Cloaked Kingdom

East of the Sleep Poppy fields, bordering the Forest of Getting Lost, lies the Mysterious [Cloaked] Kingdom. Every citizen on the land is a mysterious cloaked figure, and what each figure's cloak is hiding is different from person to person.
To an outsider, the monarch (It could be a King or Queen, no one has every seen their face) appears to be insane, but in truth, it is all to accomplish their own mysterious objective.
The Monarch of the Cloaked Kingdom resides on a fortress near the borders of the Forest of Getting Lost. Its entirely made out of stone and even though it appears as a ruin that's been conquered by vines and moss, cloaked figures can be seen coming in and out of it all the time. It's said that apart from the seat of the monarch, it acts as a rite of passage for one's integration in their mystic society. Two gargnatuan statues of cloaked figures guard it.
== History ==
The history of the cloaked kingdom starts at the arrival of the Khenomeric Empire to the region. The area was a wide prairie, mostly plain, perfect to develop agriculture and husbandry in. The region was barely inhabited by some tribes of hunter-gatherers, who offered little to no opposition to the great khenomeric armies. The area was shared between many of the retiring generals and soldiers, some of the oldest and most veteran individuals of the army, as a reward for their long service. This guaranteed a well defended area in what was at the time frontier territory and greatly gratified the army, motivating them to continue. Named as the province of Nitarisha, it became quite prosperous under the empire’s rule, with great cities popping up and a bustling economy. It also grew a very martial culture, due to the great influence of the army in the region: it produced some of the best generals and soldiers in the entire empire (not to mention becoming an artisanal center of weapon production), and its martial traditions were highly lauded by the rest of the Khenomeric Empire.
However, things started to change with time. The weight of magic as a weapon of war was well established, but this caused many of the highest officials of the nation to be sidelined, seeing them as somewhat outdated forces only needed to support the wizard spearheads, and to defend the land once conquered, instead of them being an essential part of the khenomeri war machine. This became even worse with the arrival of the Magoclergy, with nitarishans becoming some of the most hardened and public detractors of the new regime. This meant that the Magoclergy pushed hard against the province and all its inhabitants, which caused the birth of many guerrilla groups swearing to take the wizard government down. These guerrilla groups spread throughout the empire, and with their hardened military customs and experience working effectively against the wizard authorities. To avoid detection and recognition, many of these groups began wearing highly elaborated masks, to serve as both a hiding mechanism and a symbol of hope and resistance. They used subterfuge and stealth to sabotage and assassin local Magoclergic officials and forces from within, only to then hide back to the shadows, to the cities’ underworlds or the many forests within the empire.
This would have serious consequences for the province of Nitarisha. The Magoclergy, knowing where the source of rebellion came from, pushed hard against the region, taking away many of its rights and ended up ruled by the Magoclergical authorities directly. Population was forcefully rounded up and moved to other regions of the empire, secret police wrought havoc upon the inhabitants, heavy taxes and obligations strangled the economy… The once prosperous region became a backwater, with an ever-increasing hatred for all things magical. The fall of the Magoclergy after the Khenomeric defeat in the Battle of Empires and the royal revolt was received with rapture in the province, who swore undying loyalty to the royal house. The Nitarishans recovered their freedoms, and became the most hardened wizard hunters in all of the empire. To honor the freedom fighters that fought the Magoclergy, it became a habit to wear masks in public, sort of like wearing hats in other regions of the world.
The exodus of the wizards after Kyle I’s banning of magic in the empire was received with gusto, becoming the spear tip of the persecution, having great success hunting down some of the most powerful wizards of the time. However, that happiness turned into despair quickly, as the growth of the Forest of Getting Lost resulted in a severe blow for the empire. The Nitarishan authorities lost quite a lot of territory to the enchanted forest, with many towns and cities engulfed by the woods, sometimes without enough time to help the population escape. The Nitarishans sent many patrols to the forest, but even they couldn’t counter the mystical properties of the Forest of Getting Lost, losing many of the most experienced witch hunters in the process. They decided to change their strategy, creating many great fortresses and watch towers around the borders of the woods, sometimes even burning or salting the lands around them to try and slow down the growth of the woods. Once the Forest of Getting Lost stabilized and occupied its current position, it stopped growing, allowing a more organized defense of the borders, which was needed, since the political situation had changed dramatically.
The province of Nitarisha was now part of the Northern Khenomeric Empire, a special administration of the empire created by the division of the nation in two halves. The Nitarishans were some of the most loyal subjects of the Khenomeric Empire, but over time, they became outnumbered by the many other provinces who pushed for more independence, and even secession. They pushed against this, but in reality, they needed the richer eastern provinces’ support to quell the pro-wizard sentiments in the west, something they utterly loathed and fought with great vigor and determination.
In 1.555 ABE, a great drought desolated the province of Nitarisha. Near an entire year without significant rains caused untold devastation upon the land, and not even the presence of the Bleidiann River and the Hayakker Sea could compensate for the loss of precipitations, becoming diminished themselves. The population starved, and disease became rampant upon the province. The help of the other provinces tried to mitigate the disaster, and even received some patronage from the Khenomeric government itself, but it simply was not enough. The population languished, abandoning the lands with due haste, or died trying to preserve their lands. The situation looked like would spell the end of the province altogether, and many Nitarishans began increasing their praying efforts, calling to whatever divinity could free them from this predicament. After nearly a year of droughts, the regional authorities began daily praying and public efforts to bring back the rains. And it seemingly worked, bringing back the rains to the region. Joy for salvation would turn sour, however, as it became public that the Nitarishan authorities, in their desperation, had consorted with wizards to create an incantation that would end the drought. This betrayal was received with utter revulsion, since there were already rumors that the drought had been caused by rogue wizards as punishment for the persecution. This devolved into a bloody civil war that tore the already damaged region apart.
The brutality of the conflict took everyone by surprised. The panicked masses, not knowing who could be a wizard or a collaborator in disguised, committed unimaginable atrocities against each other. The local government and administration was impaled and put in display on their palaces, and afterwards, those who committed the deed were impaled in turn, accused of just trying to hide their ties to the damnable wizards. Order disappeared from the land from nearly two years, and anarchy reigned supreme. The other regions of the Northern Khenomeric Empire were too afraid of even intervening: the western ones saw the maddened Nitarishans as monsters that would butcher them alive, and the eastern provinces did not consider saving the place as a worthwhile investment anymore, since the region had crumbled away after the drought. Thus, in 1.558 ABE, the Nitarisha region was set free by the Northern Khenomeric Empire, and the land became abandoned to its luck.
The land became lawless, with gangs fighting for scraps of whatever could be salvaged from the past. The cities became abandoned graveyards, and the population shrank once again, with the crops left abandoned. Warlords, who twisted the ancient military traditions of the Nitarishas into brutal barbarity, occupied the previously regal and spartan fortresses. Murder was the only law of the land, the strong preyed upon the weak, and it seemed like any civilization would end up disappearing from the land. This situation would last for near a century, until a mysterious figure would gather a great deal of forces and beat the other warlords and gangs into submission. The figure, cloaked in heavy leathers and coats, named itself the Monarch, and declared the creation of the Cloaked Kingdom. He ordered the population to go back to the ancient tradition of wearing masks, and reignited the hatred for wizards and magic within the land.
The rule of the Monarch is seemingly uninterrupted since then. To this day, no one knows whether the ruler of the Cloaked Kingdom was the same being who took down all other barbarians and brought order to the land, or if it’s an uninterrupted line of heirs, always keeping their identity hidden to cast fear into the population.
== Society and culture ==
The Cloaked Kingdom is still marked by the anarchy it suffered after the “Great Betrayal”. Almost a century of lawlessness in a land that had suffered plenty already made the region a notoriously dangerous place, a nest for gangs, bandits and evil cults to do as they wished, for there was no one that could or would care to stop them. The cities had become barren wastelands, burned and looted over and over, the only places that survived in any meaningful capacity were the strongholds and fortresses the Nitarishans had built so long ago. Crops had been, for the most part, abandoned, with the remaining agricultural centers guarded by the gangs and worked by prisoners and slaves. Any trace of law or a complex economy long abandoned, as the law of the strong reigned supreme.
This was the state of affairs the Monarch found when it took power. The Monarch used brute force to take down every single one of the many mobs of the land, bludgeoning into submission those who would surrender and turning into examples those who wouldn’t. The Monarch would promise the gangs certain freedoms to run their territories as they saw fit, just as long as they respected the rule of their overlord. Once the land was under a singular rule, the Monarch began its great reforms, with the aim of returning the Cloaked Kingdom into a state of somewhat normalcy: agricultural projects were incentivized, cities were rebuilt, roads were guarded and protected, trade was reestablished… It seemed that civilization would come to the land once again. And yet, it still keeps many of the brutal customs adopted during the anarchic days. Agriculture has been restored, but the lands are usually worked by slaves or captured enemies from rival gangs. Cities were rebuilt, but they became little more than production centers for arming and keeping the gangs that controlled them. Roads were guarded against robbery, but if traders and passersby didn’t pay for a generous fee, the patrols would not guarantee that “accidents” wouldn’t occur.
The society of the Cloaked Kingdom is based on the gangs, who still rule with an iron fist, often fighting against each other, but always under the grip of the Monarch. They decide most of the laws, organize tax collecting and mobilize most of the defenses. There are hundreds of gangs of all shapes and sizes, from regular bandits to murder cults, but only a couple of gangs have major influence and direct access to the Monarch. In general, the gangs are allowed to fight each other for power, prestige and fortune, with slave raids being quite an important element for the kingdom. Gang wars are a common sight, and often a relief for the rural areas, since if the gangs are busy fighting in the cities for control and prestige, they are too busy to bother the countryside (unless they are fighting for control of the agricultural areas, which also happens frequently). Some gangs have so much power they control multiple cities and fortresses, working as a state within a state of sorts.
Despite this, no one doubts that the true power behind them all is the Monarch, who rules the land with an iron fist. Its personal fiefdom, at the borders of the Forest of Getting Lost, is the biggest and most populated of the kingdom, and its forces dwarf the gangs both in number, power and organization. The armies of the Monarch have evolved from above average bandits and murderers into a competent army, harking back to the days of the Nitarishan’s martial prowess. Its seat of power resides in the biggest fortress of the kingdom. Once called the Fortress of Saint Kath, now it’s just known as the Mountain, due to its height and its solid defenses. It was built to look over the Forest of Getting Lost, with the assumption that a wizard invasion would be seen from the high towers of the fortress, an invasion that never arrived. Time has eroded the once mighty building, however, with many cracks and crumbling walls dotting the structure. The Monarch, once it took the place from a particularly powerful warlord, ordered to rebuild the redoubt as much as possible, but after so many decades of chaos, the pool of talent it had available was not enough to heal the fort fully. Around the kingdom, rumors spread about the Mountain. Some say it’s a place where foul things happen, even by the savage standards of the Cloaked Kingdom, though no one that had no permission to enter has gone in and come out alive.
The ancient traditions of the Nitarishans have been twisted into almost being unrecognizable, but there’s still one that still stands: the wearing of ceremonial masks. Each and every single individual has to wear a traditional nitarishan war mask. These masks are done by great artisans, highly respected by the local population, so much that not even the gangs would mess with them on purpose. Each mask is crafted with different patterns and colors, so that there are not two identical masks. The masks are given to each individual, men or women, once they are 10 years old, and it’s their duty to keep it in minted condition until the day they die. Failure to do so results in the culprit to lose all recognition of being a human, and can be targeted by other with no repercussion. As a counter to this, a man that targets other man's mask is considered a foul thing, and every other man is obligated to take him down as cruelly as possible. As such, no matter how violent gang wars can become, usually attacks to the head/face are out of the question, safe for the most life or death situations.
== Religion ==
The old Nitarishans used to share the faiths and beliefs introduced by the Khenomeric Empire. However, after the great anarchy, most semblance of a unified religious structure were gone. Each gang follows their own series of gods, which essentially are the same but called by different names so as to not allow the other gang any kind of religious leverage over them. The Monarch itself has stated that trying to keep a singular faith in the kingdom is pointless, and that they should compete as much with each other so that the strongest can thrive.
One element that has popped up in the region more and more frequently are the death cults. It is believed they originated from gangs trying to intimidate their rivals by appearing brutal and monstrous, killing their prisoners in elaborately painful ways and then eating the corpse, but over time, they became an established religion in the Cloaked Kingdom. Many of those murder cults actively launch wars against other murder cults to try and get prisoners for their rituals, thinning each other’s’ ranks from the weak. This allows them to save resources that would be better spent in the stronger members, while also intimidating every other possible rival that could be a threat to them. However, these murder cults usually follow a series of rules. Attacking and sacrificing pregnant women is considered a taboo, and will make the cult who does it a particular target for other death cults. Likewise, artisans and people with difficult skills or experience to replicate are also kept safe, just because their loss would cause much more damage than the good that it’d bring. Attacking small children is usually seen differently depending on the group: On the one hand, hunting down a small children has little to no challenge for a full fledged warrior, so there is little point to do so, especially when they can just be enslaved and put to work in the fields. On the other hand, a kid with a dagger, a sling or a bow is equally capable of killing a man, so there should be no reason not to consider them fair game. In general, though, kids are spared, since they are more useful as slave labor or as future warriors for your clan. However, sometimes a kid will be publicly sacrificed to make a point, like a public declaration of war against another clan. This usually means a fight to the death, and the two cults will have to fight each other until one of them is eradicated, with the other bands not intervening, least they too become extinct.
== Military ==
The Nitarishans have always had a proud and long history of military traditions, with many of the greatest victories of the Khenomeric Empire being entirely carried by their soldiers and generals. At their height, their military academies were some of the most admired and imitated in the whole world, lauded by their discipline and innovation. However, with the rise of the Magoclergy, the systematic targeting of the province of Nitarisha caused it to lose many of these institutions, though they still kept their martial traditions. Many of them were lost or twisted once the great anarchy set in, turning the honorable warriors of Nitarisha into barbaric gangs. Discipline turned into irreverence and inner fighting, and honor caved in to the law of the jungle, where the strongest rule and the rest obey or die. The only real military force are those of the Monarch, and even they are just enough to beat up the other gangs into submission, and are far from a true army capable of fending external threats. This doesn’t translate well for a military force, but it does make the land utterly unattractive for possible conquerors. After all, the resources and manpower needed to pacify the land are simply too many for whatever reward they could gain by conquering the Cloaked Kingdom.
One thing still remains from the ancient times, and that is their hatred of wizards. The Nitarishans have been hunting down wizards since the days of the Magoclergy, and this tradition has continued to this day. Their techniques used to revolve around stealth, subterfuge and precision attacks, taking them down before they could use their magical arts against them. These stealth strategies still survive nowadays, being some of the few traditions that have outlasted the anarchic period after the drought. Though nowadays it’s common to see more brutal ways of fighting wizards, these are not that effective compared to the tried and tested traditions.
== Foreign Relations ==
The Cloaked Kingdom is a brutal region nowadays, and since the disintegration of the Northern Khenomeric Empire, no other nation has tried to absorb it into them. The land was abandoned to its fate, and the nitarishans do not forget that fact. There’s also the fact that the Cloaked Kingdom is quite isolated, with the southern borders adjacent to the Forest of Getting Lost and the eastern and northeastern borders sidind the Bladegrass Lakes, both impassable areas for very different reasons, but the results are the same.
However, that doesn’t mean there’s no contact with the outside world. The Cloaked Kingdom has had plenty of deals with Florinthian traders, who will accommodate the brutal and barbaric nitarishans to try and get some cheap agricultural produce and livestock. In exchange, the florinthians will grant them those items and products that the region cannot create, like medicines, drugs, jewels… Raid attacks to Florinth are strictly forbidden by the Monarch, to avoid any disruption of its regime.
Category:Nations
Category:Giantstep