Hobla and Tribana

  The southern and south-western extents of the continent of Erask are held by the Maul Confraternity, a loose affiliation of Hobgoblins descended from the Maul O'War. Formed by three leaders of hobgoblin legend - General Uluth Wise-in-War, Vicar-General Loggot Storm-Speaker, and Beastmaster Dolang Laughing-Lord - the Maul also recruited forces of Orcs and packs of gauthic gnolls from the plains. They devastated the cities of the south-east, and seized those in the south, those in the former territory remaining nomadic, while those in the latter found themselves forced to civilise. To this day, the Confraternity is divided between the cosmopolitan sophisticates of the Three-Banners Alliance in Tribana - who fly the ancient standards of Uluth, Loggot and Dolang over instution those ancient generals would barely recognise - and the barely regulated anarchy and borderline xenophobia of the Ruckus of Hobla.   Hobla ranges from temperate forests in the north to the open plains in the south. Cities built by Orcs and Dragonborn were sacked and burned in the time of the Maul, and even since the Western Horde drew so many of the most committed hawks away on a doomed crusade, the majority of the population remain nomadic. The nomadic ranges and small towns of the region are home to more than a hundred rucks, each a body of between fifty and two-hundred aruks. Literally meaning warriors, this term is now used of fighters, skilled workers in recognised crafts and priests, all of whom have the rights of a full member of the ruck. In addition to the aruks, a ruck contains perhaps twice as many free folk - mostly unrecognised workers, including scholars and arcanists, domestic servants and children - and as many indentured serfs. Most of the aruks are hobgoblins, the free folk hobgoblins, orcs or dragonborn, and the serfs goblins of the mountain clans or gnolls of the southland packs.   Each ruck has a god. This is not a strong god, but all of their strength belongs to the ruck and they dwell in the ruck's great banner. The leader of the ruck is an aruk who is chosen to become Bannerbound, swearing themselves as consort of the god. When more than a small number of rucks gather to discuss an issue of mutual moment, they call a ruckus, a meeting at which each ruck whose banner is present may speak and vote on any matter. The Ruckus of Hobla is the entirely notional ruling body of the region, which would be composed of representatives of every ruck. The only matter on which all of the rucks agree is a rejection of outsiders, largely influenced by the disaster of the Western Horde.   Tribana is a very different land, united - more or less - under the Three-Banners Alliance, each of which holds one of the original banners of the Maul, now sacred to one of the gods of the Alliance. While most of the dominant hobgoblin population eschew the cities, each of the main population centres houses a Bannershrine, where a cadres of priests and nobles guard the dynasty and hold court, while the cityfolk - many of whom belong to families who have lived their since before the Maul's invasion - handle matters of administration. The Horse Banner of Uluth flies in Wave's Rising, a port city with a majority population of orcs and a sizeable sea Elf colony. The Horse Banner belongs to the Wise-in-War, consort of the Steel-Shod Messenger. The Storm-Speaker flies the Falcon Banner of Loggot in Perch, and is the emissary of the Swift-Winged Hunter. Perch sits high in the foothills of the Weeping Mountains, at the head of Silverfoil Lake. Stretching back into the living rock, this city is home to many goblins and commands the centre of the Alliance territory. In the East, the Hound Banner of Dolang assures the authority of the Beastmaster, consort of the Wild Hunter. The city of the Hound is Huntharbour, where dragonborn sailors and shipwrights welcome travellers, but the eastern territory also controls the open country where the Southern Gnoll Packs live, upholding their ancient alliance with Dolang.