recursal/Fanatic-Fandom huggingface dataset:
The Wynarn River

**The Wynarn River** flows northward from Lake Galifar emptying into the brackish waters of the Otharaunt Bay where it eventually dumps into the saline Eldeen Bay. The river forms a natural boundary between Aundair and the Eldeen Reaches. Many tributaries and streams feed into the Wynarn River from the western regions of Aundair and the Eastern regions of the Eldeen Reaches though its headwater comes from Lake Galifar.

The freshwater is a haven for many types of flora and fauna but among the most noteworthy is the Aundarian Salmon which make a yearly trek upstream from the Eldeen Bay to spawn in the freshwater areas along the banks of the Wynarn. Yearly, Owl's Perch sees an influx in tourism from the salmon migration as expert fishermen come to try their hand at claiming an Aundarian Salmon. The salmon population also supports the local bear population and frequently bears and fishermen get into tussles over the rights to the salmon. Bears typically win and the yearly ritual has since become known as **The Feeding of the Bears**.

Several cities fall on either side of the banks of the river including Varna, Redleaf, Riverweep, and Owl's Perch in The Eldeen Reaches and Windshire and Wyr on the Aundairian bank. Each of these cities, in some way, can attribute their prosperity to the river whether it be by trade, fishing, or water based power.

Several small bridges have been constructed to allow safe passage across the rivers sometimes swiftly moving current, the largest and most stable of which is the Golden Gate Bridge located in Riverweep. The bridge is constantly under construction and improvement by a merry band of gnomish tinkerers known as the Riverwatch Three. The bridge has undergone several sweeping renovations in its long history and is currently being rebuilt after Aundarian armies destroyed it in a paranoid step to prevent invasion from forces from the Eldeen Reaches during the Last War.
Ladies Wiki

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Plaza

**Mini-games** | None

The **Plaza** is one of the main rooms in *iCP*. From the Plaza, you can access the Pet Shop, the Dojo, the Pizza Parlor, the Cave, The Snow Forts and the Forest.

## Parties

* During the Valentine's Day Party, there was three hearts on the floor
* During the Pizza Party, there is a purple banner on the Pizza Parlor writed "Grand Opening"

## Parties

The Plaza during the Valentine's Day PartyThe Plaza during the Pizza Party
Explanation

There are seven criteria to evaluate explanations (Tintarev and Masthoff, 2011):

 Scrutability (Scr.)
 Trust
 Effectiveness (Efk.)
 Persuasiveness (Pers.)
 Efficiency (Efc.)
 Satisfaction (Sat.)

1. ↑ Nava Tintarev and Judith Masthoff 2011. "Designing and Evaluating Explanations for Recommender Systems". Book chapter in F. Ricci et al. (eds.), "Recommender Systems Handbook"
Biases in recommendation systems

## Previous-model bias

From Liu et al. (2017):

"During our efforts to improve ranking, we experienced a major challenge. Because engagement logs are used for training, we introduced a direct feedback loop, as described in [22]: the model that is currently deployed dramatically impacts the training examples produced for future models. We directly observed the negative impact of this feedback loop. When we trained the first ranking model, the logs reflected user’s engagement with results ranked only by the candidate generator. The learned model was applied to rank these same candidates. Over the following months, the training data only reflected engagement with pins that were highly ranked by the existing model (Figure 6a). When we tried to train a model with the same features but with the latest engagement data, we were unable to beat the already- deployed model. We hypothesized that the feedback loop posed a problem since the distribution of training pins no longer matched the distribution of pins ranked at serving time."

### Solutions

From Liu et al. (2017):

"To alleviate this “previous-model” bias in the training data, we allocate a small percentage of traffic for “unbiased data collection”: for these requests, we show a random sample from all our candidate sources, randomly ordered without ranking. This isolates the training data from being influenced by the previous model (Figure 6b). Although the unranked results are lower quality, they provide valuable data for training new ranking models. To avoid degrading any particular user’s experience too much, each user is served unranked pins on only a small random subset of queries. Although the volume of training data becomes limited to this small percentage of overall traffic, the resulting models perform better than models trained with biased data."

## Position bias

Counter-factual reasoning:

* https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=3159732
* source code: https://www.cs.cornell.edu/people/tj/svm\_light/svm\_proprank.html
* https://www.cs.cornell.edu/people/tj/publications/agarwal\_etal\_18c.pdf

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Liu, D. C., Rogers, S., Shiau, R., Kislyuk, D., Ma, K. C., Zhong, Z., … Jing, Y. (2017). Related Pins at Pinterest: The Evolution of a Real-World Recommender System. In International World Wide Web Conference Committee (IW3C2).
Random walks

Pros:

* Running time linear to the number of items, suitable for real-time systems (Eksombatchai et al. 2017). Compared to collaborative filtering whose time complexity grows (at least) linearly to the number of users/items
* Can represent many kinds of entities/relations from heterogeneous data sources
* Can solve different search/ranking problems using the same architecture

Cons:

* Lack of a good implementation as of 2018.
	+ Spark-based implementations have trouble with random walks because of jumps across machines. They are also rather suitable for batch than not real-time.
	+ SNAP is implemented in C++ making it's harder to maintain (depends on the expertise of a software team)
	+ However, see tempest and plofgren/bidirectional-random-walk (Lofgren et al. 2016) for some scalable Java/Scala implementations (I haven't tested them yet)
		- Entry point for PPR: http://teapot-co.github.io/tempest/scaladoc/#co.teapot.tempest.server.TempestDBServer
		- Entry point for bi-directional PPR: http://teapot-co.github.io/tempest/scaladoc/#soal.ppr.BidirectionalPPREstimator
* Not clear how it compares to collaborative filtering/bibliographic coupling and other methods?

## References

1. ↑ Eksombatchai, C., Jindal, P., Liu, J. Z., Liu, Y., Sharma, R., Sugnet, C., … Leskovec, J. (2017). Pixie: A System for Recommending 3+ Billion Items to 200+ Million Users in Real-Time, (2). Retrieved from http://arxiv.org/abs/1711.07601
2. ↑ Lofgren, Peter, Siddhartha Banerjee, and Ashish Goel. "Personalized pagerank estimation and search: A bidirectional approach." *Proceedings of the Ninth ACM International Conference on Web Search and Data Mining*. ACM, 2016.
Maximal marginal relevance

From Zheng and Fang (2011): "[MMR] maximizes the margin relevance of the documents and iteratively select the document that is not only relevant to the query but also
dissimilar to the previously selected documents"

## References

1. ↑ Carbonell, Jaime, and Jade Goldstein. "The use of MMR, diversity-based reranking for reordering documents and producing summaries." Proceedings of the 21st annual international ACM SIGIR conference on Research and development in information retrieval. ACM, 1998.
2. ↑ Zheng, Wei, and Hui Fang. "A comparative study of search result diversification methods." Proc. of DDR (2011): 55-62.
Word2vec

Word2vec is a method to embed items (originally words) in a vector spaces so that similar ones will end up close to each other. The definition of "similar" is a mixture of syntagmatic and paradigmatics, i.e. a similar item is one that co-occurs with another or one that can replace another without changing meaning of the sequence (e.g. sentence) in which it appears.

## Applications

Pinterest reports usage of neural networks "inspired by word2vec" that works better than "board co-occurence" ("Pin X is saved to N boards by many people. Related Pins for Pin X are generated from all the other Pins saved to the N boards").
Recommender Wiki

## Welcome to the Wiki

This is a open research wiki about recommender systems. If you are a researcher in the field, feel free to add your stuff.

## Related resources

* https://github.com/grahamjenson/list\_of\_recommender\_systems

## Topics

  AB Test  Distributed representation  Diversification  Explanation Biases in recommendation systems High variance in performance User modeling
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Diversity

## Importance

From Möller et al. (2018): "Functioning democracies rely on the media's role to enable different groups and interests in society to participate in the democratic debate and create the opportunity for citizens to encounter diverse opinions (Owen & Smith, 2015 Owen, D., & Smith, G. (2015). Therefore, diversity is one of the core public values in media law and policy. As the Council of Europe (2007 Council of Europe (2007) has put it, ‘media pluralism and diversity of media content are essential for the functioning of a democratic society’ and the right to freedom of expression ‘will be fully satisfied only if each person is given the possibility to form his or her own opinion from diverse sources of information’."

## Problem

People blame algorithms for creating "filter bubble".

Möller et al. (2018) suggest that algorithms are not worse than human editors in terms of diversity. Note, however, that they used synthetic data. Even if humans and algorithms are equally bad at preserving diversity, it doesn't mean that we don't have a problem. Algorithms bring recommendations to a much bigger scale, therefore exxacebate the problem.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Möller, J., Trilling, D., Helberger, N., & van Es, B. (2018). Do not blame it on the algorithm: an empirical assessment of multiple recommender systems and their impact on content diversity. *Information, Communication & Society*, 1–19. http://doi.org/10.1080/1369118X.2018.1444076
Odc 1 Sezon 1, seria 1

## Ķwstęp

*zawodnicy siedzą sobie w pokoju i rozmawiają*

**lektor-** oto 6 osób co chcą zdobyć aż P$5000. Aby jeden z nich wygra te pieniądze reszta dostanie nic bo będą odpadali jako najsłabsze ogniwa.

Intro

https://youtu.be/PwOdRJsj3es

#### Studio:

Quinn-Witam oglądacie najsłabsze ogniwo!

*kamera pokazuje studio gdzie jest także publiczność.*

Quinn- 6 osób P$5000. Nie znają się , i bardzo dobrze przedstawmy ich:

*Tytulowa muzyka.*

k*amera pokazuje Ripley.*

Ripley-Dzień Dobry. Jestem Ripley postaram sie wygrać to!

*kamera pokazuje Cameo*

Cameo- Jestem Cameo zadebiutowałem w pancakerii HD

*kamera pokazuje Chucka*

Chuck-Hello, jestem Chuck i pracuje w Wingerii

*kamera pokazuje Zoe*

Zoe-Wygram to \*ziewa\*

*kamera pokazuje Rudego*

Rudy-Witam jestem Rudy pozdrawiam Scarlett <3

*kamera pokazuje LePete.*

LePete-Nie lubie zimy

Muzyka

Quinn-Zasady znacie Cameo jestes pierwszy. GRAMY!

Muzyka

Quinn-Czas start. Cameo! Jaka jest stolica Polski?

Cameo-Chyba Warszawa?

Quinn-Dobrze! Chuck czh Niemcy należą do UE?

Chuck-Tak

Quinn-Dobrze, Zoe jak mam na imię?

Zoe-Quinn?

Quinn-Tak Rudy Najmniej zamieszkany kontynent to...

Rudy-ANTARKTYDA

Quinn-Dobrze LePete, kto odblokował Cherry Blossom Festival w Papa's Cupcakeria HD?

LePete-Chyba Tohru

Quinn-Tak,Ripley kto podkladał głos Cat w serialu "Sam i cat" i "Victoria znaczy zwycięztwo"?

Ripley-Hanna Konarowska

Quinn-Tak Cameo

Cameo-\*przerywa\*Kasa!

Muzyka tytuowa

*Publiczność bije brawo*

Quinn-Brawo 1000 na poczatek to niecodzienność ale nie zwalnia z was obowiązek głosowania. Glosujcie

Muzyka tytułowa

Lektor-Statyskykk mówią, że to Cameo jest najmocniejszy najsłabszy jest LePete.
The Floating Towers

The Floating Towers of Arcanix, located above the city of Arcanix, is considered one of the finest institutes for magical learning in the realms. Those with a penchant for the arcane arts, whether young or old, are welcome in the Towers. Visiting the floating towers means seeing wonders undreamt of by most people in the realms—from baffling illusions to animated contrivances to captured creatures from other dimensions.

The floating towers are at once a college of wizardry and the personal laboratories of some of the most powerful wizards in the Five Nations. Many a would-be magewright or wizard comes to the Towers, hoping to study hard and someday ascend to the lofty ranks of Aundair’s finest arcanists.

Home to the Arcane Congress.

## Environment

Arcanix is an elegant, six story castle supported by magic. There were a hundred and forty two staircases throughout its many towers and turrets - wide, sweeping ones; narrow, rickety ones; some that led somewhere different on a Firesday; some with a vanishing step halfway up that you had to remember to jump. Arcane architects aren’t constrained by the square footage within the floating towers’ walls; some rooms exist extradimensionally, and each tower has far more space on the inside than a conventionally made castle would.

In general, the floating towers have smooth stone floors, superior masonry walls, and 15-foot-high wood-paneled ceilings (with 30-foot-high vaulted ceilings in particularly large chambers). There’s no consistency to the doors within the Towers. Some wouldn't open unless you asked politely, or tickled them in exactly the right place, and some weren't really doors at all, but solid walls just pretending. The floating towers are too vast to completely map, and such a map would be out of date by the time it was completed as locations in the Towers seemed to move around a lot.

Everburning torches light every corner of the floating towers, unless a member of the Congress has a specific reason to prefer darkness. Some everburning torches burst into flame only when someone enters the room, dousing themselves instantly when the room is vacant. Others burn with strangely colored flame, adding a bluish or reddish tint to everything they illuminate. The floating towers are a quiet place; distracting noise is conducive to neither study nor political machinations. The temperature is always mild within the floating towers, no matter what is happening outside.

The Arcane Congress built the floating towers over eight hundred years, so their walls have known many architects, both mundane and magical. Within the floating towers, there’s always a strong aura of transmutation (the spells that keep the towers aloft) and at least one other aura.

## Subjects and Professors

Abjuration

Alchemy, Medicine

Alteration

Artifice, Mathematics

Chronomancy, Magical Theory 3, Necromancy, Summoning

Conjuration

Critical Thinking, Divination, Logic

Enchantment, Inscription, Languages, Warding

Ethics, Evocation

Illusion

Transmutation

History, Magical Creatures, Magical Theory 1 - 2, Geography
High variance in performance

Beel and Dinesh (2017) briefly reviewed the literature in research-article recommendation and concluded that, due to high varience in reported performance (i.e. a method performs well in one paper but poorly in another), the literature isn't much helpful. They add their own anecdote about similar high varience in news recommendation.

## References

1. ↑ Beel, J., & Dinesh, S. (2017). Real-world recommender systems for academia: The pain and gain in building, operating, and researching them. *CEUR Workshop Proceedings*, *1823*, 6–17.
Dormin

## National Information

### Leader

MP John ForsythMayor of Dormin: Earl Timothy Kanderbuern, Third Earl of Westkandok

### Economy

Booming

Dormin is the largest city and capital of the Union States of Dorminia.

## History

The city of Dormin was most likely founded by the Kingdom of Lorica in or around the year 1023 AE, where it was founded as a ring fort. However, when the Kingdom of Sasna formed in 1123 AE from Valerian refugees coming from Ulthia and married into the local Dorminian nobility, they quickly waged war for control of the castle. By 1165, the castle was firmly in Sasnian hands.

By 1234, the castle was transformed into a city as King Robert Corneliius named it his capital in 1200. In 1343 with the dawn of the War of Lorician Succession and following the death of the last male Dormini King of Lorica, the Kingdom of Sasna waged a two year long war against other claimants to the throne, through King Nicholas II's marriage to the eldest daughter of the late King, Princess Elizabeth Dormini. The fate of the city fell into peril when the armies of Fraesn and Pollikarand came close to taking it, but were ultimately defeated through a pincer maneuver that ended the life of the Dukes of both kingdoms, ending the war.

The city of Dormin has stayed largely safe and untouched in a period of prosperity that came from Sasna-Lorician dominance known as the Passing Years, until 1437 when the city shifted hands three times in one year during the War of the Four Hands. The recovering city had little time before the Dorminian Civil War threw it into a twenty year long conflict that devastated its population and its growth. Peace finally reigned after the civil war, and Dormin found itself as the capital of the newly formed Union States of Dorminia.

## Notable Places

### The Parliament of Dorminia

The seat of the legislature of Dorminia, the Parliament of Dorminia is constituted of 236 members of Parliament, a Majority Speaker, a Minority Speaker, and the Prime Minister. There is one observer member from the Provisional All-Fraesnic Government. Foreign dignitaries are permitted to view open sessions on the upper floors. Parliament meets every day starting at 7:45 AM, and ends at 8:35 PM. Special Sessions or Emergency Sessions can be called by the Prime Minister and the Speakers.

### The Royal Palace

The royal residence of the House of Cornelius, the palace was started to be built in 1198 and ended in 1234, before being expanded in 1300 AE, and again in 1689 AE. Tourists are permitted to visit the entrance and follow a royal tour in permitted areas.

### The Admiralty

The command center for all Dorminian Naval forces, the Admiralty sits off of Westpalace Lane and Kings Crossing Station. The residences of the First Sea Lord and the Shipmaster reside here.

### The Naval Academy of Dorminia

Known as the finest naval academy in the world, the Naval Academy sits across The Admiralty Building. It accepts only the best of the best, including its Briecian Exchange Program and International Students Program.
Amelia Rose

## History

Business (Remarkable, +3)

Stealth (Good, +1)

Amelia was born in Dorminia, in 1717, to Francis and Jackie Rose. Amelia would have a rather peculiar childhood, most unlike others, even those born into Old Money. Whilst many would receive a private education in one of the finest grammar schools in Dormenia, Amelia's private education was exactly that... \*private\*. Taught by a live-in tutor, she would learn everything she needed in order to survive and thrive in the world. With one-to-one tutelage, Amelia would excel in many areas, and with more... \*practical\* lessons from associates of her father, she would learn thing that no child should learn. By the age of 12, she had learned the basic configuration of a small-scale explosive and how to perfectly measure the requirements for gunpowder. Of course, such knowledge would never be implemented by her own hand in the real world. But it was important to know such things if she was to one day be President of the Black Rose Mercantile Company.

As Amelia blossomed into a beautiful young woman, it was expected to draw the attention of many men, both from Old and New Money. She often grew quite bored by those who chased her hand. She enjoyed the attention, she enjoyed the chase, but at the end of the day, they simply did not interest her, but she made a contrived effort to at least \*seem\* interested if only to remain positive relationships amongst the bourgeois. Over the years, Amelia would develop a reputation as a man easter and a temptress, who dominates and uses men for her pleasure. Rumors of adultery and the committal of the very worst taboos. Of course, they were all lies, lies made up by men who grew frustrated and angry with the lack of progress made with the young beauty. If she would not share their bed, they would say that she did so regardless. With men trying to one up on each other, the lies and rumors only grew more fantastical. Unfazed and stoic as ever, Amelia would use the slanderous rumors to her own gain. There was no such thing as bad publicity, and it only made her more desirable... especially by the right.. or \*wrong\* people.

Growing tired of men and their games, Amelia sought to focus on the business run by her parents. As the eldest child of two forward-thinking parents, she would be the first in line to run the business upon their passing. She would have to learn, and so she followed her father to work every day, signing contracts, exchanging goods and produce, overseeing the manufacture of various goods from weapons to coal to copper. She befriended \*all\* of her father's clients and employees, knowing she would need their trust and support if she was ever going to succeed a business-woman in Dormenia. She had her reputation, she had the respect of her employees and clients, she had all the capital she needed to to give the business running and prospering... all she needed to do now was make her mark.
Black Skies Roleplay Wiki

## **Welcome to the Black Skies Roleplay Wiki!**

The wiki for Black Skies RP, a late-Victorian steampunk RP about war, exploration, invention, and a never-ending race for survival.

## **Our Tale So Far...**

Black Skies RP is a roleplaying game for Reddit, which takes place in a completely original steampunk fantasy world, analogous in many ways to our own Victorian Era. We envisioned an alternate Earth with alternate cultures, wherein the Age of Exploration never happened, and was instead replaced by the Age of Steam. This has the effect of making technology much more advanced than in our own time, whereas colonialism is only starting to occur in 1744 AE -- the beginning of the game.

It opens up to a time of relative peace, following several wars and drastic political climate change, at the start of the World’s Fair: a showcase of culture, art, technology, and unity on behalf of the various governments to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the Alchemy Guilds -- with the highlight being the alchemy competition held every seven years. The prize is the Roelandt Grant, which grants one lucky winner the money and resources to support their alchemy project until completion, no questions asked.
Civallan Guard

The Civallan Guard is an elite rifle regiment based in Civalla, Briece. They are located in the Dorminian Embassy in Civalla.

## History

During the War of 1725, the Dorminian Army placed the city of Civalla under martial law until the end of the war. During this period, the Dorminian Army was considered fairly popular, or generally ignored by the populace in Civalla, but detested in Spareen. Following the end of the war, all Dorminian Regiments departed, except for the 14th Rifles Regiment. This unit became known as the Civallan Guard, a unit dedicated to defending the city of Civalla from all enemies, foreign or domestic. Recruitment is open to both Dorminian and Briecian citizens, becoming a sort of home for wandering youths, the oddballs, the strange aimless kids. Some consider it an honor, others consider it worth social exclusion.

## Controversy

While officially, the Guard exists to protect the city, but many formulate its true purpose is to maintain a pro-Dorminian government in power within Briece.

By any means necessary.
Day of Mourning

The Day of Mourning refers to the 20th of Storm Moon and both the historical event which signalled the end of the Last War and of a nation, as well as the holiday in honour of it.

## Historical Signifigance

On the Day of Mourning, marking more than the beginning of the end of the Last War, it was the end of a nation. On that day the nation of Cyre was destroyed in a holocaust of fire and magic.

In what is now known as the Field of Ruins in southwestern Cyre, the combined forces of the Brelish military, led by Princess Borann, and Thrane armies, led by Bishop-Militant Grodan, a close friend and advisor of High Cardinal Krozen, joined by pact, were attacking a much smaller Cyran force. The Cyrans had just been reinforced, after having cleverly used tireless warforged units for days to convince their opponents that they possessed greater numbers, but were still outnumbered 3-1.

Karrn attackers were moving through Cyre to the north, in a retaliatory strike for the recent Cyran attack on Atur, Karrnath, near the Ashen Spires.

However bad things might have looked for the Cyrans, no one could have imagined the devastation in store. And the invading armies were not spared. The skies are said to have burned so brightly that soldiers at Angwar Keep in Thrane were blinded. In the end, virtually everyone within the borders of what is now the Mournland perished.

## Holiday

A day of remembrance for the cataclysm that ended the Last War and destroyed Cyre. It takes place on the 20th of Storm Moon and is usually a day of the displaced people of Cyre and war veterans talking about the need for remembering this event so it never happens again.
House Desica

Based in Briessa, House Desica is the most wealthy Grand House by land acreage in Briece, and the most numerous in members. Known for being misers and penny-pinchers, House Desica is rumored to also be the wealthiest of the Houses but there is no actual evidence to support that. Famous for seating the first Supreme in Briecian history, Marius Desica is a famous figure and legend throughout the nation.

## History

House Desica was instrumental with the building of the University at Briessa. Originally bricklayers, the construction of the University was the sizable contract for the working class family, and in 1100 AE, Villanova Desica established Desican Properties and founded the House of Desica.

Since then, House Desica has been a meteoric force in the land usage of Briece. They build, they buy, and they destroy. Almost any modern building has been dreamed up and built by House Desica.

## Desican Properties

Desican Properties, while technically private, is the official construction and real-estate entity of Briece. They work closely with the Serene of City and the Serene of Hearth. Currently, Descian Properties is developing steam-powered factories throughout the Lomban region.

## Properties

### Lomban Coal Factories

A series of coal refineries in the northern region.

### Southumbrian Copper

Copper mines in the Southumbrian village outside of Spareen.

### Southern Land in Mazarine

A large swath of untouched land some miles north of Mazarine.

### The Green Suite

A two-floor duplex on Mount Ending that currently houses the main offices of the Versanto News Company. Currently rented by House Versanto.

## Notable People

* Villanova Desica, Founder of House Desica. 1050 - 1126
The Ulthian League

The Ulthian League is a rump state in the southern region of the Ulthian Continent, situated on a peninsula

## History and Government

The Ulthian League was a loose collection of states that arose from the collapse of the Ulthian Empire, with Isorios and Arrakan being the major powers to rise from the ashes of the old empire. The empire was headed nominally by the Sejm, a body of nobles (or other leaders for the democratic states) that elected the Kortiran Commandus, better known simply as the Emperor, the lifelong leader of the League. As the years went on, the ebb and flow of powers of both the Emperor and the Sejm went back and forth. Warfare was a constant, from minor city-states to massive kingdoms and republics engaging in near constant warfare for political dominance. Such wars include the Eight Years War (a war where both Arrakan and Isorios joined forces, peculiarly.)

The northern Ulthian League states were fiercely independent and made up a large constituent body of the Sejm. They favored a decentralized power to the Emperor, against the ever-encroaching power of the Arrakan Kingdom. Under pressure from the Sejm, the Emperor (who also led Isorios) went to war with Arrakan, which led to the Arrakanium Annexation, the end of the most of the League.

Following the end of the war, the new Empire of Arrakanium drove the Sejm and the remaining nobility out. The remnants of the League survive in a peninsula of small states that remained neutral in the war against Arrakan. The Sejm is currently made up of leaders of the remaining countries, and a few governments from the nations that remain in exile. A divide in the Sejm now occurs with the League being at a standstill due to constant disagreements between the governments in exile and the countries that stayed neutral in the war. While pleas for foreign aid have been made several times by the governments in exile, the Ulthian League as a whole has yet to reach a combined agreement about asking for the liberation of its former states.

## Ulthian Diaspora

Following the collapse of the League much of the governmental institutions fled into the rump Ulthian State, but many more of the people who had fled went elsewhere, be it for safety, work or faith - things the Sejm could no lover provide. Large diaspora groups exist in Dorminia and Varenth. In the Union States, refugees and immigrants flooded the region of Pollikarand, which had already been primarily North-Ulthian in its cultural background, especially in the city of Westchester-Lejmstov. In Varenth, many finding work and safe haven in Syndulla.
Government Types

## Absolute Monarchy

An Absolute Monarchy is an old system of government still practiced by Arrakanium and Mascron. In an Absolute Monarchy, a single ruler has unlimited power without any constitution to keep it in check. Rulers usually reign for life and inherit the position from family members, though exceptions can occur especially when a ruling line dies out. Unlike in a Constitutional Monarchy, there is no room for any other legislative bodies, and especially none that limit the sovereign's power.

## Constitutional Monarchy

Dorminia and Varenth are the two largest examples of Constitutional Monarchies, though both vary greatly in how much power the monarch has. What is shared between all Constitutional Monarchies, is that there is a monarch at the head of the government with some amount of power, and a constitution binding what the government can or cannot do. Dorminia's government is one where the monarch has very little power in practice, with most being delegated to the parliament. Varenth, on the other hand, gives near limitless power to the monarch, as long as they follow the laws in the national constitution.

## Republic

Practiced in Cirinia, Briece, Gilatria, and Donuva. The most widely used form of government, Republicanism involves representatives being elected by the people to form legislation and administer the government. A Republic can have varying degrees of influence over the every day life of people. In Cirinia many decisions are made by the government, for example, and the elected officials hold great sway over their people. In Gilatria though, the government has a very hands off approach to administration.

## Socialism

Though not actually put into practice, Socialism is an idea first suggested by the very popular and well published philosopher Theodore Drebber, an Ulthian who lived from 1675 to 1759. Drebber wrote of the struggles of the working class around the world, and observed that while corporations and capitalist governments were allowed to still have great power the world, the working class as a whole would never be able to be truly successful.

As a solution to this issue, the followers of Drebber look to his book *"A Fair Society"* for the answer. In it, Drebber discusses a hypothetical government, in which there are no social classes and the nation's resources and wealth is redistributed evenly among the populace. The government's officials are all elected in this system with universal suffrage, and at any time the people can elect to remove officials from office.
The Phony War

Between 1547-1550, neither side saw anything other than skirmishes, as the Dorminians vowed to assemble the largest fleet known to man. Already a strong naval power, Briece felt confident in its victory. In 1550, off the coast of Imoggia, the largest naval battle in history took place. Accidentally running into the enemy fleet during a foggy night, battle commenced in disorganized and confused fashion at first until the commanders took charge. In command of the Dorminian side was King John Cornelius himself, the Lord-Admiral of the Admiralty Board, Anthony Nelson, as well as the Vice-Admiral of the Admiralty Board, Benjamin Hollisbecker.

For three days in the sky and sea, sixteen hundred ships combined, waged brutal war, resulting in the death of three score captains, crew and Benjamin Hollisbecker as well. However, by the end of the Battle of Imoggia, the Union States of Dorminia had won its first true victory in its first true war. Forever marred by this defeat, to this day, the family name of Orederchi remains cursed and hated. Driving the remnants of the once proud Briecian fleet, nearly annihilated, King John the Master of Sky and Sea, took only 240 losses, compared to the 760 losses of the Brecians

However, all was not lost for the Briecians, the Supreme of Briece had ordered the defense of the mainland, as the Dorminians settled in for a blockade. Preparing for now the largest land invasion, the Union States assembled one the largest armies ever seen, ready to conquer.

But this was not to be. In what was the worst military disaster in Dorminian history, nearly half the force was wiped out in the landing, ending the year of 1551 in blood. 1552 was a stalemate on sea and land, with both sides ready to negotiate. Ending the year with a treaty, in 1553, the war officially ended, with the disarmament pact against the Briecian Navy, as well as a large war indemnity. In return, Dorminia was recognized internationally as the strongest naval power, as well as its rightful place as Great Power. In return, Briece was given a guarantee of independence. So as long as there was a Union of States, Briece would enjoy the protection of the His Majesty's Royal Navy.

Some Briecians, particularly the salty Salvators, call this war: "Giorno Palle Tagliano," or in the common tongue, "The Days Our Balls Were Cut."
Mazarine

The Living City

In the southern region of Briece, Severo, Mazarine is built on the River Severna across from the country of Cirina. Mazarine is a city very much influenced by the eastern culture of Cirinia and the southern culture of Mascron.

## History

In the Southern Wars of Sheril II, the region of Severo was stolen from the tribes of what is now Mascron. While the Kingdom of Valaa never truly earned the entire region until the

The surrounding region of Mazarine was originally settled as a hub for slave labor to source lumber for the expanding city of Lom [see: Briessa.] The region was deemed by the Valaa Kings to be unsuitable for human habitation, which was a pointed, and racist, remark toward the early tribal Mascronians who originally occupied the region.

The city of Mazarine was final founded by the Valinium Empire in 615 AE. With the city's founding, the conflict between the native southerns and the aggressive coastal dwelling Valaa started to quell. And with the outlaw of the enslavement of the Lombans, the Severo region finally stabilized.

## Culture

A jovial people, the Mazars have embraced the spirit of communal living. Due to the turbulent and blood-fueled past, the Mazars are kind and generous above all else. To see someone of want is a great sin in the city of Mazarine.

The three tenets of the Mazars are: "Comfort Before Rest, Drink Before Celebration, Joy In the Face of Death."

Beyond being a lumber milling region, the Mazars are capable fisher and river-men. Recently, precious stones have been discovered in the River Severo's bank.

## Notable Businesses

### Bacchante's Vineyards

Owned by House Bacchante, the actual Vineyards are located in the northern part of the Severo region. Bacchante has operated, and owned, the wine industry in Briece for the past century. Their wine is world famous, and recently, has raised to exuberant prices.
Fraesn

Fraesn is a semi-autonomous region within the Union States of Dorminia, thought it is not one of the "union states." It is governed by a Provisional Government, until its status as a potential Union-State is determined by the Hargia Accords

## Government and History

Before the Seventh War of Containment Fraesn was ruled first by the Saxeburg Gotha dynasty, one of the three rival families vying for control of the continent against the Corneli of Sasna and the Dorminans of Lorica. During this period, various wars and marriages resulted in the Saxeburg Gotha family's control of both Lorica and Fraesn until the collapse of the kingdom. The war was finally ended when the Cornelius-Saxeburg Gotha family arose through a marriage. The main branch of Saxeburgs ruled until the 7th War of Containment, where Dorminia secured a final victory over the Saxeburgs. The Saxeburg Gotha family now lives off a small pension in Gothaburg Castle in the northeast of the country. The current government of Fraesn is a complex mess of bureaucracy. Following their defeat, a military government was put into place for about five years following the Committee for the Reorganization of Fraesn's declaration that Fraesn was ready for limited self rule. Parts of the capital and surrounding provinces were declared as the Provisional All-Fraesnic Government, while the rest of the country remained under military administration, known as the Federative Occupied Zone.

Following parliamentary legislation, the rest of the country was joined with PA-FG, and given an observer vote in the Dorminian Parliament.

In 1710, the Fraesnic terrorist group, the Fraesnic National Army, began a rebellion, which was funded by Varenth. This rebellion/invasion was stopped at the Battle of Mets, but began what would become the Bush Wars

In 1744, the PA-FG has reapplied for membership as one of the Union States, filing under the Duchy of Fraesn, a term not used internally or internationally since the last War of Containment.
Esteri

Strangers of the Eastern Star

The Esteri are nomadic people who migrated from the far-east, settling urban communities across the world. Typically thieves, criminals, seers, and supposed miracle workers, the Esteri are a strange and beautiful people.

## Origins

First popping up in Briece in approximately 1100 AE, the Esteri were described as "strangers of the eastern star" by the early Briecians. It is speculated that the strangers sailed from a great but cruel civilization just over the Ending Sea, finally making an unwelcome landing on the eastern coast of Briece.

For approximately a century, the Esteri were systemically oppressed and nearly forced out of Briece in a period called "The Isolation." But, miraculously, the Esteri stood steadfast and since then have spread all across the world, belonging to no nation beside their own.

Since the late 1100s AE, the "strangers of the eastern star" have migrated into Mascron, Varenth, Cyren and other parts of Alkebu.

## Briece

In Civalla, the Esteri make up the majority of the populace around The Kiss. Originally a fishing community, the Kiss has become the economic center of the black market trade entirely run by the Esteri.

In Spareen, most Esteri work for honest wages in the many construction sites around Rakia. However, the prejudice against them is stronger than ever as many Sparenese secretly suspect them behind running the Thieves' Guild of Spareen.

## Cyren

In the Shallows and all throughout the harbor district, the Esteri typically perform as entertainers for meager coin, but sometimes the more industrious and law-abiding of the Esteri manage their own bars and inns. Many Esteri also participate in the bareknuckle boxing tournaments, producing many of the dock's most infamous champions.

## Mascron

Victims of cruel and horrific racism, the Esteri of Mascron are rife with poverty, crime, disease, and death. Due to this, many Esteri are chronically homeless and are forced to resort to begging. The crack down of crime in the country led to the dismantling of the Thieves' Guild and the Esteri find themselves hopeless as ever.
House Tornatore

An old house that can trace its roots back to the Kingdom of Valaa. A relatively poor and minor house until the rise of the Valian City-States, House Tornatore truly found its riches once more with the invention of the airship. Abandoning farming for manufacturing, House Tornatore has transformed the old-fashioned city of Sartinium into a hub of travel and innovation.

## History

Claims to be descended from House Solare, one of the original fifteen noble families sent to establish Civor (now known as Civalla) alongside the brother-king of Sherkillageos the First. When Civor was razed to the ground by the mad king, the family of Solare was able to escape the destruction back to the outskirts of what is now Sartinium. During this time, Klovo Castle was established as their ancestral home.

It is met with some conjuncture if House Tornatore could truly be considered as the descendants of House Solare. Even so, House Tornatore is called the "house with old blood."

Always just barely hanging on, it was a fluke that House Tornatore was invited into the Grand Houses after the War of Four. Seen as the key to Sartinium, House Tornatore filled the eighth remaining spot in the Grand Houses of the Palazzi.
Salvators

The Salvators are an elite military group that make up the majority of the Briecian army and air force. Based out of Spareen, the Salvators were originally a specialized military force that took control of the military when the country of Briece was first formed.

Although the Salvators have pledged themselves toward the protection of Briece, they are considered a separate entity from the public and political domain and are not beholden to the Supreme, but instead to the Strategos of Briece.

## Strategos of Briece

The Strategos of Briece is the Commander of the Salvators, and the top military general of the Briecian army and air force. Considered independent from the Supreme and the Grand Houses of the Palazzi, the Strategos pledges to defend Briece from internal and external enemies. Unlike the Supreme, the Strategos is elected only by the Salvators and neither the general public nor the Palazzi have any say in his appointment.

Like the Supreme, the Strategos rules for life and can only be relieved of his position if charged guilty of a crime by the Serene of Justice and the board of Justicas.

The Strategos rules from the Bassilea on the Victorious Coast.

## Polikleos

    The law of the Salvator. The word Polikleos refers to the actual parchment document drafted in the days of the Valinium Empire when the Salvators were Briecian mercenaries. The Polikleos is now held in glass and frame in the Strategos' Bassilea on the Victorious Coast.

The Polikleos outlines the hierarchy, beliefs, military structure, unit structure, along with a variety of other traditions, superstitions, and histories.

### The Fifth Mantra

*Spoken and written in ancient Briecian.*

1. Death is the breath of beauty.
2. Loyalty binds blood.
3. Strength is a measure of heart.
4. We are the thousand men.
5. We will protect the thousand women.

### Hierarchy

#### Army

1. Strategos of Briece
2. Lieutenant General of Spolenia, Lieutenant General of Civalesa
3. Syntag (Colonel)
4. Captain
5. Private

#### Air-Force

1. Strategos of Briece
2. Air Marshal of Briece
3. Air Commodore
4. Wing Commander
5. Pilot

### Navy

As of the Briece-Dorminia Cordial Pact, the Salvators were forced to disband their navy by Palazzi politicians. This has been added as an addendum to the Polikleos, a fact that many Sparenese take issue with and consider it as another act of unwanted Dorminian influence.
House Versanto

Based in Civalla, House Versanto is the owner of the national media corporation of Briece, Versanto News Company. The only non-land owning Grand House, House Versanto merely owns the printing presses, and offices along the Exarium Canal.

## History

The youngest Grand House, House Versanto was established in approximately 1400 AE when founder and world-famous poet, Amadeus the Bastard, was appointed as Supreme Taeno Montequillo of Spareen's Serene of City. Adopting the name Versanto and the house words, "Truth is Liberty," House Versanto quickly became known as the house for the common people.

In 1610 AE, Nonna Versanto founded the Versanto News Company as a gossip tabloid for the Civallan elite. Over the course of a few decades, the VNC evolved into a political rag that reported on dealings within the Palazzi. In 1716 AE, the Versanto News Company was declared the national media corporation of Briece.

Recently, Giovanni Versanto partook in the Parade of Supremacy and lost in a landslide to Lodovico Firavanti. Because of this, the VNC has been under close scrutiny by the Palazzi and the Serene of Justice because of the inflammatory and propagandized approach Versanto took to the election.

## Properties

### The Green Suite

Rented from Desica Properties, the Green Suite is a penthouse located on Mount Ending in Civalla. Made up of two floors, a residential apartment sits above the corporate offices of the Versanto News Company.

### Printing Press Factory

On the Exarium canal is Civalla's only factory, to print the newspapers produced by the Versanto News Company.

## Versanto News Company

Versanto News Company (VNC) is the national media corporation of Briece. They produce a total of twelve newspapers and are partnered with the journalism program in the University of Briessa. They publish the following newspapers:

1. The Briecian Times
2. The Civallan Note
3. The Community Canal
4. Versanto Tribune
5. The Daily Spareen
6. Good Morning Mazarine
7. The University Journal
8. Weekly Valian Report
9. Daily Briecian Inquirer
10. Air Village Monthly
11. Dome Gazette
12. Lomban Periodical