Kingdom of Manasseh

Manasseh is a wild and empty land with a middling-low population and a very low civilization-wilderness ratio. Myriad ruins dot the torn and magically fractured landscape, confirming the presence of a prior civilizing force with vast infrastructure, yet they no longer exist.

## Etymology

Manasseh (mə-ˈna-sə) is a biblical name drawn from the Hebrew language that roughly translates to Forgetting, Evaporating, or The One Who God Made Forget.

## Geography

Much of the land of Manasseh is occupied by large swarths of desert. This desert area is covered by huge, shifting sand dunes that receive sediments from the alluvial plains and the coast. The sand is highly mobile due to the strong winds that rise each year before the onset of the monsoon.

## Known Monstrosities

### The Ettin

A disgusting being, The Ettin is a hulking, two headed swarth, bedecked in robes and armor, and equipped with two naginata and several other weapons. It is suspected to be a relic from before the founding. Rumors suggest that both heads of this beast are highly intelligent, fully capable of coherent thought and conversation. It is known to live in the great tower of stone, and is considered highly dangerous, killing all who come close to it. There is a high bounty on its head from the Imperial Tax Office.

### Big Bad Bodacious

   Big Bad Bodacious is a huge aurochs, with cream coloured fur. A badass bovine beast roughly the size of an adult mammoth, weighing in at well over twenty metric tons, Bodacious is a whole lotta bull. Affectionately called Bo', this colossal bull has a victorious street a mile wide, having killed tens of thousands of challengers, though he has not been known to ever have attacked unprovoked. Bo' is said to in fact be rather docile as long as no-one ever try to attack him or climb upon his back, this is evidenced by the fact that people can easily walk up to him, pet him, feed him, someone has in fact equipped him with a pair of sunglasses, combed his mane into an afro and then left the comb in the afro. Bo' is a national icon of Manasseh, and is well beloved by the populace.

When challenged, threatened, or otherwise pissed off Bodacious flies into the most furious anger ever to be observed in a non-sapient creature. Bo' has been known to gore through plate armor with his horns, kick so hard that he has sent a fully crewed tank flying about 5 miles, and survive sustained artillery fire.

## History

### Pre-Founding

Very little is known about the history of Manasseh before its founding, the ruins that dot the landscape suggest the presence of a highly civilized and technologically advanced nation. The natives who live in the jungles are rather tight-lipped about what came before the founding, though they do refer to the founding as their liberation so it is safe to assume that they weren't particularly well treated. Most official sources stipulate that the nation that was there before was destroyed because they refused to pay taxes to El Khan.

### Founding

If anyone bore witness to the official founding of Manasseh then they have yet to speak of it, nobody knows exactly how or why Manasseh was founded, the choice of name for the land has never been elaborated on and is a subject of speculation. All that is known is that

## Combat Trade Demography

### Myrmidons

The Myrmidons of Manasseh are a world renowned fighting force, hardened by the hostile land and its untamed denizens. Manasseh Myrmidon schools believe in throwing their students into the world and seeing which ones survive. The unworthy perish in the wilderness, the strong however become the main export of Manasseh, its high mercenary population. Manasseh is also the kingdom in which the highest levels of Myrmidon training occur, being home to the ritual grounds for all three great ascension trials.

The Myrmidon is the de-facto national combatant of Manasseh, being the most suited to the harsh nature of the kingdom and the most well recognized combatant of Manasseh abroad.

### Professional Thieves

Despite the high concentration of professional criminals in Manasseh, there is actually very little opportunity for organized crime to do here what it does everywhere else. This is due to several factors, chief of which is an agreement between all crime families and the citizens of Manasseh, wherein they can openly and freely sell all contraband, and in exchange must obey all other laws of Manasseh and never engage in organized conflict. This has led to a highly relaxed and open environment in which the average mafioso is more akin to a goods vendor than a paramilitary criminal.

## Laws and Traditions

### Capital Crimes

There are only two crimes that are universally recognized as punishable by death in Manasseh: Tax evasion, and the theft of mined or processed minerals.

### All other Crimes

All other crimes are handled by the populace, petty theft may be punished by fines, jail time, the severing or dying of hands, it all depends on the local tendencies. Most justice is based on the honor system, with a reputable and honorable man made de-facto judge, presiding over an honor court and handing down verdicts and punishments. Occasionally a formal court will be convened to hear a case, but that is only on the rare occasion.

## Resources, Business, and Exports

### Minerals and alloys

The land under Manasseh is quite rich in raw minerals, the most prevalent of which are: Copper, Tin, Zinc, Lead, Iron, Bismuth, Potassium, and Sulfur. When compared to the other 11 kingdoms Manasseh practically corners the market on copper, copper alloys, lead, and potassium.

The prevalence of the aforementioned minerals and alloys in Manasseh has led to the rise of a massive Munitions production industry, allowing Manasseh to provide ammunition and explosives to all the 12 kingdoms.

Much like the munitions sector, Manasseh's wealth of minerals has allowed it to corner the market on domestic infrastructure manufacturing, pipes and fittings of all sorts of alloys are exported from Manasseh to all the other kingdoms.

### Stolen goods and contraband

Due to it's lawless nature, **Manasseh** as an administrative zone is a place used to do business by many groups that would be otherwise incapable of doing such business anywhere else. Various criminal syndicates do business here with the peace of mind knowing that they won't be stopped or attacked for doing so, most stolen goods and money throughout the world are fenced and laundered here. This means that Manasseh has "no black markets", everything is sold in the open without the fear of legal retribution.

### Mercenaries

The single greatest export of Manasseh is its high population of Myrmidons. Be it as retainers, bodyguards or professional soldiers, Manasseh myrmidons are world renowned and for good reason; by time a myrmidon is considered ready to leave the country he has to have spent at least 5 years fulfilling domestic contracts in Manasseh itself, surviving the hard wilderness and dealing with dangerous people every day.

## Politics

### Domestic

Internal politics in Manasseh are a complicated shitstorm of endless anarchy and factionalism, all vaguely held together by a code of honor, and the notion that if anyone truly tries to own the country they'll be slaughtered by Uncle Swag. Myriad foreign warbands, tribes, terror groups, and criminal syndicates all call this land home, none however can truly call this land their property, nor can any of them truly say they're in control of lands they do claim.

There are three types of native population in Manasseh: Swarth Tribals, a cyclops worshiping hostile and backwards people flush with spearmen and witch doctors, these annoying folk have spread far from Manasseh's borders and are a nuisance even in foreign lands. Ziggurat Builders, a warrior race who live in the jungles and build great stoneworks, actually civilized by Manasseh standards. And Founding Settlers: The original people who came out to Manasseh after it was founded, these people founded the Schools of the Myrmidon and keep the laws and traditions set forth by Swageador.

The only powers that remain a constant in Manasseh are the native populations, the imperial authority of El Khan, and the enigmatic and ever present threat of Swageador.

### Foreign

Manasseh is massive diplomatic challenge for most foreign authorities as it has a supposedly absent leader, no formal government to represent the king, seemingly no respect for foreign jurisdictions save for those of the highest level, is supposedly totally loyal to the Khaganate, and has total control of several resources that absolutely everyone wants. These factors have led to many a foreign dignitary tearing their hair out as to how to deal with literally anything pertaining to Manasseh.

On more than one occasion foreign governments have attempted to intercept merchants and travelers from Manasseh under the well founded suspicion that they may be carrying fenced contraband from the mostly lawless nation, only to have all shipments of anything containing copper or copper alloys totally cut off in response, leading to a panoply of profound problems effecting everything from ammunition supply to domestic infrastructure and economy. Over time governments have learned that this is the totally wrong approach.

Several members of law enforcement who crossed into Manasseh attempting to chase down criminals have gone missing, never to be seen again. All are suspected dead.

Most countries have a policy that only the most resourceful and experienced diplomats are to handle anything related to Manasseh.<br />