The five kingdoms

(OOC information)

The “5 Kingdoms” are he name for the nation which the game is set. Originally they were 5 seperate kingdoms in all ways which are now together as one nation. Each of the nations still has a strong sense of self, with their own tradidions and in some cases their own laws. A good example would be the United states, each has their own laws, but are governed by one overall body.

This governing body in the 5 kingdoms is made up of the rulers of the 5 kingdoms, who together work to make sure that all are represented.

It is also worth pointing out that all nations that are known of speak a language that is derived from the same root language. While they are not identical (Think American verses English) they are able to be used to communicate with each other.

(IC information)

The first name is the official name of the Kingdom, the second is the rude or colloquial name. It is stepped in past racism between the different kingdoms. The final name is the old name for the kingdom in the ancient tongue.

  1. The empire of stone, Grubs, Krasho
  2. The people of the road, Runners, Raja
  3. The wildlings, Tree lovers, Pati
  4. City folk, Forsaken , Kosi
  5. The unspeakable truth, Soulless , Tina

Each of the 5 kingdoms once was a separate kingdom in its own right. Each had its own lands and laws. For years and years these kingdoms warred against each other and the other surrounding kingdoms. Then 237 years ago the three kingdoms managed to come to a peace treaty with each other. This treaty (known as the treaty of Varisi, or the joining as most people call it) has held and now the 5 kingdoms are one united state in most senses. Their armies and laws are almost fully integrated with each other under the single ruling body.

The people from the different kingdoms still have their own beliefs and in some cases their own laws, although this is now the exception not the rule. However each of the kingdoms keeps its own belifes, many feel that this is importaint to the cultural identity of the nation a whole.

 

The Empire of stone

Commander Resbeck, Grethen faction. It is the seventh day of the fourth moon of the battle. The priest Forthik is dead. I have watched the Tina bark at our doors, which held against their onslaught for so long. Our water has run black, our grain stores were raided from tunnels the vermin Soul invaded. But our doors did not break. Oaths be to our ancestors, if only we knew their ways. General Darth had been working with Forthik to try and work the mechanism in the city dome, but to no avail. And this morning I received word that dammed spies had come from beneath us, whilst we guarded the city doors, and murdered Forthik and his brethren whilst they slept. I would expect nothing less from filthy goblin scum. So we opened the doors. They wanted a battle, so we brought one to them. They fled into the valley when they saw our might, but we chased, and we cut through their army, destroyed their ranks. They ran with their tails between their legs. Today was a victory. We shall mourn tomorrow.
How they are seen by others
  • Arrogant about their abilities and craftsmanship and especially their cities.
  • Obsessed with the past, over half of all historians and archiologists are from the empire.
  • Uncaring of what goes on outside their cities.
How they see themselves

The Krasho are a people surrounded by stone. Historically their cities are all in the hills and mountains. In fact some of their greatest cities boast thousands of years of traditions. The greatest of which is Varisi which is crafted out of a single piece of rock. Its walls have never been breached. The meathods for creating these cities are far beyond what is possible now, however there is a story that when the dragons return the empire will encompass the earth.

The Krasho have a strong pride in craftsmanship and many of the best craftsmen and women of the 5 kingdoms are from this kingdom. A lot of this stems from national pride in the cities and the infrastructure in them. They were created thousands of years ago and have stood the tests of time. Many spend their entire lives trying to learn how the people of old managed to create such amassing things.

The cities are far beyond what the rest of the kingdoms possesses and no-one knows how to re create it all yet. There is running water, underground sewage systems and huge building made for unknown reasons.

Internal power structure

The Krasho have a heredical structure to their culture. Everything depends on who your ancestors were and what they did. Your status come directly from this, however those who show great ability are able to promote themselves and thus any children that they have.

A line of monarchs stretches back unbroken for years, if you belive the Krasho it stretches back to before the empire fell. These monarchs controll the nation as a whole and are respected as the voices of the most wise as deemed by the ansestors.

Under them are the Mayors of the cities who run the cities independently unless told otherwise. The Mayors are advised by a council of elders who are the highest ranking members of the cities in most day to day life.

Under them are countless steps,each with its own specific realm of influence and things which they should be dealing with.

At the bottom are the new bloods. Those who have no ansestors who they can speak of. These are mainly new people who seek to join a city, or anyone who is visiting the city. They are allowed to try and find their place, but not to disrupt the organisation of the city.

Lands and interests

The Krasho have huge ammounts of land in the way of great cities within the mountains. They also have mines which are scattered through the mountains. Other than this they have little interest in land. A Krasho saying “Land outside the mountains is not land at all”.

The Krasho are interested in all types of craft and take huge interest in learning how things are made, they see themselves as the best crafters in the world and wish to continue to be so. You can get great respect by bringing back a new way to make somethings, but even more for re learning how to make something that the ancestorts made.

Extra traditions and laws
  • Words written in stone are holy, anyone defacing stone writing can and normally is sentanced to death.
  • Writing on the stone of the city without the explicit concent of the council is a death sentance.
  • Many Krasho give a small prayer to their ancestors before doing anything importiant and can normally name every importaint ancestor that they have.

The people of the road

Now, we are the travelers, we live by the rules of the roads. You trade for what a trade is worth, you do not take from the earth of the Wilding’s homes, you do not steal from the cities of the City folk, you do not harm the ancient walls of the Empires of Stone, and above all, be wary of the Unspeakable Truth. To tell you about the Wildlings, once your uncle Tad found a rare herb at the edge of one of their village. He sought to harvest it, and turn it into something he could sell. In the night they came, demanded every piece of food he had on him to feed their people, as the herb would have been given to animals to strengthen muscles to plow fields. They took what he took from them by his actions. Learn from this. The traveler way would have been to offer to harvest the plant in return for something. We do not take. This is one of the reasons. But we think your uncle had a bit of Tina in him. Then there’s the City Folk. It won’t surprise you to know this tale is about your uncle Tad as well. His family were starving, this is soon after the other story you see, his family suffered for his mistake. So what does he do? Makes another one. In one of the cities, where the Kosi live, one night he left, and never returned. In the cities there are laws, different to our own. Ours involve supporting each other, we do not appreciate one person owning everything. But in the city, they have strange rules, where you pay simply to be able to live in your hovel, surrounded by grey instead of rolling hills. Strange I know. But it turned out he had been taken to a jail, he had tried to take from someone who had more coin than sense. They didn’t appreciate this. He was there for a good few years until we returned, and discovered what had happened. We pooled our coin to release him, but he was a shade of the man he had been. He had met someone inside that prison, and he left us soon after. Your aunt swears blind she saw him snap his wrist, take off his hand, use it to scratch his back, then pop it back on again. She could have dreamt it, but you never know these days. Now I think that’s enough, your mother is giving me a look. Time for bed little uns.
How they are seen by others
  • Cowards, they are always moving scared of what happenes if they they are caught in one place too long.
  • Hard nosed traders, the Raja will always get a good price for their goods no matter what.
  • Carefree and unconcerned about anything.
How they see themselves

The Raja are a people always in motion. In today’s world they do the bulk of the trading between settlements. In days gone by the Raja were masters of skirmishes and of escape. Now they live in small family groups moving all over the 5 kingdoms and beyond.

They know that stopping in any one place is bad for them and so they are always moving from place to place normally trading as they go.

They know to smile and keep their arguments to themselves as anger does not breed trade. The anger they have will be spread to their family quietly and in private not in the open. The same is true of conflict resolution, they prefer to do it quietly and in private, not out on the streets.

Internal power structure

The Raja power structure is extreamly fluid, much to the annoyance of the other kingdoms. They do not have one single leader culturally. Each person is responcible for looking after themselves and those around them. In order for the 5 kingdoms to run however there needs to be people to speak for them.To this end those who cannot for any reason travel for a time take an “Oath of stillness” in which they stay in one place for a set ammount of time and are responcible for talkingvto all Raja who come through and between each other.

Lands and interests

The Raja claim no land as their own, but claim the right to stay on any unused land at any time. The only thing that they really care about in the way of land is the road which the Raja ensure are not damaged. However they do expect the villages and cities to keep the roads in good repair and are not above refusing to go to a place because the roads are too bad.

The Raja do not have special cultural interest in anything particulaly, however due to their lifestyle it is oftern easist to trade, however to say that all Raja are traders in not true at all.

Extra traditions and laws
  • It is against the law for anyone within the 5 kingdoms to stop the Raja from having a place to stay without good cause.
  • Any Raja will give food and rest to a traverler for one night at no charge. After that if the traverler wishes to stay they are given jobs to do to pay their way. Many people have joined the Raja in this way.
  • Anyone abusing their hospitality or stopping them from staying will be black listed by the Raja and can expect to have hard winters without the trade they bring.
  • Any Raja who abuses hospitality or damages the good name of the Raja can be expected to be sentanced to death

The Wildlings

This is the tale of Melissa, who lived in a Pati dwelling not far from here, by the river. Melissa lived alone on the edge where the riverside met the woodlands, she kept to herself, and tended healing herbs that grew near her home. But one day she saw something, a creature, burning like the centre of a great fire, blazing through the woods. It scorched everything it touched before falling into the river. The creature appeared to die, but the damage had been done, the forest the other side of the river was burning. She ran back to the village, and gathered others, who rushed with buckets and vessels to put out the fire. It was dangerous work, with branches falling and fire cutting off routes to escape, but the villagers acted fast, and the fire was put out. The other Pati left the destroyed land, as nothing could be done, but Melissa stayed, something inside her hummed as she stared at her surroundings. And so she waited. The day wore on, and as dusk came, so did life. Creatures stirred, and began to rummage through the ashen landscape, and activity trilled from every corner. The next few days Melissa returned, each time looking for something, though she did not know what, until one day she saw it. In a mound of wood ash, peeping out, was a green sprout, bravely growing in the dead land. Melissa returned each day, and took ash for her garden, and watched the healing herbs grow stronger and lusher, and then she went to the forest, and tended the growing saplings. That forest is now the home of the village Fyreth, Melissa grew it from nothing, and now it protects it’s inhabitants with its thick trees that they have nestled their homes amongst, and it is the only place we know that the healing herbs flourish in, the same herbs that save our people time and time again. Even when the world seems destroyed, a little faith and a little care, and you can grow life from the ashes of death.
How they are seen by others
  • To have no ambition for themselves or people in general.
  • To only care about nature.
  • Savages scared to of progress.
How they see themselves

The Pati are a people of nature. They believe in the cycle of life and death and are often seen to have no ambition. In truth many are happy to exist as they are, but the culture is deeper than this. The Pati know that the world changes, things live and die and that crying about it will not change this. They spend much time watching the world and working out how it will change. They do not seek to change the world, but to change with the world.

Most of the farmers and other such jobs are done by the Pati. They seem to be at home in the wild and are often less comfortable in large cities than out in the wild.

While it is ok to cut down a tree to use, or even clear an area for a farm life must not be constantly changed by people’s wish to rule. This sometimes brings them into disagreements with the Kosi.

Internal power structure

The Pati know that they must send the best talkers away from the land and into the cities to deal with the other kingdoms. As such they have a strong tradition of debates and discussions. Those who show themselves to be best at logical arment are the “Ruling” class in the eyes of the kingdoms. These people are more oftern than not more like the mouth pieces of their people and can be recalled if they do not do as their people wish them to do. Because of this the Pati have the highest levels of reading and writing ability of any of the kingdoms, much to the constant surprise of outsiders.

Within any given settlement there are also people in charge of organisation. The Pati do not see them as any better or worse than anyone else, it is simply a different job which needs to be done.

Lands and interests

The Pati would say that they do not own the land. However in the eyes of the 5 kingdoms most of the land is owned by the Pati. Over 90% of all farm land is run by Pati farmers.

They Pati are interested in protecting the land and keeping humans in line with the land and what is natural. As such they have a great deal of interest with any situation where the land will be changed for humans.

Extra traditions and Laws
  • Land is sacred, while you may use it you are subject to it and not the other way around.
  • Never change land in a way which will bring more destruction than is warrented.

City Folk

How they are seen by others
  • Trators to their own traditions and gods.
  • Obsessed with the future and of “progress”, reguardless of the price
  • Hard workers who will do what needs to make ends meet.
How they see themselves

The Kosi see themselves as the most progressive people of the 5 kingdoms, not bogged down by long forgotten rules they seek to learn and progress in the world as it is now. Many years ago they used to follow the rules of their ancestors, however now they seek to learn without restriction. Most people do not even know what these traditions were. Over the years many people from other other kingdoms have come in and joined the Kosi and all thoughts are allowed within the cities, to an extent.

The Kosi do not like to be talked to about “gods” or “ansestors”, even if the gods did exist they clearly do not now, and the ansestors are dead and gone. Now is the time of the people alive and we should embrase that time.

While the cities of the Kosi do not rival the ancient ones created by the Krasho’s ancestors they are well built. The newest ones have drainage systems to deal with waste, although they do just flow by the side of the road. They have strong walls and good firm roads.

The world is yours if you know what to do with it, and your mind is the greatest weapon you have to change that world to be what you want it.

Internal power structure
Lands and interests

The Kosi build cities accross the kingdoms and do so for anyone to live in. They have cities up outside the Krasho’s great citites and the Raja favour Kosi cities because of the organised layout and good roads. The Kosi have even built cities for the Pati who they get on with least within the kingdoms.

The Kosi seek to learn everything, and although they do understand that the people of the past had greater understanding of the world they do not intend to be restricted by that understanding. The Kosi keep great Libraries and send out people to all reaches of world to learn all that can be learnt. They have great universities where people are paid to simply explore understanding and invent new things.

Extra traditions and laws

Not all cities which the Kosi have built are run under their laws and traditions, it is normal for a city outside the Raja cities to follow Raja law.

  • To follow a rule blindly is to be dead, question everything and seek to understand all that you do.
  • Religion is personal, you are welcome to have it, but not to preach it. Anyone caught doing so can be fined large sums of money or sometimes even worse. (This law has been used on parents towards their children in some rare cases).

The unspeakable truth

Tharack of Garack, resting day of the fourth month. Yesterday was a great victory, though we learnt that the krasho mud eaters are bad losers. I finally completed my plan, and infiltrated the Ftharen hold, after what seems like months of work, poisoning water, raiding supplies, planting spies to monitor their every move, we murdered the traitor. He may have walked amongst them, as one of them, but we know he had his secrets, and threatened to tell them of ours. We felt no need to warn them, their matters are of little concern to us, but I will not let someone threaten my family, my companions. Once he was dead, we began to return, and as expected, they tried to fight, at last, but it was too little, too late. The battle was bloody, but there was no need for us to stay, so the order came to disperse and return home. I have met with most of what is left of our army. We have no need to continue our dwelling in this mountainous landscape. We travel home victorious.
How they are seen by others

The Tina are by far the most disliked and mistrusted of the 5 kingdoms. Almost everyone has at least one story of how they were hurt or betraid by a Tina. Many ask why they were ever allowed into the kingdoms in the first place.

  • Untrustworthy monsters who will do anything to get what they want.
  • Incredibly close nit and inwards facing families.
  • Theves, brigands and scum. The worst of the 5 kingdoms
How they see themselves

The world is going to end, everyone you know will die and everything you love will be lost and forgotten. This is the simple truth that the Tina live by. All you can do is live every day for what it is and make sure that the ones you care about are as close to the top of the pile as you can. It may be true that we will be reincarnated, however as you will have no memory of that then you should fight tooth and nail for those around you.

For a tina loyalty is first. To your family, your people and the empire. The Tina will do anything to protect those who they love. If you have the friendship of a Tina then unless you destroy it you have a friend who will litterally die for you. However they will also fake friendships in order to get what they want so others do not oftern see this side of them.

They are often seen as dangerous by others and most crimes are blaimed on them. It is true that there are a higher number of criminals who are caught doing something illigal, however the Tina claim that they do not condone it, but then they would…

In war the Tina use tactics that others feels are too far. They will poisen water supplies and leave traps for their enemies and use prisoners as traps. You cannot betray your enemy and you should not hesitate to use the weapon which you know will work. The armies still have regiments of Tina soldiers who do the jobs that others would not do in the defence of the 5 kingdoms. In this they are respected in this, however these soldiers are still mistrusted by others.

Internal power structure

The Tina do not like to reveal that which is importaint and thus those in charge are never met by a non Tina. Special trusted messengers take their orders to where they are needed. If they are needed to arrive in person they come covered up and will not be identified. There is a story of a convention of the ruling peoples where, if the story is true then 52 years ago a member of the Krasho forcefully revealed the face of the Tina representative. No non Tina person left that room alive and those responcible for the murders handed themselves in imidately. They all had exactly the same story and refused to give any further information. Since then there has been no meeting in person with the Tina, they send representatives instead.

(The process of choosing those in charge is also shrouded in secrecy, if your background is such that you would know this then a ref will inform you of it. It is woth knowing that if this information got out the Tina would see it as a betrayal.)

Lands and interests

The Tina want the 5 kingdoms to survive more than any other kingdom does. The Tina have sworn themselves to the kingdom and as such they will fight to the death to protect it. They join the army more than any other nation due to this. Also due to the power of the monsters they are by the most common people to intentionaly turn themselves into a monster to protect something or some-one.

The Tina do not have their own cities they live in other people ones. This comes from hundreds of years hiding in plain sight in order to survive. However within these cities they oftern live close to each other and so oftern create areas where only Tina live. This is not a specific choise, however Tina are untrusted by others and would prefer to have their families around them if they can.

Those who do not live in Tina areas tend to keep quiet about who they are for their own saftey, which again makes them untrusted as they keep getting found “hiding” as members of other kingdoms.

Extra traditions and laws
  • To betray your family, your people or the 5 kingdoms is death.
  • Do whatever you must to get the job done, you cannot betray your enemy.
  • Do what is needed reguardless of what the law says and how people will view you afterwards. It is easy to be “noble” and allow bad things to happen, much harder to do what is needed and be hated.
  • Any Tina may refuse to answer questions and state that the information is “unspeakable”. It is not leagal to force them to talk about that even in legal situations.