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For 576 years the Severin Imperium has ruled the continent of Nostria with an enduring legacy. The Imperium could once boast of a domain stretching from the southern lowlands of Boreas in the north to the fertile Lunois River Valley of Andeaux to the south. Its hegemony has provided the basis for the language, architecture, and governance of the peoples of Nostria, most of whom were once its clients. Over the two centuries, however, it has become a bloated morass, a result of territorial overextension and a series of decadent and incompetent emperors. Today, the Imperium remains a waning shadow of its former glory, though enduring past the decline of its dominion. Eighty-nine consecutive years of conflict known as the “Nine Holds’ War” concluded in the independence of Avirella, Morneau, Glenevre, and Andeaux, the agricultural heartland of the former Imperium, 75 years ago. Rebellions over the course of the ensuing century saw the independence of Austella, Olstrov, Wittland and Kappold, fracturing the Imperium. Commodus Septimus Aurelion, 53rd Emperor and the seventh of his dynasty, has led a reign of relative stability since coming to power five years ago. But while the juvenal emperor has succeeded is staving off collapse, disaster looms within the Imperium. Mages, outlawed and condemned to slavery in 360 AE by the Lucian Codex, have grown restless in their bondage, stoking dramatic and bloody rebellions throughout the outlying imperial provinces across the last century. A new spiritual movement, led by the rebel mage Theodosia, has swept the enslaved and peasant classes, captivated by her teachings of emancipation, harmony, and justice. Outside the Imperium, emergent nations, bourn of independence, circle the Imperium and prod its weakening grip, awaiting an opportunity to seize power.

The Stormdom of Avirella:

Before the Nine Holds’ War, the Stormdom of Avirella was the nexus of the Imperium’s mage-slave labor. The Stormdom holds the distinction of the largest magically-gifted population of any nation in Nostria, owed to the sheer magnitude of mage-slaves brought there to toil in the vast Imperial quarries and mines. Avirella is the native homeland of the Southern Dwarves, famed for their quick-witted technical prowess and command of the natural magics. As excellent craftsmen and talented enchanters, Avirella stands as the engineering and smithing hub of Nostria. Culturally, the Stormdom has done much to break the Imperial hegemony over Avirellan culture, restoring the native Dwarven cult of the Dragon Gods. The Avirellan Dwarves stand most starkly apart from the other nations of Nostria in their pervasive reverence of magic; most social elites are mages or of magical bloodlines. Politically, Avirellans tend to be fiercely independent, often to the point of factionalism. The Stormreign’s policies are often hampered by raucous debate within his advisory council, the Cloud, comprised of aristocratic houses, influential clerics, and wealthy merchant families. The clashing of multitudinous political interests at times reaches such an intensity that duels are considered standard procedure. House Sureshot, the wealthy merchant patrons of the city of Drastralla, have raised concern within the Cloud over the heightened Severin occupation of Halzburg Fortress. The fortress, which occupies the middle of the Transfluvial Viaduct, has remained territory of the Imperium since the Nine Holds’ War, excising moderate taxes against Avirellan and Andeauxian merchant caravans for passage through Severian Increased banditry along the Southern Viaducts, however, has led to a change in the fortress’ command and the full-scale occupation of its garrison by Imperial forces. Citing the increased lawlessness of the Ciskars Highlands, the Imperial garrison has levied higher taxes against travelers and often refuses caravaneers altogether, forcing traders to abandon their ventures or seek routes around the fortress, where they are, most often, claimed by the wilds. The marked decrease in trade along the Transfluvial Viaduct has veritably strangled the economy of Northern Avirella and the Avirellan-Andeauxian Borderlands, worst of all the city of Drastalla, the hub of grain and fruit importation from Andeaux. While the Stormreign contends with the dissatisfied noble houses of the ever-bickering Cloud, his northern provinces pray daily to the Dragon Aspects, desperate for deliverance from the threat of famine and suffering.

The Empire of Reskos:

It is said that the Empire of Reskos has never seen a day of peace and that there is no word in the Reskosian language which fully carries its meaning. The Reskosian coast is a harsh place, wracked by torrential storms from the Amaranthic Sea during the wet season, and periodic drought during the dry season. Yet until two centuries ago, its people controlled the largest terrestrial empire of all Southern Aelfenland, possessing swaths of territory within Sasfeld, Felkos, and Durwen. The Reskosian want of conquest, however, would ultimately be its undoing; as the Empire’s territories and subject peoples expanded, so did its reliance on local kings and mercenaries to control its outlying provinces. Following five years of drought in 494 AE, famine and revolt ravaged the Empire, spurring disaffected vassals to unite against Reskosian rule. Bouts of warfare and rebellion have whittled the Empire to the native Reskosian coast, while its frontier along the Deepmire Wood remains an entrenched military border. A century of sporadic fighting between Sasfeldian raiders and the bulwark of the Reskosian army has sculpted the Wood into a warren of ruined fortresses interspersed by dense forests and viscid bogs. The Reskosian people, hardened by catastrophe and near-constant warfare, are militaristic and conservative in nature. Citizenship is contingent on military service, with an individual’s class, and subsequent legal and property rights, determined by their rank. Magic is viewed with suspicion, though young mages are made perpetual wards of the Empire and trained in service of its army. Legal authority rests centrally within the hands of the Emperor, who is elected from the ranks of the generalship. The military, which administers nearly all aspects of the Reskosian state, is traditionally composed of ten armies, whose generals advise the Emperor on martial and civic matters as the Council of Ten. With the 13th Reskosian-Sasfeld War raging into its fifth year, Emperor Aldrich Holsheim has decreed the Pragmatic Concession, a legal sanction of the impressment of foreign citizens, imperial contract of mercenaries, and conscription of landless men with or without magical ability. While the Ten are divided on the Emperor’s drastic commandeering of civil authority, most recognize the toll the war has taken on the Empire, and the dire need to gain the upper hand.