River Kingdoms

The River Kingdoms have long been a haven for inland pirates, anarchists, exiles, and anyone who cannot seem to make it in more civilized nations. The Kingdoms are by no means a unified nation, but rather a constantly shifting group of city-states and fiefdoms, each at war with the others both to gain more power and prevent their own demise.

Alignment Chaotic neutral
Capital None
Ruler Various bandit kings and petty lords
Government Multiple squabbling kingdoms
Demonym Riverfolk
Adjective River Kingdoms/Riverfolk
Languages Common, Hallit
Religions Calistria, Cayden Cailean, Desna, Erastil, Gorum, Gyronna, Hanspur, Iomedae, Lamashtu, Norgorber

The people that make up the River Kingdoms are a diverse lot; the only thing most seem to have in common is that they are not the sort of people any civilised people would want for neighbours. The River Kingdoms seem to attract a wide range of rogues and outcasts ranging from deposed princes to mad sorcerers to religious firebrands. Though the people who inhabit this land come from a huge range of backgrounds, they are all self-reliant and hardy; those who are not do not last long in the River Kingdoms.

Across the northern frontier of the River Kingdoms runs a hinterland not even the most brazen bandit lords dare to claim, called the Stolen Lands. Sharing borders with strange barbarians and political enemies, this wilderness invites few intruders, out of fear of provoking the ire of empires.

Recently, a band of adventurers were commissioned to attempt just that - to create a nation centered in the midst of this chaotic mess of land. Pyria, the nation in question, is centered around the Stolen Land's central forest and bordering eastern mountains. The capitol, Hearthstone, as well as it's defacto wing-eared queen is located along the shores of Tuskwater Lake.

River Freedoms: Tenets of the Riverfolk

While many outsiders think of the people of the River Kingdoms as dishonorable, backstabbing curs, they do have a moral code by which they live. This code, known as the River Freedoms, is a set of moral principles that most natives take very seriously. For instance, one of the codes is that oath breakers must die (usually in a very painful manner). As a result, most people would die before they break their word—and they are also very cautious about giving their word in the first place. The River Freedoms are highly respected throughout the various realms of the River Kingdoms, and breaking one is a serious offense, even for those who claim to only have misinterpreted one of them. The River Freedoms are:

Say What you Will, I Live Free
Oathbreakers Die
Walk Any Road, Float Any River
Courts Are for Kings
Slavery Is an Abomination
You Have What You Hold

December 30th, 2022 February 16th, 2023

Local Religions

Due to the freedom-loving and cynical nature of most inhabitants of the River Kingdoms, religion is often given short shrift. Those who do practice a religion pray to deities of thievery, war, and freedom. Additionally, cults of gods forbidden throughout the rest of the world at large have found the region to be a safe haven, and the River Kingdoms remain one of the few places in the world they can openly be worshiped. The region also attracts strange cults in the same way they attract strange people, and small religions ranging from the unorthodox to the downright bizarre make their home here.

December 30th, 2022 February 16th, 2023

Government

There is no central government in the River Kingdoms, save a loose affiliation of city-states called the Outlaw Council which meets annually in Daggermark. The amount of different kingdoms that form this council is in constant flux as kingdom are often destroyed, conquered or new kingdoms formed. Beyond the council, each city is ruled by its own smaller council or despot, and the warfare between the nations makes the Outlaw Council often little more than a technicality.

Civil war is another common threat to stable government, with assassination and betrayal a simple fact of life in these tumultuous kingdoms. The most vicious of these civil wars occur when powerful lords who have been paid vast sums to act as mercenaries in distant wars return to find their kingdom taken from them. The only thing that can ever unite the various River Kingdoms is a serious threat from their neighboring nations, even then every single lord vies to be in charge of whatever ramshackle army is assembled to thwart the outsiders. The organization of these rare conglomerate armies are almost as chaotic as the kingdoms themselves with each petty lord trying to out do his rival with feats of battlefield heroism.

February 16th, 2023

History

During the Age of Legend, the land encompassing much of the River Kingdoms was a type of hunting reserve for the elves of Kyonin, known as Telvurin or the "Shifting Lands". For thousands of years following the elves' exit to Sovyrian just before Earthfall, humans moved in to explore, and often ran afoul of the indigenous lizardfolk, grippli, and fey.

The modern history of the River Kingdoms is almost impossible to keep track of; each year contains enough war, conquest, death, destruction, and betrayal to fill an entire book. With such events occurring so frequently, few bother trying to keep track of the comings and goings of the petty tyrants and their small kingdoms. The only events in the history of the River Kingdoms that have a noticeable effect on the outside world are when one of the kingdoms becomes big and stable enough to be considered a nation in its own right. This is quite a rare occurrence, as most kingdoms fall to infighting and treachery long before they become that powerful. The only two nations that have formed this way are Numeria, which was once considered just an other series of squabbling tribes, and Razmiran, which was conquered by the arcane might of the living God Razmir.