Koda

Map of Country

### Exports

Ceramics, semi-preioucs stone figurings, bells, mirrors, bat leather goods, mushroom wine, folding fans, folk medicine, furniture, forbidden magical arts, spider-silks, art, rare earth metals, jewelry, slaves

### Allied Countries

Sym'fadè Confederacy, marza, Daris, Zhoushi Federation, Cliffhaven (Former)

## Common Knowledge

Koda was once a regional surface power in South-East Orelisle, which is an impressive feat for a city-state in the Underdark. For the common person, the Kodans have a high projection of soft and hard power and influence in the South-East Orelisle surface region. Merchants enjoy the fruits of trade with the Kodans and enjoy their presence much more than other ‘typical’ Drow. The Kodans know the value of allies as the power of friendship is what made them compete with Zondronian resources and strategic defenses. The Kodans are disliked by the other Drow sects for their unconventional beliefs but they usually offset their complaints with unarguable results. They are a hardy people who have Maelstrom in their hearts and minds.

Whether they like to or not.

## Topography and Climate

The climate in the city of Koda is a moist cavern system ecology. The city is illuminated by two gigantic bio-luminescent blue mushrooms that sits at the top of the cavern and disperse a light fog throughout the area. Koda sits beside a small reservoir of water that runs out into a canal called ‘Lake Benzeran’. These roads lead up to the surface where they disperse into multiple raiding tunnels just due south of the Fade Forest where a small dense jungle like environment forms. Although part of the Fade Forest, it’s filled with spider webs and the atmosphere is noticeably darker and quieter. The outposts by Lesion are geographically unstable as the cities plates move on occasion while any outposts north have roads that lead to deep sand pits miles down. Koda has some trading roads that lead upwards to the surface to Marza, Kha and Daris and the entrances to these places are the only parts of the road that’s guarded. The areas underneath the Wolven forest are mostly unknown and most likely deadly. The roads are rocky, uneven, and infested with all manners of malign individuals or monsters.

## Population

Country: 1.2 million

Capital: 800k

### Pre-War

Drow: 34% of the demographic. The Drow primarily reside in the city of Koda as the ruling caste and premier military fighting force. The Drow can be considered a different sect from the Phridgian Drow. They are ‘friendlier’ than their Phridgian cousins, but one would be foolish to consider them unable to commit the same hard-line punishments, torture and ‘evil doing’ as them.

Dark Elf: 63% of the demographic. The Dark Elves reside in the city of Koda, the outside farms, or the rentier towns that extract resources or protect a significant area or direct the flow of trade. These are individuals who hold other Dark Elf Goddesses in their hearts but follow the Drow government’s direction.

Dwarves/Duergar/Svirfneblin: 3% of the demographic. Most Dwarves are from the Urist’s Own mercenary corps who settled into the cities or are merchant contacts who set up post in trade emporias in the Kodan trading outposts to conduct their business. They usually hold favorable reputation amongst the Kodans for their bravery and sacrifice for their war against Zondros and thus get preferred treatment over the Duergar and Svirfneblin. The Dwarves sometimes use their positions to make life tougher over them as a form of non-violent instigation. The Kodans are usually rewarded with unique military training, stratagems and tactics and cheaper Dwarven mercenaries for this favor.

This number also includes small numbers of Svirfneblin who live in isolated societies within the outposts walls or Duergar who stick to a rudimentary and magicless existence. The Svirfneblin have formed a scientific community funded by the Kodans and in return for protection and the right to practice whatever cultural oddities that they may see fit to introduce in the future such as ‘cannibalism’, ‘mass sacrifices’ or ‘eating with a knife for peas’ they give the Kodans their scientific and magical discoveries. The Kodans sometimes have to make this payment in Lesion magical items or oddities that the Svirfneblin use for unknown magical purposes, research or cultural significance.

Duergar slave traders are known to trade with the Kodan nobility for Beast-Folk, Human and High Elven slaves in return for Drider slaves, gold ingots and. These Duergar are an off-branch of the Saeguar culture group from further East in societies roughly around the Siren Sea. Their communities in Koda form the basis of a communal ‘merchant’s guild’ that deals in illegal trades and questionable business activity to fill their coffers.

### Post War

Drow: 12% of the demographic. Most Drow fled to Phridgia when the Zondronian army conquered the city of Koda in a bid to reclaim the Phridgians military power to retake their city. Some Drow in government positions hide away in fear of retribution by the populace for incurred grievances during their rule. They are a people that see many parallels between now and the Zondronian position they mocked less than a millennia ago. Their spirit is so shattered with the Phridgian defeat that many are considering revoking Maelstrom, suffering Driderism in the process.

Dark Elf: 86% of the demographic. The Dark Elves have acquired their own government, free from Drow influence and replaced them with High Elven intrusion. It is a mixed blessing and many are disheartened about the regime change.

2% Dwarves/Duergar/Svirfneblin: 2% of the demographic. They hold the same contacts with the Drow and evade Zondronian patrols seeking to disrupt ‘business as usual.’

## Exports and Trades

The city of Koda runs on rentier colonies that extract resources in important sites across the Underdark. These colonies are necessary to run the country’s war economy and to maintain surface projection of power. For example, a mithril mining town might be instituted with slaves and lower caste members of society bringing in caravans of resources for the forges of Koda. Once the resource is used up, the town is abandoned or used as a forward operating base for future resource gathering in the area.

Koda exports ceramics, semi-precious stone figurines, Ondols, weapons to conflict zones in the continent, bells, mirrors, bat leather products, mushroom wine, folk medicine, folding fans, furniture like sliding doors, forbidden magical arts, items and materials, spider-silks, Assassins, Drow art, Drow bards, rare earth metals, jewelry and rarely slaves.

Kodan craftsmen are often in service to a Priestess of Maelstrom or influential noble house who then contracts their services to other houses or commoners for wealth. Unskilled laborers and slaves are sent to rentier colonies outside of the city to earn their keep or enlist into the army where they live a brutish and short existence.

Kodan merchants are often a sub-division of a noble house and run predominantly by males who work at trading outposts or trading caravans who run along Southern surface world or in small merchant fleets. The lives of these men are better compared to at home, and it is seen as a privilege to be considered a component of a merchant guild. They do not make much money as most profits go towards funding the noble house employing them, but in return they’re allowed the freedoms allotted to a person who is able to escape the ever present heightened state of alert in Drow society. Any Drow or Dark Elf found abandoning the post for any reason is met with a fierce bounty on their head.

The City of Koda’s size has forced the economy to become less specialized than it would like for the ability to have a regulating autarky that can withstand the strains from the needs of a city-state empire.

Koda has a rentier colony system in which designated resource sites such as farmland, mining sites, hunting sites, or adequate locations for trading outposts or forts, are built. These ‘towns’ are mostly temporary outside of ‘perpetually significant’ zones and their resources are sent back to Koda for refinement into goods and products. The towns are often not self-sufficient and require supplies from Koda to sustain themselves which themselves are vulnerable to attack on the road. The types of Rentier Colonies are as large as the types of resources Koda needs to maintain her economy.

This method of extraction is cheap but the risk of losing a town to the greater Underdark or losing a caravan’s supplies to raids, banditry or worse has sometimes cost Koda more in investment than she gains. The addiction to cheap labor (slaves, male drow) and the low cost of maintaining the towns with low autonomy from the centralized control of the authorities, has left the Kodan government to turn away from more traditional methods of ‘state-making’. If a resource site is contested by a rival power, such as a Duergar encampment or Dragon, then the Kodan military will be called in to ‘pacify the countryside.’ Additionally, Koda collects tributes from her allies for her military assistance and collects hefty taxes on countries she’s vassalized.

While its goods are not as impressive as dedicated, specialized Dark Elf cities, Koda is most likely the only Drow city on the continent that a foreign merchant can walk in and conduct business in a safe and orderly manner within a given timeframe of 2-3 days and have the option of buying Drow influenced art and clothing; for a hefty price of course.

## Government

### Pre-War

Koda is ruled by its theocratic ‘Council of Maelstrom’ who form the ruling oligarchy of the country. The leader and head of state is a military dictator that is usually nothing more than a figurehead in place for the Council and the Head Priestess who decide matters and course of action for the country. The government of Koda has formed into its own loosely allied nation-state that is fit to determine its own course of action and destiny. The country revolves around the Drow army, its maintenance and its usage in enacting Maelstrom’s will. The diversification of the economy was only enacted because the profits could be redirected into the military and religious houses. The Council of Maelstrom guide their people from the front in fantastic displays of martial power and from the back with quick, diplomatic maneuvers and ‘aggressive self-defense’. At the very top, the Head Priestess communes with her most capable warriors and leaders despite their gender, and sends them off to protect her holdings.

**\*Trigger Warning: Grotesque sacrifices for political gain.**

The Head of State was a ‘Rainmaker’ who was the Premier five star Generalissimo of Koda and under his reign, sections of the military barracks, political sector and the Church of Maelstrom herself, was webbed with Drider silk and one by one, those who resisted the Council’s rule, prisoners of war and his rivals were placed and cocooned in a show of strength. At his command, he snapped his fingers and the blood of his enemies rained upon the city of Koda non-stop for three days and three nights. No one knows his true name as his moniker ‘The Rainmaker’ says everything that is needed to know about him. There were more incidents of ‘rain-making’ in his military career against Zondros and his popularity status and increased power as a military dictator is something that the Council of Maelstrom keeps a close eye on.

The Council of Maelstrom is a leading group of the eight ruling spiritual leaders of the Drow faith in Koda. When a Kodan Priestess Councilwoman is killed, the other members of the Council nominate another from the clergy to act as the most junior member and they suffer underneath their seniority until they become acting seniors through subterfuge and political maneuvering or their seniors themselves are killed in battle or ‘old age’. It’s a unique phenomenon in Kodan society, that the older you are, the more likely you are to die a natural death of falling backwards upon a neat row of daggers or mistaking tea for their daily supplements of arsenic. They usually band together to support and also counter the extraordinary powers of the Head Priestess and control the military dictator. They have rule over the clergy and the church and they have no shortage of power over their city.

The Head Priestess is outside of this group and given more power to direct the nation to their will. The Head Priestess in peace time is directly nominated by Maelstrom from either visions or consensus from the Council of Maelstrom or from the clergy itself in special cases. In war time, the Head Priestess role is given to the most senior Councilwoman or group consensus vote. In cases of ties, the Military Dictator will assume his actual position as head of state until the matter can be settled. This is rarely the case as the Councilwomen would rather die than be subservient to a male that’s beneath them.

The Head Priestess of Maelstrom is the leader of the faith of Maelstrom’s divinity and the ultimate power in Koda as she is the final authority of Drow spiritual matters and speaks for Maelstrom herself. She communes with her Goddess and obtains national missions from Her to complete. Her flock are of a different sect of Drow compared to the Phridgians and she gives only lip service to their authorities; especially since their failures during the Vierfyrnn debacle and the Darkfell disaster. This individual is quite possibly the most cruel, cunning and luckiest person to be the leader of Koda.

### Post-War

The Drow government has been disbanded and a provisional puppet government under Zondronian authorities has been enacted. Officially it is a ‘Republic of Koda’ but its representatives hold no true power and the Prime Minister of the country acts as foreign installed dictator acting at the behest of the Zondronian officials who administer in place of the Council of Maelstrom. Currently, the government is enacting changes to have the city become more Syndicalist in nature, due to popular support from the government at home.

## Military

Koda's miilitary is complex and varied, and is detailed thoroughly here.

## Social Hierarchy and Culture

Kodan society is inherently caste based and life revolves around adherence to the central authority in the Drow churches. One’s station in life can improve through cooperating with others to reduce a superiors position, waiting for the superior to eventually die from high turnover, or by carefully removing the superior through classic assasination methods. The Council sits at the top, with the clergy and the military dictator right below them. Then the noble houses who feed the clergy with either merchant profits or manpower are placed in the middle position of society where they can freely abuse the lower classes with the support of the clergy. The noble houses band together or utilize subterfuge to enact policies that benefit them and one day hope to get their daughters into the clergy and influence national policy for their house’s own gain. In between the noble houses and the bottom class are the Dark Elf working classes who fit into roles that the clergy and noble houses cannot fill and are ruled with an iron fist and the velvet glove. The bottom classes include slaves, unskilled laborers and foreigners who are given mixed treatment depending on their social status.

The need to ‘cooperate’ is high in the world’s only Drow controlled city as the many external threats in their region wish to extinguish their rule and only the most pressing and justifiable ‘backstabbing’ is culturally allowed. Small, very small degrees of ‘communal trust’ are formed for efficiency’s sake as the overwhelming success of one house to the detriment of others will see coalitions form against them at breathtaking speeds. An understanding of ‘mutual benefits’ permeate through the cultural underbelly of society and the non-Drow Dark Elves act as middlemen and assets for the more paranoid Drow elite. An alliance that is broken prematurely is seen as wasted trust that cannot be gained so easily. Society is a meritocracy and those that cannot lift their own weight will have their incompetence exposed and their lives ruthlessly exploited for the benefit of all. Lives in Koda are considered a bit more precious due to the insatiable need for bodies in her wars. Infighting, while seen as beneficial in the short term, might hinder a crucial long term objective and Drow Kodans would not risk the Councils wrath for ruining a strategic goal. These goals are somewhat unknowable, so infighting is an extremely calculating affair. Sabotage and assasination are political necessities instead of tools of advancement and favor of your superiors superior are one of the ways of advancement in society. If Persons of Authority can band together, they can hold people above them in check through quantity. It is believed by the Council that excessive assassinations also risk afterlife damnation by Maelstrom if the output of society as a whole does not improve. If only your station improves and not the station of others, then it is seen that you’ve taken what was rightfully Maelstrom’s servant who was enforcing her will. Guilty or not, secular and religious punishments await those that stand to profit from an ill timed political or economic assasinstion. There have been cases where entire houses and their rivals have been found feuding and sent to death or more often slavery.

Houses or individuals who acquire too much power and not enough results will find the Council appointing rivals and asking for excessive ‘contributions’ to the state.

The Kodan Drow are more readily able to ally with other races than other Drow as they remember the kindness bestowed upon them by the Dwarves who took their race that was on the brink of annihilation. While the Drow are hard to trust anybody or anything, the Dwarves have the benefit at starting at a ‘neutral’ rather than a complete disdain with Kodan Drow. The Kodan Drow value cooperation and alliances as they understand that this makes one’s forces stronger if managed correctly. They value trust as a non-replenishable commoddity by individuals who are worthwhile and can even form something of working and friendly business relationship with people vital to their cause. Cases of even breaking of alliances without backstabbing have been reported as they see that individuals may prove to have a use at some time in the future and that the immediate concern or benefit may be outweighed by a long distance one. They see the other sub section of Drow as too hasty and incompetant as they cannot play the ‘long game’ in Dark Elf society.

If Koda did not have such pressing threats coming in at all sides of her society, it is hard to tell if this veneer of cooperation would be able to stand the test of time. The leading religion is Maelstrom’s Drow followed by the Three other Dark Elf Goddesses who do not have official churches in the city but the populace are allowed to practice if they see fit. The Drow harass the non-believers in various ways such as a ‘surplus deity tax’ for every other deity a citizen believes in and other monetary and social rewards and punishments.

The populace is encouraged to convert to the ways of the Drow but the issue is not pressed with military effort or excessive social force by the Kodan government as they know very well what pressuring those who are fanatical to their beliefs can lead to. They also take the opportunity to rake in the public relations boost in calling Koda a ‘free and tolerant society for any elf for any belief or occupation.’

The Kodan society values diplomacy as well as military strength and brutality and can even imitate surface dwellers emotions if it furthers their cause. This is what makes them such shrewd and difficult to deal with opponents. The Kodans understand the ‘power of friendship’ and the battle for hearts and minds. What better way to obtain an objective than to manipulate your opponents into fighting each other? Their opposition calls them opportunistic and cunning.

The Kodans call themselves friendly and ‘economically’ calculating, like any other peace loving, merchant oriented society.

### Celebrations and Holidays

In March, a spring equinox festival known as ‘Flight-flame’ is held where lanterns are lit and soar to the top of the sky or cavern and kites are either flown into the lanterns and ceremonially burned or archers attempt to light the kite with fire arrows and spells. Some take this time to cremate their day on this day or to burn something of significance to them.

On Asphalt 5th, a festival commemorating Maelstrom’s alleged birthday is held called ‘Incubate Day’. Dark Elves and Drow alike thank Maelstrom for her infinite benevolence and increased strength to enact her will in the future campaigns. If possible, the most cunning of the Kodan Drow assassinate their rivals upon or near this date for prestige and a sense of honor among clergy members who turn a blind eye to ‘festivities’.

On Justicar 18th, a festival called ‘Peace Day’ is held in memory of a Justicar who managed to celebrate the shared interests of Kodans and foreigners alike before being executed. Special foods (sometimes poisoned, sometimes woefully undercooked) are served and foreigners are encouraged to take the week off in a ramped up tourism event that showcases the acceptance and friendliness of the Drow.

Many Drow ‘couples’ take time in Auger, to head to the surface and look at the nightly constellations as a reminder of what awaits them for their service to Maelstrom. Alternatively, many take this opportunity to settle grudges away from Koda and utilize the most dirty and underhanded tactics known to Elves.

On Dripping Sands 31, the ‘New Year’ is celebrated and the Council Of Maelstrom hold an event commemorating on the strengths and failures of the year and what to look forward to the next.

On Dripping Sands 32/???, ‘Death Day.’

## Cities, Towns, and Villages

### Koda

The Kodan city-state has natural fissures that go deep down and form their mining sector as Dark Elves rappel off the side and into natural caverns that hold highly replenishable veins of ore and magical crystals used for rituals. The Kodans make sure that they’re not digging directly underneath the city. These fissures also form natural defensive lines for any invading force as bridges can be burned to stall for time.There is a dam that keeps the water in and filters into elf-made reservoirs where the water is purified, boiled and dispersed into irrigation systems or wells in the city proper. There are docks that sit beside the canal where the Kodan Navy resides. The surrounding roads leading outwards from the city all have destinations to either small villages nearby that farm and collect the caverns natural biomass or to specified sites far outside the city such as steel mines, forts or trading outposts.

### Rentier Colonies

The city of Koda runs on rentier colonies that extract resources in important sites across their ‘region’ in the Underdark. These colonies are necessary to run the country’s war economy and to maintain surface projection of power. For example, a mithril mining town might be instituted with slaves and lower caste members of society bringing in caravans of resources for the forges of Koda. Once the resource is used up, the town is abandoned or used as a forward operating base for future resource gathering in the area. Some permanent towns and their use are given below. Most Rentier Colonies are temporary resource extraction towns.

### Trading Posts

Trading posts are the Kodan trade emporias used to influence the Underdark’s foreign trade. While not as bustling as naval routes or surface routes, the lucrative markets that Koda offers, as well as the exotic goods they produce manage to tempt merchants who wish for one or two good hauls that can turn a very quick profit. These posts are crewed by the noble houses estate and their slaves and lease of a post is seen as a very profitable, yet risky endeavor. Security costs can ramp up quickly in times of turbulence and failure to administer a trading node effectively can see retribution by rival houses and the Council itself.

### TP Marza

This simply named Marzan trading post stands as the premier trading node for the South-Eastern countries of Orelisle, from Cliffhaven to Marza, Kha, Daris and even caravan runners from Calahay. This post serves as a heavily fortified, government run depot to secure merchant supplies and tax foreigners coming into Kodan ‘controlled’ sections of the Underdark. Trade caravans are directed to Koda to unload and sell their goods or use the trading post as an emporia to which they disperse their goods to other markets. The population consists of a small army and their supply lines protecting the roads leading to the post as well as a small farming community who acts as their own town’s garrison.

Local population: 2,000.

### Fort Forward Operating Bases

The lifeblood of Kodan’s expeditionary forces, the Forts of Koda lie in strategic places in the Underdark’s cavern system that emphasizes campaign distance and the ease of logistics. Most forts are nothing more than hastily constructed barricades and temporary defensive lines but the ones that are permanent and rarely get mothballed and discontinued, are given the names of spider webs to denote their importance.

### Fort Orb-Weaver

Fort Orb-Weaver is the dominant Fort that guards the major cavern route upwards to the tunnels that lead into the Zondronian Fade Forest. It is the last stop of any Kodan army before venturing into hostile territory, outside of their allies’ encampments on the surface world. The Fort sports a small community of blacksmiths, merchants and farmers who try to ease the demand of maintenance by crafting their own supplies. The community huddles around the area by the fort for some measure of protection. In case of concentrated attack like a sieging army, the Fort’s garrison will abandon the townsfolk to their fates and focus on surviving the siege.

Local Population: Garrison, 24,000 troops, 30,000 population in surrounding farms and slums. It’s current use is debated over by Zondronian officials due to new political realities.

## Alliances

### Sym'fadè Confederacy

Relations with the cities of the Sym'fadè Confederacy are distant at best due to Koda’s insistence of realizing her own national ambitions at the chagrin of the uniting government. Koda is not technically a member of the confederacy, although older alliances may or may not be honored in the future.

### Marza

Trading partner, although relations are strained due to a historic vassalization.

### Daris

Trading partner, although relations are strained due to a historic vassalization.

### Zhoushi Federation

Military alliance where a pact member will defend the other in case of foreign aggression. The Human barbarian tribes do not officially call themselves this anymore but it is what Koda refers to their group as a whole to distinguish them as a ‘nation-state’ for political reasons and not a tribal group. The human barbarian tribes offer monetary compensation to Koda for their military intervention and in return, Koda offers supplies and arms to their nation.

### Cliffhaven (Former)

Former trading partner and their mercenaries are more open to fighting under a Kodan flag than most for their ease of work, their pay and their opportunities for post-battle retirement. Before its collapse, Koda would defend Cliffhaven in case of foreign attack but will expect to be compensated in some way for it.

## Enemy Countries

### Kha

Kha has never forgiven the Kodan government over their vassalization of their state and considers an option to one day declare a war against Maelstrom for their Goddess.

### Zondros

There are many on and off wars with Zondros over the millennia that ended in the vassalization of Koda. The current puppet government is allied to Zondros, but Drow resistance forces are very much against the current status quo.

## Founding and History

Koda was a city that was allied with the rest of the Sym'fadè Confederacy ever since the Separation. The Drow of Koda split off from their cousins and claimed Koda as their own city to remake in their image. The Drow of Koda knew that the Dwarves who harbored them in their moment of weakness was a strength that could not be overlooked, no matter how much it hurts their pride. This lesson, and act of kindness would differentiate their sect of Drow from other Maelstrom worshippers as they saw trust as not a foolish act, but a valuable commodity with certain benefits and offered unexpected avenues of action. The Drow of Koda tried to learn what went wrong in their Goddess’s march to victory and the unexpected reversal that ended them with their full defeat and imprisonment in the subterranean world. The Drow came to realize that the only reason they lost was not because they were inferior to any one race but rather, the races united together and defeated them as a collective whole, as ‘one’ and that this ‘unity’, based on empirical evidence, is stronger than the Drow. It was a painful reality to admit. But, this reality came with opportunity. If the Drow could harness this ‘unity’, then together they would be able to divide their enemies and crush them until nothing but themselves an ally that could easily be overcome, remained.

To completely change the outlook of the Drow religion to incorporate this newfound idea was painstakingly hard, and resulted in more than one Priestess turning into a Drider or assassinated, but the Kodans as a whole refused to ignore reality and accepted this idea until it became a defining feature of their people. The Kodan Drow first integrated the Dark Elves of the city to their cause; eventually coming to rule over them with an iron and caring fist. They worked hard to keep up an image that was both acceptable to the pride of a Drow and to the allies that they used to further their goals.

Examples include an alliance with the Cliffhaven Dwarves to carve up the three states south of Zondros into a single vassal tributary state that they controlled together. The benefits were consistent and although the vassal state was fleeting in Kodan eyes, the opportunities that aggressive diplomacy created was enough to make it into their new weapon against the surface world.

Koda was controlled by a Drow sub-faction in the city and they wanted to start conflicts in the surface world after they consolidated their power. They saw that the Sym'fadè Confederacy policy, with its ‘Phrigdian concept,’ forced them to be akin to crying swallows asking for a mother to feed them. The Kodan leaders of the time decided to expand the city’s capabilities to take charge of their own destiny outside of the Confederacy’s jurisdiction. The Kodan leaders as well as Zondros’ leaders saw each other as a worthwhile rival and the two states sought to outshine the other in terms of regional influence and power. Koda expanded her militia forces and supplemented them with Maelstrom’s divine favor and magic. Legally, they argued that Koda was still an independent country from the Confederacy and that Phrigdia had failed in holding up its binding agreement to protect Koda from external surface threats. This disagreement between the usage of military forces was the basis of Koda’s distancing of the Dark Elf model of governance in the Underdark.

Koda developed her own abilities with Rentier colonies and increased Drow political control. They pressured and displayed one upmanship maneuvers against Zondros as they operated under the ‘guarantee’ of Phridgian interference if a surface war turned badly. The Kodans assumed that by paying the Phridgians lip service to their authority, they could use the Sym'fadè Confederacy for their own benefit while politically distancing themselves from their paralyzation at instigating surface forces. The Kodans, for much of the on and off wars with Zondros, were in a quasi-space where they were independent from the Confederacy but treated as though their old alliances held true. The Kodans had the upper advantage with any war on the surface, as they could strike anywhere with the Underdark’s tunnel system and the results they showed promised to their followers that they could redeem the shameful defeat that casted them down into the subterranean hell they found themselves in.

Eventually the conflict between Zondros and Koda heated up to such a point and to such levels of death that the abolishment of either state was the only option for peace in the region. What started as a war that both sides looked to instigate, ended up as a conflict that perpetuated the reason to continue all by itself with every battle that took sons and daughters away from their families. Although lost to time and records, the reason the war started was because of a border incident against the Drow tunnels and the Zondronian owned Fade Forest. The Zondronians, in their strict interpretations of the law, used their authority to defend their land from foreign threats and fired the first arrow. This would be the opening salvo to a multi-general war that would span for millenia.

With each iteration of the inconclusive war, the demands placed on the other country for peace only grew and grew until what was a peace for war reparations and trade power grew into influence and annulment of allied treaties and resource rights, to finally the survival of either regime.

The Kodans had a high stake in the war posturing as an annexation or vassalization of the lucrative Zondros state could mean that they’d have enough resources to jumpstart a colony back on the surface, complete with the prestige and resources that would bring as well as obtaining the military authority to challenge Phridgia itself. They would be able to subvert the Sym'fadè Confederacy for the Drow as the preeminent military power that successfully struck back at the surface world and regained their honor. As of 10,019, the Drow government is in exile and the Kodan city-state is a shell of its former power with a puppet government leading its people. It would take a Drow hero, akin to that of Taarlae Crevecoeur to reverse fate.

## Further Information

* Cliffhaven
* Daris
* Dark Elf
* Duergar
* Dwarves
* Kha
* Koda Military
* Marza
* The Sisters
* Svirfneblin
* Sym'fadè Confederacy
* Zondros