The Major Powers, Summarized

So, I can't actually give you a summary.

Egharl isn't a finished world. By this point, that much should be clear. It's also an unfinished world in a lot of obvious ways. 

I cannot accurately outline for you the governmental structures of most civilizations. What I can do is give you a few details, a general vibe, and talk about where I'm drawing my inspiration from.

So, for the benefit of my players, untoth we go.

The Church of Harithke

Full honesty: Virtually everything to do with the Church has been stolen from Goblin Punch, because they're a far better writer than I am, and their ideas are great, and so I stole them all. In the future, I'm going to do the best to make the Church of Harithke more distinct from the Church of Heseya, but at the moment there's hardly anything.

The biggest change I've made is the Church's prominence, and this itself was just inspired by a different one of Arnold K's posts. Centerra's Church is a monolith. It has the power to make the literal Winds behave. But in the words of the man himself, "What does an evil empire look like before it's ripe?"

That's not to say the Church is evil. I try my best to keep the idea of "Evil" away from my worldbuilding. In the real world, morality tends to be pretty clear-cut. Landlords are bad. Charity is good. Imperialism is bad. Multi-culturalism is good. This can certainly make for good stories, but it also doesn't make for interesting choices. 

Also, I don't want to talk about politics. I know full well that any political conversation I'm involved in ends horribly, because even other leftists struggle to tolerate my views. If I start worrying about morality, my DMing will turn into an pacifistic screed, and that'll be really fucking dull for everyone involved. 

This is a whole tangent, and I know that I'm writing it largely because I know my players read this blog, but to summarize:
Please keep modern politics out of my game, at the very least for my sake as a DM. I can't run that shit. I can't distance myself from my sense of morality just enough so that I can run a fantasy early-Renaissance game where a group of seven people can establish a leftist society by beating Feudalism to death with a large stick. Give your characters political viewpoints. Give them radical political viewpoints. Have them rebel. Just please, don't give them your political viewpoints.

This is what happens when a post is fueled by ADHD medication and hypomania. I'm going to try and get back on track.

The Church of Harithke, but For Real.

They aren't a nation, they're a religion. Coramont is a city-state, comparable to the Vatican. The Patriarch of the Church is also the Lord of Coramont. The city has a standing army, albeit a small one. The Church doesn't technically have a standing army, but they do employ a whole lot of paladins, and when you assemble a few legions of paladins together, they start to look a hell of a lot like an army.

In theory, the Church can call those loyal to it to war, and they will respond. In practice, it's a bit of a tossup. Not everyone is eager to go marching off to war, especially the ones further away from Coramont. 

The Patriarch is in charge of worldly concerns. He can call holy wars, issue bans on commerce, excommunicate people who fuck around. The Archpriest of Coramont is his successor, appointed by the Patriarch and charged with the spiritual needs of the city, until such a time in which he ascends to become the new Patriarch.

The Prophetess is kept isolated from the world, so that she might not be stained by corruption. She is expected to know the answer to every theological question by heart, and spend her time thinking up more of them. Really, she lives more like a hermit than any religious authority.

The City of Coramont itself is a city on a lake. It is said to be impenetrable, but in practice, no one has actually put it to the test for three hundred-odd years.

The Bronze Cliffs

Their homeland is a group of islands, off the West coast. Home to Dwarves, Tabaxi, Bullywugs, and Grung. Run by a pair of Twin Kings - One to govern the Isles, one to govern everything outside. They need to agree on foreign policy. Almost everyone is part of a Clan, and most local governments are set up by individual Clans. If you break the rules in another Clan's territory, they'll beat you up and cart you off back home, where you'll either be congratulated on a good fight, shamed for your disorderly conduct, or belittled for getting caught. Laws are lax, but punishments are harsh. 

Have a general pantheon, but the specifics differ from place to place, especially in colonies. The only thing everyone can agree upon is Mora-Adin, Twin Gods of Home and Horizon. The Twin Kings are made in their image.

Despite the name, the Twin Kings have no gender requirement. The only thing required is that they contrast - One male and one female, or one Dwarf and one Tabaxi, or one beareded and one bald. 

Much of their leadership is genuinely good-meaning, but the nation as a whole is hopelessly caught up colonial fever. Ports that owe their loyalty to the Bronze Cliffs are everywhere, and they've even got a few proper colonies.

Politically, they've no relation to the Dueregar of the Near-Deadlands. The similarity between Dwarf and Dueregar seems to be mere coincidence.

The Empire of Iudra

The Empire is divided up into provinces, each of which is given relative autonomy. An old kingdom, though no one is quite sure exactly how old. Their history is muddled by more than a few collapses, revolutions, and resuscitations. This isn't the most powerful they've ever been, but at the moment, it seems stable. 

Provinces of note include Chalea, generally considered to be the birthplace of modern Rangers, which produces some of the best hunters in the world, and Sine, a pioneer in technology and the arts. 

In Iudra, the bureaucracy and the military are the same thing. Rank-and-file soldiers are also trained as clerks, while generals pull double duty as politicians and legislators. In times of conflict, politicians are expected to prove themselves in open warfare. In times of peace, this means that everyone gets really into board games. 

If you don't like a politician, you can pretend to assassinate them. Faux-assassinations are common, most often preformed with wooden knives, or occasionally pointless arrows. Getting assasinated is shameful - If that's the kind of care you take for your own security, how can you be trusted with the security of an empire? To be fair, it's less shameful the cleverer the assassination is. To be fair again, the cleverer the assassination, the better your opponents, which can make people hesitant to align with you. It's a whole thing.

Those outside the city of Iudra are often confused by the needless complexity of their political system, while the inhabitants of the city pride themselves on it. The oldest Iudran provinces have learned to quietly sigh, shake their heads, and carry on with whatever they were doing before the capital's latest scheme came to fruition.

The Dominion of Nehtar

Ostensibly, Nehtar is a monarchy. In practice, the kings of Nehtar serve almost entirely as religious leaders. 

They are ruled by a Council of Eight, staffed by representatives of various organizations. 

I'm skipping over them for now, because it's late, I want to get this post out by tonight, and I'm trying to get a decent sleep schedule. 

Maybe I'll update it tomorrow. Maybe I'll give Nehtar its own fucking post. 

Dunno.