Sitrane

**Religions** | Worship of The Outsider is forbidden.

Sitrane is a collection of four kingdoms, Walane, Dusane, Ventrane, and Parsane, ravaged by constant war for several centuries, as each of them attempted to conquer the others to establish themselves as an empire. These wars raged on until Alwynn Gwinn, the king of Walane, returned to his throne from a long adventuring career to mobilize the entirety of his kingdom, creating a fighting force that overwhelmed the other Kingdoms and forced them to surrender their lands, under the conditions that they would be allowed to rule the new Empire of Sitrane alongside him in a Parliament of Royals. Peace reigned for half a century, with Emperor Gwynn too favored by the common populace of even the other kingdoms for them to act against him. However, in his old age, they have resumed plotting, hoping to finally claim what they see as their rightful place as the Emperor of Sitrane.

## History

Sitrane's history is defined by the conflict between it's four kingdoms, both before the reign of King Alwynn Gwynn, and after.

### The War of Centuries

Even before the wars began in earnest, relations between the four kingdoms were defined by constant bickering over territory. In addition, there were common intermarriages between the royal families, which would grant temporary reprieves from hostilities, until they were eventually used to generate claims on the other kingdom's territory. Over time, these hostilities escalated into a series of armed conflicts that together became known as The War of Centuries. This "war" was made up of various smaller conflicts and battles, with alliances between the different kingdoms changing rapidly as they were made and broken. However, the costs of these wars were frequently most heavily paid by the peasantry. The chevauchées that occurred as armies attempted to force opposing forces into battle ravaged the countryside, destroying farms, homes, and even killing peasants themselves. As a result, they held little love for their particular kingdom, frustrated at the constant feuding of the nobility and royalty above them.

### The Rise of King Gwynn

It was from the peasantry that the man who would ultimately end these conflicts came. The King of Walane died with no apparent heir, and thus the court mages set about casting divinations to find a suitable heir. They eventually discovered a young boy by the name of Alwynn. A peasant bastard of the late King of Walane, Alwynn was initially shocked to learn of his heritage, but saw an opportunity to end the constant war that had claimed his mother's life years ago. He had his retainers train him in the arts of fighting and battlefield command, and when he could learn no more, he took a retinue of promising young knights and left Walane, hiding his identity as he began an adventuring career that lasted several years. When he finally came back, he did so as a mythic hero, having honed his skills to heights never reached by most warriors. He quickly used these skills to inspire the peasantry to join his armies for one last war, that would push the other three kingdoms out of Walane's territory, much of which had been lost in his absence. Training peasant levies into an effective fighting force would be a tall order even for an experienced commander, but the experience afforded Alwynn by his years of adventuring allowed him to manage it with ease.

### The War of Sitranian Unification

King Gwynn began his war by amassing a large force of these peasant soldiers, each unit lead by one of his trusted knights. The occupying forces were unprepared for such a large force, and one by one fell to the peasant armies, unable to get needed reinforcements across the sea to the island of Walane fast enough. Having achieved such unprecedented success, Gwynn realized that he could very well make this the last the last war in Sitrane. So, after spending the winter securing the previously occupied territories and training up more peasant soldiers, he sailed his armies to Ventrane. The Ventranians had never been the strongest militarily, preferring to utilize the wealth afforded them by their mercantile empire to play the other three kingdoms against each other, and fell rather quickly. This wealth was seized by King Gwynn, only serving to further his conquests as he used it to equip several more armies of peasant soldiers, this time from Ventrane itself. He then continued on to Parsane, the first real test of his forces. While Parsanian knights were a way more elite force compared to Walane's, the peasant armies made up the difference, their numbers proving able to overwhelm them fairly quickly. Able to replenish his own forces again from Parsane's peasantry, which were inspired to join by his commitment to ending the feuding in Sitrane that had taken so much from them, he pushed onward to to his last conquest, Dusane. While Parsane had been firmly against any use of the lower classes of the country in warfare, seeing it as undermining the power of the nobility, Dusane had no such qualms, employing peasant levies of it's own against the Walanians, in order to reinforce their knights. However, this proved to be Dusane's undoing, as by this point word had traveled to the kingdom of the legendary peasant bastard king who sought to finally bring peace to Sitrane. At best, these peasants deserted, refusing to fight against a legendary figure that fought for them. At worst, they defected in the middle of a battle, causing chaos in the Dusanian ranks. As a result, the King of Dusane was quickly left with no option but to surrender.

### The Treaty of Astwall

After King Gwynn's campaign had finally ended, he brought the captive royalty of the other three kingdoms to Astwall, the center of the four, to work out a treaty that would end conflict between them. While Gwynn had earned the right to claim the title of Emperor of Sitrane, the royalty of the other four kingdoms insisted on having some say in the rule of the newly minted empire, pushing Gwynn to form a Parliament of Royals which would include the royalty and nobility of each kingdom. They also managed to maintain some degree of control over their own kingdoms, yet were still subordinate too the decisions of the larger parliament and the Emperor. Of course, most important to Gwynn was to end the system of serfdom, which at this point only the king of Parsane strongly objected to. Once the treaty was signed by all four kings, it also went into effect as the new nation's constitution. The newly freed peasants rejoiced at the ending of the feudal system. Some of them stayed on the land they had previously lived out their lives on, but many, looking for a brighter future, moved into the various cities of the new Empire of Sitrane, swelling their population.

## Kingdoms

While the royalty of the four kingdoms have taken a subordinate role to King Gwynn since the signing of the Treaty of Astwall, they still manage their own personal kingdoms, and in doing so have chosen to respond to the changes brought about by the War of Sitranian Unification in very different ways.

### Walane

Walane came out of the war as the dominant kingdom, but has changed as much as any of the others, taking the example put forth by King Gwynn to heart. The former peasantry in Walane has taken advantage of the social mobility offered by the recent changes more than in any other kingdom, and Walane has changed it's social order to accommodate this more than any other. By order of King Gwynn, the Walanian lords were each paid a sum of money to offer up their land for the former peasantry to work as yeoman farmers, and many did so. Most of those who didn't moved to Walanian cities, which became democratically governed. This new line of political thinking continued further up, as Gwynn has established a House of Commoners to rule the kingdom alongside the Walanian nobility. This is not to say that the old chivalric order has died, instead opening itself up to those of common birth. However, becoming a knight has become more difficult for those of all backgrounds, as it is required for prospective knights to spend at least 6 months adventuring before being properly knighted. Due to the training and equipment required to start an adventuring career, most of these "questing knights" still come from noble backgrounds, but some commoners still manage to establish themselves.

### Ventrane

While Ventrane stood as one of the weakest kingdoms during the War of Sitranian Unification, resulting in it being the first to fall to the Walanian armies, it has since used it's influence and wealth to place itself in a position equal or better to all others except Walane itself. Of course, Ventrane offered up the city of Astwall as neutral territory for the new Emperor to reign from, and having him within it's borders has given them outsize influence. Yet, Ventrane's main source of power comes from it's massive mercantile empire, and the wealth generated by it. Seeing the power that the Emperor and his Knights have acquired through their adventuring careers, and recognizing how easily adventurers can be bought, Ventrane has become steadily reliant on them, attempting to build the kind of relationships that could put them on Ventrane's side in any future conflicts.

### Parsane

Unlike the other two kingdoms that were defeated during the war, Parsane has refused to dramatically change it's political structure outside of what has been required by the Treaty of Astwall and the Emperor, and has instead attempted to maintain as much of its old order as possible. This has required the use of force in order to put down frequent protests and revolts by commoners, which has only served to increase animosity towards the Parsanian nobility. At the forefront of enforcing the King's authority has of course been the Parsanian knights, who still remain some of the most well equipped and trained of all the kingdoms, and the most prideful of their status with the Parsanian nobility. Despite their love for the Sitranian Emperor, Parsane's commoners have grown more and more discontent with their own nobility, and whispers of revolution can be heard on the streets.

### Dusane

Dusane is probably the most changed of the four kingdoms by their experience during the War of Sitranian Unification. During the war, they recognized the power that the Emperor had tapped into through mobilizing the peasantry, and as a result, have done away with the ideals of chivalry that Walane and Parsane still cling to. Instead, they have focused their efforts on an ambitious program of modernization in all facets of Dusanian life. Dusane has become one of the first regions in the world to institute a system of public education, through which they not only intellectually uplift the masses, but also instill within them a national pride in the Kingdom of Dusane. While the Dusanian royalty maintains power within the country, it employs a vast staff of advisors, including experts on politics, technology, magic, and warfare. The effects of this modernization can be seen most keenly in the military. Seeing that making a force of peasant levies competent in traditional melee warfare was a feat that could only be performed by such a legendary commander as the Emperor, they have instead chosen to implement the use of firearms on a wide scale, and all Dusanians who are conscripted into the military are relentlessly drilled in their use.