Koerdian Freehold

The Koerdian Freehold is an unusual state which lies in Koerdia, a mountainous region of north-central Rhydain. The Freehold is unusual in two respects: Firstly, it has no king or lordly class and is governed by elected councils of deputies chosen by the inhabitants of each town (in this way it may be thought of as a larger version of the Free Towns that exist in the Helvandrian League, or as a confederation of such Free Towns). Secondly, it partially overlaps the territory of the great dwarven empire of Kuzul-Kadrin, with its human inhabitants living autonomously on the surface and the dwarves going about their business underground. This, of course, is the common arrangement where human surface settlements exist above the subterranean domains of Kuzul-Kadrin, but it is not common for the surface-dwellers to establish for themselves a sizable country which also extends beyond Kuzul-Kadrin's borders. 
The Koerdian Freehold is therefore a strange mix of sovereign and subject, with part of its population existing as a minority in the dwarven empire and part lying outside it. In practice, ties between the Freehold and Kuzul-Kadrin are extremely close and the Freehold (even the portion beyond the border of the dwarven realm) is understood to fall under Kuzulnizam's protection. Some would say that the affairs of the Freehold are so closely tied to the much larger and more powerful dwarven empire that the former is little more than a client or puppet of the latter. Whether or not this is fair, it is certainly true that the Freehold hews very closely to Kuzulnizam in most matters.