City-State of Felovik

**Felovik** was established by a group of knights, this city state is surprisingly martial in nature, especially considering that there is little point because it could never win a war with any of its neighbors. Its main strength is its insignificance. There are no nations that want the island, in part because taking it would be costly, outweighing the potential gain. The nations government is inspired by that of the Zapalovah Republic to an extent, as all of the original knights lived there, but the majority of the population now is from the Land of Windmills. It lacks any allies.

There are no other cities on the island, only a few distant houses belonging to those who have no desire or need to live in the city, or those fortunate few who are wealthy enough to own multiple estates.

The city state of Felovik was mostly destroyed by goblins in the second battle of Felovik, after bugbears assassinated the generals and commanders of the city. The city survived, but only barely.

## History

The city of Felovik was established by several knights of the Zapalovach Republic, who made the difficult choice to abandon their home in hopes of founding a fortress hold in the north so that the names of their houses may forever live on in history. There were only 53 knights (after the battle with the two giants that lived on the island) and about 200 peasants who established the city, but the population has grown to 70,000. While the city may have once been a mighty fortress, it has suffered immense damage to many of the fortifications and they cannot be rebuilt due to the raids of the hostile Tribe of the Yellow Fang, and their allied bugbear assassins.

### The Plot of Erik Arvid

In the summer of 3158 A.B.E., the high marshal Erik Ardvid led his knight company and 3 battalions in a coup attempt, marching them through the nearly destroyed iron palace, battling with the knights guarding it while it was to be repaired. This coup lasted a matter of weeks, with the quick and bloody battles of the iron palace ending in a decisive victory for the loyalist forces and the complete destruction of the House of Ardvid. However, the loss of so many soldiers in so short a time has led to a question of whether keeping mercenaries abroad is truly beneficial in such a time of crisis, when the reconstruction of the ruined portions of Felovik recquires an ever present, ever vigilant army.

## Government

### The High Council

The High Council originally only consisted of knights, but now anyone can be elected by the guild members, generals, and soldiers (the only people who get to vote are the guild members, generals, and soldiers) given that they were born in Felovik and are above the age of twenty. This is similar in some ways to the government of the Zapalovach Republic, as the knights spent most of their lives there. There are some key differences, however. Felovik has a much larger percentage of its total population either in the army or in reserves to be ready at a moments notice. Close to a fourth of the entire population would be armed and trained in the event of a crisis. One major reason for this is that every citizen must serve the high council in the military before they may vote for its members or become a member themself (in actuality, only members of knight houses ever get elected due to nepotism and biased ballot-counters, but it's possible for anyone to become a high council member).

### Spies

Spies are a very disputed subject within Felovik. Many knights view the usage of spies in any capacity to be immensely dishonourable, but there are yet more who belive that information collection - and nothing more - is acceptable. Depending on the commander of the force, there may be spies in service of certain forces. This itself poses a danger, as these spies, while all trained as soldiers, are not trained as spies by any organization in service of the high council. Unless a training organization is founded to ensure the loyalty of such individuals, there may be an instance of a particularly trecherous knight using spies for political power, if it hasn't happened already.

## Economy

The trade goods of the people of Felovik are... just that. The people of Felovik. Due to the immense amount of citizens trained to be soldiers, many citizens who complete their service and training will request their commanding officer to have them transferred to the state-run mercenary organization to fight abroad to earn an immense amount of money for their nation and a considerable profit for themselves. While the payment for a few soldiers may be miniscule for a nation, that of a thousand is certainly not. The soldiers abroad are still loyal to the city of Felovik above all else, as are their commanders. While the majority of the population are simple laborers, the wealthy members of the knight houses can afford to learn a variety of professions. Any knight that can't command a force and manage logistics and construction would likely be seen as a disgrace, and exiled.

## Culture

The nation is culturally similar to the Land of the Windmills, despite not being a vassal state, merely a trade partner. While the city is very martial, thats not to say the population is ignorant.Magic, philosophy, and most forms of art are not held in high regard by the traditional people of Felovik. Their culture only values the military, scientific advancements that could improve the military, and songs and ballads to be sung to improve morale.

## Demographics

### Humans

Even though the human inhabitants of Felovik arrived long after the goblins, they amount to more than fourty percent of the island's total population, with the majority residing in the city itself, due to the countryside swarming with goblins. Most of the inhabitants hail from the Land of the Windmills, and some of the knights can trace their heritage to Zapalovah.

### Goblins

The goblins are under the leadership of chieftan Ivakhan, who has been granted the title of Yellow Fang, so called because of the dagger fashioned from a dragon's fang that the first tribe leader (Kezak) looted from the corpse of a merchant. They are struggling to feed their own population, as stealing food from Felovik was no longer an effective food choice. Nothing is known of the bugbears, but they seem allied to the goblins, for now.

#### Chief Urgal's Scheme

Unbeknownst to the population or any of the knights, there is the ancient tomb of Chief Kurnast beneath the city containing the Sapphire Shield of Areduin, stolen from the dragon Eilanzar by Chief Kurnast. The current chieftan, Urgal, has heard of this tomb from the shaman Kylkal and wishes to steal the shield again to ensure his legitimacy in order to unite the thousands of goblins within the dispersed tribe and steal the trade boats of Felovik to escape with his people to the mainland. The destruction they could inflict upon far less defended villages in the rural regions of the Land of Windmills could be great enough to warrant the involvement of the Laurentian Knights.