the Lowlands

The lowlands house the "Theissen" peoples, whose blood is mixed with that of the Sanctians and Voivonne, though their political standing renders them staunchly Theissiesc in alignment. As a result of this mixed blood they are somewhat shorter than their Theissiesc and Voivonne brethren, but still substantially taller than the Fleitchesk or Sanctians, and their children can have thick black, dark brown, light brown or red hair, and light, olive or greyish skin tones - a blend of tone that is distinctively and uniquely Thiessen that the Theissiesc call "sulfurous". They more often inherit the lifespans of the Theissiesc than that of the lifespans of the Veci or the shorter spans of the Sanctians, though these cases do still occur. They tend to be more lighthearted and good-humoured than the Theissiesc, and yet still much less enthusiastically optimistic and more stubborn than the Veci. The Lowlands consist of the largest portion of the Cragpine Woods, as well as the Rhyovar and the Upper Wierscyeire borderlands. It is dominated almost entirely by a Clan that rose to power in the south, called the Clan Theissen. The Lowlands were once part of the Flint Hills Outer Reaches Dictate, which was dissolved after the Times of Tribulation by High Lord Kosair, which granted entirely separate rulings to the Highspire's, Jagged Crown, Lowlands, and the Ashen Wastes regions. Clan Theissen was already an extremely large clan before the Times of Tribulation, doing war and trade both within the Cragpines and the Rhyovar and pushing out and assimilating other clans in their time, but with the Tribulations most other clans were wiped out by external forces or forced to confederate with the Theissen, who proved the most effective fighting force for the Lowlands. High Lord Kosair granted the Flint Hills Outer Reaches Dictates free power over their own armies and peoples, in order to aid them in the defence of their homelands and later granted them ultimate sovereignty in their regions following the massive success this ceding of power saw.
The Theissiesc of other provinces and principalities see them as outsiders, a bit odd, and not quite right in the head, but they grudgingly admit them to be very handy to have around in times of war or peace alike, being tireless workers and fierce fighters. Their lands are a known haven for the South Veci, or Voivones, as all Theissiesc are welcoming to any Veci descendant. Theissen lands are much less harsh and gloomy than that in the rest of the Theissesc confederacy, however, and so make a much more popular destination for the oppressed Voivonne. As Voivonne lands disappear in the Midlands and they are increasingly unwelcome in Midlander cities more and more immigrate. Here, they are not viewed as thieves and vagabonds, but a proud and resilient people, longsuffering yet cheerful in the face of gloom and grim. These are traits the Theissiesc can respect, especially for a people disconnected from Keltaren (from whom the Theissiesc believe longsuffering and resilience in mankind naturally stems from, these being his key characteristics), and following different God's. Besides Voivonne and Veci peoples, many Sanctians live among them, among others. There are a number of reasons they might live here, from avoiding criminal justice in their own lands to merely wanting a new start to life. Theissen culture is, in reality, a conglomeration of cultures. Their society as a whole is quite loose, consisting of great walled wooden cities, nomadic clans, strongholds and steadfasts. Their houses are built of wood and stone in an amalgam of Theissiesc, Sanctian and Veci/Voivonne styles, depending on the region.
Government rarely has need to interfere in the daily lives of its citizens, a strong sense of national pride and duty rule the people's hearts as a general whole; if something needs to be done the people will often collectively organize without prompt and get it done. If troops are needed to send off to distant lands, a volunteer force is raised within a few days. This comes with its disadvantages, at times where governing interference is needed it is less coordinated and prepared, or when allies move in to assist in times of need it is difficult to know how best to help as many people as possible in an efficient and effective manner. When expecting Theissiesc reinforcements one doesn't know whether to expect a fast, lightly armored host of longbowmen (of which the Theissen have excellent variety, thanks to Veci bow design), armored hosts armed with long poleaxes or heavily armored regiments of defensive pikemen, or even a combination of various troops from various Theissen sub-clans. Vice Versa, enemies never know what to expect and have a difficult time devising strategies to defeat them on the field of battle and to fully subdue Theissen lands - if they ever manage to get that far.
Logging in the ancient Cragpine Forest on their borders yield great amounts of timber - the longest, thickest and straightest ship's mast makings the North has to offer, and they send much of their best timber up to Saltport in exchange for trade goods. The Cragpine forest is also rich in elk, bear, moose, wolf and many other beasts that provide good meat and furs. They export large amounts of timber and fish and also deal in salted meats, cured hides, pelts, various mussels, and crawfish.
Theissen warriors utilize a number of weapons, ranging from Sanctian Falchions and Sailors Cutlass' to Voivonne composite bows and Theissiesc Lucerne, though the most common by far is simple but deadly hunting longbows and long, deadly sharp skinning knives. Many wear the "Theissen's Trench" or "Outsider's Cloak", the first being much like a standard Theissiesc Trenchcoat but with an extended back flap, attached halfway down the arms in a Theissen half-coat or fastened all the way around in a full, and the second being essentially a long straight cloak or cape of hard leather with sleeves, something between a trenchcoat and a cloak. Many people retain influences from other cultures, with Voivonne and Sanctian often being thrown into the mix. The Theissen have a rare penchant among the Theissiescvfor flamboyancy, with the wealthier wearing more colourful clothing, and oversized floppy hats brimming with feathers. In battle, the average conscript wears these things along with hard leather cuffs and boots, or other mismatched leather armour. In times of serious defence or invasion the Theissen muster at moot points, generally at barracks within their cities and holdfasts, and equip themselves with better armours and weapons. But like the rest of the Theissiesc, the Theissen have found it necessary to be ready for war at all times, the ability to band together and immediately be battle-ready has been vital to Theissen defence. As such, Theissen warriors are most often seen in simple garb, and armed most often with their hunting bows and firearms, hunting and fishing spears, skinning knives or lumber axes.
The Theissen also have a fleet of sorts. This fleet is largely made up of catamarans, used by their raiders to drift downstream on the fast flowing rivers that flow from the Cragsworn and into the Midlands and launch deadly, lightning-fast raids upon the Sanctians. Once landed, these raiders sack villages and attack outposts, collecting many goods and disassemble their catamarans into lightweight travois for carrying back loot, and retreat back home with all haste through the small woods that line the rivers. They also have a seagoing fleet, launching many ships into the Wide Seas by way of Pineglade Port upon the Bay of Vorsikk. The Sanctians call them Pirates, but they call themselves Privateers, or the Partisan Navy. Most do not target merchant ships heading to or from Saltport, but they do range the seas and commit acts of Piracy against any vessels on other seaward routes not connected to Saltport. They also act as Privateers, seeking out and sinking other pirates upon the Salt Seas. In more southern seas, they prefer to leave other pirates be, just to better damage the Sanctians, but they are not averse to targeting pirate ships that they believe to be heavily laden with booty regardless of where they are. They most often fight against Westerlander pirates and outlaw Sanctian pirates upon the Salt seas, though they often clash with Scaeltiar and Varaignian raiders, or Triton incursions. They are especially adept at chasing down raiders who escaped the clutches of the Salt Shores Fleet, commandeering their ships, executing the crew and hauling the stolen goods back to where they came from before hauling the desolate ship back to the Bay of Vorsikk to be used as floating water defences.
The Theissen build catamarans for their ships, in utter contrast to other nations monohull vessels. These ships are much lighter and by far faster than heavy ironclads of the Theissiesc High Lords Navy - which make up the larger part of the Theissiesc' war fleet, and are also faster than the Salt Shore Folk's own lighter ships. They are quite a bit faster than Sanctian Ships, Varaignian ships, the speedy Scaeltiar longships, and they can even chase down the famously fast Westerlander Fluyt's. Pirates or Privateers often start with a smaller, simple catamaran vessel only larger than the small single-crew vessels used to raid down the rivers, with a small fleet of volunteers at his back with similar vessels. They position themselves around islands and in inlets ready to ambush enemy ships, using the superior speed of their vessels to draw alongside enemy vessels. They then use primitive but effective scaling ladders and grappling hooks to swarm over the enemy deck, often before they even realize what is happening, and overwhelm the crew and winning the ship. They will generally use the money gained from the raid as well as the timber from the ship they commandeered to build for themselves better ships. The more successful a Theissen pirate, the larger their catamarans and the greater his loyal fleet. These "pirates" often become quite influential individuals, many Lowlander Lords have come from skilled and lucky Pirate captains - one only needs to think of High Lord Kosair, from whom the term "Corsair" was first coined, a Sanctian rendering of what the members of Kosair's personal fleet named themselves. This word in Theissiesc'lein is a double play on word and grammar meanings. It suggests both that they belong to Kosair, and that they are slightly lesser versions of him. The placement of the "R" is misplaced but is a humorous twisting of proper Theissiesc'lein grammar that specifically reflects Theissen dialect and common privateer slang, giving a proud and contemptuous nod to their Theissen heritage and rougher occupation both. Properly, it is "Ri'Kosair", to mean "belonging to Kosair", or "Kosairen" (with the word ending "ren", not "en", but in this case the "r" is substituted with the original letter and "en" would have been replaced with "yn", as is the case when a word ends in any hard vowel or prolonged consonant) meaning that they are like, or of him. Theissen dialects sometimes add the prefix in right after the first consonant or syllable, rendering it "Kirosair" in this particular case, and combined with common privateer slang the word is rendered "Korsair". The word was not invented by, but made a proper term by Sanctian mariners.

Type

Geopolitical, Principality