Sequoia Kingdom

The **Sequoia Kingdom** was a territory that bordered the Whiterock Dukedom and Iron Triangle Empire. They are ruled by the royal family and the three dukes.

## Overview

As a loose alliance of free nobles, the Sequoia Kingdom lacked a central faith. Ancestor worship existed side-by-side with organised religion, but Neian was the first god to make a place for himself here and considered it his own territory. The Church of Valour had been doing its best to split up other organisations and attack nobles who worshipped their ancestors. It had been less than fifty years since the Church of Valour had helped the royal family win the war over the trade route that gave them their current power.

Sequoia City had no natural resources nearby, nor was it well-fortified. However, this city that was home to over a hundred thousand was the capital of the Sequoia Kingdom even though the actual base of the royal family was elsewhere.

## Members

* Old King
* Marquess Ushur
	+ Richard walked right into the palace and kicked the king off his throne, gathering the assembly and announcing that his younger brother Marquess Ushur would be taking the throne.
* Crown Prince
	+ Died in the fight against Viscount Richard after the First Magic War.
* Duke Hamilton lvl 18
* Duke Grasberg lvl 18
	+ Duke Grasberg who had been relatively far away from the fight with the invader saint almost lost a leg and dropped to the level of a normal saint in Faelor.
		- Viscount Zim lvl 6
		- Tied with the royal family due to blood ties

* Direwolf Duke, Bevry (Deceased) lvl 18
	+ Lord Moonbear. This saint had formidable might and passing ability at command, once a trusted aide who guarded the Dukedom when Bevry’s armies were out at war.
* Bard, captain of the royal knights. level 17.
* Marquess Meecah
* Earl Bounvilom
* Earl Sossker
* Earl Duisburg
* Viscount Dima
* Earl Lohr

## History

* Richard started out as a frontier knight under Duke Bevry.

### **Mage Association (18 years old)**

* Richard had conflict with the Mage Association of the kingdom over the sudden apppearance of superior-grade equipment from Richard. This developed into an all-out war that was easilly dismantled by the tactician. The battle had ended with the total defeat of the allied army. They had lost five saints and four more grand mages while one was imprisoned over the course of the fight, 12,000 soldiers dead and over 15,000 taken prisoner. All 3,000 of the royal knights had been killed in battle, not even one taken captive. Two-thirds of the Sequoia Kingdom’s most elite cavalry had thus been wiped out, leaving the royal family in imminent danger.
* His war with the Mage Association ended in a huge victory. In the history of the Sequoia Kingdom, it would come to be known as the First Magic War.
* Now, he was one of the most powerful beings in the Sequoia Kingdom, standing shoulder to shoulder with the three dukes and what was left of the royal family. This left the power structure of the Kingdom in dire straits.

### **Rise of Richard**

A large number of merchants and adventurers were enticed by the prospect of gold and settled down at the oases, many swearing their allegiance to him and becoming citizens of the Bloodstained Lands. He already had over a hundred thousand subjects under him, and nearly ten times the number of slaves.

Now that he had reclaimed a large share of the profits from the Bloodstained Highway, Richard earned more than five million a year from the Bloodstained Lands. This was enough to turn the entire territory into a theocracy, forget building a single large temple.

Richard’s tax revenue started growing at an alarming rate. He now reaped nearly four million gold a year from the caravans alone, and with the addition of taxes on the new permanent and temporary residents that went up to five million. This didn’t even count the extra three million or so he would get from the next year after claiming an additional 30% of the profits from the nobles who had opposed him.

And that was just the start of it. New applications for permanent residency were flowing in every day, and even when the procedure was made long and complicated after they reached the 100,000 mark the population was booming. The tax on Richard’s lands was still quite small, and the trade route was extremely profitable. On top of that, the taxes on permanent residents were much lower than for temporary residents. Permanent residency could directly be bought for a price, and also came with any sizeable land purchase in the five major oases. Those of poorer backgrounds could serve Richard for five years instead, or they could just join the army and do it in three.

The Bloodstained Lands had turned into a land of gold.

His dwarven allies in Forgefires were expanding rapidly as well. They had just annexed three smaller tribes, acquiring ten thousand warriors and many times more workers. However, that did not satisfy Bamor’s appetite; Richard was still dumping food and wine into his warehouse while taking ore away.

Richard now had full control of the borderlands of the Sequoia Kingdom, effectively holding a monopoly on the slave trade through both the Bloodstained Lands and the Iron Triangle Empire. The loss of the lifeblood of the labour force was a heavy blow.

The political balance had begun to break down as well. The new Direwolf Duke had managed to consolidate his power based on Richard’s backing alone and was definitely going to be the firmest of allies. If not for the official difference in status, Toffler would even be considered Richard’s vassal. Duke Grasberg’s reputation had grown despite his own weakening in the battle against the invaders, and his silence spoke louder than words ever could.

### **After the Divine War**

His army followed the road straight to Sequoia City, completely crushing the 10,000 men that remained of the royal army before heading inside. With Bard and the other royal knights having been wiped out some time ago, there was nobody left to stop him.

The proceeding events went just as expected. Richard walked right into the palace and kicked the king off his throne, gathering the assembly and announcing that his younger brother Marquess Ushur would be taking the throne.

## Extra information

used to belong to the God of Valour, untill he lost it to Richard