Carth

The continent of Carth is as vast as it is varied. Countless races call this land their home: humans, elves, dwarves, goblins, ogres, dragons, and more all reside here in an uneasy peace.   In the east, the Democratic Carthan Republic have begun a golden age of industrialization, building airships, locomotives, firearms, and even automata, fueled by claims of a mythical bygone era when their ancestors ruled from sea to shining sea. Their Parliament, led by the Prime Minister William Antwerp have begun to push the nation's merchant interests now more than ever, though disputes between the dozen political parties that dominate the body politic have obscured any outright agenda that Parliament may be pursuing.   In the west, the forest kingdom of Zehrn has elevated the study of magic to an art form, boasting the greatest wizards ever recorded. Their culture, if the royal family is to be believed, has reigned supreme for millenia, though recent centuries has left their kingdom diminished, confined to arboreal lands between the continent's great lakes. Queen Elenya Cleareyes is the current sovereign, though she prefers to concern herself with matters of art and society and leave matters of military and politics to her many lords and ladies, allowing her vassals near total control of their fiefs, so long as their tax is paid dutifully.   In the south, on the northernmost borders of the desert, is the small merchant country of Almsand. It was founded as a conglomeration of the numerous trading posts and waystations that dotted the Almsroad, an old but flourishing trade route, between Zehrn and the DCR. Though lacking in much natural resource, it thrives on coin and bartering, and the merchant lords that form its oligarchy know best how to turn gold into power. It retains its independence from either neighbour by being too integral to national trade for either to risk losing.   In the eastern waters, off the coast of the DCR, lies the free island nations of the Shattered Sea. These insular city states are as various as their citizens, with some islands home to iron-fisted dictatorships, while others lead idyllic, pastoral lives free of the concerns of politics or finance. To sum up these islands is to misrepresent them, but one thing can be said for sure: there is no law in the water, and not every ship you meet will want to trade.   In the center of it all lies Scrubland, the de facto nation that all others work around. Scrubland, as the name suggests, houses naught but the scraggliest of plant or wildlife. A few thin towns are scattered about its vast, flat plains, most built around the rare oasis or stream. The air is too dry for farming, the animals too scarce for hunting, and the ground too barren for mining. Its nationhood derives from the simple fact that nobody else wants it. If there's something worthwhile out here, it hasn't been found yet.