Liudvhan in 1302

Duliin in 1302

Situated in the nation of Duliin, a tropical on the northeastern coast of Liudvhain, Dulno began life as a minor city state, becoming first a major port, and eventually the political and commercial center of the world. Dulno has historically had a secular government, with little interference from temple in Mursgaard. It was governed for most of that history as a republic, which is to say an oligarchy of rich and connected merchant families. Excellent conditions for Secularist Revolutionaries. Decades of mismanagement and corruption under the oligarchy turned Dulno into a tinderbox of discontent, which the Secularists lit. One quick and bloody revolution later and you have Revolutionary Dulno, under the enlightened(ish) rule of Marcus Barton.

Barton’s Revolutionary government courted secular intellectuals, prominent statesmen, and business leaders from across the world, inviting them to all to join in the Great Dulno Experiment. Some of these leading thinkers proved valuable to Dulno, and were allowed to continue their work as members of Barton’s cabinet. Lesser luminaries were given cushy jobs in universities, contributing to a brain drain effect across the globe. Dissidents and disaffected students who make their way to Dulno are given instruction in revolutionary tactics and sent back home to further the Secularist cause.

Dulno is the greatest city in the world, the home of culture, the avant-garde, and all the best fucking.

Ozóll in 1302

Aman’ Ar is the capital city of the nation of Ozóll. The traditional rival of Dulno. Aman’ Ar is poorer, more populous, and more religious than its northern neighbor. Like Dulno, Aman’ Ar is a wealthy port city (at least relative to the country that surrounds it. It is governed by a religiously elected governor and maintains close ties with the remnants of the old Mursgaardi Caretakers. Currently, the city is the closest base of religious resistance to Barton and the Secular Republic (think the Vendee). Dissidents from Dulno and displaced religious leaders tend to congregate in Aman’ Ar, and the cityis attempting to brand itself as the global center of resistance to Secularist rule. The Secular Revolutionary Armies and the Dulnoa Navy have blockaded the city in an attempt to bring it under Bartonian rule.

Mursgaard in 1302

Luden in 1302 (1714 YOK)

The Kingdom of Luden is the oldest continuing government in the world and the only one with historical roots in the Tribulations. The Kingdom was founded in the city of Muursal’diy (MUHRZ-ahl-DEE) in the Ludeni Year 0 (0 YOK*/ 389 BTF**), which continues to serve as the country’s capital.

National legends and recorded history state the kingdom began when Sage Fyrek of the Conbyen peoples had a vision granted by Traebhan in which he saw the earth, sun moon, and planets orbiting one another in perfect alignment. The circles traced themselves in “filaments of silver which twisted themselves into spheres” until he saw the universe ordered in an unending expansion of circles. The Sage awoke and painted the most basic element of the vision on a parchment: a leaf in the circle, insects surrounding it, prey animals surrounding them, predators in the next, man after that and the seven gods surrounding him.

From this Fyrek began teaching the “fundamental Order of the world” and claimed the world’s ills stemmed from “inherent Chaos which must be countered, repudiated and set right by goodly thinking man under the direction of the Seven Kings.” Fyrek’s followers founded the Ordinators of the Spheres, a group of philosophers, scholars, and Traebhani priests who discussed and debated the order of the world. The result of their works is the Elyhe Document, a manusript detailing the known world and the “right and goodly Order our King calls us to set.” The Document argued for a rigid caste system with a “Keare cuom-En Traebuon,” or “Traebhan Emergent King” as its head. The Ordinators hailed from several small southern Liudvhani kingdoms and debated which of their rulers best fit their concept of a “divinely ordered mind” to lead them. The Ordinators, beset by rivalries and disorder of their own, could not settle on a quorum and the society briefly disbanded.

Popular interest in the Elyhe Document and prescriptions reginited during “the Undoing,” a six-year period of starvation and disease caused by drought that devastated the region. The few rulers who had survived the Undoing met with one another and their closest advisors in Muursal’diy and agreed to adopt the ideas of the Elyhe in the hopes of appeasing Traebhan for their failure to give Him proper praise and worship. The ruling family of the small but wealthy kingdom of Niyes agreed to purchase the lands from the other kings (though many of Luden’s opponents assert this was little more than a bribe) and the first king, Ubet I Niyesair became the ruler of Kearegaard be Ludensierre (The King’s Lands in Southern Liudvhan), or the Kingdom of Luden.

The caste system was rigid but simple until contact with Rizan explorers when the idea of tying one’s place in society with their contributions thereto became popular in the newly restored Ordinatiors of the Spheres. The Ordinators rewrote the “Ordering of Men” in 104 YOK to further set and enumerate the people’s places in Luden- the most significant result of which was the creation of a hereditary soldier class. Within a generation Luden had the region’s best trained warriors and began using its deadly military to “order” the surrounding kingdoms and place them under the control of “Traebhan’s most magnificent King, beloved most of them all.” Innovations and weapons pillaged from other lands further empowered the armies of Luden. The empire forged by Luden’s conquests would be the largest in the world until 915 YOK (513 OLOG) during Riellq’s Golden Age.

The Tribulations of Traebhan ended in or about the year 412 YOK (94 BTF). By then the Kingdom had direct control or major influence throughout the entire continent and small holdings on Mirya but had to contend with sudden competition from Mursgaard and the early Traebhani Cult. The Ordinators attempted to mollify people loyal to Mursgaard by giving priests and religious scholars more authority and power within the caste system but the peoples in the north rebelled. Kingdoms which had long been dominated by Luden and the Elyhe Document violently threw off the southern yoke and the continent broke into a war that lasted until 477 YOK when desertion, emigration and another brutal drought ended the period of overwhelming Ludeni success. The caste system that had made Luden the premier power in the west now throttled its advancement and the Kingdom became insular, dogmatic and reactionary.

In 1714 (1302 OLOG) Luden is still a powerful country with a large treasury and the most powerful land army in the west but its attention is focused inward. Peasant revolts are becoming more common, intellectuals are more openly questioning the Ordinators and other powers are quietly providing support to proxy factions. The current King, Burlaat XXI Osimoor (whose lineage can be traced back to Ubet I), has offered unwavering resistance to the Secular movement and Luden is one of the major signatories to the Concord of Aman’ar. Though nearly on the verge of collapse, Luden’s large land army and the cooperation of Duliin’s southern neighbor, Ozóll, make her a genuine threat to the Secular Republic.

Ludeni influence can be seen throughout the continent and much of the west. The Ludeni Atlas of the Sky is the basis for astrological systems as far flung as Orolyn and its calendar is still used by religious countries in the west.