Nydendald

Nydendald is a country located along the south west coast of the continent. To the north is shared a short land border with Roend, while on the south eastern side of the country is a land border with Wicaede. The mid east and north east of the country borders on the Tenebrous Sea, while the entire southern and western side of the continent ends of cliffs over the ocean, leaving the majority of Nydendald's borders resting on the ocean. The landscape of Nydendald is comprised of a mixture of grassy fields and gentle hills, as well as light forests. Along the southwestern coast of the Tenebrous Sea lies the Cawli Woods, the thickest area of forest in the country. The south eastern region, south of the Cawli Woods and Tenebrous Sea is largely unsettled, in contrast with the majority of the lands, which have been largely cultivated for use as farmland.

Politics
Nydendald is a feudal monarchy. It's head of state is the King, who is supported by landed nobility. The king holds authority over the nobles and the common law, while each individual lord may change the laws of his land within accordance with the common law. While a king is technically capable of micromanaging every aspect of the kingdom to his whim, in practice his power is more limited, as the nobles of Nydendald are very independent, and dislike the king intruding into their affairs too heavily. The king's power is greater than his raw might however, as nobles regularly bicker among themselves, and a nobleman who picks a fight with the king over too many petty issues will find himself put in his place by both the king and his rivals. This has created a tenuous balance of power within the kingdom that remains largely stable internally. When a new king assumes power the balance re-establishes itself within a few months, as a more powerful king establishes his authority, or a weaker king is forced to concede privileges to the nobility.

Social Classes
The social classes of Nydendald have evolved naturally, resulting in three major social classes. The highest class is that of the nobility. It comprises anyone who owns land, and as such, bears a title. The nobility of Nydendald vary widely in wealth and influence, ranging from the king, and the lords of the cities, down to the petty nobility who control a single village. Intrigue is the primary hobby of the nobility, followed closely by combat. As such gossiping, plotting, and deal making is how many nobles spend their time, slowly building their wealth and influence, or cutting into someone else's. As a result the most powerful nobles are always among the craftiest men of the kingdom. A noble title is inherited down the line of sons, along with all the land holdings that come with it, however with all the backstabbing and plotting it is rare for a stupid son to hold onto his title for long, and the sons of noblemen are carefully educated in the art of intrigue. Despite this obsession with intrigue the noble class is among the most patriotic of people in the world, and they close ranks instantly to any outside threat, putting aside any grudges for the good of the country. Part of the reason for this sudden closing of ranks is the way the intrigue breeds familiarity among nobles, as even the lowest members are known on some personal level by the highest of nobles. The intrigue of Nydendald is also a largely non-lethal game, and many philosophers have mused that it is one of the most sporting and friendly of any political system in the world.

The second class is that of the middle class. It is comprised of the merchants and successful tradesmen who are successful enough to purchase property within a city. Many of the merchants in the middle class are wealthy enough to easily afford the land to become a nobleman, however the nobility view merchants as an external threat, and as such close ranks, refusing to allow any sale of land to take place. This is because in contrast to the intrigue of nobles, the merchants are incredibly cutthroat to succeed in business. This behaviour is seen by everyone outside the middle class as dishonest and dishonourable, however the middle class see no issue with these things. The successful merchants are rich enough to be a factor in the intrigue of nobles, and while they aren't allowed to join the game, they're very capable of altering the game. As such they have the ability to gain certain concessions, and some of them are practically nobility in all but name. The lower end of the middle class is made up of the tradesmen in cities who are successful enough to turn a large profit in the cities. While they aren't as powerful as the merchants, the tradesguilds in the cities are capable of earning similar concessions from nobility.

The third class is the peasantry. It is the only social class unable to directly alter the intrigue of the nobles, instead being largely pawns and game pieces in the nobles schemes. Peasants are expected to abide the local laws of their laws, and many are expected to stay within the village they live and work unless granted permission by their lord to leave. Despite this peasants running away to other villages is not unknown, and when it happens it's primarily a result of the schemes of another noble. Peasants are primarily farmers, though some are poor craftsmen, and most possess some form of petty craft. Peasant revolts have historically been a significant concern of the nobility, however in recent times the common law has been changed to force nobles to grant freedom to any peasant seeking to become an adventurer. This has greatly reduced the number of revolts, as potential trouble makers are granted an outlet for their desires for freedom, and some are straight up encouraged by their lord to seek out adventure, even being given some gear to assist them in starting up. Successful adventurers, particularly those from the peasantry, make up the vast amount of intake for nobles in Nydendald, with land that was not inherited being commonly passed to an adventurer. This serves the purpose primarily of motivating dissatisifed peasants to become adventurers. The relative low success rate of peasant adventurers is the major reason that not enough go to break the stability of the system.

Races
Nydendald's population is primarily human, comprising approximately 60% of the population. Elves are the second most common race in the country, due to the extensive coastline. They primarily are placed within the middle class, though some sailors have wealth equivalent to peasants. The elves account for around 20% of the population. The remainder of the population is an equal mix between great animals and kehrno. The kehrno are focused primarily into the forested regions, with a large population settled into the Cawli Woods. The great animals are spread throughout the nation, typically forming into small clusters in cities, with the occasional one or two being found in small villages, though such instances are largely uncommon.

Economy
The primary coin of Nydendald is the Gold Cliff. The primary exchange rate is 3 Cliffs to one Gold Plain. A cliff is smaller and thinner than the plain, containing substantially less gold. For this reason they are an increasingly common coin in the south, as measuring exact payments is easier.

Nydendald's primary point of production is it's wheat crops. Originally it comprised the major export of Nydendald, but due to it's popularity, as a source of ale as well as bread, it was adopted by the neighbour Wicaede, who has largely taken over wheat exporting. As a result Nydendald has turned it's primary export to ale, using jealously guarded secrets for it's production to produce a unique and tasty ale that is drunk the world over. Due to the vast amount of cliff-faces within Nydendald, it has large reserves of sea iron. This sea iron contributes largely to their economic stability in the face of Wicaede, being used in the production of the most successful sea worthy vessels. Nydendald's final export is that of dinosaur parts, being home to a large population of Tyrannosaurus Rex, they commonly hunt these dinosaurs. The body parts are highly desired in the use of weapons, both mundane and magical, and fetch a large price. The rest of Nydendald's industries run largely internally, with them producing their own wood, and stones from the mining of the cliffs, and food being plentiful enough.

Organisation
Every nobleman of Nydendald is expected to participate in the military. These rich, well practiced warrirors make up the core forces of the Nydendald military, and while they are far from uniform in their equipment and style, they tend towards trends easily enough that grouping them into effective units in battle is possible. Due to the intense and personal nature of politics within Nydendald, every warrior who fights in the same style knows everyone else, and without formal training they are still very capable of working together effectively. In battle the nobility tend towards fighting in large units on foot, aiming to use their magical equipment to gain an easy advantage over a more mundane opponent, and then slowly rotating out the soldiers as the fight progresses, ensuring no man is expected to engage more than two opponents before he is pulled back into the formation and another man takes his place.

While cavalry isn't particularly favored by the nobility, some of them do prefer to fight while mounted. They're broken into two groups based upon their choice of mount. The first group is made up of the slow, highly armoured cavalry. They ride on Ankylosaurus, and specialize in receiving enemy charges, due to the slow speed of their mounts. The Ankylosaurus cavalry is typically used to deny the enemy options of attack, as they can prove devastating in combat, and are very hard to take down. The nobles mounted on them prefer the use of spears and halberds, to provide them the reach to fight without having to dismount or lean into an awkward position. The second type of cavalry is mounted on Tyrannosaurus Rex. This cavalry is rare, and only attempted by a few noble families, for being both expensive to obtain, and considered dangerous to the rider. Despite this is it a highly valuable asset to the war effort of Nydendald, as the Tyrannosaurus Rex provides a fast moving shock troop that cannot be found in any other options native to the country. The nobles mounted upon these beasts prefer the use of short bows, as the large size of their mounts make swinging a melee weapon nearly impossible, and the sudden, jolting movements of the mount in combat favor a weapon that requires very little fiddling, thus ruling out crossbows. The Tyrannosaurus that are trained to be used as mounts are carefully trained for combat, taught how to respond to queues made by their rider, making their attacks after an arrow is fired.

While the nobility makes up the core element of Nydendald military, the peasantry has a position too. Training in longbows is compulsory for all peasants within the nation, with the only way out being to volunteer for the militia. The official militia is trained in marching and fighting in formation with pikes, and is used to shore up the potential weaknesses displayed by the fighting style of the nobility. Those who are not part of the militia are drafted for combat during wartime as well, being expected to make use of longbows to provide a ranged element to the army. The scope of drafts varies based on the needs of the war, but farming communities are always left with at least just enough members to operate at full capacity, with towns being the first place drafted from.