This message was last updated by the GM at 18:37, Tue 15 Feb 2022.

Leonis
The kingdom of Leonis was a province of the empire of Mir before the center of that legendary nation sunk beneath the waves of the Sea of Tears. The first royal house of Leonis was house Renette, founded by king Carolis Renette I. The Renette dynasty was replaced by Archibaldo of house Hautours after the first civil war. Archibaldo Hautours built a new capital city bearing his family name. The last of the Hautour bloodline, Tomaso of Hatours III, died in the saddle at a young age, taking a fireball to the face. For a short while a false king claiming to be a Renette descendant ruled the nation with the aid of the high nobles until the people’s revolt ended with his beheading. Tomaso’s cousin Federic of Sacralancia I took the Hautour throne, after killing his own older brother and slaughtering the heads of the former aristocracy, and founded the Sacralancia dynasty with the aid and blessings of the pontifex following the War of the Twins.

Geography
The capital of Leonis is Hautours, the city of high towers. The gothic royal citadel rises up from the surrounding buildings like a pillar, many stories high. The vast monolith in which the king lives with his following, vassals and servants, guards and ambassadors is an architectural wonder, combining beautiful arches and pillars with stained glass windows, spired towers, balconies and statues. Beneath the royal citadel lie vast dungeons where prisoners, oftimes political prisoners or perceived spies, sometimes languish for years. Leonis used to have much more woodlands but a lot was cut away for more grainfields until the Winter of Bears put an end to that practice.

Economy
Leonis together with Gallica forms the grain silo of the continent, exporting vast amounts and growing rich because of it. Subsequently economically they are each other’s competition and it has led to 7 wars named the Hunger Wars over a total period of 860 years, in which one side or the other and sometimes both, burned the other nation’s crops. The whole continent suffered repeatedly from limited grain imports until the church threatened to excommunicate either Gallica or Leonis’ kings if the Hunger Wars continued. Both kings capitulated to the church’s judgment and signed the Juniper Accord which stands to this day, both agreeing not to set fire to each other's crops  during wartime. An earlier conflict called the Winter of Bears was eventually settled with the druids of the region after attempts by local druids to undermine the agricultural expansion of the Leoni kingdom resulted in royal protection of large swaths of forest land. The druids remain the steadfast protectors of the wildlife. Much to the chagrin of the Holy Celestial Church the druids enjoy a measure of respect among farmers who sometimes request the blessings of the followers of the Old Faith. Fruits like grapes and pears are cultivated and often end up being turned into wine, cider and liqueur. Eating horse meat is forbidden due to the focus on chivalric noble traditions and is punishable by death.

Politics
King Aedom Sacralancia I rules Leonis. King Aedom is pressured to join the choir of voices in Corinia and Naverre who want to wage war on the Cobrian Ascendancy for the crime of heresy against the Holy Celestial Church. Old age is creeping up on king Aedom and he has no male heirs, and his daughters by Leonis law cannot inherit the throne. He does have several brothers and sisters, the high nobles, who eye the throne for themselves or their children.
Women cannot inherit or rule officially but queen Jeevana lost her husband a year after the birth of the male heir, Salvio Sacralancia, and ruled de facto until her son’s 14th birthday when he supposedly had her poisoned to rid himself of her overbearing influence. Salvio in turn was murdered by his uncle before he was crowned king, who placed his own son Voqal Sacralancia on the throne. “Tu’phiq poisin ta’matra, mas tu’nephiq serija mes’royo”, literally translated: you can poison your mother but you’ll never be king, in common parlay it means: You won’t reach your goal by being brutal. Leoni nobles live and die by this saying.
Leonis has a powerful noble class, divided in various substrata of power and influence.
Chevalieri form the upper crust of the army and they wield a measure of political power as well, owning lands and horses and being allowed to have their own fort and army unit of up to one hundred soldiers. They are considered low class nobles but for poor people becoming a chevalieri is a way out of the lowest class. (Altay) and are addressed as Ser; a chevalier’s full title would be Ser Regin com Grainelef, sir Regin of the commune of Highgrain. Their lands are called Comun and usually contain a fortress and one or more villages. It follows that the sons are expected to follow in their footsteps to preserve the family lands, and daughters wed to form bonds with other families. Marrying up into a higher noble class is of course promoted by the Altay. The middle noble class (Moy) are either promoted chevalieri (Novori), or children of the high noble class who did not inherit the family lands and titles (Anteciri). The novori and anteciri form two factions within the middle noble class that tend to look down on each other. They own the right to build a castle and are afforded a Comun if land becomes available. The high nobles (Sociatra) are all related to the royal family, either by birth (Derace) or, rarely, by marriage (Marace), and rule over a province which may contain several comuni. This social system provides an hierarchical society capable of defending itself. While officially illegal and heretical, many noble families have their own Magiq in service, a man or woman capable of magic. Such dangerous men are often as capable of poisoning an enemy as they are at divining the future.

Society
Women are subservient to men in Leonis, limited to household chores and childrearing or, if they are fortunate enough to be highborn, charity. Women can’t inherit under Leonis law. Some few escape this fate through marriage and manipulation, pulling the strings behind the scenes, the most famous example being queen regent Jeevana. Same sex relationships are tolerated and for younger men sometimes encouraged to deter hereditary disputes, but not for firstborn sons after marriage as they are supposed to produce an blood heir. Leoni high nobles are fashion sensitive, importing furs, feathers, jewelry and fabrics from far away countries for elaborate and sometimes outrageous costumes. Nobles spend large sums of money having themselves depicted on their horses, either painted or sculpted.

Important Dates
The Mir Era
The Renette dynasty
The Naverre empire
The Hautons dynasty.
The Winter of Bears.
The Hunger Wars.
The second Renette dynasty
The War of the Twins
The Sacralancia dynasty
The Boyking Salvio Sancralancia I
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:08, Thu 24 Feb 2022.

Mantiqua
Mantiqua lies to the north of Leonis, and half of the nation is covered by wild forests. As a nation it was established by refugees from the Leonis kingdom, primarily in response to the brutal regime of wicked king Lyaumme V of Leonis. The Mantiquan kingdom was the legacy of lord Manq, the banished brother of king Lyaumme, who with his bannermen declared independence. As a fledgling nation Mantiqua found itself caught between the royal troops of Leonis in the east, and the monsters of the Black Forest in the north. It sought the aid of local druids to bolster their defences. From this Il Consago De’vera, the Green Council was born. According to lore Manq married a green dragon in human form, which would account for the large number of dragon sorcerers the royal family bore through the years.
Mantiqua is currently ruled by the witchqueen Galyana, a half elf who rose to power after the untimely death of her human brother. Three men fathered her children and she survived all three of them. Mantiqua has no marriage laws and this makes the line of succession complicated as the queen has not yet assigned a successor. If she doesn’t do so before her death it could trigger a succession war among her ambitious children. Most assume prince Seryan will follow his mother as the new king, but it is widely known princess Sangravera feels she is better suited given her position within the Green Council. Galyana has not commented on the matter for fear of sparking a conflict among her children during her lifetime. Political power is also wielded by Il Consago De’vera, the Council of Green, a druid circle acting as advisors to the queen and lawyers to the people. It should come as no surprise that most Mantiquans are followers of the Old Faith.

Gallica
Gallica lies east of Leonis. Gallica is the bread basket of the Alterran continent. Nowhere does grain grow more The current king is Ricaro dil Gandoro. Ricaro succeeded his mother Videla when he was 9 years old. The nation was ruled by the king’s parliament. King Ricaro is a cruel hedonistic youth of 16 who hates the church’s grip on his nation and despises the commoners. He is to be married to a daughter of the king of Naverre, a marriage that would  further tighten Naverran’s grip, a marriage arranged by his uncle, Henry dil Gandoro. Henry is one of the most powerful noblemen of Gallica, and primus of the king’s parliament of nobles who ruled during Ricaro's infant years. As brother of former king Videlo, Henry's daughter Mariana is next in line should Ricaro be deposed. Other noble families have their own eye on the throne.
Several ministers want to institute a parliamentary government and end the royal house.

In Gallica women can assume any social position men can and in fact most political positions are held by a majority of women. This can be traced back to Gallica Abbera, who was the warrior maiden who broke the Naverran occupation with a rebel army.
Half the nation are followers of the Reformed Celestial Church, most of them commoners, rather than the majority Holy celestial church followers.

Cobria

Cobria lies to the south of Leonis. The last of the royal bloodline was Beneficius Theolosis who himself lost the throne to the rise of the Ascendancy 210 years ago when a rebel cabal of arcane casters in one night slaughtered the former noble families of Cobria who were loyal to Theolosian rule. And with the swiftness of a thought the nation was transformed into the Cobrian Ascendancy. Cobria is a militant magocratic triumvirate. The entire adult population, men and women, are trained for combat from childhood. Arenas are the staple of entertainment in Cobria. All cities have an arena where participants fight to the death with swords and sorcery for fame and fortune.
Slaves too are a common sight in arenas although most often as fodder for the mages and their spells, the audience cheering when the poor souls are blasted by spells or hunted down by familiars. Those who have an affinity for magic form the highest citizen class and are put through state sponsored mage academies to serve the state as arcane defenders. Cobria fiercely fought subjugation by the Naverran empire for its entire existence. The Cobrians today are ruled by a triumvirate of mages after the former nobles of Cobria were assassinated or executed by the cabal of mages that currently rule. The Cobrian army has in the past few decades added red dragons to their army and expanded its fleet to dominate the Sea of Tears. According to the Doctrine of Exandros the Wise the gods betrayed humanity and left the world in ruins before they abandoned Teranoc to its fate but mortals have power and enough magic power and knowledge can make one a god.

Cobria has 3 major cities who control all of Cobria and whose leaders rule the nation as a triumphirate.

Nostrocival: NE. The city of darkness. All streets are covered in shadow with the tall buildings being multi floored and the streets themselves narrow and covered with canvas. There are very few large plazas but those few that do exist are the only places where the sun reaches the ground unhindered around noon. There are large apartment buildings 20 floors or higher. Nostropolis is openly ruled by a powerful vampire mage and its spawn. Citizens are required to offer blood in sacrifice but in exchange are taught magic, and a rare few chosen are made spawn of the vampire lord, something that is considered an honor.

Bibliocival: LN. Bibliocival is an ancient city some 4000 years old that was built against the Cobrian hills and once one of the largest cities of the empire of Mir. After the flood of tears flooded the lower part of the city it was rebuilt further inland. The most ancient parts of the city are partly sunken under the waves. The eastside is crossed with many canals, the west side spreads out into the surrounding hills, higher up. Overseeing it all is the Palantino where its ruler lives with her many slaves, sycophants and servants, a wizened beautiful warlock queen who has far outlived her natural lifespan through blood magic.

Bibliocival: LE. Bibliocival was the ancient capital city of the empire of Mir empire’s largest province. It has three concentric stone walls, cutting the city into 3 sections, each guarded by its own district police. Bibliocival is the largest city of the Ascendancy and possibly the largest of the continent Altera. Many of the upper class citizens are highly trained wizards willing to lay down their lives to protect the city. It is ruled by a family of nobles who trace their lineage back to the empire of Mir and they are much respected by its citizenry.
It is home to nine competing schools of magic, each forming a faction within the magocratic council that advises the lord of Bibliocival,