Kingdom of Tortha

Location: North Central.

Capital: Vetalan City.

Natural Resources: Extensive Access and Control to Central Water Routes, Salt Fields To The Northeast, Freshwater Resources, Large Central Forest and Small Kingdom Forests.

Environment: Arid Coastal Regions, Limited Fertile Farm Areas, Dry Plains Next to Mountain Range, Small Forests, Western Vasenan Desert.

Major Sources of Income: Trade of Vasenan Goods (At Premiums), Slave Trade, Salt, Temple Patronage.

Major Expenses: Military, Military Ventures, Fortification, Non-Military Construction.

Military: Large Shallow Water Navy, Merchant Ships Equipped For Ocean Travel Are Re-purposed For Military Use When Needed, Cavalry and Highly Mobile Soldiers are Concentrated to the South and East of the Vasenan Desert in Patrols and Stations, Siege Weaponry and Basic Infantry Guards the Desert Border and Mountain Pass to Vasena, Tortha Holds Highest Value on Any Unit With High Mobility or Long Reaching Weaponry. Military is almost a class to itself. Those whom rank high are not always Nobility and but Nobles can gain no more than they have unless they ascend the ranks of the Military. Commoners and slaves in the Military can rise to a rank almost equal to Nobility and those that leave an impression can reach a Heroic status beyond any Noble. Most Lords of Torthan are given the right to keep private armies that they must maintain and use at the command of the King.

Belief System(s): Most lasting and historical beliefs are in paired Deities and their equally important temples that the two Deities share. Lately the standard ideas have been gradually impeded upon by cults and advanced thinking. This leaves the common class to still lean on the Gods and Deities and the Noble Class to take advantage of the peasants faith in the temples. The cult systems tend to appear without warning and worship singular thoughts and figures, such as Torthan leaders and Heroes. These groups are thought of as harmless until blame needs to be placed for crimes and general misfortune. Since cults often try to invade and share temple areas with other Deities, destroying them can calm peasant rebellions or other unrest. Counter to all these are the skeptics and atheist natured scholarly nobles that are often despised more by their peers than the people. Faith and beliefs, of any kind, in Tortha have become well followed trends.

Society: Torthan society is highly aristocratic and lineage based. Those born into the right families are born into wealth, influence and power. The King holds tightly on to his Nobles and keeps the common class beneath them. Slaves are still somehow beneath the common class.
Unlike the Korumar that they ally with at times, Torthans destroy, conquer, seize, and dominate to make the Vetalan Capital the center of the world and the only Kingdom in it. Their ideas to unify the world are often kept out of daily life but each new territory and person brought in becomes Torthan or slave. There is no other way to survive. As a result the Slave Trade in Tortha is the largest in the World. The supply does not run out as there are new lands to take and no slave can give birth to free men. Birthright is surprisingly second to the ideal that the world cannot exist in pieces, Torthans pity and fear the mindset of outside Kingdoms. Though not so noble in their execution of their unifying ideals, Torthan society is indulgent, ignorant, spectatorial, and separateby class to a point of isolation. Torthan scholars and educated individuals mask and guard their knowledge from all others deliberately and excessively. Order can be expected to the duty of the Military and any Laws will be maintained by them as well. Punishments are often Ordeals and much more dangerous than they are treated. Few survive any Ordeals that the Torthan Military put them through. As a result of good trade and proximity, Vasenan refugees often receive quarter and moderate title for living in Tortha. By no coincidence they are located in Market districts to help with Trade. Torthans are frequently concerned with Vasenan presence but the Vasensians are always more civil than the Torthans themselves. Outsiders entering Tortha will see excessive trade and spending opportunities. Social and service based shops are found in abundance. The higher classes will do their best to remain separate from travelers unless their daily routines, business or rare special occasions require it.

Alignments: Opportunistic Enemies and Allies Towards Kourmar (Tortha Would Prefer to Remain Allies), Rulers of Hyspiria (And Aware That it is a Difficult Rule to Keep), Enemies Towards Nycenia (Next Target of Conquest and a Current Resistance), Enemies Towards Feylanor (Besides a General Disdain For the Feylanor They Are a Target For Conquest),Neutral Towards Vasena To Maintain a High Volume of Trade.

History: Tortha was established by the estranged brother of the Second King of Hyspiria. A proud and egotistical man that was named Tortha, managed to convince a fourth of the Kingdom of Hyspiria to join him when he left. As the King of Tortha and its namesake, he fought Hyspiria without success or gain. The Kingdom of Tortha began fighting and conquering settlements and peoples much smaller than them and making slaves to support the Kingdom. Soon Vasena's merchants reached Tortha and trade became profitable to the point of excess. As the First King of Tortha died, his son took rule and found a much more efficient and cruel vision of his father's Kingdom. The New King, Vetalan, pushed Hyspiria's borders away with every prisoner taken as a slave or an executed example. King Vetalan's Rule was ended in an uprising that took his head. The next ruler and most every one after him though, took his example and even made statues of him on palace grounds. It became effective to rule that all people be citizens, slaves, or corpses. Everything else was for the Kingdom of Tortha or against it.

Flag/Crest: 9 Spears And A Shield. Purple and Gold.