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The Kingdom of Stormakt

A Time of Change

  The Kingdom of Stormakt is a shadow of its past self - where once Stormaki Vikingrs were the terror of coast and sea alike, now their navy is obsolete and outnumbered by the ascendant nations around it. Where once Stormaki Knights were the flower of chivalry across the world, the grievous casualties suffered during the Stormaki Aggression of Fiuthnolla have left them with nought but inexperienced boys and old men past their prime. Where once Stormakt dominated the Beacepheron continent, their loss of the north to the vampiric Canate Princes and their rebellion has left them on par with their peers. Times of turmoil are known to bring change, and this is no exception - people are questioning the decadent and corrupt noble classes who all but openly operate crime in some cities in return for their cut. Ideas of democracy and representation come in from the Moonlight Kingdom of the elves, the Halfling Communes upon the fertile isle of Callang, and even the erstwhile enemy of the Stormaki, the Fiuthnollan Commonwealth.   The learned bourgeois classes may speak words of freedom and good government, but the desire to reclaim that lost pride also lingers - what will nationalism bring to the table if and when they triumph?  

Geography

  Stormakt is a temperate-cold nation on the archipelago continent of Beacepheron. Its climate, in the south, is primarily temperate forests, with taiga/boreal forests in the north, as well as a belt of swampland on the Canate border. Stormakt is marked with numerous rivers and a handful of minor and major lakes. Stormakt's wooded regions are flush with cold-dwelling life such as reindeer, wolves, mooses, beavers, bears, lynxes, wild boars, and wolverines, as well as many dire variations on these species. Taiga Giants, Mute Hags, and Boreal Wolves are also present and tend to be a potential danger to travellers.  

Government and Geopolitics

  The Kingdom of Stormakt is an absolutist feudal monarchy. The King of Stormakt, sometimes known as the Storm King (though this epithet has diminished in use during the decline of the Kingdom), is the despotic ruler of the kingdom, in theory. Of course, as is the nature of feudalism, his vassals have much say in the running of their own domains and the kingdom as a whole. The system of vassalage is structured around feudal contracts which clearly define the obligations, responsibilities, and privileges of any given vassal. These are adjusted in negotiations regularly, whether because the King accepts to hear a complaint, or during the formal Renewal Ceremony, an event that occurs once every ten years, wherein the direct vassals of the King will come to reaffirm their loyalty to the crown, but may also openly air their grievances with their current contract beforehand, and ask the King to adjust. For the sake of expediency, there tend to be private meetings beforehand that decide the terms of the Renewal early, making the song and dance of the ceremony a formality.   Stormakt is divided into 14 primary duchies that form the largest administrative body within the kingdom, each presided over by a duke. These duchies are subdivided into varying numbers of counties, and there are also a number of counts and marquis directly subordinated to the King. Most leadership positions in Stormakt are occupied by human men. Most titles in Stormakt are male-preference primogeniture, and the position of the King of Stormakt is traditionally reserved for men only, and legally a woman cannot rule the Kingdom.   The Church of Stormakstiden represent the religious authority of the Kingdom of Stormakt, and they worship Stormakstiden, the national God of Stormakt and a God of Nobility, Law, and the Stormaki Language - a language that spread around the world during the Age of Pillage which took Stormaki raiders and traders around the world and became the Common tongue. They are responsible for ordaining the crowning of the king, and their word has much de facto power in royal policy.   Stormakt is flanked by the Canate Princedom to the north, and the Kingdom of Tel Iskarra to the east. Stormakt and Tel Iskarra are involved in an informal compact to prevent Canate aggression, due to shared religious disdain for the undead. There is high tension between the governments of Stormakt and Canate, especially considering that Canate Secession War occurred 100 years ago and remains a national shame of the Stormaki nation. Stormakt also maintains cordial relations with the Moonlight Kingdom overseas, though this relationship is very tepid, and a formal military alliance with the Karaz Taruhm Shogunate. Two more nations, however, draw their ire - the Starflame Kingdom is a drow state that makes extensive use of slave labour, much of which is taken in slave raids from Stormaki coasts. The Kingdom maintains plausible deniability as these slave-raiders are operatives of independent slave companies. And then, there is Fiuthnolla.   Fiuthnolla represents everything Stormakt isn't - it is a young nation, an economically thriving and technologically advanced state that has its golden age ahead of it rather than behind it. They are egalitarian where Stormakt is stratified, they are meritocratic where Stormakt is aristocratic, and their naval power is one of the strongest in the world, whereas the once-feared Stormaki navy is now de-emphasized. For this reason, the Stormaki leadership and aristocracy look at the Fiuthnollans with disdain, especially after the humiliation of the Stormaki Aggression. However, most common folk see the Fiuthnollans in a neutral to slightly negative light, instead seeing the nobles who called for the invasion as having thrown a generation of young men and the pride of Stormaki chivalry into a pointless meat grinder.  

Economy

  The Stormaki economy is primarily agrarian and focused on the agriculture of grains, primarily barley, wheat, and millet. Flax is also a major agricultural commodity primarily used for clothing. Fodder crops are also grown to support the high cattle, pig, and poultry populations on many farms. Apiary is also common, for wax and honey. Fish is the most common form of meat eaten and traded and is frequently available from the rivers and coastlines of Stormakt. Pork is smoked and salted to be saved over the winter by many peasant families, but chicken and beef are normally only eaten or sold when a cow stops giving milk or siring young, or when a hen stops laying eggs. Beef and chicken are often sold to richer folk who see having such meat on their tables as a status symbol. Peasants can also hunt on certain authorized lands, allowing them to add venison and small game to their diets Many peasant women are responsible for secondary businesses, such as making and repairing clothes, midwifery, and certain forms of witchery and divine magic as self-taught adepts.   The economies of the cities of Stormakt are primarily built on artisan work and trade. Most of these businesses are supported by a number of unskilled or trained-on-site labourers to move goods and provide additional hands in support of experienced and trained artisans and managers. A major proportion of people who live in a city, however, do so because they or a family member practice some kind of trade. Some people make money serving as permanent members of the city's Urban Militia, or to a lesser extent make money on the side as designated reservists in the Militia. The presence of these militias makes a gunsmith and a poleturner a near-universal fixture of cities in Stormakt, and often quite wealthy.   Stormakt's mineral resources are decently rich, and in particular, they benefit from high-quality and rich iron deposits. They lost much of their coal economy to the secession of Canate, which took with them the swampy regions of North Stormakt rich in coal. However, they still retain enough coal that it remains a part of their economy. High-quality steel is a prominent Stormaki export - while most of the world knows how to make steel, Stormakt has been doing it the longest, and their steel smith families retain many trade secrets that make their steel some of the best. Copper, lead, silver, and a small amount of gold are also part of the Stormaki economy.   Magic and Wonderous Items form a small but noticeable part of the Stormaki economy. The Chuch of Stormakt gives most healing freely, as long as it's not too expensive. Trinkets and modest talismans are the most magic most peasants and labourers will see, and most powerful magic is reserved for the court mages of nobles, and magic shops that cater to towns where adventurers frequent and often represent some of the largest transactions in the country at any given time. One magic item of significant power can represent coin changing hands equal to weeks of the economic output of dozens of peasants.   Stormakt primarily exports iron, steel, honey, mead, and leather to much of the world, but primarily the Moonlight Kingdom and the Karaz Taruhm Shogunate, as well as grain to the latter. They import crossbows, wool, and mineral resources from the Shogunate; magical and alchemical goods, food, and manufactured goods from the Moonlight Kingdom; and food and lead from the Halfling Communes.  

Military

  The Stormaki Military is structured around their knightly class of chivalric warriors, as well as associated armoured men-at-arms cavalry supplementing their number, supported thereafter by levies formed from villages and towns, who are always supposed to be prepared to send one man per twenty-five households off to war. These forces fight a very conventional style of combat, led by noble generals - the infantry screen the cavalry and skirmish with the enemy as the cavalry organizes to deliver a decisive charge. The infantry is not meant to carry the battle, but to support the work of the shock cavalry. Stormaki Knights have a reputation for decisive power and for carrying battles with the force of their charge. However, following the military disaster that was the War in Fiuthnolla, otherwise known as the Stormaki Aggression, a new generation of knights have been forced into battle long before they are a match for their forbears.   In more recent years, a new military organization has come to the forefront of warfare in Stormakt - the Urban Militia. The Urban Militia represent an attempt to modernize the Stormaki military. They fight in pike-and-shot formation, wearing only light armour and hats designed to serve as soft helmets. Half of the militia carry muskets, and the other half carry pikes, on average, though it depends on any given city's preferences and leadership. The urban militia of any given city can and are raised as levies by their feudal overlords. The urban militia are also responsible for organizing and moving most field artillery, though many nobles keep a small stable of guns for sieges.   Arcane casters are a normal fixture of war in almost all nations, Stormakt included. There is no formal system for recruiting and deploying casters in Stormaki warfare. Most arcane casters deployed into battle are part of a small retinue in service of a noble. Some dukes may be accompanied by a single court mage, a squad's worth of casters, or even as many as a small company of men. They are deployed and utilized according to their set of skills and the tactical ideas of their leader.   The Church of Stormakstiden employs its clerics and other disciples as warriors, combat spellcasters, and healers. The greatsword is the holy weapon of Stormakstiden, and thus many of the combatants who are deployed by the Church prove to be genuinely effective shock infantry. They will also, at times, raise militias of their own organized around Church leadership, though this is rare and typically in opposition to the undead or nobles encroaching on the rights of the Church.   The Stormaki Navy is primarily composed of sail-powered boats with broadside-mounted cannons. They maintain a modest but effective fleet of frigates of carrying size. Their modern fleet, at one point, was the third strongest in the world, but their inexperience dealing with the fast Fiuthnollan gunboat fleet left it devastated. They maintain a small number of ships-of-the-line, and older-style galleys and even modernized longships are kept as either vanity pieces or support ships.  

Demographics

  Stormakt is predominantly a human nation. This human population is primarily divided into three ethnic groups - the Stormaki, Iskarrans, and the Ancient Stormaki. The Stormaki have largely white skin and a propensity for red and blond hair. Iskarrans are relatively dark-skinned with curly dark hair. The Ancient Stormaki are a more mysterious group - they are known for their bright red eyes, glossy onyx black hair, and deathly pale skin. The human population is divided into roughly 85% Stormaki, 10% Iskarran, and 5% Ancient Stormaki. These demographics include human-born aasimar, which the Stormaki consider human.   Non-humans compose a fairly significant part of a population, though they are less common than in many other countries. Many are descended from slaves taken by Stormaki raiders during the Age of Pillage. The primary foreign populations of Stormakt are elves, dwarves, and to a lesser extent snakefolk and halflings. Most elves, dwarves, and halflings in Stormakt live in settlements on the coast and typically are involved in trade and commerce as intermediaries for foreign companies and organizations, or free traders and merchants. Others are here to involve themselves with the growing urban economies of Stomakt, filling skilled economic niches.   Religiously, 90% of the human population in Stormakt worship Stormakstiden, at least nominally. Many venerate multiple Gods including Stormakstiden. Many of the Tel Iskarrans, as well as the snakefolk, still worship their own pantheon primarily, though many of the human Tel Iskarrans include Stormakstiden in this pantheon in a form of minor syncretism. Very few non-humans worship Stormakstiden since the Church of Stormakstiden style him predominantly as a God of Mankind, and refuse to provide religious services to non-humans. Elves tend to worship the elven Pantheon, dwarves tend to worship the Kamis or Naau Naz, the God of Tools and Industry. Halflings continue their traditional hero worship.   A majority of the Stormaki population remain agrarian in lifestyle and have a low income and no real education. Urban residents are more likely to have some kind of knowledge of a trade, but a large proportion of them partake in unskilled labour. These urban locations are also typically the base of operations for mining companies extracting mineral resources, primarily iron, and hiring a large number of miners. There are a number of other urban-run companies that facilitate the presence of a wealthy educated bourgeois upper class. And, of course, there is the wealthy, privileged aristocracy. The bourgeoisie form a small but prominent class among lowborn people, and the nobility are a very small minority.  

Culture

  Stormaki families are centred around a father, the patriarch of the household. Same-sex relationships are tolerated but have no legal right to marriage. Some families retain a pseudo-clan family structure similar to Old Stormaki peoples, where multiple families living in the same area will operate as a decentralized community in and of themselves, but live in different households. Most dwarves also partake in a similar nuclear family structure, or in close-family clan groups. Elves are evenly split between heterosexual marriages, homosexual cohabitation akin to marriage without formal trappings, and small polyamorous and egalitarian communities. Halflings, like in Callang, tend to have as many as four generations of a family in a single household.   Women in Stormaki society are seen as ill-suited to power, due to perceived dishonourable and disloyal tendencies when handed the reins. Ironically, this is in part due to the Frodistad Civil War, where the efforts of chieftess Ulfheid of Hevagh prevented the continued manipulation of the young king Ljot between 197 and 202 CE. The chiefs who opposed Ulfheid, out of spite, facilitated a top-down culture shift of creating the impression that women aren't suited for rule. By firmly instilling these values in their children, their vendetta survived across generations until the idea had become normalized. There have been recent changes in public perception, however, and due in part to the popularity of the stories surrounding the adventures of Princess Karollin II, many people are starting to reconsider these beliefs.   Stormakt sits roughly on the top of the bell curve of technological progress. They are not quite on par with the technological marvels of Fiuthnolla or Yalenva but are certainly more advanced than relative backwaters like the technophobic Avalok Republic, and the ogre nation of Mykeia. Labour-saving technology has not taken hold in many places, particularly in agriculture, where oxen with ploughs, and sickles, are the peak of technological progress when animal-operated threshing machines do exist. However, the use of muskets in warfare has become widespread, and cannons form the primary artillery piece in their warfare.   Stormaki masculinity is centred around vikingr ideals of the past - independence, martial capability, and the ability to provide for the family. In contrast to perceived feminine qualities, they also value loyalty and honesty, which has ironically contributed to the anti-nobility sentiment that is starting to spread like wildfire. Commoners have begun to perceive the deceitful politics and backroom dealings of the nobility as being weak and contrary to the ideals of a ruler. Women are seen in how they contrast with masculinity - dependant, peaceful, and untrustworthy when given the chance, but there are subcultures that aim to defy these ideas or embrace masculine aspects to show the strength and integrity of women's moral fibre despite expectations. Karollin II, Princess of Stormakt, remains an informal figurehead of these loose movements, popular among all walks of Stormaki society.   Stormaki people tend to wear colourful but humble clothes; men prefer shirts, breeches and boots, and a typical woman's outfit would be a waist-high skirt and a blouse, all generally made of linen or Tel Iskarran cotton. Men tend to wear their hair short, and women medium-to-long. Tattoos are common on men, and typically are received in honour of triumphs, or to lament disaster or loss. Commoners and non-warrior nobles could end up with a handful of tattoos - adventurers, soldiers, and knights can accumulate tattoos over their entire bodies. Most people own one or two heavy, thick fur coats to be able to go outside in the harsh winters. Nobles tend to prefer military-style suits in a mixture of the national cerulean blue and colours of their house, alongside gold and silver accessories.   Stormaki music is centred around low, droning chanting, drums and similar percussion, and fast instrumentation. Their music has a militaristic, almost barbaric edge to it, though many nobles have begun to add a softening edge to their music or even adopt elven-style symphonies and orchestras. Mock fighting is an activity partaken in for amusement among children and adults alike, typically with wooden weapons and homemade padded outfits for armour. Drinking is a regular fixture of the day, typically some form of ale or beer, or mead among the slightly richer folk. The wealthy tend to prefer wine or a higher quality of mead. Stormaki people also enjoy theatre, especially comedies, and travelling performer groups tend to visit cities on holidays, charging a small fee to attend their show. Dice games, with and without gambling, are also common, and so are card games among the bourgeois class and nobility.

Information

Type: Nation, Kingdom, Feudal, Absolutist   Continent: Beacepheron   Population: 14,000,000   Standing: Local Power, Declining   Allies: The Moonlight Kingdom, The Karaz Taruhm Shogunate, Tel Iskarra (Informal)   Rivals: The Commonwealth of Fiuthnolla   Enemies: The Canate Princedom, the Starflame Kingdom

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