Dalia
The northernmost, second-smallest, and least-populous of the Three Kingdoms, Dalia — also called the Guard of the North — is the ancestral home of the House of Delea whose progeny Richard the Great founded the Order of the Grandmasters.
Inheriting the geopolitical precariousness of Vilia, the natural resource deficiency of Linia, and few of the offsetting advantages of either, Dalia's greatest strength lies in its historical cultural brotherhood with its two southern neighbors. The youth of Dalia are taught in great detail of the magnificent rise to greatness of William Delea, his union of the Three Kingdoms and establishment of most of their institutions, and the roles played in these events by the common peoples of all three lands.
Today, Dalia's most profitable export is its might: The renowned Dalian Sharpshooters, archers and crossbowmen of seemingly supernatural talent, make up an essential component of the militaries of all three nations, and are vital to restricting the destructive capabilities of the barbaric Hingardi to the north. Reputed for the magnaminity in their hearts, the Dalians are nonetheless a militaristic power for whom even the Hingardi hold a resentful, begrudging respect.
Geography
Dalia's greatest socioeconomic weakness is arguably also its greatest geopolitical strength: Hosting negligible fertile soil, the mountainous Dalians have mastered the inhuman art of powering themselves using as little energy as possible. Later in life, exposure to the resource-rich lifestyles of their southern neighbors transforms a Dalian mercenary into a formidable fighting force.
Bordered to the north by the Jade Mountains in whose foothills it resides, Dalia alone among the Three Kingdoms lays claim to territory on the eastern bank of the wide Firenze Sea; the people there, its settlers report, are of near-identical culture and complexion, suggesting a common origin.
To the west, Dalia terminates at the Yellow Bay where the Jades descend to meet the Sea of Mice at its northeastern-most point. Its territorial extent in the mountains proper is ever-shifting, as the presence of the Hingardi ensures the impracticality of a dedicated survey.
Alternative Name(s)
Guard of the North
Type
Territory
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