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Form of Government: Absolute Monarchy
Describe the System: 'One King One God One People'. This saying sums up the Aznavor Kingdom's method of rule. The King rules supreme, He draws his authority from divine mandate. To support his rule he is supported by a powerful religious body who praises faith loyalty and productivity to be the primary virtues. Every once in a while the Church initiates an inquisition from which neither prince nor pauper is safe. Only the king and the church patriarch holds the power to interrupt such an inquisition and although not necessarily violent the inquisition does usually result in the disappearance of undesirable elements of society.
A couple generations ago the current king's grandfather agreed to the creation of a parliament to advise him after a local riot grew out of control. For two generations this Parliament was little more than a token gesture that appeased the masses; little more than a club for nobles to join to gain another title whilst doing little to represent the interests of their lands. However the current king was born with a vision that his forefathers did not have, and is beginning to expand his parliament selling non-hereditary titles enabling well to do commoners and burghers to accede to positions of responsibility in governance. This not only buttresses his support with the middle-classes but also provides the king with much needed revenue. Members of the parliament who stand out for their talent, honesty, loyalty, ambition, erudition and daring are promoted to a reduced court of close advisors called the Council of ministers in which the men are assigned various positions according to their particular talents and empowered with the authority to take what actions they deem necessary as long as they explain and justify their decisions to the King.
Location on Map Desired: South Coast
Important Settlements:
Ironfort: Ironfort is primarily a military outpost that guards the mountain passes to the west of Aznavor. Most of the Kingdom's weapons, tools and metalworks are forged here. The foundries and smithies are kept well supplied by the coal and iron found in the Western mountains. Although dozens of villages litter the province around Ironfort the men who lives in these are mostly clansmen who eke out a living rearing mountain goats, cows and stubborn crops. When the icy grip of Winter comes to this province the passes through the western mountains snow up and the rivers freeze up. Life becomes extraordinarily difficult for those outside of Ironfort and its’ warm furnaces. Strong winds, narrow cliff ledges and jagged rocks make these mineral rich lands difficult to cross or live in.
Shipskeep: Aznavor's naval base is located just west from the capital along the coastline. It protects Aznavor from the naval threats of it’s Western neighbours and escorts trade vessels along the coast all the way to Havenport or to Oceansrock. The Naval Yards here are manned by shipbuilders, carpenters and artisans who carried on the occupations of their ancestors infusing generation after generation of knowledge into their work. Although the seas to the south of Aznavor are commonly known for their stormy weather, Shipskeep’s fleet and Naval facilities are kept well protected from wave and wind by the presence of an island just off the coast offering a relatively safe channel for Aznavor’s fleet to be kept. The island itself called Storms Bane has been heavily fortified over time and now boasts walls several feet thick mounted with coastal range artillery heavy enough to punch their loads through the bowels of any ship. Several trebuchets and other older weapons are also still present adding to the formidable defenses. On the western side of the channel a heavy chain stretches from the coast to the island denying all entry or exit from it unless withdrawn. This serves to protect the Aznavori fleet from any surprise naval threat and forces hostile naval forces to skirt around Storms Bane whilst exposing themselves to the Island fortress’ deadly defenses before even being able to engage Aznavor’s fleet.
Havenport : To the East of Oceansrock lies Havenport; the second largest of the of the Kingdoms three ports cities second only to the Capital. Blessed by a curved coastline that protects the city harbour and its ships from the strong Southern storms and guarded by the War vessels from Shipskeep, trade from all over the continent has thrived here and the merchants have become opulent. Often seen as the last supply port before the mighty eastern ocean many a merchant and an adventurer have taken on supplies and made final preparations in Havenport making it a truly culturally diverse city. Temples belonging to every known faith exist here due to the diversity of the population here but rather than causing distrust between the inhabitants of Havenport this shared trust and shared wealth has brought seemingly antithetical cultures together as if they were brothers. Havenport is the home of the Aznavori fishing fleet as well as the Headquarters of the Eastern Ocean Commerce Company a powerful economic and maritime authority made up by several of Aznavor’s most powerful merchant families who are opposed to the regulations demanded by the various guilds in the state.
Oceansrock: Oceansrock is the capital of The Kingdom of Aznavor, The Kingdom's most formidable castle; The Rock, The Kings court, the High Temple of the Faith and the Military headquarters are all located here as well as a large merchant population and Burgher population. Centrally placed alogn the southern coastline Oceans rock is Havenport’s only true rival. Oceansrock is more stooped in tradition than her eastern sister. Her people rigidly follow the absolute moral authority of the High Temple and her merchants are proud to belong to the guilds which protect them from competition and protect their trade techniques from external threats whether from above or below. The Rock lies just offshore connected to the mainland by a narrow path barely two carts wide and is completely isolated when the tide rises to swallow up the path. Like Storms Bane the fortress is heavuily fortified but in this case the cannons are not mounted on thick walls but are dug into the rock itself, indeed the fortress is a cavernous series of tunnels and chambers within a rock face three hundred metres tall . This Tidal island has long been a refuge to the ruling families of Aznavor but affords few comforts to its garrison who are trained to be completely independent of the Capital. The garrison, numbering almost a thousand even in peacetime is trained to the self-sufficient for months at a time. Indeed the Guardians of the Rock are Aznavor’s élite infantry unit drilled to a level unknown in the northern regions and a unit that has never dishonoured itself in combat by fleeing or surrendering. Because of this the Guardians of the Rock are afforded the finest weapons and equipment available in all Aznavor. The proud guilds here that have protected the interests and skills of their members for so long are increasingly pressured by royal authority to disband and share their knowledge on a national scale. Oceansrock enjoys a slightly warmer climate than the rest of the Kingdom due to its southern position meaning that it rarely goes hungry thanks to a large amount of arable land an abundant sea.
Eastwatch: EastWatch is a town that has always existed without being truly remarkable until recently, the peaceful eastern limits of Aznavor are home to largely unexplored swamps, and mighty rivers torrenting eastwards down from the great Western mountains depositing rich and heavy black silt along the banks of Aznavor’s great rivers making the riverlands incredibly fertile. In the riverlands so much food is grown that Eastwatch’s population has grown rapidly. This is particularly fortunate as the men of Eastwatch guard the fords across the rivers, and patrol the marshlands home to bizarre amphibious creatures with tough skin able to resist some bullets and with jaws filled with very sharp teeth.Few travellers ever pass through the lands but those that do must hope to find the men of Eastwatch before the swamp dwellers find them as it is aid that these still dwell where the urban dwellers will not go and engage in archaic ceremonies of blood rituals and cannibalism.
Misthall: The Northernmost city in the realm. Small in population it is responsible for the northern regions of the Kingdom. The lands surrounding Misthall are very wooded and contain many of the decendants of the trees that make up Aznavor’s mighty navy. Misthall is not a coastal city and was used in past as somewhere to exile criminals beyond the walls of the civilized cities of the south. Indeed the largest stone building in Misthall to this day remains the former prison complex and although the prisons have been moved outside of the city thousands upon thousands of criminals, debtors, prisoners of war and convicted heretics currently toil in the mines and in the dozens of logging camps dotted around the Great Northern Forest. The only way out for many of these prisoners is to sign up for a ten year contract with the black legion a state-run military force made to be highly reliable yet completely expendable. The Black legion is made up of criminals, deserters with experience and the occasional volunteers. Prisoners are often given the choice between serving extended sentences in the quarries or the logging camps or ‘taking the black’ for varying numbers of years depending on the severity of their crime. Members of the Legion are always garbed in black. Those who do are subjected to over a year of intensive drilling until their criminal insubordination is all but gone and all that remains is obedience, loyalty to Aznavor and a finely honed killer’s instinct.
Description: The Kingdom of Aznavor used to be a very feudal society that relied on its heavy infantry and its skirmishers to defend its borders and win its wars. However constant skirmishes with its neighbours became costly and the Kings of Old decided that the lands being fought over were not worth the blood cost. Relinquishing its authority over lands beyond the Western mountains for the sake of lasting peace the Kingdom withdrew into semi-isolation. Now at the dawn of the 18th century, safe behind these mountain ranges and confident in the strength of the men of Ironfort who guard the mountain passes, and those of Eastwatch who guard the fords, the Kingdom looks towards the new worlds that are to be explored.
Culture: Northern Latin/Anglo-Saxon
Language: High Aznavori
Currency: Iron Florin
Important Characters:
King: Philip Duloire. 'The hammer' for his myriad building projects as well as his repeated efforts to destroy the guilds of the Capital.
Queen:Fiona of the Summerlands
Heirs: Alexander (1) and Dominic (2)
Daughter: Celena
Patriarch: Karlick the Bard. Known for having been a particularly successful and violent inquisitor in the past he is nicknamed the Bard for having made many strong men 'sing' whichever song he wanted to hear.
Council of ministers:
Richard of Ironfort: Guardian of the East and Defender of the Mountain passes.
Thomas Steward: Master of Coin and chief exchequer
Ross of Shipskeep: Naval Minister
Alexander Duloire: Minister of information, stability and royal unity
Barlow: Treasurer
Martin of Misthall: First Ambassador
Matthieu Delunion: Secondary Ambassador:
Marc: Overseer of Canals and Roads
Guy of Havenport: Minister for exploration
Vincent: Chief of the city guard
Master Klaus: Respresentative of the Holy Patriarch and Inquisitor
Traits:
Army:
Small Army: Your nation maintains a relatively small number of troops, when fielded in battle against another nation your forces are almost always outnumbered. +2
Professional Army: Your nation’s army is well trained and equipped with good weapons, performing better in battle. -3
Never been out of the village: Your men have almost all never been outside their own borders. Other countries lands and environments are almost alien, especially those on another continent. They will suffer from not being able to deal with weather and being unable to forage as well. +1
Ambitious Generals: Your generals all want a piece of glory. Sometimes even going to backstabbing each other and arriving to another’s aid ‘late’. +1
Navy:
Sealegs: Your sailors have spent some time at sea and so can deal with storms and rough weather better than those of other nations. -1
New Age Ship Construction: New ways of shaping the wood and newly discovered types of wood has led to advances in how ships perform. However these come at a cost, making ships more expensive than usual. +/-0
Economy:
Empowered Companies: Certain companies are allowed to grow across nations and continents. You have one such company. For sums of money and aid in troubled times they are allowed to construct ports, towns and militias for their own ends. However in the future if you stand in the way of their profits they may have to power to replace you. Or aid you if you help them out. +/-0
State Controlled: Your market is controlled by your ruler, every business is state owned and all works are employed by the state, you are less vulnerable to crashes in the market however with the lack of competition your country advances more slowly and the economy rises more slowly. +1
Trading Hub: Your country is a nation of traders and merchants, many coins pass through the fingers of your citizens every day, especially through your own after taxes. -3
Army:
7,000 Veterans
10,000 Regulars
15,000 Recruits
Navy:
4 Frigates
8 Barques
7 Brigs
5 Galleys
GDP: 65,000,000,000 ($)
Stability: Slightly Stable
