[b]Nation name:[/b] The Cesian Republic
[b]Race:[/b] Dwarves primarily, though there is a significant population of non-dwarven slaves.
[b]Type of government:[/b] Republic
[b]Faction:[/b] Founder and leader of the Ingrian League
[b]Ruler:[/b] The Republic is lead by an assembly, drawn from both the aristocracy and the commoners, with a speaker wielding executive authority. The current Speaker is Tismar.
[b]Capital:[/b] Cesia
[b]Administration:[/b] Very little of the lands under the Republic are directly controlled by the Assembly. Most of the cities are Crotyns, a term for allies who have given up foreign relations to Cesia in exchange for protection and autonomy. Though they are required to field levies for the Republic's defense, they are not represented within the Assembly, a right given only to Cesian citizens. Those regions under the direct control of Cesia are divided into marshaldoms, governed by a marshall apointed by the Assembly. 
[b]Military:[/b] The Cesian Republic has no standing army. Instead, when war threatens, the Assembly selects leaders amongst itself to raise armies in each marshalldom, which then converge to an agreed location, traditionally Cesia itself. This combined army is led by the Armory Master, another member of the assembly, who is placed above all except the Assembly itself. Armory masters are generally veterans of previous conflicts who have distinguished themselves on the field. In addition to this core army, auxillaries are raised in the Crotyns of the Republic, with each unit varying in size and led into battle by a representative of their own city. 
[b]History:[/b] Cesia's history began when dwarven settlers from the north colonized some of Lera. This colony soon grew, and it became a major city by the year 417. At this time, it was a kingdom lead by a High King in the traditional dwarven fashion, with ingrained aristocracy and ancestor worship central to the culture. However, as time passed, the balance of power shifted to the wealthy merchant class, who desired to form a plutocracy. 

When the last High King refused their demands to induct them into the nobility in 483, a civil war was sparked which saw the destruction of the old order. For the next century, the Republic focused on cementing the republican traditions of Cesia, and eradicating the very concept of monarchy from their society. This period of isolation was ended when war broke out with the neighbouring city-state of Ingria in 560. The conflict was long and grueling, and even though peace was finally brokered, three other wars broke out, each bloodier than the last. At the end of the fourth war, the Cesian army razed Ingria to the ground, bringing back each stone, brick and pillar to Cesia, where they were displayed as a monument to the glory of the Republic. To Cesians, Ingria has become synonymous with the military power of their nation. Since then, they have expanded slowly yet surely, colonizing new lands and adding new Crotyns to their web of alliances. In the century before 743, they have also begun expanding on the mainland of Agra, threatening and sometimes even attacking allies of the declining Norin Kingdom.