Kingdom of Kaleina

Kaleina is a kingdom divided into five regions and one independent city. The monarch resides in the capital in Lake Olla, which is the centre of court and home to the majority of nobility.   Kaleina has the oldest monarchy in Veiama. The official stance is that the monarch is given approval to rule by Iemeina herself, so defying the will of the monarch is inherently a sin. The crown is passed to the monarch's eldest child, irrespective of gender.   Each of the five regions is ruled by a magistrate. The magistrate is appointed by the monarch, and does not have to be an heir of the previous magistrate. In fact, regions beyond Olla have often criticized the monarch for appointing friends to the positions who do not necessarily know anything about the region they are put in charge of. Sometimes, especially in the North Branches and Havasar River, the magistrate does not even live in the region they oversee, instead maintaining a residence in Fiana and visiting rarely.  

The Council

The council is an advisory body appointed by the king. Members have no official powers, and its establishment is purely tradition rather than being codified in law. A king may appoint however many people as he wants to his council, for whatever reason he chooses. They are his chief advisors, and function solely to provide the king with counsel.   Although a king could appoint anyone at all - or nobody at all - kings traditionally create a council of 5-6 trusted advisors with a diverse range of experience. This usually includes:

• Military Advisor
• Agriculture Advisor
• Legal Advisor
• Financial Advisor
• Diplomatic Advisor

Council members have no additional powers beyond exercising their normal right to sit in the Assembly (assuming they are noble, as all council members in Kaleina's history have been). Depending on the king, their powers range from merely giving advice when sought out, to making decisions that the king goes along with without question.

The population of Kaleina is 406,760. At its peak directly before the Forest, the population was over 2 million. The invasion of the Forest and subsequent exodus was disastrous, with the majority of the population falling victim to the disaster. In the early days after the exodus, every single citizen had been directly affected by loss or tragedy in some way.   Before the exodus, the population was about 85% Taalish. Now, that number is between 70 - 75% as more Karuvians immigrated to the relatively stable country. Taalites are dominant in the south and east, with Lake Olla and Havasar River having the highest percentage   In all regions, Karuvians are a minority. Because Kaleina was traditionally a Taalish state, Karuvians face discrimination in many areas, with many Taalites seeing them as guests that are graciously allowed to live in their country.   Manashins are an even smaller minority. Those that live in Kaleina travelled far from the northern country to make a better life, and are frequently looked at with disdain. Their largest concentration is in the Lake Olla region, where they make up 5% of the population. Most of these are in the urban capital.

Kaleina is divided into five regions.  

Lake Pauvahäs

  Pauvahäs is the gateway to the western kingdoms of Veiama. To the north, there is a broad and very safe strait leading to Haikama . In the northwest, there is a maintained portage route to Vaansiam. This portage route, which saves traders from having to follow the lakes through Haikama, cuts about a week off of travel. Taxing traders who use the route is a large source of income for the region. At the same time, maintaining it is a heavy burden, and the route sees many deaths to scouts and guards every year.  

Valai & Hamad

    Both islands insist the that residents of the other one have sexual relations with their sheep. The rest of Kaleina asserts that they both do.  

Lake Olla

    Fiana holds 70% of Olla's population, with the rest being in scattered small villages across Fiankuan and a few of the other habitable islands. It is the centre of Kaleinen culture and government.   Most of Fiankuan is covered in agriculture to supply enough food, and fishing is as popular as in any other Veiamic island community. The big city of Fiana is home to many skilled craftsmen and it is the the place to go in all of Veiama to find the largest diversity in smithing, tailoring, carpentry, or other arts.  

The North Branches

    Whether this is because they are actually more skilled fighters or if it's purely because of this stereotype is up for debate.   This is the only region of Kaleina with a Karuvian majority, and thus has a distinct cultural difference from the rest of the kingdom. It has a reputation of being old fashioned, traditional, and is said to be "about fifty years in the past at all times." Still, this old-fashioned atmosphere means that many modern, urban Taalites in Fiana look fondly on the region and think of it as a "true" or "more authentic" lifestyle, even if they'd never actually be willing to live there.  

Havasar River

    Another day's travel from Lake Havasar is another small island, Kimia, which is home to a handful of families and one guest house for travellers. After that, the rest of the river has no islands so travellers sleep on their boats while moored in the middle of the river. The next stop isn't until Twin Flags, a town built on stilts in a widening of the river directly at the border of Kaleina and Falla.   Havarsar River is seen by the rest of Kaleina not as a place people live, but a place people travel through. It is by far the safest and fasted way to travel to the eastern lake system, but even then, every year there is at least one traveller who sets out from Kimia and never arrives at Twin Flags.  

Port Hope

    Ships coming in and out of the port slowly dried up as the forest spread. As foreign ships slowed, so too did news of the outside world. Veiamic ships that set out from the port began to return only rarely, and the ones that did told tales of abandoned harbours, of towns taken over by bleeding trees, or of near escapes from overrun estuaries. The once bustling harbour of Port Hope hasn't seen a large ship in decades, but they maintain it even so. Just in case.   Today, they make their living on salt and fishing. They are the only town in all of Veiama with access to the sea, and produce all of the salt that gives Kaleina its hegemony on the salt trade. They rely on imports of crops as well as cleverly engineered "floating gardens" built in the estuary.   Port Hope is connected to the rest of Kaleina by a portage route. It is possible to take a boat halfway up the Olla River, but the Mailar Falls at the escarpment makes navigating it all the way impossible. The portage route is maintained by the Kaleinen military out of Lake Olla, and is one of the safer portages in Veiama, but it is still risky. Most Port Hopers have never left their town, and some of them take it as a point of pride that they've never set foot on dry land.

The Kaleinen Military is the largest in Veiama. They see themselves as the de facto military of all the lake nations, and have forts established along the coasts of foreign countries.   Their military is divided into three branches: a gendarmerie to police internal affairs, the Border Rangers to protect the coasts, and the Royal Guard to defend the king and royal estates.