Palstrine

## Social Life

There is a harsh income inequality, the vast majority of the people are living in sub-humane conditions, they barely make enough to meet basic needs. The extremely rich is made up of the royalty, investors, merchants, and high officials in administrative and military positions. The majority of the people live in the slums, with the only ounce of pleasure coming from the red-light district. The air within Palstrine is extremely poor due to all the toxic fumes coming out of the many factories. Slavery is common in Palstrine, however, the majority of the slaves are demons. Demons in general are seen as sub-human in Palstrine. In court, demons have bias against them and have a near zero percentage of won cases. The Palstrine military regularly patrols the streets of Palstrine and are known to abuse their powers and commit inhumane atrocities, there's never a peaceful day in Palstrine. The only sense of economic mobility in Palstrine is to either risk your life in the military or join the many gangs littered around Palstrine.

## History

##### Early Age

Palstrine is located along the center mountain range of Harthia, one of the initial nations of Harthia. Palstrine has a rich history, however, throughout it's early life was extremely controversial. Palstrine was created mainly due to the spread of Aether, as humanity had been granted a way to fight back against their demonic oppressors. This stronghold was originally a small encampment that progressed over many generations into a large, flourishing kingdom. As the demons realized that humanity had newfound power, they slowly backed off and dispersed into the rest of Harthia or back into Hell, with few remaining on the outskirts of the kingdom. Palstrine remained a small city-state, unlike the other nations that arose after. Most of the power was held by large landowners.

##### Middle Age

As Palstrine grew, the kingdom found itself in multiple territorial disputes with other rising nations. Eventually, these grew violent, leading Palstrine to lean towards conquering over diplomacy. This led to a series of wars in which they expanded their borders following multiple conquests. Following this, the nation that used to be an oligarchy eventually switched to a monarchy. The kingdom was ruled by Darius, as he was a commanding figure in the Foundings. Extremely influential and well connected, his succession was easy and smooth. Darius, as being on the field first hand knew why Palstrine succeeded. Darius focused on conquering, annexing, and integrating nearby independent towns and villages. He issued an edict of cultural integration, giving money or land to any single man or woman who married these new people. His reasoning was to "breed out" any differences between their cultures and so their children or grandchildren will be loyal and a native to Palstrine. After his time consolidating the neighboring lands, he focused on the gathering of raw materials such as crops and ores. Palstrine was plentiful in ore, coal, and the newly conquered land had fertile soil. As this went on, the capital city began a massive reconstruction, introducing urban planning and had an complex sewer and water system throughout the city. One of the first at its time. Darius spent the remainder of his life in peace and satisfied. Darius let his people have relative autonomy. The population of Palstrine boomed, as the new towns and villages had ample food, money and land to expand. Darius eventually passed in his sleep, after ruling for numerous decades, he died a respected hero and King of Palstrine. King David, the great-grandson of Darius, valued knowledge above all else unlike his predecessors. He introduced a new section of Palstrine, a grand research center. This brought many thinkers, scientists, entrepreneurs, and engineers to Palstrine. Throughout Harthia, everything was done through manpower or through beasts of burden. When the Great Aether Expansion happened, manpower became much more efficient and viable. However, Palstrine, even though having a big population boom, had relatively few compared to other nations. They needed to conserve their manpower for more important sections like the military. The Palstrinian thinkers came up with the idea of using the expansion of gasses to do work. Eventually after much funding and experimentation they invented the steam engine. Palstrine was rich in many flowing rivers and used hydroelectricity in unison with these new steam engines to increase the efficiency of their products by leaps and bounds. Artisans where quickly replaced with factories. These factories pushed Palstrine into economic supremacy in Harthia. These engines were a closely regarded secret and only those trusted may glance at the blueprints and build these machines. Using the resources left by his forefathers, David was close to gaining military supremacy over the continent. However, David was not long for the world, died from a heart attack during dinner. David only ruled for 15 years before passing on. The next section of kings attempted to be the next David, however, unable to find that next breakthrough, merely continued guiding Palstrine into economic strength.

##### Current Age

King Albus was known for expanding Palstrine proper, which led to more oppression of the small demonic population within the kingdom. Eventually, Albus was assassinated by Onyx, a demon heavily affected by the king's decrees. This led to a quick and panicked succession of King Alexander, a 16 year-old nephew to Albus. In his rise to power, he rallied the Palstrinian population against the demons in the kingdom, claiming the assassination was an omen of events to come. Whether by fortune or foresight, the war between Palstrine and Eastwing began within a few years of Alexander's reign. This was a complete domination by Palstrine, as they had more advanced technology and skilled soldiers, such as the Demon Hunters.

## Demon Hunters

Hunters are quick and ruthless Quintessians who hunt Demons and have a strange bloodlust for them. They have strange equipment that can negate the auras of a Demon. They go through intense training daily so that they can stand up to powerful demons.

## Palstrine Freedom Fighters

The Palstrine Freedom Fighters are the "heroes" of Palstrine. The PFF's goal is to free and protect any slaves from the grasp of demon hunters. They are usually equipped with a cloak, a gas mask, and some light armor. The light armor is to protect themselves from demon hunter weapons, the cloak and gas masks are used to conceal their appearance, hide their overall identities, and to filter the horrible Palstrinian air. The PFF are situated in the sewers of Palstrine, they know these sewers by heart and all of them are equipped with a map of them. This knowledge allows them to evade any incoming forces, a la the demon hunters, that attempt to track them down. Furthermore, the upper class see them as merely a pest, and do not care to launch a full scale retaliation. There are also rumors that the PFF has double agents situated inside of the royal district of Palstrine so that they can have some inside information.