The Royal Basin

# - *Freedom, Ambition, Pride, Integrity -*

The Royal Basin is a Monarchy, ruled by Queens and Kings who are supported by great noble houses. Their power is built on the back of the loyal common folk who toil in the fields, support their industries and take up arms when war is declared. The people of this nation are proud of their heritage and their achievements, determined in action and impossible to break. Even in defeat they are always rising.

The Basin is the heart of the great continent of Daer Akmir: There have been many wars that have threatened the freedoms of the people of these lands and it has been the Royal Basin that has stood resolutely and often alone to defend them. It is said that there is not one adult or child that would not stand for those freedoms, a knowledge that is both respected and feared across the great continent.

The Basin long ago mastered Divine Magic and Priests of the Divinities walk side by side with Sourcerers of the Convocation who support the guilds and the armed forces in the defence and development of the land.

War has hardened the folk of this ancient land and they have forgotten the gentler and more comforting arts of the Ritualists and the Tao. The people of his land remember those that have died for them and equally have long memories for those that did not come when the banners were called.

### Key Concepts of the Royal Basin

**Nobility and Ownership** - The Nobility rule the commonfolk and own the lands that they live upon, there is a long history of rivalry or alliance between the noble houses that is not easily forgotten or put down.

**Deity Fearing** - The Deities of the Royal Basin have form and the belief of the people give them power. Priests walk the land, they are deeply respected and treated with great reverence, they are the mouthpieces of the Divine and hold your afterlife in their hands

**Monsters are real** - The Royal Basin has been plagued by Daemons for untold millennia and it is the power of the Sourcerers of the Colleges that keep them at bay. They are the controllers of power in the land both magical and often political and they are to be feared and respected

**Guilds keep us safe** - Whilst the nobles are the rulers the Guildsfolk are trained to keep the people safe providing expertise in military through doctoring and magical prowess. Their lives are the first before the blade if there is a threat to the land.

**Oaths are Everything** - An Oath made in the Royal Basin is an Oath
that has power, it is in the blood of the people back to the first days and it is a blasphemy to break your Oath or word.

**Equality and Multiculturalism** - The Basin is an open door to any race and sees no difference in race or gender, independence in an individual is considered a great virtue as long as it is working for the good of the nation.

# The Six Duchies of the Royal Basin

The Royal Basin was once three great realms that unified through war and then collapsed, gathered and split once more over various generations. It eventually settled into six huge Duchies that were countries in their own right and ruled by their own monarch from one of the major ruling houses of the land. They agreed to be ruled over by one family but that that family would be chosen by the six Duchy leaders and follow a complicated set of protocols, the cursed throne.

### *Nobility, Wealth, Power.*

Situated in the North Western corner of the Royal Basin the Western Marches finds itself bordering theRhygahreans to the West and the Low Kingdom to the North. The Lionsgold family find their roots in these lands, those nobles that have long stood for the people, making this the political centre of the Basin. The people here live for the hustle and bustle of city life, the power of trade that comes from the scourge that runs down to the Lake of Diamonds, the beating heart of commerce in the Royal Basin.

### *Industry, Endeavour, Tradition.*

The Vale is Northern Central in the Royal Basin, controlling the fallout of mountains and hills that dwindle South from the Razorback Mountains of the Low Kingdom on its Northern Border. To the West are the Marches, to the East it finds a border with The Golden lands and in the South its territory meets The Wooded Ways. Traditionally the Natheron family hail from this land and still have vestiges of their power here; one of the first noble lines they are closely associated with forgotten spirits of the Gillieabad and that power still haunts the land.

### *Faith, Courage, Loyalty.*

The great fields and farms of the Golden Lands roll as a long sliver of rich and fertile lands down from the Mountains in

the North until they find a border with the Wooded Ways in the South. To their West the chill, mist filled landscape of the Bitter Vale and to the East the coastal forests of Ironstone Bay. The land falls under the jurisdiction of the Lionsgold House who rule through their vassal family; The Shadowmanes from the Golden Citadel. Faith is at a premium in the Golden Lands and until the rise of Karrid Ren in The Wooded Ways it was considered the Spiritual heartland of the Royal Basin.

### *Trade, Redemption, Aegis.*

*(Originally: Dominance, Resilience, Reward)*

Ironstone Bay is a land divided by its history and one that has changed the actual landscape and geography found on the maps of its past. The Northern quarter of the land is dominated by the terrors of the Drakenvold Forests which claw their way up the Mountains of the Razorbacks and the Low Kingdom in the North. The Tradewind commands the Eastern coastline and allows Trade up to the Frozen North and across the Oceans with the Free Trade Alliance. The Western Border is cluttered with the many fiefdoms for the Golden Lands whilst the South shakes hands again, at a point, with the Tradewind as it meets the Golden Lands.

### *Power, Ambition, Achievement.*

The Ferns flourish in the South Western corner of the Royal Basin in a large Duchy that is ruled by the ancient and noble House Winter. In keeping with the land its people the Winter House heaves with Sourcerers and Vorokians Casters who have made their mark on the Duchy. The Northern border touches the Western Marches. To the East it meets the borders of both The Wooded Ways in its Northern reaches and the lands of the Tao guised as Azilir as it stretches further South. The old lands of Pardetion stand vigil along its Southern border whilst to the West Rhygahrea dominates in the North but eventually we meet the Koren pass that takes us to Egaria and the old burial grounds of ancient Lords along the Barrowbroke Hills. This makes the West a volatile and difficult part of the Basin to inhabit.

### *Balance, Respect, Civilisation.*

The Wooded Ways is also called the Ancient Heart and stands as the largest of the Duchies of the Royal Basin. It holds the greatest and the oldest of the Forests which hold sway in a land that is also littered with the greatest edifices of the past and current day. Its South is bordered by two mythical lands: The closed borders of Azilir, legendary home to the Hierophant of the Tao and The Mordell Wastes, the resting place of Davik Mordell, darkest of Priests to Malice. The Eastern border meets the Grayvant Ocean with the Western Border nestled against the peripheries of The Ferns. To the North the Wooded Ways finds the Golden Lands and the Bitter Vale as it neighbours. The lands are controlled by the Natheron family, who serve the Gillieabad and the Tao in the name of the people of the Royal Basin.

See also Basanic Society