FrivYeti/DragonsPolitics
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Political Landscape Of The North
The North is a devastated land, filled with warring shoguns. More than any land but the East, it splintered into factions as the lands transformed and the Time of Tumult shattered many cities and nations. What remains is as many as forty or fifty Daimyos, some loyal to the Scarlet Dynasty, but most independant and fractious.
Shadowlands still dot the north; although the greatest of them were destroyed with the rising of the Wall, many were formed by the Lover Clad in the Rainment of Tears during her war against the Bull of the North, and not all of them were restored.
The population of the North is roughly 40 million people, scattered across a wide landscape. Large stretches of land divide many of the nations, filled only with monstrous creatures, angry gods or inhospitable terrain.
Cherak
The nation of Cherak once again holds fealty to the Realm. In the aftermath of the Time of Tumult and the Dragon Wall, House Ferem did not take long the potential problems with remaining connected to a broken regime, one which might demand a great deal from its satrapies in order to restore itself. Forestalling that event, they were among the first of the Realm's satrapies to declare themselves independant, restyling themselves the Independant District of Cherak, and refusing to acknowledge the superiority of a Realm without access to the Defense Grid. A series of invasions, in which the Realm attempted to reverse this decision, only confirmed it when the Emperor of the Realm died in combat against the District. This victory hardened the resolve of other satrapies, who quit while the Realm searched for a replacement lord.
This symbolic nature ultimately proved ot be Cherak's undoing, as retaking the District became a symbol for a return to Realm supremacy. Ultimately, the Realm was successful under Ragara Silled, and took back Cherak. A military garrison was put in place, House Ferem was dissolved, and the Realm has controlled Cherak with a fairly firm hand for the past twenty-six years.
Now, Cherak is the only major holding the Realm has in the North. The entire District has a population approaching one million, divided between a half-dozen cities and dozens of towns. Cherak is an impoverished nation, its lands stripped bare as punishment for a century of successful revolt. The military rules the nation, an upper class drawn almost exclusively from the Realm, and dissent is harshly punished. Such measures have been (very) gradually reduced as time has gone on; within two centuries, Cherak may once again enjoy the freedoms it once held.
Mela's Bounty
Once, Mela's Bounty was just a small Realm fortress outpost, its radius emphasizing the last point of Realm control before the land transformed into Icewalker territory. However, during the early years of the Realm's collapse, the general in charge - General Cathak Yukong - gave a critical eye to the potential Empress's replacements, and found none to his liking. After some debate, he and his generals decided that the current dangers facing the Realm were a sign of its weakness and corruption, and that the Imperial Dynasty had fallen from the Immaculate Faith, paying only lip service to the doctrines.
Mela's Bounty is the result of their decision, a nation of half a million people - including fourteen Dragon-Blooded - who live according to an extremely strict interpretation of the Immaculate Faith. The local population speaks only Snowtongue; knowledge of High Realm or Low Realm is forbidden to any who do not have the appropriate training in dealing with the Dragon-Blooded. Those are divided into two sorts - Interpreters and Speakers. Interpreter is a rank that cannot be taken away; it implies a degree of spiritual sensitivity that allows a mortal to properly converse with her social superior. Dragon-Blooded only speak to mortals through Interpreters, as anything else encourages familiarity and gradually breaks down the Perfected Hierarchy. Speakers are Interpreters who have been given special authority, allowing them to issue orders as though they were Dragon-Blooded within their respective hierarchies.
Organizational control of Mela's Bounty is broken into five smaller regions, each under the control of a Dragonlord, all answering to General Yukong himself. Other Dragon-Blooded serve as heirs and lieutenants to the Dragonlords. Each territory contains one or two cities, as well as a number of towns and villages, totalling between 80,000 and 120,000 people.
Mela's Bounty has generally poor relations with other nations, refusing to compromise their religious morality for the purposes of diplomacy. They are ardent opponents of the Fair Folk and of rogue spirits, and few of either haunt the local landscape.
Urichos
The nation of Urichos was founded much later than many of its neighbours, having been created by a Dragon-Blood officer who deserted the Realm. Cynis Urichos left the Realm in Y.D.W. 38, taking with him a few fellow officers and a number of skilled soldiers, and travelling northwards. He defeated a few smaller lords, radiating out from the nation of Killenport founding the nation of Urichos in his own name as a bulwark against the sort of irrelevance that he feared the Realm was descending into. His nation, with a total population of over 300,000, is thus one of the many that dots the North. Urichos himself is an indifferent ruler, but is willing to leave most of the administrative details in the hands of competant underlings, and pays enough attention to deal harshly with those who abuse his good-nature and light hand.
The entire Dragon-Blooded population of Urichos are nine members of the royal family by either marriage or birth, and they take steps to keep it that way. Those few times that other Dragon-Bloods Exalt, they are quickly married into the line.
