Hollyhock

File:Hollyhock.png

## **Comrades Standing Against The Vice of Greed!**

Over the last hundred years, the people of Hollyhock have watched the disintegration of the Provinces of Ash. They have watched their neighbours tear each other apart through their greed, ambition and insatiable lust for wealth. Early on, the influence from a group of wealthy courtiers from the mercantile nation of Avernus nearly sucked Hollyhock into the Provincial war. These scarring experiences left an impact, and they resulted in a glory: the creation and implementation of Hollyism.

Hollyhock redistributes most of its wealth. Almost all money and goods produced are handed over to the local and regional authorities to be evenly spread across its people. The modern Hollyhockian holds that placing too much value on material gain, or even just having too much wealth, is a path to ruin. Hollyhockian merchants are all in the employ of the government, and foreign merchants must conduct their business at Hollyhock’s borders.

This collective spirit permeates the everyday life of Hollyhock’s people. Villages assemble in the morning for collective breakfast, in the evening for collective dinner, and sing hearty anthems of brotherhood and fraternity into the night. To the younger generations, keeping food inside a personal house is a foreign concept. The typical honorific for a fellow Holyhockain is comrade.

The vodka-drinking samurai who guard Hollyhock’s borders are not to be trifled with.

## The Covens

Hollyhock is a realm of deep woods, misted moors, and dark, ancient wilds. The majority of Hollyhock’s population, the collectivist agriculturists, live in scattered but numerous villages and towns outside these wilds, with a small handful of larger cities. But Hollyhock is also home to another people: The reclusive, enigmatic witch covens.

Composed of both male and female witches, the covens of Hollyhock have little interaction with the outside world. Holding court deep within the woods, they have a strong connection to the innate magic of the world. Hollyhocks witches are most widely known, and feared, for their ability to lay powerful curses on those that cross them. Tales of shadowed figures lurking amongst the trees of Hollyhock, ready to snatch away children who stray, appear in cautionary bedtime tales the world over.

Despite their fearsome reputation however, the vast majority of Hollyhocks witch covens are not malevolent. Indeed, while their ability to lay curses is quite real, most subscribe to the Threefold Law: in this context, a belief that the negative energy of a curse will in time be returned to the caster thrice over. Cursing, a slow form of arcane casting which employs spirit magic, is seen as a powerful and grave art which is not employed lightly.

Hollyhocks covens are typically family oriented, eccentric, and presided over by a coven leader. Everyday life involves a lot of strange rituals and practice. Some rare practitioners may catch uncertain glimpses of the future. Covens are social, and come together for meetings, initiations and coming of age ceremonies. They hold deep respect for their ancestors, though this does not stretch to worship: Hollyhocks covens will not fall in line to the will of a tier two spirit.

The witches of Hollyhock often place great value on the natural order of life and death, and many covens venerate Melita. These factions especially, can get problematic. The small handful of covens that do curse without restraint, acting out of spite, cruelty and ambition, can be terrifying indeed.

Hollyhock’s other population have a healthy respect for the witches. While witch hunts and conflicts have occurred, most witches act as a generally benevolent force: Lost children are far more likely find their way home unscathed, droughts are less severe, and illnesses may end more quickly then was expected. Villages in turn often leave small offerings at the forest’s edge, and occasionally a worker may venture deep into the wilds, seeking aid or bringing thanks to their mysterious neighbours.

A handful of witches have been caught up in the redistributive spirit. These collectivist covens have stepped out of the woods and play a much more active role in Hollyhocks affairs, to the discomfort of their more reclusive contemporizes.

## Good neighbours

In recent years, Hollyhock have developed a much closer relationship with the neighbouring nation of Sarea. A decade ago, the despotic King Bae of the People’s Happy Utopia ordered an invasion of Hollyhock. Sarea railed in Hollyhock’s defence, and bolstered by the powerful magic of Hollyhock’s covens, the two nations were able to force Utopia’s first major military defeat in recent history. Both the witches and Hollyhock’s collectivist society hold a deep debt of gratitude.

*OOC Note:* Thanks to player Justine Matulewicz for their assistance with some of the concepts used for this country