Forard
The Kingdom of Forard is a nation hugging the coast of the Circle Sea, south of Bamard, west of Columba, and east of Losana. It is a unified kingdom that has managed to leave behind its Jakonian origins and forge out a new, byzantine government system that allows for advancement even for the lowest of the classes. The Forardis are best known for their seafood dishes, colorful architecture, and courtly intrigues.
Structure
The love of the Forardis for complex political structures is well known across all of Emicara. The king is the supreme head of state in Forard, but true power rests in the hands of the bureaucracy. There are nine different departments in the bureaucracy: Army, Navy, Rural Infrastructure, Urban Infrastructure, Magic, Education, Statecraft, Internal Relations, and Law. The head of each department within the Forardi bureaucracy is seated upon the Committee of Department Heads, which is presided over by the King himself. Policies and laws for the nation as a whole are determined by the Committee, but individual policies by department enforced nationwide are not uncommon. There exists great rivalries between some of the departments, most famously the Army and Navy, Rural and Urban Infrastructure, and Statecraft and Internal Relations.
History
The first Kingdom of Forard emerged from bloodshed, when the town leaders of Crawfordville found an artifact of the Nameless Empire that allowed them to mass produce seasoned warriors. They were able to produce thousands of these beings, each of which carelessly were cast into battle against much better armed and equipped opponents, who were unable to resist the sheer waves of warriors. The kingdom was proclaimed in the wake of this victory, and it proved effective again, when an army of clone warriors were sent to fight the Pit orc invasion in the Badlands just a decade later. The clones couldn't just be destroyed, and were retained as soldiers, a critical mistake for the young nation.
Only a couple decades later, the aged clones began wondering why they were forced into subservience, and the Clone Rebellion began, as they assaulted their former masters, and Crawfordville was burned. What followed was a vicious eight year long civil war, as the Forardis struggled to rebuild an army from scratch, trying to figure out how to fight against the battle hardened clones. The clones' age began to show, and without any more being produced, the rebellious armies began to rapidly diminish in the field. The would-be revolution petered out without any further pitched battles, as the Forardis wore down the clones with constant skirmishing.
Following the Clone Rebellion came a period of peace for the Forardis, as they made new alliances and commitments. Predominant of these was a lasting agreement forged between Forard, the Mersan Republic, and the Kingdom of Recfrere. Organized by a cabal of remnants of the old Nameless Empire government, these three nations formed an alliance known as the "Enclave of the Old Empire." They were highly concerned about the growth in power of the Jakonians, who they viewed as upstart criminals. As the Jakonians attempted to add the Badlands to their empire, the Enclave prepared itself for a major war. The ensuing Enclave War proved to be a major defeat, particularly for Forard, which was annexed into the Jakonian Empire as the war came to an end.
Under Jakonian rule, Forard was a constant bed of plots and intrigue. Although many Forardis did find a welcome place in the halls of the Fellowship of the Palm, they were well suited to manipulating the management of their nation. Forard was granted extensive, fairly lenient rights when compared to other regions, even managing to convince the Empire into further military endeavors against Bamard and the Shin Empire. Only when the Jakonian Empire stopped serving their purposes did the Forardis even contemplate a rebellion. As the Empire descended into chaos in the Tenth Century, the Forardis managed to effectively organize a plot from within the Jakonians' own intelligence apparatus. Imperial security forces had no idea of the impending revolt until it occurred in 920. The Forardis easily disarmed and defeated the remaining Jakonians in their territory, and secured independence.
After gaining independence, the Kingdom of Forard has been somewhat less effective. The government was reorganized along completely new lines, though many of the old Forardi lords were allowed to retain their positions and status. Although the bureaucracy is significantly more egalitarian than the feudal system of the Jakonians, it remained a hive of constant political struggle and intrigue. Having lost some of their territory to Jakonian incompetence, the Forardis sought to expand, first unsuccessfully against the Kingdom of Columba, and then again against the Mersan Union less than a year later. These two wars exhausted the Forardi military, which was forced to spend some years rebuilding and reconstituting themselves.
The Forardis since the wars have been involved in a long period of reconstruction and development, but this has not been truly peaceful. The Forardi Departments have occasionally engaged in outright warfare with each other, sometimes directly and often using local nobles as proxies for struggles for dominance. The most violent of these have been between the Army and Navy, but the other departments have begun retaining their own armed forces to enforce their will, and it seems to many that the Forard nation is a volatile barrel of gunpowder just ready to explode.
Demography and Population
The majority of the population in Forard consists of Forardi humans. The Church of the One Sun has argued heavily against the allowance of other races, but under the decisions of the committee, nonhumans are allowed to reside in Forard, but without true citizenship status. The only exceptions are the races of Populres, including goblins, orcs, dragonkin, and demonkin. Although they are legally allowed to live within Forard, most other races choose to give this dubious honor a pass. Many are also concerned about the possible large presence of garis within the borders of the kingdom, but their existence is officially denied by both the Kingdom of Forard and the Church of the One Sun.
Military
The military of the Kingdom of Forard is in a state that would be baffling to outsiders. The Department of the Army and the Department of the Navy are the official armed forces of the kingdom, but every department deploys at least one or two regiments of their own, for protection and enforcement of their policies, with the Department of Law being the truly largest armed force in Forard. These regiments are constantly competing for funding and equipment, which leads to a variety in quality and quantity of these forces. The king does possess the rights to call together all of the armed forces of each department for larger military campaigns, with exemptions for the Departments of Internal Relations and Statecraft. All departments' armed forces are organized into regiments based on Jakonian patterns and designs, including the marine detachments of the Navy.
Technological Level
The Kingdom of Forard has mostly been able to keep up with new technological advances coming out of the Jakonian Empire or elsewhere. They are rarely the originators of new ideas or technology, however, as their own colleges and institutions are often too busy bickering among themselves than innovating. The colleges also place more focus on the knowledge of how to traverse bureaucracy than on the actual technical elements of the professions they profess to offer training for.
Religion
The Church of the One Sun is the only legal religion present in the Kingdom of Forard. The Church of Keshush is tolerated, but any pagan faiths are strictly forbidden and this is enforced heavily by the Department of Internal Relations. Internal Relations has actually taken over the duties of the Fellowship of the Palm in the Kingdom of Forard, and the Fellowship has recently been forbidden from conducting operations within Forardi territory, as they handle their own religious affairs. The Church has issued no protest about this order as the Department of Internal Relations has proven just as effective as the Church's own efforts to combat heathens and heresy.
Foreign Relations
Forard has few amicable relations with their surrounding nations. Wars with the Mersan Union and the kingdoms of Columba and Bamard have made it difficult for the Forardis to have alliance or even a loose friendship. Relations remain cold, and the borders heavily patrolled and fortified, as all four states believe future wars to be nearly inevitable, even if it is simply taking advantage of a new civil war among the Forardi Departments.
On the other hand, Forard has managed to keep up friendly relations with the Kingdom of Losana, as the Losanans and Forardis have had to maintain a united front against raids from the Sypi Confederacy. The Confederate raids have proven a major irritant in the western lordships and communities, threatening the balance of power. For the most part, Forard has fared better than Bamard and Losana, keeping a quick defense against the assaults made by the tribes.
Overseas, Forard has rekindled a relationship with the Jakonian Empire, not quite forming an alliance, but at least recognizing common cause against Columba. They have up and down relations with the various Free Cities, who offer stiff competition for Forardi merchant both at home and abroad, but they often bring in support of a political nature. The Bahami Federation remains a constant threat, and the Department of the Navy is constantly advocating for more ships and marines to combat the threat the corsairs represent towards trading and commerce. Payment of tribute or ransoms to the Bahamis has been consistently dismissed out of hand.
Abroad, the Forardis are best known for the Department of Statecraft, which operates embassies and consulates in nearly every independent community and nation throughout Emicara. The Forardis are the best represented among other nations, bringing their diplomacy first and foremost. The Department of Statecraft also operates the single most effective espionage apparatus in the continent, and it is said that if a plot is afoot anywhere in Emicara, the Forardis probably know about it.
Agriculture & Industry
The Forardi kingdom is best known for their booming fishing industry. Forardi sailors travel out great distances for fish, but also to conduct whaling exercises in the Endless Ocean. Great fleets of fishermen are known to set out at one time for whale hunts, bringing back the valuable carcasses and oil to the industries of Forard. No other nation conducts these great expeditions, and the sea life of Emicara fear the fleets of Forard. The industries in Forard are similarly built around whale oil, and while Forard lacks much in the way of other natural resources, they are still able to finance a strong home industry for domestic needs.
Education
The Department of Education is one of the most lavish and well funding educational programs in all of Emicara. They offer training schools in all vocations, and even maintain regiments of their own for a military education. The Department of Education is the most cooperative with all other departments in the Kingdom of Forard, bringing specialized training to enable people to pursue careers, and identifying candidates of remarkable talent and aptitudes. They fund schools in every town and major city, even bringing basic literacy to the outlying villages of the kingdom. Advanced education, however, typically remains in the hands of individual departments, each of which maintain their own colleges for specific knowledge relating to their business.
Infrastructure
The Forardi people have always been more nautically inclined, due to their long coastline, and most large scale travel takes place under the close observance of the Department of the Navy. Large barges and ships transport both people and goods alike from one town to the other. The Departments of Urban and Rural Infrastructure are those responsible for the development of roads, and they have often been considered to be the least of the Forardi departments. Much of their budgets have often gone to support prestige projects to keep them at par with the other departments, rather than actually improving the nation's infrastructure. Most towns and cities have paved roads, but outside of town walls, most of the roads remain made of dirt or gravel rather than easy to use paved paths.
Town walls are mostly maintained by the Department of Urban Infrastructure, and have received plenty of financing, but it is often spread to the main urban centers rather than outlying areas. Villages and smaller towns are often forced to make their own accomodations which can often lead to disputes with the Department. Other national defenses have been created by the Departments of the Army and the Navy, including castles that protect some of the most vulnerable approaches into the kingdom.
Founding Date
Hardfrost 6, 921
Type
Geopolitical, Kingdom
Capital
Demonym
Forardi
Head of State
Government System
Monarchy, Constitutional
Power Structure
Unitary state
Economic System
Mixed economy
Currency
Copper/Silver/Gold
Major Exports
Fish, whale products
Major Imports
Iron ore, steel goods, luxury goods, luxury foodstuffs
Legislative Body
Committee of Department Heads
Judicial Body
Department of Law
Official State Religion
Subsidiary Organizations
Official Languages
Neighboring Nations
Notable Members
Related Ethnicities
Comments