Lusia

A paradise for the rich and powerful, Lusia's economy ran beautifully on tourism and service industries. Its cities built to be aesthetically pleasing, its natural areas perfectly maintained by wardens, and unique landscapes preserved for sightseeing tours, this premiere destination built its incomparable wealth off the backs of a lowly serf class. The people's calls for change were put down whenever they popped up, but they'd had enough, and revolution has swept through this once seemingly idyllic nation.  

Premiere Destination

Lusia's idyllic climate and mild seasons made it a pleasant place to build, grow, and settle, the population who had been doing so for thousands of years eventually noticed how many foreigners came to do just the same. With a little cooperation, lots of long-term planning, and plenty of magical assistance, Lusia's noble elite began the process of shifting the region's image from 'pleasant farm country' to 'idyllic landscape'. Grand villas and beautiful works of architecture were built seemingly at random around the region, perfect places to invite foreign dignitaries for a meeting. Printing presses worked overnight to share the news of every new destination as it was built, none more than the Grand Arena's inagural games. Over time, Lusia changed from a nice place to visit, to the place to visit, drawing in thousands of tourists nearly endlessly. In any given city, you can expect that the population is only a third locals - the rest are foreigners here to sample and see the delights of a region perfectly sculpted to show only its best face.  

Vices and Fixes

The open secret of Lusia is that the officially promoted tourism and hospitality are only half of what's available. When the sun sets and the perfectly manicured streets get dark, a whole new world opens up in back alleys, basements, rooftops, and at the docks or in worker's districts. If you know the right people to talk to, you can get anything you want, and the guards and leaders will simply pretend not to see. Gambling, drinking, smoking, beast fighting and cage matches, smuggled goods and illegal spellbooks - ask the right people and it's all available for a low price. Some Lusians say it's how the revolution funds itself, some revolutionaries say it's an extra way for the Lusian elite to make a quick stack of coin. To the visitors and tourists looking for spice, a stiff drink, and company for coin, it really doesn't make a difference.  

Social Strata

Spend any time in Lusia and the disparity between social classes becomes noticable. There's a clear three-tiered strata: the elites, mostly nobles; the middle class; and the poor, who work the jobs needed to keep the cities functional.   The elite in Lusia are wealthier than nobles in most other regions, except perhaps Erenthill or royal families themselves. They've accumulated vast sums of money and always have enough to buy something else to continue the revenue stream, swiping a business here or a plot of land there that might make a good investment. The middle class is the smallest in sheer population. Typically those who own a sucessful business in some major city, or uniquely in Lusia, the rural population who provides food and materials for the ever-growing and hungry populace of the cities and their visitors.   Unlike most other regions, the poor here aren't farmers, craftsmen, or routine laborers - they're a massive population of those without regular work. They drift from place to place, looking for work in services like cleaning or cooking, and fill the gaps needed to keep the many tourism-related industries running with the illusion of perfection. They're fired spontaneously, typically with the excuse of falling tourism, and are forced back onto the streets to find new work. Many of them have been imprisoned, seemingly randomly for crimes that may or may not be punishable for all, and are forced to labor under those who've purchased their sentences. With no upward mobility in sight, it was the poor in the cities who first began talking of rebellion and make up the bulk of the Free Republics movement.  

Notable Places:

• Leilatha
• Vouvant
• Parthonay