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Adventurer Sheet

• Name: Yevan Kovs
• Age: 19 (comparable to 19 human years
• Gender: female
• Nation/People: The Crimson Domain
• Appearance: A short, lithe, youth and nimble blood elf like most of them and especially since she's of a warrior clan. Her hair is cut short as customary for soldiers or sellswords. On her a leather armor over some brined padded cloth, both cut to favor mobility, with the sigil of her clan, a red antler against white cloth, sewn on her back like a herldic cloth, on battle, she carries a beaked wooden mask in a vaguely avian resemblance, painted in white.
• Skills: A trained fighter specializing in spears, great rider and minor healing abilities via spells
• Items/Equipment:
  • Vilok, a chestnut riding doe
  • some leather pouches
  • A glaive with a bone headpiece
  • An iron knife
  • her armor
  • some traveling rations

• Name: Wyld
• Government: Depends on the tribe. The Snow Claw tribe goes for Authority Equals Asskicking, while the Anorn and Musse tribes prefer democracy. The Ursears have a mix of both. The leaders of the four tribes collectively make up the Council of the Dyre.
• Capital: Wylehaven. Centered on Dyre, the largest tree in Wyld and most likely all of Eun. The width of the tree being the size of a city and reaching impossibly high into the air, The Yeti's capital is built into the tree and truly awe-dropping. As if that was not enough, their is also a sizable portion of inhabited land around the tree and other trees, while significantly smaller, similar to it in the nearby area. Population, 400,000
• Ruler: Snow Claw leader: Rathsen Claw, Anorn leader: Rowena Hart, Musse leader: Harrison Meddler, Ursear leader: Joanna Sear.
• People: Collectively known as the yeti, while individually known as the wyete. They are, in a nutshell, bipedal animals with considerably less fur, and human levels of intelligence, while retaining their animal form's physical ability. Each of teh four tribes take on a different type of animal, the Snow Claws canines, the Anorn, deer, the Musse, Mustelidae and the Ursears, bears.
• History: The Yeti were originally a band of humans bordering on cave men who claimed the jungles of Wyld for themselves. Being in the cold North, and due to the wild men's ferocious reputation, nobody who valued their life entered. Any who did lost the resulting guerilla war.
  • This record stood, at least, until the Dragon Empire took Wyld by storm. The divided wild men were fairly easy for the mighty Dragons to defeat. Those wild men who had survived the initial attack regrouped in Southern Wyld, where the shamans of each tribe did a suicidal ritual, which while involving the sacrifice of the shamans, would give their people the forms of the animals that each tribe valued the most. The result was the yeti.
  • With their new forms, the yeti tried to use their tried and tested tactic of guerilla warfare on the dragons, and completely failed. It was then that most of the yeti accepted the Dragon's ways. The remaining few who still resisted formulated a last stand, in which they were beaten spectacularly. And so, Wyld and the Yeti came into their new form and under the control of the Dragons.
  • By the time the Dragon Empire was near collapsing point, the yeti had again become disenchanted with the Dragons, and a resitance group was forming. By this time, the many tribes had been absorbed until there were only four left. United, the Yeti were among the first to rebel, and secured their lands, also taking swathes of other nations lands while they were at it, and generally coming out of the fallout quite well.
• Infrastructure: The Yeti have developed their nation so as for it to be able to stand alone and colsed off, while still trading heavily. Their main exports are stone, lumber, metals (both precious and non-precious), amber, salt, food and furs. Being on the coast, the Yeti also have a heavy sea prescence, using it to facilitate trade between them and nations on the southern end of the continent. The Yeti also have large astronomical knowledge as a neccesity. Population: 1.7 million.
• Geography: The Yeti live in the Northern forests of Eun, while on the coast. Yet, while the majority of their lands is forest, the northenmost bit, previously mountain, is now low, rocky hills and snow, having been a magnet for meteors. over the centuries These meteors have also occasionally hit the forest, making craters where that are now lakes. These meteors are where a lot of the Yeti's metal and traded rock come from, and where the Snow Claws, and to a lesser extent, Ursears, reside. To the south are, on the edge of the forest, farms where agricultural activity take place. The Yeti also own a couple of small islands off of the mainland. In the forest itself is Wylehaven and also four other major cities, which is where each tribe's base is. Small towns and settlements also dot the forest, mostly connected to one another by forest paths, made out of either rock, or simply being a well-trodden and clear path, often near the many rivers that flow through Wyld.
• Culture: To start with, the Yetis religion revolves entirely around the four elements, which they believe are personified and are fundamental to all things in life. Thus, four, along with one, is an important number in Yeti culture, and everything revolves around these numbers, combinations and multiples of them, etc.
  • The Yeti are also a practical race in all aspects but natural beauty. Where possible, the Yeti will make anything made of wood and used by them as beautiful as possible, often adding flowers, engravings, or using positioning. Their more practical side, is their use of furs and meat, even of their own likeness, and, quite contrarily to their customs, destroy wood to make ships, fire or space.
  • Another aspect of the Yeti is their familial, and by extension tribal, loyalty. Even the fox-yeti, who are regarded as the sneakiest, respect this rule. Betraying your tribe or family is regarded as disgusting. By extension, hybrid, both between other tribes and other races. Hybrids and their parents often have no home among the tribes, and have to live on the neutral islands, southern Wyld or Wylehaven.
• Military: The Yeti land army are often referred too as rangers, and members of all tribes can join them. They work as a paramilitary force, patrolling the borders of the Wyld, ensuring the forest is safe. They are also bodyguards for high-profile politicians and a policing force. They are largely a preemptive measure though as while they are trained in battle and have weapons, every Yeti is capable of fending for him or herself. Due to their position on the coast, and holdings in the sea, the Yeti also have a mid-sized navy, only two tribes being focused on the sea, which patrol Yeti lands, and also guard trading ships on long journeys.

Reposting Ambassador, Posting Adventurer. Hoping this gets moving soon before people start sneaking out the backdoor.

Selkies are essentially Humans, though depending how they live as Seals, they may find their life span lengthened or shortened; due to their properties in Seal form, they age slightly slower; 140 wouldn't be an impossible age provided someone spent most of their life as a seal and were cared for in infirmity, but they'd be 120 in Human years by then. Most age closely enough though that it's not a major difference, except for the old tale of a lover returning to shore to find her loved ones and husband had aged faster.

Ambassador

• Name: Marċaiḋe (Murchadh)
• Age: 34
• Gender: Male
• Nation/People: Selkie
• Appearance: His hair extends to his shoulder blades if lengthened, though more often it is salted and wild, curling and stiff. It is a light brown or dull blond colour, with hints of copper. His eyes are a greyish-green, perhaps brighter in youth, hardship has dulled them. He has a proud face and bearing and a warrior's build. Rarely does he wear more than simple pants and his shawl, even in the company of Kings. Though, he bears now on his neck a Torque to mark his position.
• Skills: Murchadh knows some of the Druid Cant, though he is only a bard by trade. With the right trees before him, he can carve in the secret tongue and make many great blessings. In three days, he may replace an eye or reattach a severed limb. He knows of flowers which with proper preparations may sooth pain or poison. With these skills, he may poison or light a spear that it may be doust only in water which must be boilt in fire there after; for to send these to the sea would break a Geis.
• Items/Equipment: Pants, Torc, Short Sword, 4 javellins of local make.

Adventurer

• Name: Doiġtreṡionn (Doireann)
• Age: 26
• Gender: Female
• Nation/People: Selkie
• Appearance: Doireann was born into the river tracts of the travellers, her appearance reflects her caste in this. She has largely adopted Elven fashion, prefering to wear her seal skin as a shawl or to be kept near her at all times. She wears modest clothing, though nothing too loose or drapping and in a rather electic fashion; Onogo, Dawlat and Ban Ur fashions thrown together haphazardly in a way which appeals to her. She has bright green eyes and long hazel coloured hair, which she wears in Elunari fashion. She is tall and lithe with long and narrow ears and sharp features, though this is not too unusual amongst Selkies, it marks her as odd when trying to pass for a Human, though she is clearly not an Elf.
• Skills: Doireann is fluent in the Traveller's Cant like few others and through this, she speaks a fluent mix of Elvish and Human tongues, amongst others. Yet, she's known to lapse from one to another. She knows a touch of Druid Cant and some of the old laws and legends, most however she reserves for vulgar tricks such as casting lots and charms of love which foreignners pay well for. She has touched on many other magics, both trade and interaction (sometimes negative) from various natives and travellers with similar inclinations. This aside, she is a agile and quick fighter, able to hold her own against bandits and thieves; with swift enough fingers to often reclaim what is hers, if she feels she is owed. Finally, she is a quite sharp, especially for someone who knows only the writing of a handful of words in the old tongue, and other magical inscriptions. She is often the representative for whatever group she travels with when the authorities wish to cause trouble.
• Items/Equipment: Ogham rods, an iron dagger, gold pouch, various small ingrediants for charms and rituals rumoured to ward off minor harms and curses. Her dress and shawl.

edited 1st Jul '14 12:22:35 AM by Fauxlosophe

Here's my proper nation.

• Name: The Liona Kingdom
• Government: Hereditary monarchy
• Capital: Emmeria
• Ruler: Queen Elina and King Marcus
• People: The vast majority of Liona's population consists of humans.
• History: Before the Dragons the people of Liona was devided, each person beloning to a tribe or clan that frequently warred against eachother born. This made them both easily conquered by the Dragons and good Mooks for them. Then the Dragon Empire fell the people once again returned to their old systems of tribes and clans until five centuries after the Fall of the Dragon Empire when a man named Leo started conquering the various tribes and founded the city of Emmeria on the bank of the kingdoms largest river, Timuen. Since then the kingdom has both grown and shrunk in size and waged a perpetual guerilla war against resistant tribes in the highlands.
• Infrastructure: The eartland is very much developed, most of the land being used for farming or breeding horses whilst the forests in the south are used for logging and the mountains in the east being worked for mining and quarries.
• Geography: The Liona Kingdom is vast with a variety of different enviroments, the heartland of the kingdom consists mostly of great glasslands and plains that are crossed over by a lot of various rivers originating from mountains in the east, beyond large swathes of marshland. The south is heavily forested and filled with game, the west if a highland bordering the ocean that borders the kingdom in the north as well.
• Culture: People in Liona places a lot of worth in the concept of Honor. A man is his word and if he breaks it they are no true man and loses all respect, one shall fight honorably and help ones comrades in need. The largest religion in the kingdom is monotheistic and follows a god called Umaril, represented by a lightningbolt. The flag of Liona carries ths a lion with a lightning bolt erupting from it's mouth.
• Military: The military focus on a core of warrior aristocrats, Knights, supported by masses of conscripted soldiers whose training and equipment can vary wildly but arqebuses, due to their cheapness and ease of training is wildly used. Lionas military is most famous for the Paladins, knights who have magical abilities, the most elite of these are the Lionhearts.

Peldms63: your people are accepted.

All right, time to take a look at the characters, well it does look like the Ambassadors are geared for fighting : p

@Fauxlosophe: Both characters are accepted though the ambassador does seem more like someone that would be sent to fight in war instead of sitting away from it and trying to negotiate treaties.

@Des: Both characters accepted.

@Nman: Glory to Pandalore! Both characters accepted.

@Katsuun: It would be better if there was some place where Lyp could stay, to easier keep documents for deals and for negotiate with other ambassadors.

@Bokhura Burnes: Both characters are accepted

@Locoman: The Ambassador is accepted though there are some issues with the Adventurer, they are supposed to be part of a guild that does work together.

@Goodisgood: Ambassador accepted.

edited 28th Jun '14 1:14:50 PM by clawthewolf

Murchadh was written to emphasize the backwateriness and limitations of the Selkies; lack of formal education outside of traditional religion, in particular. I thought about a nervous Druid, but I opted for the Warrior Poet angle; He is far wiser than the sign up might imply even if he speaks bluntly.

edited 28th Jun '14 1:32:24 PM by Fauxlosophe

Is the Brotherhood of Shadows an acceptable substitute for the Brotherhood of the Mind?

What about my nation?

edited 29th Jun '14 2:04:40 AM by Tricksen

• Ambassador

• Name: Lariel Clearspring
• Age: 259
• Gender: Female
• Nation/People: Elurel
• Appearance: A night elf woman, slender of build and somewhat short for her species. Elegant and well mannered, she can proyect a quiet aura of serenity with her behavior and words. She has long, light green colored hair and light violet, near pink colored skin. Usually dresses in the robes of her religion.
• Skills: Knows numerous languages, is a learned scholar with practice in political administration and logistics and has learned as much as she can about the politics, culture and people of other nations. She's also a powerful priestess of the moon, able to call upon greater favors from her object of worship. She also knows some basic battle training from her earliest training with the Sisterhood.
• Items/Equipment: Her robes, some attendants and guards, some books from home, paper, ink, quill, a pendant with a symbol of the moon. Also tea.

• Adventurer

• Name: Shaelarel Shadowbreeze
• Age: 176
• Gender: Female
• Nation/People: Elurel
• Appearance: A young night elf, with a limber, athletic build as it is common of her kind, though toned by long years of exercise and training. Dark violet colored hair with skin in a lighter shade of the same color.
• Skills: General combat training, swordsmanship, archery and riding. Survival skills to live off the land and track things in the outdoors. Climbing and swimming. She can also do some spellcasting from the Priesthood of the Moon, able to conjure small lights, bless water under the light of the moon, empower weapons for a while, cure wounds and alleviate sickness and other minor clerical spells.
• Items/Equipment: Two moon forged magical curved blades with wooden handles blessed by druids with an enchantment that allows the handle to grow several times its length to serve as a sort of spear. A recurved bow and arrows, a pair of spare daggers, travel rations, waterskin, rope, leather armor with some key parts reinforced with steel, sleeping bag, pouches and other miscellaneous equipment. Some coins and finally, her personal Nightfang mount, a great cat with a riding saddle.

edited 29th Jun '14 1:55:11 AM by daltar

Revised Ambassador:

• Name: Kai of House Bet-nal
• Gender: Male
• Age: 420 (late 30s human equivalent)
• Appearance: 6' 3", long silver hair worn in a braid that reaches down between his shoulders, slender build, pale blue eyes, usually dressed in layered silken robes.
• Skills: Fluent in most languages, both spoken and written, a student of non-Oreian cultures he'll have at least a passing knowledge of the other nations, at least to the extent an outsider can for those that are isolationist.

I'm moving these up just in case the G Ms didn't see them. Also, made some minor changes to Felgrund.

Adventurer:

• Name: Iozia the Insufferable
• Age: 103 (about 20 in human years.)
• Gender: Female
• Nation/People: Daemuun (Demon)
• Appearance: Standing nine feet tall (roughly 274 cm), Iozia has a light gray hide and dark violet eyes (as a demon, her entire eye is violet with a slit pupil. Also, she has no visible ears or nose, just auditory holes and nostrils, and her tongue is forked.) One of her sharp black teeth pokes over her lip. She has six-inch-long retractable black claws on each hand, and similar, shorter toenails on her four toed feet, including a dewclaw near her heel. Her two horns curve back and down, tapering into a backwards point. Like many demons, she wears no clothing.
• Skills: Iozia's weapons are her claws and her armor is her hide, both as strong as tempered steel. In addition, Iozia is easily thrice as strong as a human, able to lift boulders and bend a sword into knots. She can also breath fire, and can release it from her claws, essentially turning them into foot long flaming daggers. Using her claws and dewclaw, she can latch onto and scale most any surface.
• Items/Equipment: She carries a knapsack with a claw-file and polishing cloth, as well as some spare meat and a thick cloak. She also has a pet Igindile, Sizzle.
  • Sizzle is the height of a pony, but twice as long and much wider. He's not quite as fast as a horse - Ignidiles eat rocks and minerals, which don't move - but he can run all day without much issue. He has the bite strength to rend steel, but is very docile and doesn't like to fight. His grey hide is as hard as rock.

Daemuun Diplomat:

• Name: Felgrund
• Age: 310 (about 60 in human years)
• Gender: Male
• Appearance: He's seven feet tall with a jet-black hide and red-orange eyes. His horns point straight forward, sticking out a few inches in front of his face. He wears a simple red robe and carries a stone staff half his own height.
• Skills: A mage, Felgrund is far weaker than other demons. He's still strong enough to parry sword blows with his staff, but he prefers to fight with magic when he has to. In addition to conjuring fire balls and flaming shields, he can also control lightning, shooting bolts of the stuff or using his staff to shock people who get too close. He's also perhaps the most well-educated demon in Daemuun on the subject of economics (primarily because he's kind of greedy); for this reason, his advice is regarded by the king as second only to that of the King's Claws.
• Items/Equipment: His staff, made of Devilstone and inscribed with runes.

edited 14th Jul '14 8:08:24 AM by Kagescorpionakki

This looks very promising.

And people took all the elves, so time for improv it seems, eheh. A wuxia country! Hopefully it won't be as widgety as I think it is.

• Name: Jianghu
• Government: A democracy/meritocracy. It is a common thought that those who show the most promise in an area should be the ones who rewarded for their dedication, and as such those who are like elect the best amongst their ranks to represent them via the Guild (groups based about similar occupations) and Clan (those linked by blood) Systems.
• Capital: Shoudu
• Ruler: There are no rulers, only annointed representatives from the various Guilds and Clans to represent their people in what they call the Alliance. The one with the most power is called the Mengzhu (Master of the Alliance), and is elected by majority's vote amongst the representative leaders. The current leader is Mengzhu Wolong.
• People: Humans for the most part.
• History: A rather medium sized country to the east which used to be known as the Sen Empire, located a bit to the right of Pandoa. They used to be ruled by a succession of Emperors that came in mostly two varieties: those who were content to live in a hedonistic life style and those that got way too big for their own tangs and became tyrants, which led to massive civil wars and often times a new ruling family). The last empire to rule before the Dragons took over had the reigns of a nation still recuperating from yet another warring state period in between emperors where local warlords attempted to take the throne for themselves. As such, it was rather easy for the Dragons to take over. After the fall of the reptiles, the many capable leaders in hiding basically had enough of seeing this cycle of either incompetent or overconfident rulers and used their collective influence to bind the nation together as a democracy, introducing social reforms that the public were pretty interested in since it gave them a voice. Nowadays, a thriving agricultural and metal working society has flourished due to everyone sharing enough of their specialized knowledge to make their home a much better place.
• Infrastructure: With a nation of 500,000 people, Jianghu holds a respectable weight on the world stage. Most of their exports are agricultural products, as well as silk, teas, fish, and exotic fruits. Also within their lands are rich veins and deposits of "star metals", which basically came crashing down from the heavens in the form of meteorites many millenia ago. Due to the things being incredibly hard and dense, a single deposit the size of a fist could be used to create a hundred swords once it has been diluted into more common iron after smelting- making the thing a precious and zealously guarded commodity. They also know of a way to shape clay into a mind bogglingly strong ceramic that could be used as armors and weapons when they are feeling rather cheap. (And sell these at exorbitant prices to the outsiders). Most of their trade routes are over land and skim close to more hostile areas, and as such their merchants maximize profits by learning how to fight themselves rather than hiring bodyguards and they use a point A to point B system to cut traveling time and overall exhaustion down to managable chunks.
• Geography: Plains and and forests with rivers and lakes running through the area would best describe the region, with rains from the mountains carrying water to even landlocked regions. The rest are farming villages and bustling towns that make sure they do not grow too much for the land to fail on them. Visitors who come to their region would remark on their unique and visually pleasing architecture and the cheerful franticness of daily life.
• Culture: Lacking a monarch, the people of Jianghu do well by being semi-autonomous of other groups even as they work together to create a strong and cooperative community at large. Housing consists either of family homes or apartment buildings for those who are currently working their way up in life. Religion consists of a pantheon with many gods, spirits that influence the living, and saints that encourage people to do their best to be virtuous and morally upstanding. Basically their country has the looks and feel of medieval China, especially the food, clothes, and buildings. Placing great emphasis on both body and mind, the people of Jianghu have amassed a great deal of information on the human body and learned to harness their own life energies that allows those trained in its ways to go past their physical limits, called "Lifeforce Empowerment". They use this much more commonly instead of the regular brand of magics since anyone can use it, thus benefiting their society more. A farmer who can work more can grow more food, and a soldier that is less tired has a higher ability to survive the wars. Common usage of Lifeforce Empowerment result in brief bursts of greater strength, speed, and endurance as well as regenerative powers as long as one performs the correct forms and has enough of a reserve to pull it off.
• Military: The military itself is at any time at least a quarter of the population since one can get bonuses by volunteering a bit of time into their services, most of which are the farmers who are not as good at literature or tinkering as the others or Clans with long histories of military services to ensure that the other peoples can do the jobs they are best at. The common man is equipped with terra cotta armor and steel weapons, while the commanding officers themselves claim Star Metal equipment, with higher rankings getting more undiluted purity of the precious commodity. They are trained to make use of their respective abilities rather than to overwhelm their enemy with brute force and as such rely heavily on formations and military tactics rather than simple zerg rushing. As such, instead of one huge army, they are split up into a group of smaller squads for maximum mobility and adaptibility. Besides the regular army, there are also the martial schools that train civilians in the use of Lifeforce and physical abilities so that they could protect the country from within the borders.

edited 3rd Jul '14 5:13:36 AM by GreyStar

Yay, more neighbors! We should work out trade and history and stuff.

Also with Faux giving up on maps, I guess that leaves me as the only illegal unofficial cartographer I should ask map questions.

When you say right, do you mean east? Right now Pandoa and Dawlat border each other and are south-east and east, as well as coastal. So if you want to be east of that, you'd wind up being relatively removed from other nations, and possibly peninsular. How attached are you to that direction? You mention overland routes being the main thing, so west of Pandoa might be better, unless you need to be coastal. But if you're okay not being by the ocean, you could be right in between Pandoa to the east, Yeoquetzal to the west, Daemuun to the north, and possibly another nation or two, with your south border having the mountains that source the giant river between Pandoa and Yeoquetzal. Then you would probably be closer to the center of the continent so you could walk everywhere else.

I'm not sure if I will continue playing if I see that R Ping with 20 tropers is too overwhelming for me, but I want to give it a try.

• Name: Nostrade
• Demonym: Nostrian
• Government: A mix between Theocracy and Meritocracy. The ruler is chosen by the measure of their Gift - which is another name for "magic". The Nostfolk believe that the highest the Gift, the closest to the "Source" (which refers to the realm of the Council of Angels, where their god lays dormant) that individual is. Since the Gift (or most of it) is inheritable through bloodlines, only thrice in History has the throne been occupied by different Houses.
• Economy: Feudalism.
• Capital: Nosthold, the Silver Palace.
• Ruler: Queen Fyuli of Hyacinth. She doesn't recall having horns, a staff and spellbook, however.
• People: Human
• History: The Nostfolk are ancient. While it is true that the nation was founded many years after the Dragon Empire ceased to be, the Nost clan, one of the major ancient houses accounted in the country's story and the first to rise to power, already existed by that time and held much of the culture that Nostrade keeps nowadays. The foundation of the country came after the remaining clans of the area were consolidated and gave birth to the nation that it is today, its major reason being to strengthen themselves, both economically and militarily, against raiders and the expanding empires that came after the fall of the dragons.
• At first, these clans held complete autonomy over their territory, the notion of a centralized state did not once cross their mind until there were disparities between the individual clans' interest and the collective interest, leading to decades of debates and advocations of separatist and integralist views that ended in a centralization of the state, now officially placed above the other clans' individuality.
• Disputes for power and influence were more common at that period as there were still many political matters to be settled and high seats to be filled, which led to discussions about what should be done to establish order and cease any further conflicts. Therefore, they had decided almost unanimously to establish a monarchy under the principle of Divine Decree: That a ruler would be chosen accordingly to its approximation to the Heavens above, measured by the size of their Gift - the source of their power, so to speak, that connected them to their "pantheon", the source of their ability to make miraculous feats possible.
• Infrastructure: The north is pretty much uninhabitable for several reasons. The soil lacks in fertility; the cold weather and dry climate are terrible for livestock, crops and people alike, which contributes toward life-claiming diseases and epidemies, especially on infants and children; the hills and mountains difficult locomotion between cities, forts and castles; wild animals prey on anything they can find in order to survive, which becomes even more scarce as winter approaches. There are plenty of motives to abandon such a disadvantageous spot and room for speculation on how a nation could survive under these circumstances.
• So, how do they compensate for this? Luckily for the Nostfolk, they were Gifted. In other words, magic. Though intelligence and strategy also helped. Farmers are instructed on how to keep their crops warm and tend to them with magic in order to help with their development. In some cases, the specially gifted farmers can alter the seeds to be more resistant to the weather. They have an extensive culture of plantation dedicated to thwart famine, and most of the time it is successful. Animals are kept indoors for most of the time to protect themselves from the weather, even though generations living in a harsh environment led them to develop a resistance toward it.
• Wild animals are fended off more efficiently by a local militia, formed by a group of villagers. In Nostrade, it is a job as common as any other, and usually largely composed of farmers, miners and hunters. Sometimes they are sent weapons and provisions by the House that controls the territory, sometimes they forge their own weapons and fend for themselves. The Army only intervenes when the situation gets out of the militias' control.
• Every city, fort and castle is connected by a wide "network" of roads, making locomobility between them much easier and convenient. As long as one stays on the roads, which he most obviously will, traveling is not much of an issue. The cons of such an extended network is dealing with the maintenace cost. Being a medium sized country aids in lowering the cost, yet it is enough to take a toll in their economy.
• Geography: Nostrade lies to the far north edge of the continent, surrounded in its sides by cloud-reaching mountains and hills of varied sizes with shallow vegetation while the vast, unexplored sea continues endlessly to the north. The roads built by the Nosfolk are the only way someone can cross into their borders without breaking a leg, or a neck, or becoming the snack of the local wolves and bears, or alternatively having their ship sunk by the tight naval security of the northern sea. Assuming they survive the harsh, cold weather, that is. If someone intends to visit the country, they better pack winter clothes, or buy some as soon as they reach a city and help the economy. Nostrade's winters are merciless, especially to the crops, even when they are treated with magic. From early autumn, the landscape becomes covered in snow, the wild animals start getting closer to villages in search of food, the lakes start to freeze and the days become shorter... until spring comes, and with it the Nostfolk's chores become less nightmarish. On the other hand, the landscape of autumn and winter can be astonishing, especially to tourists, as snow covers the mountains and buildings from tip to toe and snowmen join the local population for the season. The risk of being hit by a stray snowball also rises, as it is the favorite prank of children.
• Culture: The Nostfolk are a reserved and orderly bunch, worried more about themselves than about the rest of the world Up To Eleven. If there were a motto to sumarize their thought, it would be "Mind your own business, unless you wish to do business with us". They have a keen interest in expanding their commerce and trade throughout the world, but little interest in the other countries themselves. As far as their cultural immersion goes, they see relationships with people from other countries as strange and undesirable in order to preserve their Gift from being spread, but are not xenophobic themselves.
• As far as ethnicity goes, the great majority of the Nostfolk is as white as it would be expected from people living in the cold for generations, clad in clothes made of fur and anything that can keep them warm, their hair color a gradient between black and white - rarely blonde, their nosebridge usually long and thin. Their religion is monotheistic, yet they believe their god is dormant - waiting for the right time to awaken, while his council supervises the world below and provides aid whenever it is prudent to meddle with mortals. They believe that someone with a high enough Gift has been favored by these agents and are thus more connected to the Source than the others, which is also the major factor on electing a new King or Queen. They do not worship these agents, but they do ask them for guiddance and aid. Women usually have a higher ammount of Gift, and thus are more valued by the society than men (the low birthrate in the country is also a reason), though both have almost the same political influence.
• Their trade focuses on offering cold resistant vegetables, ores (iron and silver, especially), fruits, clothes (especially winter clothes and fur) and magically enhanced seeds that grow more easily in most other soils - the latter for a especially salty price (unfortunately, such properties are not passed on to other seeds if it generates fruits). They mostly import food, which is not to say it's the only thing they buy, yet it is the most important one. Oh, and they are known for their strong and addictive yet awful tasting drinks, so tread carefully.
• The country is ruled by a monarch who commands eight Noble Houses, each controlling a section of the country (or "territory"). These Noble Houses were born from the five ancient clans that formed Nostrade in the days of old. The political spectrum is centralized around them to the point only a nobleborn can lead. Bankers, traders and workers are on the bottom of the pecking order. When a ruler dies, they choose another one in accord to their Gift, which does not necessarily mean hereditary rule.
• Military: The Nostfolk just have enough men (they don't allow women to conscript) to maintain the peace and secure the borders to make sure invaders go back home with an icicle to their knee. They prefer to focus on their workforce, especially in agriculture, because famine is more of an issue than defending the country, which is actually easier from the position it is located on. They are not very militaristic, yet Nostrade's security has some renown added to its name: The border security is considered to be unbreakable, secured by the main forces with a tight grip. Invaders come from the northern sea, and they are met with a volley of fire arrows dedicated to burn their ships and lower their numbers before they face the full guard on land; if invaders try to get through the southern borders, they have to break through one of the three heavily fortified forts - each in the southwest, south and southeast respectively, and act before the pyre located in each rooftop is lit and the others are informed of the invasion; if invaders try to cross their borders through the western or eastern mountains and hills, they... would most likely succeed, as these parts are not much of concern to the military, provided the invaders manage to pass through all the hardships intact. The Nostfolk is lucky that no one tried pulling a Hannibal Barca on them before.

edited 8th Jul '14 6:51:45 AM by Rapier

How do your lot feel about Druids? Have you allowed [s]Jesus[/s] [s]Lugh[/s] knowledge of charms and trees/agricultural growth into your heart? And a council to aid in resolution of both internal and external disputes, bringing with it a defacto alliance with Selkies and Erunel [at least to the extent that conflicts will not be allowed to escalate].

Take some Ogham blessings because Druids oppose writing about sacred secrets.

edited 3rd Jul '14 8:37:18 PM by Fauxlosophe

@Nman: West of Pandoa might be better then, eheh. I'm okay with being in the middle of those countries since then I get to pull off the Silk Road expy. Thanks for helping me out.

You'll probably have the Theocracy on your borders then. I think they're to the North West of Pandoa.

Yep. Trying to get my Medieval China place near the other oriental inspired lands, eheh.

Also wondering how they would interact with the others now.

edited 4th Jul '14 7:38:51 PM by GreyStar

I gave Lypris a home, added my adventurer.

Finished writing the sign-up, finally. I hope it's alright.

edited 7th Jul '14 12:45:05 PM by Rapier

Yay! North! Yeah I mean it sucks we won't be neighbor, but the north is mostly uncluttered so the map will be easy!

I thought there was a high chance of my country overlapping someone else's, so I decided to say that it's as far north as it can be. If someone attempts to build a country on the north, mine will be a few miles above it nevertheless.

You can't really overlap because the continent expands as needed.

One possible issue is that

1. Silkies might be north as Islands.

2. The other Northern nation explicitly rules Islands to their north.

So as a Continental Nation, you likely have some neighbours who are either further north or at least at equal distance.

edited 8th Jul '14 9:31:35 PM by Fauxlosophe

I don't really see an issue by the way I look at it: My nation is as far to the north as it can be. The only thing farther north than it is the sea (and maybe an island nation).

I just read "mine will be a few miles above it nevertheless" as intruction to make yours peninsular to the North above whatever other northern nations are declared.