[b]Name:[/b] The League of Cities of Sapientkind

[b]Leader(s):[/b] 

[i]Isabella de Guzman, Representative of Commerce[/i] - Middle-aged, corpulent, and magnificently dressed to make up for her lack of physical attributes, Isabella de Guzman is a firm believer in the power of money and free enterprise to bind together disaprate religions, creeds, and even species. The main financier of the League's armies, Isabella de Guzman is known for hard business practices that extract maximum profit from a situation. Despite her grasping nature, Isabella claims not to pursue wealth for its own sake; she wants to use it to unify the world and end petty conflicts over matters of land and honor. And to some observers, she actually believes this.

[i]Juan de Maldonado, Representative of Defense[/i] - Isabella de Guzman's counterpart in the army, Juan de Maldonado is proud of his accomplishments in molding a once-divided coalition into a cohesive fighting force. A better logistician and strategist than a tactician, Juan is nevertheless loath to admit that it was Isabella's wealth and actions that had made his victories possible and prevented his men from mutinying more than once, same for admitting that he owes anything to anyone other than himself. Nevertheless, these feelings rarely go beyond respectful rivalry, even as he is scornful of Isabella's beliefs.

[i]Carol Padillia[/i] - The ideologiical heart of the League of Cities of Sapientkind, Carol Padillia is a Magus whose willpower is fuelled by her determination to secure a fairer world of less suffering. But this willpower and determination makes her more brittle as well, and less likely to compromise in foriegn affairs as Isabella and Juan. Like Isabella, Carol started off as a commoner, but she feels a stronger bond towards Juan as both are military people, and it is Juan that persuades her to adopt more pragmatic policies for now. However, her belief in the 'common soul' and 'innate rights' of Sapient Beings easily brings back her militant mood, especially when faced with atrocities occuring elsewhere...

[b]History:[/b] The lands around the Great Inner Lake were rich and fertile, and from those lands, a civilization sprang. This civilization consisted of many cities that either formed a great empire, or were [i]conquered[/i] by said empire; past records are murky. Nevertheless, the collapse of the Empire caused the cities to be independent again, warring with each other and outside invaders. And on the easternmost shore of the Great Inner Lake, where a river flowed from unknown lands, was established the city of Valladolid; Vallis Tolitum, Valley of Waters. This city became rich, producing glasswork and crossbows, swords and furniture.

But with wealth came peril, as a great horde from the east took the mountain passes by storm, and forced the city to pay tribute or be sacked. This horde then pressed on to the rest of the cities, extorting tribute when they can and brutally sacking those that refused. And when that horde passed, another came, and another, each army larger than before. So the cities knew that before their wealth was lost, they had to put aside petty rivalries and band together. Juan de Maldonado and Isabella de Guzman were part of those early efforts, with the latter financing an early effort to ambush the hordes of the east as they came through the mountain passes.

They failed, and Valladolid was besieged, only to be saved by Carol Padillia, a young woman who had manifested magic powers of unusual strength. Carol belived that she had gained powers from the Gods to banish the enemy, and so she did, allowing Juan and Isabella to make another try, recruiting armies from multiple cities to give battle against the eastern nomads. This time, they won, but the war that followed was long, even with the cities' new innovation; the Hand Cannon. It also didn't help that one of the Hordes brought in its own infantry recruited from vassal tribes and petty kingdoms. Stalemate loomed over the horizon.

It was Carol who saved the situation once more. She observed that the nomadic horde's vassals were 'lesser' races; Orcs, Ogres and Goblins who were treated badly by their human lieges. So she proposed that overtures be made to them, overtures of liberation and equality. It would take some time for this to be accepted by the nascent League, and even longer for the resulting proposals to be accepted by the non-human races in the enemy ranks, but in a final, climatic battle, the nomadic horde that threatened them all was betrayed by its vassals and subjects, who joined the League in destroying their masters.

Isabella and even Juan proposed betraying the agreements made with the 'greenskins' there and then, but Carol would have none of it and she had the non-humans, as well as plenty of Juan's own men who were loyal to her on her side. And so the Orcs, Ogres, and Goblins were allowed life and liberty, and in time, proved themselves to be deserving of equal citizenship in a mere decade and a half. Now, the League of Cities of Sapientkind stands tall and strong, ready to trade in gold and blood all across the world...

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[IMG]http://i67.tinypic.com/2qlbx4w.jpg[/IMG]