Kingdom of Drunigzar

The land of Drunigzar is flat, near barren land. The lack of big mountains and rivers combine with the low quality of the soil to make a place where agriculture is extremely difficult and laborious. 
However, from many centuries, the Drunig have been a resourceful people, and the Sea of the South East, filled with treasure and danger, was seen as the only real chance for many families to avoid starvation. Thus, the crown has funded hundreds of exploration and trade voyages, with the result being an exponential growth of the drunigzarian economy. Even more important, the excess population, which their poor birth lands couldn't mantain, found a new hope in the many colonies created to the south of the kingdom, even reaching the near edge of the world. 
The Drunig economy depends on trade, all kinds of trade, from food and medicine to slavery and drugs, there's not a single market they will leave untapped. It is rumoured they are one of the main powers behind several of the expansionist houses in Nogar, since a war between the Gnolls and the nogarese wanting to reclaim their old lands would be a wonderful chance to open a war market, and trade weapons, mercenaries and other resources to both sides for as long as possible.
== History ==
The population of the land used to live off of herding sheeps and goats. However, this was not a lifestyle that allowed for big population numbers, and thus the region became infamous for being the refuge of thieves and pirates in the area. This is in fact the origin of the Kingdom of Drunigzar, since Nogar sent troops to quash these criminals, creating the Kingdom of Drunigzar as a part of their kingdom, to keep the land in check. However, the land was so barren and poor the Nogarese quickly abandoned it, the costs of controlling the land being way bigger than any profit, so Drunigzar gained its independence as a vassal estate of Nogar.
The first king of Drunigzar, Menelao the Old, had to deal with the constant infighting between his knights and noble vassals, pursuing lands and riches at the expense of their equals. The wise king managed to keep the damages to a minimum using his charisma and his ties to Nogar, but this state of affairs lasted for many centuries. The drunig kings slowly but surely strengthen their ties with the artisan and fisher cities, obtaining a relatively rich ally to keep their knights in line. 
This situation all changed with the arrival of King Paoulos II the Shipbuilder. During his reign, piracy had grown at an intollerable rate, with many raids to coastal cities and towns. With nogarese help decreasing year over year, Paoulos decided to create his own fleet, buying old military ships of the neighbouring kingdoms and beyond. After driving the pirates away, the kingdom had becomed quite indebted, facing a catastrophic bankrupcy that would have sunken the kingdom, if not for Paoulos' plan. He took his new fleet, plus any pirate ships captured by the drunig army, and in collaboration with the artisan cities, organised massive campaigns of exploration and trade. In the hopes of finding resources, any kind of resources that could save the kingdom, and ordered his men to obtain as much profit as possible, no matter the product, no matter the client. After a decade, this campaign not only had managed to pay the dept, but also obtain quite a decent profit. Seeing this, Paolo ordered the construction of a massive merchant fleet, and also the creation of a trade company owned by the crown. This trade company hired as many merchants, explorers and other experts to prepare the commercial expansion of the kingdom. However, many historians agree that this project would have been a lost cause if the Kingdom of Nogar, the biggest commercial power of the region, hadn't suddenly collapsed due to the gnoll invasion.
This not only brought many experts to to Drunigzar, selling their talents for protection against the gnoll, but the momentary collapse of Nogar allowed drunig traders and merchants to take the place of the old nogarese merchant houses. Many of those houses, seeing where the winds were blowing, moved to the safety of Drunigzar, whose arid lands was so unvaluable not even the gnolls seemed to be interested in taking it. This all resulted in an explosive economic growth, with the old herder population becoming clever and cunning merchants and traders, leaving no market untapped.
This wave of prosperity also caused an important problem. In a couple of years, the population growth became unsustainable, since even with the increasing size of the merchant navy, there simply was no way to absorb all the new population. This was partially solved by expanding southwards, occupying the lands of Old Nogar where the old fortresses against pirates and raiders were located. Not being enough, however, the king Paoulos III the Explorer ordered the creation of colonies along the coast, enough to absorb the population, but not big enough to cause diplonatic tension with the neighbour kingdoms, since a territorial expansion may have ended in a war against Drunigzar. The colonies continued the economic expansion of Drunigzar, their small size compensated by the protection of the Drunigzar navy and money loaners.
Nowadays, the Kingdom of Drunigzar has established trade routes and pacts with every major power in the world, though many of them distrust the drunig merchants' lack of scruples in regards to business. In particular, they have very strong relations with New Nogar, the Gnoll Empire and the Woodcutter Cities of Littlestep.
== Foreign Relations ==
=== Nogar ===
Drunigzar's relations with Nogar are difficult, since it's clear for everyone involved that Drunigzar, and old vassal of Nogar, has benefited immensly by Nogar's misfortune, and that has caused a lot of resentment in many nogarese (especially towards many of old nogarese that fled to Drunigzar, seen as traitors and oportunists for not defending their homes). However, many in New Nogar also see Drunigzar as an invaluable ally in case of a gnoll invasion, or even a good patron in case of wanting to recapture the Old Nogar lands. The drunigs' ambassadors and trader houses, in turn, see in Nogar a valuable trading partner, and also a big ally in case of a gnoll attack. That doesn't stop many to prepare to help both sides in case of a war between Nogar and the Gnoll Empire, since war is an incredibly profitable market. 
=== Gnoll Empire ===
Drunigzar's relation with the Gnoll Empire are even simpler. The Gnoll Empire could easily conquer Drunigzar, dwarfing the merchant state's population, but drunigs' ambassadors and traders have convinced the higher echelons of the Empire that it's better for both sides to stay independent, basically paying for protection through great deals on materials scarce in the Empire. Drunig also hires a lot of gnoll mercenaries as footsoldiers and mercenaries to fight bandits and pirates, but never in enough numbers to be unmanageable. 
=== Woodcutter Cities ===
Drunigzar's relations with the Woodcutter Cities of Littlestep depend on their main product: Oak wood. Drunigzar's land has little to no trees, definitvely not enough to mantain the massive fleets of the kingdom, so they will go to great lengths to stay in good standings with the woodcutter cities.
== Religion ==
Drunigzar's society has changed a lot thanks to this new way of life. Before this commercial evolution, drunigs venerate a plethora of human gods, but nowadays they mainly focus on three: the God of the Sea and the Twin Goddesses of Fortune and Misfortune. Drunigs need the sea to expand, or even just survive, since they need to import quite a lot of food, now that the population is bigger that what the lands can really sustain. Merchants in particular will pray to the Twin Goddesses of Fortune and Misfortune, both to wish for good luck in their endeavours and to wish for bad luck to their competition.
== Society ==
Having managed to abandon poverty to becoming one of the wealthiests nations in the area is something that all Drunigs enjoy as their national pride. This results in a surprisingly low amount of social fricction for a society as competitive. Traders will compete with each other to see whose's going to be more successful in the same gentlemanly way old knights may have duel with each other, and the same goes for other levels of society. They will also protect their national interests, helping to subtlilly drive away non-drunig competition whenever the chance appears, to keep drunig monopolies around.
Many of the noble houses of Drunigzar also double as trading companies, with the royal trading company being the biggest and most important of them all. It has become a common custom to see them adopting into their houses plebians that show a particular talent for business. This tradition dates back to the early days of the commercial expansion, when the noble houses needed desperately experienced manpower to handle the king's expeditions. The adopted plebian will be educated and treated as a nobleborn, and in exchange they will have to give a portion of their earnings for the rest of their life to the noble house's trading company. This causes the nobleborn of outside of Drunigzar to use the term "drunig nobility" as a term to describe something fake accepted for convenience's sake.
== Issues ==
The quick population growth has caused many problems to Drunigzar. Most of the land from the inner parts of the country has been neary abandoned, with very few herder groups and small towns left to live as they use to. All that population who moved to the coastal cities created outpaced the cities' ability to manage it, causing high crime rates in the poorest areas. The land borders of the country have also lost a lot of population, which scares the kingdom's politicians due to the weakening of the borders' strength. The crown has tried to compensate this by creating state funded incentives to settle down in the border, but the attraction of the sea life limits its success.
The old drunig knights are not happy with the new order of things, since the new way of life is nearly antithetical to theirs. The old ways of controlling the land and protecting the peasantry in exchange of protections and other fees goes right out the window then the countries' fortunes come from the sea. Many knight decided to take this changes in stride and form part of the militar outposts at the borders of the kingdom, but many others have joined pirate groups, and even abandoned Drunigzar altogether as mercenaries. This wayward knights are loathed by the entirety of drunig society, seen as both traitors and criminals, abandoning their bows to the kingdom once they no longer afforded them the same measure of power and influence as before.
== Military ==
The Kingdom of Drunigzar used to have a very feudal form of army, with noble knights protecting the lands from bandits and pirates. Most of those knights were light cavalry that could double as heavy infantry, able to pursue the bandits by horse and fight them as cavalry or as infantry as the needs demanded. Mounted squires, whose job was carrying the heavy weapons and armor of the knights, accompanied the noble knights. This system was effective enough to fight unorganized bands of pirates and thieves, since the fighting quality of the knights superior armor was good enough to force most wrongdoers to run away, so the knight’s priority centered around searching and moving fast through the land to pursue the banditry. This system, however, was very ineffective to fight any kind of war against any military force of similar strength, and thus constantly required the protection of the nogarese army. Fighting sea raids was mostly done with a mix of small, repurposed fishing and a small fleet of coast guard ships, but one again, the nogarese fleet was needed to guarantee full safety of drunig waters.
The economic expansion changed all that dramatically. Suddenly the needs of protecting the land from small cells of bandits and pirates were dwarfed by the need of protecting the increasingly valuable trading routes. And for that, they needed a proper navy, especially now that Nogar’s efforts were squarely focused on their defense against the gnoll. The original expansion saw the Drunig navy filled with old warships from whatever country was selling them at the time, and as such, their actual capabilities were a mixed bag, but at least more than enough to drive away any pirate raids. Over time, the Drunig shipbuilders replaced many of those ships for newer ones made in Drunigzar.
Nowadays, the drunig fleet is one of the most powerful in the region, especially after the development of the Drunig galleons. The Drunig Admiralty has designed the fleet to focus on a mix of speed and firepower. The modern navy consists of a mix of small but fast ships that are able to move and maneuver fast, with special broadside gun pieces that are quick to reload but have a relative short range. At the other end of the spectrum, we can find great drunig galloys, slower but considerably tougher and with considerably more gun pieces that have a longer range. The naval strategy of the drunig fleet is to combine both ships to surround and annihilate the enemy fleet. First, the smaller raider ships start surrounding the enemy vessels, avoiding any close combat and ranged firepower through speed and cover fire from their own gun batteries. This cuts the enemy’s maneuverability by quite a lot and breaks their formation, thus making them easy targets for the powerful guns of the long ranged galleons. If successful, this forces the enemy to either surrender their vessels or be sank through consistent firepower, which allows the Drunig navy to capture many pirate vessels, which then are sold as price ships. The one problem this has is that generally drunig ships are not particularly prepared to deal with boarding, and can suffer greatly if the ships get close enough to assault. The solution that many captains have come up with to solve this is the hiring of gnoll mercenaries, though this hasn’t become widespread since the gnolls can cause a lot of friction with the crew. 
The success of this strategy has shrunk the rate of pirate raids greatly. Many captains have become quite famous by capturing pirate vessels, since they are allowed to keep part of the profit of the sale of the price vessels. This incentivizes pirate hunting, and has driven away many pirates groups to more unprotected waters.
The longer and more perilous travels, such as those done beyond Squid Peninsula to the colonies to the south, are done in huge convoys. They will combine fleets of great merchant ships with galleons to dissuade any would be attacker from attempting anything. This makes the voyages quite safe from assault, keeping pirates at bay, but there’s the risk of serious harm if the storms become too wild and destructive, damaging or losing multiple ships at once. Also, many pirates will wait for those storms to attack the convoys, hoping to see them scattered and vulnerable after tempests winds down. 
The biggest pirate threat nowadays comes from the island of Künt. The protection and maintenance offered by the küntian harbors to all pirate fleets keeps ships, that would’ve sunk by their lonesome after an encounter with the drunig fleet, active and dangerous. And assaulting the island has its own problems as well, the least of them being the fortresses and armed temples the küntians have prepared. There’s a bid between Elanxa and Avangar to capture and annex the island, and that discussion has been the main hurdle that prevents the island from being invaded by a coalition of countries. The potential intervention of Drunigzar (with a now solid history of colonial expansion) would make this diplomatic conflict even worse. Thus, to the annoyance of the trading fleets in the area, the drunig fleet is limited to just keeping the pirates as contained as possible.
Drunig’s modern army has evolved wildly from the old knight drunig system. The revolution that the economic expansion represented changed the role of the kingdom’s armed forces. Now that the navy was the keystone to Drunigzar’s success, the army needed to evolve into a complementary force, guaranteeing the country’s borders and being able to coordinate with the navy in whatever endeavor they needed to deal with overseas. Thus, the army was divided into two separate branches: the home forces and the expeditionary forces. 
The home forces are a direct evolution of the knight system. The difference is that the multipurpose way of warfare has been more specialized. The patrolling forces are still light cavalry, but in greater numbers and with a more effective equipment. Mounted arquebusiers and lancers are able to take advantage of the barren lands to harass and pursue the banditry until they surrender or are taken down. The knight houses are still the leaders of the squads, but now they are open to peasants to join in, if they are able to endure the harsh training regimes of the military and have experience in horse riding, thus the forces are composed mostly of farmer [backgrounds].
The local patrols are tasked with surveilling the land, and once they a threat is seen, a system of relay stations will send as quickly as possible the message to the closest garrison. Once the message is received, the garrison forces will be dispatched as fast as possible, supporting the local patrols until the threat is neutralized. This system keeps the local banditry low, since the rapid response and the lack of hiding places in the barren and plain lands of Drunigzar makes running away with stolen goods quite difficult. Moreover, if they try to run away to the border, the frontier patrols will be able to stop them. And if they are bold enough to try to escape through the sea, then it becomes the purview of the navy to stop them. The frontier is highly garrisoned, especially the southern border that holds the old nogarese fortresses, repurposed, reinforced and rearmed to modern standards. The border forces are a mix of spearmen, archers and arquebusiers, especially trained for defense using the advantage of the many fortifications in place. Since the land is so plain, there are little natural elements that allow an easy defense, thus the frontier is quickly filling with fortresses and watch towers. The western border is in a process of fortification, since it lacks the nogarese fortresses the south has.
The expeditionary forces were planned with the colonial expansion in mind. Previously, the drunig armies had never felt the need to go outside of their borders to fight, but once the authorities began planning the colonial efforts, they realized a strong armed force was needed in case of trouble. Thus, the expeditionary forces needed to accomplish two things: 
1. They needed to coordinate effectively with the Drunig Navy, since they would be required to deploy wherever they were needed.
2. They needed to deploy quickly and to have as much of an effect on the battlefield as fast as possible, since the colonies did not really have that many men to protect them or that much ground to give.
Thus, the Drunig Expeditionary Force was created as a small, but highly elite armed force, aimed at creating the biggest impact on the battlefield as possible. Since the logistics of transporting cavalry throughout the sea is considerably more difficult, the Expeditionary Force focuses on infantry. The combination of spearmen, archers and arquebusiers was maintained, but were specially trained for quick deployment and movement. The idea was to create a singular mass of soldiers that could both advance towards an enemy force, without losing their formation or killing potential, and stop a charging enemy formation and counterassault it. Adapting squared and oval formations, the spearmen are tasked to create a solid line of defense able to stop most cavalry and infantry charges. While the enemy closes, the arquebusiers and the archers lay down a defensive barrage to weaken and slow down the charges. Usually the arquebusiers are at the sides of the formation, whereas the archers are inside of it.
Once it’s deemed the enemy is close enough, both of them form rank alongside the spearmen and join the melee by using spears, short swords or pistols. If the enemy manages to threaten the drunig formations, reinforcements are sent from the rear in the form of either small cavalry units to harass the enemy from the back or mercenary gnoll units. 
The use of gnoll units has been a particularly successful, if mistrusted, tactic. The gnolls’ natural ferocity, toughness and resilience during a charge makes them solid line breakers, capable of pushing back an enemy formation that has been tired by the drunig squares already. And likewise, throwing a gnoll pack into the enemy is a powerful intimidation tactic, perfect to bruise the enemy before the drunig squares advance and charge (though drunig strategists will try to limit this, as even if the gnoll are expendable in the end, a waste of manpower is always frown upon). The Drunig armies will try to hire the gnolls that are the most capable of following orders and keep their cool during a fight, just in case they need to follow orders more complex that “charge at the enemy”. They will also receive a thorough training, or at least as much training as possible before they start turning on their instructors. Because they are generally difficult to train, they are allowed to carry their preferred weapons into battle, mostly close quarters combat like axes, swords, daggers, maces, hammers… Thus, the Gnoll Corps has become famous for its ferocity and effectiveness as shock troops, even if drunig staff keeps the Gnolls’ numbers low and easy to contain just in case. The Gnol Corps became famous during the War of the Lord Descended, which was the one and only time thus far the Expeditionary Force has been deployed in full to defend the colonies. During the escape of the drunig settlers to the colonies of Cabakritinnii, Cabakonninni and Bibile, the Gnoll Corps demonstrated to be highly effective against the crazed locals, who until that point had swept the small garrisons the colonists had established in the land. The Battle of the Bibile Gates would be the turning point for the drunig forces, getting the Expeditionary Force enough time to deploy in full force in the land, something that would not have been possible without the Gnoll Corps efforts.
If nothing of this works, the drunig army also has available artillery, although the drunig forces prefer to use the navy’s long-range capabilities rather than risk their slow cannons on a land battle. The use of other weapons, such as battle wizards, is an option as well, especially if they ever need to counter the enemy’s wizards, but in general the use of magic is very low in drunig armies, due to the difficulty of training quality wizards in this area of the world. Most of them are stationed as battle medics, to provide aid to the wounded. This guarantees a high rate of recovery for soldiers who are not outright dead, while also increasing morale and protecting veteran personnel.
This results in a highly effective force, able to protect the colonies from the regional threats that might affect them. However, this is not without problems. The approach of a small elite force inevitably makes it weak to large forces that are able to cause enough attrition, since even if the Expeditionary force can punch above its weight, it can be overwhelmed. It could also have problems fighting forces equally equipped and trained for the same reasons, being unable to stomach high and/or prolonged attrition. There have been theories that the Expeditionary Force could also suffer when fighting far from drunig ports and supply lines, having no experience with fighting in areas with challenging terrain far from the support of the Drunig navy.
== Cities ==
=== Tarracotennas ===
Tarracotennas is the capital of the Kingdom of Drunigzar. It used to be the biggest fishing port in the kingdom, created during the time of nogarese rule to be an outpost to guard the coast for pirates. During the rule of Paolos II, it was quickly expanded to facilitate the docking and maintenance of the growing merchant fleet. Nowadays, it is one of the biggest and fast growing cities in the world, which has generated many areas of chaotic cityscape, with only the high vigilance of the Crown keeping it from twisting into disordered mess. It also holds the Royal Merchant House’s buildings and ships, heavily protected by the Royal Navy. Tarracotennas has become a massive metropolis, which has caused many problems, especially for supplying all the essential goods needed for living. While water seems to be relatively easy to find, due to the many underground reservoirs and the drunigs’ old customs to preserve and conserve rainwater, the lack of food is something more worrying, since the surrounding lands are just not fertile enough to feed the population. Thus, they require constant food shipments, and the city’s authorities have created massive storehouses, in case that the regular schedules somehow fail.
=== Asul Libadi and Kastanos ===
The twin cities of Asul Libadi and Kastanos were created as military outposts to protect the strait leading to the Blue Gulf. Nowadays, they are some of the most important cities of the land, due to their harbors dedicated to the Navy’s training and upkeep. This two cities have always kept a fierce rivalry between them, and thus they hold frequent competitions. The most important of them is the “Corner World’s Race”, a contest where the merchant houses of both cities challenge themselves to cross the seas as fast as possible, from the South West Sea to the Sea of the End and back. All the while, the contestants have to provide the resources needed to continue the voyage for themselves through trading and treasure hunting. This not only tests the seamen’s ability to sail the seas as fast as possible, but also they have to prove their ability to keep the ships in good condition and to obtain the resources to continue the voyage by trading around the world. News of their travels and their adventures will keep the population enthralled for the entire duration of the competition. The captains of the participating ships can become figures of admiration in the kingdom, and a successful captain will be highly sought after by all of the merchant houses, though the most frequent outcome is them being hired by the Royal Trading Company.
=== North Rtega ===
The city of North Rtega used to be the biggest pirate outpost in the land before nogarese forces pacified the land for the first time. The pirates had created a considerable infrastructure for their operations, so the nogarese authorities decided to create a city on top on the pirate colony. Many of its old population remained there, and thus the city kept a high rate of crime, with many unsavory and illegal activities taking place within their walls. Criminal organizations acted beneath the drunig authorities, who were incapable of stopping the growing rate of organized crime. During the Kingdom’s economic expansion, however, the many criminal houses saw a golden opportunity: while their ability to participate in trade activities was limited due to a lack of general confidence, the increasing rate of shipping brought thousands of sailors and merchants, many of those very open to a more unsavory way of life. Thus, the criminal underground grew rich from drug and human trafficking. To avoid problems with the authorities, the criminal houses decided to pool their resources to create great and elegant casinos and gambling houses, giving the city an aura of elegance and style to make the underground world less obvious. Nowadays, North Rtega is known throughout the world as the home of gambling and vice, frequented by both the highest nobility and fortunes in the world, and by the regular travelers, who will search for quick fortune and frequently end up ruined, penniless and kicked out of the city.
=== Pesimatra ===
Pesimatra is located near the shores of the Frozen Lake. It was initially a small fishing town, having to carve huge holes in the frozen lake just to be able to access the waters below and its trout populations. The fishing grounds on the Frozen Lake cover a massive area, but fishermen generally prefer limiting their activities to the closer areas of the lake, since the Isle of Cold’s mysterious effects cause terror among the pesimatran population. Attempts of developing agriculture in the area have been futile, since the land around the lake is frozen and barely able to sustain plant life due to the permafrost. The city is also a major artisanal center, mostly centered in textile working leathers into high quality cold-resistant clothes. The economic growth of the kingdom has seen their economy expand into luxury clothes for the world nobility and great fortunes, with many pesimatran’s merchants searching for inks and dyes for the city’s industry.
=== Panisfribio ===
The fortified city of Panisfribio used to be the old capital of the kingdom. During the days of nogarese rule, this area was chosen as a resting spot for their armies, setting camp there. It eventually grew into a city of its own, well-fortified by the standards of the region. It has a long-standing military tradition, and it held the training grounds for the drunig knights that formed their military. As such, the protection the city offered across the land made it the most prosperous population in the kingdom. However, during the economic expansion of the kingdom, the eventual moving of the capital made Panisfribio lose a lot of power and influence, and as such, its population has shrunk considerably. The capital change also moved most of the main knight orders and the army’s headquarters to Taracotennas. This meant the loss of Panisfribio’s importance and a major percentage of the population, which in turn, affected the city’s standing and economy greatly. As such, some of the more traditional knight houses and dynasties now rule Panisfribio, clinging to past glories, generating a lot of tension with the capital and the Crown. The city is still very important as a policing center for most of the kingdom’s inner lands, protecting the herders and farmers from bandits and pirates.
=== Mibridor ===
The city of Mibridor is the main agricultural center in all the Kingdom of Drunigzar. The lands around the Rhaliaco river are some of the only properly arable lands in the kingdom, and as such, they concentrated a lot of its population. With the economic expansion, Mibridor doubled down in its agricultural importance to the country. Managing to convince the powers that be that relying upon outside food exports was a recepy to disaster, they conceived a plan alongside the Crown to improve the productive capabilities of the lands near the Rhaliaco. As such, Mibridor has concentrated a lot of agricultural experts, geologists and alchemists to investigate the best ways to improve the fertility of the land and which crops can be grown there to maximise output. This has made Mibridor a center of reference in agricultural development, nearly doubling production through the development of new technology and crops. Its biggest innovation, the "alchemical bubble caves", can create small isolated spaces that imitate the exact conditions to grow a specific plant. Although a revolutionary development, its high costs and its limited size means it's only really cost-effective in certain species, such as medicinal herbs, and it's simply unable to produce mass consumption crops at any acceptable quantities. This advancements have been achieved at a great cost for the Crown and the city, however, and Mibridorese authorities fear the funding needed to continue this projects will be eventually cut in case of finantial troubles or rejected for cost-eficiency reasons.
=== Segaltar ===
The city of Segaltar was one of the more important fishing town before the economic expansion, it housed some of the most expert sailors and ship builders at the time. The segalteses already had a good deal of treaties with the Woodcutter Cities from the north, since accessing local wood was both expensive and the local trees produced poor quality wood anyway. Many of the original ships during Paolo II's expeditions were bought from shipbuilders who had ties to Segaltar, which made the city the biggest port in the kingdom before the moving of the capital to Tarracotennas. Wanting to continue their position of commercial dominance in the kingdom, they've tried to monopolise their ties to the Woodcutter, something they failed once the economic expansion began in earnest. Trying to compensate for this loss, Segaltar tried to explore the lands south of the kingdom in search for better wood and shipbuilding deals. This made them enter in contacts with the drunig colonies near the Forest of Bloody Vengeance. Many of this colonies work as woodcutters themselves, even despite the warnings of the curse that haunts that forest. While many ignore the curse, saying it only affects to those born in the Dual Kingdom-Empire of Voita-Malagsh, rumours have began to spread that segaltese-built navy ships made out of wood from that accursed place end up sinking in mysterious conditions, while merchant and fishing ships show no such problems. As such, many people mistrusts their ships, just in case that curse start affecting other areas. This doesn't detter the Gnoll Empire from buying big armoured ships from them, usually destined to raid and slaving raids. This has caused a lot of controversy within Drunigzar, since if the curse starts affecting their ships, it may cause a major diplomatic rift between the Kingdom of Drunigzar and the Gnoll Empire, something the kingdom can ill afford.
=== South Rtega ===
The city of South Rtega was founded as a protective outpost to protect the Chickenbone Gulf from attacks during the days of the economic expansion, when the nogarese fleet couldn't be accounted for protecting the area due to their war against the gnoll. It quickly grew due to all trade in the area, and decided to expand. The colonial projects of Paolos III gave them an opportunity to do so. In particular, they focused on the Lotus Island, an area that was not really claimed by any state. Their attempts at setting up a colony there, however, failed miserably, since the addictive properties of the lotus flowers meant that every single individual who went there ended up addicted and cut all ties with the mainland, losing both the population and the ships. From that point on, South Rtega's authorities and merchant houses have been discussing ways to take over the island, searching for any clue that might help them protect themselves from the flowers' effects. Many consider that the only real option for taking control of the land is simply to burn down the place in its entirety, but this causes many concerns. In particular many fear the effluvia caused by the burning flowers might reach the mainland and cause havoc upon the population, now with no way to acquire the lotus flowers. Others are searching for ways to neutralise the effects either by depriving themselves from the sense of smell or creating some form of isolation. Many others want to find a way to profit from the lotus flowers, seeing as if the effects can be controlled, it could become a star product all throughout the world.
== Colonization ==
The expansion project of Paoulos III the Explorer was planned due to the high demographic pressure the kingdom was suffering at the time. While the country still had a very low population density, the simple fact was the growth of the merchant and artisanal towns in the coast was causing supply problems. The investments in growing farming output throughout the land done by Paoulos’ father, Jus I the Wise, was decades away from any kind of tangible result, so Paoulos decided to expand the borders of the kingdom. The dilemma was, where to expand it towards? And how? War was immediately discarded, since it would generate a lot of bad faith in many of Drunigzar’s clients, and the drunig navy couldn’t just risk valuable ships in war, since they were needed to defend the coastline and trading lines. Plus, the drunig army was, and still is, considerably smaller than that of its neighbours, and relying on mercenary work during a war is extraordinarily risky. Buying foreign land was also discarded, due to the costs of such a business. Increasing the kingdom through marriage deals was also mentioned, but since the politics of such measure would invariably mean the partial loss of Drunigzar’s economic freedom and independence, it was seen as an unacceptable outcome. A fourth option was proposed: the exploration of the lands southwards. An exploratory fleet wouldn’t really arise immediate suspicions from the neighbouring kingdoms, and since most of the kingdoms south of Drunigzar were in a state of somewhat disorder ever since the Gnoll expansion, stablishing footholds in those areas seemed easy. Plus, the enticing chance of discovering treasure and raw resources alongside arable land was a great bonus.
The explorator teams were composed of young men, usually married and with children in Drunigzar, searching for either land to work or for treasure overseas. The idea was that, once a beachhead was established, they would bring their families and it would grow quickly, with population being attracted by the promise of fortune. The colonization projects also gave some of the younger trading houses a chance to establish themselves in rich lands, while also making great business from moving families throughout the sea.
=== 1st Generation Colonies ===
Thus, the project began its planning stages. The first wave of colonization was conceived as a combined land and sea efforts, exploring the coastline close to Nogar and the lands near the Great End’s Peak. The land part of this exploration was unsuccessful, due to the protests of the nogarese, who threatened to cut all ties with Drunigzar if they occupied any part of what was considered as “Old Nogar”. The sea part of the exploration effort actually managed a singular success in the form of solid diplomatic and trade relations with the Tenzin people. Many of the drunig had been either herders or belonged to herding families, so they connected immediately with the yak and tenzinese herders. The drunig expedition decided to settle in a strip of land that had been unclaimed by both tenzinese and nogarese, and thus didn’t infringe on the “Old Nogar” prohibition. After a couple of decades, the colony city of Novo Porto became an important shipping port, giving the tenzinese an outlet to trade their charges with their outside world, since many of them hadn’t ever come out of the mountains, and thus have no sailing experience. Many drunig explorers also tried to find the hidden city of Tanzurutu, but after “persuasive” arguments by the locals, the drunig authorities decided to dissuade any official expedition through the mountains.
The success of the Porto Novo colony was a mixed bag in the eyes of the drunig authorities. While they had managed to expand and establish a solid outpost far of Drunigzar, it was of very little real value. The size of Novo Porto was very limited to avoid entering in conflict with Nogar, and trade with the local population was not that much profitable. The nogarese authorities also expected at least four or five more colonies along the abandoned nogarese lands, which were not to be to avoid a conflict with Nogar. It was still a moderate success, though, proving that expansion southwards was indeed possible, but that it needed to go even beyond the Great End's Peak.
=== 2nd Generation Colonies ===
The second wave of colonization efforts started around a decade after the founding of Novo Porto. Wanting to avoid the bottleneck problems of Novo Porto, they prepared in search for lands that would allow the potential colonies to grow. The preparations were as thorough as they could be: diplomats, merchants and colonists were versed in the customs of the region they were to “explore”, and prepared gifts and other niceties to start talks about the colonization efforts. And yet, the first attempts of this second wave of colonization ended in disaster. The original plan was starting negotiations with the Heraldic Kingdom of the Otamlar to explore the mountain ranges of the region in search of mineral deposits, and maybe creating a couple of port cities to trade that wealth with the rest of the world. However, drunig ambassadors were received by a rain of warning arrows before they could even approach any discussion. Shocked and confused, the drunig emissaries tried to establish any contact with the otamlarese, to see what exactly was the reason of this hostilities. After months of trying to establish any kind of contact, it turned out that the reason of the attack was a series of slaver raids in the coast of the kingdom done by the gnolls. Since the Gnoll Empire has few shipbuilders, they relied early on in the services of drunig craftsmen, and thus, many of the ships used were of drunig manufacture. And while this situation was tense as it already was, the actions of the drunig diplomatic team turned a bad situation into a worse one. While it is not known exactly what was said during the negotiation, it is believed that the team uttered some form of the expression “it’s just business”, and they offered to sell them ships to defend themselves from the gnoll. Afterwards, the entire diplomatic team had to run for their lives as otamlarese warriors chased them.
While a full-blown war was avoided, to this day drunig traders are forbidden for stepping into the Kingdom of Otamlar. Bad languages say that the entire diplomatic team was stripped of their nobility titles, their possessions and now spend their days anonymously herding sheep in the harshest parts of Drunigzar, never to set foot on a ship again. They also decided to publicly stop the sales of ships to the Gnoll Empire, although this has not stopped the sale behind curtains, which suits both drunig shipbuilders and the Gnoll Empire well.
A play of this story was written decades after, which was a hit in Elanxan theatres. When asked about their opinion, Drunig ambassadors and traders said they find it amusing. Rumours about the original diplomatic team demanding royalties are unconfirmed.
The expedition launched into the Dual Kingdom-Empire of Voita-Malagsh found much more success. The two kingdoms, still independent from each other, were in desperately need of resources to fuel their war against the cursed forest. This not only meant that drunig traders could sell immense quantities of salt and herbicide for whatever price they asked for, but also a good portion of the coast had been abandoned, prime real estate for the colonies. While they started the creation of the colonies that would eventually become Cabakrotiro y Cabakapa, they were warned by the locals to avoid this lands, since the advance of the forest was right on their way. Thus, before any stable population was established, the drunig teams brought many experts to monitor the advance of the forest. To the relief of the drunig and the absolute horror of the voita-Malagashians, the curse only seemed to affect the lands occupied by the Dual Kingdom-Empire of Voita-Malagsh, and thus the forest left the drunig colonies alone. That allowed the colonizing efforts to go uninterrupted. There were incidents where voita-malagashian civilians tried to migrate to the colonies, but drunig authorities, not wanting to take their chances with the curse, stopped them. The colonies were thus able to take advantage of the fast growing forest, using the wood to sell to the drunig mainland, where rumors started to spread that military ships made with that wood were sinking in mysterious circumstances. Again, not wanting to risk the wrath of the forest, drunig officials forbade the use of the forest’s wood for anything military-related, but that hasn’t stopped many merchant houses to use it for ships built for the black market. Risky, but at a cheaper price than ships made out of oak from the north.
After the success of the colonies in the coast of the Forest of Bloody Vengeance, the colonial efforts immediately set sail to the lands southwest. During those days, the lands were relatively easy to occupy, since scattered nomad tribes and small farmer settlements populated most of the land. Thus the colonies of Cabakritinnii, Cabakonninni and Bibile were established. This would be many years before the comet the locals pray to would arrive, and thus the great walls that protect the colonies from the cultists were created. The success of the colonies would pave the way of a third colonizing effort.
=== 3rd Generation Colonies ===
The third wave of colonization went considerably smoother than the first and the second one. With many lessons learned, a bigger effort and more care with their diplomatic teams and confidence growing in the mainland for expansion, the colonial teams continued with the expansion, this time south of the Forest of Bloody Vengeance. The colonies of Paolotera and Crysanferno were established very swiftly, with Crysanferno being a particularly good catch, since it provided a great base of operations for all trade in the area. Many other colonies were planned in the area, but the arrival of the comet into the area would dampen the projects, and the locals’ sudden change of attitude forced many burgeoning towns to retreat into the more established colonies, while also building the great walls around the colonies. The clash between the locals in search of sacrifices and the drunig is the one time the drunig army and navy fully mobilized outside of the kingdom for the duration of the wall’s construction.
While this was happening, the colonizing efforts continued alongside the coast. However, the infamously poor Vodyanik Lands, even more barren than mainland Drunigzar, were a poor fit for the expansion projects. Moreover, the vodyaniki population, fearful of the sea, was distrustful of this strangers that came in great ships, clashing with the drunig explorers. While violence was avoided, the lack of native contact and the lack of resources made every outpost fall flat, with Thalasoverme as the single successful colony in the area, thanks to the agricultural projects along the Cinderwall River. Same with the volcanic land of the Runaan, but unlike the Vodyanik lands, the mineral riches unearthed by the constant seismic and volcanic activity was of extreme interest for the drunig traders. They quickly colonized a small beachhead, the one place without many volcanic fumes and ash rains, founding the city of Megarotera. Trade with the runaan is scarce, but highly prosperous, since it’s difficult for the drunig companies to exploit the mineral resources without local assistance. Besides, most of the cave systems are inhabited by the reptile beings anyway, and thus they serve as great guides to the riches mineral veins.
=== 4th Generation Colonies ===
The success of the second and third generation of drunig colonies, even when accounting the war in the lands of the so called “Lord Descended”, pushed drunig’s authorities even further southwards. The expansion efforts and resources allocated for the creation of new colonies were thus doubled. However, two big problems arose for the continuation of the process: the first one was feeding the growing colonies. The relative small size of each of the colonies allowed for little agriculture and farming, even in the more fertile lands. Combined with their fast growing population, the colonies’ problems were quickly becoming a mirror of those in mainland. Fortunately, the locations chose allowed for very stable fishing, and trading with locals when possible was also a possibility. Still, feeding so many mouths was becoming quite a problem once again, and thus colonization projects centered on farming and agriculture were prioritized. The second problem was the lack of appropriate lands to colonize. Ketlovia was a no go zone from the beginning, the wars between the werewolves and the gnoll had left the land quite damaged and the possible repercussions of getting land in the middle of gnoll territory (gnoll occupied territory in the context of a war to boot) was a prospect very poor for the exploratory teams. Likewise, there was simply no way to justify to the Crown any kind of colonial activity in the Gnoll Empire. The sheer risks involved meant nobody ever even consider such an endeavor, although there are rumours of attempts to purchase a beachhead that fell flat due to the lack of colonial volunteers. The dead lands of Okhost were rejected as well, though trade relations were established with the lich priests.
The lack of success beyond the Ivory Peninsula meant the distances needed to search new lands were beginning to be quite vast, and thus the exploratory teams decided to invest in developing and purchasing bigger ships that would not require frequent stops along the coast. Drunig craftsmen were sent to many parts of the world to study new shipbuilding and navigation techniques. This would end in the development of the drunig galleons, though their development wouldn’t be completed until way after the first drunig colonies in Marisibu waters were established. 
Meanwhile, the colonizing efforts continued. One of the more grizzly chapters were the attempts of colonizing Squid Island (before the earthquake that would join it with the rest of the continent), infamous for their destructive wildlife. A massive inhabited island full of wild jungle and untapped mineral riches, Drunig explorers were sure that they’d be able to keep the insect swarms at bay, and that they would prevail in their attempts to expanding across the land. The exploratory teams sent to investigate the coast were reportedly missing, and the rescue teams that were sent after them were lost as well, thus the ships had to return to Drunigzar with barely a skeleton crew to tell the tale. Apparently the vicious critters attacked the explorers in the jungle, swarming them and devouring them to the point not a single rest of them remained. The only proof of this was the testimony of one of the lookout boy’s testimony from the ship, seeing how ants devoured one of the settlers even as he ran back to the beach, leaving just clean bones on the beach. With no real way to counter the insects, they continued southwards. They arrived at the Desert of the Weriest, but once again, that land had little to offer the drunig colonizers outside of cattle trade with the Star People. However, the locals told them that even southwards the land was filled with fertile jungle with lots of life.
Seeing an opportunity for finally acquiring the fertile lands they were looking for, they quickly sent exploratory teams to the south of the desert. This led to the discovery of the Terrania Freeholds, a land filled with wild and strange vegetation, a veritable flood of life. The fertility of the land, the natural variety and the relative friendliness of the local spirits were a godsend for the exploratory teams, already fearing this last colonizing effort would end up in failure. They quickly set up colony cities around the coast, as well as sent researches and explorers to survey the jungle for arable lands and for any species that would help Drunigzar’s agricultural problems. Many specimens were sent to Mibridor’s agricultural research centers for study, and many of the original plants form part of the Royal Gardens to this day.
Seeing the success in he freeholds, the exploratory teams decided to continue southwards, to the edges of the world. This led them to the Eldritch Jungle. Unlike the Terranian Freeholds, the wild lands of the jungle prove considerably tougher for the explorers. Many expeditions were made in search for resources and treasure, but very little came back, and even less came with anything of value. But those who came back did so with strange strange stories to tell. Alongside the dangerous fauna, both in the form of great monsters and small critters, the survivors told the tales of strange phenomena that kept most methods of orienting themselves through the wilds failed: the marks they left kept dissapearing after a wild, and the places they used as reference seemingly changed locations. While the exploration teams continued their search, a colony was set on the island in the center of the Grorrok Gulf. The island was considerably easier to settle in, and even had native population. The charcoal skinned people welcomed them, and helped the drunigs settle in what would become the city of Kinalonga. 
While the settlers were busy in Kinalonga, the expeditions to the jungle were still going, with little to show for it outside of isolated examples. However, after nearly two years of sending expeditions into the jungle, a solitary team found the remains of what it appeared to be a city, abandoned for millennia and swallowed by the jungle. They brought what appeared to be an ancient map of sorts. After careful investigation, it was theorised it contained the route that would connect the eastern seas with the western ones. If the route was proven true, it would give drunig merchants quick access to half of the world's markets.
After the discovery of the map, the expeditionary effords quadrupled. Pretty much all merchant houses invested in expeditions to the Eldritch Jungle, searching for whatever clue that would lead to the route to the western seas. They found other lost cities, all swallowed by the jungle and seemingly abandoned in mysterious circumstances. Most of the remains were sent to Kinalonga, that became a massive center of archaeological research to coordinate the efforts of all merchant houses. The remains were in surprisingly good condition, and experts proposed that the cities had been abandoned in a hurry, leaving behind most of the natives' possesions. While this worried many of the archaeologist, the treasures left behind were enough to fund the expeditions, making Kinalonga extremely rich. 
This would end up crashing down with the arrival of the Sau Foeo galleon. The ship had sailed as one of the biggest expeditions yet, but what came back was a pale shadow of what initially sailed. Half of the crew was already dead, and half of the survivors were in their way to death. They had caught a brutal disease that had spreaded throughout the outpost alongside the coast of the Eldritch Jungle. The crew of the Sau Foeo had been one of the first to leave to Kinalonga, the rest were assumed sunk or their remains left in the shores of the accursed land. 
The disease quickly spread throughout the colony. After less than a day of contact with the infected, headaches and vomits ensued, followed by delirium and hallucinations. After a week of painful disease, the last moments of the infected were terrible, as internal bleeding killed the individual. Nearly the entire population of the island was wiped out, including the native population. The survivors, in desperation, jump aboard the last galleon and burnt down the dockyards so the disesase couldn't spread to the north. They waited until the fires and the screams in the colony died down.
After more than a month, starvation and desperation forced the survivors to go back to the land. What they found were the dead bodies of the entire cities, with many of them showing signs of having attacked, and even attempted to eat, each other. It would be only after a drunig merchant ship arrived to the scene and saw the tragedy that the rest of the kingdom knew what had befallen to the colony.
Horrified at what had happened, the Crown immediately decreed a stop to all expeditions to the Eldritch Jungle. A plan to clean and rebuild Kinalonga was established, which lasted half a decade, lack of survivors and fear of the disease leaving little manpower available. Many doctors and wizards were sent to the island to analyse the disease, and to find ways to combat it. To this day, the colony of Kinalonga is less than a third of what it used to be, and the needs of quarantining all suspicious of infection has resulted in frequent purges. The docks are always [guarded] by warships, ordered to never step on the island, and to force whatever ship suspicious of carrying the disease back to Kinalonga, by force if necessary. The costs of mantaining the colony are so high that authorities are more and more voicing their plans to just straight up abandoning the island to its fate. This has been utterly forbidden by the Crown and many of the most influential politicians in the kingdom, who fear that this could set up an example that would irreparably break the ties between Drunigzar and its colonies, leading to eventual rebellions and independences.
Nowadays, the expansion of the colonies has slowed down considerably. Having reach the world’s edge to the south, there are little space they can really explore in that direction, with the exception of the colonies in the Terrania Freeholds, which are growing fast to satisfy the agricultural demands of the nation. A fifth colonial effort was proposed, this time travelling north, through the old lands of the ancient Merfolk Empire, but for now authorities are content with reinforcing their holdings in the south. Plus, a possible expansion northwards would probably create tension with the Elanxa and Avangar empires, which would threaten many profitable businesses. There have also been rumours of some trading houses attempting to expand their trade in Anchovia in search of a future annexation, but the anchovy folk is showing a lot of reticence to accept any advances from the drunig merchants.
Category:Nations
Category:Giantstep
Category:Drunigzar