Breland, one of the original Five Nations founded by the human settlers of Khorvaire, mixes a proud agricultural tradition with a more urban and industrial outlook, especially in its massive cities. As with the other Five Nations, Breland’s borders have fluctuated over time. It was named for King Galifar I’s daughter, Brey, in the year 32 YK.
During the reign of Galifar’s last king, Wroann ir’Wynarn governed the nation. King Jarot’s youngest daughter, Wroann was the exact opposite of her twin brother, Wrogar of Aundair. She was thin and agile, serious, and a lover of the finer things in life. She also cherished freedom above all things, and promised to make Breland a place where people would be judged by word and deed instead of social class.
When Jarot died, Wroann broke with her twin regarding the line of succession. Instead of supporting Mishann of Cyre's claim to the throne, Wroann gathered her vassals and declared her own intention to rule the kingdom. Ironically, the freedom-loving nation of Breland was one of the key instigators of the Last War, for her leader wanted to spread her ideas of liberty and increased democracy to all by force and sword.
Prior to the Last War, the nation of Breland covered all the land it holds today, as well as what is now Zilargo, Droaam, and the Shadow Marches. Currently, the kingdom consists of the land between the Graywall Mountains and the Howling Peaks, reaching as far north as the Blackcaps and Lake Galifar, and as far south as the southern coast of the continent.
The current ruler of Breland, King Boranel ir’Wynarn, traces his lineage to Wroann. Boranel has ruled Breland since 961 YK and proudly signed the Treaty of Thronehold to help end the Last War. In his time, Boranel has led his army into battle for six major engagements with enemy forces, participated in two quests to Xen'drik, and personally fought the Droaam champion to end a particularly long and bloody period of conflict between the two nations.
Today, Breland stands as one of the most powerful nations of Khorvaire. With a large population and a robust industrial center, Breland could have continued fighting the Last War for many years. Indeed, some believe it could eventually have won the war. King Boranel, however, grew tired of constant battle. He longed for the peace of a united Galifar, a peace unknown in his lifetime. When an opportunity presented itself to forge a new peace, Boranel put his enthusiasm and powerful force of presence behind the effort. He has negotiated a separate treaty with Zilargo, making the gnomish nation his staunchest ally in the post-war environment. He has a grudging respect for Kaius, King of Karrnath, but that respect is tempered by a feeling of uneasiness he gets whenever he’s in the man’s presence. As much as he loves and respects the Aundairian people, Boranel doesn’t trust the flowery words that spill from the ambitious Queen Aurala’s pretty mouth. Tension also exists between Breland and Thrane; the theocracy to the north may bend its knee to a lawful good god, but it has a reputation for aggressively spreading its beliefs by sword and spell.
Breland continues to engage in skirmishes with the warbands of Droaam. The monster clans regularly test the borders and make raids into western Breland, and Breland intelligence believes that a sizable force infests the Graywall Mountains. In the south, the Brelish navy works to keep the sea lanes safe from pirates. Though the navy suspects that the pirates have ties to the Lhazaar princes, no definitive proof has been uncovered—at least not since the Thronehold Accords went into effect.
Life and Society
Breland’s citizenry is divided almost equally between rural and urban communities. Along Breland’s northern expanse, farms and ranches stretch from the Graywall Mountains in the west to the Seawall Mountains in the east. Rich soil and moderate rainfall make the lives of the farmers relatively easy, and all but the farms nearest the Mournland have stayed prosperous through times of war and peace. The southern section of the nation, dominated by a number of tropical forests including the great King’s Forest, houses plantations and hunting reserves.
Rural life resembles that in the other nations, with perhaps a bit more emphasis on personal freedom and a drive to succeed and improve one’s station in life. Much of Breland’s rural citizenry never experienced firsthand the horrors of the Last War. Only the regions to the extreme northeast and those communities closest to Droaam ever participated in actual battles, and no foreign power ever penetrated very far into the nation. Every village and town and city, however, sent soldiers to the front, and every family knows someone who never returned from the war. Memorial markers are found around every thorp and hamlet, and the great cities have extensive memorials dedicated to those who perished defending Breland from its enemies.
What makes Breland different from most of the other nations is the number of urban centers that have grown up within its borders. Not only does it boast the largest metropolis in all of Khorvaire, Sharn, but even its smaller cities and towns have a cosmopolitan and worldly air to them. The Brelish attitude of acceptance and tolerance naturally attracts people of all races to its confines. Hence, the nation boasts large populations of most of the common races, as well as goblinoids, orcs, and a variety of intelligent monster races. This mix of people from different regions and of different cultures is much more dramatic in Breland’s urban centers, particularly in Sharn.
Northern Breland enjoys a mild climate. Wet springs give way to warm summers that blend into mild autumns and relatively temperate winters. The temperature rarely drops below freezing, even in the dead of winter, except in the highlands around the Blackcaps. In the south, from Wroat to the Straits of Shargon, the weather ranges from hot and muggy to hot and rainy, with only occasional periods of warm and dry.
Breland has welcomed a large contingent of Cyran refugees, providing them a place to call home since the destruction of Cyre and the creation of the Mournland. The Cyrans have set up their own town of New Cyre to the southeast of Starilaskur, where they hope eventually to gather as many of the survivors of their doomed nation as possible. Other Cyran communities can be found in Wroat, Sharn, Shavalant, and Ardev. Most of the Brelish feel obliged to make a place for the refugees, but there are factions within Breland whose members recall the bitter battles the two nations engaged in over the course of the war. For these factions, the doom that Cyre experienced was just punishment for the evil it had committed during the long years of war. They have no love to show the refugees, nor pity in their hearts; just a burning hatred and a desire to drive them from the nation—or, in some cases, to finish the job that Cyre itself started and wipe them from the face of Eberron.
Government and Politics
The Brelish Parliament is divided into two chambers. The upper chamber is named the Nobles Chamber, consisting of the landed aristocracy. The lower chamber is named the Commons Chamber and consists of representatives elected from districts. The primary business of Parliament is legislation - managing the system of taxes that fund the rest of the government. Secondarily parliament performs oversight functions when they choose to intervene in how money is spent. Breland does not have the kind of modern bureaucratic state that injects itself into daily life via rules and regulations, making non-tax related bills much rarer - examples include ratifying the Treaty of Thronehold and changes to the legal code around warforged rights. For any bill to pass it must attain majority consent in each chamber.
Chamber of Nobles
The Nobles Chamber consists of landed lords and ladies who represent the backbone economic power of Breland. Each noble primarily derives their income from taxing natural resource extraction in their demesne - farming, mining, logging. In terms of formal land rights, all land belongs to the Crown, meaning that legally the King can grant or take away land as he pleases. Functionally, the nobles have plenty of ways of expressing their displeasure through formal and informal channels, so any monarch who goes too far may face the collective wrath of the nobility, especially in cases where the ruler is taking away land.
Chamber of Commons
The Commons Chamber is divided into districts, each containing 3 members. A district typically consists of a few small villages or an individual town. Members are elected en masse in 2 year terms, with the top three vote-getters in each district becoming representatives. The Speaker is chosen by majority ballot at the beginning of each term, although a new speaker can be found if a vote of no confidence successfully passes to remove the speakership.
Historically, the Nobles Chamber has retained more power than the Commons Chamber, partially due to the corruptibility of the Commons Chamber. While all Brelish citizens 16 and older can vote, and many enthusiastically do, there are few mechanisms for them to understand and hold their representatives accountable. The Last War provided plenty of opportunities for journalistic growth, but editors quickly learned that readers cared less about what was true than what was sensational and easy to follow. Reformers within the journalism community have been pressuring House Sivis to create some form of accreditation, but the gnomes appear to be uninterested.
Factions within Parliament
The primary and growing divide in Parliament today is the split between royalists and parliamentarians. While many might think it’s the upper chamber that is dominated by royalists and the lower by parliamentarians, the reverse is true. The nobles of Breland are in a better position to advance demands and secure even more political power for themselves, rather than handing it off to the King. By contrast,the Commons Chamber senses its own weakness and many hope for more time to enact anti-corruption reforms before unbalancing the trifecta of the crown and the two chambers of parliament.
Another major split in Parliament is between those who do and don’t believe in Warforged rights. While the national consensus in Breland has solidly shifted towards giving Warforged rights, how far that should go remains an active point of debate. Nativists point to language referring to“native-born Brelish”, arguing that the lack of a proper birth for Warforged means they do not deserve the full range of legal rights and privileges ordinary citizens receive. Warforged rights activists point both to the service and dedication with which Warforged fought for Breland and to the increasing quantities of evidence that Warforged have souls.
The issue of Droaam remains a sticky subject in the Brelish parliament. While most of Parliament sees the secession of Droaam as illegitimate, what to do about it is a hard question. Militants argue that, with the war no longer requiring active engagement of Breland’s armies to the north and east, Breland should take care of the monstrous question and wipe them out. Diplomacists argue not only that it would be a foolish waste of resources, but that this misses out on a potential opportunity both economically and militarily. Many point to the success of House Tharashk’s “Dragonne’s Roar” in military engagements for the value of such a powerful ally, even if it does mean swallowing their pride.
The final, major argument in Parliament is what to do with the Cyran refugee crisis. While parliament has worked with Boranel to manage the displacement of Brelish citizens by the War, the creation of New Cyre was a unilateral action by Boranel. While some in parliament whole-heartedly support the motion, the basis for opposition comes less from meanness or coldness towards the plight of the Cyrans, but a principled stand against executive overreach. On an even more real basis, the land granted to New Cyre was of little value, so it’s hard to argue Boranel took much of anything away. As such, legislation involving New Cyre tends to be less about removing the Cyrans and more about asserting Parliament's authority - much to Prince Oargev’s chagrin.
The Crown
Contrasting the Parliament, the Crown represents the executive authority of the state. King Boranel currently bears the crown, but his age and a lack of qualified heirs has left the future of Breland in doubt.
King Boranel is widely respected and loved in Breland. Unfortunately for him, his heirs are not. None have displayed the bravery, conviction, or leadership to match Boranel, encouraging the parliamentarians that now is the time. Some might argue that this is due to Boranel’s difficulties with his marriages - after the assassination of his first wife Chaseva, Boranel became a distant father. Despite remarrying three more times, none of his wives since have held his affections the same way.
The third son of King Boranex, Boranel came to the throne after a tragic month where both older brothers were slain on the battlefield and King Boranex took his own life in grief. Boranel has eight surviving members of his generation, with three younger brothers and four younger sisters. Each of these siblings holds prestigious places in his court, but his brother Kor has secured the position of Boranel’s most trusted adviser and commander of the King’s Citadel.
Boranel bore four sons with his first wife Chesava, one son and four daughters with his second, and one son and one daughter with his third. His oldest son, Bortan, holds the position of royal steward and has been delegated many of the financial decisions of the nation. The fourth son of Chaseva, Aejar, has grown distant since being mauled by Boranel’s pet magebred ghost tigers and losing his left arm. His youngest two children, his son Halix and his daughter Borina, have been exchanged with Kaius III’s sister Haydith as part of a program to ensure the continued peace of the continent. Haydith has won over the Brelish court and parliament in Wroat with her charm and wit, frequently accompanying Boranel on his official business.