Westfal

[map of all the imperial provinces]

The last limping remnant of the old Empyrean Empire, which once dominated the whole world. Though only a colony of the former Empyrean Empire, Westfal remains the largest land empire in the known world.

Its primary language, Westfalian, is essentially fantasy german. If your character is from Westfal, they think of the world in terms of what is honorable and not what is fair or equitable. Westfalians are, as a rule, very concerned with truth, the rule of law, and children being raised with proper moral values.

Demographics

It is predominantly human. There are elves and Valleymen who exist in the empire, but while they may take on advisory positions, they are always nominally second to the human aristocracy.

The further west one goes, the more this is true. In the far west, there are those who go their entire lives only ever seeing their fellow man. In the heartland of the empire, monsters and foreign lineages are unheard of and they may believe the tales of creatures beyond their borders are myth and rumor.

Institutions

Westfal is incredibly decentralized. The powers of the emperor are limited, especially over the nobility. As a result, the emperor relies on being able to patronize various organizations inside the empire that then enforce his agenda, because they depend on the emperor's patronage.

The Heiress's Chosen

Westfal has a long and strange history with religion. The Empyrean Empire held through its whole existence that religion was a sickness of poisoned minds, and thus came The Imperial Truths. A very long list of strictures and tenets, the most important of which was that there are no gods but men, and no paradise but that of man's creation.

When the Empyrean heartland fell and only Westfal remained, this gradually became less and less relevent. After a few centuries, there were even churches and mystery cults who operated out in the open, giving comfort to those of a religious bent.

In the modern day, the Imperial Truths have been discarded and all other cults have been deemed heathenous or heretical, and instead all that remains is worship of The Heiress. She who came to them in a time of great need, and gave salvation to an empire at its own throat.

In only the span of two generations, it has grown to dominate the whole empire. Those who claim atheism and hold to the Imperial Truths are tolerated at best, while the vast majority of the empire partakes of the church's strange strictures.

Those who are part of the church are known as the Chosen.

The Black Court

The Chosen believe that there are enemies to the church around every corner. That anyone who is not a true believer is a potential enemy. And all who do not serve them, are instead - wittingly or unwittingly - servants of the Black Court. An evil inversion of all that they hold to be holy and true.

Little is known about the Black Court beyond rumor and legend. There is one common rumor held to be true, however. That they, in a dark reflection of counting one's generations from the holy Exalted, organize themselves in a hierarchy based on descent from their vampiric progenitor.

The Imperial Diaeta

The beating heart of Westfal. Where all the nobility convene in their thousands, and where no weapon is allowed (but plenty are smuggled in regardless). The Diaeta is not a single building, but a walled complex inside the city of White Harbor. It serves as an open forum for all nobility to speak their grievances and negotiate with their noble cousins.

Were it not for the Diaeta, there would be no need for every house major and minor to employ their own Spymaster. And were it not for the Diaeta, there would be a thousand more wars fought than there are already. The spirit of open communication, undercut by factionalism and political intrigue, is what keeps Westfal united even as every individual thread of its grand tapestry tries to pull in its own direction.

The highest office of the Diaeta is the Majordomo. One of the few offices not held exclusively by nobility, but instead by seniority. Whether the Majordomo was born in a barn or in a palace, the Majordomo is always the longest serving servant of the Diaeta in good standing, regardless of temperment, competence, or senility. When the emperor is not in residence, the Majordomo is de facto ruler of White Harbor and acting regent.

The Colleges of War

While war in Nostrum is a necessity and war in the Narrows is unheard of, war in Westfal is an artform. The nobility would be a vestigial remnant of harder times, were it not true that there is always war in Westfal. And that war is almost never from without, but from within. Noble War as it is called is fought usually over land or on acount of high passions, and the emperor has no right to intervene in them except in defence of his own properties or alliances.

The headquarters of the colleges is within White Harbor, but the actual colleges themselves are spread all throughout the empire. For the nobility, tuition is covered by the emperor. For all others, they must pay the cost themselves.

In Westfal, they consider the number four a lucky number. There are four Lords Cardinal, and four realms of competency they think a true knight should have. Those four attributes of a true knight are all covered as part of the basic curriculum across the Colleges of War. Dueling, equestrianism, generalship, and chivalry. Though what Westfalians consider chivalrous is abominable in some of the other cultures of the world.

The School of Artillery

Not the largest nor the most famous of the Colleges of War, but the School of Artillery is definitely the most secretive and elite. They provide a private guard to the emperor - The Fusiliers - but most of what they concern themselves with is proper artillery. The kind of artillery that must be wheeled about the battlefield by teams of horses, and are able to devastate fortifications from miles away.

The Order of Apologists

Westfal is the largest contributor to the Valleyman slave trade beside for the Valleymen themselves. The Order of Apologists are the reason why. They have offices in every major city across the empire, and will often send their members out into the countryside and villages. They are tolerated, because they are quite a charitable organization. Building bridges, maintaining roads, uniting communities. They are hated, because they try to convince people to voluntarily sell themselves into slavery. It is a common trope in Westfalian life, that one must sell themselves into slavery to cover great debts. If one cannot find a noble or merchant house to enslave them, then the Order of Apologists certainly will.

Provinces

Westfal is divided into thousands of tiny states. Some are the size of a few farms and perhaps a forest. Some, the major provinces, spread across hundreds of miles and dozens of settlements. Every fiefdom is divided into one of four quadrants, which are themselves semi-autonomous: The Lords Cardinal of the North; the Lords Cardinal of the East; the Lords Cardinal of the South; and, the Lords Cardinal of the West.

The title of Lord Cardinal descends from the Empyreans, who themselves used it in a similar way. Like Attorneys General in the real world, the proper plural is Lords Cardinal, not Lord Cardinals. Foreigners are often tripped up by this.

The Ghastlands

Apart of the Lords Cardinal of the North, the Ghastlands are on the northwestern border of the empire. It is a dour place, full of monsters and misery. Much of it is swampland, but the further south one goes the more hospitable the terrain becomes. It is bordered to the south by Valeholm, and to the east by Bernicia.

The Ghastlands are rich in bog iron, but what's more is that it has many deposits of tin besides. Tin from the Ghastlands is unique in that it is black as tar, and if used to make bronze will produce an unusual alloy commonly known as Black Bronze.

Widow's Bridge

The capital of the Ghastlands, it is where the bulk of imperial interest lies. Beyond the border of the empire to the north lies the ruins of Arboros. An ancient kingdom, destroyed long ago and reduced to magical desolation. It is an apocalyptic wasteland there, of the kind no human could inhabit for long without their body warping into a monstrous shyling. Widow's Bridge marks the border, where if one ventures over the bridge to the north they are in Westfal no longer. Many widows have been made on that bridge, as brave soldiers die protecting Westfal from terrors that would otherwise cross over.

Valeholm

The sole major power apart of the Lords Cardinal of the West. Valeholm is the heartland of the empire. The single largest province, and one which borders every other major province. Valeholm on its own is the size of Nostrum. With its great size, it has a tremendous diversity of climes and biomes within its borders. Most of Valeholm is, however, meticulously ploughed farmland on the shores of wide and gentle rivers. Though on the western coast, there are many vineyards and the like growing other foodstuffs.

Kornstadt

The capital of Valeholm, and where the Lady of the Vales resides. It is by tradition that Valeholm is ruled by a woman, and even when it is a male lord of the house, always it is a female regent in Kornstadt. In all, it is a large but unremarkable city as regional capitals go. It is said that Kornstadt is an island on a sea of amber, and so it would appear around harvest time, as Kornstadt is surrounded on all sides by nothing but wheat farms for miles.

The Gift

Some are part of the Lords Cardinal of the West, some Lords Cardinal of the East. At the intersection of the three major rivers that allow for transportation through the Westfalian interior, there lies a region known as The Knights' Gift. In times past, during a long civil war between two rival emperors, the side that won reduced the territory of his rival by hundreds of miles. And in this reduced territory, he made true a promise to his knights to grant them all lands of their own. So it remains into the modern day, where The Gift is made up of hundreds of little castles along and between the three rivers, each his own independent ruler with his own unique set of rights and privileges.

Stormhold

The sole Lord Cardinal of the South, Stormhold is cut off from the rest of the empire by the Carmine Mountains. It broke off briefly from the rest of Westfal after the Empyreans fell, and warbands would sometimes cross the mountains to raid into Valeholm and the rest of the empire. They were peacefully reconciled long centuries ago, but have always held a reputation as equal parts fierce raiders or honor obsessed, depending on what makes for a better insult at that time.

It was Stormhold that created The Gift, in the aftermath of the War of Two Emperors. The other legacy of that war is a longstanding alliance between Stormhold and Valeholm, where the head of Stormhold's house will marry the head of Valeholm's, uniting what were once longstanding enemies before Stormhold joined the empire.

Bernicia

Apart of the Lords Cardinal of the North, Bernicia forms the northeastern border of the empire. Just south of the Forest of Exiles, like the Ghastlands they protect the empire from monsters to their northern border. Unlike the Ghastlands, Bernicia's monsters are often all too human. Bandits, raiders, and warlords that hide in the Forest of Exiles and which must be broken up by the brave knights of Bernicia.

Eastla

Glorious Eastla, the sole Lord Cardinal of the East just as their rival Stormhold is for the south. They control the trade between Westfal and the rest of the world, and the control over this trade has made them an extremely powerful force. If one encounters Westfalians outside of Westfal, they are likely one of the many Charters that Eastla has established outside the borders of the empire. Due to their money, and their physical proximity to the capital of Westfal, the Grand Duke of Eastla always serves as a potent power broker in the empire.

White Harbor

The largest city in the world by population and size, White Harbor is the capital of the Westfalian empire. Its name is derived from Mount Marmor, which itself has been reduced to a quarry over the last thousand years. It is marble from the quarry that built the city, and what Westfal was once solely known for. Now it's been totally exhausted, and all that's left is the pit.

White Harbor is the traditional seat of the emperor, though not all who claim the imperial throne choose to reside there. The city sits at the mouth of the River Dreier. It's over a mile wide, made up of all three major rivers of the empire that merge into one.

White Harbor itself is a commanding force in the empire, even when there is no emperor sitting at its throne. It is controlled by the imperial bureaucracy, and the Majordomo is the de facto ruler of the city, and regent when the emperor is not in residence.

The Pit

A true hive of scum and villainy, at least as most outsiders see it. The Pit is in the informal name for Marmon Quarry, now exhausted of all its marble and the home of a few hundred thousand poor and destitute. It is said that the College of Generalship oversees the feeding of the vast place, as distributing a single day's alms to the poor there is enough to teach a knight more about logistics than they could learn over years spent in a classroom.

Traits

These are some of the traits someone from Westfal would likely have.

Name	Description
Ghastlander	Ghastlanders are more resistant to disease as a result of adapting to an environment where it is rampant. Their effective Prowess is doubled for the purposes of determining whether or not they would contract a disease.
Valeman	Valemen are renown for their physical endurance, able to toil all day at tasks that would quickly exhaust others. They are able to physically outlast anyone else without this or a similar trait.
Equestrian	Westfalians are renown for their love of horses, particularly fighting on them. For any checks relating to horses or horsemanship, this Westfalian increases their effective Cleverness by half again.
Empyrean Historian	This character has learned to speak and read the Empyrean language, and through study has learned much about the history of the ancient empire and its exploits.
Stormholder	Stormholders are adapted to life in the mountains. Stormholders increase their effective Cleverness by half again for all checks related to navigating and surviving on mountains.
Bernician	The wilds around Bernicia have long resisted taming, and so the humans there have learned to adapt to the wilds. Bernicians increase their effective Cleverness by half for all checks related to navigating and surviving forests.
Eastlander	The average Eastlander lives half their life at sea, whether that be on rivers, the canals in their cities, or navigating the bay that their territory rings. Eastlanders increase their effective Cleverness by half again for all checks related to navigating and surviving on water.
Metropolitan	This character is adapted to the strictures of city life. When in a densely urbanized environment, their effective Cleverness increases by one. When outside of such environs, their effective Cleverness is reduced by one.