Mt. Miserth Fortress

Mt. Miserth Fortress is a major commercial hub. They are the largest producers of ship grade timbers on the continent. The Fortress controls much of the great western forested regions of Eizea and they have an extensive record of military operations to keep it that way. 
The forests being one of the regions least effected by the mists the lowland regions surrounding Mt. Miserth are some of the most densely populated areas of the continent. While they lack the massive tracts of land patrolled by the navies of Mt. Aekland, the Fortress has the virtue of having the largest number of voices on their side. With the benefits of "The Lowlands" of Mt. Misert being of a naturally higher altitude than those of any other fortress, modern day Mt. Miserth can barely make the distinction between Lowborn and Highborn a significant part of life anymore. 
Mt. Miserth has the most modern fleet of Skyships on the continent. Developing these to be purely for performance, their battle history of have greater numbers of much smaller vessels has served them well in the past. They have maintained this style in their modern organisation. instead of looking like the traditional seaworthy ships of the other Strongholds Mt. Miserth's navy lacks the open top decks and designs their counterparts have. Their ships are now shaped like arrowheads and they are capable of far greater speeds that has proven capable of dodging the fire of the guns of opponents. The seafaring capacity of these modern craft is minimal, however they have constructed a number of ocean barges that can carry many of these craft over the oceans. Their intentions for these developments are currently unknown. 
The Culture of Mt. Miserth is that of the common man. Their traditional close contact with the lowborn has created what could pass as a modern kingdom in somewhere like Olancia or The Cobalt Isles. The politics of the Fortress has been a democracy since the end of The First Skywar. Eventually votes were granted to the Lowborn of their region (albeit votes of less value) however after many advocates for Lowborn rights they are essentially on equal footing to the Mt. Miserth Highborn. These Highborn do not have the same political separation from their lowborn fellows as the other Strongholds, in response they have developed their high society to be as exclusive as possible. The Highborn control or own all of the merchant guilds, workshops, logging companies, and banks. Through these means they keep the Lowborn from rising too high. 
This situation of corruption, wealth division and classism has brewed much resentment to those that actually live inside the Fortress, a few times in history this has actually brewed into revolutionary fever. But with the power of the fleet on the side of the rich inside Mt. Miserth nothing has ever come from these efforts. The massive numbers of smaller ships has made policing the Mt. Miserth lands incredibly easy. Mt. Miserth has been under political fire from all sides for their treatment of the Lowborn. Many of the other strongholds only see democratic voting and believe they are giving too much to the Lowborn while others understand the cruel economic oppression they have crafted instead and believe it is too harsh. 
Mt. Miserth maintains its importance to the patchwork of Eizea by being intense business-people. Them being the main supply of timber has granted them a great natural gift to control that market. With the capacity to destroy entire industries of construction and shipbuilding in other strongholds they can negotiate trade deals concerning other products and goods on the back of the deals surrounding the timber trade. They have noted significant efforts to grow massive plantations of trees in the works for generations, though they have never officially taken responsibility for the freak wildfires and accidents that ruin these designs. For both this and their various political and social differences Mt. Miserth and Mt. Aekland have butted heads for centuries. Tensions constantly rise and fall, it is merely the memory of the Second Skywar and the example that was made of Mt. Redact that keeps things from escalating. Instead a constant war of economics takes place.