Golden Skulls Knightlands

The Golden Skulls Knightlands is a sparsely populated region that's claimed by the Golden Skulls mercenary company, who settled in the area, accompanying the Archaeological Society of Azan's scholars, who hired them. The discovery and excavation of an underground clockwork city built by the Brassmen of the Handprint Desert has attracted many mercenaries, sellswords and other fortune seekers in the area, leading some to fear of rising tensions between them.

## History

There are few traces of civilization in the region that is now known as the Knightlands. Few ever human settlements have ever been found - suspected to have belonged to the Galman Tribes - and those were usually stone foundations, a far cry from what one would call civilization.

It's no surprise that humans were never able to gain a foothold in this land, as for the Knightlands are plagued by what seems a myriad tribes of trolls that live in the hills and the mountains of the region. Although these trolls are not always hostile to humans, most of the aforementioned human settlement ruins were found close to where Trolls usually make their homes.

Not only that, but the Knightlands are also subject to incursions from the barbaric orcs of the Brumgull Steppe to the north, and are also vulnerable to raids from pirates of the Maneater Isles. To make matters worse, Kresteneg often can be spotted on the coast, which would make life difficult for any fishing hamlets there.

The Knightlands were largely ignored even by the neighboring nations of Lorient and Changrila, apart from some small coastal colonies established by Lorient in the Great Morgull's Sea. The region first came into the spotlight, when a group of scholars from the Archeological Society of Azan found the ruins of what seemed an underground clockwork city built by the Brassmen of the Handprint Desert, hidden beneath a valley. This discovery intrigued the scholars, and they were determined to dig out the ruins completely, but they soon found out that this would be no easy task, as they would often come in contact with orcs, trolls and the unfaltering forces of nature, in the form of snowstorms and blizzards.

The scholars would often find themselves get overwhelmed and unable to continue their research. Thus, they prompted into acting, and used large part of the Society's funds to hire mercenaries for protection.

The mercenary group tasked with the job were the Golden Skulls, one of the most reputable mercenary companies in Ampleazzo. Its originals members were exiled knights, officers and nobles from Changrila, hoping to one day reclaim their home from the what they considered was an extremely corrupt Emperor's bureacracy.

   The mercenaries settled in the valley surrounding the ruins as the scholars continued their research at a sound pace. Their research, however, took longer than anticipated, and the society's funds started getting low, as the mercenaries were getting paid quite hansomely. Thus, a deal was struck out between the two parties. The Golden Skulls would continue their contracted work for the scholars, and the Society would use its influence in Lorient and Azan to legitimize the mercenaries' occupation of the Knightlands, making them the de jure ruler of the land.

This development led to many other mercenary groups, renegades and vagabonds from Ampleazzo, Fûrlaniya and beyond to seek their fortune and settle in the Knightlands, with some even conducting their business from there, in order to be exempt from taxes they would face in their home nations.

Years after years, many settlements and towns (that often resembled fortresses and millitary camps more than cities) emerged, with the Golden Skulls being the most numerous and dominant of the different factions present - especially when it came to foreign diplomacy - giving the wider area its present name, as fully armored knights donning their golden armor started to become more common than regular smallfolk.

All in all, excavations and research of the lost technology of the Brassmen was going at marvelous speed for the Archelogical Society. The ruins of the underground city were surrounded, on surface level, by the largest settlement in the Knightlands, which was also the main base of the Golden Skulls.They were also wary of the other mercenary companies that made their way to the Knightlands, fearing that they were after their newly excavated artifacts.This led to the strengthening of their alliance with the Golden Skulls, with them sharing parts of their fortunes discovered deep within the Brassmen ruins.

Due to their affiliation, the scholars were excempt of taxes and allowed to freely conduct their research of the Brassmen cities and mechanisms. They managed to recreate replicas of the automatons that used to serve the Brassmen (although, not quite managing to bring them to life) as well as replicate certain other inventions, such as rapid-firing crossbows, ventilation systems and solar compasses. Perhaps their most earth-shattering discovery was that of a mysterious, enchanted airship made out of brass, on which the scholars still use in their travels, and is the only known

However, after to the influx of many different mercenary groups, of many different cultural backgrounds, has led the Society to worry of an inevitable war between them, as tensions have arisen amongst the mercenaries, most of whom have created their own separate camps, and do not see the Golden Skulls as their overlords.

Ironically enough, the scholars, afraid that their swift progress could be erased were a war to break out, have used their newly found riches to hire even more mercenaries from Azan, that would protect them from their previous employees, in case of violent conflicts.

## Government

Although the Golden Skulls claim ownership over the entire area, their authority extends only to small parts of the mountains and the valley they oversee, near its center. Even so, most foreign mercenary groups claim to be independent and operate autonomously, with their territories usually in close proximity with each other.

In reality, the Golden Skulls Knightlands are torn between the different mercenary captains - who are no different than ordinary warlords - ruling over their respective fiefdoms.

## Demographics

### Humans

Humans only arrived less than two decades ago in this land, and mostly occupy the heart of the Knightlands, centered around the underground Brassmen city. Little to no humans can be found on the coasts and to the east, due to large presence of pirates and trolls. Humans from nations all over the western part of the world can be found: Changrila, Azan, Lorient, Scimitaria, Asvaran, Ogchuk and more. Most are mercenaries, sellswords and pirates, so naturally the majority of the population consists of battle hardened men, although many merchants, archeologists and other professions have moved in.

### Trolls

These trolls, although less intelligent than a human or an elf, maintain some cunning that allows them to engange in some form of trade or diplomacy with human nations, as evident from their deal with Azan, that saw many of them employed as mercenaries in and around the Troll Wastes. They used to inhabit the majority of the Knightlands, although most of them living in the middle of the region fled, due to being actively hunted by the mercenaries. They can be found concentrated towards the eastern hills, close to the Civilized Trolls (which is typically considered part of the Knightlands region).

### Other

Tribes of cave goblins and orcs can be found skulking around the Brumgull Mountains, which separate the Knightlands from the Brumgull steppe and Ingurland, but have gotten less bold after the Archeological Society and the Golden Skulls first established themselves in the region.

## Geography

Overall, the Knightlands are filled with hills, snow peaked mountains and valleys, with few grasslands similar to the Brumgull Steppe also present. The southern coast's climate is vastly different from the north, with warm beaches and temperate weather all year round. The few mercenary settlements are based around multiple valleys in the center of the region, where the tributaries of Little Brumgull run through, while trolls generally live in hilly areas, although there are some exceptions.

## Foreign Relations

### Lorient and Azan

Both nations acknowledge the Golden Skull's sovereignty over the region, although, expecting turmoil in the Knightlands soon, they have their own long term plans about the region, mainly hoping on gaining the Archaeological Society's in order to establish their own foothold in the Knightlands.

Lorient, over the last couple of decades, has established a few fishing settlements on the northern coast of the Knightlands, near their borders.

### The Kresteneg

Kresteneg, both on land and in water, can be found periodically wandering in the Knightlands, and are one of the reasons as to why human settlement in the region's coasts was always difficult.

### Maneater Islands

Pirates from these isles constantly patrol the waters around the knightlands, particularly the eastern shores, yet they hisotorically never wander inlands, due to lack of resources or riches to be found. However, the arrival of the society and the various mercenary groups has piqued the interest of many of those outlaws.

### Ingurland

Orcish incursions into the Knightlands have become rarer as a result of the society's and the mercenaries' arrival in the land. The Golden Skulls care little of establishing diplomacy with what they perceive as barbarous, warring orcs.

### Mostnoblest noble Kingdemocracy of the Civilized Trolls

The arrival of the mercenaries has caused worry to the trolls living there, seeing them as competition, and some troll tribes living in central Knightlands have fled to the aforementioned realm of Trolls.

### Changrila

Historically, Changrila never bothered to set up any colonies on the eastern shores of the Knightlands, due to the constant raiding and presence of pirates in the waters that surround it. Changrila does not acknowledge the mercenaries' dominion over the area.