Estalia

"Estalia is different."

– Slogan frequently used by the turism board of many of the estalian kingdoms.

Estalia is (or was) one of the regions of the Old World in the Warhammer Fantasy universe. Situated on the south-west side of the continent, it is the equivalent of the Iberian Peninsula, with most of its history, geography and politics closely resembling those of Iberia.

Geography

Estalia is located in the Southern Old World, a very mountainous peninsula to the south-west of Bretonnia. The Peninsula borders the Great Western Ocean to the north and west and the Southern Sea to the south (duh). Most of its surface is occupied by mountains, with the Irrana and Abasko Mountains to the north-center and the east respectively. Going even further into the north, we find the two small mountain systems of Cefiro and feroz Hills, and part of the western side of the peninsula is occupied by Miramar hills. The Irrana Mountains is the source for many of the rivers of Estalia, with Tagos, Eboro, Guadariz and Tamos being some of the most important, having quite a number of pòpulations around them. Most of the forests also grow close to the Irrana Mountains, most likely proffiting from the high levels of humidity left by the winds that collide with the mountain ranges. The southern part of the Peninsula is full of plains that have allowed the growth of many important docks and sea cities around the coast.

Due to the extreme isolation of the Estalian Peninsula (it is geographically far away from threats such as Chaos), it enjoyed a lot of relief from most of the major threats of the Old World, which would come and bite the estalians in their asses during the End Times.

Economy and demography

The population of Estria is quite different depending on their location. By general rule, Estalians were hardy people, and many of their tales and legends say that they were the first humans to have settled in the Old World, claim that is mostly ignored by the rest of humanity. The northern kingdoms of the Irrana mountains are hill-fighters, used to defend themselves from Bretonnia's attacks, the ocasional Skaven plague and the frequent in-fighting between estalian kingdoms. As such, it is very frequent to see solid fortresses guarding the mountain passes pop up here and there.

The southern part of the Peninsula is much less militarized, although that doesn't mean infighting is less common there. Due to the conditions of the land, many cities were able to develop an economy based on craft, fishing and trade. Some of their cities have managed to grow enough to create colonies on Lustria, in the search of gold and conquest.

Estalians have had a long-lived rivalry with the Tileans, and it is considered a great offense to call an estrian a tilean, or adress them in tilean tongue, and viceversa. Estalia got also renowned for its Diestros, skilled duellists mercenaries who sold their services across the Old World. This isn't helped by the fact that both Tileans and Estalians affirm that they're the chosen people of the goddess Myrmidia.

Politics and History

The kingdoms of Estalia have been fighting each other from a long time. The biggest cities of the region, Bilbali and Magritta, have a long and extended history of war between them, with Bilbali dominating a good portion of the northern peninsula and magritta a good portion of the southern peninsula. Estalia was briefly conquered by the sorcerer Jaffar, who was trying to conquer the Old World from Araby, although it was ultimately driven back by a coalition of the Empire, Bretonnia and the Estalian and Tilean powers (who were also under threat of conquest).

During the End Times, the massive Skaven invasion utterly steamrolled the Estalian Estates, basically proffiting from the chaos of the world at the time and the political divisions of the Estalian Estates.