Katraen - The Northern Marches

[Neopopulas]

Realm

Katraen - The Northern Marches

Region, Culture, & Standing

Region: Katraen sits in the north of the kingdom, bordering mountains and dense forests. It is mostly inhospitable wilderness except for isolated places set on and around hotsprings. The central area where its capital sits rests among a series of underground hot springs that allowed the city to grow.

Culture: Their culture is heavily influenced by their isolation and the harsh wilderness that they call home. A strongly militaristic leaning culture its no surprise that its primary export is soldiers and weapons. It is a culture steeped in tradition and honour and is filled with numerous guilds that owe allegiance to their lord, it is rare for a citizen not to be a member of a guild.

Standing: The focus on honour and loytalty often shows Katrean in good light among its peers, it is often easy to trust both the ruling powers as well as individual citizens. Often this ridged adherence to their traditions puts them at odds with others in the political arena as they are seen as unbending and sometimes unreasonable. Usually this is simply a matter of opinion on a topic.

Stats

Realm

• Martial: 52+3+4+5 = 14
• Commercial: 32+3 = 5
• Agricultural: 1
• Industrial: 32+3 = 5
• Artistic: 1

Leftover Points: 1

Settlements

The White City
[Martial 3 | Industrial 3 | Artistic 1]

Named for the white stone it is built from and the constant snow, The White City is an impressive edifice that sits in the middle of the territory. Having grown from the original fortress, the architectural style continues in the same military, utilitarian style. A Maze-like series of twisting walls spread out from the original mighty fortress and are filled with the industrial-heart of the territory.

The city has consumed most of the land around the central fortress, only broken up by large, ever-present ashen trees that used to fill the land. These trees combined with the white stone of the local mountains make the city seem as grey as the sky above. The city's buildings do now seem over-tall compared to other cities, however this belies the fact that the majority of the buildings build as much below the ground as above, tapping into the heat from underground hot springs below.

Many private residential buildings have self-heating baths in the floors below, and the streets are heated by the same underground source, allowing the streets to remain free of the snow and ice that are common in the area. Visitors are often surprised by how hospitable the buildings are despite the temperature of the region.

 

The Narrows

[(Minor City) Martial 2 | Commercial 3]

Set to the south of the capital, The Narrows is a town that stretches over the most narrow points of a large and powerful river. Being almost impassable most of of the year, it is one of the very few places to cross north in the Katraen and has grown to be the regions largest commercial location. It is the place that the craft from the White City bring their wares to trade with other regions.

The narrows is also the most fortified area outside the capital, both because of its strategic location, but also because it is the commercial hub for the region, the middle of the city is a well fortified though small castle which sits over the river, and the city itself has grown over time around it.

 

Northreach
[(Town) Agricultural 1]

Positioned further to the north and east, Northreach is the only area in the region that can be reliably farmed, a large open space among twisted ashen trees the hot springs below are close enough to the surface that allow the plains to be lush and arable. Northreach as a town is small and unimpressive, a scattering of low, lightly fenced buildings and paddocks that hose livestock and long stretches of crops being grown wherever they can.

It is usually lightly defended and manned only by those working there. Its position deep in Katrean territory is its primary defense, but as with most citizens, the workers are usually well trained

 

Connections

Allies

Tribe of the infinite sky: To the north of Katraen, in the wide and desolate plains a nomadic tribe of barbarians live. Katraen has a long history of good relations with these people. Often trading with them for these necessities in return for the precious stones they gather from among the foothills and mountains that they often shelter in over the winter months.

Enemies

Black Spear Tribe: Exiles from the Tribe of the Infinite Sky, they live in the mountains and often commit to raids down into the foothills, most of the time they only focus on their former tribe, but it is not uncommon for them to raids small villages within Katraen lands.

Ruler

Details

Name: Grand Duke Athamais
Age: 38
Rulership: 11 years

Stats

• Martial: 42+3+4 = 9
• Administrative: 32+3 = 5
• Diplomatic: 1

Leftover Points: 1

Personality

• Stoic and loyal, his sense of honour and duty are integral to his and his families legacy, but it can cause others to think of him as ridged and unyeilding
• He is strict about himself, his family and his people being self sufficient and able to protect themselves. His entire family is well trained and he insists that his people also are at least trained in basic military tactics and combat. This obviously makes his family more able to defend themselves and others but can be seen but even his own people as excessive and by outsiders as suspiciously militant.
• His focus on fulfilling his oaths and keeping true loyalty has in times found him in trouble due to the actions of others. This same unbending sense of right and wrong has put him at odds with others more than once.

 

Amarris (wife)	Amaris (Son, 20)	Meru (Daughter, 18)	Aramais (Brother)

 

Connections

Allies

Thrasius: A man of great learning and study he is Athamais' greatest adviser and oldest friend.

Gaeth: A traveler, merchant and at times spy for the duchy, he travels to many of the other regions and more than once has returned with very useful information.

Enemies

Likka: A reformist within Katraen, He rails against the militarist and industry focused government.

Gorma: A well known arms merchant, long ago Athamais refused to purchase arms after he was selling weapons to a known bandit group that were terrorising local villages

Heir

Amaris is in every way his father's son, though he has many of his mothers features. He is not the hulking figure of his father, but he has the same intensity about him. He is close with his father and shares more, if not all of his fathers hobbies and sensibilities, making them a dangerous pair. He has inherited a love of knowledge from his mother.

As a young man, and inheriting his fathers smoldering temper he is must less practiced at restraining himself and has been known to be something of a hot head.

 

[Primeval Stasis]

When I was initially brainstorming ideas, I thought about doing a march. Idk why it always sounds so cool.

[Neopopulas]

Absolutely. I was thinking of putting it way up in the north and have it as a sort of border territory between other people and the 'outside' or maybe slipping it in between two other territories depending on how things played out. I'm still torn on how much lore i want to dump into it though because there are so many good entries.

[Primeval Stasis]

Yeah, I get you. If it helps, I'd say I'm not really looking for an info dump at this point - that's part of why I mentioned short paragraphs towards the beginning of the template. Enough info for a bit of a hook, but not so much that I'm basically reading a wiki entry (which will make it a bit harder to be excited about the post). There'll be lots of time to add as much detail as we want once this starts.

[Neopopulas]

I saw a bunch of apps with tons of pictures and lore and i felt a surge of unhealthy competition lol. But sort of .. elevator pitch/bullet points is where i'm at now. I do it in my lunch break and i'll post it up here when its more or less done, i admit i'm being a bit slow because the deadline was nice and long.

[Primeval Stasis]

@Neopopulas it looks like everything’s filled out - is this ready for review?

[Neopopulas]

Yep, i think so, i did a final pass but i think its about good to go!