Major regions of Gal Hadre II

Welcome back to the second blog post on the regions of Gal Hadre, expect a third on other regions near Gal Hadre but not directly part of the continent and perhaps a fourth on the other planes of existence within the setting.

South of the last region we look at in part I, the Undil Waste, is the newly formed kingdom of Lothran.  Ruled until recently by a series of warlords and petty princelings, it was united by the current king’s father through a mix of conquest and sword sharpened diplomacy.  Presented with the choice of noble titles or being killed in battle or executed, most saw the light and accepted a title commiserate with their forces and holdings.  Caught between the fading Aclimdan and the rising Turandy, it is considered somewhat of a buffer state between both.  It also remains to be seen if it will survive, especially if it gets hit by a proper horde descending from the Undil Waste.  Lantos, the capital of Lothran, is the fastest growing city in Gal Hadre, as the lasting peace brought to the kingdom has spurred significant economic activity.  Near the border with Turandy is the second largest city, Nilan, which is the region of the kingdom that is currently receiving the most military investment, along with improved infrastructure to support the fortifications being constructed.  The King of Lothran knows that if Turandy can solidify it’s hold on Pathad, that Lothran is the next on the chopping block.

 

 

Speaking of Turandy, which is to the east of Lothran along part of the south and east coasts it has expanded to most of its natural borders, including the mountain range along most of its western border.  Turandy is heavily feudal, and a significant driver of their recent war with Pathad was partially driven by the number of landless nobles and knights causing problems throughout the kingdom.  Petty feuds between nobility are rarely settled without blood, either from a duel or outright internal war.  Because of this constant conflict, the borders between the various dukes are incredibly unusually convoluted.  Unlike most other regions, there is no wealthy merchant class in Turandy, it’s hold on feudalism so tight that merchants can only really work as proxies of nobles.  Somewhere around 70% of the population are serfs, who have effectively no rights, often literally living and dying at the whims of their feudal lord.  The capital of Turandy is known as the Frost Pillar, named for the magical pillar of never-melting ice that sits in the central square of the city.  It is neither the largest, or most economically important city of the kingdom, but the seat of the duke who won the last civil war over a century ago.

North of Turandy we have Pathad, whose status is rather complex at this point.  Invaded a few years ago by Turandy following the brutal assassination of nearly the entire Royal line.  While Turandy technically conquered Pathad relatively quickly, it has struggled to actually control the kingdom.  Turandy only really controls places they have warriors, and they can’t garrison the entire country.  There haven’t been any major battles since the first few months of the war, but the Turandian nobles are slowly bleeding resources from a thousand small fights.  Rumours continue to circulate that the Pathadii King’s youngest son survived and is in hiding, awaiting the day he can openly reclaim the throne.  It seems likely in a few years that Pathad will return to its traditional form of rulership, a human king and a Peshtar vizer.  The one real advantage Turandy has is the kingdom’s reliance on the Morthin river for transport and water.  Turandy also maintains near complete control over the traditional capital, Jastab.

 

 

In the mountains to the west of both Pathad and Turandy is the Werd city-state of Kal’Garand.  The only great Werd city on Gal Hadre, Kal’Garand is the 5th largest city on the continent, and by far the best defended.  The city exists both above and below ground, and backs onto a mountain that is rife with caves and mines.  Kal’Garand supports a vast network of towns, villages, resource outposts, forts and watchtowers.  Collectively the entire population of these is double that of the city itself.  The population of this region is over 90% Werd, and the non-Werd are mostly in Kal’Garad itself or the larger towns; some isolated outposts only see a non-Werd once a generation and moltings disbelieve their parents at tales of pink skinned beings or sentient, bipedal felines.  The city-state boasts the only real standing, centralized military on Gal-Hadre, and it’s only real rival for professionalism is the army of the Tund Shard cities.  The werd caste system dominates the economic organization of the city-state and probably the only reason Kal’Garand doesn’t completely dominate the economics of the entire continent is it’s remote location.

 

Lastly we come to the isolationist Holy Protectorate of Thand in the very north-east of the continent.  Only bordering on Pathad, the Undil waste and the very northern outposts of Kal’Garand, few have noticed or cared that Thand has descended into isolationism and madness.  Few even noticed the name change when Thand seized power.  Thand and his radically devoted followers claim that he is the only true god, that only he can answer prayers and that dragon magic is entirely evil.  Powered by their fantatical devotion, his followers would ignore grievous wounds and fight to the death, allowing their rabble to overwhelm the much fewer men-at-arms that protected the old nobility.  The reality is though, that Thand could never answer a single prayer, and that his “priests” are really mages.  They hunt down and execute other mages within the kingdom however and have somehow managed to maintain power despite Thand dying, or in their words “departing to bring knowledge and wisdom to unenlightened lands.”  Thand is a nearly irrelevant backwater, on the verge of complete economic collapse, but is isolated enough that no one has ever bothered to invade.  However it does suffer near constant raids from the islander longships. 

Hopefully you found this blog post interesting, is there a specific region you are most interested in?