Southlands

SOUTHLANDERS Before Morvennan's Great Crusade into the South, it was a vast land of great forests and swamps, full of a vast array of city-states divided by ancient tribal boundaries.

Each state's Shogunate led them in defence of their territories against the others, and over time, each gained a unique culture, leadership style and societal traits that endure today.

Despite hundreds of years of peace with the North, Queen Akemelie's anointment coincided with a dramatic emergency that changed the fate of the southlands forever... the rise of a virulent magical plague that spawned undead mechanical monstrosities called La Mechanis.

The Shoguns united for the first time in a millennia, and led a great war through the woodlands and swamps. Eventually they were victorious, but weakened from years of war and plague.

It was then (100 yeras ago) that Queen Leon III struck, invading with a vast Royal Army that crashed upon the free states like a tsunami. The war lasted years, with many Nobility and Shogun dying by eachother's hands. Your Houses would have been involved, and you would have family members and friends that died in these wars. The states were captured, their leaders neutered and beheaded, and now the Queen's banner flies over these ancient cultures. Some still hold out, in the distant mountains or in subterranean caves and cities, but on the whole... they are defeated.

Whether the invasion was right or wrong is not spoken about in public, or even private, given Her Majesty's paranoia. What is known is that Southlanders are now journeying en masse to the new world, either seeking new lives or a way, however limited, of preserving their ancient cultures from the gradual disintegration via assimilation.

Your big decision, as Nobles and Shogun, is how you will overcome this violent history and your own differences to prevent war from once again consuming the Houses of Morvennan.

(Image: Tymorah's Luck by Ryan Pencost; Sekigan;Rogue comm by YamaOrce;Dark Charade by Medders; Odin Robot by Xio Bantong;Tribal Woman by Butteredbap)