Krios

GEOGRAPHY

Krios occupies the mountainous highlands of western Zodika, where alpine peaks pierce ash-colored skies and narrow valleys shelter terraced olive groves. The kingdom's elevation creates harsh winters and brief, intense summers. Sheer cliff faces and treacherous mountain passes provide natural fortifications that have made Krios nearly impregnable throughout its history.

FOUR MAJOR LANDMARKS

• THE OPHIDIAN SEA: The great serpent-shaped sea coils at the center of the twelve kingdoms. The currents flow outward from the center like the heads of a hydra, each reaching toward one of the twelve kingdoms. In the center is the Still Heart, a mirror-calm center that has never rippled in living memory. Ships disappear. Sailors avoid.
• MOUNT KRIOS: The highest peak in all Zodika. Its summit wears snow even in summer, even in drought, even when the world burns. Legend claims the golden ram Chrysomallus ascended to the heavens from this very peak after delivering Phrixus to safety. The mountain's crown is forbidden ground. Priests say the ram's hoofprints remain pressed into the stone, and that those who disturb them will bring down the gods' wrath. On the winter solstice, for precisely three minutes, the setting sun strikes the summit in such a way that a ram's shadow stretches across the entire kingdom. Some say it's an omen. Others say it's a warning.
• MOUNT HAMAL: The seat of Krios's power rises above the port city like a clenched fist. Its eastern face has been carved into terraces where the royal palace embeds directly into living rock—a fortress that has never fallen in twelve generations. From the king's throne room, one can see both the sunrise over the Ophidian Sea to the east and the ships passing into the Goring Strait.
• THE GORING STRAIT: A knife-thin inlet cuts from the Ophidian Sea to Helle, so narrow in places that warships must lower their oars and drift through on the current alone. The strait earned its name through its shape like a wound gouged by a ram's horn.

MAJOR CITIES

• HAMAL: "Head of the Ram", the port city capital where the royal palace overlooks the sea and inlet from Mount Hamal
• MESARTHIM: "First star of Aries," eastern trade and port city on the Ophidian Sea
• BOTEIN: "The Belly," agricultural center in the southern valleys
• PHRIXUS: Northern fortress city in the mountains the military training grounds where warriors are forged in the icy cold
• HELLE: Inland port city that feeds Phrixus and shipping from Botein

CULTURE

Krios society revolves around martial prowess and honor through combat. From age seven, all children, regardless of gender or birth, train in weapons and warfare. The kingdom values courage, decisive action, and the willingness to strike first in any conflict.

• Immediate action over deliberation
• Personal glory through combat
• Loyalty to war-band above all
• Conquest as the highest calling
• Recklessness masked as courage

ECONOMY AND TRADE

Krios's economy runs on warfare and olive cultivation. The mountainous terrain yields excellent olives and olive oil, traded throughout Zodika. However, the kingdom's true wealth comes from conquest—plundered goods, tribute from subjugated territories, and the selling of prisoners as slaves.

Primary Exports:

• Premium olive oil
• Trained warriors (mercenaries)
• Weapons and armor
• Plundered goods

Primary Imports:

• Grain (the mountains cannot feed the population)
• Luxury goods
• Slaves
• Wine

MYTHOS

The kingdom traces its lineage to Chrysomallus, the Golden Ram who rescued Phrixus and Helle on orders from Hermes. Legend holds that Phrixus founded Krios after his ram carried him across the sea, and that the golden fleece still hangs in Hamal's great temple to Ares.

Ares, god of war, is worshipped with blood sacrifices before every campaign. The people believe that a warrior who dies in battle earns immediate passage to Elysium, while those who die in peace wander as shades.

POLITICAL STRUCTURE

• Royal Family: They rule with an iron fist
• Strategos: The supreme military leader, second only to the king
• Heroes: Those who have proven themselves in battle and enjoy honor in the royal court
• Polemarchs: Military commanders who also serve as regional governors
• Common warriors: The backbone of society
• Supporters: Craftspeople, farmers, merchants who enable war

GOVERNMENT

• Ruler: King Tyrus, descended from the legendary conqueror Brutus
• Government: Hereditary monarchy with a council of Polemarchs led by the Strategos

King Tyrus rules with an iron fist, supported by his wife Queen Leda and his heir, Brutus the Younger. The king's word is absolute in military matters. He is heavily advised by his Strategos, and the Polemarchs must approve new taxes or laws affecting property rights.

BEASTIARY

Mythical Creatures

Golden Rams: The rams choose their riders. The Golden Rams, descended from the divine Chrysomallus who carried Phrixus to safety, bond with Kriosian warriors through mutual selection, not ownership. The partnership is sacred. Since King Haemon the Proud tried to claim them as property and they vanished for three generations, every Kriosian king renews the ancient compact at coronation: We fight together; we share glory; we honor choice. If that compact breaks, the rams will walk into the mountains again and let Krios fall.

Monsters

The Khalkotauroi: They guard something. Herds of bronze bulls—mechanically perfect, breathing fire from metal nostrils, their hooves striking sparks from stone—block every mountain pass and hidden valley where something ancient sleeps beneath the earth, something the gods themselves sealed away when the world was young, and no military force in Krios has ever moved them or discovered the secrets they protect.

The Hesperides Serpent: Ladon went mad. The hundred-headed dragon that once guarded Hera's golden apples now coils through Botein's valleys killing everything that moves, each head dripping different venom: some paralyze, some ignite the blood, some induce visions of glory so vivid the victim dies reaching for phantom triumphs they'll never achieve.

The Messian Foxes: They cannot be caught. Packs of red foxes blessed—or cursed—by Dionysus with uncatchable speed roam the olive groves and mountain forests of Krios, and while most steal chickens and raid granaries like ordinary vermin, some have developed a taste for human infants, slipping through locked doors and barred windows.

Military

The Kriosian army is the most feared in Zodika. Every citizen is a warrior, and military service is compulsory from age 7 to death or disability.

Military Structure:

• Strategos: Supreme commander
• Polemarchs: Regional commanders
• Lochagos: Company commanders (100 warriors each)
• Pentekonter: Squad leaders (50 warriors each)
• Warriors: The bulk of the army

Tactics:

Krios favors aggressive, overwhelming attacks. Their signature move is the "ram's charge", a wedge formation that punches through enemy lines. They value speed and shock over extended sieges.

Strengths

• Unmatched military prowess
• Warrior culture creates universal combat readiness
• Natural fortifications make invasion nearly impossible
• Decisive leadership in crisis
• High morale through glory-seeking culture

Weaknesses

• Recklessness often leads to unnecessary casualties
• Dependence on conquest makes peace unsustainable
• Pride prevents alliances or compromise
• Agricultural insufficiency creates food insecurity
• Authoritarian culture suppresses innovation