[b]Name: [/b]
Hegemony of Canthor

[b]Flag:[/b]
A golden shiled and sword over a purple background.

[b]Quick description of your nation: [/b]
	The Hegemony of Canthor is the latest political entity in line formed around the banks of the twin rivers: West Riveran and East Riveran, who split the nation into Western Canthor and Eastern Canthor. At the banks of the wide estuary connecting the open sea and the twin rivers, overlooking the Gulf of the Twins, the capital of Canthor emerges on the horizon, with it's strong stone walls and famous citadel giving a breathtaking view of the city's panoramic from the main hill on which the city's sprawling streets and houses have formed along centuries of unbroken inhabitation. A nation composed of former river warlords, with plenty of hills, farmlands and rolling mountain forests and peaks, Canthor can be counted among the richest of Arkron's vassals.

[b]The side your nation was on during the 3th rebellion:[/b] 
	Officially the throne, however the civil war paralyzed much of Canthor's military and political aid to their arkronite overlords, rendering the vassal almost useless in the rebellion.

[b]Population/races: [/b]
	Human majority, with small pockets of minorities such as elves, dwarves and others. Surrounding nations most likely have their races living at the canthorian border. A sizeable population of arkronites are present in many of the nation's urban centers.

[b]Culture/society:[/b]
	Canthorian culture is highly based around the twin rivers, with all of the human population on all sides of the river banks sharing a high degree of cultural similarity, be it dialect, religion or traditions, with small regional exceptions. Along the banks of the two main rivers, there are a myriad of villages and small settlements, not to mention military and commercial outposts. Several prominent urban centers are located at strategic points, and have over the centuries developed their somewhat distinct cultural identities and lifestyle. There is, however, a big difference between West Canthor and East Canthor. West Canthor, with it's lush farmlands and rolling plains, is and remains the original homeland of the Riveran people, with the oldest settlements located there, including the capital of Canthor. Although the eastern banks have been settled for over a thousand years, the steppes, hills and rugged mountain frontiers of the far Eastern Canthor have been colonised by riveranians only a mere 400 years ago, in the aftermath of the First Rebellion.

There is quite a difference between the urbanized and rich West and the rural and rugged lands of the East. The western riveranians see their eastern brethren as rather brutish simpletons who shun the finer tastes of life. Even the western peasants are somewhat better dressed and mannered than those 'pesky' colonists. The eastern riveranians, likewise, view the westerners as a bunch snobbish feminine courtesans, who can only use their silver tongues to get out of the hardships of life. Contrary to these differences, the bulk of the riveranian culture and society remains the same in both regions: the common folk are destined to a life of labour, the nobles highly value chilvaric code and increasingly adopt arkronian civilized customs and the burghers and traders continue to scheme and get rich fueled by the profitable river and coastal commerce between West and East.

[b]Religion:[/b]
	Riveranian religion is heavily centered around the mythological figure of Shanna, the primordial mother of mankind and all other related humanoid races. There is no other comparable god in the riveranian mythology, except her brother Aedir. Together the two represent the antithesis between good and evil, light and dark. Shanna is the embodiment of good, the warm benevolent mother, and Aedir is the embodiment of evil, the cruel father. The riveranian mythology starts with the creation of the mortal realm, when Shanna and Aedir jointly created the races of the world by giving breath to the continents through the rivers of the lands, from where the waters of life have formed all of today. The Twin Rivers are widely worshipped as the primordial homeland of all mankind. 
	The creation of the mortal realm required a counterparts of two immortal planes for the souls of the departed to come to rest for all of eternity, and so the task of creating such an immortal realm for the souls of their children fell on Aedir. By tapping into the essence of time and space, Aedir successfully created the Underworld, where the souls of the deceased mortals would come to rest for all of eternity, leaving way for new souls to come unto the world. However, very soon their creation began to exhibit what scholars describe as "The primordial sins". Cruelty, murder, greed and corruption. Thus, Aedir became more and more disappointed with his creation. It is traditionally believed that strong emotions associated with hate led to the corruption of Aedir, when the primordial father unsuccessfully attempted to tap into the life essence of his children in order to try and remove these sinful sentiments. 
	Hate gradually corrupted Aedir, until the primordial father became so dissatisfied with his creation that he tried to eradicate it, only to be stopped by his sister, Shanna. Shanna's love for her creation drove her to challenge her brother's dominion over the immortal realm, and a great battle between the two gods took place, where the followers of Shanna and the demonic creations of Aedir clashed together, effectively breaking the immortal realm into two. The aftermath of the battle saw the victory of Shanna over her brother, who was cast away into the depths of the Underworld, along with his demonic servants. The other remaining part that broke from the Underworld became Shanna's heavenly dominion. Seeing what the sins of her creation led to, she established the Conduit of Life, where every soul in life is to be judged according to their righteousness and valour. Good shall be rewarded with eternal life in her heavenly dominion, and evil shall be cast away into the Underworld, where they will eternally fight against hordes of tormented demonic forces, the remnants of Aedir's armies.
	Following the great battle, the primordial power diminished so much that both Shanna and Aedir became locked inside their respective realms, unable to directly intervene into the affairs of the mortal realm, unless certain individuals imbued with unnatural characteristics are eligible to become avatars of good or evil, carrying the celestial essence of the two primordial gods. Ever since, the official religion of Canthor is the worship of Mother Shanna, and her myriad of deified martyrs, legendary semi-historical characters. The Cult of Shanna maintains a strong presence in all territories of Canthor, with countless places of worship of Shanna scattered in both cities and villages, together with secluded monasteries in the wildest territories of the Hegemony.

[b]History:[/b]
	Before the arkronite arrival, the twin rivers were engulfed in constant tribal warfare for the control of resources and the river trade. Countless tribes rise and fell, with armies scorching the lands. This period saw the rise of legendary figures, generals and tribe leaders. Among the riveranian tribes, several city-states began to form, and in mere centuries proto-nations started to form along the banks, with a centralized state and distinct dogmas. Within this period, the city-state of Canthor, an oligarchic republic, achieved political status as one of the strongest among the riveranian city-states, primarly because of the strategic control of the estuary between the rivers and the Gulf of the Twins which has allowed Canthor to facilitate and control a big chunk of the regional economic trade, filling it's coffers and financing war and infrastructure. In a few generations, Canthor annexed and vassalized a number of neighbouring city-states, forming the Canthorian League. With many of the past opponents out of the way, the only remaining equal rival to stand against Canthor was Waxthor and it's allies, located on the banks of East Riveran. The war that followed between the two powers is known to scholars as the "Half-Century War', for lasting 50 years and engulfing all of the riveranian civilization in a bitter and destructive conflict.

	The Half-Century War finally ended with the arrival of the arkron settlers. When the Kingdom of Arkron became a mighty power on the continent, the Canthorian League was suffering severe drawbacks and war exhaustion, it's dominions reduced only to a small territory beyond Canthor's walls. Facing extinction, the republic sought the arkronite financial and military aid, promising unprecedented political and economic concessions to Arkron. With the unexpected aid of Arkron, the tide of war turned in favour of Canthor, and Waxthorn was defeated. In the peace negotiations that followed, neither Canthor or Waxthor could protect their interests as the war left both nations with an empty coffer and decimated armies. To settle the riveranian conflict once and for all, Arkron demanded one nation become a vassal of the other, among other economic and political concessions. Waxthor almost succeeded in gaining the upper hand at the diplomatic table when the queen of Arkron offered her hand to the king of Arkron, essentially forming a royal partnership between the two nations. As Canthor was a republic, the only option for survival was to counter offer a 'lifetime of vassalization' to the arkronite crown, if the crown accepted the total canthorian annexation of Wexthor. Facing military conquests elsewhere along the continent, and the fact that Wexthor in it's current state after the war was of no use, Arkron accepted the canthorian subjugation of Wexthor in exchange of Canthor becoming a vassal of Arkron and a very generous and outrageous money tribute. Thus the most violent and turbulent era of riveranian history has come to an end.

	An era of relative peace and prosperity followed, and the riveranian civilization adopted much of arkronite technology and ways of life, becoming a stable and rich vassal, with the arts and culture flowering to an unprecedent apex. The First Rebellion saw Canthor answering the arkronite call for help, and the rebellion was swiftly crushed and much of Canthor spared of devastation. The Second Rebellion, however, had much drastic consequences on Canthor, and the riveranian renaissance was swiftly ended. The republic was split between crown symphatisers and rebels. Only at the direct intervention of Arkron and the purge of rebellious elements within the republican council could Canthor finally respond to the vassal call of war.  The late intervention of Canthor into the war on the side of the throne did little to aid Arkron, and Canthor itself was defeated several times due to divided political leadership, resulting in heavy devastation of the land. After the Second Rebellion, Arkron lost much of it's confidence in the canthorian republican government, and an era of uncertainity followed, characterized by decadent and corrupt republican senators and government officials and overall poor life standards for the population.

	The Third Rebellion once again saw Canthor paralyzed due to internal fighthing. High General Mikel Quenit took the opportunity to rally his troops and, with the blessing of Arkron, fought a short civil war with the republican faction in order to secure the rule of Canthor, declaring himself Hegemon over all of Canthor, forming a military junta government. By the time Canthor was one again stable, the rebellion ended, further putting a stain on the arkronite opinion of Canthor, with the riveranians gaining a reputation of 'useless infighthing imbeciles' who do not understand statecraft and are of no use to Arkron, but the hegemon rule over Canthor proved to bring order back to the realm, and the arkronite overlords allowed Hegemon Mikel Quenit to continue his campaign against the republican faction, who was now on defense. The next 50 years since the Third Rebellion were marked by gradual hegemonic reconquest of various republican loyal outposts, strongholds and cities. The legacy of Hegemon Mikel Quenit was taken on by his most trusted military advisor and general, who now became Hegemon Nidor Xuleyn.

[b]Government:[/b]
	The government is composed of the Hegemon, who is the autocratic ruler of the realm and who has tremendous legal and executive power over all branches of the state. In turn, the Hegemon is aided by and advised by a military council formed of his generals and governors, who all happen to be noble lords. The Hegemon is also regarded as the spiritual representative of Shanna on the mortal plane, and thus, is also legally indentified with the cognomen of "High Priest", providing him with quite a strong influence over the religious affairs of the state.

[b]Economy:[/b]
	Mainly agrarian, with a big portion of the economy based around river and coastal trade.

[b]Military:[/b]
	Since the formation of the Hegemony, the military has now been reformed. Armies are now semi-professional, centered around geographical regions of the realm, split equally in three regions: Western Riveran, Middle Riveran and Eastern Riveran. Seasonal campaigns would see the bulk of the army composed of levied peasants for the infantry, primarly armed with inexpensive spears  and square wooden shields, wearing little to no armor or pikes in the arkronite fashion. As every region is split in multiple estates of their own, each estate lord is required to provide a set quantity of levies, with the cost supported by the lord. There are also special legal rules that apply to convicted invididuals and slaves, whereas special penal regiments are used in warfare. If they survive, they are granted their freedom. Such types of penal regiments are used exclusively for frontal attacks or baits, wearing down the enemy before the elite troops can maneuver and engage. Same can be said about the peasant levies too, but commanding officers tend to be more careful and strategic in using them.

	The professional military armies of Canthor have only recently developed, courtesy of the ongoing 50 years campaign of hegemonic reconquest of the republican loyalist strongholds. Canthor now have now three established professional armies: the Western Regional Army, the Middle Regional Army and Eastern Regional Army, each capable of quick mobilization in times of warfare in their respective regions, with all expenses sustained by the state treasury. The main component of these armies is the medium armed infantry called "Skuta", armed with swords, spears and pikes. The elite calvary of the armies is the cataphract, the heavily armored shock knights of Canthor. In addition to these elite troops, there is also a considerable amount of mercenary ranged units and mobile units.

[b]Territory:[/b]
Lower continent, in purple.

[b]Factions:[/b]
- Hegemonic administration, the symphatizers of the Hegemon and the military central government in Canthor.
- Republican loyalists, the symphatizers of the old government.
- Cult of Shanna, the clergy and main religious authority in Canthor.
- Canthorian Magisterum, the official authority representing the mages of Canthor.

[b]Characters:[/b]
- Nidor Xuleyn, the current Hegemon of Canthor.
Anything else I'd like to develop with the RP.