Aland

The Alandi are a steppe tribe who invaded from the Infinite Steppe, but Genosized and settled in the place now known for them. Both they and Dace have a bad reputation as being barely-civilized savages, but the Alandi have been around for longer, and people have mostly gotten used to them, whereas the Dacians are new, and always starting shit.
Aland (or Alandi) is a large country. Larger than its simple geography would suggest. Its endless plains and swamps give it a feeling of enormity, and the lack of permanent settlements, except for the capital and a few farming villages, add to that.
But on the borders of the country, in the great swamp called Valershk, there is a township that has reported the appearance of strange goblins.
These goblins, they say, are blind albino mutants who emerge from the swamp periodically, gibbering and frothing at the mouth. They usually die within a few hours if ignored, but they rarely last that long.
It has been found that in the gullets of the beasts, in a leathery sac that occupies the place where vocal chords would normally reside, are pearls which swirl with strange colors, like glass spheres filled with dye.
These pearls are very rare--after all each goblin only has one--and are sold by the townsfolk to merchants at great expense. Hunters often wait in the swamps with food and drink, watching for the arrival of these albinos, to kill them and take their precious spheres.
The Kasonic Order's Black Sun Chapter has attempted to send agents to investigate this phenomenon, but the King of Alandi has resolutely refused them: His people are entitled to their land by ancient writ, and he will not even permit his own nobles to interfere in this township's business, however valuable it may be.
Agents have been hired by various governments to try and infiltrate the town covertly, perhaps as hunters willing to pay for a chance to kill one of the goblins themselves and claim the stone, or as scholars wishing to observe the creatures for posterity. But what sort of fool would venture into the cursed swamps of Alandi to participate in this blasphemous ritual hunt? The goblins have supposedly been appearing more frequently. What if multiple appear? Shouldn't be too much of a problem with all of the hunters.
=== Military ===
The Alankovat Guard are some of the few elements of the Alandi army that willingly fight on foot. Their roots as a steppe culture have not been forgotten, but these men hold the pride of defending the only city to resist the Great Invasion of the Iron Horde, a hundred years past. Almost certainly the inspiration for the Grays of Osterbija, the Alankovat Guard join for life, and have their names stricken from the city's records. While they are never to be spoken of again by name, their families often come into great gifts by the King, due to "random bouts of generosity."
The Alankovat Guard are primarily archers, but their skill with spear and saber are legend. While the Grays may excel at holding walls, the Alankovat Guard often has the audacity to sally forth from the walls, and build entrenchments before them, daring steppeland invaders to strike them in the open, when in fact the ground is a network of pitfalls, deathtraps, stakes, and caltrops.
Category:Countries