Editing Autia (section)

=== '''The Union and Its Breakaway States''' ===
''Weird fusion of grimderp Medieval Europe and North Korea. Strangely, people keep trying to leave it.''

====The Union====
''Has a rigid racial caste system with Nantic peoples as mage hunters and priests, Cored peoples (Chinese/Korean) as scholars and bureaucrats, and goblins as slaves. Nobles and peasants can be either Nantic or Cored, but are restricted to their respective provinces. Officially rejects use of magic, and aggressively hunts unsanctioned magic users, but secretly the elites are very adept at it. For the most part looks like an impoverished medieval dump, but the ruling class lives in sinister, but well decorated palaces.''

General:

Out in the East is a Nation known as The Union. A state made up of 7 previously independent nations merged as a result of their collective hatred of magic. They are militaristic and well renown as mercenaries to hunt rogue wizards and any other magical being.

This is of-course a propaganda piece as, they are manipulated from the top down, by their hypocritical leaders, who push their extreme rhetoric to deceive people into giving up their magic veins so the leaders could sew the veins into themselves.

People:

The Union is home to Nantic humans in the northern states, and Cored humans in the southern states. Assorted monster races can be found dwelling in the more remote areas, particularly goblins, who are also sometimes used as slaves by The Union.

Religion:

In ancient times The Union worshipped a mix of Nantic faiths, Carastion, Southern gods, and a wide range of animal spirits. In modern times, faith in the gods is highly discouraged, and instead people are expected to idolize living and historic heroes of The Union.

Magic:

The elimination of magic-users is one of the founding principles of The Union, therefore they are quite rare here. However, in secret, many members of the ruling class are powerful magic users. Several competing organizations of witch hunters hunt mages (as well as political dissidents) ruthlessly.

The most infamous group of mercenary witch hunters from union is called "Burning crosses". This name is derived from their tradition of crucifying captured mages, and then placing cross with their body still on on burning stake. Because of crucifixion victims can't scream, and so whole process is called silent cleansing.
Their fanaticism caused even union leadership to consider them too rabid to keep at home, so they are permanently hired off to highest bidders abroad.

Military:

The Union is rather notorious for its wasteful methods of warfare. Due to its relative stability and the protection afforded to it by the Iron Crown, The Union does not maintain a large standing army, but when needed, it will conscript large sections of its population to create an expendable hordes. The best equipped soldiers are members of the elite Dragon Guard, who use cutting edge equipment like zeppelins, primitive gatling guns, and large caliber rifles. They are generally seen as too valuable for front line duty, and instead do important tasks like escorting nobles or gunning down conscript hordes that try to flee the battlefield. Below them are the standing army, whose appearance varies by province, but whose equipment consistently includes flintlocks, swords, clubs, and cannons. Below them are the conscripts and peasant levies, who fight with spears, bows, fire lances, hwacha, and sometimes crude, unreliable muskets. Unlike many nations, the Union still makes frequent use of heavy armor.

Being a military nation at heart, not to mention one that shuns the use of the arcane, the generals and nobility of the Union have invested much time into developing tactics and equipment to counter magically-inclined enemies. The soldiers of the Union are famous for their use of heavy armor and firearms, with perhaps their most famous technological endeavor being the firelance, a particularly potent combination of a polearm and a rifle that allows for effective combat at close to medium ranges. Even more feared are the experimental firearms given to the Union's elite anti-mage units. While extraordinarily powerful, even the smallest mishap in the firing mechanism can cause such a weapon to violently detonate, incinerating its user. It is common practice for the obliteration of these unfortunate souls to be reported as magical in nature, adding yet more fuel to the Union's technology-focused dogma.

To make up for their lack of ranged magic, the Union has also invested heavily into artillery. The most heavily employed of these is the Hwacha, touted by Union officials as a "two-man archer regiment." The Hwacha uses gunpowder charges to propel arrows a great distance, after which a pyrrhic point it bursts in the air, raining fire down on those caught below. Due to the spectacular visuals of such a weapon, many Union footmen believe it to be near-divine proof of the superiority of technology over magic, and it is a common affair to hear calls for "scorching rain" on a Union battlefield.

History:

Formerly the core of the Jinsan Empire, The Union was formed following the collapse of the Jinsan, by a coalition of warlords who wanted to end the pointless fighting (and secretly to one day rule the world). Since its formation, it likes to present itself as a peaceful nation, but it has gotten in frequent minor wars with neighboring states, local rebellions, and separatist colonies. It is usually considered one of the strongest nations on the planet, but has yet to prove it can fight frequent major wars the same way that Belkan, Ercaenmedi, or Alkor can.

Economy:

The Union has a large population thanks to its vast swathes of fertile land, however, the nation is generally considered to be a poor one due to overcrowding and an underdeveloped industrial base hobbled by nepotism and conservative thinking.

====Freedom Coalition====
''Unstable alliance of rebel groups that have embraced the use of magic. The livelihoods of common folk are still pretty shit here, but at least the magic users are having fun, when they aren't accidently blowing themselves up.''

The Freedom Coalition is a rogue territory of the Union controled by rebels who have discovered a way to pool their magic veins together to form magical gestalts powerful enough to protect themselves from the Union.

True "Free Men" are considerably more free and happy than the inhabitants of the Union but they often force the locals to become magical conscripts not faring much better than before.

====Union Puppet====
''Basically the same as the Freedom Coalition, but secretly still ruled by The Union to justify continued oppression.''

The Union Puppet, is an enemy state that is used to give the people of the Union a false enemy to beat, but never make any real ground.

====The Iron Crown====
''Iron clad mountains with a massive iron wall on either side. Some Buddhist-style monks live here, who are naturally very good at martial arts. Basically uber-Tibet.''

The Iron Crown is two walls of Magic Iron with Mountains covered in iron between them. Made by the leaders of the Union, to prevent real countries who can use magic properly from breaking their strange hold over their people. Of course the story from the Union, is that the people built it without magic and iron can stop magic.

The Iron Crown isn't entirely barren, there are small enclaves of monks who eek out an existence there, finding cracks in the iron and setting up temples. They have pledged themselves to an ascetic life of discipline and hard work, which they say leads to ultimate life satisfaction. They spend most of their time training and tending to the grounds of their temples.

Due to repeated efforts by The Union, these temples are frequently burned down and re-built or re-located. The history is found in the lineage of the monks, some of whom are families that have been in the order for generations upon generations. They are largely populated by people who have fled The Union, but some come to learn the martial arts and tactics that have been forged in the crucible of constant battles done with the Union military.

The history is wrought with political turmoil. Sometimes, as it is currently the case, the Union will throw whatever spare forces they have at the monks in an attempt to wipe them out and prevent a future rebellion. At other points the monks have been invited into the Union as culturally significant and important parts of the country to be celebrated. At one point they became an anti-magic enforcement arm and developed non-magical techniques that could effectively combat magic users. While they are no longer a part of the anti-magic arm, the methods they developed are still taught and trained in many temples.

These monks are effective warriors, fearsome hand to hand combatants, and meticulous housekeepers. If you could convince one to leave the temple and work for you he would be the ideal butler/bodyguard. But first you have to figure out what someone who has sworn off material pleasures could possibly want that you could give?

====The Unravelers====
''An extreme version of the Freedom Coalition that left the region entirely and moved to the south of the continent. Practice any and all forms of magic with no sense of ethics. Basically all your mad scientist tropes wrapped into one nation.''

Contrary to the Union there is a small community on the southernmost peninsula calling themselves "the Unravellers".

These people dedicate themselves to solving the mysteries of the world they live in. Mostly through magic, but every type of scholar is welcome.

Some say it's more of a magic cult. Because everything is legal, as long as it expands the Library, where all of the gained knowledge is stored. There are no Taboos, not even life itself is sacred.

It is said the alchemists managed to create Aether, which allows them to infuse their abominations with life.

Noone, except the highest of their members actually know it's a disgusting imitation. Natural life seeks to sustain itself, Aether on the other hand tries to end itself at every opportunity.

It is a very powerful combination together with mind control magic, that supresses the urge to suicide.

See the section on Second Empire below for more information

====An====
''Vassal state set up by The Union to handle trade with outside nations. Ruled by elites from The Union, but most of the locals are still natives to the island.''

The City of An is a client state of the Union and a sort of economic free zone used as a middleman between the mainland and the outside world.

Things are more relaxed here although the government is occasionally very brutal to ensure that the city stays in the control of the Union.

Is it the biggest trade hub east of the Iron Crown.