Lesser nations and factions

Beside the great empires are the lesser nations and independent factions. These exists in the shadows of the empires in some form of way, for better or worse. While being free and independent they are either in favor or at odds with one or more of the empires, many fear that it is only a matter of time before they lose whatever remaining freedom they have and become yet another piece in the grand puzzle of imperialism. Though some may welcome it, others will fight to the end to keep that independence no matter the cost. 

Malituk (The Golden Kingdom) 

Government: City-state with control of surrounding area.

Head of state: none official

Capital: Malituk

Ruling race: Human

Malituk used to be a vast empire in the far south but after only one generation of unity, infighting and mismanagement sundered the empire, dividing it at first into semi-autonomous regions that soon broke off to become their own kingdoms. All that is left now is what used to be the central region with its capital city at the crossroads of the great traderoutes of the south. The city bears the same name as the land surrounding it. Lackingin all forms of resources, it heavily relies on trade to keep its level of prosperity. Malituk lacks any real leadership. Instead it depends on the charity and good graces of its wealthier inhabitants for support. The city has a council that oversee infrastructure and, as much as they can, uphold a slither of law and order. The council itself consists of officials that are elected by the merchant families. Anyone that is a citizen of Malituk can be appointed, but in truth no one wants to become a councilor. An appointee might get a title, but all it means is that now he is the pawn to a merchant, whose only job is to promote his benefactors agenda upon the city. To manage the upkeep of the city, slaves get to do all laborious tasks of maintenance. Law and order is kept via hired mercenaries that more often than not cause the trouble they're supposed to stop, so long as they don't cause trouble for any of the merchants. If so, there is swift action taken and anyone found guilty by a kangaroo court gets severely punished by mutilation before being turned into a slave.

Wealth is the only thing that matters in Malituk. Anything is for sale, for the right price. Even a slave may purchase his freedom, if he can pay the right amount. But this absolute free market brings with it a dark side, as nothing is beyond reprehension. Many traders from the great empires bring back stories of unfathomable luxury and at the same time grim tales of suffering of those without wealth. Some stories even tell of acts being done in daylight, so vile it would be a death sentence in the civilized world. Despite this, any trader or merchant knows that the grand markets of Malituk is a place where fortunes can be made, if one is willing to take the risk.

The official currency of the city of Malituk are rings of varied sizes. These rings are made out of laminations of silver and a copper alloy, and sometimes with one or more layers of gold, that appears as a wood grain like pattern. The value of a ring is based on three main factors; weight, composition and erosion. Size is of a lesser importance as a small but thick ring may be heavier than a large but thin one. Weight is always a priority. A ring must also be clearly marked with the ratio of its composition. This is most commonly done by stamped markings where each metal is represented by a symbol and stamped a number of times related to the ratio. The last factor, erosion is both a marker of higher value and desirability. This comes to as wearing the ring will make the copper alloy erode and leave a higher ratio of the precious metals. Eroded rings are also sought after for their beauty but can be challenging to wear because of the jagged edges that are left when the copper erodes. For this reason it is common to have ring bearing slaves whose sole task is wearing rings of all sorts, covering fingers and arms with multitudes of rings to slowly erode the copper away. It is also traditional to have these ring slaves have special neck circlets which over time stretches the neck of the slave and, as more are added, at some point it becomes impossible for the slave to not have these circlets as their elongated neck cannot support itself. These slaves are a big status symbol and are often shown off by their owners. To live as a ring slave is also, by comparison, an easy existence since they in a way are the living holders of the owner's wealth and are therefore well protected and taken care of. It is however also a life that is dangerous as there is always the risk of being at best kidnapped or at worst killed for the purpose of removing the rings. It is not unheard of that owners remove the neck circlets from a long time slave, either to have another one take its place or use the rings for a substantial payment, despite the fact that this will kill the slave as their neck no longer can support itself. There can also be a lot of pain in being a ring slave as each ring worn becomes more jagged. Many that carry highly eroded neck circlets get sores from the jagged edged and sometimes rings get eroded enough that they simply break. A popular story told is of a ring slave in the ownership of one of the late kings whose neck snapped when multiple circlets broke while she was dancing for her master. 

The Confederation of Independent States 

Government: Confederation of states

Head of state: President

Capital:

Ruling race: Predominantly human

After the war of Independence the rebelling some of the former colonies came together and formed a confederacy. While retaining the right of being individual states the confederation

The Free City of Fernedri

Government: City state with an aristocratic council of representatives

Head of State:

Capital: Fernedri

Ruling race: Human

The city of Fernedri lies on an island off the coast of eastern Evperia that is covered by wetland. The city itself was first built on sand dunes that rose above the surrounding area, settled by fishermen and seafarers with houses built on poles to handle seasonal flooding. When traders from far off lands discovered the island and the natural basins along the coast, it became a central trading point between the northern and southern Eveprian nations. As the city expanded, to gain more buildable areas canals were dug and building foundation were made using stone and dirt. Soon buildings and canals were sprawling, creating islands of urban construction.

In the middle ages, Fernedri was a metropolis of trade and luxury. Merchants from all of Evperia and beyond would come to trade, while the well of and nobility would come to experience exotic leisure.

Repubblica Imperiale di Medtria (Imperial Republic of Medtria)

Government: Constitutional republic governed by magistracies

Head of state: Dictator Garibaldi

Capital: Auream

Ruling race: Human

The republic of Medtria lies in the southern part of Evepria, nested in the medtrian corridor which also has its namesake from the ancient Medtrian empire which once spanned over a large part of Evperia. The history of Medtria as both society and geographical area has gone through plenty of change with all sorts of civilizations rising and falling. At its peak the historical Medtrian empire covered a huge area of Evperia, achived by either displacing or conquering the preexisting tribes and people, then imposing the Pax Medtria upon the land. But with time the great empire would crumble into pieces with internal struggles turning into civil war and fractioning, leaving the gates open for the old tribes to reconquer their lands as well as other adversaries to take lands from the former empire. The modern day republic is just over two centuries old, formed after a grueling war of liberation from the Uruk Mahuri kingdoms that at the time had ruled most of the corridor for near four centuries.

In the early days of the newly reformed republic focus was put on rebuilding what was called the lost culture, issuing in a renaissance in all forms of art and expression. When the large empires set their eyes on Ignosian colonization, Medtria followed suite and made their own efforts of colonization with the intention of bringing back the ancient empire of sorts. Knowing full well that they had no means to compete with either the Commonwealth or the Hauberian empire, Medtria put all efforts into settling the equatorial area and the fog lands, as well as going so far west as to reach the shores of the Lumius jungle. This effort would however be very expensive and drain the coffers that had been filled with gold after the reconquest of the corridor. Even though there were findings of trinitum in the mountains of the fog land, the establishment and logistics of bringing it back to Evperia did not recuperate the expenses as the Medtrian industries could not match those of the other empires. In a last desperate effort to cover costs focus shifted from trinitum to other metals, mainly gold. Despite this the financial burden caused a collapse of the republic state and all but a few holdings were abandoned, leaving the dream of a new grand Medtrian empire in the dust. But the effort did not go unnoticed as large parts of Ignosia bears the cultural marks of Medtria, in architecture and language.