Lanreath

League of Lanreath
Politics and Religion
Population and Economy

Domains: 290 SP
Race: 5 SP (Beastfolk- Celerity)
Military: 0/ 26,250 gold.

History

Located in the extreme north east of Lemuria, the area that is now the League of Lanreath was one of the latest areas of the continent to be subjugated by the Alfar Empire, and was always one of the most lightly held. Due to it's proximity to Thule, the Pliunis, the cat-like beastfolk inhabitants of the area, had always interacted somewhat with the continent of Thule to the north, both via trading and raiding... something that the inhabitants of Thule were happy to reciprocate.

The coming of the Alfar Empire effectively put a stop to raiding, and as a consequence, trade with the northern continent assumed a more and more important role. Despite it's position on the fringes of the Empire, Lanreath became known in certain circles for the high quality amber, wax, furs and resins that were imported from Thule, as well as gold and silver and the less glamorous timber, copper, tin, rye and wheat. The Alfar expeditions to Thule were launched from the province, bringing it brief fame throughout the empire, but the lack of any real followups led to the area returning to obscurity in the minds of all except luxury goods traders.

During the Succession Wars, Lanreath was one of the first provinces to simply slip out of the grasp of the Empire, as it's merchant houses decided that they would far rather keep the money that they would send in tribute, and no Imperial legions arrived to enforce compliance. The province quickly fragmented as the wealthy elites of the various towns seized control and attempted to drive their competitors out of buisness. Combined with the inevitable depredations of Thule based raiders, this period of warfare resulted in the development of a professional military institution that persists to the present day. Indeed, the city state period was only ended by the formation of the League of Lanreath roughly half way through the Necromantic Wars, once it became clear that, however powerful each cit might think itself, alone they could not stand against the might of the Necromancers that were ravaging Lemuria. United, however, they managed to fend off almost all of the incursions that were sent their way, and emerged from the conflict in considerably better shape than many areas of the continent.

Prior to the Necromantic Wars, the three major Pliuni states had seized themselves an extensive network of trading ports on the south coast of Thule, taking advantage of the same relative weakness of the continent that the Necromancers would capitalise on to conquer the frigid land to overwhelm isolated locals piecemeal. Lanreathan, Fallo and Cilwani military units provided somewhat stiffer resistance than the locals, but were still easily overwhelmed; indeed, the ease with which their Thule garrisons were defeated was one of the primary reasons the three city states agreed to the formation of the League.

Lanreath was one of the major proponents of an invasion of Thule at the close of the Necromantic Wars, with the obvious intention of retaking the territories that had been lost to her constituent city states early in the conflict. She provided significant numbers of troops and a great deal of cash. The failure of the incursion and the disassembly of the Alliance of Light, was a severe blow to Lanreathan prestige, funds, and the landed nobility, who lost many of their number in the withdrawal from Thule. Nevertheless, one of the main policies of the League is the monopolisation of the Thule trade to the greatest extent possible, and the merchant guilds have not given up on the goal of owning the Thule ports.

Politics

Lanreath is ruled by an elected monarch who reigns for life, and from whom all power ultimately devolves. The franchise is far from universal; there is a strict property qualification, and no individual below that boundary may vote. It is, however, 'universal' in that gender, race or social background play no part- the only deciding factor is wealth. Likewise, anybody able to vote may stand for election upon the death of a monarch.

Assisting the king is a Chamber of Competencies, a group of advisors and specialists appointed by their respective guilds and political organisation, whose task it is to ensure that the policies formulated by the king and his immediate advisors are based upon sound knowledge and principles. In many cases, this entails results in rather more than simple advice, and various members of the Chamber possess important government posts; the Banker's Guild representative, for example, also holds the post of First Lord of the Treasury. Except on the occasion of the death of a monarch, the Chamber has no formal power beyond being able to force an audience with the king at any point in time in order to be heard. When a new election is required, however, it is the Competencies that assume responsibility for organising a new election and directing the country until a new king can be crowned.

Below the Competencies is a second Chamber, the Chamber of Pays, the function of which is to present grievances held by those without suffrage to the king. Generally summoned three times a year, it has even less formal power than the Competencies, in that the monarch is not required to assemble a session of the Pays at all, and may chose not to be present when grievances are aired. However, the Pays are a useful tool for raising tax revenue from the lower classes, and thus are not usually ignored. Indeed, some argue that, while a king can rule (probably badly) without heeding the advice of the Competencies, he can't rule without assistance from the Pays.

Actual governance of the League is carried out through Royal Governors, who are responsible for administrative tasks inside their area of control, appoint local judges, collect taxes, command the local milita- although not League Army units, which remain under the direct command of the king- maintain roads and harbours, enforce laws and generally keep the country functioning,

Traditionally, the League has been politically isolationist after the end of the Necromantic Wars; the landed nobility were worse than decimated in the Thule campaign, and unwilling to support another costly adventure in which they would pay most of the costs, and the merchants would receive most of any profits that might result. Historically, the landed nobility has voted as a single bloc, while the various guilds and independant traders formed their own smaller factions, allowing the Noble Faction to dictate who the next rule of the League might be. The recent emergence of a unified bloc of guild-sanctioned voters- a 'Guild Facton'- however, allowed the election of a Guild Faction aligned monarch, one Sofi Gannarion, and could well indicate the start of a more assertive foreign policy in support of Lanreathan trade interests.

Military

The Lanreathan military is heavily based upon the martial traditions and lessons learned from the city state period following the withdrawal of the Alfar Empire, and later the Necromantic Wars. With no access to high quality horses or large adamantium deposits, Lanreath is forced to rely on high quality infantry, rather than expensive magical equipment or powerful cavalry. Membership in the League's standing army is voluntary, with a minimum service time of ten years, after which most soldiers are pensioned off with either land or a lump sum of cash with which to start off a buisness; something that guarantees recruits. In addition to providing a motivated body of troops, pensioned off soldiers are liable to be recalled to service at any time up to thirty years after 'leaving' the army, ensuring the maintainance of a pool of capable manpower to draw on in times of need.

The core of the army consists of pike squares, the modern successor to the Succession War era pike/sword/shot Colonelcy. On paper, each square consists of three thousand men, divided roughly equally between pikes and arquebuses, plus a number of falconet batteries to ward off striders and large beasts that neither pike or arquebus can defeat. Due to the expense of maintaining a large number of active soldiers, squares are rarely maintained at full strength outside of war. Supporting this core are specialist troop types; pistolier light cavalry and a handful of demi-lancer heavy cavalry, mages, heavier artillery and skirmshers. On top of that, militia units, fighting in the traditional Pliuni sword-and-javelin style, can be assembled to fill any gaps in numbers.

The League Navy is essentially a transport fleet for use by the army. Traditionally, the navies of the pre-League city states were relatively powerful, an expensive investment justified by the need to keep the sky lanes between their enclaves on the south of Thule and the parent city safe, mostly from the forces of one of the other two cities. Without any enclaves to defend, the utility of a naval fighting arm beyond that needed to ward off pirates was not great enough to warrant the investment needed to maintain dedicated men of war. Talk amongst the shipwrights guild suggests, however, that a squadron of warships might well be laid down as a precursor to an expedition to Thule.

Lanreath

Contents

History

Politics

Military

Army

Squares

Skirmishers

Cavalry

Militia

Navy

Geography

Domains

Lanreath

Prealith

Fall

Vonja

Immer

Merinath

Foss

Fintha

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