---

---

---

---

Legend:
1.) Westewald (core territory, dragon symbol = the location of the capital)
2.) Collés Archipelago
3.) Medina Isles
4.) Haardam Commonwealth
5.) Beumann Island
6.) Olmeiqué

Corax is a moderately sized Edonirasi country located to the northwest. Also called Westewald the region is located within the temperate climate zone and can be split up to three sub-regions: coasts of Merensol, lowlands of Gladisylva and the mountains of Drachauer. Drachauer is a collection of mountain chains at Westewald's continental borders, Gladisylva has green pastures fit for agriculture and Merensol consists of the rocky and swampy coasts of the country. These three sub-regions were historically always competing with each other and their hierarchy depended on economic trends of the time. Beyond that Westewald is also divided to 11 Cantons in total which have historical roots in tiny nations existing before being taken over by the Ordo Draconis.
Corax has a number of colonies for their growing sea trade empire. Collés Archipelago is a collection of tropical islands with very good harbors. Medina is similar and prior to the conquest of Haardam it was the primary transit point to reach Aradia. Haardam is a giant island, more than twice the size of Westewald. Further east you find the Beumann Island, close to Aradia. Some even contest that Beumann/Hwasho (its original name) is actually a peninsula due to the "Long Road", a thin region of extremely shallow sea levels that during summer dries up sufficiently to create a direct land route towards Aradia. Of course the existence of Long Road also creates navigational hazards albeit after the Corax occupation they created a dam system to let ships through while also raising the sea level behind the Long Road. Acting a bit belatedly but Corax also joined the venture towards the New World with them establishing colonies in the delta of River Quaram with the name Olmeiqué.

---

---

I am using bulletpoints of history for now until I know more about the others nations near me.

- Westewald was a pagan region ruled by various small states
- Ordo Draconis by the Holy Patriach's command invaded Westewald to convert them to Viasm
- Multiple crusades gradually took the region and the Order invited foreigners from the neighboring countries
- By the 15th century the entire region came under the Draconic Order's control
- Reformation of the Viam faith washed over Edoniras like wildfire
- Draconic Order split from the Patriarchy and took Westewald as their personal possession
- Grandmaster of the Draconic Order founded a new dynasty of Corvinus (later renamed to Corax)
- Economic upturn, naval shipping, manufacturing reputation
- Colonial aims, industrial revolution, etc

Inhabitants of the core region are referred as Westewaldians are a mixture of the original once pagan locals and immigrants from various neighboring Vianist countries. As a consequence Corax has a fairly mixed population with most people knowing two or more languages. In spite of that inhabitants eventually developed a sense of identity as Westewaldians and they are proud to this fact. In terms of religion the state only recognizes Viam with all other faiths requiring exemption papers to practice. Of course above all they promote their variation of Viasm called Dominitam but at least on the surface they tolerate all the other derivatives. Socially Corax has three main layers: commoners (Landsmann), citizen (Burgher) and knights (Ritter). Commoners are exempt from taxes but have constraints to free movement and social advancement. Those who can buy themselves a permit and keep paying taxes are freemen and wealthy citizen known as Burghers. Such people tend to own major businesses, usually born to famous craftsmen and merchant families. Lastly the knights (Ritter) who form Corax's de facto nobility. Unlike nobles though knights are elected to their title and are expected to contribute for the military. Knight titles are far more likely to be awarded to families with prior lineage of knights but the ultimate decision is made based on the candidate's personal performance. A knight has the right to own land, govern territory granted to him by the Grandmaster and of course wield arms in public. While civil governance exists the ultimate supervision is through knights and as such they remain a prominent class in Westewaldian society. Although by the start of the 19th century the distinction between Ritter and Burghers is becoming far less defined.

Corax is technically a theocratic/stratocratic dominion where members of the Ordo Draconis fulfill every leading position. Headed by the Hochmeister/Grandmaster the base organization of Corax' governance is similar to a professional military, a monolithic system branching down to actual soldiers on the field. Directly beneath the Hochmeister are the Landmeisters who administrate and govern a large regions. Currently there are 11 regions in the Dominion, 5 divided for the mainland, 1 for the Collés Archipelago, one for Olmeiqué, one for Beumanns, one for Medina and its neighboring ports and finally two for Haardam. Landmeisters are not active duty soldiers nor picked for their skills in battle but their governing abilities. Beneath them are the Komtur who manage a sub-region called commandry. While smaller governing titles are used their application is more sporadic and at such stage the local civilian leadership takes over. These knight-governors of course also had their own deputies, advisors and officials. At the first glance this government may appear obstructive but in effect due to various facts the system was efficient and even somewhat liberal, inspired by the ideals from the Age of Enlightenment. The Hochmeister in particular has seemingly unlimited power but laws and the watchful eyes of his subordinate governors keep them in check. The Hochmeister is elected through the Generalkapitel attended by every knight with the title of Komtur or above. They also gather for political discussions or send out representatives for an almost parliamentary style system.

---

---

In spite of its small size Westewald is relatively rich in resources. Drachauer region's mountains are abundant in minerals and new deposits are found each month. In particular Westewald became famous for the quality of their iron ore and resulting ease to produce decent steel. Precious metals like gold and silver are scarce though due to over mining during the middle ages and most coins are minted from import minerals. The lowlands are decently fertile and can be considered the country's food reserve. Forests and good lumber is also available in fair quantity. Overall the Corax mainland is gifted in natural resources and if not for their ambitions and steadily growing population they could be even self-sufficient on their own. Outside of their strictly defined national borders Corax has large colonial plantations for various exotic goods like rubber trees, coffee, cacao, tea, spices and also mining efforts for coal, metals, precious metals, sulfur and nitrates. Colonies also provide grain and other necessary foodstuff imports to support the ever growing mainland population.

Since the 15th century Westewald enjoyed reputation for their craftsmanship, especially clocks and weaponmaking. With strong governmental control the guilds were quickly replaced by manufactories and soon adopted machinery. Some of the first steam engines, used for operating pumps in mines, were utilized in Westewald. Nowadays railways connect all towns and even common in colonial territories. Corax has a fairly developed industry overall but if you have to pick one field they excel in the metallurgy and heavy industries dependent on it. Combined with the great iron ore the steelworks of Corax are exceptional and good quality steel is considerably easier to acquire than anywhere else. They also acquired great expertise in gunmaking, proud to have many famous inventors working in the field. Corax also have ancient traditions on armormaking and given the knights' demands it remains a flourishing business. Since the early 14th century the Order always sought good craftsmen in cannonry and gunmaking which prevailed as Westewald transitioned into the Confederation of Corax. Currently, Coracian gunmakers are renown for their high quality products and while they might not approach the sheer output of Lancia or other top industrial regions their reputation for excellent guns remains. A typical Coracian product is the revolver, multi-shot pistol/carbine using rotating chambers. While they long lost monopoly on these products a huge quantity of revolvers are still made in Westewald. Due to political reasons Corax also sought cartridge technology, being its earliest widescale adopters. This is in part to the effort of limiting the power of civilian firearms but the transition also helped them to meet the rising demands for these fairly early. Corax's mining and heavy industry is remarkable and their light industry also saw decent development. Water and wind mills are extremely widespread and the usage of steam power is gradually gaining ground. That being said Corax can't compete with foreign textile industry and over half of their cloth products are imported from elsewhere. On the other hand Corax is the earliest adopter of rubber and while missing out on developing the vulcanization process first (using the natives' ancient means of stabilizing rubber instead) they are now recuperating from that loss and again becoming one of the larger rubber producers in the world.

Like every developed nation Corax is a net resource importer, using skilled laborers and advanced industry to pay back in finished products. As such while the Coracian iron ore is famous they still import nearly a hundred thousand tons of iron either in bar or ore form each year. Iron products in turn are one of the most famous exports of Westewald, tools and equipment from this region is put in high regard. Gun imports earn a special mention. while recent laws prohibit the civilian use of high powered guns their manufacture and sale is so important for the Coracian economy that such companies immediately earned an exemption from the law. Export of cartridges earns a special mention as these are mandated to be in dimensions unfit to be loaded by civilian firearms as such Coracian guns and cartridges for export can be identified by their bore/cartridge diameter. Rubber production also revitalized and Corax is one of the main exporters of rubber both in raw form and as finished products. As noted before Corax imports a lot of textiles, especially of the finer quality, as their own cloth industry is still failing to meet the new demands. Luxury goods while in some quality availible to them is still a well sought after commodity. Lastly but not least Corax is in a constant demand for gold. Due to overmining their gold reserves ran out by the 16th century after which they have switched back to silver based currency. While silver did well for local trade it became increasingly harder to use after the discovery of the New World. While colonial mining efforts and more importantly exploiting the natives of the New World averted the outright crisis the Coracian hunger for gold has yet to be sated.

---

---

Corax military is relatively small but competent and highly organized. The most elemental unit in combat is the Lance/Lanze, rooted in the old tradition of knights fighting along with their retinue. Unlike those days Lances tend to be larger with usually 10 people including the sergeant commanding them. These optimally organize into Groups/Gruppen of 3-4 lances and similarly 3-4 Groups form a Company. Regiments are the smallest independent unit of circa 1200-2000 people that had their own artillery, support, sustainment and intelligence gathering groups. During major wars these regiments combine into Legions, the main organizational unit of the Coracian military. Corax soldiers are easy to identify for the fact they still wear helmets and breastplates, occasionally with the addition of other armor pieces. Coracian infantry can be also often found carrying revolver rifles. These provide good fire rate but at the drawback of less penetration and reduced stopping power. Corax also continued the tradition of Jaegers, light skirmishing infantry equipped with the new type breechloading long rifle for decent accuracy at range. Jaegers don't wear armor and sometimes their bright yellow and black uniform is replaced with more natural colors to help them blend into the environment. Compared to this Corax has relatively weak cavalry with most of them performing patrol and scouting duties. Dragoons exist who act as mounted line infantry with the occasional flavor of charges and some knights are still interested to become heavy cavalry.


Corax is one of the pioneers of cannon development with the knights always being interested in the introduction of better artillery pieces. Cast steel guns are widespread in the military thanks to the combination of Coracian steelmaking and expertise in firearm gas seals. The most common piece is the 4-pounder rifled breechloader cannon that is light enough to be carried by two horses and mostly fires shrapnel projectiles. Supporting them you can see the Pattern 1839 Hagelbüsche, an oversized twin barrel 24-shot revolver rifle with quickly exchangable chambers. Effectively a machinegun its weight and finicky mechanism prevents it from becoming the nightmare massed armies will face in the distant future. In fewer quantities Corax also employs 12-pounder rifled muzzleloader cannons, weighing almost the same as field guns of the past century. Though some may consider them excessive but in limited numbers Corax even possesses large 24, 32, 80 and even 120 pounder cannons and howitzers. Kriegzug or combat trains are a novel new concept providing mobility for the army previously unheard of. While other nations also realize the importance of rails the Draconic Order maintains entire cars for such purpose. Furthermore they are experimenting with mounting artillery on train cars, allowing the deployment of heavy howitzers with expediency previously unheard of.

As a rising naval power Coracian navy is modern but also somewhat moderately sized. Given their near-obsession with railways it is of no surprise they also push for steam power in naval use. Any but their most outdated warships are propelled both by sails and steam. Steam corvettes and frigates cruise all their territorial waters. Lineships are split into two categories, Kreuzers and Stahlschiffs. Kreuzers are unarmored but relatively fast and more economical. They are the capital ships in absence of the heavier Stahlschiff which features steel or wrought iron plates bolted onto its still mostly wooden hull. The reason behind this shift is widespread use of explosive shells. A few shots from a large bore shell cannon could easily sink any wooden battleship. As such Stahlschiff have a relatively thick 5-inch armor plate bolted onto them that is supposed to stop most shells. The explosion still tends to damage the bolts and could detach the plates thus such defense is limited utility but until the development of true ironclad ships this is the closest to efficient protection. Armaments wise the navy uses a lot of 12-pounder breechloader rifled guns along with 36-pounder howitzers and a few 120-pounder guns. While the smaller shells lack the sheer destructive power to catastrophically damage warships they still do reasonable damage and their shells are safer to storage than the large variants as well as not requiring special loading mechanisms. Naval mines are also in development and early variants are ready to be deployed in defense of their home ports. Research for self-propelled torpedoes is in process but so far there aren't any reliable means to keep them controllable. While spar torpedoes are an option the Coracian navy does not trust them. There are at least a few private ventures at developing submarines but so far they are more of a curiosity than what the government seriously consider.

.

.