Lhazaar Principalities

According to the Book:

A loose confederacy of pirate lords, sea barons, and merchant princes controls the area east of the Hoarfrost Mountains. This strip of the continent’s eastern shore, along with the chain of islands that wraps around the coast and extends north into the Bitter Sea, makes up the region known as the Lhazaar Principalities. Named for the nearmythic explorer who led the humans to Khorvaire some three thousand years ago, the Lhazaar Principalities have always been grouped together—even though the individual princes rarely see themselves as part of a greater whole.
The Principalities developed during the same period when the Five Nations were formed, more than a thousand years before the birth of Galifar. By the time King Galifar I was uniting the Five Nations, the Principalities were well established, as was their inhabitants’ well-deserved reputation as raiders and pirates. When Galifar proclaimed that his kingdom “stretched across the width and breadth of Khorvaire,” the Lhazaar princes ignored him. Their domains were far from the great cities of the Five Nations, separated by a formidable mountain range and the endless seas over which the princes ruled supreme. By 28 YK, King Galifar had fortifi ed his hold over the Five Nations and turned his attention to the threat from the east. The Lhazaar princes and sea barons were wreaking havoc among the coastal communities, interfering with shipping and refusing to bend to the will of the crown. Thus began the Galifar–Lhazaar War, a series of naval engagements that lasted nearly a decade. The sea barons knew the currents better and started out with better vessels, but Galifar dedicated his efforts to building a powerful navy. Aided by magic and the help of some of the dragonmarked houses, Galifar was able to garner enough victories to force the Lhazaar princes to meet to discuss terms. In the end, the Principalities became part of Galifar’s kingdom but remained autonomous, the Lhazaar princes more or less independent within their own domains yet agreeing to pay tribute to Galifar and recognize him as the legitimate ruler of the mainland kingdom. For the next eight hundred years, the Lhazaar princes continued to live in relative harmony with the Five Nations.
Lhazaar pirates slowly developed into traders and explorers, keeping their illicit activities to a minimum so as not to attract the attention of Galifar’s ever-improving navy. When the Last War broke out, the Lhazaar princes initially stayed out of the fray. As the months of conflict and unresolved issues of rulership wore on, the princes decided that their longstanding agreement was with the united Galifar, not the individual successor kingdoms. With the kingdom shattered, the princes felt no obligation to honor the ancient pact. During the century of conflict, the Lhazaar princes one by one reverted to their ancient ways. First, the princes (and their subjects) fought against each other for dominance in the Principalities. Then they turned their sights toward more lucrative prey. Throughout the war, Lhazaar ships engaged in piracy, hired out as privateers, and began to carve out their own pieces from the corpse of the once-great kingdom. Under the leadership of Prince Ryger ir’Wynarn, who claims that the royal blood of Galifar flows through his veins, the Principalities settled their own differences long enough to present a united front at the peace treaty talks on Thronehold.
Now, with the Principalities recognized as a legitimate confederacy by the rest of Khorvaire, the princes have once again traded their pirate fl ags for the colors of merchants—at least outwardly (what may be a merchant vessel today can switch its fl ag and sail as a pirate or raiding vessel tomorrow). Prince Ryger is determined to unite the Principalities and create a naval force the likes of which Khorvaire has never seen before. Then, whatever happens on the mainland, the Principalities will be safe, secure, and powerful beyond imagining. Unfortunately, none of the other princes are quite ready to bend their knees to Ryger, and so his dream remains unfulfilled.

Industries:

The people of the Principalities are sailors and fishers, pirates and merchant marines. They are more comfortable aboard a ship than on land, and some can’t abide solid ground for more than a short visit at a time. Each sea baron and pirate lord commands a fleet of ships that serves as his or her claim to wealth and power. A piece of land, either on the mainland coast or on one of the many islands that separate the Bitter Sea from the Lhazaar Sea, accompanies each title, but without a fl agship and support vessels the land has no value in their eyes.
Some sea barons work exclusively as fishers, traders, or privateers, but the vast majority fly whichever flag is most advantageous at the time—including the skull and crossed swords of piracy. Even with this reputation, many of the dragonmarked houses and other enterprises hire Lhazaar ships and crews to move cargo from one destination to another, in order to take advantage of their expert knowledge of the sea and their ready-to-sail ships.

Life & Society:

Life in the Principalities revolves around the sea. Even those who spend most of their time in the villages that dot the islands provide support for the vessels of the sea princes and those who sail them. Harsh winters and woefully short summers make life on the islands hard and harrowing. They also make the people tough, weathered, and as volatile as the raging seas that regularly buffet their coasts.
The Principalities consist of frontier towns and wild reaches where might makes right and the law reflects the will of the strongest sea prince in the immediate vicinity. Though the Principalities contain some of the oldest human settlements in Khorvaire, they remain places of untamed beauty and lawless excess—at least compared to the towns and cities of the Five Nations. Fierce and independent, the people of the Principalities can be as wild, beautiful, and brutal as the environment around them.
The islands are divided among the dozens of princes who rule the Principalities, and everyone who lives and works on the ships or at the docks pledges fealty to one of these princes. One prince may be a dictatorial taskmaster, another might be thoughtful and good-natured, but all have a ruthlessness that allows them to command hard men and women from the common races—as well as the stray goblinoid or monster that finds its way to the sea. To the people of the Principalities, life on the mainland is soft; the sea tests them and allows the strong and brave not only to survive, but to thrive.

Religion:

The Principalities have no national religion. Indeed, except for a few Blood of Vol devotees and an occasional nod to Kol Korran, the people of the Principalities seem to have little time or patience for worship.

Type

Geopolitical, Country

Related Historical Events

• 996 YK
  Treaty of Thronehold

Government & Politics:

The rule of the princes over the Principalities goes back more than two thousand years. These are not hereditary positions as the kingships enjoyed by the royalty of the Five Nations, though some bloodlines produce more leaders than others. Instead, rulership of each principality goes to the strongest, the toughest, and the most accomplished sailor or pirate or merchant lord in the pack. Determining the next prince (a term applied to both male and female rulers in the Principalities) can sometimes be a violent, bloody affair. In general, the captain with the largest fleet, the most powerful sailing vessel, or the greatest popular support takes the banner of prince for his or her Principality, but tests of skill, of battle, or even of wits have been used to select leaders among the islands of Lhazaar.
The most often used title among the rulers of the Principalities is prince. Other rulers give themselves titles such as sea baron, pirate lord, merchant king, captain, admiral, or duke. Such titles all depend on the traditions of the particular principality and the wishes of the current ruler. While a piece of land, which usually includes a dock or seaport and a small village, accompanies each ruler’s title, the true wealth and power behind the captain’s chair remains the ruler’s flagship and the size of his or her fleet. A prince can hold acres of land, but without a powerful flagship and a fleet of support vessels to sail the sea, he or she has no real power in the Principalities.
Each principality maintains a number of lesser leadership roles that usually remain filled by the same people despite how often the prince’s crown changes hands. These administrators, navigators, shipwrights, and other positions necessary to the continued existence of the principality often attract and keep those best suited to the jobs assigned them. Occasionally a prince comes along who refuses to honor an existing rank or position and wants to place his or her own minions in power, but this is the exception and not the rule.
Few of the dragonmarked houses operate in the Principalities. The exceptions include House Thuranni, which has made its headquarters here since breaking away from House Phiarlan; House Orien, which follows trade and cargo across the continent regardless of which borders it crosses; and House Kundarak, which reluctantly maintains the island prison called Dreadhold.