Zondros

Map of Zondros

### Exports

Porcelain, silk products, glassware, watches, raw minerals/ores, salt, paper, compasses, bamboo, crops, livestock, lumber

### Allied Countries

Koda, Dilghao, Peaceland Commonwealth, Marza, Kha, Daris

### Enemy Countries

Koda (Former), Jericho (Former), Lesion, Wolven Forest, Calahay, Sym’fadè Confederacy

## Common Knowledge

Zondros is a proud Elvish nation in South-East Orelisle that is a regional power and seeks to expand its influence. Wars are common compared to what’s seen in an Elven lifespan. The country is strict with its laws and paperwork and the people are often law abiding to a communal code of some sort that dictates their everyday lives. The common people would know this land to be full of wonder and filled with magical secrets amidst haughty elves, while merchants aspire to make one very profitable trip to the country and return home with expensive, exotic goods.

## Topography and Climate

### Mountain Ranges

#### The Aegis

This mountain range is known to be the bread and butter defense of the country from any attacks to its West and as such it holds its reputation in many books and plays as the shield of the country. Many monks and would be warriors travel to the mountain range to bolster their mind, centering on the ideal of an immovable object. The small rural community that chooses to live in this location is bonded together by an ethos that surrounds their everyday activities of farming, milking goats and developing cheese products and woodworking. The mountain ranges general height is around 3,200ft although there is a 900 ft difference in some locations. Rare plants such as the Edelweiss and the Aegis Gentian grow here and are prized for their beauty and fragrance in the cities. It is rumored that underneath all the bedrock is an ancient dwarven ruin that met its demise mysteriously after discovering a mythical and rare ore vein after digging the range for its abundant iron and platinum reserves. Pathfinders who have gone down deep into the recesses of the earth rarely come back and those who do talk in riddles about creatures long forgotten to Elvenkind and structures that are daemonic in nature. It quickly grew into a location where undesirables were sent to die. The phrase “Go colonize the Aegis.” is now met with the same expression as one would react to “Go jump off Dourdawn’s cliffs.”

### Mountains

#### Mt. Vinden

“To find” or in the usage of the intended phrase “To find the high ground.” is the name of the mountain that is cut off from the rest of the Aegis. Unofficial nicknames also include ‘Mount Pride’ and ‘Mount Vantage’ although these names never got past the geographical drawing board. It lies as an important natural boundary against invaders who would have to trek through a desert and climb over a mountain to reach the capital city. It is rumored that ghosts still permeate the area as the souls of the damned try to climb upward to gain the coveted viewpoint of their homeland one last time only to suffer a fog that permeates the view. They all fail due to the rugged nature of a small mountain and the difficulty in the steepness of the summit. It is 2,556ft tall. Prominence is at 1,212ft.

### Hills

#### Nonim Hills

These hilly plains are used by the Zondronian military as a place of practice and military exercises as it is one of the rare places where a foreign force can enter the country relatively easily and invade. Rural hamlets dot the horizon and a moderate reservoir of water can be found underground. The landscape has been dotted with signs and targets and not a few splintered arrows and arrowtips can be found on the hills earning it the nickname “prickly-tip hills” from uncouth persons in the General Army.

#### Genogard Hills

The site of a famous battle between High Queen Taarlae Crevecoeur and the forward scouts of the Drow lie upon these hills. Most of the war time equipment has already been scavenged by prospectors. Some of the barren hills hold nuisances for merchants and travelers coming to and fro from Dourdawn such as goblins, bandits and other arrow fodder. There are also graveyard sites here denoting the fallen of various Barbarian heroes and the humans to the south of the country consider this site a holy place. Many skirmishes still happen between the General Army and these barbarians although neither truly wants to escalate into an unprepared war.

### Grasslands

#### The Spiral Badlands

Located in the north of the country and bordering the now shrinking Apotheosis, the term ‘badlands’ is becoming less applicable to the growing shrubbery surrounding the spiralling sedimentary rocks that make this place their home. Although the badlands continue throughout much of the northern reaches, this entrance to the country is the only named area as the natural forming spirals make it distinct to the brave merchant or foolish adventurer that traverses this hellscape. Unclaimed bounty in the form of deceased exiles from the time of the Drow victory in Zondros still litters some enclosed areas with their meager equipment and belongings. Camels, Buzzards, Dingoes, groups of puggles with their echidna mothers and of course, the ever famous Gila monsters litter the landscape. It has been reported by the few Pathfinder teams that do venture here that lunatic minotaurs inhabit certan caverns and caves here, guarding stashes of Fool’s gold for some unnamed master.

#### Sandfield Plains

These plains that inhabit the Southern portions of the capital city’s environment is known to be a ‘beginner's area’ for adventurer, tourist and merchant alike. It is known for adventurers to temper their skills against the goblin, tourists to breathe in and get used to the arid air and merchants for being a common meeting area for trade agreements or picnics. It is a tranquil area that is rarely disturbed by the more volatile Genogard Hills, but occasionally rabble that like to take their chances do slip by and cause some trouble. Contrary to the name, there's little to no sand but rather light forestry that increases density the further south one goes.

#### Kuri Plains

This area is known for its grand farming contributions as it borders both of Zondros’ rivers to its north and south. The majority of the Plains Elves that live in Zondros take residence here and unassumingly live their lives with the constant threat of their overlords harboring down on them. They have an innate reluctance to be in their empire. They attempt to live their lives with a policy of neutrality and indifference but stuck between two busy cities, it seems that the rural life that they covet is slipping between their grasp. Some immigrants from the Peace Lands regret their choice while others enjoy the uncertainty that comes with each day. It’s generally agreed that the day Zondros turns her back on the wellbeing of the Plains Elves is the day they rise up so both parties, although formally interlocked, have knives placed behind each others backs. They refuse to follow the cremation orders by the government in Zondros and continue to respectfully bury their dead; necromancer threat or not.

### Desert/Wastelands

#### The Apotheosis Desert

The section of the desert that has been formally incorporated into the empire. Many settlements that inhabit the area are usually comprised of beast-kin or cat-kin and only nominally pledge their allegiance to Zondros, if at all. Many tribes have recently come under the influence of a Great Guardian Dragon that inhabits the shrinking Apotheosis and this has caused some tensions with Zondronian military command. The beasts that inhabit this area are truly the worst that a Pathfinder has to encounter in their training. Venomous snakes, poisonous lizards, giant scorpions, intelligent scarabs, risen necromantic mummies and the spawn of the Emperor of the Inferno - the Kodan Death Wurms and the dreaded Draconic Wurms, all of which are in abundant quantities here.

### Forests

#### Evergreen Forest

Despite the name, the Evergreen forest does not in fact contain those types of trees but instead contains plants with various seasonal attributes, making so that in every season at least one type of plant is in bloom at all times. It is said that this is where the Orcs of old would have made their semi-permanent nomadic homes. Due to the nature of the environment, Queen Sago trees are in abundance here. The locals of Dourdawn consider its seeds to be a healthy dose of reality (they’re exceedingly poisonous and will kill goats, birds, and small animals within seconds). That said, with care and attention they are edible and can be made into soups and tortillas and porridges. What is curious about this locale is that despite the disappearance of the orcs, their homes always rebuild and deconstruct on their own despite no evidence of sentient life taking residence in this forest. Many Pathfinders have scoured the area high and low for the culprit, but none could be found.

#### The Fade Forest

This ‘forest’ gets its name from its trees that have a fading green-white color and its tendency to change in density every year. These poplar trees have been noted to have a very short lifespan of a decade and so it always has the appearance of fading into the background and out of existence but never quite reaching there. (Short lifespan for elves at least.) The density eventually condenses the further South one goes, but generally are replaced in an area where other, more abundant and thicker trees lie. Fairies and certain Kitsune Matriarchs also occasionally inhabit the area, playing tricks on travelers. Their favorite trick is to lure any would be travelers with a strange blue fire-wisp that lures their victim deeper and deeper into the forest until they stand at the mouth of The Cauldron, seemingly haven forgotten their original purpose. What happens after they enter such a location is a mystery.

### Swamps

#### Cline Swamp

The only swamplands to inhabit the country, the swamp is a naturally low lying compression in the country that is below sea level. This also causes the area to develop small deltas within the lakes to the north of the swamp. Many uncategorized animals and wildlife inhabit this area and due to the bug problem; has evaded the ever present settlement that occupies most of the outer regions of the country along with the horrible humidity that accompanies such a place. It is said that within these untamed lands lie vicious snake women who poison and kill travelers, and witches who live only to see destruction wrought upon a populace who has outcasted them. Alligators, piranha-like giant shrimps, and the dreaded sponge all inhabit this area. Tales of an underwater Queen slime that makes her home deep within a cave system under the swamp has been disregarded by the military as rural rumors by a superstitious populace but it has been a common adventuring post for the past few decades now. Fisherman also brave these hazards to catch the only source of lake-fish and lobster in the entire country. They have an ogre problem.

### Rivers

#### The Yesive River

One of the vital veins of Zondros, this river imports heavily esteemed fresh water throughout the countryside. Small fishing boats, commercial transport ships and even the occasional General Navy ship float on the river. Occasional flooding does occur near the center of Zondros which is exploited by new and veteran farmers alike. It has been noted that the Yesive flows downward into the Siren Sea as opposed to the Chilko that flows upwards to what is assumed an underground basin.

The Yesive river is regarded in mythology to be the sister to the Chilko river and both take the forms of beautiful Greater Naiads. The Yesive is considered to be the wiser and more mature of the two, granting travelers assistance under her watch as well as standing tall at 6’3. Many have taken to worship her as a Goddess of Plenty and a Goddess of Refinement. The Plains Elves and Human Tribes both sacrifice large quantities of wine, rare fish and sometimes broken shields to her for her to guard their way of life. Now more than ever are the bounties stockpiled as such that a large radius around the sacrificial chambers and platforms are reeked with the stench of perfume like death and the echoes of metal creaking to gain the attention of that which dwells in the stars.

#### The Chilko River

The other vital vein of Zondros, this river also contains heavy deposits of clay that stretches roughly between the start of the human barbarian tribes ‘borders’ to its beginning in the middle of the country. The human tribes utilize this clay to make pots, dolls, art and other such trivialities. The basin that the Chilko draws water from may be endless like the water generated from Ouroboros tower, but until someone finds a way to enter that basin without going through endless Underdark caverns, the country will never know how long the river will last.

The Chilko river is regarded in mythology to be the sister to the Yesive river and takes the form of a 5’6” Greater Naiad. She is considered to be the more abrasive and heavy mannered of the two, often getting into fights with other mythical creatures or obtaining lovers to draw jealousy from the Yesive much to the annoyance of the latter. She has been known to grant boons to certain individuals that display a certain amount of ‘spark’ however. A few select individuals pray to her for guidance as the Goddess of Courage and a Goddess of Self-Expression. Many would be adventurers, especially Plains Elven ones, draw their inspiration and spiritual guidance from the Chilko and every act of sometimes foolhardy nature draws her favor. Dramatic performances recounting the tales of Great Heroes are ‘sacrificed’ to Chilko and major theatrical companies use her image as their company emblem.

### Infrastructure

#### Covenant Road

This road was one of the first to be built by the High Elven regime and its purpose is to supply troops and trade to and fro Dourdawn. It is well maintained and guarded. Many adventurers, merchants, tourists, and foreigners enjoy the walk from aridscape to plains but the locals, such as the Plains Elves and the rural community around Zondros hate the busy traffic although they appreciate the economic benefits. This is the same road Taarlae Crevecoeur eventually took to reclaim her city. It is said that for every brick layed down upon the soil of this road is inscribed the name of a person who had fallen during the exile, and with both reasons, many consider it to be sacred in some sense.

#### Quench Road/’Quenched Desires’

More officially known on public records as ‘The road to quench desires’ this highway to the Yesive crosses over the river with a bridge and continues to meet the Covenant in the eastern portion of the country. Many drunks that are either down on their luck or experiencing brief success travel for a short walks to and from Speculation and the Yesive; drinking and hollering as they go, giving the road a new meaning. Despite it not being part of their assignment, guards from Devil’s Watch has assisted the town in defending the road against any would be marauders in recent years due to the quiet nature of the setting they find themselves in.

#### Unnamed Road by the Aegis

This unnamed mountain pass that goes through the Aegis has suffered much erosion throughout the ages and many votes to close down the road to travelers has passed by Parliament. The only reason it stands is because it would cost more to blow up the pass and risk an avalanche than it would to simply have a few guards survey and protect the area. ‘Yeti’ attacks have been on the rise lately but local officials affirm that is probably Elf-killing bears or big cats that inhabit the mountainside. This pathway also leads to the dreaded Dwarven ruin of Mulldoom that is under military quarantine to the wider populace.

### Unique Locations

#### Labyrinth of Malady

This abandoned fortress was once home to a Sorcerer (or Wizard, many qualities of this story change over each retelling.) of immense power. This Warlock sold his soul to an unnamed Daemon of Disease who promised immortality if the magic caster would only, very simply, spread a disease of untold virulence into the populations of South-Eastern Orelisle. Once every town, every city and every refuge of civilization was struck down by the disease and the sands of the Apotheosis swept over the inferior beings will the Druid acquire what he most sought after.

Unnamed heroes, of whom there were four; a Human, a Dwarf, an Elf and an Orc, stormed the castle with the blessings of the Gods and their civilizations and slew the Paladin of Disease and swept aside the Daemon and acquired the coveted cure. There was however a catch. The cure, which was produced in such minute quantities within the fortress, would only be enough to be synthesized and adjusted to only one race every four years. The heroes debated heatedly among themselves and the verbal argument that ensued was more deadly and catastrophic than the battle that took place earlier.

At the zenith of the argument, where both the Human and Elf swallowed the repercussions of coming away empty handed from their adventure, looked upon in horror as the Orc struck down their Dwarven comrade and drank the cure solely for themselves. It is said that the cure was actually a trap and that the entirety of Orc-dom that was affected by the disease suddenly dropped dead; the losses catastrophic.

It is said that it was this incident that caused the Orc to be extinct in Zondros and continues to serve as a cautionary tale against fighting for what is right, only to lose sight of your goal. The Labyrinth sits there, untouched by time. No person in their right mind would enter, in fear of being afflicted with the disease that took the lives of so many, so long ago.

The structure itself contains many gothic elements in its construction and designs that can only be compared to some archaic buildings in Zondros. The entire area that surrounds this fortress is imbued with a green fog that instantly converts the living into the living undead and poisons everything it touches. Exotic creatures such as Catoblepas’ have been seen by the few foolhardy and veteran Pathfinders that dared to explore this place.

#### Crypt of the Lost

The resting site of the bodies the people of Zondros have recovered from the exilement into the desert. There is no crypt but the sand dunes that now hold the muffled memories of a little under a quarter of a million. The location itself is very easy to pass by as no convenient marker has been placed as the populace feels as if it would ruin any travelers impression of the country. It also serves not to diminish the sacredness of the place as only those who have lost someone during the exilement knows exactly where it lies.

In recent years the government has enacted policies to dig up and cremate the dead, in anticipation of necromantic activity and despite the rational viewpoint, the policy isn't as favored as it once was.

#### Austerity/Austere

The original site of the now flourishing city of Zondros in ages past. Many believe it to be a cursed colony city that was befallen much misfortune for attempting to live on the other side of the Aegis. Many who do believe the ‘truths’ speculate that given the myths surrounding the First Age, much calamity must have happened to move people across an inhospitable mountain range that deters would be invaders to this day. Prospectors have almost picked the place clean and many Ouroboran professors and science men have raided the area for clues and tomes on how to develop magicks and sciences long forgotten. Many believe the name to have come from the lifestyle of the people that lived there who had to face an elevated position on the mountain slope that did not support farming as readily as it does on the other side. Although a claimed elven city, the architectural designs are nothing like what is now seen or built in Zondros today.

#### The Cauldron

This is a naturally forming canyon/cavern that has taken the shape of a giant cauldron in the earth. Here lies a natural landscape untouched by any people except for a tribe of humans that attempt to live in harmony with themselves and nature. Only a giant hole in the canyon allows light to shine through, giving the place a heavenly view when combined with the rain that sweeps through this area occasionally. Many human tribes point out that their ancestral home is this place and consider it to be a sacred ground of nature. Out of fear or respect, the Elves of Zondros have not conducted reconnaissance missions into the Cauldron but for how long that policy may last, none can tell. Judging from third party reports it appears that vast natural resources are incorporated into the area, untouched and waiting.

It is said that within the deepest recesses of the Cauldron lies a spring filled to the brim with beautiful women that offer those that can reach them the power to fulfill any one wish. Others claim that dragons reside here and that forgotten tombs of the humans ancestors hold vast riches that can turn any peasant man into the King of Kings. Others still claim that this is all true and that their lies a powerful being that guards this place, by the name of ‘The Golden Twin-Headed Snake King’ who entices only the bravest and strongest warriors to challenge them.

Who knows what lies inside the Cauldron? What is known for sure however, is that whoever goes in… never comes out.

#### Siren Sea

This is the only sea that borders the Elven country and allows them access to the seaboard of the continent. The name derives from the Sirens that reside on the horizon upon rocky outcrops that tempt sailors to their deaths for their own sadistic enjoyment. At least one bard has been noted to have captured the hearts of the horrid beasts and his name lives on as Balrus ‘The Smooth Sailor’. Any mermaids that inhabit this portion of the sea avoid them completely for sirens are not known to be kind neighbors. The General Navy regularly sortie against their kind but they often simply dip under the deep blue sea to avoid the storm of anger from the elves of blue attire and white feathers.

## Population

**Total population**: Zondros is home to roughly one million people, and the country as a whole contains 1,600,000 people.

**High Elves**: 75% of the demographics. The High Elves of Zondros primarily group around the cities of Zondros, Dourdawn and Speculation. The High Elves have a collective dream of uniting the Elvic based races into one Dominion of Elves known as Elvendom that would protect their interests from any threat. What shape that Elvendom would take is a hotly contested issue.

**Humans**: 11% of the demographics. The humans of Zondros live a divided existence. Some reside in the Elven cities as second class citizens and live lives of relative safety as traders or menial laborers. A significant portion of humans live in their own self-declared state to the South of Zondros in what is known as the ‘Barbarian Human Tribes.’ They have mixed relations with the Elves of Zondros and the Elves lay claim on their land. Without a powerful ally such as Koda to back them up, their days of open rebellion are tenuous at best. The disparate human tribes of Southern Zondros have made dealings with the Kodan government in secrecy over the (human) generations where it has finally culminated in a defensive pact against High Elven aggression. The tribes, while different in culture and mannerisms, have all united against the threat aiming to destroy their ancestral home. While the exact number of distinct clans are quite possibly limitless as the densely populated section of the tribes intermingle, reform and break off, there are four distinct and major tribes that dominant the political sphere.

The ‘Yuebae’ of the West count as the most bloodthirsty of the entire nation of tribesmen as they perform countless sacrifices of prisoners to their Blood God, Ikor. Anthropologists have determined that this God is not a God of Battle as many would at first believe but a reinterpretation of the holy water spirit Yesive. It appears that through allowing the free flow of life water or blood into the Material Plane, they can eventually enact a ritual that will allow their God to roam the world; or so they believe. Their people are the more hot-blooded amongst the tribes and they wage a personal endless war with the High Elves for their treachery on their ancestral graveyards and Holy sites and for their grievously insufferable pride. They contribute the most of the Great Weapon wielding frontliners in the ongoing conflict and by extension most of the blame or glory for the nation’s success. They consider the Kodans a necessary evil to retain their own way of life. If successful they have set their eyes Southward to continue an old grudge against the Orcs and Dwarves who plagued their lands with a sickness a long time ago.

The ‘X’lotl’s’ of the East hold the reputation for being the most spiritually ‘clean’ of the humans where through their natural cultural affinity for harmony, peace and ‘empty hand’ techniques, they are able to commune with their inner essence to develop themselves and others. They contribute the most Shamans to the conflict, enchanting their staffs with the blessing of the all loving Moon with a metal that can defend against the predation of the Were-beasts. They hold balance and cyclical natures in all things and consider the overly strict and lawfulness of their would-be civilized city-state neighbor to be offensive and misguided. They also act as the diplomats and figureheads of the tribes in international dealings as they were the first tribe to unify the humans into a single polity called the ‘Zhouqi Federation’ (zho-shi) that lasted for at least two hundred consecutive years during the Dark Elven Golden Age one thousand years ago to 10,018. Their monks retain open air monasteries in significant geological sites across Zondros for their own meditations and dojos. They are currently experiencing a small population crises as the war drains more of their ill-replaced men and women as nature reclaims the huts and farmland.

The ‘Lekyi’ of the North clan are the most culturally diverse of the tribes, being situated not too far from the Covenant road and from the Plains Elves who farm around that same area. They are also the most technologically advanced of the tribes, forming small towns and the rarer small city off the sides on the non-official border between Elf and Human territories. They regularly trade with all tribes and nations and are known to be shrewd and lewd. They are naturally great at assasin work and spy mastering although their talents often change as does the composition of their people. The lesser known tribes who do not have enough clout among the main four usually form under the banner of the Lekyi who often vouches for their case, and in return, receives enough influence to motion at most two other main tribes in a course of action. The Lekyi are in the midst of an identity crisis as their culture has shifted so much that even heavily modified traditional values seem to be archaic to each pressing generation. Small time rituals and coming of age stories change their morals and specifications with each new reiteration and the divisive cracks that were mostly underbedded in opposition to other tribes or Zondros has started to show. If properly united, they would be the strongest of the clans without a shred of doubt, but they currently stand politically as a confused giant who throws its weight only at the most pressing problems.

Finally, the ‘Murung’ people’s of the South are likened as a charming opportunist. Having been in the strike zone of Lesion’s escaped abominations, they are the first to be hit by supernatural, extraplanar and generally bizarre creatures that defy explanations. They are the least interested in the conflict as they huddle around their fires speaking of the terrors that inhabit the night. Their shamans chronicle the histories of South-Eastern Orelisle and own the most literature of the tribes. They also hold the honor of having the most specialized monster killing tools out of all the clans including their neighbors Koda and Zondros. Any rare or exotic beast will most likely meet its end at the dedicated monster-killing teams of the Murung who fell beasts like the revered heroes that make up their ancestors. The heads of Apotheosis Death Worms to Dragons to Griffons to even Lesion’s special brand of hellish creatures are on display on the huts of the Murung. They have limited diplomatic dealings with their Three Kingdom neighbors to the South and are the only clan to accept Orcs readily and without overt racism since they know the truth behind the tragedy of the Plague incident all those years ago. They do not give their lore lightly, for knowledge is their best and only defense against their enemies, internal or external.

All tribes have a history of warfare with one another and in the hypothetical scenario that the conflict ends decisively in one side’s favor then they will most likely revert to the chaotic status quo of inter-tribal wars in a few generations. This is because the burgeoning lifestyle they now support is fueled by Kodan imports and supply line leniency that will most likely end after the war to reconstitute Kodan nation rebuilding.

**Plains Elves**: 8% of the demographics. The Plains Elves mostly live in the central portion of the country where they live an agrarian existence. Plains Elves living in the Southern-East, the cities, or North-East are not unheard of although their lives are more solitary and decentralized from the government aside from tax collectors and the occasional military post and conscription call.

**Dark Elves/Drow**: 3% of the demographics. The Dark Elves come from the personnel used in the vassalization of Zondros and mostly reside in the city proper. They live contentious lives as defeated enemies and most can only hope to live by the rules set by their High Elven masters.

**Beast-Folk/Cat-Folk/Cow-Folk/Snake-Folk**: 2% of demographics. These are Beast-kin wanderers in the Apotheosis desert that travel south for trade and rest. They do not fall under the Zondronian government’s control and are as likely to pay tolls at border crossings as they are to attack caravans.

**Orcs**: Less than 1% of the demographics. What once was an Orc tribal empire in the South-East has all been reduced to nothing from a plague that ravaged the lands. Their ruins sometimes dot the countryside as do their ghosts. Orcs are rare in Zondros and most have either died or left the country entirely to either the South in the Three Kingdoms/Human Tribes area, or some other place. They once consisted of 7% of the population.

**Dwarves**: Less than 1% of the demographics. The Dwarves in Zondros are either Urist’s Own mercenaries who settled into the cities or are merchant contacts who set up post in trade emporias in Dourdawn to conduct their business. Their only city in the region, the Mountain home Mulldoom, is a ruin now claimed by a Wyvern and its beast-folk allies. (Leneki)

**Creatures/Non-Civilized Individuals**: Zondros is home to many monsters and non-civilized races. There are Goblins, Camels, Buzzards, Dingoes, Groups of Puggles with their echidna mothers, the ever famous Gila monsters, Minotaurs, Slimes,Venomous snakes, poisonous lizards, giant scorpions, intelligent scarabs, risen necromantic mummies, the spawn of the Emperor of the Inferno - the Kodan Death Wurms as well as the dreaded Draconic Wyrms, Catoblepas, Fairies, Kitsune Matriarchs, anarcho-primitivist Snake-Folk, Alligators, piranha-like giant shrimps, Ogres, s, Sirens and the dreaded Giant Sponge all inhabit the country.

## Exports and Trades

The Zondronian economy is a robust and versatile one that emphasizes autarky above all. The country’s exports are all sought after on foreign markets and Dourdawn’s ports are always filled with foreign ships seeking to obtain exotic goods. These goods include porcelain wares, silk products made from Bombyx Mori, glass products from the fine sands of the Apotheosis, watches, coal and iron as well as steel ores, salt, gambling opportunities and casinos. Storehouses in Dourdawn hold paper stacks, compasses, bamboo, raw magical supplies and craftsman products for export onto the high seas.

The agrarian sector consists of farming crops like Rice fields, Wheat, Peas, Citrus, Tea, Millets, coffee beans and Oil-bearing crops. Livestock such as Pig, Lamb, Tuna, Swordfish and Lobster farms all provide a dividend to exports as well. Goats are milked for cheese and in the alpine areas of the country, woodworking and lumber is transported to commercial hubs as well. They also specialize in growing rare plants such as the Edelweiss and the Aegis Gentian as they are prized for their beauty and fragrance in the cities.

The country imports horses, Sweet Potatoes, Peanuts, novelty foods, literature and raw materials for the war effort. Luxury goods are often imported from Dilghao or the Cliffhaven Dwarves such as perfumes, wool dresses, fine wines, Gold and Silver Rings and precious gems used in the construction of magical items or artifacts.

There is a banking system complete with banking notes and regulatory promissory notes that dictate trade agreements and a limited system of credit for wealthy merchants or nobility.

Zondronians consolidate labor and prices for certain goods into Craftsmanship guilds who collectively agree on moving market prices as a collective whole to maintain a form of oligarchy in their trade.

The country of Zondros uses Bronze Specie in place of stone, Silver Rings, Gold Rings and Bank Notes.

## Government

Currently, the Syndicalists under Director General Sasha Hyrloweinn are in power.

There are four main political ideologies in Zondros that are broken up into sub-factions. Additionally these sub-factions come together to form ‘an army within an army` whose loyalties to the greater state is at times questionable outside of binding crises or external threat.

**Syndicalism:**

Syndicalism is the movement of worker-based organization through unions and strikes. There are many schools of thought within Syndicalism and the three  ideologies most prominent within Zondros is Radical Syndicalism, Anarcho-Syndicalism and Totalism. What they all have in common are the following points:

1. Natural opposition to rival political parties.
2. The general strike is the penultimate political and revolutionary tool.
3. Replacement of the state by a federal and economic based organization of society.
4. Unions are the basic building blocks of a post-capitalist society.

Radical Syndicalism is the current and most popular form of Syndicalism in the Zondronian state due to its more structuralized checks-and-balances within the central authority. Among the mandatory trade unions, there are elections and contested positions with high turnover in officers and representatives. The idea is to have open and free debates and discussions with issues and candidates as well as open publications, newspapers and public forums that establish the viewpoints of officials and policy.

Totalism is the second and rising political ideology within the Syndicalist groups. The main ideas of Totalism is to emphasis the role of the socialist state as the core ideal of the country while abandoning the notion of a classless utopia in union worker empowerment. Totalists seek to centralize the decision-making powers of the government, believing that the state’s goal is to build socialism in the nation and any ‘balances’ inhibits the ability for the state to act. Totalists often use militaristic and nationalist rhetoric and policies as they desire to spread their ideology with force if need be or at the very least, to defend their ideology from perceived and real persecution from their opponents.

Anarcho-Syndicalism is the last and least favorable Syndicalist ideologies as it espouses anti-Zondronian values. These individuals view the wage system as a means to perpetuate wage slavery and the state ownership of the means of production causes class divisions. The ‘state’ is then seen as an anti-worker, anti-union entity that seeks to perpetuate itself over the welfare of workers rights and lives. The purpose of the state is to safe-guard private property and economic, social and political privilege of the elite, thus denying its citizens to enjoy a degree of material independence. As a solution, Anarcho-Syndicalism vouches that power corrupts and that any hierarchy that cannot be ethically justified must be dismantled or replaced with decentralized and egalitarian control by the people. To prevent this ‘rogue state for the few’, Anarcho-Syndicalists seek to abolish the use of money and have the people govern themselves through solidarity, direct action without the use of politicians or arbitrators and direct democracy where everything will be held to a vote. Most political opponents view these extreme sects as the inherent problems of Syndicalism.

Totalists are seen as money-hungry power-centric Drow-like individuals by the Democrats and are reputed to attract individuals that are rogue-like, bandit in occupation and recruits thugs.

Anarcho-Syndicalism is abhorred by all, but most vehemently opposed by the Headsmen Absolutionists who see this as the dissolution of Zondronian tradition and law that has worked for millenia.

The Monarchists view Radical Syndicalism as only one of these two aforementioned extremes as the central authority would be replaced by Federalism rather than their beloved central authority in the Crown.

During wartime, these economic policies have found use in the battlefield as Syndicalist doctrine.

These militias usually have these traits as follows:

1. Decentralized command from General Army officers.
2. Low organization and haphazard planning combined with high morale.
3. Urban Warfare specialists and individual initiative.
4. More female soldiers in these militias than most.

**Democracy**:

Democracy usually means a form of government where the populace decide their governing legislature centered around a constitution. In Zondros this takes on the form of a movement that wants to create a Constitutional Monarchy or Representative Republic that elects representatives with heavy checks and balances on the old regime with the Executive branch officer, the President, supersedes the monarch as head of state.

While many parties of ideology exist, the need to band against the other three main political rivals has forced the individuals who wish for a Representative Democracy to coalesce into the Conservators of the City-State party and the Preserver of Liberties party coalitions.

The Conservators of the City State wish to conserve the different traditions of customs of the elves of elvendom but to keep them separate and thereby unique. They see High Elven culture to be the penultimate society that is almost grasping utopic status and will do so, if only just given a moment’s respite from warfare and her enemies plotting. The party is more fiscally conservative in nature and believes that a strong central government akin to the powers held by the Queen is necessary to enact change within the country. These changes will be held to direct referendums for hotly contested issues and voted upon in a senate-like entity for the rest.

The Preservers of Liberties wish to coalesce Elven culture into one all encompassing Elvic culture with a predominant High Elven overtone to unify the people as ‘Elves’ with no ‘High, Dark, Plains’ or any other moniker to distinguish them. The party has more market liberals and libertarians than other parties and believe that a government held in check with an empowered Congress or Senate with representatives will most readily enact the Will of the People.

They all fall under Ovale Olatoris’ bipartisan leadership whose goals are to reform the country into one where the majority holding the power (Ideally the two parties that formed the coalition) and lay the foundations of a strong economic base for future presidents. His true political alignment is unknown and his policies are either bipartisan or Reactionary in politics. The Status Quo he seeks to maintain is a perceived moment in time of Zondronian history that flirted a constitutional republic with select representatives of an elite class. Changes have been made to make it more palpable and easy to consume for the public and less inclusive to any one elite class and instead all of the elite.

**Monarchy**:

The classic age old and most common form of ideology that is said to be the first governmental system in the world. As the old craftsmen adage rings, “What’s not broken, don’t try to fix it!” holds true in the hearts of the Crown Loyalists.

Zondros has a long tradition of Monarchy in various forms but all have traits of ‘absolutism for the sake of the country’. The monarch rules with the support of the Mandate of Laws and keeps power by keeping order, the very symbol of civilization in Elven hearts. The Monarch head traditionally passes by hereditary lines or appointed during regencies or civil war.

In recent years this changed from hereditary to populist referendum with the unique case of High Queen Crevecouer.

Traditionally the monarch is the single most politically influential authority in the nation but the Drow policy of puppetting the official and longstanding Fateburn lineage and Zondronian Queen for their own ends has complicated and emotionally intensified that authority. This has broken the Zondronian nobility caste and their followers into distinct camps.

The Zondronian Restoration Authority or Hardliners for short, ultimately call Crevecouer a traitor and opportunist despite her invaluable contributions to retake the city. Her own position as High Queen is tenuous due to her having common blood and is seen as a bloodthirsty grab for power when the state was at its lowest; a power grab that can be compared as entirely Drow-like. They wish to see the Monarchy restored to a capable ruler by either rehabilitating Queen Camilla, finding any other heir or marrying Queen Camilla to have a more capable heir through her offspring or even starting a regency with a strong noble backing. They see the political radicalists as inherently destabilizing and the High Queens rise and influence as enabling a terrifying and fracturing era of the Zondronian empire.

The Heralders Of Status Quo or Softliners want a return to the monarch model with Queen Camilla and the return to pre-Drow invasion policies. They are the mainstream reactionists to the current order as they see the political division as corrupting the unifying presence of the state. They see things as returning to their version of normal the faster Zondronian hegemony, as it was, is restored.

Kilkinists named after the Royal Prime Minister (now defunct) Kilki Turenite wants to ostensibly find a new capable heir or start a new bloodline under himself. This government would operate under a Nobility Regency for its interim and would focus on an internal restructuring of Zondronian interests.

Whatever the case may be, the society they wish to restore or create is one where a head monarch is above the law as Paragon of Elven society. They take their right to rule not from divine ancestry as every elf can trace their ancestry from the old Elvic race who weaved the world to their liking. Instead they either form imperial cults around their charismatic and capable personalities and their ability on upholding laws with a mandate or royal decree. On the battlefield, these loyalists fight with dedication and military tradition honed in from millenia of warfare and act as ‘veteran’ Elves At Arms units.

**National Populism:**

National Populism is an old Zondronian political ideology that was secretly venerated by ‘Old Guard’ cultist-like groups who wished to steer Zondros in their direction to safeguard it against internal and external foes. They influence the ‘Establishment’ through bribery, Psionics manipulation and a nativist, populist rhetoric centered around, ironically, anti-elitist sentiments and values of the ‘common’ people based around traditional values. The Headsmen Absolutionists criticize the dealings of democratic mob tyrants who wish to rule purely by mob rule and popularity contests, the underhanded thug tactics of the Syndicalists who would redistribute wealth from the hard-workers of the Guildmasters and the ineffective Monarchists who lost their right to rule when Zondros was occupied by the criminal Drow and then chose to work with them under a disgraceful puppet government. As the mainstream ideologies are too soft on Zondronian enemies, which allow them to wage pointless warfare in the future.

They see Zondros as a nation beset by weak ideology that could corrupt and fracture the country; especially the decentralizing and destabilizing Syndicalists. They turn to a wise, absolutist leader unbeholden to lineage or noble status to guide the people to oust negative influences like external foreign powers and socially upheaving ideas. They are often reactionary towards these perceived, threatening ideologies for their destabilizing effects on the Social Contract of the Zondronian nation.

Some scholars argue that the best form of government is one with a Benevolent Dictator at its head and for Zondros it would be one who emphasizes Law and Justice. These two things will be guided by an all-encompassing state with a state-guided economy and a total unification between nation and the people. For Headsman, having a one-party regime is its end goal, even if they would have to accomodate having organized opposition and naysayers in the government. Societal activities are all organized or influenced by the state in some way to allow for a monopoly on its people, to better direct its direction. For National Populists like the Headsmen, there’s an emphasis on justice and an empowered police system that seeks harsh and draconian punishments to deter dissent and wrong-doing. For criminals, their records are tarnished, their opportunities limited and any hope of freedom is dashed against either the gallows or by being interned as permanent employees of ‘mining guilds’ under strict conditions and constant surveillance.

To sum up Headsmen ideology into one motto: Everything in the state’s control, nothing important is left outside the state or left to chance, and absolutely nothing against the state shall be suffered. For the Zondronian concept of Elvendom, Headsmen see a unification of the Elves of Zondros under a single ‘Zondronian Elf’ moniker, with one state-approved culture (that would ban most, if not all Drow practices of extrajudicial killings and worship of a malevolent entity) and unify and consolidate the religious underpinnings of the countries’ scarce temples and religious beliefs into one officially accepted state-accepted entity.

The military is seen as a tool of defense by the Headsmen and has been interpreted for the defense of ‘Elves, everywhere.’ While a common rhetoric for most of Zondronian ideologies, the Headsmen take this one step further, wishing to ‘liberate’ the Dark Elves of Koda, and maybe even the Greater Underdark from their oppressors and in the Headsman's eyes, horrible, illegal laws. They wish to try Drow military leaders, and other such criminals for their illegal backstabbing and murdering nature and to hold them accountable for the wars of aggression waged on Zondros by the Drow. The Headsman have even conceived of the terms ‘War criminal’ and ‘War crimes’ to describe the heinous acts and atrocities they wish to be amended through law and justice. Unlike the other ideologies, the Headsman are united and secure in their support for Nex Carnatius and his policies, but if he were to be killed, then his predecessor would have to contend with the, so-far muted, voices of divergent opinions regarding the group such as ‘How far will the state go to protect its citizens?’ and ‘What rights are necessary and which can be sacrificed for ‘the Greater Good?’ among other topics that diverge in opinions.

**To sum up the demographics of the parties.**

Democrats consist generally of specific lower-middle, middle class intelligentsia and journalist leaders as well as business leaders and corporatists who would stand to profit from the Free Trade, Free Ideology and decentralization of the government’s regulatory policies. They hold a plutocracy over business and media and are often ‘Popular opinion’ generators as well as propagandists. The ‘well-to-do’ of this faction believes themselves to be of ‘the people’ and hold large swathes of money.

Syndicalists consist of poor, working poor and lower-middle craftsmen and labourers, unionists and criminal individuals. They attract blue-cowl workers, farmers and disgruntled noble houses seeking to acquire power through alternative means. They do not generally accept employers who abuse their power over their workers. They run a significant portion of ‘free’ media on Press St. and their propaganda is pointed, convincing enough with fiery and emotionally driven rhetoric to be used in war to demoralize the enemy as well as convince domestic audiences.

Headsmen consist of disgruntled workers of the status quo, some military veterans, disenfranchised businessmen, revenge-driven individuals who wish for a chance to strike at the Drow, Military Elite and Old Guard Generals and Navy Officers, or low-born nobles seeking recognition and a chance for ‘honor’ within their social structure. Most individuals are dominated as a sign of loyalty and trust and this ‘link’ is not readily betrayed by most in the group who sees this as a forging of ‘unity’ within the ideology.

Monarchists usually have crown loyalists, those of royal blood and those who work for them as members or assistants. They also include the previous bureaucratic establishment dependent on prospective pensions or paychecks by the crown and the affirmation of their right to rule certain sects of government underneath their capable command. They also include loyal guards and military members and nostalgic, older generations who remember the times of life pre-war. They also include a greater portion of the half-million elves who followed High Queen Crevecoeur into the Apotheosis Desert or the Elves who suffered the most with Queen Camilla Fateburn and wish to see things return to the way things are. They are Traditionalists and young aspiring and obedient men and women.

These are just ‘targeted’ audiences and exceptions are not uncommon to find. Not to say the least of those who ‘court’ the favor of two or more parties or even float around as the situation necessitates it.

## Military

Zondros' military is complex and varied, and is detailed thoroughly here.

### Zondronian Leaders

#### Ovale Olatoris (O-veil O-la-toris) The One-Eye, The Twice Spurned,The Three Sieged

Ovale Olatoris is the leading Democratic leader and by those who know him, he was always the lovable, friendly giant of an elf. Born Foot March 27th on the opening spring equinox festival held in the year 9,594 A.B, (thus making him an Aries), his birth highlighted both the height of his parents marriage and the start of spring offensives in Crevecoer’s resistance campaign.

As a child he was gifted with an excellent education as he was homeschooled by his father, the lumberjack Orris Olatoris (specialized into cacti chopping and farming) and his mother, Phyrra Olatoris, who was a lawyer who fought for the rights of disenfranchised elven farmers pre-war. Using their connections and benefits they had an easier time in the first years of the exilement by the Drow and Ovale lived a life that was without the extraordinarily cruel hardships that fell upon some of his countrymen. These hardships include Drow raids on their farms, no money to pay for any of the pox cures that bankrupted his friends and the complete surprise and lack of resources for any semblance of life in the desert. However, Ovale and his 3 other siblings; the oldest Luvilla Olatoris (Female, K.I.A 9,698, Occupation: Elves-At-Arms), the next oldest Koris Olatoris (Male, K.I.A 9,673, Occupation: Ouroboros Intern) and his younger sister, Yu Olatoris (Female, Occupation: Porcelain Merchant) couldn’t have asked for more.

Ovale often attended the emergency soviets that his father was elected to along with the other leading cacti-farmers to present their hardships and needs of the farming community to the struggling government in exile. The solutions to these problems were matters of life and death to the community and the decisions and policies that were eventually decided upon by popular vote and representation impressed Ovale who, early in his years overheard a conversation during a trip to the poorly maintained stalls that constituted his community’s bazaar.

The conversation went along like this: a teenager was approached by a hooded man (or elf, his species was unclear) and the teenager asked wholeheartedly to the man what the best form of government was like. Interested, Ovale heard him say anarchy to the chagrin of everyone who heard him, but after his hearty chuckle the man stated that “To the society that has what it needs, they will form a Democracy, to that society which does not have, it will seek an Enlightened Despot to show the way.” The man talked more with the teenager but, by this point the rush hour traffic forced Ovale along who was with this thought of a society run by a ‘Democracy’. He was focused on that idea of a world without famine, brutal war or suffering, run by men like his dad who governed fairly in the soviets. He knew that his society was ‘one which did not have’ but he hoped that when they did, when Zondros and her city was wrested back from the Drow, he would be at the helm of the new formation of this democracy.

For Ovale, it irked him that decisions that can affect so many can be decided by a relative ‘elite’ few. How could the Drow place their entire faith in one command issued by one person? Wasn’t Zondros lost due to them placing their entire trust in the hands of an incompetant Queen? These questions plagued him all throughout his early youth years.

He spent much of his teenage years in this manner and sought like-minded individuals; in particular the messengers who reported to and fro from the battlefield. He disliked the censorship that the government in exile did to mask their own actions as he believed that the people should be as informed of the situation at hand as the ones in power. This naturally made him a supporter of ‘free’ press channels that slipped pamphlets into the hands of the civilian Elven worker and a harsh critic of the Drow produced propaganda on occupied Press St.

His charismatic personality, down to earth way of speaking and gruff and wholesome perspective gains him quite a following. Not only this but his capability to listen to his friends’ problems, their ideas and making a concluding and final statement on matters that appear to make sense to most people naturally make him a popular and seemingly wise leader. His good judgement is an inheritance from his mother’s teachings on the basic fundamentals of law and a strong moral code that provides the foundations of those laws. He was a volunteer who provided strong contributions in his community who had a rigid ‘hoist yourself by your bootstraps’ mentality. He worked overtime to minimize as much risk in his daring plans.

At the age of 212 he was conscripted for front-line service as an Elves-At-Arms private during an all encompassing draft. He quickly became the leader of his squad (his supporters say it was his competence and creative quick thinking while his detractors say that the ones that lead him had a quick turnover rate.) and braved fire and lead defenses that would break most initiates. A quick twelve years after he joined, he was known as a steely-eyed veteran of the siege of the sands with a growing circle of connections, friends and like minded intelligentsia in the reporting agencies. By the time Zondros was recaptured, Ovale was already a leading political leader heralding for the Referendum after the war.

Overall, he is a passionate, motivated and confident leader who builds his community with a cheerful disposition and a relentless determination. He is usually simple and direct with his approach and often lets exhaustive details and nuances in the hands of his advisors or other representatives. At the graceful age of 424 as of 10,018, he is ready to take his High Elven Democratic Supporters to help shape the envisioned world of a Free Elven Dominion. He does have authoritarian tendencies and the thought of ‘becoming a president for life’ has crossed his mind more than once.

In regards to his quite pompous title, it is a simple story attributed by those closest to him to describe him with three adjectives. They failed to adequately capture his robustness and charm.

Ovale Olatoris is a veteran of three sieges, The Siege of The Sands, The Siege of Zondros and The Siege of Koda. Additionally, during the siege of Koda, he was struck thrice by a Stronghold Siege Strike delivered onto him by three Web-Weavers of reputable note in the Kodan army and (with the assistance of superb armor, nearby medical personnel and extraordinary constitution and force of will) absorbed all these attacks within a 5 hour period, in between sporadic street fighting.

By the time the war was over, Ovale would be a war hero at the rank of Sergeant Major adept at skirmishing and line infantry tactics. With his glaives and battle-axe in hand, he lead and pioneered the now Democratic Demolisher Elves-At-Arms militia that smashed through enemy formations.

Ovale’s love life is something of an inside joke among the grunts as its common knowledge that during the Siege of The Sands he was saved by a Kodan Matriarch of Murder in what can only be described as the only Zondronian recorded instance of a Drow showing compassion for their enemies. After the war he attempted to find her and kindle a working relationship but was instead held prisoner and ransomed back to Zondros for a not so insignificant sum. The second time was by a Plains Elf woman named Lynel Kiet (Kite) he met during Crevecoeur’s advances on Covenant Road. As his squad fell prey to multiple Drow ambushes, the farmer saved his life by hiding him in her closet until the patrols past by. The Drow in this portion of the war levied heavy taxes of grain and iron on the Plains Elves and at first she took Ovale in as part of her efforts of resistance. He was grateful for her saving his life and wished for her to join him in his travels. Right on cue, the remnants of his squad swept the area to find him being rejected wholeheartedly by her for being ‘insufferable not only to the Dark Elves but anyone who valued decency…’ and ‘His pompous elitism oozed throughout his entire being.’ His squad had a laugh at Ovale for managing to piss off a suitor and his rescuer to this degree within a single day and the event burned into everyone's minds, much to the annoyance and embarrassment of Ovale.

Finally, his physical description is as follows: Ovale is a slightly overweight Elf with a protruding belly and a black eye-patch with a symbol of the Democratic Flag of Zondros over his left eye. He wears a respectable and unassuming tan suit for most official matters and carries an intimidating battle-axe that he manages to wield with a single hand. His strength is almost orc-like. He is bald but does not sport facial hair and has ‘boring’ blue eyes.

#### Sasha Hyrloweinn (Hair-lo-wane) ‘The Velvet Liberator’

Sasha Hyrloweinn is the fiery Syndicalist Leader for the Zondronian nation. Sasha was born in the outskirts of the city of Zondros to two blue collar labourers, Haryk (Har-rick) Hyrloweinn, a ship maker and conscripted sailor and Sasha Vem, a coal miner. Born on Dripping Sands, 20th on the Winter Solstice in the colorful year of 9,696, (thus making her a Sagittarius) Sasha was born into tumultuous times and no real memory of what a country at peace was like. Her older step-brother on her mother’s side, a Sundryl (sun-drill) Vem, was already killed before she was born to a prematurely detonating acidic charge during a naval battle against an infamous Drow admiral and her younger sister, Meili (Mei-lee) Hyrloweinn, hadn’t been born yet. She grew up as an only child for most of her life and found that she could only depend on her friends for support as her parents were forced to give her the ‘latch-key’ style of home-parenting. This translated into a young Sasha that was very independent and adventurous and her seeing many things that she shouldn’t have before the age of 15. The list includes the cemetery, the triage center and most importantly, the speak-easies locations where the nascent union meetings would take place and workers espoused their grievances that tallied from dwindling paychecks, to the war, to life in an inhospitable desert. Her friends consisted of child laborers and teenagers who worked shifts in civilian crafts guild facilities as apprentices and worked in the storage facilities of the supply chain for Taarlae Crevecouer’s resistance groups. There Sasha got all the news from the frontlines and the rumors and gossip of the day to day events.

Although she was quite street wise, during her tenure as a ‘resource organizer assistant’ during her teenage years, she came into being as one of the most resourceful and knowledgeable in the field of ‘extraordinary’ procurement and a voracious reader of history and any after action combat reports she could ‘requisition’. At some point during the Siege of the Sands, her family moved to Dourdawn where the High Queen’s forces battled it out in indecisive engagements across the plains, marshes, and badlands. It was here that Sasha created a ground-up militia training regime from her friends in the Union and her limited knowledge of military tactics. While not entirely ‘her idea’ she was the organizer for the officers who would teach the civilians the basics of defense as it became increasingly probable that Drow soldiers would target them if they managed to breach this far in.

For Sasha, the previous wars of Imperialism that Zondros and Koda waged were for the benefit of an elite class of individuals and that in this incarnation, if things were left alone, the victory that would be achieved would be a hollow and empty one. The unions talked of not only warfare in the battlefield but also of class warfare in the crafts guild monopolies of Zondros and class subjugation in the Underdark. Unlike the soviets of farmers and peasants of the plains, the Unions focused on more specialized labor markets and employees such as the massive crafts guild monopolies that form the industries of Zondros’ economy. An idealistic and hopeful revolutionary was born from the speak-easy halls of Dourdawn’s harbors and from the ground up, the Syndicalist Soldier militias were formed.

At first, the militias were untrained dock workers and crafts persons disgruntled by the atrocious conditions of pre and interim war industries of Zondros. Workers were forced to labor in the creation of bows, arrows, cannons, and hundreds of other products for slave wages while certain elite members of society gambled their successes and losses away for their own gain.

Originally modeled for defense like the Democratic Demolishers, they were a homeguard unit that was nonetheless activated for offensive operations in the Cline Swamp. Barely cusping on her 20th year of life, Sasha was nonetheless at the forefront of her grassroots party that vouched for workers rights and the usage of strikes to get the government to hear their needs. It was probably this ‘annoyance’ that Crevecouer ordered these individuals to attack Drow positions in one of the most inhospitable and miserable areas of the Zondronian countryside. These militia were soldiers in name only; the losses sustained from exposure and a vengeful Drow counterattack left little time for anything more than the most rudimentary training and equipment. Those that filled the ranks were unconventional sources of manpower for the army; those crippled by previously ascertained ‘militarily disadvantages injuries, the old and frail, the young, the wounded, workers who went on strike during wartime, and even cases of ‘not that visibly’ pregnant women were given a crossbow or sword and told to fight.

To say they were slaughtered would be an understatement. The Syndicalists militias did not have any military tradition outside of natural talent. No vial throwers, no specialty magic or incendiary equipment, inexperienced leaders and what training they were given was for garrison duties and defensive operations not offensive spearheads. For the optimistic Sasha, she believed that the righteousness of the cause and ‘a little bit of elbow grease’ would shore up any deficiencies in their special bond. She kept spirits up with daily training exercises and stretches and getting her friends to write poems and speeches of the strength of this bond they all had together. Although roughly and clearly the idealism of a child; this was still something that was ‘true’ and authentic for her brothers in arms. Sasha developed her skills as a propagandist from these live-trial speeches. While some were fanciful stories, they still had an aspect of ‘truth’ to them, an aspect of common experience that the unionists wanted to hear, needed to hear.

For the layman, Sasha began to represent what all of them fought for. She represented their homes, their family, the want of change, the need for flexibility that the reawoken Syndicalist movement offered. Her propaganda gave them hope, gave them meaning in their suffering and gave a reprieve from the hardline rigid traditionalist ‘law-abiding’ mentality that many of their countrymen obediently followed. As Sasha marched along with her squad, she truly believed that the righteousness of the cause made everything just. All the sacrifices they would make and all the horrible things she only managed to glimpse at during her childhood; all the weeping mothers, all the closed caskets, and all the nights where she went hungry because the cutthroats in the Drow army killed the hard-working, innocent supply workers would mean something pure and something real. Their efforts will be rewarded because this good triumphs over evil with enough spirit.

Over the next few years, Sasha Hyrloweinn changed from the fiery, passionate and idealistic kid with a dream to a grizzled and righteous paladin who fought for justice for her union, for her country and for herself. It was then that she acquired monikers of being ‘bloodthirsty’ and rogue-like with her realpolitik mannerisms in her attempts to formulate the Syndicalist militia into a real and capable fighting force on par with not only the other parties but professional Drow regulars. Sasha’s combat prowess in the Covenant Road, Cline Swamp and Koda amounted to the populace regarding her as ‘The Velvet Liberator’ as any area she entered would be left in a sea of blood and flames.

Her negotiations in any situation will not end until she got what she needed and she developed a reputation as a political hardliner. The movement was stylized as completely ‘ground-up’ even as more and more crafts guild were brought into line with the party with less than party aligning values. The people acclimated for her cause saw Syndicalism as the only way for the downtrodden to acquire power and look up after themselves. The unions were a righteous means to a justifiable end. Sasha never stopped being a successful organizer, public speaker or an intimidating force and her role in the party became that of ‘First among equals’ as the leader of the military branch.

She was seen to be a Radical Syndicalist with a bit of a Totalist leaning. The fact that she reorganized the Syndicalist Soldiers into the infamous ‘Knight-Order’ model only signified a significant change in policy from the more ‘traditional’ idealism of the younger years to a ‘practical’ approach that realigned itself for a smoother integration with Zondronian culture and values. Overtime, this led to a movement where it called for a liberation of all elves from their shackles of oppression and equality for all. The less prudent of the organization's members, the young and rebellious, the criminal and the anarchists, all brought forth their own changes such as the quelling of internal dissent by out of line members or internal policing of Syndicalist areas in the cities. They even crafted a term ‘Loop-Roader’ to describe the reactionary tendencies of monarchists or the National Populists who want to restore a status quo and ‘loop’ the road of progress into a never ending cycle. Sasha saw fit not to hinder these developments, instead focusing on more external affairs.

Elves saw Sasha as a savior of the commoner who would continue the fight, long after Crevecouer declared her own victory. A personality cult was all but inevitable when one saw her story as one of a self-made, determined hero who wished for the emancipation of the working class across state lines.

Sasha Hyrloweinn is an individual who saw death on a scale unimaginable; from the unmarked graves in the Apotheosis to the long lines of strewn bodies across this way and that way in the countryside. Sasha Hylorweinn sees others according to their inner strength, practicality, and cleverness. She keeps a cool head and makes decisions based on party and efficiency and the overall benefit of the people. It does hurt to say that she sees those enlightened to the cause as more ‘worthwhile’ in the long run than other Loop-Roaders. Over the time of Zondros eventual conquest of Koda, she helped reform the ideology into something academic and practical and spearheaded the recruitment drive among Syndicalist veterans and workers. Through threatening strikes and organizing ground up political influence, they've become a real up and coming political power in the country.

Sasha’s appearance is a short-haired brunette High Elven woman adorned with a small cap with a symbol of the syndicalist movement which is a clock surrounded by gears. She wears a grey uniform with red linings and has a pin of the same symbol on the left side of her chest. Her hazel eyes regards things quickly and her ears twitch to sounds echoing behind her. She has short hair. Sasha is 322 years old as of 10,018. A.B.

#### ‘The Head Headsman’ Nex Carnatius (Carn-a-shus) ‘The Last, Best Hope For Elvenkind’

**\*Trigger Warning:  Gore, Torture, Mind Control, Trauma, Starvation, A Person Who Believes In Nationalistic Tendencies And Questionable Rhetorics And Morals.**

Nex, like the High Queen, remembers what Zondros was like before the war. He can still smell the industries of a successful nation that outproduced every neighbor. The taste of cuisine handcrafted by the best spices the collective elven minds of Zondros can master. He can still feel the light, warm summer wind blowing towards a hopeful, prosperous future.

But no longer.

Born on Justicar 29th, 9,123, he lived in a time that echoed around the feelings of a deteriorated Zondronian Golden age. Not even 100 years had passed since the fall of Zondros to the Drow and the revokement of their liberty.

Nex’s father died during childbirth complication in which an unlikely fertility ritual accident cost him his life. Nex’s mother abandoned him soon after leaving him with unknown amounts of siblings to orphanages and poorly contracted apprenticeships that bore little fruit. Nex lived a life of poverty through his first 25 years as he benefited from the decaying social institutions suffering under the strain of rapid military defeats. Unsuitable for common work, he lived on social welfare programs that dried up quickly during the years leading up to the Kodan occupation, but he found a brief respite when he was taken in as an ‘Intelligence Adjutant’ and spy for Old Guard member Qyrinus (Ker-inus) Zefsten. (Zehf-sten) during the year 9,147. As a spy and adjutant, Nex acquired his first name and learned how to stay in the shadows and record enemy troop movements. He was one of the first to know of the looming fall from the inescapable and seemingly invincible Kodan advance. The years of 9,150 and onward were times of a cultural upheaval as a Maelstrom friendly government, under the leadership of what Nex sees as a traitor, took the helm of affairs and oppressed the people. Queen Camilla’s policies and war time decisions are what led to Zondros’ fall from grace and the progress and unity that was promised during his years as an intelligence adjunct was quickly washed away along with the blood of Zefsten’s slit throat.

When Koda gave the choice of occupation or exilement to the Zondros city-folk, Nex decided to take his chances with the open desert than underneath the piercing gaze of a Priestess of Maelstrom. The years of 9,163 to 9,244 were times of death, despair and desolate purpose. Zondros city-folk lived comfortably within their walls, as entire generations lived, trained their craft and died without even seeing the entire country. It was a rude awakening when their supplies to the Plains Elf farms, their consumer craftsmen goods and their routine and prosperous lifestyle was replaced with hostile, open desert and the apathetic gazes of the countries who looked on in disinterest or hostility. Nex, with no social or familial connections to speak of and liability of his person firmly on his shoulders, figured that the best way to save his people was to acquire power by any cost and to bring vengeance on the Drow of Koda.

Nex took a very sociopathic outlook of life as each hardship in the sands made him more and more distance to his fellow elf. Nex saw families torn apart first by the exilement and next by thirst and distributions of quarter filled canteens of water. He pilfered the supplies of wounded he knew wouldn’t survive through the night and slipped his misericorde in the necks of Zondronian soldiers too wounded to fight off the vultures who would pick at their wounds in a frenzy in the morning or those incapable of handling the mental stresses of the defeat given unto them by Koda and shut themselves to the world; content with dying from exposure for their failures. Each encounter taught him a similar lesson. Life is not fair, and it does not stop for anyone.

By 9,259, when the Zondronians finally got the death levels under sustainable control through acclimatization and desperate measures, Nex knew that it would be time to focus on taking back his country for his countrymen. First, he had to learn how to fight and to fight dirty to uphold the honor of his country. That was why he returned to Zondros during the spring, amongst a sack of grain in a Plains Elf farming caravan. Without authorization papers, reasons and his name blacklisted, Nex would be killed on sight by not only the Drow occupation forces but by the puppet government that did their bidding.

As he went from ally to ally, he tried to gather as much information on the state of Zondros during the 109 years he last left and what he saw churned his stomach inside out. His people were reduced to the same backstabbing barbarity of the Drow and a systematic policy of fear pervaded through the streets. Mother was turned against son, father against daughter, and the Drow laughed at the misery of what was once- or rather what was soon to be once again, a proud people. He managed to meet with Old Guard military officers who were caught by the balls with Drow surveillance and swords at their backs. A street urchin, with no connections in the city was a useful and unnoticeable ally for them and they quickly established contacts and information. Using some connections the Old Guard acquired in the Drow-Provisional government by assuring and placating the populace for their Drow masters, they got Nex what he needed to fight back against the Iron-grip of the Kodans. The gamble they placed on Nex was significant, but they knew that he did good work for the deceased General Zefsten and they were hesitant to turn away an ally during desperate times.

Nex lived life underneath the command of a Drow Psionic teacher who taught him little in the ways of Psionics and forced him to act as their muscle to discipline the rebellious elements of the city that refused to bow to Maelstrom’s authority. This position was hard-fought for and the teacher, a ‘Yinvette’, believed that by allowing such an ungrateful Zondronian to the position would really mean that the Drow were willing to give Zondros a position of noticeable merit in their resurgent empire. At the bottom of course.

Up until 9,332, Nex committed atrocity and pain on his own people as he acquired the power to turn back on his oppressors and gained information on their weakness. He hated that he had to play second fiddle to the Old Guard officers who lost the war but related with the notion that the war was winnable without incompetency or misunderstanding from the civilian authorities. Using Psionic magic he outwardly swayed public opinion to his master’s liking and secretly subverted the minds of those with true power. A merchant at a stall’s mind was not worth the mind of say, the merchant guild-master. Nex chose who to save and who to corrupt with calculating precision.

His other mission was to heavily punish the insubordination of his master’s other apprentices under a faceless and emotionless mask that was both physical and mental in nature as under his gaze both Drow and Zondronian suffered under brutal torture. Eye-gouging, mind-flaying and mind reconstitution (the act of siphoning memories, supplanting memories and corroding a mind to one’s will), mana siphoning and the harm of loved ones were all within his everyday usage on the populace.

He had a special glee for punishing the Drow students but was reprimanded only once for ‘going too far’. Whenever his group of Old Guard had a chance, he undertook missions to assassinate traitors too far gone into the clutches of the Drow. Formulating their own ‘inner’ rebellion that stuck outside of the city’s walls, he stole military plans and restructured and planned for fifth columnist attack once support came.

But alas, no reports of the exiles coming to save them would arrive and so Nex, one to know when hope was meaningless, took things into his own hands and secured the foundation for what would be the Headsmen. The year 9,454 would be the year Nex would finally get a break from his lowly existence and accept a higher calling to save the Zondronian nation.

Nex’s mission was routine but the geography wasn’t. He was to visit a local bazaar in the Exiled lands in the Apotheosis Desert under the authority of Yinvette and to scout out possible terrorist elements within the group His second assignment was to collect a secondary tax in the form of a special object from a respected individual in league with the Drow’s provisional government and to drop it off to her more trusted servants in a Plains Elf village some miles away. This was something that was uncharacteristically dangerous to offer as work to Nex, a rank and blood Zondronian and it showed just how much Yinvette blundered or perhaps trusted Nex due to his stellar performance. The populace was a small farming community who held local elections for their leaders and regrettably, had little thought outside of complaining about their problems to the swamped democratic Soviets who struggled to maintain their position in one of the most inhospitable areas in Orelisle. It was more concerning to him that there were reports of Jerichoan monstrous experiments let loose in the desert that harassed what little caravans of food they received from foreign aid and trade. Ultimately, he continued with his mission until a particular teenager caught his eye.

This teenager seemed similar to him in his youth with his disheveled hair, dead eyes, and a cold gaze that viewed past the horizons of objects and faces. He would’ve been a good target to lay some blame on so that he could ask for a promotion with his master. He would’ve been a ticket to a higher quality of life.

When the teen walked up to him, it snapped him out of the thinking of a Drow as the blue eyes of the deadened youth stared past his own irises.

“Everywhere I go, the complaints are the same. You’ve been out of the country haven’t you? You’re clothes… you work for them right?”

Taken aback, Nex readied his hidden blades to make short work of him if he dared to blow his cover.

Sensing no reason to recoil, the teen continued. “Hey… could you answer a question of mine? What’s the best form of government?”

Nex, somewhat perplexed by the audacity of this child to not only call him out in a busy street but to give him such a strange question prompted him to uncharacteristically answer him. Sarcastically of course.

“Anarchy.”

He didn’t mind when the people around him grew pale and annoyed at his heretical belief.

The Zondronians were known to be law abiding almost by blood. The social contract of Elves and to follow the law established by their forefathers was a tradition perfected throughout the ages and he dared mock such a thing?

Better for him that they left him and the teen alone.

Not realizing he was chuckling, (when was the last time he chuckled? Was nerves finally getting to him?) he decided to answer the question and to rope the teenager to his cause. Nex thought for but a second and stated “To the society that has what it needs, they will form a Democracy, to that society which does not have, it will seek an Enlightened Despot to show the way.”

As a child, Nex wanted to be that person to lead his country; to be the beloved or feared beneficent leader that delivers the country from its woes. The teen and Nex talked more and overtime they bonded over harsh experiences after heading out of the rush hour traffic in the Bazaar. This first teen would be Harse Elken, the Headsman's second in command.

A plan would be created and the package that Nex’s master wanted, would be secured. He didn’t plan for it to come so soon but Nex decided that for a rebellion to occur, it would have to happen now; starting with Yinvette‘s death. The plan occurred in stages and with the help of the Old Guard, Harse acting as bait and the use of artifact that was in the package, a Scrying Ball called ‘The Cypher Dodecahedron’ that could predict keystone pieces, people and their locations in upcoming events. Nex managed to get Yinvette isolated from her least hated enemies (allies) and capture her. Underneath the torture she recieved, she laughed and said to him that “We’re the same! You and I! You may think that a Zondros without Koda is possible but we’re here for good now deep in your hearts, your minds, your every action! You are just another pawn in Maelstrom’s game! So come! Give me the pain that I deserve for having a loose leash on a feral pet!”

Nex simply shook his head and responded. “No Zondros preserveres and is a law-abiding nation. I will see to it for that. I’ve given you not pain nor a death that you deserve, but rather benevolence. The benevolence to be tried for your crimes and thus to be absolved from your sins in the punishment. Be grateful.” and those were the last words she heard before her life was ended amidst her cackles. On the table of her workstation he looked at the files she had on him and she skirted dangerously close to his capabilities and his allies but what was peculiar to him was that she somehow figured out his last name… Carnatius.

He never knew anyone with that name… but he took it as his own.

The next years were spent evading Kodan/Zondronian authorities for his murder that was tied back to him and acquiring more grassroots followers to resist against the Drow vassal rule. By 9,462, Nex finally gets a result from using the Scrying Orb ‘The Cypher Dodecahedron’ in a ritual to produce a result and receives a prophecy that a person of interest in the Zondronian Exiled encampments will eventually lead their people to a victory. The results from the Scrying Orb was constantly vague and often led him to only trinkets of power or helped in the mysterious ways of Essence; but this was the first time it gave him such a concrete result as the orb uses the users perspective to generate only a glimpse of an answer to a pressing question or give an overly specific detail to a yet unknown variable He knew (read: assumed) such a person would be a force of nature among Elves and he knew that he would have to support them in their bid against the Drow. In 9,462 Nex Carnatius leaves the Zondros city after mixed success and uses what resources he has to jump-start an active rebellion and initiating an active, hot war to retake his homeland.

He would eventually decide upon helping a Taarlae Crevecouer come into power among the Exiles and helped her get a footing from the shadows with ‘anonymous’ reports and convenient supply drops and recruits. When he saw that the High Queen was a ruthless woman for power and that her competency outshone her peers, he knew that he chose the right person that the scrying ball heralded. But he would not be content with leaving destiny alone, no.

In 9,577 he had coalesced enough like-minded individuals who wished for the glories of Zondros past and formed the cult-like political organization known as the ‘Headsmen’ who preached strict adherence to laws in their intent and enforcement, in opposition to the backstabbing culture of the Drow. For entry, all members must be dominated by the upper ranks to prove their loyalty and to oust any traitors amidst their ranks. By 10,018, he uses his limited scrying abilities to guide, protect and defend his homeland from Extra-Planar, Drow, and other unseen enemies with his Headsmen who keep the spirit and law-abiding glory of Zondros past in their hearts and actions.

Nex is 895 as of 10,018. He is known as aloof, confident and the center of attention with his loving and warm personality amongst his followers. Nex is best suited in a leadership role and is a task-oriented, savior-complex determined Elf. Although his plans may seem enigmatic, he assures the inner party and his followers that he knows best on how to run the country from either the front desk or behind the curtains. He has experience and connections with the Supply and Spy branches of military and recently became a Warlock.

He abhors the Syndicalists as destroyers of the state and wishes to suppress the Monarchal weak link in the country as well as to deal with the Kodan enemy with the fullest extent of the law. As a Prime Minister for life, he would install policies devoted to the economic livelihood of the people, the strict pre-war Zondronian social contract of an unshakable law-abiding and centralized people. His economic policy is known colloquially as ‘Carnatism’. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgism

To recap: He started life as a spy/assassin, learned Psionic magic from a leading Kodan Psionist and finally developed a taste of scrying for the chess pieces in prophecies and working backwards from there. Often his organization fights a shadow war against threats the Zondronian government are unable to handle directly or refuse to acknowledge. Among the inner circle, he is known as the ‘Last Best Hope For Elvenkind’ for his persistence and determination in establishing the leading political answer to a Zondronian led Elvendom. He often has plans that operate behind the scenes and knows forbidden or rare away magic that would be outlawed in the research communities of the Ouroborus Tower.

Nex is a hooded elf in black, cacti fiber robes with a green lining that protrudes a mystical enchanted energy. Wrinkles form around his reddish-purple eyes and his hair is short and smooth but grey from age. His pale-green skin sweats in the sunlight and his weapon of choice is his wits, a concealed dagger and his magic although he has been known to use bigger and heavier weapon assassin weaponry like a serrated sword.

#### High Queen Taarlae Crevecoeur ‘The Iron Maiden’

**Trigger Warning: Death from Exposure, Torture Devices**

The most defining and significant political figure in Zondros for at least the next few millennia, the High Queen has saved and shaped the nation’s psyche and sovereignty and no leader could every surpass her importance in the survival of the High Elven nation. Known today as High Queen Taarlae Arnhem Crevecoeur, The Iron Maiden, Defender of the Culture, she nonetheless had modest beginnings.

Taarlae Crevecoeur was born on the first of Foot March, 9,048 to a disenfranchised count named Tien-Ten Crevecoeur who started his life as a successful merchant on the roads leading to Marza and Zondros during peaceful inter-war years. He bought into nobility at a tender age and married a lovely craftself by the name of Lin Kazakuiye (Ka-zack-oo-ye). It was under this tender peace that for most of her upbringing, Taarlae enjoyed the finest education and quality of life her family could provide. These years were cut brutally short during the end of the century as Koda’s army inflicted a series of serious reversals and thrusts onto the Zondronian army that quickly collapsed in a series of military blunders and overexhaustion. The Fateburn and Crevecoeur royal families were torn apart by the chain of events leading up to the defeat of Zondros and the vassalization of the nation in 9,150 and the irreparable rift formed by the 9,163 exilement. Crevecoeur was a nobody in the Royal lineage and that is why she volunteered to lead her people at the tender age of 115 into the deserts beyond to what was certain death. Her role was as a scapegoat royal to send to their death to preserve the lineage of the true queen and was seen by the Monarchists as a good diplomatic move in a bad situation.

Taarlae, along with the exiled Zondronians, were disgusted by Queen Camilla’s decision to give in to the Drow to save the skin of the royal family while the people suffered. What was more egregious offense was that the people were determined to continue the struggle even after the city of Zondros fell. To give in and sign a ‘peace with honor’ was to admit inferiority, to admit that they were beaten and suffer Maelstrom’s wrath in the Drow’s occupation. Their fears were realized with Drow draconian laws enacted and Drow culture permeating through the streets with each incident Elf backstabbing one another in total obedience to the authorities and their Spider-masters.

The years leading up to 9,244 were harsh, unforgiving and taught the most valuable lessons to a people who had grown comfortable in their city-state.

Taarlae Crevecoeur underwent a journey during those years of great struggle to save her people. The Exilement wasn’t always about reclaiming Zondros and she felt as if she was the only one who could lead a desperate ragtag group into a directed and determined force she knew they once were and can be again.

At 196 years old Taarlae had to solve three critical issues if she was to see the inside of Zondros’ wall without the peering gaze of a malevolent Goddess and her worshippers. She had to first focus on the survival of herself and a half million people in the open desert. This is seen as utter suicide by most other races like humans and gnomes who are not as magically gifted as Elves and they would be correct in seeing this exilement as a form of extended capital punishment. However, there was no where else to go for the Elves of Zondros. Jericho had closed their walls to this mass emigration and the Peaceland Commonwealth, the only nation to accept them in the nearby regional vicinity, required crossing an entire desert to reach. The Wolven forest was known (and discriminated) by the Elves for housing disgusting and dangerous Werebeasts and the South contained humans who were embroiled in their own petty conflicts and wouldn’t be able to support any number of them. It was also the pride of the Zondronian Elf to be hesitant of leaving their ancestral homeland since Antiquity.

The years leading up to the Acclimation was harsh as the skills needed to survive were yet untapped. They did have ingenious ways in surviving in a place that did not care whether they lived or died. The first is that the desert holds valuable oases that can support small numbers of people with replenishing underground water basins. When a group of people are huddled together by disaster, they cooperate more readily when their culture focuses on Legalism and the binding contract of their community to assist one another even on the brink of death. They lacked mostly everything, and everyone had to contribute labor for the survival of the group. To stave off immediate dehydration there were magical rituals that were eventually perfected through trials and errors to formulate ponds, rainfalls, fog and anything else to terraform their environment to be just that more bearable. These were always temporary measures and only the groups of Elves with potent mana reserves could keep their society stable with enough water. They would pass on this trait to their children.

Taarlae Crevecouer organized trade caravans with the Plains Elves who shipped vital food supplies and tools. The economy of this ‘Exilement Camp’ was I.O.U’s and promises for much of the beginning years. When the situation stabilized and the mass dehydration deaths were staved off for a while, Taarlae began the second step and that was to not just survive but thrive in this situation so that a war economy could be made.

At the age of 414 at the passing of the year 9,462, Taarlae Crevecouer was seen as the ‘Queen’ of the desert Elves as by that time she had kept the community together under her rule and reformed a desperate people into a proud desert society. There were constructions of amazing irrigation systems that delved deep into the sands and grasped at the precious water sources below and magical mana water wells that formed the bedrock of the society. Giant communal hogans formed from the fibers from the cacti farms had become the basis of their structures and the Elven accuracy reputed to the race was as sharp as ever if the mounting hunting parties and dead monstrosities from Jericho were of any indication. However, this rural-like lifestyle still irked most of them. High Elves are by nature not suited to non-urban life and the dream of reclaiming their city lingered on. Taarlae was met with a strange individual who claimed that he could provide resources, weapons and information on the Drow of Zondros. One by one, she formulated contacts in foreign nations for trade of agricultural products in return for weapons and armor, as well as calling back the Zondronian Navy from their worldwide expedition. She did this as her authority as ‘High Queen’ to supersede the power of the traitor Camilla and the elves underneath her rule did not seem to mind to call her their leader.

The badlands of Zondros were chosen as the start of an insurgency and by the next year, the war to reclaim the homeland was on. This led High Queen Crevecoeur to the third step in her plan. She had to keep the spirit of resistance up amongst not only her own resistance forces but across the country as well. While her reorganizing of the resistance was quick, the time that has passed during the interim might have changed the minds of what would be some loyal elves. By defeating the enemy on the battlefield and showing that the Kodan enemy can be defeated, she would inspire heroics in the lives of everyday soldiers. It was during this time period that her resistance capture Dourdawn and transformed the harbor into a proper city. She also gained reinforcements from the merchant ships recalled back home by her call for war. In a fiery speech given at Dourdawn, she asked the Elves of Zondros if they allowed the desert to conquer them and reduce a race of Elves who formed mighty cities into a simple diaspora of unwanted wanderers. The crowd cheered no, never. She asked them if the Kodans had broken their spirit, if the laughter of Maelstrom’s reign will echo in their halls, if they can stand such a thing. The crowd hollored a negative. She asked if their dreams of united Elvendom will be one of despicable Drow drudgeries, or a reign of peace, progress and prosperity for Elves everywhere. The Crowd cheered for Crevecoeur, and all she asked was for them to enter the gates of Hell to retrieve the soul of their nation.

By 9,712, amidst inconclusive standoffs on the Covenant road and Cline Swamp, the Drow begins the Siege of the Sands which showcases intense all out offensives against the Zondronian resistance forces. At the end of this endeavor, the Drow were held off and depleted and the Elven city open for a recapture.

When the Zondronians under Taarlae Crevecoeur arrived, they were heralded as heroes who had done the impossible; a true High Queen above all the royal leaders of the nation. She was disgusted by Camilla Fateburn’s vassal government under the Drow and reorganized her countrymen into a fighting force that could take the fight back to the Drow in Koda. The ‘true’ Queen was unable to resist as her chance of restoring her authority escaped with the Drow running for their lives back to their city. Camilla’s favor plummeted as far as Taarlae’s skyrocketed. For all the prisoners she captured, no quarter was given, and her favorite instrument of death, the Iron Maiden, was the preferred treatment given to her enemies. Her tough demeanor and rough war-like nature led the still ‘civilized’ elves of the city to call her ‘The Iron Maiden’ after the torture tool.

The High Queen developed Animancy abilities during the Siege of Sands as she rushed to prevent as much death around her as possible to deal sure-kill blows with death magic. She has a silver-tongue and can skirt around the truth. She wears a regal royal dress and is armed with the Royal Mace.

She is a blonde elf with hazel-blonde eyes and a tanned complexion. Her features are sharp and her eyes can be as hard as steel and yet as caring a soft velvet glove.

## Social Hierarchy and Culture

Zondronian culture is legalistic to a fault. Legalism is the defining political and moral attribute as most citizens align themselves to some form of code or honor system. Authorities are respected as long as they are seen to utilize their power effectively and without abuse. The social contract of the nation, or what drives the community of the people of Zondros, is that dedication to the group is what drives things forward. The stories of conquest and defeat of powerful adversaries all stem from the fact that the Elves worked together and combined their strengths to defeat the dragon or environmental catastrophe or social divide that plagued society. The obligations given to any citizen is taken very seriously and the investments put into the community are seen as the binding fabric of society; more so than religion, cultural ties and race.

The High Elves of the country have a collective dream of uniting the Elvic based races into one Dominion of Elves known as Elvendom that would protect their interests from any threat.

The High Elven society is based on meritocracy and communal effort based on an Elven standard. An Elven general at work for 120+ years will be seen as inherently more capable than a human general at the old age of 60 with 12 years under his belt. This example works across all aspects of society except trade, where humans have a naturally affinity for greed.

There is a disagreement with the High Elves and the Barbarian Human Tribes, over matters of cremation as the High Elves cremate their dead to prevent necromancers from utilizing their own kin against them. The wars with Koda produce lots of able material for the dead manipulators and the Zondronians see this as part of the solution against them.

**Gods, Goddesses:** There is a temple to Zarakyni where the Order of the Pen and Paper reside. She has many names and is the Goddess of Scribes. Her main church is in Zondros, and those in bureaucratic and administrative work are her main followers. Workaholics especially pray to her for slower work days and better customer service relations. She takes the appearance of an understanding priestess to an intellectual poet.

The Plains Elves worship the Water Goddesses, Chilko and Yesive who are sisters in mythology and grant fertility, bountiful harvest and protection to the farmers.

Zondronians see faith as a type of magic and worshippers as a type of communal magician. Often, Progenitors see themselves as above the law and that is a big no in Zondronian cultural standards. Ironically, the Zondronians state that overwhelming military force doesn’t make you right.

The Headsmen Upper Echelon know that a Progenitor’s power comes from faith and know that a reduction in that faith corresponds with a drop in their power.

### Celebrations and Holidays

In Foot March, the Spring Equinox is celebrated and Cacti fruits and flowers adorn the local festivities that celebrate prosperity, fertility and occasionally the two River Goddesses, Chilko and Yesive.

On the last Friday of Mayflower is a Bardic Communal Celebration with bards retelling old and grand pieces of literature and music of a Zondronian golden age. It is similar to an ‘Independence Day’ of other countries.

On Auger, 27th, there is a Dwarven holiday of ‘Starlight’ that is celebrated by the alpine villages of the Elves in the Aegis and what few traditional dwarves that remain.

On Dripping Sands, 31, there is a New Year celebration in the country.

On Dripping Sands, 18, is a holiday for the remembrance of Hero Taarlae Crevecoeur. Many people see this as a sacred holiday to remember the lives lost during the Siege of the Sands and the sacrifices made to reclaim their city.

On Dripping Sands, 32, or the end of the month, A Death Day may occur.

## Cities, Towns, and Villages

### Zondros

Zondros, the capital city and namesake of the country. It is a city with a long and bloody albeit somewhat forgotten history. The High Elves that inhabit these walls were once an accomplishment of the First Race. Now it holds the souls of one million, all drunk on the dream of unifying elvenkind under the banner of progress and civilization. Many of the great architectural works still stand strong even after all these years as a testament to the ancestors of the High Elves; any new constructions are either direct government projects or Pueblos that house a growing, fierce population. Places of interest include Ouroboros Tower, Vilhelm Windmill which is purported to be one of the largest of its kind, The ‘Sand Castle’ Palace which is the same color as the sand surrounding the country and the highly esteemed Printing St which holds the countries largest supply of printing presses. The city would be known for its glass products, its war-like nature and obsession for law and contracts. The walls stand tall and proud despite any cracks made from wars or wear and tear are patched from an inferior material than its original make.

### Dourdawn

The most important port city on the coast, Dourdawn is one of the few places where boats can dock without having to face a very steep coastline.This trade has boomed economically in recent years. It rains a lot there with occasional every decade or so due to warm tropical temperatures out in the sea. It is also home to a beach that the locals advertise as a holiday vacation spot for the capital city folk. The General Navy of Zondros also resides here and tries to protect foreign mercantile ships from pirates, hostile countries and Sirens that reside on the edges of the horizon who call out for shipmen. The people have naturally developed a stoicism to their environment and benefit from a cruel, dark sense of humor to deal with their everyday lives. Established 18 P.L.Z.

### Other Settlements

#### Speculation

A small trading outpost that has developed concurrently with the nearby castle of ‘Devil’s Watch.’ Many swamp products, desert trinkets and of course shady business practices are exchanged with the nearby city of Dourdawn for fishing products, refined glass items from the Capital and imported exotic items. Nearby coal and iron mines support a healthy blacksmithing economy and many in the empire hope for the economic success of this outpost town. Out of all the settlements in Zondros, Speculation is the most diverse as races of all types apply to work and trade here, attempting to make their fortune. Home of the Golden Egg casino that runs multiple lotteries and other entertainment centers run by a shady Dwarf by the title of ‘Blackbeard.’

#### Fort Letlin

This fort was built as an emergency measure from the Drow against Taarlae Crevecoeur's ragband army. They never expected her to completely bypass the fort to instead risk casualties going through and across Cline Swamp and the Yesive. Today the fort is considered to be a vacation post by the General Army and a redundant yet appreciated defensive measure against any would be invader in the north or west. It has mostly been mothballed and adjusted to be as a forward merchant’s posting for Dourdawn and Speculation.

#### Human Tribes

This unnamed collection of human hamlets and towns represents the barbarian population that makes Southern Zondros their home. Ever since the fall of the Drow they had to harbor a difficult situation as a people who were once enemies to the state. Many consider their homes and livelihoods theirs and not the lands of Zondros and many skirmishes occur across the river in Genogard Hills. Tough, brutish and efficient. These simple maxims are how these humans live their lives.

## Alliances

Koda - Vassalized Integrated City-state Puppet.

Cliffhaven Dwarves - Naval trade routes and export destination.

Dilghao - Naval Trade routes and export destination.

Peaceland Commonwealth - Country of interest for integration into the Elven Dominion political faction, or annexation. Friendly relations.

Marza - Caravan Export destination. Neutral relations. Can be called upon to face a regional threat. (Fel, Extra-planar, Necromancer, Lesion Threat)

Kha - Naval Export destination. Neutral relations. Can be called upon to face a regional threat. (Fel, Extra-planar, Necromancer, Lesion Threat)

Daris - Naval Export destination. Neutral relations. Can be called upon to face a regional threat. (Fel, Extra-planar, Necromancer, Lesion Threat)

## Enemy Countries

Jericho - Seen as lawless mages out of control with their power. Zondros awaits for an apology for releasing their monstrosities onto the desert. They understand that the country may have been destroyed in recent years but they still await an apology from the survivors. They may normalize relations afterwards.

Lesion - Seen as a lawless country with multiple threats that disturb the peace of the Southern border.

Koda - A war with the Drow that has lasted for millennia. Relations are improving with the puppet government.

Wolven forest - The High Elves of Zondros think extremely poorly of Were-beasts and consider them to be creatures to be slaughtered or cured and rehabilitated. The Wolven forest is considered off-limits to civilian personnel and generally regarded as a wasteland.

Calahay - Zondronian political authorities regard this country as a nation that has a pirate problem and occasionally raids Zondronian supply route lines. Calahayan privateers or pirates are hunted down by the Zondronian Navy.

Sym’fadè Confederacy - Seen as a hostile power that may threaten to disbalance the current regional status quo as evidenced with Darkfell and the Zondros-Kodan wars. No direct military or political action is taken against the Confederacy as Zondros is content with her acquisitions of Koda.

## Founding and History

**Founding:** Zondros settlement founded in 17,531 BB.

**(17,531 BB - 9,000 BB) Antiquity:** Zondros was a small Elvic city compared to the massive metropolis of Lesion. It was considered a cult-like group who enjoyed urban life and higher pursuits.

**(9,000 BB - 5,983 BB) Late Antiquity:** After the fall of Lesion and the failed colony city of Austerity, the Zondros city-state turns inwards and makes works of art and inventions that will stand the test of time.

**(0 AB - Present) Past 10,000 years:** A war is instigated when the recent Drow controlled city of Koda and Zondros fight over prestige, borders, culture and everything else. This would be the start of an on and off struggle between the two city-states as they expanded into proper countries in their own right, to one-up the other. The Dream of Elven Dominion begins as multiple tragedies of Progenitors, Extraplanar beings and strong external rivals like Galkador, threaten the existence of the Sovereign Elvish rule.

**9,048** Taarlae Crevecoer is born.

**9,123** Nex Carnatius is born.

**9,150** Koda Captures Zondros.

**9,163** Koda banishes half a million elves into the Apotheosis.

**9,244** Zondronians become Desert acclimated. Approximately 50% of refugees dead by the time Zondronian Exiles reclaim their Capital.

**9,259** Nex arrives in Zondros and becomes an Enforcer for Yinvette.

**9,462** Nex jump-starts Crevecoeur’s journey to power.

**9,462** Zondronians start resistance to recapture Zondros.

**9,494,** Ovale Olatoris is born.

**9,577** Nex forms the Headsman Absolutionists

**9,696** Sasha Hyrloweinn is born.

**9,712 S**iege of the Sands which showcases intense Drow counter-offensives into open desert against Exiled encampments and attempting to cut off foreign and underground supplies as well as an offensive onto the Exiles HQ at Dourdawn.

**9,718** Taarlae Crevecoer recaptures Zondros, Drow retreat to Koda in anticipation of attack and to recover losses.

**9,948** Taarlae Crevecoer captures Koda.

**10,018** Referendum for the new political ideology to lead Zondros at the behest of the High Queen and a deteriorating political climate.

**10,018** Sasha Hryloweinn elected Director General after Leneki’s forces influence the election. (Read Binturian Party)

**10,019** Crevecoeur Dies from old age.

## Further Information

* The Binturian Party
* Cliffhaven
* Daris
* Dwarves
* High Elf
* Lesion
* Kha
* Koda
* Marza
* Zondros Military