Ghorny

Ghorny is a powerful republic in the far south of Tairghol. Bounded in the south by the Sevlian Mountains, it forms the core of the Varslavic lands.

Ghorny borders its Varslavic brethren Korletsvoy, Svinnya and Drevlia, while also bordering the Duslavic kingdoms of Kharkasy and Halubinya and the Rydrovian lands of Radynkia.

 History

Ghorny was originally a geographical region. The Stranyas were, with only a few minor territorial changes since, independent kingdoms and at odds with the surrounding lands.

The religion worshipped throughout the region at the time was the Varslavic Pantheon, and in the early 7th Century it began to centralise. Taking the city of Krasnolovsk as its base, the Pantheon's priests preached 'peace among brethren' in an attempt to unite their followers.

Following the bloody Twelve Years' War, the priests saw their chance and managed to convince the Czars of Rossoryevsk and Timapol to enter a non-aggression pact in 613. These two were joined the next year by Korokhovo, then Guvyury and Belgodonsk in 617. The latest additions are the kingdoms of Vororalsk and Steliransk, which were integrated in 623 and 631 respectively.

While Ghorny was originally just an interconnected non-aggression and defensive pact, the priesthood centralised more power until, in 658, the Czars of the seven Stranyas were officially declared vassals of the High Priest of Krasnolovsk.

Over time, though, the priesthood grew corrupt and lazy. They began to demand more and more of the Czars, who were still in living memory of their independence. The Czars grew rebellious and in 678 Czar Trukhin of Rossoryevsk, with the full support of the other six Czars, issued the Medolsk Ultimatum and, as a result, removed the priesthood from power. The Council of the Bear and the Lower Diet, while already existing at the time, were raised in power to become the supreme authority in the country.

Since then Ghorny has existed mostly peacefully, coexisting with its Varslavic neighbours and ignoring the teasing of the Duslavlians and Rydrovians, aside from a few minor incidents - the Telesian War, Donskoy War and the Hylbinic War, which were not condoned by the central Ghornish government and were instead the independent actions of the Czars.

## Geography

### **Location**

Ghorny is located in the south of Tairghol, a region harsh and unforgiving towards humans. The southern areas of Ghorny are hilly due to the foothills of the Sevlians, and further north these hills give way to swamps and marshes in the centre of the country while the far north is a flat steppe.

### **Climate**

Summers rarely breach 15 degrees, while winters have been as cold as -25 in living memory, and tend to get colder every year.

### **Regions**

Ghorny is a country held together by a complex political system, which will be covered below. This system splits the country into seven sprawling regions, named 'Stranya', each the size of a small kingdom in an of itself.

* Vororalsk is located in the southwest, and borders Korletsvoy. It is composed mainly of hills and small mountains, and the ground is covered in permafrost for most of the year.
* Steliransk is in the southeast. It borders Drevlia and Kharkasy, and is in a similar geographic situation to Vororalsk. It is generally a few degrees warmer than its western neighbour, though, as it lies on the edge of the Berevka River valley.
* Guvyurt lies north of Vororalsk and Steliransk, and covers a thin strip of land completely separating the north of Ghorny from the south. It borders the Zapardian Mountains in the east and Drevlia in the west. Guvyurt is generally more temperate than its southern neighbours, but is more humid and marshy.
* Korokhovo borders the Zapardians and Svinnya in central-western Ghorny, and covers the transition between marsh and steppe. It is a hilly area owing to its mountain border, and is considered the most defensible Stranya in Ghorny.
* Belgodonsk lies further north, and borders Svinnya and Radynkia as well as the uninhabited foothills of the North Zapardian Mountains. This is the northernmost Ghornish Stranya, and the one charged with defence against any Plainspeople venturing through the foothills. Belgodonsk is purely steppe, with several small rivers cutting the landscape but few other landmarks.
* Timapol lies southeast of Belgodonsk, and borders Radynkia and Halubinya. It is mostly steppe, with the far southwest of the Stranya being marshy where it ,meets Korokhovo.
* Rossoryevsk is the seventh and final Stranya, and contains the capital city of Ghorny. Rossoryevsk borders Halubinya and Drevlia, and consists mostly of marshes.

## Politics

### **Government**

Ghorny is, on the surface, an oligarchic republic. That is, a nation ruled by a council taken from the upper nobility. However, the composition of the Ghornish state makes the system far more complex.

The Council of the Bear (the Sovety Medvar) is the supreme authority, and consists of nine noblemen. Of these, seven are drawn from the Stranya, and the other two are military officials, assisting in military matters and offsetting each others' power in the same strain as a Reman consul.

The councilmen of the Council of the Bear are elected by popular vote, though due to the illiteracy rife in Ghorny only the two military officials, who are voted in through the educated professional core of the Ghornish military, are fairly elected. The other seven can usually get away with distributing voting papers only to those who would vote for them.

Below the Council of the Bear is the Lower Diet. This collection of noblemen is eight hundred strong, and is called by the Council of the Bear to meet only when a major change of legislation is to take place. The official selection process for the Lower Diet is that the first eight hundred people into the Lower Hall are the diet for that meeting, but again the wealthiest noblemen use their leverage to learn of meetings well in advance and to block undesirables from entering using their retinues or hired guards.

On the Stranya level, the government is that of a kingdom. Each Stranya has a Czar, who answers only to the Sovety Medvar. Aside from this extra tier of authority, these monarchies function almost exactly like independent states - the only exception is that they are barred from military action against the other Stranyas.

## Military

### **Recruitment**

Ghorny raises armies by way of a system named Varzimat. This system states that, in accordance with the strict census enforced across the Stranyas, each village and town provides one soldier for every thirty citizens - the other twenty-nine are expected to pay for this soldier's equipment and armour. Most towns large enough keep an armoury as a result, and issue arms as appropriate in times of conflict. In the more militaristic Stranyas - Vororalsk, Korokhovo and Belgodonsk - a drill system leads these levies-in-waiting to spend every second Tuesday drilling and training.

The Varzimat provides a militia force, which is reinforced and their morale bolstered by a professional core in most places. This varies by location, but most major towns and cities maintain small standing forces, and the capital of Ghorny, the city of Krasnolovsk, keeps a band of mercenaries - the Varslavic First Spears.

### **Strength**

The strength of the Ghornish military varies by Stranya. In the harsh Stranyas of Vororalsk, Korokhovo and Steliransk armies are smaller and more lightly-armoured to withstand the climate. They are generally more hardened, though, and are very independently-minded. Simply eliminating officers will not suffice to deter these determined warriors from their task. Furthermore, armies in this cold south are mostly infantry-based.

Further north, cavalry is incorporated more into armies. More armour is used as the penalty of steel plate in the climate is lessened, and armies also grow larger as the limits of supply loosen. In the Stranyas of Guvyurt, Timopol and Rossoryevsk armies are roughly 80:20 infantry and cavalry, with the latter drawn from the lower nobility and armed as a mixture of skirmishers and medium cavalry.

The exception to this rule is Belgodonsk. This is the most militaristic of the Stranyas, and is heavily influenced by the Rydrovian armies descended directly from Polish and Hungarian hussars. Belgodonsk fields armies on which infantry only act as support for a single well-drilled and organised mass of shock cavalry. This is a massive departure from Varslavic tactics, and leads to mass confusion among the ranks of unaware opponents, and sometimes panic if Belgodonsk's banners are sighted by enemies aware of their unorthodox tactics.

## Culture

### **Religion**

Ghorny is in a difficult situation in regard to religion. While it was originally worship of the Varslavic Pantheon, a collection of winter and steppe gods, which brought the Stranyas together, the country is now experiencing a change of mind.

For the last hundred and fifty years Ghornish religion has been set in stone - the seven deities of the Varslavic Pantheon are held in high regard, and all others seen with derision. But in the last decade a wandering prophet, Florov Malikansov, has been spreading news of a new faith, which has been gaining traction even as the existing priesthood tries to stamp it out.

### **Flag**

The Ghornish flag consists of an orange field, on which is a stylised side-on image of the Varslavic war god Vytauta, reared up on his hind legs with spear and shield.