<strong>The kingdom of Arethia</strong>:<br/>(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v145/starswillshine/redonemap.gif)<br/>The kingdom is completely surrounded by wilderness, making interaction with other kingdoms rare. To the north is a big mountain range. The west, running all the way up to the mountain range, yields a vast desert. A thick forest prevents access to the east and the south, while a huge mountain seperates this forest from the desert to the west. Lakes and forests are scattered throughout the kingdom. There are nine mayor cities in the kingdom of Arethia, connected by big traderoads that are frequently patrolled by royal troops, escorting caravans.<br/><br/><strong>Cities of Arethia</strong>:<br/><strong>Kobal City</strong>, named after the royal bloodline, is the capital city. It houses the royal castle, as well as the guildhouses of most guilds spawning more than a single city. It's also the center of all military operations, and all soldiers receive their training in this city. Since it's pretty centered, it doesn't have to deal often with creatures from beyond the border, but the creatures that arise from the depts of Kobal Lake, directly south of Kobal City, keeps the guards occupied. They also prevent fishing on a regular basis, though some brave folks hunt the water in search of prey. Whatever they bring back, it's usually not a fish. More often than not, however, they fail to bring themselves back. The flag of Kobal City consists of four squares, the topleft and bottomright ones silver, and the topright and bottomleft ones red. Since the formation of Arethia, this flag sports a golden crown in the center and doubles both as the national flag, and the tabard of the guards throughout the land.<br/><br/>West of Kobal City, towards the desert, lies<strong>Corinth</strong>. Corinth houses by far the largest mageguild, twice as big as the one in Kobal City, which in turn is bigger than any of the other seven mageguilds, making Corinth the only reasonable place to study for wizards that attained spells of the fifth level. Lots of large hideous creatures crawl from the desert to assault the city, but with the help of the mages, the guards don't have too much problems holding them off. Corinth is also famous for the best of crafters in glass and keramics. The flag of Corinth is skyblue, with a pair of white wings.<br/><br/>North of Corinth lies<strong>Xerinos</strong>, the city of smiths. Most of the ore that's mined by the sister city Xalathos is transported to Xerinos to be smelted and worked into tools and weapons. Even on a sunny day, the smoke from all the forges cause an overhead, casting a permanent shadow over the city. The merchandise sells well, however, and the people that can live with the smoke, live rather prosperous. Xerinos has the least amount of guards housed of all the cities, due to the bad atmosphere. Every inhabitant has a weapon of his own for selfdefense, and huge siege ballistae mounted on the city walls are to protect the city from wandering monsters. The flag of Xerinos is yellow-brown, showing a green sledge and pincer crossing each other.<br/><br/>Just east of Xerinos lies it's sister city<strong>Xalathos</strong>. Whereas Xerinos has the secondhighest rate of prosperity in the entire kingdom, Xalathos has the lowest. The inhabitants are sent to work in the mines the moment they become of age, and the rather poor rate of survival in the mines makes the inhabitants end up with a low lifespan expectancy. The ones that become guards have it a little better, but only a little, as they're required to overview the mines, and guard the miners against the vast array of creatures inhabitating both the mountainsides and the caves throughout the mountain. Xalathos does not have a flag of it's own, and uses the flag of Xerinos without much welcome.<br/><br/>Southeast of Xalathos, northwest of Kobal City we find<strong>Ponder</strong>. Out of all nine cities, this city has the least problems with interference from outside creatures, allowing the inhabitants to spend a lot of time on other stuff, like culture. The majority of artists found throughout the land were born and raised in Ponder. The city is on the luxurous side, and it's inhabitants are quite happy. The women, though still suppresed, gain somewhat more respect than in other cities, their beauty well accepted. Live art, or performances are more often carried out by women, by order of their masters of course, providing cultural entertainment that's nearly unheard of in the other cities, save perhaps for Kobal City, that frequently recruits performers from Ponder to make a show. Ponder's flag is white, showing the kelp of a red rose.<br/><br/>To the far east, close to the forests, lies<strong>Solvess</strong>. Closest to the large forest bordering the kingdom, Solvess has to deal a lot with the vast amount of creatures that spawn from it. Solvess is however not passively waiting to attack. Though there are guards stationed in this city, their numbers are on the small side, and they mostly deal with problems in between citizens. Instead, a special group of rangers is in charge of protecting the city from outside interference, and often sends out squads of rangers into the forest to hunt for creatures that might attack the city. Also, when running into elves that live in small groups throughout the forest, the rangers don't hesitate to kill off all the males, and capture the females, to sell them on the open market. Due to this, there are quite a few female elves and half-elves of either gender living in the city. Male half-elven offspring receive full, undiscriminated citizenship, and often make the best of rangers. The flag of Solvess consists of alternating forestgreen and bright yellow horizontal stripes. These same colors are used in the uniforms of the ranger squadrons.<br/><br/>South of there, southeast of the capital, lies the city of<strong>Enn</strong>. Where it's neighbouring cities of Solvess and Zanghar were among the most loyal cities to Kobal, agreeing on uniting by treaties, Enn was the least. Being the last city that was conquered, fighting to the last bitter end until the city was overrun by troops from Kobal, Solvess and Zanghar together. It's government was overthrow and executed, replaced by bureaucrats from the three other cities, that ruled the city with an iron hand. Tension between it's inhabitants and the royal troops is always present. The men-at-arms usually have their hands full on controlling the city, lacking the support to safekeep the surrounding countryside, making threats remain unchecked, both in human and nonhuman form. Catfolk hunting parties from the southern forest usually stay away from the human settlements, but don't hesitate to attack underguarded travellers. Small human raiding parties occasionally attack other settlements in times of famine, and weird, dangerous creatures frequently roam the nearby hills and grasslands. The flag of Enn consists of alternating black and white curled lines.<br/><br/>West of Enn we find the city of<strong>Zanghar</strong>. One of the first countries to offer their allegiance to Kobal, Zanghar is a city with strict discipline, that's already eagerly anticipating on Daron's downfall and being the next city in the line of defense. In addition, they get to deal quite a lot with other creatures swarming from the desert, as well as other monstrcities from the southeast, permitted passing by Enn's lack of control. The city and neighbouring countryside houses an extensive breeding program for both horses and dogs, seeing the use for these animals as support for the military. The bigger, powerful creatures are often sold to Kobal, while they keep the swifter species themselves, using them frequently in their scout parties, providing excellent support for hit and run tactics when dangerous creatures are sighted. Zanghar carries a yellow flag with two crossed gray blades. Unlike Solvess, they do not use their flag for their special troops, instead dressing them in black, providing assistance in stealth missions.<br/><br/>To the far southwest lies<strong>Daron</strong>. Lying close to the desert and the mountain to the south, and not too far away from the forest to the southwest either, Daron is vulnerable to a multitude if various creatures. On top of that, an Anchient Red Wyrm built it's lair in the mountain and frequently harrasses the local countryside. Daron lies at a remote distance from the capital city, and doesn't really provide anything to the nation, making the city more of a burden to the rest of the country. Less and less guards are sent in it's defense, and more and more villages get overrun by the multitude of creatures. Daron is fighting a losing battle and morale in the city is low. Those that can afford it, pursue their careers in other cities. The flag of Daron is red, with a single diagonal white stripe across it.<br/><br/>Each city used to be the capital of a small nation of it's own until around a century ago, except for Xalathos, which had been ruled over from Xerinos from the very dawn of known history. Over time, by means of diplomacy, intrigue and war, the eight countries united one by one, until a single nation existed, controlling all nine cities. There are still all kinds of signs of the old nations, now called counties.<br/><br/>The landscape is dottered with small villages, roads, rivers, lakes, hills and woods beyond what's shown on the map. All villages belong to one of the eight counties, and it is the duty of that county's city to protect it's villages, as they provide their supply of food.<br/><br/>Every county has it's own flag, in addition to the royal flag. Also, each city has it's own ruler, called a count, and though the king can overrule a count and has the final say in matters, this rarely happens, leaving most of the bureaucratic administration to the local counts. Kobal City also has it's own count and employees, an organization completely seperate from the royal house, and operating from a building outside the royal castle.<br/><br/>The social system is extremely discriminating towards genders. Women aren't considered much more than property. In most families, when a girl is born, her father and brothers will give her hardly more attention than they would give a pet. When the girl is old enough, she is sold out to a willing buyer, to serve him for the rest of her life. A lucky woman might run into a caring husband, but most girls are just sold out to marry the first guy that's offering a decent price. Any women found on her own is free for the taking by legit means.<br/><br/>Every year, some of the most charming maidens through the land are confiscated by the royal army and sent off to serve the ruler in his private bedroom. However, one caravan that was on it's way back to the royal castle was ambushed, and the maidens were set free. Now, this group of women is trying to stay out of the hands of men, and trying to survive on their own in the wilderness. Unfortunately for them, when living in the wilderness there is more to fear than just the hands of man, and lots of misery befalls them.