Arana

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Arana, Sovereign March ofCapital: AranaliaPopulation:Government: Ruling marquis and Aranalia city council.Allies: Erendor, TrynserRivals: Limquist, Gorgalph, PengaldiaReligion: Divine Circle, Arumelian PantheonAlignment: NeutralLanguage: ArumelianSlavery: All human and demi-human slavery has been prohibited since Arana’s alliance with Trynser and Erendor. Goblinoid slavery continues but is in decline.This city-state is commonly called after its capital Aranalia, though the formal name is Arana. The current ruler is the Marquis Benfronde Clistos.A former march of Arumelia, Arana has been cut off from the formerly great empire by the secession and apparent withdrawal of Limquist. Despite this, Arana’s rulers carried the torch for the Arumelian Empire for eighty years until Arumelia’s loss of Mondrocar. At that point, in 1687, it was decided that Arana was best off going on its own. Subsequent battles with Limquist and Gorgalph have whittled the small march down to the city of Aranalia and a bit of land beyond.Arana’s current borders are stabilized by an alliance with Erendor, which gets in return the use of Aranalia’s harbor. Arana is friendly towards Trynser as well, which has guaranteed its safety from Pengaldia.
The country is entirely coastal lowlands, generally bathed in a salty marsh that is poor for agriculture. The Kusalt River flows listlessly along the borders with Limquist and Gorgalph, bathing the fens of the south of the small nation with fresher water which hardly supports better growing. Goblins and worse monsters infest these swamps and fens, though they are frequently hunted and all settlements are well defended. A few small hints of elevated land are jealously cultivated, and the Aranans are working on a drainage project to claim the salty lands for agriculture, relying on dikes and wind driven pumps.
The Kusalt River runs along the western edge of the small country, and along a part of the border with Limquist. There is a growing community of Rhie dwarves spending time in the small realm, mostly involved in “taking care of business” in Gorgalph.Major Cities:Aranalia:Other Settlements:Targin Bridge: 374This settlement is built around a fortified bridge between Limquist and the city of Aranalia on the Kusalt River. Several cannon leased from Trynser’s Mordh’Dhagai clan anchor the defenses.
People:Marquis Benfronde Clistos: The current ruler of Arana doesn’t really regret the affiliation his ancestors made with Trynser and Erendor, though he feels a little frustrated, like he has not been able to make the bed that he now has to sleep in for himself. He is in his mid-forties, and he is still very athletic and handsome.Prince Riallus Benfronde Clistos: Marquis Benfronde’s son and heir to the Aranan throne is a chip off of the old block, athletic and handsome like his father. Prince Clistos holds a commission as a captain in the Erendoran Navy at twenty-three years old, a rather young age that suggests a political maneuver on the part of the Erendoran queen. His lackluster command seems to confirm these suspicions, though his political utility in this position is beyond measure.Lady Ysalli Ewomar: The daughter of Erendoran duke Ewomar, lady-in-waiting for the Erendoran ambassador’s wife, and the fiancee of Prince Clistos.Admiral Orrlin Vilounce: The scion of a Arumelian noble family that has had a long association with the sea, including merchants and naval officers. Arumelia’s lack of nautical borders made him available for service in other nearby nations, and Arana made the best offer. There is widespread suspicion that if Arumelia regains its Merfates River port of Jartapur in the next few years or so, a move suggested by Arumelia’s impending invasion of Danbak Kryle, Admiral Malassisar will be called to lead the formidible nation’s new fleet.
Characters:The Aranans are generally of Arumelian heritage, though most are sufficiently removed from their culture that they do not follow the Arumelian cultural pattern anymore. Instead Aranan adventurers may choose to take four free skill points in Craft/Carpentry, Craft/Shipmaking, Diplomacy, Knowledge/Seas, Profession/Fisher, or Profession/Sailor. Whichever one skill these points are taken in are Class Skills for the character for each level the character takes in his or her starting class. On the other hand, any large martial weapons, whether melee or ranged, becomes exotic for the Aranans other than the longspear and the ranseur, roughly similar versions of which see service at sea as the boarding pike and the trident.
 The favored weapons of Arana are the scimitar (cutlass) and the crossbow.