Editing Journey of the Strange (section)

=The Old World=
==Species and the Old World==

The 'Old World' is human, entirely. Races other then humans are seen on occasion, but are incredibly rare. Occasionally another sentient creature will wander through, but they're usually part of a traveling carnival or freak show. Their creditials as part of a legitimate race are suspect- at best. Humans are in contact with a few other races, but they're all from places very far away that the Old World isn't colonizing. Trading partners and political rivals who's presence in day-to-day life of most humans is paltry at best. And each inhabits a continent largely it's own, with their own nations and cultures. Warring against people close to home is simply easier, so contact between races was, until very recently, a minute chance.

With the increasing ability of sea travel, and the increasing knowledge of resources away from the Old World, however, contact between races is growing rapidly. The 'New World' continent of Sojourn holds the promise of great riches for whichever nation can get their foot in first.

==The Traders League==

===Adencia and the Trader Cities.===

The Trader cities and their League occupy a broad belt of coastal land, Islands and Archipelagoes in and along the Middle Sea. While they are a diverse and independent collection of many different, often older cultures, they are united in their desire to see no great empire or monarchy rise to destroy their freedom (as has happened at some time to most of the cities in the past). The cities attempt to do this by dominating trade across the Middle Sea.

While there are other Empires, Kingdoms and Tribal lands around them [indeed, these are their major trade partners], the Trader Cities demand only that their colonies, trade missions and holdings remain free of local rule. Responses to this vary.
In the heart of the Trader cities, financially, geographically and politically, lie the great City States, the old cities and lands that the mercantile/military naval expeditions set out from. Here are collected the profits and trade goods of half the known world, as the Middle Sea straddles the great Trade routes North and South, East and West. The naval power of most city states can rival nearby nations, but much of it is for transport.

The old families and clans of the city states are generally very, very rich, and live lifes that most people cannot imagine. Consequently, over time, they have developed a sense of entitlement and privelige that sets them apart. The class system of the city states is based on wealth, but who becomes wealthy and for how long can be a matter of lineage, or marraige thereinto.

Many of the Greater city states, such as Adencia, have begun their own colonies or exploratory missions to the new worlds. Adencia's only claim to fame is establishing the first mainland colony.

===Ancient Ebuoru===
Tashal Robespare grew up in the ancient city of Ebuoru, the oldest and most powerful entity in the Trade League. With bountiful seas cradling it gently on all sides, it built an economy on fishing and trade. Far enough from the main land to be hard to keep tabs on, but close enough to travel to easily, it also become a center for conspiracy, piracy, and illegal acts of all kinds without the watchful eye of the Imperitor's servants getting in the way. The city has a legacy for ill deeds and eldritch plots both ancient and well deserved.

Not only a center of crime, Ebuoru is also a center of learning. The merchant lords who truly ran the city- they learned to assinate any effective administrator quickly- fund lavish universities, and collect some of the largest libraries in the Old World. The city's labs and engineers export as much technology as the rest export anything else. Ebuoru makes some of the finest ships, guns and metals in the known world. Of course, without much access to natural resources, they're far from capable of dominating even small areas beyond the island's natural boundries.

The city itself occupies a mid sized island about 70 miles off the coast of the Heral Imperiate. The island is about 4 miles wide by 3 and 1/2 long. The city of Ebuoru- a name which it shares with the island itself- dominates 95% of the land. What little open space there is remains in the hands of various churches, temples, and criminal organizations who use it for whatever they see fit.

Militarily, Ebuoru is little better armed then your average school yard. They maintain no formal military, relying instead on powerful merchants to finance armies of mercenaries that seem to manifest in the city whenever trouble is about. This, combined with favorable geography and a few well placed cannons, means that taking the city proved far harder during the war then the Heral Imperitor's military advisors guessed.

===The Trade League and the Heral Imperiate - A history.===
The Human Trade League is without question the most powerful presence along the southern coast, having used the resources there to finally break away from the tyranical rule of the Heral Imperiate only a few years ago. But it was long known that 'rule' was a farce. The Heral Emperors had been steadily losing power to merchant princes and trade barons for decades, and only managed to keep their rule through simply being a bit too pathetic to bother with. It wasn't until the Trade League wished to expand their efforts that they were forced to throw off the yoke of the Imperiate and declare themselves independent.
==Pherencia==
Pherencia is a fairly old kingdom. If you count the multiple dynasties that have ruled roughly the same portion of land and have a few familial ties to each other, Pherencia has existed under one name or another for several hundred years. Some would tell you that this is because Pherencia is made up of honest, hard working people and wise kings. Others would tell you that this is because Pherencia is so boring no one feels like trying to take it away.

Located in the central region of Peregrine, Pherencia stretches over an area of vast plains, rolling hills and gentle coutryside. Plentiful stone and occasional forests mean that small towers and castles are fairly common sights, all with small villages nestled around their walls for protection. Amazingly, for an area of land as vast as Pherencia- only the Heral and Mari Empires are larger then it for sheer landmass- it has almost no land anyone would describe as 'dramatic'. It lacks mountains, canyons of any type, even rivers too large to ford are unheard of. The only forest of any significant size lays around the capital city of Kirksat.

All in all, the country is more or less completely undefensable against an invading force. And considering the land is known for well maintained farmland and productive summers and falls, it's a little bit amazing the kings of Pherencia aren't fighting off constant invaders. The reasons for this relative peace are many, however. First, Pherencia's reputation for wise kings isn't just a reputation. The nation has invested heavily in a series of castles, towers, walls and other defensive structures. Invading armies find themselves constantly mired in sieges of well supplied defensive hard points, all simply buying time until the notoriously harsh winters roll in. Few armies maintain morale long enough to maintain a siege once the first foot of snow hits the ground.

Pherencian generals have a reputation for winning a war by losing every battle. They simply loose well, shedding few men, and retreat to the next strong hold. Winter comes, and every one goes home. Next summer, they rebuild the fortress and the invader is taught an important lesson about strategy.

Second, most nobles think of Pherencia as a dull place. This is because of it's almost total lack of palaces, opera houses or vast state sponsored art works. There's only one statue in the entirety of Kirksat. The only thing the nobility seems to construct are fortresses. Why this frugal building policy? Well, that's simple. Pherencia has the most well feed peasants in the world. Low taxes means more peasants keep more of their crops. The division of wealth is minute compared to the Heral Imperiate or even the Trader League.

This means that the peasants are not only willing to fight for their local lord, but they're actually capable of it. Between being well fed and constant labor in fields, Pherencia is able to boost one of the best supplied, and most capable militia forces in the world. Not that a Perencian would boost. It's not in their nature. Just ask. They'll tell you. At length.

Finally, Pherencia keeps itself peaceful by not making enemies. It is a vast haven of stability in a chaotic political landscape. The King embraces the Marian Way as the offical religion, but there's hardly mention of the faith on the law books. It keeps it's doors and diplomats open as negoiators and arbitraiters in political disputes. Smaller, less stable kingdoms boarder it on all sides. Attempts to invade are quickly put down by trouble at home. Pherencians step in, accept a quick apology, and offer a few men to help put down the resistance.

The only place of note in Pherencia is the Library of Kirksat. It is, as befits the kingdom it lays in, a largely boring place. This library collects and archives the many histories and laws happening through the Old World. Technically a portion of the Lizpeg College of the Arcane, it's usually only sought out by people with need for some unreasonably obscure piece of lore. The Pherencian rulers, with their quiet cunning, have found it an immensely useful resource.

Pherencians have something of a bad reputation when traveling alone. Traditional wisdom holds that a Pherencian traveling alone is some one who couldn't take the idyllic boredom of home any more. And that means trouble. Bad luck follows them close, or maybe it's just they're too curious. And that's before getting into Pherencian 'entertainment'. Two things are considered fun, to the average mind of the Old World. The first is particularly long winded, overly detailed stories. The kind of story that starts with one funny event a few generations back and ends with the telling of the story. Second is a particularly wicked brand of practical joke. No one really knows why, but Pherencians seem to have an overly developed sense of schadenfraude.

The government in Pherencia is a simple monarchy, with feudal aspects remaining. The King holds absolute authority, but each noble under him owns a portion of land and may raise an army to defend that land. Technically, armies only consist of other nobles banded together to fight. Since most of Pherencia's fighting force is of common stock, this means even relatively low ranking nobles can put together a respectible fighting force without stepping on anyone's toes. Thanks in large part to this relatively loose system of rank, there hasn't been a civil war in Pherencia for generations.

Pherencia: Keep Your Head Down.
==The Mari Imperium==
The Mari Imperium.
In one form or another, the Mari Imperium has been in place for almost 200 years. It was once in control of most of the Middle Sea (as the Mari Republic, then the Marian Successor Alliance), but now exists on the Southern coast...though its Empire expanded south so much that it now controls more land and subjects than it ever did in the Middle Sea. The Mari, pragmatic as ever, condsider it part of the the great cycle of Mari.
Mari the woman was a queen in the ancient days who led her tribe to victory, conquest, unification and, eventually, the alliance of the people who bear her name. She founded the Marout, or Way, a spritual philosophy that has a hundred sects in the modern day but is also the official religion of the Imperium. It acknowldeges gods as local manifestations of the Divine All given much greater power and understanding than mortals and questions not why the god of the sun is a woman in another place. In religion as in politics, the Mari are pragmatic.
The Imperium is vast and depends on regional governers and colonial allies to keep itself intact. While it has access to huge resources, much of these are, at any one time, being used to supress revolts, arbitrate with warring factions, deal with disaster and banditry or fight wars of expansion or defence.

[What if India was attached to East Africa? The Mari Imperium is a mixture of Byzantine Empire,Egypt, India and 'Nubia', - vast, enigmatic and very dangerous if truly roused. I imagine a semiformal caste system with meritocracy at the lower levels, but rigid control at the top. ]

==The Kirklands and the North.==
Beyond the Middle Sea to the North lies the various mountain chains that form the worlds spine. Where this meets the Great Ocean are the Kirklands...a series of valley and highland based holdings that stretch along the coasts until they meet the vast graasy plains and bogs that define the North.
Although there are currently over a dozen monarchies or free alliances amongst the Kirklands (and there have been far more in times past), some of whom have been there for hundreds of years (such as Gotz and Utter Gotz in the North, Or the Kingdom of Three Rivers on the south coast), the area has acquired it's common Name because of the similarity of its settlement styles, one that has been followed through the ages.

The northern plains have always been home to nomadic people, and the Chariot riding, cattle herding ancestors of the kirklanders came from there originally, driven out by an ancient foe. When they fled to the coastal and mountain valleys that became the kirklands, they would settle, one clan to a valley and build their Kirk or winterplace. Over time these settlements became permanent and the Kirklanders adapted to farming and permanent houses...although they still herd more than is strictly needed.

Over the centuries, other peoples have come and gone in the Kirklands, but this pattern of a Kirk (or central town) dominating one valley has remained, and created a basic community unit. A kingdom or allinace in the kirklands is measured by the number and quality of its Kirks.

[What if the Celtic ancestors settled earlier, and the Romans, etc didn't get to kick the crap out of them? Plus, the pattern mimics what high level adventurers would do if they were settling an area...]

The Northern plains these days are divided into a dozen petty "young Kingdoms", all vying with each other in endless cattle wars.