Dail Marches

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The Dail Marches is a collective term for the counties or marches in the far east of Venastor on the Dail Peninsula and their mutual alliance. The Dail Marches are a remnant of the Trovian Empire that had officially collapsed in 847 PC, with many of the counties still holding to their oaths of fealty to an emperor that no longer exists. In the present day and for the last few centuries the mutual alliance has held despite the counties' differing political goals due to their shared hostility against foreign invaders. Over the years dozens of foreign powers have attempted to conquer the Dail peninsula, and each time the alliance has held those powers at bay, retaining independence for their individual counties.

With the mutual alliance has come a form of political union in the March Council, which votes on laws and agreements between the eight states that they all must adhere to. This form of council is one of the earliest parliamentary governments in the continent and has given rise to similar bodies of government in foreign nations as well.

While the alliance still calls themselves the Dail Marches, and each continue to claim the rank of a March, the counties are in effect small kingdoms in their own right – Each has a thriving economy, most have multiple urban centers, and the smallest of them still has a population rivaling that of their entirety in the days of the Trovian Empire. Today, the ruler of each march is titled as a Prince, and each of the five larger marches are alternatively referred to as a Principality by foreign and internal officials.

## March Overview

### Brunuh

The Principality Brunuh is located on the northern coast of the continent, with six cities beneath its banner, three of which being coastal. The capital city, Gerinde, is located far inland near its shared border with Kiria, near that march’s capital of Gerius, prompting a long rivalry between the two. The land is little different from the surrounding rainforest of the Dail Peninsula, with the exception being the somewhat drier highlands to the west and south. Of the nine marches that make up their union, Brunuh is third in size by area, population, and number of cities.

Brunuh was one of the last counties to join the Trovian Empire, finally won over by a stranglehold on its trade. While Brunuh is a coastal duchy, its location on the peninsula’s northern coast so near the pole often freezes over its port and makes it difficult to defend against any serious efforts to blockade. These factors caused the starvation of many of the lowest in society, and the civil unrest eventually caused the ruling government of the time to collapse, allowing the Trovian Empire to pick up the pieces.

Brunuh is one of the marches that absorbed the lands of Falonde after that nation fell to the Fox Plague near the ending days of the Trovian Empire.

### Catecalia

Catecalia is located to the east of the peninsula, with borders against the northern and southern coast, stretching further north-to-south than east-to-west. Its location entirely cuts Migland off from the rest of the peninsula, but that march’s many ports and friendly diplomatic relations between the two have never presented a problem in this area. Catecalia is not a large march, being along with Migland the smallest of the five principalities, but it has one of the most loyal and contented citizenries of the nine.

Catecalia’s capital of Egarham has stood at the crossroads of the northern and southern highways along the peninsula’s lowlands since long before its union with the Trovian Empire. It has remained a beacon of leadership to the march’s other two cities of Enhyr to the north and Lyldonyuet to the south. Being the one route between the northern and southern ports within the alliance, Catecalia and Egarham have thrived through trade and diplomatic dividends since the fall of the Trovian Empire.

The relationship between Catecalia and Migland is long and storied, with tales of their lover founders going back before written word and said to have continued in spirit between the two nations. It is often said that the two are one nation with two banners, as each will not act without the other, and the two are tied so closely politically and economically it is impossible to reach any agreement with one without the other having legal say on the matter.

Catecalia, along with Migland, joined the Trovian Empire willingly and quickly, giving the rest of the future marches an enemy to the east as well as the west as they worked to resist the empire that would absorb them all. This also presented a naval issue to the rest of the marches and is held most responsible for the eventual fall of the peninsula to the empire.

Catecalia is one of the marches that absorbed the lands of Falonde after that nation fell to the Fox Plague near the ending days of the Trovian Empire.

### Granland

Granland is located on the southern coast of the peninsula, straddling the Loswind River and entirely surrounded by Mournia on land. It is one of the four smaller marches, and is thus not considered a principality despite its ruler holding the title of Prince. With two cities in its capital of Kilter and the river port of Litham, it is still economically powerful as an end point of the major southern highway. Granland is named largely for the cultivated wetland of its province used to farm rice grain.

Granland resisted the Trovian Empire for many years, but fell to invasion shortly before the fall of Mournia itself, acting as a staging ground for the Empire’s forces and a port along its supply chain. Granland’s former capital of Enoholyana was given over to Mournia during its subservience to the Empire, and its people worked to the bone on its own farms.

### Hathia

Hathia is the third smallest of the alliance, and located along the northern coast of the continent, flanked by Kiria and Brunuh to its southwest and southeast respectively. Hathia holds nearly the same land area as its counterpart in Granland, yet has a noticeably smaller population shared between its two cities. The lighthouse of Thahil is one of the most recognizable features of the northern coast, presenting a guiding light to lost ships in the frigid northern waters, despite not having a port of its own along its cliffside coastal border.

Hathia resisted the Trovian Empire alongside its rivals in Kiria and Brunuh, with the mutual alliance between the three considered the foundation stone of the Dail Marches itself. When Hathia fell to invasion, the seizure of the Thahil Lighthouse sealed the fate of Brunuh as the lost naval powers of the last county could not find their way home and floundered into the cliffs and rocky waters far below, ending the years-long struggle.

### Kiria

Kiria is the second largest of the marches by area, population, and number of cities, and is in the northwest of the peninsula along the northern coast of the continent. It shares borders with Winland, Hathia, Brunuh, and Mournia, as well as the Kingdom of Grimehal and the Atonian Empire. While Mournia and Kiria have held a long rivalry stretching back to their founding days, the two are largely amicable to one another and keep the rivalry to a friendly contest rather than outright hostility as would be expected of the two largest marches in the alliance. Kiria is considered the diplomatic leader of the alliance, with the alliance capital Retle just a short travel from the principality’s capital of Gerius in the east.

Kiria was a major force of resistance against the Trovian Empire, holding the line alongside Mournia in the war.

### Migland

The Principality of Migland is located the farthest east of all the Dail Marches, at the very tip of the plateau and separated from the rest by land by Catecalia. Migland’s landscape rises quickly along the eastern end of the coast, with a vast cliffside facing the eastern oceans and the capital city of Fearde resting along a high point overlooking the entire rest of the march. Its two port cities sit astride estuaries separating the cliffsides along the northern and southern coasts, with their island colony of Pinecalde across the sea to the east.

Migland has been the partner of Catecalia since their founding, with legends of their founders’ lovestory reaching back even before that. They have maintained close, personal ties for their entire history and intend to do so for the remainder. The two act almost as one singular state, with only the barest of policy and title separating them. A common phrase concerning the two is One Nation, Two Banners.

During the conquering years of the Trovian Empire, as the western Dail states fought against its rule, Catecalia and Migland joined the great state willingly. The two counties unified and outflanked the other dail lands, supporting the Trovian attacks into Mournia and cutting off naval access between the northern and southern coasts. There have always been whispers of Migland acting with a certain reservation in those days, with the reliability of its communications and news left to the question with its beloved Catecalia offering the only land route between Migland and the outside world.

### Mournia

Mournia is the largest of the nine marches in land, population, and number of cities, nearly dwarfing the rest. During their subservience to the Trovian Empire, Mournia was the capital of the Dail Peninsula, its own capital of Jallelatha built as an imperial city to house the new nobility. Mournia thrived under the empire even more than the other marches, holding nearly a dozen cities by its ending days, a formidable military tradition, and acting as the heart of the region ever since. With all of the above and being led by the only noble family with marriage ties to every other principality, including Hathia’s republican noble houses, Mournia has stood as arguably the most politically influential of the marches since the Trovian Empire.

Mournia’s many cities are all located within pockets of rich farmland, forests, trade routes, or mines. Its singular port, Enoholyana, sits along the southern coast near the border with Granland, and competes viciously with the port cities of Kilter and Litham, offering a wider and more easily accessible harbor, with less protection from the dangerous ocean tide. The ancient capital of the High King, Edriun, sits along the southern highway between Kilter, Jallelatha, and the border of Grimehal.

Mournia actively resisted the Trovian Empire’s advance from the start, standing alongside Kiria as the western border. When Catecalia and Migland joined the empire willingly, Mournia’s attention was split between both of its borders, and its alliance with Kiria suffered when it could not provide adequate support in their mutual defense. As the war dragged on and its allies fell, Mournia capitulated, its high king was executed, and a noble lineage of the Trovian Empire absorbed the high king’s family into its own, resulting in the mixed lineage of its noble house today.

Mournia is one of the marches that absorbed the lands of Falonde after that nation fell to the Fox Plague near the ending days of the Trovian Empire, as well as absorbing the western lands of Yvanoma as it also suffered under the plague.

### Winland

Winland is the farthest north and most isolated march of the alliance, sitting along the Oiche Bay and bordered by Kiria and the Atonian Empire. With its location and its claim over the port city of Monvernaid Winland has been the target of dozens of foreign conquests and has spent no short amount of time under the direct rule of the Lord of Dorath itself. With its history, conflicts, and rich economy, this city-state is perhaps the most diverse and colorful even in its macabre sense of propriety. A long tradition of hope even in the face of despair itself is a cornerstone of Winlandian culture, and their sunrise banner perhaps best represents this.

The Capital City of Monvernaid is perhaps the richest city in the Dail Marches, being the most populous of the nine capitals. Situated as it is within the warmer crest of the Oiche Bay protected from the frozen waters of the northern coast, and sat along the estuary of the Southewesbu River, Monvernaid is a powerful port city all its own. With the protection of the rest of the Dail Marches at its back, and a trading power to rival entire nations, the city sits rather comfortably in its own way.

Winland was one of the first of the modern marches to fall to the Trovian Empire, though at the time it was subservient to the Fetharius Province which fell long before the Dail Peninsula held the empire’s attention. When the Trovian Empire fell and the province of Fetharius broke off with what would become the modern day Atonian Empire, Monvernaid declared independence and joined the Dail Marches as the Principality of Winland, taking the name of Winne from their first prince. It has been 6 long centuries since that day, and the Atonian Empire has never recognized Winland’s claims of independence even as it treats with the Dail Marches in peace.

### Yvanoma

Yvanoma is the smallest of the marches in every way save land area, in which it is second only to Winland, though this was not always the case. In the later 700s PC the march under the Trovian Empire lost fully half of its population to the Fox Plague, and the county of Mournia subsumed all land outside of its capital province, with Yvanoma no longer capable of the maintenance. Since then, the city-state has been a stubborn militaristic force, charged with patrolling the vast network of roadways and the two major highways of the Dail Peninsula, utilizing its well-fed and hardy citizenry in defense of all others. Yvanoman spearmen are a popular mercenary troupe and can be seen as far as the Kingdom of Nos defending the great fortress in the center of that valley.

Yvanoma fell under the rule of the Trovian Empire by the hand of Catecalia and Migland, being their focus as the border between the city-state and the powerful Mournia was weaker than at any other point. As imperial forces marched through the city-state and turned north towards the much larger province, Catecalia took over governance until it was later returned to the original noble family. Today, Yvanoma’s prince is the only remainder of the original noble families of the peninsula in pure blood, having never bred with the imperial line and refusing direct political marriages with the other marches.

## Structure

The Dail Marches are led by a council of the March Princes, each a ruler of their own principalities. Each Prince holds their title of Prince first before any secondary titles, even that of King in the case of Mournia.

## Culture

The majority of the Dail Marches hold to the old Dailan culture, rich in agricultural and forested traditions, coupled with a closeness to the land and wild places. A majority of the Dailan culture is heavily influenced by its time under the Trovian Empire, with Trovian customs of war and ferocity lending a sense of passion and virility to the Dails. In the northeast, among the lands once held by the Falonde March, a new culture self-titled Anor is rising, rich in its rebellious youth and a return to the ancient ways of the land embodied by the lost city of Falonde.