Ralwick

Ralwick is a region of Lorell found west of Porten and southeast of Ka'arat. It was the last stretch of land for the Jurich Empire to conquer before the empire collapsed. Because of this, the Ralwickans still hold strong cultural ties to their pre-imperial ways, including decentralized government and a strong obsession with combat prowess, causing many other humans to consider them rather barbaric.

## History

Ralwick was first settled by humans around 5000 PI when roaming tribes settled the lands, each tribe's settlement growing into small towns of their own. In times of trouble, these towns would band together to protect each other from outsiders or other monstrous threats such as the rare dragon attack. One of the largest threats to their independence came from the Jurich Empire In the 400s PI, when Ralwick was finally subjugated and brought under the control of outsiders.

At this time is when the Jurich Empire invested heavily in the development of a centralised city as the regional capital of Ralwick. This city, named Verdic, grew into a heavily fortified city-state to protect it from the constant Ralwickan rebellions. After the fall of Lorell, Verdic was immediately attacked in another rebellion, this time falling to the uprising due to a lack of support from the now leaderless Jurich Empire. The city was pillaged and burned, the people inside (mainly Orlaynic peoples put in power by the empire) were viciously tortured and killed. In the aftermath, the city was inhabited and rebuilt by a large number of the Ralwickans that destroyed it. They reorganised the city into the same regional capital it was created for, but renamed it "Gwyddic" in the process.

## Customs and Culture

Ralwickans hold a deep sense of honour in combat and life, but their actions and ways of life are often considered barbaric and brutish. Combat is of great importance to the Ralwickans, with a person's sense of worth greatly correlated with their skills in fighting. Anyone, no matter their race, ethnicity, or sex, is judged purely on their combat prowess. Town leaders, army commanders, and even the king in Gwyddic are all chosen through personal combat.

## Random

They're considered barbaric by other areas. They have a very decentralized government with a bunch of smaller towns rather than any large cities, yet they're very united through their love of war and combat, but only with outside forces. They hold it highly disgraceful to kill fellow Ralwickans if it can be avoided.

They raid the Felhanaes a lot, as well as capture some and rape some. They've also attempted to do the same with Ka'arat, but the Ralwickans always die with no one surviving.

A lot of Ralwickans learn Felhanaes, actually, to communicate with these elves. Gender roles are very non-sexist, far moreso than other regions. Respect is earned through your fighting prowess, no matter your sex or race, which means a female half-elf can have more respect than a male human in their society.

Bit of farming and herding. Fishing is big. Most prestigious is hunting, though, and so a lot of them do that. Ralwick is filled with rolling hills and vast plains, relatively few forests, and large herds of big and strong animals, like buffalo.

Education is mostly paternal and maternal. Children follow them and learn from them. One of the first things they're taught, from just a small child, is how to fight. They're given a particular future job of one of the parents when they're in their teens, and they follow and learn from that parent.

They find it dishonorable to kill fellow Ralwickans. They do, however, find it extremely honorable to fight fellow Ralwickans if they're ever on opposite sides of a fight; they'll just restrain from killing the other and only fight until one of them is clearly the better fighter.

They all learn to fight, so they're all their own militia if the town ever gets attacked. The town raiding parties would be made of the hunters, and they would make small attacks on small, easy target that they might find while out hunting (including unprotected merchant caravans from Porten), but the large raiding parties are actually made up of professional soldiers who are comprised of the best fighters in each town and are sent to the capital city.