The Kingdom of Kovir and Poviss (also known shortly as Kovir and Poviss or simply Kovir) is one of the Northern Kingdoms located on the Gulf of Praxeda. It is also the largest exporter of mineral resources in the known world, with huge profits from trade. It is ruled by king Tankred Thyssen of the House of Thyssen and maintained neutrality during the Second Nilfgaard War, refraining from lending coin or men to either side.
Overview
Because it is so mountainous, the region is rich in mines. Kovir and Poviss export glass, salt, iron ore, silver, nickel, lead, tin, zinc, copper, chromium, titanium, tungsten, and platinum. The Kingdom accounts for three-quarters of the world's ferroaurum, kryobelitium, and dimeritium and 80% of the world's gold.
History
First Landing
The Dauk and Wozgor were the first people to live on the Continent, settling in the regions of Kovir and Poviss, specifically the duchies of Narok, Velhad, and Talgar, according to a classification by the historian Arnelius Grock. In the 760s, Nordling settlers began to expand, taking control of the once-wild lands.
As the lands began to be colonized, the poverty of the locals was once literally on everyone's lips, in the form of antiquated common sayings. As recently as the days of Heribert the Quarrelsome, one spoke of a particularly impoverished person as being "poorer than a mouse from Poviss," called bone broth "Koviri delight" and referred to beggars as "praxedes," after the gulf along the shores of which these kingdoms lie.
State of Redania
Through the rise of
Redania, many generations ago, Kovir and Poviss were officially made a member of the kingdom. King Radovid I, known as Radovid the Great, handed dominion and title of Koviri earl over them to his hated brother, Troyden, with one stipulation – that he never leave his newly acquired demesne and not interfere in matters of state.
Troyden's Earldom
Handing over this rocky scrap of far-northern ground (where, the saying went, the year had two seasons – August and winter) was naturally meant as a cruel joke, a slap in the face for the overly ambitious Troyden.
Yet time soon proved that Radovid the Great had made a grave error. Before long it was discovered that Kovir's bare rocks hid priceless treasure in the form of enormous deposits of precious metals and rock salt. This discovery, in turn, led to tremendous growth in productive industry. Mills, forges, and workshops sprouted up like mushrooms after a hearty rain.
Independence
Radovid III decided to correct his famous forebear's mistake and take back the northern frontiers of his kingdom. He was convinced the combined armies of Redania and its then-ally
Kaedwen ruled by Benda would quickly bring this ever more audacious vassal led by Gedovius in line. History took a different turn, however, and Kovir won a resounding, crushing victory. Radovid III was forced to sign the First Treaty of Lan Exeter, granting Kovir independence while binding it to eternal neutrality – a promise Troyden's successors have kept with great diligence.
Thyssen Rule
After the death of Gerard Troyden, the line of succession passed to his grandson Esteril Thyssen.
In the Second Northern War, under the rule of Esterad Thyssen, Kovir and Poviss kept neutrality, providing a safe haven for refugees fleeing conflict.
Even Esterad's untimely demise did not stop his lands from developing and blossoming under to his extreme free market policy. Koviri metallurgists proudly competed with the best Mahakam could offer, and many believe the University of Lan Exeter long ago surpassed the famous Oxenfurt Academy as the leading seat of higher learning in the North. So it has come to pass that, over the course of a few generations, the Koviries and Povissites have turned from paupers into princes, from beggars into bankers.
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