Tiel di Vas
Kingdom Name: Known among themselves as 'Tiel di Vas', other lands refer to them as the Blood Isles. The dwarves refer to them as 'Ker Rakk', literally 'The Wall.'
Description: A collection of islands surrounding the island of Nurimber, ruled over by three noble houses: Vinnar, Tel'Wyth, and Osar di Vas. Each of the noble houses has their own cities: Vinnar, to the North of Nurimber, Tel'Wyth, to the South, and Osar di Vas, to the East. Each city is named simply after the noble house that rules it, though the city of Osar di Vas is simply called 'Vas.' Isolated from the rest of the world, despite their remarkable shipbuilding capability, each noble house employs the population under their watch. The three are at a constant disagreement with one another, though they stay remarkably united in face of outside forces. Because they basically inherited lands that used to be under the governance of the former Seeker Empire, they are fairly rich in resources, though not a frequent tourist destination. This isn't helped by the fact that the population itself seems to take an odd view of the Empire that they sprang from. It is said that men who are disgusted with the course Asmodean, Supreme Seeker of the short-lived Seeker Empire, cut their hair short. Those who admired his actions keep their hair long, much like the Supreme Seeker himself did.
Government: Though split into three noble houses, Tiel di Vas is ruled over by a King, whose only limits to power are what he cannot afford to get away with for fear of retaliation by the noble houses. The king is selected in a particularly violent way-after each king's death, each noble house puts forth an heir that it has bred for this moment. The three then fight a battle to the death, and the victor is declared to have 'ascended' beyond nobility, and declared royalty. Though the king is the only official ruler, whose word is supposed to be law, the Patriarchs and Matriarchs of the noble houses arrange daily affairs in their own territories. The position of King is seen mostly as an edge for one house to get on another, for all it truly has sway over is the military and trade disputes between the three houses. Another strange influence on the law of Tiel di Vas are the Prophets. Sometimes referred to as 'the Fourth House', Prophets are a strange bloodline whose writings the people of Tiel di Vas set great store by. It has influenced everything from the name of the kingdom to the discouragement of private enterprise, as each house gears their population for war, and what the Prophets cryptically refer to as The Days of Ruin.
History: Tiel di Vas emerged a decade after the fall of the Seeker Empire. Each house has its own version of events, but the truth is that House Vinnar and House Tel'Wyth were two noble houses of little importance under the Seeker Empire. During the final days, when Supreme Seeker Asmodean apparently went mad and ordered the nobles around him executed for treason, the Patriarch of House Vinnar and the Matriarch of House Tel'Wyth fled. The rest of their family was exterminated. Upon realizing they were the only survivors after the Seeker war, they declared their servants official members of the house, and set about using their remaining wealth to set up a new rule. Flocks of refugees eventually gravitated toward them, and cities sprang up. Once they were well sure that Asmodean was dead and the Seekers utterly destroyed, they condemned their former Empire, and said that they had been working to subvert Asmodean's rule the entire time.
Osar di Vas, however, has far more cryptic and dangerous origins. That they were Seekers, and sincere ones, they do not try to deny. It is said the members of Osar di Vas were escorted to the current location of their city by one hundred Palace guards, during the invasion of Nurimber. The guards did nothing but stare to the West, and it is said that on the moment of Asmodean's death, they tore off their badges and broke their swords, their Captain saying nothing but "The Crown is broken, the Rule undone. Where we had duty, now there is none." It was with the Osar di Vas that no fewer than fifty prophets employed by the Seeker Empire fled, as well, and it is their descendants that are looked to as Prophets today.
The three had existed as individual states for nearly thirty years when the attacks from the Isle of Nurimber began. They were small attacks at first, however strange and horrific-bands of men with their eyes gouged out, fighting as if they could see, and proving incredibly hard to kill, sometimes led by men with needle-sharp teeth who covered their eyes, and were faster and stronger than any human could possibly be, whose skin normal blades had little chance of piercing. There were whispers of darker, even more terrible things, of huge monsters in the water, or of invisible things that flew through the air and snatched men from the ground.
Eventually these attacks increased in ferocity and frequency until the three houses decided on an alliance, and a large-scale assault of whatever lived on Nurimber. Together, Osar di Vas, Tel'Wyth and Vinnar mustered 25,000 men, four hundred ships and one hundred airships to exterminate the threat on Nurimber. This, despite the warnings of the Prophets, who lived until now at the fringes of the society. Most of the things they said were vague, but they were very clear on one point: Send these men to Nurimber, and less than a fifth will return. The assault was launched regardless.
Two years later, after no communication, four thousand, seven hundred and twenty three men returned. What they saw there remains a guarded secret. But after this disaster, the Prophets were looked upon by all noble houses as trusted advisors, and the noble houses banded together into a single nation under their advice, and began to build fortifications on an unprecedented scale.
It was well that they did. After ten years of facing absolutely nothing from the creatures of Nurimber, the attacks came with even greater force, erupting into full-scale war. Every year since, Tiel di Vas has lost ground to whatever malignant force resides in the ruins of Nurimber. The dwarves are the only nation that knows of their plight, thus their name for Tiel di Vas-'The Wall'. While there is an official military, because of the constant threat, each citizen is prepared for war.
Population: Mostly human, though dwarves and elves do mingle in the society with a suprising lack of violence, considering their roots. Roughly 100,000 men are under the rule of Tel'Wyth, 300,000 under Vinnar, and 150,000 under Osar di Vas.
Empire: Tiel di Vas belongs to no Empire.
Military: Approximately 400 ships, 40 airships and 100,000 men serve in the official military of Tiel di Vas.
