The Easterlands

The Easterlands is a region filled with wealth and excess. All of the major cities in the land have extravagant architecture and truly monumental infrastructure projects. The Capital of this land and its shining jewel is the metropolis known as Sidmouth Port. It is within the sprawling dockyards of this massive city that the majority of all commerce in Endaro takes place. Within these docks lies the largest merchant fleets in the world trading goods from all the lands of Endaro.
The regio itself sits upon many acres of highly fertile soils in a pleasant equatorial and subtropical climate. The climate allows for a great variety of fauna and crops to be grown and sold and traded. The farms of these lands produce everything from fruits and vegetable to luxurious spices. There are entire towns dedicated to the cultivation of super plantations to provide endless supplies of various foods and flavours.
The coastal towns are all heavily engaged in trade and commerce, with a select few towns having become heavily industrialised for the large scale production of cheap weapons and armours for export to other lands. The population is focused in the large coastal cities with agriculture becoming more predominant inland.
The towns are run by an oligarchy of executive guilds dedicated to the running of local policy, while central power is controlled by a group of men known as the merchant's council. These men are the wealthiest traders in all of the easterlands, and all own significant trading empires and sit on a mountain of personal wealth. They exert control through the guilds and the bureaucracy that deals with licensing for almost any kind of trader or craftsperson.
In terms of physical topography, the lands are mostly flat with gently rolling hills which allows for the effective construction of great highways to accommodate trade all over the region. To the south is a high mountain that represents the border between the Easterlands and The Miderian Fens. To the north lies a small mountain range that has temperate valleys that lead to the edge of the vast woodlands of The Reaches. and finally to the west lies a magnificent mountain river, upon which lies mightily fortified bridge that marks the borders with the despised Westerlands.

Structure

The State is lead by an oligarchy council of the most wealthy individuals in the region. The Guild Council locally holds power made up of the local heads of guilds who control licensing and trade. Local soldiers enforce the policies under control of the guild masters.

Public Agenda

Profit and extravagance drive everything in the easterlands. the only way to climb the social ladder is to gain wealth, and gain power. The main agenda for the ruling class is to ensure the movement of trade and that trade routes and convoys remain protected as far as their own assets are concerned.

Assets

Every city has a giant vault filled with vast amounts of gold, silver and precious stones, access to these vaults are controlled by a robust network of banking establishments who protect the wealth and extend credit to new businesses. The banks control the flow of cash and therefore hold a large amount of power.
Every city and significant town has a well-equipped garrison of soldiers that exist to ensure public order and defence against invasions. These standing armies are fully paid for by taxes levied on businesses and trade and serve at the pleasure of the Guild council of each town and city. However, aside from the state-funded military, the most wealthy merchant also have large volumes of troops and mercenaries on their payroll. These troops serve as a private militia to protect the interests of their employer, or in more questionable circumstances, to undermine and sabotage their enemies.
The high volume of trade and tax revenues mean that the civil service of the Easterlands is the best-funded in the world.

History

The history of the easterlands stretches back over two-thousand years, during the early days of the region there was a collection of heavily militarised independent city-states. The city-states often formed leagues and fought massive wars between themselves always with catastrophic loss of life. When the first gold veins were found, the wars escalated into a gigantic bloody conflict that brought fifty years of war and total devastation to the lands. At the end of this infamous fifty-year war on the City-state of Sidmouth under King, Demarco III was left with enough of an army to subjugate the other states into its sphere of influence forcefully.
After the forceful unification of the city-states, King Demarco III died to an unknown disease. Many historians to this day still debate whether or not it was, in fact, a disease, or an assassination to get them more pliable Demarco IV into power. If it was an assassination then those behind the plot sorely misjudged Demarco the IV for when he took his crown, he initiated a paranoid and bloody purge of all his enemies, real or perceived in the upper echelons of society. After this great purge, the kingdom of the Easterlands fell into another ten years of bloody civil wars. But due to a lack of unification in the rebel forces, King Demarco IV was able to put these rebellions down in truly deadly fashion.
Once the civil wars ended, King Demarco IV initiated a series of mass public works projects. These projects removed symbols of rebellion and instated a standardised architecture along with all the lands. After the brutal end to the civil wars, the city-states hopes of independence faded. The states grew compliant and resigned themselves to their new position as subjects. At the age of forty years old King Demarco IV died suddenly of a heart attack, leaving in charge his 7-year-old son, King Dimitris I.
The boy-king, too young to govern led to the creation of a privy council. This council of advisors ruled on his behalf. So began the second reformation. This council used the boy king as a puppet to push forward trade and commerce as priorities. They began to devolve royal powers to local guilds of traders and then pushed for centralised control of the guilds, which the advisor then took over. The boy-king having served his purpose and effectively handing power over totally to the merchants and guilds, he was quietly suffocated in his sleep, at the tender age of 13, the new guild councils quickly filled the resulting power vacuum.
Since that day, the guilds have held absolute power over the Easterlands and developed large trade-oriented projects. Slowly the easterlands grew into the economic powerhouse it is today, filled with corruption, and intrigue.

Demography and Population

The Easterlands Region has a massive population. populations are primarily centred in the massive cities of the land and the most extravagant cities are along the coast and often have large trading ports. 
The further inland you travel the more distributed the population become, but there still exist vast towns dedicated to the management of super farms, where hundreds of peasants work, to ensure to produce and spices are in constant surplus. however inland lies a few industrialised towns that specialise in turning raw products from the farms and mines into luxury goods for trade across the known world.

Territories

The Territory of the Easterlands stretches from the eastern coast as far north as the vast forests of The Reaches. to the south the border ends at a great mountain that occurs just before the vast swamps of the Miderian fens. The Western border ends at the edge of the great bridge that crosses the broad river of the equatorial inner sea.

Military

The land of the Easterlands has two primary types of Army. They are as follows;

• The State Army - This army is paid for by taxes levied on traded goods. This army is well equipped, well drilled and well paid. This army serves as the primary law enforcement and defensive force within the Easterlands. The State army, however, is not centrally run and not centrally governed. Instead, the troops report directly to the local guild councils of the regions. However, this does present an opportunity for a small town or city to raise arms against the capital. Such conflicts are dissuaded by the fact that the immense wealth in Sidmark means a tremendous fighting force garrisoned there.
• Private Armies - More Wealthy merchants have enough money to pay for small private armies to protect their estates and their trade interests. These private armies are often better equipped than the state army, but that is ultimately dependant on how much cash the merchant is will to spend on protection. While not serving as an official state-sponsored army, often merchants wishing to further their position in society or curry favour will volunteer their private militias to carry out tasks that would typically be conducted by the state army. Such responsibilities include hunting brigands or protecting significant public events. More disreputable merchants will occasionally use such private forces to sabotage their rivals or enforce cartel-like protection rackets. Such behaviour sometimes results in flashpoints and an armed conflict between powerful merchants. Still, so long as such disputes do not jeopardise their own or national interests, the guild councils and merchant council pay little attention to these fights.

Foreign Relations

As a trading superpower, The Easterlands have god trade routes to every kingdom in the world, all except the secretive people of The Citadel.
The primary aggressive foreign policy is ensuring the security of the border with the Westlands to ensure no fugitives of criminals return to the Easterlands. Border garrison commanders have the legal authority to execute any branded person found on the eastern side of the border.
Furthermore, in recent years there has been a focus from government to build a reasonable sized military fleet to protect decent trade routes from the roving corsairs and pirates who in recent years have become bolder in their thefts.

Agriculture & Industry

Due to the fertile soils and temperate climate, the Easterlands is perfect for growing almost any type of crop, as a result, massive orchards grow fruits, whilst great vineyards produce grapes and wines. The further inland you head the larger the farming communities become, as a result, a major export of the Eastlands is tremendous volumes of both basic and luxury foods.
Towards the hotter areas, large spice plantations are found where immense cultivation of a wide array of herbs and spices take place for exports.
however, being unwilling to waster good arable land on livestock means that there are very few farms dedicated to rearing animals for slaughter.

Trade & Transport

The Eastlands is the trading capital of the world, and as such there are vast road networks meticulously maintained and continuously in use. Horses and carts use this road heavily for the mass transport of goods, but many people are found to be walking these roads also. Due to the high volume of land-based trade, customs houses and state troop garrisons have sprung up along these highways to ensure security and adequate taxation of goods.

Infrastructure

The Regions main hubs are connected by vast sprawling road networks with customs houses and garrisons upon the key routes. All the cities have viaducts bring water to networks of wells and fully underground sewage systems. Many towns are fully paved with smaller road network connecting wealthy estates. The western border is dotted with State-owned fortresses and large fortified bridges for dealing with the exiling and trade with the west.
All major towns have well-stocked hospitals and apothecaries.

Prosperity is for those who profit!

Type

Geopolitical, Country

Alternative Names

The Merchant Lands,

Training Level

Professional

Veterancy Level

Experienced

Demonym

Eastlanders

Government System

Oligarchy

Power Structure

Confederation

Economic System

Traditional

Currency

• Gold
• Silver
• Copper
• Credit

Major Exports

The primary exports are as follows:

• Exotic Fruits
• Exotic Vegetables
• Exotic Spices
• Silks
• Cottons
• Tobacco
• Wine
• Rum
• Whiskey
• Sugar
• Olive Oil
• Glassware
• Porcelain
• Luxury Jewellery
• Luxury Furniture
• Luxury Clothing

Major Imports

The primary imports are as follows:

• Meat's
• Ore
• Sand
• Exotic Lumber
• Precious Stones
• Clay
• Furs
• Hides

Legislative Body

Laws are determined nationally by the Merchants Council in Sidmark Port. Laws are devolved locally to the Guild Council.

Judicial Body

While the easterlands do maintain a court system, it is incredibly unfair and corrupt. Only the most heinous crimes of the ruling class ever make it to court.
Every town and city have a magistrates court to enforce the law of the land but is heavily geared to suppression of the masses and protection of Guild interests. The magistrate's courts serve a criminal function, but the majority of cases brought forth are civil dealing with trade disputes and contract violations.
Sidmark Port houses the central courthouse which keeps the records of all the other courts, and it is where new magistrates are promoted and assigned to their administrative regions.

Parent Organization

The Easterlands

Subsidiary Organizations

• The Easterlands

Neighboring Nations

• Equatoria
• The Reaches
• The Westerlands