Human Factions

The human factions are the most populous ones, the human have spread through the world and built cities, fortresses and citadels grand and puny. The human population mainly consists from the Trivialis race with some having Bellua blood in them, they number in the millions if not billions on the planet, but in this document we will only look at the mainly human factions on this part of the continent.

KINGDOM_TITLE

Government type: Agnatic Primogeniture Feudalism.

The head of state is the king, with him having the ultimate power to give fiefs and titles to his vassals, who rule over a land in the name of the king, Only males are entitled to titles and fiefdoms. The vassals can have different laws in their land but have to ultimately follow the king's decrees as well, although that is hard to enforce. The vassal's obligation is to supply the king with a portion of their levies and taxes, the specifics are determined on a case to case basis. Vassal dynastic power struggles and wars between them are frequent and common, although rare in the latter case, often leading the different lords to secure alliances between them, most commonly through marriages.

Most commoners who own land, do it in the name of their lord in a Serfdom contract, and have to provide their lord with taxes. The lord in return provides them with security and the permission to work in his land or farm it.

During the "Fall of Darkness" coup days, when DEBUG_HERO's father was deposed by the court wizard, only the vassals who helped the EVIL_EMPIRE take over the land of KINGDOM_TITLE remained in their position, others, loyal to the King's line, were ousted out of their lands. The land was in the state of disarray as EVIL_EMPIRE forces moved between provinces, installing the new local government.

Religion:

Official religion:

KINGDOM_TITLE has only one official religion, the "Dragon Ascendency". They believe that humans were brought to the world by the God Dragons of old to cleanse it of the Elvish sinfulness, mainly the old elvish magic of Life Essence Manipulation. The chief deity among the dragons, Ariemat, depicted as a winged lion, blessed DEBUG_HERO's dynasty and put them in charge of the human population who have been ruling over KINGDOM_TITLE for generations.

The Dragon ascendency believes that by doing good deeds, helping the poor and upholding the traditions, a person can ascend into an angelic form, always depicted as beautiful winged men and women. Then they take charge of watching over humanity, shielding them from the rest of the species who would wish to destroy them.

The religion has differing tenets and codes for each part of the society, excluding the magicians who are part of the Association of Magi. For the clergy of the religion they have strict rules about priests not being able to marry but could only have concubines, specific ceremonial duties and prohibiting any member of the church to use magic. For the nobility, the church dictates to uphold the codes of knighthood, bounding the noble knights with oaths, oathbreakers are seen as traitors to humanity. Each noble must take and uphold an oath.

The Dragon ascendency has many places of worship in the land, the most important one is the Grand Cathedral of Drachenklaue, located in the Capital, rivaling the royal palace with its grandeur. Other than that, every settlement has its local place of worship run by the local priest. The priests do not answer to the local lord, but only to the head of the ascendency, Archbishop Grima Lügner, whose whereabouts are unknown after the "Fall of Darkness" coup.

Other faiths or sects:

There are many smaller communities built around faith in the land of KINGDOM_TITLE often shunned by the Dragon Ascendency, but either live in hard to reach places, small enough to exist in the underbelly of the big cities or that the local lord and priest turn a blind eye to for various reasons.

These can be personality cults; a charismatic leader building a small community. Elven harems; there has been a surge of groups of women gathering in harems around a single Elf male, often seeing him as superior and fighting eachother to be blessed with his child. Ancestral Worship; small more nomadic communities who don't believe in gods, but rather that their ancestors will guide and help them. Foreign Religions; religions from other kingdoms brought to the land, brought in by merchants, immigrants or individual preachers, they get less trouble from the local authorities and priesthood, especially if the kingdom of origin is powerful.

Traditions:

The KINGDOM_TITLE population is very traditional, "serve your lord and your ascendency will be secured" (quote Dragon's Rise Chronicles, Dragon Ascendency's holy text). KINGDOM_TITLE society splits into the commoners, clergy, magicians and nobility, as well as slaves who aren't really seen as part of society. The main tradition is having a religious oath, an oath made before a priest of the Dragon Ascendency, with the royal dynasty's oath always being "The house will always rule KINGDOM_TITLE".

The man is the head of each household, in charge of providing his family and answers for any wrongdoings the family member has done, including the family's slaves.

Institutions within the faction:

• Dragon Ascendency: The kingdom's official religion. Each nobleman's court has the court priest to guide the local lord in terms of morality.
• Association of Magi: A powerful guild of magicians, powerful enough to hold the church off. Each nobleman's court has a representative in the form of a court wizard who reports back to the guild.
• The Council: A group powerful vassals who advise the king, they hold executive power over the different aspects of state ruling, the Archbishop and Court Wizard are part of the council.
• Merchant and Professional guilds: Various guilds established in the bigger cities that control specific professions and arts. The guilds achieved their autonomy from the local lord by making some sorts of a deal with him and the local priest who also turns a blind eye to the guilds.

EVIL_EMPIRE

Government type: Imperial Kratocracy

Modelled very much after the "Dranie Supremacy", the head of state is the emperor or empress, the EVIL_EMPIRE doesn't care about the gender of the person in power, only that they are the most powerful who are strong enough to seize power through either physical ****, social maneuvering or political cunning. The magistrates and local governors are selected meritocratically, but it is not uncommon for someone to kill them and take their place, they will only remain in power if the empire ruler approves of the usurper.

Almost no Emperor / Empress has died from old aged or natural causes.

Religion:

There is no official religion of the EVIL_EMPIRE. All religions are seen as pointless as the only thing that matters is to be in power, so they are mostly left alone and seen as just a tool to control the population, the same as coercing them by ****.

Traditions:

The EVIL_EMPIRE used to be a territory under KINGDOM_TITLE until a group of rebellious lords have decided to secede from it, only to be overthrown and executed by a popular uprising. Very soon the uprising shattered in itself and devolved into an anarchy, followed by warlords controlling the populace, who were then united or killed by the "First Emperor", a powerful wizard, he was soon killed by someone else who usurped his power and so on.

Slaves are abundant in EVIL_EMPIRE, there is no official "Citizen" status in the empire, only those who managed to grab power over others, those who follow them and those who are **** under their control. whoever grabs territory and manages to hold it, either by **** or seeking approval from the local authority, is the de facto owner of that territory.

The need for constant power exertion to remain in control has bred a powerful army for EVIL_EMPIRE, often taking free will away from soldiers via the means of magic. Military usage on civilian population is rampant, and EVIL_EMPIRE uses it for control often.

Life for the ordinary person is quite simple, if they manage to remain free either by use of connections, personal power or usefulness, no one will bother them unless they specifically covet something they own. A person is not bothered from the authorities unless there is a direct order, then one can either choose to comply, or face ****, for the lucky ones, or slavery, which is particularly harsh in the EVIL_EMPIRE. The EVIL_EMPIRE cities and towns still have trade, often run by powerful syndicates. Goods and slaves come from different sources and enjoy little regulations or taxations.

Empire-wide public works and projects aren't paid with monetary means but by **** labour, the **** labour is only kept for the duration of the project and then released. It is still not an easy ordeal, often only basic conditions are provided so workers won't starve, kill themselves from exhaustion. Unless the one supervising the project decides something else. The life of a **** is seen as subhuman, their lives are completely expendable.

The harsh social environment, roads built by regiments of slaves, cities built on the skeletons of their builders, people abused and killed, twisted the energies feeling oppressive in the EVIL_EMPIRE lands, often sparking bogs and crooked forests, as it affected the magical aspect of the land.

Institutions within the faction:

• Syndicates - The EVIL_EMPIRE has many syndicates that control various portions of the land, always dependent on the whims of the ruler, often conducting contraband and **** abduction operations in other realms. A popular trade is selling human **** slaves to the Ashani.
• Association of Magi - The powerful organisation holds no real official power within the EVIL_EMPIRE, but most of the more sinister members of the guild live within the boundaries of the empire. The empire allowing them free reign in exchange of the magical potions supply.

Durvani Confederacy

Government type: Confederate Plutocracy

The Durvani have no head of state, they are governed by the High Council, a parliamentary body consisting from representatives from the different cantons, the ruler of the confederacy is determined by the canton that holds the council meetings. The Confederacy has some regulation, but overall it is decentralized, letting its member cantons govern and make their own laws.

The confederacy has formal citizenship in terms of owning wealth. The rule and vote is made by people of means, only those who own land or a venue can vote and govern. The rest are residents, they have the freedom of movement, freedom of work, freedom of rental and have rights but cannot vote or govern. It is possible for a resident to become a citizen by simply having a land for themselves. The gender of the citizen is irrelevant.

Religion:

The Durvani Confederacy has complete freedom of religion.

Traditions:

The Durvani consist of every known people, from Ashani and Tamari elves to Bellua and Trivialis humans, the latter being the largest group. The only thing that matters is how much a person owns, if they are an owner of a business or land, an accomplished artisan or a good for nothing beggar.

Durvni citizens and residents tend to strive and adorn themselves in the most extravagant clothing, jewelry both for men and women, and decorating their houses and estates with as much art as possible. It is considered an honour to patronage an artist or a person of science and engineering, creating fabulous works of art and machines.

Institutions within the faction:

• Guilds - associations of people with similar professions to control, various guilds established in the bigger cities that control specific professions and arts.
• Association of Magi - there are members of the association who are part of the governing bodies of the confederacy, most of the association's biggest universities for science, art and magic are in the territory of the Confederacy.