Auburn

As you approach the borders of one of the larger southern Sedden nations, you can already hear the sounds of steam engines roaring. The fires of the future fuel the forges that blacken the skies with their smoke, and fill the air with the sounds of iron, bronze, and steel being beaten into submission. Auburn, the home of the Warforged, and the single largest kingdom built entirely on manufacturing. With it's southern border constantly assaulted by the fiendish monsters of Omen'an, it's western leading to the dangerous Screaming Peaks, and the east leading straight into the Seddenese tundra, Auburn was forced to build upwards. It's capital city of Helmhawk has buildings that rise to the sky, with residential structures nearly twenty stories high in order to keep land open for factories and pallets of goods to be shipped north, to places like Murinechire.
In recent years, the royal line of Auburn has been cut short, and their government been completely reformed. A man who only refers to himself publicly as Locus recently claimed credit for the assassination of the previous prime minister, Alexander Urie, and by his own personal order sent the king on an indefinite vacation to his beach home to the west. He's turned Auburn's economic focus to one much more threatening, ordering all warforged soul cores be instead sent to the capital to become soldiers of the state, rather than to whatever foreign kingdoms may have ordered them.
Until Locus' claim of the throne, places such as Harna, Coraar, the various states of the Shelf, Muria, and many others had a rather strong military reliance on Auburn, as most conflicts were settled with warforged. Most of Sedden consideres the race to be lesser, and therefore expendable for such disputes. With this change of focus, Auburn finds itself at a surprising and startling advantage over the other nations of Sedden, leaving their steadily growing power a looming threat to these other nations.

Full capacity by Tarmo Juhola

Culture

The people of Auburn are used to steels governance being a constant of life, with the most industries ran by constructs rather than mortals. Food service, manufacturing, law enforcement and emergency services, and so all fall under the broad banner of things that are done almost entirely by the warforged. This leaves other roles, like leadership, mercantile, and other professions left to those of the flesh. Because of the scarcity of these positions, many fall to poverty, and find jobs as back alley mechanics, mercenaries, and thieves. Others turn to owning their own warforged, and renting them out to pay the bills and put food on the table.
With the high rate of poverty, you'll also find a high rate of injury and sickness within Auburn. The people have found their own solutions to this, though. Mechanical replacements for things like limbs, organs, and bones have become common place, with some seeming to be more machine than man, despite how they may have been born.

Demography and Population

Humans (60%), Warforged (20%), Tieflings (10%), Mousefolk (5%), Other (15%)

Religion

The worship of Kezpudin is rather common among the working class, as everyone wants his guidance to hopefully find their ticket to greatness, but you'll find a surprising number of folks who turn their ears to the voice of Kik, asking for clean rivers, cleansing rain, and the smoke that fills their skies to be blown away. For obvious reasons, many warforged find faith in Vortigern, some purely out of admiration or envy, and others out of the appreciation for the combat they were built to endure.

Trade & Transport

Travel in Auburn happens in primarily two ways; the Assembly Line, or the railway network that interconnects the largest settlements. Though privately owned, the railway company known as Utopia Rail is almost entirely funded by taxes. The company managed to get itself in good standing politically by promising that their network would bring the country closer to universally happy, with the claims that it would bring husbands to their families and sons to their mothers by removing jobs that kept them on the dangerous roads for such long periods of time. With it's rather oppressive prices though, Utopia Rail really only makes life easier for the wealthy, leaving the poor to stick to walking.
The Assembly Line is one of the largest uninterrupted roads in southern Sedden, and makes a strange and almost unnatural spiral shape, starting from Helmhawk in the center and slowly hitting every major settlement on it's way. Almost all travel happens along the Assembly Line, and though shortcuts along smaller roads are common, with it's constant maintenance and it's many guard posts, the Line is simply less dangerous than any other route, despite the extra time spent on the cobbled highway.

"The flesh is replaceable."

Type

Geopolitical, Kingdom

Demonym

Aubian

Leader

Locus

Currency

The Aubian Glint (Symbol: ⚙) Worth approximately .2 standard gold pieces.

Location

Sedden

Official Languages

• Seddenese

Housing Mechanics

Demand: Low
Land Quality: Squalid - Wealthy
Possible Docks: Air, Planar, Water
Special Rules: The government of Auburn, even after the change of rulership, grants taxation subsidies to those who actively produce goods. Houses with a majority of their available room points utilized by Crafting Workshops do not have to pay the monthly upkeep for the land that construction is built on. Additionally, the construction cost of a Factorys, Smithys, and Workshops are all reduced by 50%. These benefits only apply to constructions built within settlements recognized by the kingdom of Auburn.