Mephistia

Second only to Aracia in sheer size, Mephistia (meaning "Under Mephist's Shield" in Mephistian) stretches from the long peninsula on the eastern coast of Sheanora to the Battlehaunt and the Endesier River. It is a country with a dark history, viewed with distrust by the other nation's of the Merchant Sea, even though it is now ruled by the war hero, Empress Eristea Renardin.
  To understand modern Mephistia, one must first understand its long history of noble devil worship.
  Humans first arrived on the continent of Sheanora almost eight thousand years ago, travelling from the southern continent of Vul'Badir. And while they settled the lands that would eventually become Aracia and Arcenveld, they left much of the eastern continent alone, especially the thick rain forests of the peninsula. Some believed that the land was too intractable or lacked the nutritious soil for agriculture and farming. But truly, it was because they were scared. Even the orcs avoided it.
  It was the site of one of the largest tears to the Inferno on all of Aorna. This connection to the most dangerous place in all of the multiverse made the peninsula rife for infiltration by devils and demons - and even twisted the natural inhabitants to behave in strange, unpredictable and often malevolent ways.
  In 4880 AGC, human pilgrims from a frigid continent to the northeast were caught in a furious storm and crash landed on what would eventually become known as Mephistia. Their food stocks sank to the bottom of the Auslairic Ocean and within weeks the humans were starving. Beyond that, they were besieged by the vicious wildlife of the peninsula. Desperate, they sent their leader, Erolde Renardin, deep into the rainforests in search of food. Legend says that he was attacked by a demon, who tore off his right arm and left him for dead. There, withering away, a failure, he was convinced every one of his family members and all of his friends would die. At least, until one of Baeliel's agents crept through a tear to offer him his life.
  The deal was plain: the devil would offer Erolde and his compatriots aid and comfort, protecting them from the worst denizens of the jungle. In fact, they would thrive. All he required in exchange was worship. When Erolde extended this arrangement to the thirteen other families that were under his charge, ten agreed and the other three were banished - forced to build rafts and endure the sea once more. These exiles would eventually land in The Baskan Isles.
  Thrive, they did. Within weeks, they discovered fertile land and abundant resources. Within months, the first of many diamond mines. Within years, the ten nobles families had spread across what they came to name Mephistia and declared Erolde Renardin their Emperor. Rumors of untold riches brought immigrants, from Aracia and Arcenveld, but also from their homeland across the sea. The noble families hid their worship from the populace at large, and especially from their trading partners. Most of the citizenry worshipped the Eternal Court, leaving the devils to those in power. Still, the Inferno held sway.
  This secret would be kept for more than seven hundred years, until the reign of Emperor Mauvaen Renardin. Mauvaen had heard whispers of another promise made to his ancestor - that Mephistia would not just thrive, it would come to conquer all of Sheanora. Whether it was true or a figment of a mad mind, he grew obsessed with this prophecy and believed that if his nation's devotion to Baeliel were greater, he would be the one to bring it to fruition. He closed the churches and temples of the Eternal Court, replacing them with tributes to the Devil King. He commanded his priests to pry open the tears to the Inferno. He filled the ranks of the military with fiendish hordes.
  And in 5575 AGC, he commanded his legions to cross the border into the territory known as "The Jewel of Arthedis", attacking Aracian settlements.
  The Infernal Wars raged for seventeen years, ravaging the eastern half of the continent and drawing in nearly every nation in the region. But as rumors spread that Mauvaen had discovered a way to allow Baeliel himself to walk Aorna, disparate allies formed a plan to end the war. From the west, Aracian king Bartolome Salemanco led an army through Mephistian territory, attacking the capital of Baelhan, in what was ostensibly a suicide mission. From the east, a fleet of Baskan warships pelted the city with cannon fire. And while Mauvaen's forces were distracted, his own daughter, Eristea, a priestess of Monaia, led a small team into his fortress. They killed her father and she closed the largest of the tears - ending the occupation of the devilish forces. In 5592, the Baskan Accords were signed, formally ending the war as well.
  Eristea remains Empress to this day and is considered one of the great heroes across all of Sheanora. However, this did not make reclaiming the throne easy. Along with her allies, she spent nearly thirty years rooting out the fiendish influence on Mephistian nobility, waging a civil war that lasted longer than the war of conquest her father had waged. She was betrayed more than a dozen times by advisors whom she trusted, but whom had been seduced by the devils remaining within her borders. Still, she outlived them all, through conflict or through sheer attrition.
  Today, Mephistia has found a semblance of peace. While individual zealots remain, romanticizing the Infernal Wars for their own ends, they rarely are able to organize before they are crushed by military forces.
  That said, life is still harsh for the average citizen, as forty years of battle has crushed the economy and the population. The government offers programs to help the least fortunate, but there are many who still slip through the cracks. Crime is rampant in most of the population centers, though increasing trade with the rest of the Merchant Sea region has begun to turn the tide. Tourists have also begun to pour in to witness the famous musicians of the "Mephistian Cantrip" movement, a popular genre of the moment.
  Magic is not as restricted in Mephistia as it is in Arcenveld, though the Baskan Accords do limit seminaries and academies of the arcane from being built within its borders. Much of Mephistian academia had been corrupted during the wars, studying and harnessing the power of the Inferno. As such, those interested in performing magical services are often shipped off to other nations for their training. Many citizens view this stipulation of the Accords as unfair, as it has prevented Mephistia from building the kind of robust education systems that have benefited their neighbors. 
  Though Mephistia is significantly freer than it was under the grip of her father, Eristea remains the prime monarch, with almost complete control of the government and the military. She is viewed as a harsh but fair leader whose coldness has helped to eliminate the fiendish threat and keep the nation stable for the last decade. While the other noble families maintain ceremonial control over their individual territories, none would question the authority of the Empress. This absolute power has had its benefits, but because Eristea looms so large - and because her only son, Damakos, founded and rules the nation of Sanctuary  -  there are concerns among the nobility that the lack of a proper heir could lead to a return to conflict.