History
Long ago, a small human kingdom on a patch of fertile riverlands made an alliance with the golgath tribes in the mountains to their south. Together, under their first half-golgath king, they formed the kingdom of Mornae. In the many years since then that kingdom has grown. Once it had taken other kingdoms to the east, west and north, it began to call itself… an empire. Since then, it has grown even more, expanding south. Now it wars with the small (in comparison to the entire empire) but resilient and mystically powerful Kingdom of Dhel.
Geography
The Mornish Empire occupies most of the north-west of the continent of Dhelyn. The kingdoms it has conquered are now provinces.
Skeva – In the far north-west is a harsh land of hills mountains and sea. It bred a hard viking-like people, used to raiding when they couldn’t farm what they needed from the meager bits of arable land. Now their barbarians form a solid core of the Mornish army along side the old-guard golgath troops.
Jendysa – a city-state of mostly gnomes, hidden away in a pleasant mountain valley where the Asdrine Peaks meet the Jokuban Mountains in the middle-north of the empire. It took some time for this well fortified and hard to reach city to fall, but when it did, it yielded a great boon to the empire… gunpowder and firearms. Ever since the empire has been trying to delve deeper into the technical secrets of these inventive people, but alas, all of the their High-Artificers have gone into hiding.
Doumol – A kingdom of mostly dwarves in the north-east of the empire. Like Skeva, these are rough lands, but the dwarves are hardy people and dug deep roots, getting what then needed if not from the land itself, then underneath it. Their shining city of Ironspire is the jewel of the north, an amazing feat of craftsmanship in steal and stone.
Mornae – The heart of the empire in the middle-west. The city of Mornas is no longer the capital, though it is still the heart of the empire. This is where all troops go to train before being deployed into the army or navy. It is also where the “Summer Palace” for the emperor and his family is located. The Capital moved to the west coast some time ago, to the fog-and-ash-laden city of Ashan, a port city, where the great navy of the empire was built.
Hram – A troublesome province in the middle-east of the empire. It lays at the far eastern edge of the empire and even though it was conquered long ago, since it is so far removed from the heart of things, and often disregarded, it has been a hot-bed for rebellion. There is little of strategic value out here, just dusty plains, swamps, tangled forests, and high mountains. so the empire deploys few resources to this province, few men and fewer supplies. And with the people here being of solid and stern-minded stock, they have risen up more than once in the more than one hundred years of their occupation.
Vahnos – In the sunny and warm south-west of the empire, the vast plains of Vahnos are the breadbasket that feed the growing beast of the empire and it’s armies. It is also home to the Ealenine (Eh-ah-len-een) Forest and the elves within. They are not technically a part of the empire and live separately but neutral in their forest kingdom – abiding by a pact made with the empire.
Rhukeen – A volatile province in the south-east of the empire, the most recently conquered and still fighting the occupation. There are active revolts and protests, which are often harshly put down to set an example to the others here. It is a hot-bed for anti-empire sentiment and sedition.
Northern Dhel and Aaila – The empire has recently conquered the northern part of the kingdom of Dhel (everything north of the Dhelva River). This includes the city of Aaila (Ah-eye-la). There is a very strong military presence here as the war with the rest of Dhel to the south continues. The battles rage on the river and around it, but as of yet, the empire has not managed a hold to the south of the river.