vigilantes. Many display fantastic, often incredible powers too intrinsic and simple to be magic, but too impossible to be anything else. The Ronin have growing clout in the Endless Coast Province, and may soon seek to expand their Heroism-for-Hire elsewhere.
The Pathfinders – While the Pathfinders make their home in the city of Paizho in the Thrice-Sacred River Province, they have made a name for themselves by breaking away from the kingdom of Dein Dei. As a splinter sect, the Pathfinders have embraced the dying cultures of the Third Age of Dein Dei while the Kingdom at large moves towards what scholars herald as the Fourth Age. There is a great deal of animosity between these two powers, and while the Pathfinders could never hope to make any sort of legitimate claim on the Endless Coast Province, they have garnered a respectable powerbase.
The Many Kingdoms of Arpegei
Arpegei has never been a land that has known unity or peace. More a loss confederation of city-states than a unified empire, Arpegei has nonetheless held a single name and a similarity of culture, with various powers banding together to enforce the region's borders against the nameless throng that rages beyond the horizons of the Many Kingdoms. An empty throne sits at the heart of Arpegei, an artifact from a distant past and the first and only attempt to unify the Many Kingdoms. Power is allotted to the mightiest clans of the Many Kingdoms, with most ruling their respective states either directly or indirectly.
The Many Kingdoms are scattered throughout five loose provinces: the Thrice-Sacred River Province, the Alder's Rock Province, the Endless Coast Province, the Chaos Imperium Province, and the Rampant Lion Province.
Provinces of Arpegei
The Thrice-Sacred River Province
The Thrice-Sacred River Province was once the heart of the Many-Kingdoms as the first region to be settled properly. While it still plays host to the Empty Throne of the Emperor-That-Never-Was and, thusly, is the technical center of all Arpegeian politics, it is now more a throwback, a remnant, and a curiosity. The titular river, known as the Arne, traverses the entirety of the Province, resulting in it's great fertility; those who live upon it's banks collectively refer to themselves as the Sons of Arne, the foundation upon which the Thrice-Sacred River Province originally came to power. Nonetheless, it is the people of the imperial capital of Ghai Gak who represent most foreigners stereotype of the Province. Ghai Gak itself is a regal city, beautiful if patchwork in its intergration of many architectural styles throughout the development of the Many Kingdoms.
Capital: Ghai Gak, City of the Empty Throne
Ruling Power: None, though they are nominally still vassals of Dein Dei
Major Exports: Grain, Rice, Bonded Labor
The Endless Coast Province
The most populated and powerful of the Provinces, the Endless Coast regulates the western seas at the edge of the Many Kingdoms. The kingdom of Dein Dei, formerly native to the Thrice-Sacred River Province, annexed the Endless Coast Province and have since flourished, migrating the center of their cultural power from Ghai Gak to the coasts. Dein Dei is ruled over by a council of mages known only as the Wizards, natives of the Endless Coast Province who have garnered both great magical potence and incomparable financial wealth.
Capital: Hawk's Roost
Ruling Power: The Wizards
Major Exports: Enchantments, Official Currency, Weaponry, Raw Metals
The Rampart Lion Province
In the northern reaches of the Many Kingdoms, the Rampart Lion Province stands as a land of sophistication and regrettable awareness of such. The people of this Province are often held to be aloof or dramatic, though none doubt their skill and success—this Province controls an impressive population and considerable economic clout second only to the Wizards and Dein Dei. The Clan of the White Wolf rules over the Rampart Lion Province, comprising an informal family of several thousand, most adopted but some born into the Clan. The Province itself has a startling lack of “mortals”--an old saying attributed to the Ghai Gak envoy goes “If you find yourself among the company of men in the Rampart Lion Province, you've not avoided the beasts—merely mistaken them.” Unlikely and unflattering as such a claim may seem, the honest fact is that the Rampart Lion Province boasts nigh-impossible populations of otherworldly creatures that often masquerade as more humble beings.
Capital: Requiem
Ruling Power: Clan of the White Wolf
Exports: Supernatural Ephemera, Technological Goods, Spice
The Alder's Rock Province
If one was to correctly render the name of this province, it is closer to Aldehrac, but then, that is the issue with being a smaller, more distant province: your name is often imposed upon you by foreign tongues and foreign purses. While nowhere near as influential as the Rampart Lion or Endless Coast, the Alder's Rock Province is home to a fascinating array of noble houses that compose their standard of government; both native powers and foreign immigrants have settled in the Alder's Rock. While many foreign-born houses are accused of consorting with demons, Alder's Rock features a flexible but fair judicial system unheard of in the Endless Coast, wherein judges are asked not to apply rigid and inflexible standards, but rather employ temperance and sagacity.
Capital: None, officially.
Ruling Power: The Noble Houses—Ringers (Native) and Sevenths (Foreign)
Exports: Foreign Goods, Firearms, Horses
The Chaos Imperium Province
No reach strikes as much fear into the hearts of the Many Kingdoms as the Chaos Imperium Province. Seated along the border with the Alder's Rock Province, the Chaos Imperium is said to have fallen into madness and depravity to defend the borders of Arpegei. Demonic or cthonic entities are often employed as borderguards and servants, and none have ever broken through the region's profane limits. The average life expectancy in the Imperium is 34% lower than anywhere else in the Many Kingdoms, but it also faces the greatest external (and, for that matter, internal) strife.
Capital: Mytho
Ruling Power: The Church of the Elders
Exports: Madness, Depravity, Cadavers
Lesser Powers of the Many Kingdoms:
The Green Ronin – While a small force, the Green Ronin are the largest independent power in the Endless Coast Province that is not directly under the thrall of the Wizards or Dein Dei. Organized as a mercenary corps, the Green Ronin, despite their uniform garb of verdant armor, display great diversity, but are united by their common image as heroes and vigilantes. Many display fantastic, often incredible powers too intrinsic and simple to be magic, but too impossible to be anything else. The Ronin have growing clout in the Endless Coast Province, and may soon seek to expand their Heroism-for-Hire elsewhere.
The Pathfinders – While the Pathfinders make their home in the city of Paizho in the Thrice-Sacred River Province, they have made a name for themselves by breaking away from the kingdom of Dein Dei. As a splinter sect, the Pathfinders have embraced the dying cultures of the Third Age of Dein Dei while the Kingdom at large moves towards what scholars herald as the Fourth Age. There is a great deal of animosity between these two powers, and while the Pathfinders could never hope to make any sort of legitimate claim on the Endless Coast Province, they have garnered a respectable powerbase.