Albion, the Holylands
"In the gods, we find love.
In each other, we find brothers.
In our swords, we find purpose.
In death, we find ascension.
And in battle, we find justice."
~Red Legion Proverb
The Mainlands, the holy land, the heart lands, the golden Country, The nation of albion means many things to many different people. To most Albion is a land bursting with its vibrant culture and deep religious roots. All of the mortal races, with the exception of elves, can trace their ancestry all the way back to beginnings in Albion.
Were you to find yourself wandering into one of Albions many cities, you likely will find yourself astounded at the architecture before your eyes. This would be due to how each city in Albion is overseen by a master builder, a role most often held by a loxodon or a dwarf. Each city is built more like a great art piece painted by an artist. The practicality is very much second to the cities aesthetics, not to an egregious degree however. Each city is built in itself as an offering to a particular deity, as examples Moralin in Skies Grasp and Aloeradin for Blackgate. The architecture resembles the values each god represents in their domain, whether it be white marble contrasted with accents of gold and red like in skies grasp, or the gothic stylings and grey and black accented by shades of blue in Blackgate.
With good weather almost all year round, a citizen of Albion, an Albian, can often be recognised by a slight tan to their skin, primarily the humans. Often featuring a pair of brown eyes and blonde hair. Albion possesses a heavy religious influence engrained in its culture which may seem strange to outlanders. Social Hierarchy is most often linked to position within the religious system. The highest in society are the holy warriors and priests of the gods worshipped in Albion. Often granted land and wealth for their religious service, however it is a lo g climb to the top and going from a beggar to a noble is very difficult without a sponsor.
Albionic culture revolves around their holy beliefs, swearing fealty each morning and asking for protection during the night, thanking the gods for the Good food they have granted, and screaming your chosen gods name before charging into combat. When a middle or upper class Child comes to the age of 16 they undertake a religous ritual known as the choosing and are tasked to make a journey to lake Blessed outside of skies grasp, a lake said to be filled with holy waters, and meditate there for 6 days and 6 nights, praying to each of the gods individually and eating and drinking only from the Lake and surrounding vegetation. They bring eith them a priest who shall judge the event On it's happening however contact with any person during this timevis forbidden. On the 7th day the person is to arise at a brief moment where both the sun and the moon are visible. If there is a full moon it often bodes well for them, however a lunar eclipse is a bad omen on the child and the family. Regardless the Priest shall hold in his hands a small glass sphere, named the Celeziurn which is coated with the dust of the child's holiest ancestors and the sphere is places in the Lake for one year(removing these spheres prematurely is a very serious crime, however they sell for very good money based on their craftsmanship). Once the year is completed the child and the Priest return to take the sphere from the river and inside of it the ashes will have coalesced into the sign of a particular god. If this god is not one of the Disallowed gods the teenager has a great celebration in which many other teenagers are invited along to a grand feast known as the Grandest Rite. If the sigil was that of a forsaken god, the child is shamed by the family and society and no celebration is held, instead they must return to the temple in which the Priest who came along with them and pray for acceptance.
This ritual of bizzare levels of zealousy is a perfect example of belief structure within Albion to an outsider. As while on the surface their faith may seem a harmless sign of dedication and honour to a cause, if one looks at the highest in society many of them are very commited worshippers, who would blow up and demand a dual with the offender immediately. While this is indend a mn exaggerated viewpoint from which an outsider may view Albion as most folk from Albion are simple happy and hardworking religious people, these archetypes very much do exist and I advise Caution when speaking to the highest of Albion society as to not cause such a thing, traveller.
In addition the overt religousness can often cause a fear and scorn to some races. Races such as Dhampirs, Tieflings, Alemans and even Dragonborn may be scorned or disliked based on their heritage. While officially not hunted, there are some underground extremist groups who will make such people, especially if they are those who practice taboo magics. Some of these groups are even rumoured to be linked with one of the 6 speakers. However such things are actively being changed by high speaker Cynfael Godfrey and Ascended Templar Verack Rultarian who are a Dhampir and a Changeling respectively.
This caused much uproar in the nation however they were chosen through Albion traditions and as such can not be argued. There was almost a civil war caused originally when this Cynfael was chosen to be the new high speaker as the previous one had passed away. The other 5 speakers attempted to cover it up, but the Inquisitoris stepped in and sided with Cynfael as the speakers were not abiding by traditions set in place. The 5 other speakers were banished becoming known as the Unholy and 5 additional speakers were Chosen in the years following. This event took place 40 years ago and 10 years ago the Changeling Verack became accended templar and together the two have been attempting to change the race relations in Albions society as they are often scorned and disliked. However following the choosing of Cynfael the other 5 speakers were banished and have since went underground and joined extremist groups.
While the guard would have you believe otherwise, many of Albions cities are rife with unsavoury criminal groups. These groups often pay large sums of money to corrupt authorities to operate uninterrupted, this is especially true in the city of Blackgate which is almost completely controlled by these criminal organisations. This is currently being cracked down on by the high speaker and the order of the white rose.
Demography and Population
The population of Albion are primarily located within it's colossal metropolitan areas. These cities are typically designed with the rich within the centre surrounded by poverty on the outside. Surrounding these colossal cities are small villages full of those unlucky enough to be beyond the city walls, who must often face the danger of the outside worlds with little help from the Often busy order of the white rose. Even those in poverty prefer to dwell on the streets within the walled cities rather than even live in a house in a village outside the cities.
These outsiders are often subject to any number of dangers like Goblin tribes, Dragonborn barbarians, vampires, trolls, giants, monsters, blackened wastes raiding parties, yuan ti scouts and a newly identified threat of strange purple Squidlike creatures which are theorized to be causing the disappearance of many civilians.
Territories
Albion is often called the Heartlands as it is located in the centre of the map of the Globe and possess a large amount of fertile farming land. Albion are historically known for excusing unruley land grabs as holy conquests as demanded by the gods. Because of this Albion possesses many lands all around them which historically belonged to other nations. While these conquests have not taken place for many centuries, the wounds have not entirely healed over by the people who live there who believe their lands should not be part of Albion and instead their respective nations.
Military
Compared to other militaries, Albion doesn't have the crazy monsters at their disposal, dragon riders, armies of constructs, firearms, or arcane casters. But what Albion does have is numbers, with possibly the largest army out of the council of nations.
Albions army is called the Red legion based on their red heavy armor. Each soldier wears a crest representing their respective regiment name or order
Each soldier is equipped with a large weapon, heavy armor and often a mount. These mounts range from warhorses, to dire wolves, to Pegasus'. Known for vigorous training methods and ruthless effectiveness in their tactics.
While the majority of the army are these holy cavalry, there are other sects of the army of Albion. The blessed of Venswal are archers and Crossbowmen blessed by the god of the hunt who often back up the cavalry from range.
The light of celestia is a group of divine casters such as clerics and some sorcerers who are rarely seen in minor conflicts but when they are called in for large battles they are a sight to behold
And finally the Inquisitoris which are a legion of paladins working under direct commands of the high speaker, a rule which can only be dismissed by divine intervention. They are split up into several orders within this sect, one such being the order of the white rose who are a group of peacekeepers and witchhunters who operate out of Albion itself, and another being the order of the blue Lilly who are often wandering redemption or devotion paladins who go from country to country often simply to spread the word of their deity, but sometimes are enlisted by the speakers to carry out certain functions such as working as intermediaries in a conflict.
Technological Level
The technology level of Albion isn't as high comparable to other nations as they have not taken much interest in pursuing research relating to changing their ways of life. They focus very much on their traditions as they believe they grant them a better connection to the gods themselves.
Religion
Despite Albion being perceived as the most overtly religious of the nations, some of their customs are quite restrictive in their beliefs. The army is often restricted to worshipping gods such as Zevfara Venswal, Bahamut and Alivan while at war, while generals may pray to Shusina or Valenar for tactical inspiration
While it is an unspoken rule that some gods are favoured before others, there are gods who's worship is outright banned such as the giant gods, devils and demons, and celestial gods such as Ulbetex, Blenin, Piekal, and Ruwandal. Their worship is seen as criminal and is punishable by jail time or worse.
Foreign Relations
While Albion is a part of the council of nations, indeed it is the founder, it's people have somewhat of a reputation of being overzealous fanatics. While this is false in most cases, the people who leave Albion to visit other nations are often holy worshippers on pilgrimage or trying to spread the message of their god either through peaceful means or by force.
Albion can also have a fairly intolerant reputation as several races are feared and scorned within the cities, which many
Agriculture & Industry
Outside of the colossal metropolitan areas in Albion there are fields of crops which in themselves could spam nations. These crops are not required to rotate land thanks to several light and nature clerics known as the land keepers. The fields are then maintained more mundanely by retired warforged soldiers who seek a peaceful life, or any number of people who find themselves unable to enter a city. These farmers often live in the villages outside these fields, however they are often left to buy their protection from bandits as they lack any means of protection themselves with the armies spread very thin. Though there are rumours of an altruistic organisation of people who go from village to village assisting these people for no reward, however they are not sanctioned by the government.
As well as these fields of crops are expansive mount farms which litter the landscape. On these farms are any number of variations of mounts the military may require such as horses, Hypogriffs , Pegasus and several more. Maintaining these farms may be a thankless task as there are many different mounts who would rather eat the other mounts than listen to your commands.
Albion does not possess the colossal steel and Iron refineries of other nations, and as such much of their metals come frlm Redwind blacksmiths in exchange for mounts and soldiers.
Trade & Transport
Albion possesses the lowest amount of airships of all of the council of nations, with only 3 in their disposal, as they lack the technological advancement to create more. As such for transporting goods they must use Horse and cart to transport most of their goods.
They posess a network of long roads which go between the cities, with small villages dotted along the roads. These transports must have a large amount of protection to transport their goods as their are bandits and other never do wells who would give an arm to take any supplies from the cities. These bandits often live in abandoned fortresses around the landscape which exist from the war times.
These crumbling stone castles often feature a tribe of bandits, goblins, orcs, or any number of different creatures, with the biggest of these castles containing several different tribes, perhaps even warring with each other. These can also go as small as a tribe of 6 creatures living in a single ruined tower and attempting to raid nearby villages or supply trade routes.
However the faster form of transport is definitely the house Orion lightning railway which runs through each of the large cities of Albion and each of the council of nations cities. This railway operates far above the ground and is held up and cloaked by magic, and as such is very difficult to rob. However this service is only regularly used by nobles as it is minimum 20 platinum pieces for a single ticket.
Education
Generally speaking the lower classes revieve no formal education until they join the military at age 17. They may recieve home schooling of some sort but formal education is restricted to the higher classes, due to the price of it. However some villages or streets will save up money to send a child away to live under a knight to be educated as a sort of Tithe.
Noble children are educated in horse riding, history, geography, fencing, tactics, public speaking, warfare. Religion is not an actual subject as each subject in itself are seen as an aspect of a given god and such while doing these subjects, and divulge more particulary into their specific god.
Military education is much more common and much more Solely practical information. History would be tales of previous conflicts, geography would be how to read a map or spot good camping locations. Skills such as brewing health potions, pitching tents and maintaining your equipment are also taught to soldiers as well as rigouris fitness reigemes and
Languages are also taught
Infrastructure
Albion posses no colossal factories or ore refineries like other nations, however they do posess a large amount of coal mines which are kept for domestic use or for the army.
Each city possess a large aquaducts which carry water to it from mountain springs or lakes and ascend high above the ground.
Each city is laid out much like a base of operations with large circular stone walls which stand very tall and are garisoned with many guards and contain arrow slits for easy defence. Skies Grasp is an excellent example of this as while built as a holy city, it was also built with its height advantage taken into account and possesses a large ascending bridge and several ladders which could be made inoperable in the worry of attack.
Underneath these cities is also an extensive sewer system which spans beneath these massive cities and are often operated by kobold or goblin workers who keep them running. They are also known for employing a Marid or using a water elemental to assist in their function, an Idea given by Arno of the 9.
Capital
Government System
Theocracy
Power Structure
Feudal state
Economic System
Market economy
Currency
Common Coins such as platinum, gold, silver, electrum, copper
Major Exports
Albions main "export" is it's constant supply of battle ready soldiers. These soldiers either head directly to the blackened wastes and fight the enemy there or are contracted by other nations for mercenary work. As such Albion maintains much of its rather unstable economy based on the coin they receive for their expensive but well trained soldiers. These troops are employed to guard cities or trade routes, or for engaging domestic threats in the nation they are In, even sometimes contracted to train villagers in armed combat.
While the soldiers of the red legion are the main export, Albion also produces many other supplies such as crops from its colossal food farms, trained mounts and dragon scales from any dragons in its service.
Major Imports
Albion cannot produce enough products to maintain its constant outpouring of soldiers of the red legion into the blackened wastes and other nations. Therefore they require supplies such as weaponry and armor from Redwind and magical items from Zyiligia in exchange for mounts and soldiers.
Legislative Body
The Speakers of the Chosen Gods
Judicial Body
The Inquisitoris (order of the white rose)
Official State Religion
Location
Neighboring Nations
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