The City-State of Kratía

**Governance**

The City-State of Kratia, traditionally ruled by the Hyrcanus dynasty which was also the founding dynasty of the city-state.

The city-state is governed by the king and a ruling council, called Ephors (overseer), the Ephors are responsible for running and planning the city and act as advisors to the king, they can be assigned as diplomats or military leaders by the king.

At the end the king has the final say in all diplomatic and military issues.

**Culture**

Kratía is located in the northern part of Ageos and the Krateans consider themselevs as Ageosi, they share the same religion, language and common history with many of the other Ageosi city states.

### Histroy & lore

The people of Kratia were the natives to the northern mountains

of Ageos, yet they didn’t always live in the Aspida valley. In the times before the fall of Myros the Krateans lived where Thyconium is nowadays, at the time they were a simple fishing village traded once in a while with the passing Myrosian ships which headed west, but with time more and more ships started to pass near the small village. With time, the Grand City State of Myros laid its eyes on the small village and started investing in it in terms of money, guards and colonists, making the small village turn into an important trading colony of Myros which controlled the nearby straits.

But, as the powers of Paneseus do, the great Myros fell and all of its power vanished in what seemed like a day, making all of its colonies vulnerable to barbarian raids, and one in particular…

Hyrcan I, The son of Navira was the village leader of the Krateans when the Myrosians came, he was the one that signed the deals and welcomed the Myrosians into the village, turning it into a great trading hub. But as Myros fell the city was vulnerable to barbarians, and more specifically to the nomad tribes of the north which long sought to raid and destroy the trading hub. Knowing the future danger, Hyrcan went to the other leaders of the colony, seeking to coordinate with them and trying to form up a militia but most of them denied the incoming dangers believing that the Myrosians will recover and resupply the city with guards. Yet, only one leader of the colony listened and agreed with Hyrcan. Morelian, The grandson of Stratiotis and the garrison commander of the colony, thought as well of the incoming danger, and sided with Hyrcan in the grand debates which took place.

Poisoned with ignorance, most leaders decided to wait for Myros to recover and send guards. Morelian and Hyrcan met, knowing that the city would fall to the raiders, seeking to protect the people, they together decided to emigrate from the colony into a more protected area in the region. And so, the true Krateans followed Hyrcan in his decision while the loyal guards of Morelian volunteered to go with him to protect the emigrants.

At the start they traveled south, into the great forests and past the Thykrates river where they met with the local tribes, some of them were friendly and welcomed the new immigrants but most were hostile and threatened them. Knowing that winter is coming and they must find a place to settle Hyrcan and Morelian decided to settle in the forest, but in what seemed immediately they were attacked by hostile tribes. A small battle ensued with Morelian’s guards and him holding the line in a hoplite formation while the Krateans fled back to the mountain range. Seeing the foreigners fleeing, the hostile tribes withdrew their attack and returned home. Morelian and his guards were almost broken but held the line, they returned to the mountain range with the rest of the people and continued their long march.

Weak and hungry the people of Kratia finally settled in the Aspida valley, a place well protected by the nearby mountains and rich with resources, although mostly infertile the Kratians found their food source to be the Velthiri river and breeding local sheep and cows.

And so, the Krateans found themselves a new home and slowly developed in what we know today is the City-state of Kratia.