The Eari Islands are an island nation notable for their naval power, dominance over The Southern Ocean, general isolationism, and for being a melting pot for different ethnicities and cultures.
History
The Eari were founded back in the days of The Alammar Empire, when a large government sponsored fleet of ships set off to explore the Sea of a Thousand Souls and potentially colonize territories beyond the deadly ocean with new naval technologies. Along the way, they made a few wrong turns because of a Leviathan attack, and ended up discovering a chain of islands to the south of the mainland. They eventually decided to leave behind a few colonization ships on the uninhabited island to create a new colony. This new colony, and then province, quickly rose to importance because of it's location. It quickly became the prime naval base and was home to many docks, ports, and shipyards for the Royal Navy.
Because of the relative distance between the Eari and the rest of the Empire, it grew to be more independent than the rest of the provinces, with it's own division of navy ships and freedom to do as it liked with minimal Empire involvement. While it was self-governing and nearly it's own independent nation, the Eari central government elected to stay a part of the Empire because while it still had to pay taxes and was beholden to a number of the Empire's laws, it was simply easier to stay a part of the Empire than go through the whole ordeal of becoming an independent nation. It prospered from it's monopoly of sea trade, reaping the benefits and becoming fairly rich, something that could easily disappear if it were to go to war with the whole Empire. The Eari also didn't really have it's own pre-defined culture yet, seeing how it was settled by mainlanders, and most of the citizens identified as still being part of the Empire. And so, the Eari decided to stay a relatively free province of the Alammar Empire.
This all changed during the rise of Victor the Fourth, and his string of ill-made decisions. The Isles were suffering from the plagues and famines that also afflicted the mainland, even if less intensely. The lack of supplies, namely grain and other crops from the mainland took a toll on the Eari Isles, who had little actual domestic farms, and relied on trade with the mainland to fill in the gaps of supplies they had. The plagues reached their shores, and killed a great many people, but it was able to be contained. So when Victor the Fourth, (or Victor the Incompetent as the less vulgar of the common people liked to call him) rose to power, many were hoping for him to do something big to change the dire straits they were in. So when Victor did nothing but raise taxes and party, like the rest of the Empire, the Eari were furious.
The Eari were the first to 'rebel' against the High King with their decree to stop paying taxes to the Empire, inspiring the rest of the provinces to follow suit. And when Victor came knocking for more naval reinforcements after his disaster against the Leviathans, the Eari turned him away, not willing to risk their own people for the ambitions of an egomaniac. When the time of The Splintering came about, the Eari were all on board. Trade with the mainland was no longer possible nor profitable, the whole Empire was ready to fall apart at a moments notice so there was no risk of being crushed by the superior military might of the Alammar, the Eari had developed it's own culture and government, and the people no longer identified as being part of the Empire, but as being Eari.
When the Splintering did break out, the Eari contributed to the rebel cause by destroying the last of the loyalist navy easily, before rowing up the rivers throughout the mainland to transport rebel troops and attack loyalist ones. After the Splintering, The Eari mostly kept themselves isolated from the rest of the world, barely engaging in international affairs, keeping their distance and doing their own thing. They're on top of any new naval technologies, but other than that, don't really keep track of anything in the rest of the world.
Government
The Eari Isles are made up of many different cities, villages, and towns, which are then, in turn, run by elders. These elders run the settlement as they see fit. When deciding on matters or passing laws that affect the entire nation, they gather in the capital in a Council of Elders. The judiciary is comprised of citizens of great importance and education, aka they choose people at random except for people who look like bums. Local judges are most likely well-respected individuals in a settlement who help resolve disputes.