Highland Kingdoms

From Lunos

Language: Hightongue

Making up most of the upper half of Alphonzia, the Highlands are one of the largest countries on Savara. It borders almost all of the Great Cliff, surrounds Olympia, and borders the Dwarven Mountains. The Great River spends most of its time flowing through the Highlands, and one of its capital cities – Aingar – is one of the two full sized ports on the west coast of Alphonzia. While there is no official separation, the two halves of the Highlands (to the north and south of the Great River) are culturally split. The Upper Highlands to the north consider themselves to be sophisticated and high class, while the Lower Highlands take equal pride in their lack of what they call “pompousness”. The Highlands are organized in a feudal system under a council of seven kings. Each king rules over a capitol city and 10 – 15 lords, each of which holds a decent-sized city of their own. These minor lords vary in title depending on their favor in the courts and which high king or queen they serve. Below them are the governors, maintain walled cities of up to a thousand people, and then the mayors who oversee towns of a few hundred people. All rulers above the level of mayor are expected to maintain a castle. A substantial percentage of the populace lives in the country to farm or hunt, and they fall under the protection and authority of the nearest governor.

Each king operates what is essentially a separate kingdom. They maintain their own armies, collect their own taxes, and so forth. The council exists mainly to keep the seven kingdoms in peace and to provide an opportunity for diplomacy, as well as arbitrating disputes between warring lords from different countries. While most of their work is conducted through magical communication, once each year all seven kings meet in person, rotating which capitol hosts. Whichever king hosts is considered the high king for that year and is the official political representative of the entire Highlands whenever such a person is called for. While the seven kingdoms half been at peace for centuries, inter-kingdom war is fairly common on the level of the minor lords. These wars are generally over territorial disputes or political insults, and the kings rarely intervene militarily. Each of the seven kingdoms has its own rules and traditions regarding honorable combat. War between lords of different kingdoms is rare, and when it does the council steps in to arbitrate conflicting honor codes.

Lower Highlands:

Aingar

King Wiggins MacTighe has ruled this port city for as long as anyone can remember. The council has rules prohibiting a king from holding power for more than a century, even if still alive, but King MacTighe predates that rule and has managed to establish precedent that he is thus exempt. He delights in making fun of procedure and decorum, and is best known for over-exaggerating his accent past the point of comprehension when dealing with people who insist on proper procedure too much. He values common sense and trustworthiness over all other virtues. The city of Aingar itself has grown in size and power due to its position as the only major port on the west coast. Visitors are warned that Aingar has increased crime rates compared to most cities, but nearly all travelers agree that the complete lack of corruption and the extremely efficient bureaucracy actually makes the city less dangerous than most. The king leaves his lords to their own devices most of the time, but does not hesitate to remove one who becomes corrupt or mistreats his citizens.

William’s Crossing

This city has grown into a capitol through the sheer determination and business aptitude of the original King William, who first founded the city and owned a flour mill. The nation values hard work more than anything, and this value is reflected in its citizenry. The lords never wage war with each other, although they do still maintain small armies to deter invaders from other kingdoms. The people take immense pride in the knowledge that no one has given them any favors. The royal family itself honors the family tradition very strongly. Each child is expected to maintain a business of their own, and receives no help from the treasury. The firstborn son of each generation is named William in honor of the original king. If the crown passes to someone else, as is the case if a daughter is born first or the eldest son dies, the new monarch is expected to adopt the name as well. The kingdom is currently ruled by Queen William IV (the queens make use of a separate line of numbers than the kings, she is actually the 23rd ruler), and her only (age 5) son has just started up a lemonade stand in the palace courtyard.

Swaizt

This country is the polar opposite of Aingar and William’s Crossing, in that the citizens have absolutely no respect at all for their king. King Rudulph II has not much to change this perception either. He has continued a long tradition of ineffectual and unwise leadership, and in fact the only reason the country has survived his family’s rulership is that most royal decrees are simply ignored. The citizens have become quite proficient at taking care of thing by themselves, and simply do enough to convince the king that his wishes are being carried out and then go ahead and do the smart thing instead. The nobles of the country are in pretty much the same situation as their king, except that they are aware that they have no real power. Wars and other power struggles are fought very carefully so as to not anger the citizens.

Upper Highlands:

Skyview

Skyview’s corruption is legendary, but even so few people know how far it really goes. In fact King Oban is really “Icebox” Oban, the patriarch of the largest of five crime families that rule the city from behind the scenes. The nation is quite small compared to the other six kingdoms, and in fact does not extend far beyond the border of the capitol city. It maintains its power though a gigantic elevator system that makes it the only non-magical way to get large cargo past the Great Cliff. This also effectively makes it the gateway to the Empire of the Sun. War in the sense that most countries would understand it is almost non-existent due to the small size of the kingdom, but the five competing families have found many other forms of conflict and violence.

Minthe

The nation of Minthe holds little in the way of natural resources, and its location is not advantageous to trade. It has instead become successful as the world center of culture and fashion. The current queen, Carlotta, is herself renowned as the best harpist on the continent. All forms of art and music thrive here, and this is further helped by the almost permanent Springtime weather. The nobles tend towards the snobbish side, but the only real effect this has had on the nation’s success is provide a target for the comedians, who (while still regarded as better than other country’s comedians) are generally looked down on as the lowest form of entertainment in the country.

Jechoniah

Jechoniah is the primary trading partner of the Dwarves, and has absorbed many dwarven ideals. Huge mining and timber corporations make up most of the nations economy, and in fact the heads of these corporations hold more political power than the geographical nobles. What separates them from most businesses is that they have the dwarven sense of duty to the people and the land. Jechoniah is extraordinarily sparsely populated for its size, and contains many large nature preserves. A large trade route into dwarven territory is the only part of the country that is fully developed.

Strivia

This country is famous for not only having the most complicated legal and political system in the world, but also the most rapidly changing. Those not overly concerned with offending the wrong people also point out that it is also the most deadly political system. Assassination has become a proud tradition, and no one is immune. The political makeup of the country changes so rapidly that fifty years ago the council passed a resolution that the current ruler of the country was responsible for providing his or her own nameplate at all official functions, because that particular year it had been changed three times in the previous week. This political infighting has grown out of an extreme surplus of nobles that survive off of the wealth of large gem mines.