Free Provinces

## The Free Provinces

A fully-rigged Galleon at sea, flying the White cross of the Free Provinces; the Arms of the League.

## Geography

### Aliases

***League of Sovereign Provinces, City-States, and Hansa of Erideon*** (Official)
 The Northern League

## Society

### Races

40% Half-elf
 35% Human
 10% Elf
 15% Other

## Politics

### Allegiances

 Aldia
  Tyrland
  Stavenberg

## History

### 108 3A

Revocation of the autonomous military act

The **League of Sovereign Provinces, City-States, and Hansa of Erideon**, often shortened to the **Free Provinces**, and also shortened to the **League** and the **Hansa**, is a confederation of states in Northern Erideon.

Formerly little more than a trade league to allow the Northern states of Erideon a competitive advantage over the New Monarchy, the invasion of the Free Provinces by Keldar has cemented the military and diplomatic cohesion of the northern states. The head of state and government of the Free Provinces is Premier Adda Taesserink, the speaker and chairman of the States-General.

When it was enacted, the League formed the General Company as the commonwealth of the members of the League. However, the General Company grew in power, gained the membership and resources of the wealthiest and most powerful members of the Hansa, and acquired controlling stakes in the League and its governance. As the League has grown to become more of a political rather than a mercantile organization, the General Company's influence in the States-General has grown as well.

In the present, the now heavily-centralized League is essentially administrated as a for-profit organization and geopolitical business by the General Company.

Since Keldar invaded the Free Provinces in 108 3A, the bond between the Northern states has grown closer and closer out of desperation and necessity, not necessarily out of friendship or camaraderie, and the petty rivalries that have divided the Northerners for decades remain very much alive.

## Etymology

The full name of the Free Provinces is the **League of Sovereign Provinces, City-States, and Hansa of Erideon**. In practice, however, this name is usually shortened to the **Free Provinces**. On occasion, the Free Provinces are also known as the **Northern League**.

## Second Age

During the Second Age, the Northern states were little more than divided and segregated counties and duchies, much as the Duranian and Moranian duchies to the south. Increased production and technological development in the North led to the rapid consolidation of multiple city-states throughout the Free Provinces. These became further stratified in their rivalries against their peers, resulting in the Northern Wars and the consolidation of the existing city-states.

## Third Age

The dissolution of the Old Monarchy and creation of the New Monarchy greatly reduced the competitiveness of the northern states against the mercantile interests of the Aldians. As a result, the League and Hansa was formed after a few years of deliberations, with the act of unity being signed by all participatory member states in the year 13 of the Third Age.

When it was enacted, the League formed the General Company to oversee and regulate trade and production in the Hansa. The General Company, outfitted with an original 10,000 shares (later increased progressively until the present 1 million shares), assured dominating stakes in the States-General of the League.

As the League has grown to become more of a political rather than a mercantile organization, though, the General Company's influence in the States-General has grown exponentially, meaning that the entire state is essentially administrated as a for-profit organization and geopolitical business.

## Geography

The Free Provinces are located to the far north of Erideon, between Keldar, Aldia, and the Drowned Land. The Free Provinces are bisected by the Hyrsten Mountains, which run along the city-states. There are numerous rivers throughout the land, created by large amounts of melting ice and snow given the intense precipitation in the region.

## Politics

### Government

The central government of the Free Provinces is small, and its purview is largely restricted to diplomatic, military, and mercantile affairs of interest to the whole of the League. The government of the Free Provinces is nearly synonymous with the Hanseatic Company, that brokers and regulates trade, commerce, and production throughout the north.

The government is composed only of the States-General, a legislative body that counts with representatives of each of the members of the League. The speaker and chairman of the States-General, the Premier, is considered the head of government and state of the Free Provinces, although strictly speaking this is not the case. In case of high crimes against the league as a whole, the States-General act as the judicial organ; minor or local crimes are handled by each of the members' own judicial systems (e.g. the High Courts of Tullstedt).

The States-General are composed of three chambers, which are simply known as the First, Second, and Third Chambers.

The First Chamber is composed of the Patricians of the League, in layman's terms, individuals who own at least 0.5% of the shares of the General Company. Only a small cadre of patricians is invited to this exclusive organization, and as such, the First Chamber only contains about 34 members -- albeit they control more than 50% of the shares and profit of the Company.

The Second Chamber is democratically elected by all shareholders of the Company, beginning with amounts of shares listed at 0.0001% of the value of the League (which means that, in total, there are approximately 650,000 voting members, as several members control many thousands of shares).

The Third Chamber is democratically elected by all of the citizens, male and female, of the League and their constituent members. Because member states have often lied in creating fake citizens in order to expand their own shares of the vote in the States-General, the Third Chamber's powers have been very largely curtailed to ceremonial roles, resulting in an even larger control of the State by the General Company.

### Administrative divisions

* Aaldert
* Diesenstedt
* Goudevelde
* Heerost
* Helderen
* Peburght
* Rosseschap
* Tullstedt
* Vaalburght

### Foreign relations

Main article: Endless War
The Free Provinces are at war with Keldar. In the North, this conflict is known as the Black War.

### Military

The Free Provinces maintain a unified field command comprised of regiments of all of the members of the Hansa. They are led by Prince Helst, who has led the combined Northern force to many victories, most notably in preventing the complete collapse of Heerost to the great foe.

The army and air-force of the Free Provinces is unified under a single field-command, and the Hansa has been entirely successful in developing a new doctrine in warfare, simply known as air-land warfare.

Aided by Dwarven engineers, especially Stavian and Mzundian refugees, the Hansa maintain a formidable aerial navy in the form of airships and dirigibles, which support the infantry in combined arms engagements, as well as aiding in transport and logistics.

The Hanseatic army is widely considered to be the most modern fighting force in Erideon.

## Economy

The Free Provinces have acquired a substantial amount of wealth from trade, investment, and colonization throughout the world, as well as production and export (a stark difference to the autarkic practices of Keldar, which is similarly-developed along its heavily-industrialized coastal regions).

Recently, competition with the New Monarchy has substantially dented the profits of the Free Provinces. In addition, the Endless War and the risk of utter collapse to the Keldari columns -- along with the relative safety of Roulan and the Fjords -- means that the Aldians have secured many competitive edges over the merchants of the North.

This led to the formation of the League, as well as the General Company of the Hansa. The General Company essentially controls the Free Provinces as a whole, with their largest shareholders acting as the government of the League (having conveniently assured these positions before the League became a political and diplomatic organization).