Allied Coalition - Human Empire

More detailed history (Human general):

The history of the humans is a long and bloody one. Though, they are considered the youngest race to walk the face of Aesyr. Needless to say, after they had earned their freedom from their Beastmen overlords, the struggles of warfare did not end.

Having new found freedom, Humans scattered throughout all of Aesyr. They went in every direction they could to find themselves homes they were happy with. However, those that went in the direction of the Dagger-Wall sadly were cut down by either Dwarves or Greenskins of old. Thus, only those who stayed in the forests, went to the desert, or took their luck to the seas managed to find homes.

Over time, the Humans in different locations lost contact with their brothers and sisters and were on their own in these lands. The Northalkin Tribe-States and the Shi'qae Sultanate were the first to be made. And in the forests there were just forest-living tribesmen who lived off the land. Bloodshed was caused by these three factions within themselves...desires for territory, resources, and power flared with those who were comfortable at their homes. This would shape the Human's political spheres.

After the kingdoms had united themselves, bloody wars were waged between them. Only the Shi'qae Sultanate didn't participate in the wars...instead finding profit to trade with the other three kingdoms. Some covert attacks did occur agaisnt them, but they were easily retaliated and the guilty kingdom would find themselves penalized for a time.

It wasn't until the Griffinwald Theocracy had ventured into the Dagger-Wall Mountains and made contact with the Dwarves that these wars had went anywhere. Sending whatever aid they could to assist the Dwarves, the Theocracy had found themselves dedicated allies to strongarm their will against the other nations. It did not take long for each kingdom to fall one by one into the hands of the Theocracy, thus creating the Human Empires, or is sometimes oftenly called "The Griffinwald Empire" or "The Holy Empire of Man".

Thank to their unification, each kingdom fills out their own unique niche within the empire. The Griffinwald Theocracy dictate the laws that the others will follow and lead the Empire. The Shi'qae Sultanate defend the desert entrance to the Human lands and cover the trade, commerce, and economic policies. The Saetra Confederacy defend and patrol the oceans, providing anything the Empire needs by sea. The Northalkin Tribe-States make up the bulk of the Empire's army and strongarms in the military campaigns.

The alliances within the Empire are strenous at best...held under the thumb of the Theocracy under threat of the combined forces of it and the two allies of the Empire. Needless to say, opinions of the other members are not high, but they get along well enough for free mingling of the common citizens.

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The Kingdoms of the Empire and their History:

The Shi'qae Sultanate:

It would be the Shi'qae who would unite first. The harshness of the deserts and the rising of the ancient snake-people unified the desert Humans, showing them that they must stand united against common threats...like they were against the Beastmen. When they discovered the other kingdoms, their first actions were not that of politics or war...but of trade. Hoping to bring unity to the rest of the Human kingdoms, they wished to show a unification of profit. The practical minds of the mystical sand people finding material rewards of a unified empire to be the best means of doing so.

The Shi'qae Sultanate are ruled by a Sultan, a powerful ruler who controled all trade of the kingdom with outside forces. The entire nation's economy is based on the wealth of the Sultan's royal family and the success of the Sultan's businesses. Trade within the Sultanate is independant and can be run by citizens who do not work for the Sultan's businesses, join the military, or who have become indentured servants. However, they do not use any coin that is acceptable by the other kingdoms nor is the internal currency allowed to be valuable outside the borders of the Sultanate. Independant traders who travel across the border to do trade with other kingdoms and not part of the Sultan's payroll are disowned by the Sultanate, but will continue business with them as a independant merchant.

The Sultan has two sets of advisors. There are the Viziers, masters of trade guilds who have a monopoly on certain pockets of the domestic markets that the Sultan takes note of and hires them to be administrators to his businesses. They tend to take care of day to day business, with only the Sultan being above them in the affairs of trade and economy. Then there are the Court Wizards, headed by the Grand Magistrate, who advise the domestic side of things for the Sultan. The Grand Magistrate also acts as the head of education, as hieroglyphic magic is integral to Shi'qae live...allowing for ease of travel of the Dune Seas via sand-surfing, military applications, and medicine. The Court Wizards give advice on public health, politics, education, civil needs, and military.

There is a sense of equality between the genders in the Sultanate, but there are severe class issues. Only those who are the main profit maker of the house rule the family. And those with enough money to their names can take as much as they want...property, assets, and even spouses. It is not uncommon for a man to have multitudes of wives or a woman to have plenty of husbands, resulting in the most wealthy to have harems of their own. And in fact, the Sultan doesn't really affect much with the day to day activities of the cities in his lands. The Sultan only bothers with ensuring the comfort of his people and politics in foreign lands. The cities are left to fend for themselves beyond that, and thanks to the emphasize on money equalling to power, this tends to result in corporate-style gang situations where wealthy individuals own percentages of a city's property.

There are very little restrictions on internal trade within the Shi'qae. Only few sacred and mystical objects belonging to the most revered of creatures in teh desert are offlimits. This results in trade for simple clothing, tapestries, and foodstuff...to exotic ****, forbidden information, and even slaves of various kinds. If you can make a money off of it, odds are you can find it in the mystical sands of the Dune Seas.

The capital of the Shi'qae Sultanate is on an island in the bay at the north-eastern corner of the Dune Sea. They call this bay "The Bay of Sails, because the bay in of itself is filled almost to the brim with ships for transportation, trade, and war. The island itself is completely covered by the capital city with The Silver Sea Palace, the Sultan's palace, being at the highest point. The capital city is named "Al-Khareem" (all cities of the Shi'qae are suffixed with "Al-").

There have been some Sultanahs (female Sultans), but a Sultan inherits their position by being the first-born child of the last Sultan's favored spouse.

The Griffinwald Theocracy:

The next kingdom to truly unite is the Griffinwald Theocracy. Although they started off as mere nomads and tribes in the forests, their evolution is quite fascinating. Continuing the technological advancements that helped secure their freedom from the Beastmen, these noble savages had began building homes. Then they built villages. Then they built walls. Then they built fortresses. Then they built large, sprawling cities.

But like with most rising kingdoms, there was disputes for property rights and the need for resources. Wars upon wars were fought for superiority and claims of land. It became a dark time as wars consumed the lives of the people...potential workers in young men instead conscripted into battles that would end their lives, women who would ahve to balance work and raising young with declining birthrates, lack of advancements in medicine to curse diseases. There was barely enough hope to go around as the future looked duller and bleaker.

But that all changed when a group of men and demanded their voices heard. They were led by a man named Jordan Griffinwald and they would be bringers of a bright and prosperous future. They regailed entire cities of the tales written by ancient men of their triumphs against vile monsters and the greatness that comes when humanity unites under a common goal. And this message spread far and wide.

Eventually, they had enough fame and money given by donations to start erecting chaples, churches, and cathedrals. They said that an undying faith and obeidiance to the gods would unite humanity and bring hope. Eventually, their fanaticism to the gods gave them power and enough sway to influence lords...then kings. And once they were in the throne rooms and giving advice, it was only a matter of time until they became the kings.

Now, as a theocracy named after their greatest founder, the Griffinwald Theocracy became the most influencial kingdom of the Humans. First, once they had united all the tribes and kingdoms to the Theocracy, they met the Shi'qae. As expected, while the Theocracy tried to convert the Shi'qae, the desert dwellers used their terrain to their advantage and kept the Theocracy at bay effectively enough that they had **** but to just trade with them.

The Griffinwald Theocracy is ruled by a religious council dubbed "The Grand Theogonists". Each Grand Theogonist owns a city within the Theocracy and hold no true capitals, as the meetings take place wherever is agreed upon holding. Below them are hand selected councils that help each Grand Theogonist rule their respective city and manage their respective military forces. There are "The Grand Inquisitors" to help deal out justice, "The Grand Crusaders" to maintain the military, and "The Grand Cardinals" to help handle foreign and domestic politics.

The Griffinwald Theocracy is a very patriarchal society, with women being heavily influenced to be teachers, caretakers, servants, nurses, and priestesses. However, there are some noble women with spirits so pure and strong that the Theocracy takes them in. An all female special forces group called "The Sisters of Holy War" form a shared organization beneath the Grand Theogonists if they feel like sending a unit of eager women who want to prove themselves into the fray without putting their own units at harm. The Theocracy is also hold a very human supremacist and purity worldview, just tolerating the others of the Coalition for their help. They route out those that they find inhuman, subhuman, and malformed with a sadistic fervor.

They basically run the Human empire and follow the laws of the Chosen Pantheon to the letter.

The Saetra Confederacy:

The next to form, though is the youngest of the kingdoms, is the Saetra Confederacy. At first, they were just merely pirates formed by culmination of the Shi'qae, the Theocracy, the Northalkin, and the few people who decided to live in the island chains...though there were so few that it was barely worth mentioning. They preyed off travelers between the islands, expedition ships from the Theocracy and the Northalkin, the merchant ships of the Shi'qae, and each other.

For a good amount of time, this was enough and it made comfortable living. Pirates that were incredibly successful and could afford fleets of ships also built fortresses for protection, communities of homes to house their crewmates, and docks to maintain and house their fleets. However, when one has success, a reputation is sure to follow.

Enough of the problems the pirates had formed, the other kingdoms had started to form fleets of their own to combat them. Seeing the increasing rate that military vessels were forming, the pirate-lords had reached an agreement. Giving each other non-agression pacts and protection alliances, they unified to defend themselves and ensure they could keep their lavish lifestyles.

Over the course of time, the need for each other to survive resulted in them sharing resources and properties. They also amassed great plunder from the military vessels and the off-shoot passenger or merchant ships to keep them afloat. But this wasn't enough to keep up their population of crew members, slaves turned crew members, and new recruits who wanted the free life of a pirate. Eventually, they upgraded from pockets of pirates, into full-blown cities and kingdoms of their own.

They had begun to spread out all across the islands and built sea-side fortresses to defend themselves as some crew members decided to, instead of fighting at sea, dedicate themselves to jobs. Switching to full time repairing of ships, gathering of supplies, growing and raising the exotic fruits and animals, tailoring, crafting of weapons and armor, and so on. From bands of pirates to independant island kingdoms.

This brought about the problem of leadership...things were stablizing and they were becoming more and more civilized. So the idea of inherited captains and being ruled like those they left for a free life wasn't appetizing. The captains and admirals, fearing for their own heads, came up with an idea. They would be acting tyrants until the end of their days where they were forming the frame work of a democractic system. Where major cities would be able to vote for their own admirals who would lead them until they too had died and began a new election cycle. Thus, the Saetra Confederacy was born.

There is no capital city, as the Confederacy prides itself on equality. Governer-Admiral would meet at a specific island that was too small to colonize and plan there for all sorts of affairs. It is also often for a Governer-Admiral to rarely stay put on one island. Not only did a Governer-Admiral rule their territories, which can span over multiple islands in of themselves, but they also ran the naval fleets and needed to patrol their territories to ensure no one would try to invade them.

The Northalkin Tribe-States:

And last but least, the oldest nation of humans had finally united. The most ambitious and adventurous of the humans who ahd went north decided not to stop at the island chains. They went further north, wanting even greater obstacles to overcome. What they found was the frozen island that they now called home. Thansk to the treacherous waters and the inexperience of the sailors, very little ships survived the trip...leaving the people there stranded. There was **** in the matter as these people were **** to have to survive in this island of tundras and frozen mountains and forests.

It is no shocker that these unfortunate souls turned out to be war-driven barbarians. Having to hunt for food, clothing, and shelter, and having to fight against one another to keep themselves alive. However, even a barbaric simpleton find sense in allies. Thus, some individuals risked teaming up and seeing what it is like to have a partner. It became easier to create shelter, hunt and gather food, and protect themselves. Seeing this, the idea caught on like wildfire.

People were forming groups based on people they felt they could trust and strong bonds were formed. However, when two or more whole groups met...very rarely would they like each other and form a bigger group. Instead, battles were dished out and bloodshed was the result. Eventually, the groups became large enough that they could have a stable population and be stable in one spot.

Permenant settlements were formed throughout the island and territories were marked. Those that could, attempted farming at the shorelines to help with food and medicine. And those that were clever, decided to take some animals not for hunting...but for taming. Some animals, they noted, had interesting abilities and traits that were useful. Some animals turned out more effective at making their life easier than for food or for materials used in clothing and shelter.

The first creature to be tamed was the horse. At seeing their speed and stamina first hand, clever trappers were able to capture these beasts without harming them and brought them back home. They would eventually learn how to tame these creatures and then rode them. Warfare was drastically shaped by this as the Northalkins focused on mounted combat and large weapons to reach the ground or get at their enemies before the enemies got them.

The second was the dire wolf. These mansized wolves seemingly could track a man or a stag for miles and were ferocious fighters. Careful hunters decided to make use of this and began tracking the dire wolves carefully and found their dens. If there were young, they would kill teh adults present and take the pups for their own. Over the generations of kidnapped pups breeding, they had dire wolves as hunting partners and fellow warriors in battle.

The third animal that was domesticated was the ox. These were defensive herd animals and took clever thinking to capture and trick into domestication. But now they live on ranches where they run wild, be fed grain, and be used to make a stable food and leather supply.

The fourth and final was the wholly rhino. These were easier to tame, considering all the experience they got in taming other animals. But by nature the wholly rhino is rather passive, only getting defensive if they feel threatened. With the domestication of the rhino, they were able to get plenty of fur for clothing or beds, as well as a strong animal to help with hauling carts.

Other creatures are in the midst of being domesticated, while a majority of others are deemed untameable. However, another beast had soon found their way of being tamed...other Humans. For means of entertainment, productivity, or just veneance, other Northalkin from enemy tribes that were taken alive during battles or raids would be enslaved. Some masters would range from incredibly cruel to just uncaring. Slaves for sex, slaves for menial labor, or slaves for dying in brutal and spectacular gladiator fights...it mattered little in the end.

Over the course of time, the Northalkin had forgotten the mainland...becoming entirely accustomed to their barbaric ways on their ball of snow and ice. But that changed when foreign boats were starting to form over the horizon to the south. They had started to see ships of the pirates, the Sultanate, and the Theocracy. Upon seeing these Humans they had no idea existed, they became defensive and aggressive. Soon, squabbles between the tribes ended and they began to unite against the common enemy...forming the Northalkin Tribe-States.

With the invaders coming more by sea than land, and transition was beginning to form. Moving away from their horse-mounted warfare, they began using the metals that were rarely used from the more mountainous parts of the island, they began forming heavier weapons and metal armor. They began to play more defensively as they repelled the invaders and formed ships of their own. The most elite of Northalkin warriors took it upon themselves to be the last line of defense and even trained their horses to be stronger, shrouding them with armor to defend them in combat. Allowing the Northalkin to be what they are today...a combination of their barbaric way of life, and their knightly means of fighting.

The life of a Northalkin is always on the edge and sometimes brief. It is also harsh and unforgiving. Thusly, the value of strength is absolute...might equals right. Therefor, only the strongest was allowed to lead, while the others were **** to follow. Those that were the strongest gained the title of Chieftain, and were as such until they died. If one wanted to become Chieftain, they would have to challenge the current Chieftain to a duel and win by anymeans necessary. And if a Chieftain were to die in battle or by natural means, then a tournament is made and is partcipated by any who wish to claim the throne for their own. All fights in these duels are to the ****. And the leader of all Northalkin Tribes is chosen from Chieftains, the strongest killing the competition, thus letting them gain the title of Khan...this title replacing their last name.

The great city of the Khan, it is simply called "The Throne", lies in the middle of the island. It is here that the fight to be Khan takes place, and the winner takes over this fortress city. All the other cities, as a result, are **** to get new Chieftains. The Khan may take advisors if they wish, but there is no stable ranking in this regard. The Chieftains look after their own territories while the Khan enjoys the life of luxury that comes with his new position. His only responsibility is ordering around the other Chieftains and leading military campaigns against foreign enemies.

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Pantheon:

To help with assimilating the other kingdoms, the Human panteons combined into one. This resulted in some gods taking over the responsibilities of other gods, or some even being combined themselves. The only exception is the Shi'qae Sultanate, who have no gods. They view the mystical sands of the desert and the sacred animals within it as all they need...to the chagrin of the Griffinwald Theocracy. Only a few stick to the popular pantheon, too much pride having them ignore the other gods and worship the old gods.

Sylvese - A Saetra goddess of lust and love, sometimes called "The Chaste Prostitute" or "The Lusty Bride" also referred to as "Lady Luck" as the Saetra believe a good partner in bed or in life requires great luck to find. She is pictured as the most attractive and elegant woman anyone has ever laid eyes on, though is known to change her form to suit her partners best interests. Her attitude also changes depending on how her suitors view her, to almost nun-like chasteness or to be so delighted by sex even a whore would be surprised. There have been many stories of sailor-warriors and general-captains amassing massive wealth and accomplishing great feats to win Sylvese's affections.

Saetolus - The Northalkin god of domestication, reverently revered to as "The Lord of Beasts". Saetolus may not be the king of the Northalkin pantheon, but he is seen as a vital god, one that might even be more important than the God-King. For he is the one who gave the Northalkin the beasts and monsters of the tundras that they depend on for survival. From the ox to use for meat, hide, and farming, to the horses they use for combat and transportation, to the wholly rhinos for hauling carts. He is also for more than just beast domestication, but is also associated with the **** market that runs rampant in the Tribe-States.

Jaris - The Griffinwald god of justice, also known as "The Grand Judicator" or "The Bringer of Judgement". Though he is the god of justice, it is relative justice. For justice in the Human Empire is not the will of the kings and queens of man and their courts, but the judgement of the gods. And the justice system is dependant upon the gods picked by the cosmic lottery. Thus, his decrees are based solely upon who the Chosen are. This cycle, it seems that acts of dominance, lust, and warfare are fair game for the gods.

Norvaskr - A cumulated god across all the nations, combined of all the leaders of the pantheons into one being. He is the ultimate height of human nobility, order, achievement, strength, and purity. He is depicted to have no face and doned in the most regal of armor with a great sword for a weapon. He rules the pantheon with absolute authority, almost as if he is a stand-in for human kind itself...some form of ultimate narcissism.

Ahrimorus - The Griffinwald god of chaos and disorder, titled "The Trickster God" or "He Who Births Discontent". He is the antithesis to Jaris, perverting the laws and supporting the opposite of the decrees of the Chosen pantheon. It is because of this disregard of the laws of cosmic justice that the Griffinwald Theocracy hate his very existence. So, with justice being relative to the Chosen pantheon, many will not find him to be all that evil. For he will be more for equality, purity, and peace.

Minor gods and old gods: The gods that make up the rest of the pantheon that really don't attribute much to be emphasized outside of their own circles and churches. There are also the old gods, the ones each kingdom outside of the Theocracy had before the combination of the pantheons. Although it is forbidden to worship the old gods, they do so anyways out of spite.