Four Regencies

Stone
Mostly desert and scrubland, Stone Regency has a number of interesting features. It is one of the least populated Regencies, and yet has two of the three largest cities within its borders. Bounded by the Sweetwater River on the north, the Southwash on the west, the Morass on the south, and the Spine Ridge Mountains on the east, Stone's ancestral ruling seat at the city-fortress of Stonekeep was literally carved out of the side of the mountain it sits against. To the south of the city are the massive quarries and mines that riddle the mountainside further, providing the rich ores and stones that the regency is famed (and named) for. The current ruler of Stone Regency is Lord Vedic Sembry, known as the Longblade, a former Captain in the Order of the Eclipse. He is a light-handed ruler, known for his humor and charm, as well as a keen tactical mind. His banner is a black sun with four points on a grey field. The primary exports of Stone Regency are ores, and it is in Stone that the one pass through the Spine Ridge mountain range exists: the East Gate, which is the portal for most trade with the Shattered Lands to the west, a wide and easily-navigable defile.

Stone's geography is primarily mountainous, as the Spine's southern end curves westward. The desert of Stone is primarily caused by the lack of topsoil. The bedrock that rests just beneath the desert floor and the sudden and powerful flashfloods every year from the Sweetwater River have stripped Stone, making it a scrubby wasteland marked by ragged grasses and little else, until the foothills of the southeastern reaches. Here the Hearths of Earth have worked with engineers from Sky and the Temples of Moon to siphon the fertile soils and lifegiving waters of the Morass to create rolling pasturage and some small farmlands. They don't have much to work with, but what they do have, they're making count.

Stonekeep is both the residence of the Stone Regent, and until recently, the ceremonial palace of the High King. This is largely possible because Stonekeep is incredibly vast in size. Carved out of the mountain by an elemental centuries ago, it is quite literally a city honeycombed into the rock, and two separate areas have been set aside as palatial headquarters. The camaraderie expressed by Stone's recently installed Regent, Lord Vedic, and the High King Saeru, has a lot to do with it as well.

Stone's people, referred to as Stonelanders or Stonemen, tend to be much like its land, unassuming and tough-minded. By some they are called harsh and unforgiving, and can be a rather stolid lot on the whole, not given to wild displays or raucous celebration. Their solemnity masks a deep respect for the land as a whole, and while many make their living in the mines and quarries, they are careful not to despoil the rest of the land with their offal.

Before the Unification, the area of Stone Regency was called the Stone Kingdoms, a collection of small city-states united by a charismatic leader. Stone is called the Seat of the Compact, because it was the Stone Kingdoms that provided the foundation for the Four Kingdoms as a whole, both by example, and by stepping forward and being the first to bend knee to the new High King. It is often still called the Stone Kingdoms by some of its people. The native folk of Stone tend to be fair-haired, shading to brown, with tanned skin and middling builds. Work as miners and quarrymen often leave them powerfully built, particularly in the chest and shoulders.

Drakes
Formerly Dragonsguard, Drakes Regency has perhaps the longest recorded history within the Four Kingdoms. It's said the the people of Drakes are the native bloodlines of the area, contested only by the Rivermen, who are themselves Drakesmen (but claim to be the true natives). Ruled in an unbroken dynasty for at least twice as long as the Four Kingdoms have been unified, they are doubly unusual in that the rulers have always been mages. Legend has it that the Shadowloves, the rulers of Drakes, made an ancient pact with dragons that secured their position, the land's safety, and that the magic that runs in their blood is a mark of this pact. Because of this, the loyalty most Drakesmen bear for their regent is often fanatical, verging on religious zeal. The Shadowloves, for the most part, rule well and with a light hand. Or at least, they did, until about fifteen years ago. Their manor home was attacked by forces unknown, burned to the ground, the three heirs presumed lost. Saeru hastily installed the master of the Order of the Eclipse, Syan Snowlander, as Warden, to act as regent until their heirs could be found. This has not set well with the people of Drakes, but so far, they have concentrated on keeping tales of the Shadowloves alive. The land of Drakes is lush and fertile, from the banks of the Meltwash and the Deep Downs to the foothills of the northern end of the Spine Range. The Spine and the Northwall cup Drakes protectively, and it is in the foothills of these ranges that the famed wines of Drakes are pressed from the grapes that grow in abundance here. The craft of vintage is a highly honored one here, and vintners are revered and held in very high esteem.

Drakes houses the Order of the Eclipse, on the northern border, a fortress built into and over natural fissures in the Northwall. While several other chapterhouses exist, this is the main fortress of the Order.

Drakes is moderately settled, with the primary concentration on the northern end near the Meltwash. Drakes is the home of Landsdown, the home of the Riverman's Guild, the town built around the banks of the Blackwell Lake. Drakes trades often with the northern tribes, whom they often refer to as the Snowlanders – this is where Syan earned his epithet. They accomplish this by utilizing a lift system built around the Frozen Falls at Landsdown.

Southern Drakes is mostly grassland, home to some few ranchers and herders, but primarily unsettled. The native people of Drakes are often small, wiry, and dark of hair and eye. The people of Drakes (Drakesmen) tend to be a humorous lot, prizing quick wits over nearly all other virtues. While sometimes frivolous, Drakesmen are able to turn face very quickly, and tend to try and settle any serious matters quickly and permanently so that they don't have to worry about it anymore, and can get back to the business of enjoying life, which they take very seriously indeed.

Oaks
Named for the forests that cover the Regency virtually from the coastline all the way to the Meltwash, Oaks Regency is known in particular for lumber and woodworking, and in darker corners for unstable leaderships and bloody coups. About fifteen years ago, just as Drakes' regents were attacked, the Regent of Oaks was one Owain Cartwright, a man known for enjoying his pleasures perhaps a little too heartily. His nobles ran the country, while he ran roughshod over most of them. What happened to him stands as an example to why so many of those in authority in Karimas are very, very careful to be responsible with it. Owain had an illegitimate son by the name of Kevan, called the Whitelock due to a white stripe of hair that grew in his youth agains otherwise sable locks. The Whitelock was given into the care of the Brotherhood of the Warrior's Way, and raised as a Brother on his sixteenth birthday. It is tradition that when a Brother is named, he gets a year to do whatever he may desire before bending knee to the Brotherhood once more.

Kevan went home and led a rebellion. The Cartwright line was purged from Oaks, though there are stories that Kevan keeps his father alive in black cells beneath the keep. When word got out what Kevan had done, High King Saeru sent his Executor, Kethyr Vaurus, to investigate the matter. Kevan proved that Cartwright had been in league with enemies of Karimas, namely the Ravensguild slavers. The result of the investigation was that as the matter had been wholly internal to Oaks, and as Cartwright had not fulfilled his responsibilities as Regent, Kevan had performed a service to the Crown, and thus, was installed as the new Regent. Not one soul raised voice against this decision.

Oaks is widely populated, but most of this is in small hamlets or villages. The Oaks Seat is at the northwest tip of the Regency, and is little more than a sprawling manor house tending to vast orchards.

Oaks is also home to the Living Grove. Deep in the forests that name the regency, the Grove is a place of healing and restoration; an elemental has made its home there, and its power feeds all the life in the area. Its tender is Devon, an Earthmage and healer of no small power. Within the Living Grove also are its guardians, tall, powerful trees that move and speak. If they can be said to have a leader, it is the one they call Ironroot, a massive Guardian standing no less than thirty feet tall. Anyone who seeks healing may come to the Grove, so long as they do so in peace. Those who act violently in the Grove are never heard from again. It's said that there are no native folk of Oaks, but that their blood is a mix of Drakesman's and the Norther Tribes. This leaves them tending toward darker coloration, but taller and more powerfully built. The people of Oaks (Oaksmen, or by some, Foresters) tend to be rather closemouthed, preferring to let actions speak for themselves. They take hospitality very seriously and tend to their responsibilities, real or percieved, with great zeal. There is a saying in Oaks that duty is never discharged, only met.

Coastal
Coastal Regency is home to the primary port in Karimas (there is a second in Oaks, but it is rarely used) at Whiteharbor, also the capital city of the Regency and home to its ruler, Helmas Janns, a tall, dour man with a firm hand on the reins. Mostly grasslands with some woods (the southern edge of the Oaks forest crosses the Sweetwater river), Coastal's beaches are popular among its people, as it usually enjoys fair weather and warm days. Whiteharbor is the largest city in Karimas, and a major port for goods being shipped all over the world. It isn't unusual to see Sundowner ships, Old Empire vessels, or even those bearing the marks of the Singing Sands. Some foreign nobles come to Coastal for a vacation, due to the fine weather and beautiful beaches. It's said that if you are from Coastal, then your life revolves around ships, and this is largely true – fishing, shipbuilding, and the Kariman Navy are the three primary sources of employment in the Regency. Indeed, a two-year stint in the Coastal Navy is mandatory for all citizens upon reaching the age of 14 (the age of majority in Karimas). The sailors of Coastal are among the most well-travelled folks in the world, and are always eager to tell the tales of their adventures.

Coastal Regency has a rather tense relationship with the Sundowners. A plutocratic confederation of pirates, merchants, smugglers, and outright thieves, the Sundown Archipelago is several days' sail west of Coastal, and much of the navy's work is fending off their “aggressive acquisition strategems”. Even so, Sundowner blood is common in Coastal, and trade between the Regency and the Archipelago is lively …in more ways than one.

The Sundowner blood has made its mark in Coastal, and among Karimen, the folk of Coastal are the most physically diverse. The people of Coastal, oftens simply referred to as Coastals, are very much sailors – rough and ready, often raucous and sometimes outright coarse, but very nationalistic, prizing loyalty and devotion to duty almost as highly as Oaksmen. They are an intrepid, adventurous lot; Drakesmen and Coastals are known for getting along well and getting into all kinds of mischief.