Kingdom of Kunsin

## Historic of Name

Kumarth, meaning fierce earth. The name comes from a long history and ancient myth of how the earth either fiercely embraced the people when they ended up there, or fiercely tried to turn them away. Such stories will defend the majesty and production of resources as providing for the early peoples, while others will say that earthquakes (especially in the North) and forest fires tried to turn the peoples away. However, they did survive into a hardy, robust people.

## Capital City

Kurfor. Other major cities include Ranvering and Allatis both on the Arm, Talesh and Kanarn in the midlands, and Thite, Esinor, and Danild all to the north. Smaller cities, towns, and collections exist especially along the Northern Gate and the Road of Solace, but indeed across the Kingdom. In the centr eof the city is Belldown's tower that tolls the cry of war.

There is no expectation of people being able to come along to someone's house for an unanounced visit and people will often meet with weapon drawn.

## Resources

A country of the land: Lumber, Gemstones, Metals, Marble and Granite, and Gravel. Produces quite a bit of grain as a foodstuff. Their raw resources give them economic power and they are quite good at extracting these resources through various means, mining and forestry being the key areas.

## Industry

The majority of its industry is producing the raw product and getting it ready to ship. Some secondary industry comes from this such as the production of lumber from raw wood or the refinement of alloys and gemstones, or the mason work of rock. Any of this is carried out in larger cities and gathered from the more rural areas. Both are seen as key.

## Trade

Exports mostly raw materials out of the north in exchange for food. It has some craft expertise but imports from Cylos when needed. Has uneasy relationships with nearly everyone, but produces quite a bit. Business does feed along the Arm and those in need of supplies tend to come to Kunsin to have that need met: Wirinth for metals, Cylos for lumber and stone, Jurmun as needed, and Faunos or Fennerin to a lesser extent.

## Economy

Both war and natural disaster have ruined Kunsin economy but it has rebounded to remain reasonably reliable given an abundance of natural resources. With the influx of slaves, even more so than in the past, Kunsin has been a higher Kingdom power in the last several hundred years.

## Currency

Kunsin deals in the coin of the Arm, which is only in equal denomination: 2,4,6,8,10,20,60,2,10,20,100 called the Keb.

## History

The ancient peoples of Kunsin have always been a military minded folk and took pride in battle accomplishment (though not to the degree you see in Wirinth). The old ways and history are often honoured in artistic history and ceremony, though many of the younger generation don't really remember what any of it means. Wearing bones in the hair is the most typical of signs, which are now made of animal bones instead of human to honour old ways - these are ceremonial, not day to day.

In more recent times, the Kingdom of Kunsin has flexed its military muscle in a variety of boughs of battle: in 304 JTY Kunsin went to war against Cylos out of Talesh over a border trading dispute. In 281 JTY, there was a major war between Torlein and Kunsin, likened as a holy war that waged for 31 months over the rites and ritual of temple practice. This war was ended by an earthquake where both sides parted (both argue about who won that).

There is a tale of the Garden of Exile, a stunningly beautiful forest and garden, well protected in the wilds where the worst criminals of war were left to be played with by the pantheon and allowed to go mad as they died in absolute paradise, unable to eat or drink or bathe without immense pain and torture. This isn't seen as total myth and recalled often.

The 10th anniversary of the ruling siblings name day has occured, as has the recovery of the last orund of the Killing Disease.

## International Relations

There has been a lot of hostility between the neighbors, but otherwise is aligned with Wirinth and other kingdoms of the Arm.Borders are tightly controlled against Cylos except for business and Torlein for social reasons, border with Jurmun is an open border, the most friendly of the kingdoms.

Visitors and travelers are not infrequent, but permanent moves are. Cross-kingdom marriages are very unusual - such as Vetch - and it would be considered very odd to see a permanent couple in this style.

## Military

Military in Kunsin has a significant cavalry, due to a high amount of Free Faced animals having a sense of patriotism. The military is a source of pride in Kunsin.

Military training is required of all Kunsin-born children, whom sometimes need to leave their home for this service. Due to the birth places of the three main characters, none of Vetch, Viras, or Keluk have been personally involved in the military service.

There is a specific style of fighting in Kurfor, almost kick box fencing that involves both a nimble sword and kicks. These kicks are either heel-based or ball-based, depending on the training of the fighter. Armour is light, usually thin strips of wood or metal on the outside of arms and legs to prevent vertical cuts. These are no meant as perfect protection but fencing protection although such armor can be worn lightly under other clothing.

Freedom to bear weapons is a stapleof many of the kingdoms, sthis one included.

## Law and Crime

Like most kingdoms, Louks the god of Law and Adian the god of Justice preside over all buildings and courts, both pictorally and metaphorically. The likeness of both gods is found in varying degrees among the buildings. Louks is widely attributed to be both scribe and guardian of the Samorn, the book that laws out the collection of laws given by the gods both collectively and individually. This document is interpreted by the religious order on a day to day basis, but it is seen to be in his keeping. By comparison, Adian presides over justice which sometimes works in tandem with law, sometimes against. He holds the Scales of Decision high, as is his right, consulted on an individual level about what would be seen as justice.

Laws are divided into two sorts:

Natural Law: These set in place the hierarchy of human, slave, and animals, as well as the law that what is done to you can be repaid in equal measure. These matters are natural and are not brought before courts or councils. There is also a belief that if it is not repaid back to you, the gods will remember (ie if you steal something, and you are not caught, something will be stolen back from you by the behest of the pantheon).

Divine Law: These are laws against the Kingdom and the individual. As the Kingdom of Kunsin has a strong mind to business, commerce, and trade, the severity of law surrounds these issues.

Laws are only made or repealed by direct vision to change the words of the law. The case brought forward in the book is about taking a Natural Law (the place of slaves).

**Activities typically unpunished by courts or not considered crime**: Poor quality or counterfeit goods (unless in bulk), disturbing the peace, public indecency of any kind (including drunkenness), assault unless causing serious bodily harm, prostitution, gambling, trespassing, crimes inflicting pain or damage to lower beings (slaves/animals), drug related activities

**Crimes only tried if they upset the upper class**: Riot, Piracy, Rape, Destruction of property, Theft, Burglary, Bribery, Kidnapping, Assault causing bodily harm, Civil Rights infringement, Censorship, Murder/Homocide

**Crimes Acted upon**: Treason, Regicide, Counterfeiting, Espionage, Deserting (military context), Fraud (including bankruptcy and taxation), Embezzlement, Impersonating insignia/Emblem, Genocide

It is worth noting that crimes of lower classes are not usually pursued, therefore there is a strong sentiment of 'everyone for themselves', in which Vigilante bands often are trying to restore justice.

Amongst the cities, bigger city centers that can afford it, leagues of appointed individuals (name required) are both in charge of having a presence in the city to deal with crime and pursue criminals. They are not known to be corrupt but certainly have an obligation to serve the class system first, such that the issues of lower individuals take a long time to come to the table.

Punishment for crime in the city is - supposedly - one to one. If someone steals property, you have the right to have it back plus a little more (5%). Kidnapping equals the same number of days in solitude, no food or water. Rape equates, in the presence of witness and without doubt, the loss of either one nipple or testicle (as sex permits).

Larger matters brought to formality must be formally brought to the Entry Court, where it is formalized in paper. When it is written in ink, all matters must be ruled on within a year or turned over to the temples - which is a rare event. Clerics run the daily dealings of the various levels of courts, setting dates and keeping charge over paperwork and so forth.

Every assembly is attended required to be attended by a representative of Louks and Adian that sit on opposite sides of a round ring table, the Indictator and the Litigant both sitting across from each other to make the 4 members of the table. Both Indictator and Litigant may have a Pristalican - an advocat/lawyer figure - who sits at their right hand, and a person of testimony - the Attestetant. If all these people are present, 4 positions are left at the table for 4 judges, chosen at random from the temples in the area. These 4 judges are only called to the highest order of accusation, if things cannot be settled in a lower court.

The Pristalicans are paid for by accusing and defending parties, but the costs of judges and court and the holding of prisoners is all paid through taxes.

All assemblies are open to the public, though typically only higher tiers of judgement attract a crowd. These assemblies ban all forms of magic and people who bring them in can be faced with severe physical punishment for it, especially if it throws a trial.

Burden of proof belongs to both Indictator and Litigant. For this reason, both are held in a neutral temple, not to be interacted with anyone but the priesthood, fed their food. This tends to reduce frivolous lawsuits, as they can go on for a year, a lot of wasted time if you're kept in a temple.

Final judgement, in most cases, is given by the consultation of the four judges, with the advice of the two representatives - though typically these two are figureheads. They divy out heavy punishments when required, including banishment. When no judgement can be reached, no consensus, all the evidence is very dramatically placed on the Scales of Decision. If the scales go up in favour of the empty plate. the Litigant is proven correct. If the scales go down in favour of the empty plate, the Indictator is proven correct. If the scales tip even, both must proceed to the greater temple where the pantheon will decide. Such things are rare, and exciting.

Famous thives commonly known: Manka the thief, Rochelle Dirmont a forger, and the Rat (a notroius mass murderer)

## Current Government

Rulers of Kunsin are ‘Warria’ and her brother the prime minister ‘Mero’ – don’t get along super well, fight a lot, into their drinking. Has a substantial military and a decent control of it, bordering Cylos, and occasionally Torlein. These two children come from powerful parentage - The Queen Who Cannot Grow Cold (Warron), and a line of powerful military rulers with their own victories and loses. Warria has proven her name in battle against Cylos, Wirinth, and Torlein, brokering large financial trade agreements after the fact. She is named for her grandmother Warria Endless-Voice.

Under the two rulers comes the Head of War - a ranked position from the military, and under the Head of War, three demi-war. They act like generals in control of subsets of the military.

The Anointed - the high priestess of the combined temple of Kurfor, acts as a slightly lesser adviser directly to queen and prime minister. Under the Anointed serve all the temple appointed - the Anointed never sits in on judgement and resides in Kurfor at all times.

The first born child of the queen inherits the thrown - the heir-step - and the first born child of the prime minister inherits the prime minister role as well - heir-prime. They are technically considered siblings but are not usually related. Incest, although not irrelevant, is also not common. The current rulers are half siblings to each other.

The Candle - A magic expert, particularly good at making charms of various guides, with a direct ear to the ruler, serving their every need.

Seats of Power - The various seats of power tend to be important people who have earned their places as governors. The Seats are appointed by the prime minister from the upper class, either those who are there or those who have risen. Seats include the Orchilean, Sereng, Kelull, Koett, Druvore, Nalashan, Aldivust, Othunt, Bendesale, and Achiler. It is commonly believed that these Seats hold the true power of the Kingdom

## Position of Slavery

Pro-slavery. Waterside slavery: This style of slavery is regulated by the individual kingdoms, such that you cannot own a slave for more than 5 years in Kunsin. They are personal slaves and do really whatever you would like, from domestic to industrial work. Because they are required to live in the same quarters as their masters, they are thought to glean a lot of secrets and knowledge, and so are required to be killed after their working period. Because people don’t usually have the stomach for murder and trade them before the date, sometimes between kingdoms though the regulations are very strict about how many can cross. Kunsin masters confiscate their slaves earnings so they cannot buy their freedom. In Kunsin, slaves are kept for 5 years and then killed. People who don’t like killing their slaves will trade them right before, so the slave is forever in servitude. The average lifespan of these slaves is 15 years, or two trades, where they are killed or traded to be killed.

## Education

Education is traditional in the family setting and taught by parents, some temple education is required for military training – a year of military training at age sixteen is required by everyone. Sometimes, temples are relied upon for general education of the population, with varying results depending on the respect priestesses are earning.

## Local Vigilantes

The loose groups of vigilantes are not very well liked, and try to do a bit of everything. Often the bands are numbered loosely. The 'first band' is of course the original band, though also the weakest, found in the capital (currently led by Tesselor "Tez"). The 'second band' holds the northern range of the Kingdom (currently led by Amena). The focus of the story, Viras' band, are the third band that base themselves in Kurfor. A fourth band controls the middle portion of the kingdom, now that it is now more populated (led by Stratten).

Vigilantes: Viras (male), Vetch (female), Keluk (male), Jerusha (female), Sidranel (male), Svenja (male), Orrin (male), John (female), and Johl (female). Extra contacts that are not members include Byoc (male), Anna (female) and Andren (male).

## Language

Primarily Vendira; Lumatt on south border; Cyrann throughout.

People swear on the tangible gods, on revenge, on what they hate and fear.

## Holidays

They have celebrations of war as holidays, and a few sacrifice holidays. A celebration for ground breaking exists called New Earth, as does the Mountain Memorial.

Dawn of the Everlasting Blade - A celebration of a famous victory of the same name against Cylos from 144 JTY.

Victory - a military festival of demonstrations, pride, parades, and always in celebration of the most recent victory to the name of Kunsin

The Nameless Festival is held right before the dawn of a new year where gigantic parties are held in the honour of Lir who gives names. For a night, people where all kinds of masks and costumes and for a night are 'nameless before her'. People tend to get very drunk or high and perform deeds they would never do, and cannot be punished for because they have no name. The following day the actions can be ascribed 'but for a night we remain nameless.'

Heights of Summer - a semi-formal celebration, brought about by having four food dishes served from a fire of new wood, making it quite smokey. This is often eaten in the home or in public venues, but can be formalized at the temples.

Day of the visions - a big day where untested children and proven children are brought to various local temples to see if they are suitable prophets and seers, to the delight and disappointment of parents.

Heights of Winter - a semi-formal celebration brought about my sharing a single, cold meal amoungst friends and family, celebrating the cycle of winter. There are more formal versions at temples.

## Religion

While the vast majority of people in Kunsin attend temple, about half are devout in some fashion. Temples exist everywhere and are generally in good repair. When people attend temple and are of naming age, they will typically cover their mouth and nose with a scarf. Colours and patterns vary widely by region. The symbolism here is of course that the mouths and words of adults no longer hold the pure words of the pantheon the way children or the priestesses do. This is not strictly a requirement of temples but it would be very rare to see someone native to the Kingdom enter a temple without covering their face.

More worshipers of Alessy (Sacrifice) in the North, otherwise well balanced and semi-observant of religion in other parts of the Kingdom.

There was a time, a very long time ago, where child sacrifice was permitted, and there are old tales of how the current alters are now just for fires. These sorts of tales are used to scare children. Every so often there is rare and major event where someone goes mad and climbs onto of the alters.

In terms of differences in religious culture, the priestesses have a tradition of singing in the temples, solos or duos, which are observed and listened to during the prayers of their attendees.

In terms of pilgrimage, the major temples are the Temple of Six Pillars, the greatest and most ornate temple of Cerla in the heart of Kurfor, the Temple of His Heart in Ranvering a well-formed temple of Touv, and the Temple of Third Blood, a historically significant temple of Alessy on the gate road heading North. Certainly there are many others, however these are the three most well known.

## Marriage and Sexuality

Couples are dominantly heterosexual, some bisexuality is observed quietly underhanded.

## Naming System

Named after an older member of the family typically, with father's last name and mother's House name but this is less important than Cylos and certainly less in the south. House names re tradition but don't important much if any importance - they don't hold the trading powers they do elsewhere.

## Food

This like food that can only be eaten with the hands: shell fish, barnacles and pistachios (import), and really good bread. They aren't messy eaters, just very hands-on. A lot of food, besides being finger food, is dippable or scoopable.

On the coast, fish is of course more prevalent, including sardines and minnows, while small cuts of meat are more likely into the country. Given this method, it's surprising that people really don't share food but eat all on their own.

## Fashion

Grecian dress, head circlets, sandals, hair braids, one shoulder. The further north you go, the more fur accenting you will see. Clothing tends to be accents with bear fur, or any other kind of fur, specifically across the back and shoulders of a coat.  This isn't seen in the south, as it is too warm typically and buffered by the waters.

Men and women both wear freer flowing trousers, again with a straighter cuts the further north is headed. Fur work many ship and the intricacies are well loved despite changing styles.

## Predominant Art Forms

Sculpture work out of stone is prominent in temples and religious establishment, then wood work is more particular to Kurfor. Carved figures are found everywhere. Other things such as painting, sketching, and drawing are all seen to a lesser extent and certainly closer to the Arm. Artwork is good, but it is not what the Kingdom is known for so metalsmithing of any kind tends to be some of the best, including gold and silver smithing. Some famous artists include Svenden Rock, a carver, Brin Kallen a metal worker.

In terms of sports, Run Fly Sail is a marthon extreme racing sort of sport

## Medicine

Drugs are a thing, as is alcohol, in abundance, as 'medicine'. Medicine is very home remedy based, very basal. It is the opposite of Cylos in medicine and military, notably so especially in medicine. Superstirious and charm based for the most part.

People self medicate based on their local wise person's advice, no formal training. Don't like it? Go elsewhere. They've stubbornly refused information, relying on magic in a pinch.

The inner workings of the body are not well known (and disbelieved if they are from abroad like Cylos) - considered unethical to study except in slaven, who they don't consider people anyways so don't study.

## Magic Prevalence

Lesser magics are common, especially both real and fake healing, as they have no doctors. lesser magics are more for protection. Many small charms are traded constantly. Magic, the bargains, are absolutely hated and considered incredibly dodgy.

## General Appearance

Brown curled hair and blue eyes are the most classic appearance for Kunsin but are not a detriment. Both men and women can have shoulder length hair, though anything longer will be braided back. Both genders will cut their hair when doing military service and then cut based on preference. Women will braid and care for their hair more, but this seems rather fluid.