The Kingdom of Fruchtbarland
A feudal kingdom occupying the north western corner of the Great Inland Sea region, The Kingdom of Fruchtbarland is a kingdom without a king, the god siegmund appointed King Eternal and his kingdom ruled by a council of princes in his stead. Once it controlled territory stretching from the Shattered and Crater seas all the way to the Great Inland Sea, but today The Kingdom's territory is much reduced, a legacy of many lost wars with it's neighbor to the east, Galacia. Regardless of these losses, The Kingdom is still a powerful and influential nation, containing some of the most fertile farmland on the continent and powerful guilds which drive industry.
History
Siegmund Unites the Kingdom
The Kingdom of Fruchtbarland finds it's origins with the rise of Siegmund - The Lawbringer. A tremendously fertile agrarian region, it was broken up into numerous minor holdings whose warlords, lord, and petty kings warred against each other constantly in their attempts to expand their own holdings. Siegmund held the lawlessness and chaos caused by this constant warfare to be responsible for most of the evils that plagued the region, and this belief would shape his life going forwards. As siegmund crusaded across his beloved homeland, he sought out rulers who shared his values and appointed them as princes under his rule, and if he could find no-one who met his standards within a region he would appoint one of his loyal knights, The Valorous Companions, as ruler.
To Siegmund, establishing rule of law in the territories he brought to heel was as important as taking them in the first place, and in addition to stomping out banditry he established a judicial system and formal law enforcement to replace the systems of private retribution which had existed before, formalized or not. Only the nobility retained the ability to wage private wars in retribution for percieved misdeeds against them, and even these were restricted by a new set of rules. Petty crimes could be tried by local village leaders, but higher crimes were required to be brought before a judge.
As Siegmund's crusade drew closer to the mountain range known as The Western Wall, human bandits and warlords began to become less prevalant, replaced by warbands, raiding parties, and even some kingdoms comprised of members of the so called 'monstrous races'. The Lawbringer regarded the orcs, gnolls, and assorted goblinoids as being incapable of and incompatible with the law and order that he so fervently believed was necessary for justice and good to exist. Indeed, it is Siegmund who is credited with coining the term "the monstrous races", and the fervor with which he waged war against them was nearly fanatical in it's intensity, eventually driving them back across the western wall and out of human claimed lands.
Siegmund's ascendancy occurred after he had united all of western Fruchtbarland under his banner, but his followers continued his crusade and by the mid 1300s all of fruchtbarland from the edge of The Shattered Sea in the west to The Serpent's Tongue and the Palsas sea in the east were united under The Kingdom of Fruchtbarland. His ascendancy occurred relatively late, when the ascended were already becoming known, and worship of him began almost immediately, quickly becoming the most common religion in fruchtbarland. Fruchtbarland would continue on as a Kingdom without a mortal king, that position symbolically reserved for Siegmund, with the princes ruling in his stead.
The Free Cities remain free
In the aftermath of Siegmund's ascension, the princes took stock of The Kingdom's current state and several found something that didn't sit well with them: The Free Cities. During his crusade, Siegmund had encountered several regions which had met his approval but had no conventional rulers, instead being lead by councils or elected governors, and he allowed them to remain as they were rather than appointing Princes to run them. In addition to having their own unique methods of governance, these cities didn't operate under the feudal system, with their citizens able to freely travel, own their own land, and find their own employment.
The princes felt that these so called 'Free Cities' undermined their authority, threatened the integrity of the feudal contracts their own serfs were bound to, and claimed that they went against Siegmund's own vision for The Kingdom. Citizens of The Free Cities tell a different story, that the princes wanted to expand their own holdings and saw free land up for grabs in these uniquely governed regions. The fact that the princes whose lands were adjacent to The Free Cities were the ones who pushed hardest for the dissolution of them, with some of the more distant princes opposing it entirely, lends credence to The Free Cities version of the story.
As The Princes nearest to The Free Cities began to make noise about dissolving them and the cities began to raise men at arms and prepare for open warfare in their own defence, many of the princes who were less involved in the situation became alarmed. An emergency convocation of princes was called to diffuse the situation and come to a compromise that would be acceptable to both parties. In the end, an agreement was made to allow The Free Cities to continue in their current state but require them to respect the feudal contracts of other states. Any fugitives from the law who made their way to The Free Cities would be captured and turned over to the appropriate authorities even if their only crime was breaking their feudal contracts.
War and Schism
Nearly as soon as the borders of The Kingdom reached the end of the Galacian Peninsula, issues began to arise. Unhappy to have their potential westward expansion curtailed, the Galacians began disputing The Kingdom's control of their easternmost territories. Over the next few hundred years, this tension would explode into outright warfare a number of times, with the end result being Galacian control over the entire eastern edge of Fruchtbarland, cutting off The Kingdom's access to the Great Inland Sea and The Serpent's Tongue. The loss of territory resulted in the knightly class losing much of it's power as ransoms stripped many of them of their fortunes and they took much of the blame for the military losses.
During one of the most brutal wars between The Kingdom and Galacia, where the Galacians had pushed all the way inland to the banks of the Grosserfluss, the most devout and fanatical followers of Siegmund banded together to form a crusade. This crusade was initially welcomed by the nobles of The Kingdom as it pushed deep into the galacian lines, retaking territory from the invaders with incredible speed. What the nobles failed to realize was that the impetus behind the crusade was a dissatisfaction among the clergy about the refusal to adopt worship of Siegmund as the official and exclusive state religion.
When the crusade had retaken an extensive chunk of territory, they declared the formation of The Valorous Dominion, a theocratic state devoted to Siegmund. The formation of this new state was taken extremely poorly by the nobility of The Kingdom, seeing it as a betrayal and an outright power grab by The Church of The Lawbringer. The Church fell out of favor with the ruling nobility of Fruchtbarland as a result, but its popularity with the common man and the knightly class prevented them from acting against it in any major way.
Modern Day
Today, Fruchtbarland stands as one of the major powers of The Shatered Continent, exporting food, cloth, and assorted agricultural products across the continent. Its judicial system is seen as a model across the continent, its border with The Western Marches is more secure than most, and it's relations with Galacia are as bad as ever. For all of it's idyliic appearance, The Kingdom is in the midst of a number of social and political upheavals; the Princes and the Knights both vying for power, power struggles within the powerful guilds, and powerful merchant families challenging the dominance of The Crater Sea Trading Company.
The loss of the eastern edge of its territory to Galacia has left The Kingdom entirely cut off from direct access to The Great Inland Sea, forcing all of it's trade to either face high Galacian tariffs or take the long journey past Crater's Gate to reach this highly profitable region. In addition, a number of The Free Cities have been lost to Galacia, where they have become ordinary galacian cities rules by the Galacian nobles in charge of the border regions, leaving just three Free Cities left in all of Fruchtbarland.
Society
Fruchtbarland is a kingdom without a living king, ruled by the princes of it's various states with Siegmund holding the position of king eternal. While it may appear idyllic and peaceful from the outside, social unrest bubbles under the surface with as unrest grows within the powerful guilds, the knights and princes fight over power, and the free cities grow in influence.
The King Eternal
The Ascension of Siegmund left the burgeoning kingdom without a ruler, but when the princes convened to resolve the problem they came to a solution which honored siegmund for all time while leaving the kingdom in the hands of those he had hand picked to rule. A cynical person might point out that the princes chose the solution that left them the defacto rulers of the kingdom, but regardless, the position of King is left empty in siegmund's name.
The Princes
In Fruchtbarland, the term 'Prince' has a somewhat different meaning than in other lands, causing no end of confusion to foreigners learning about The Kingdom for the first time. A Prince is the term for the individuals who have been granted the right to rule the largest divisions of land within The Kingdom, similarly to Dukes ruling over Dutchies in some other nations. In addition to ruling their individual states, the Princes all meet several times a year in the capital city of Elterdorf to attend to matters of state and fulfil their duty to run the Kingdom in the absence of The King Eternal.
The Nobility
Fruchtbarian minor nobility can be divided into two categories, knights and landed nobles. Both are landholders within the Fruchtbarian feudal system, but they have distinctly different privileges and responsibilities.
Minor Nobility
The minor noble families are large landholders who have been delegated responsibility over broad swathes of lands in service of a prince. Unlike in many other nations there is no formal hierarchy among the minor nobility as all of them answer directly to their respective princes, although their respective wealth and influence provide an informal one. Some princes have regular meetings with their nobles in order to more directly control their states, and others are nearly entirely hands off as long as taxes and tithes are being collected in full.
Nobility comes with both privileges and responsibilities, but many of the nobles would argue that their privileges have become lighter while their responsibilities are just as heavy. They can maintain men at arms as well as raise taxes and freely harvest trees, animals, and minerals from the lands under their control, but some of their original privileges have been revoked over the years, most notably their right to wage war Independantly of the state. With the backing of The Church of the Lawbringer, the princes declared that the chaos caused by allowing nobles to war amongst each other in order to resolve their difficulties was against Siegmund's ethos and his vision for The Kingdom and revoked that privilege.
In addition to their right to wage independant war, a number of laws over the last few centuries designed to protect the serfs and other commoners from abuse have also curtailed noble power. The amount of taxes and tithes that they can require the residents of their lands to pay and the punishments that they can give out for failing to meet them have both been restricted, and while this may endear the commoners to the princes, it has left many nobles feeling under attack. Some noble houses have banded together in an effort to resist further efforts by the princes to reduce their power, but historical rivalries and grudges have prevented this from becoming particularly widespread
The Knights
One of the legacies of The Valorant Companions, the band of knights who accompanied Siegmund onto the field of battle and loyally followed him across the continent as he unified Fruchtbarland. Siegmund declared that his knights should have "Freedom from taxation and to raise men at arms so that they may always have the means to be prepared for warfare, as well as complete dominion over their own lands wherever they may lie", and these words were translated into law from the very first time that the laws of The Kingdom were laid down. Due to the issues that would arise from handing out noble titles like candy, new knighthoods are extremely uncommon in Fruchtbarland, and some princes have been quick to strip knightly status when offerred the chance, causing friction with the knightly houses.
In addition to their noble privileges, the knightly houses have their own requirements and responsibilities, and can lose their titles if they fail to meet them. As their nobility is largely based on martial prowess, at least one member of each generation of the main house must be trained as a knight and knighthood is a requirement to take up lordship of the house. When called to war, every house must send at least one knight to battle, and in the case of more prolific families, at last two out of every three knights must answer the call. Families that fail to meet these requirements can and will be stripped of their knighthoods, something that is diastrous given the typical size and wealth of their holdings and the extremely high taxes that are levied on landowners by most nobles.
The knightly houses have been subject to many of the same restrictions to their power and privileges as the minor nobility, having had the taxes and tithes that can be levied on the serfs and other residents on their lands restricted as well as having had the punishments that they can mete out limited. Unlike the nobility, they have the benefit of having their privileges directly laid out by Siegmund himself, giving them some protection from the whims of the princes, but they have still become concerned about the trend of the princes removing power from the lower nobility but retaining it for themselves. A number of the knightly houses have banded together into regional orders in order to consolidate their power in an effort to resist the percieved machinations of the princes.
As the most martial class of the nobility, blame for The Kingdom's losses on the battlefield against Galacia and their corresponding losses of territory over the last few centuries has, perhaps unfairly, fallen more heavily upon the knightly houses than any others. Their standing in the courts of their princes has fallen dramatically, to the point where they rank far below the minor nobles in the informal hierarchies of court. Talk has even been heard of further reducing their privileges, only the fact that they were explicitly laid out by Siegmund keeping any serious attempts from being made.
Losses of horses, armor, and weapons in war and massive ransom payments made to recover knights captured on the field of battle has reduced many of the knightly houses to near poverty, some being forced to sell properties with little to no chance of ever being able to purchase them back. Some of the impoverished knights have become little more than highwaymen, intercepting travelers moving through their lands and levying excessive fees on them, while other have become literal bandits, raiding the lands outside of their own. Many have become mercenaries, traveling outside of Fruchtbarland to sell their services to foreign lords in an attempt to regain their family fortunes.
The Common Man
The vast majority of the population of Fruchtbarland are feudal serfs, bound to the land that they live on and the nobles who own it. Serfdom ia disrinct from slavery in that serfs cannot be sold or treated as they are not property themselves, but if the lands on which they reside are ever sold they become the responsibility of the new owner. A serf who wants to clear a new field, build a new house, raise a barn, or make any other changes to the lands on which they reside must petition their lord for permission. The nobles who own the land, while able to tax all of the residents of their lands, are also responsible for the well being of the serfs.
Typically, the taxes that the serfs are required to pay are in the form of goods rather than money, some percentage of the harvest, a certain number of livestock, cheeses, or other items that the serfs might produce. In exchange for the taxes they levy on the serfs, a lord is expected to keep his serfs safe from bandits or wild beasts and maintain roads, canals, and other infrastructure within the lands. While a lord may punish serfs who fail to meet their obligations, they have been restricted in how severe those punishments may be, something that some lords chafe at and see as an unfair restriction on their lordly privileges.
In addition to needing permission for more physical changes to the lands that they live on, changing professions also requires permission from the landowner, with the notable exception of joining a guild. While a serf who wants to leave the lands on which they were born must typically petition their lord for permission to leave, the guilds provide one of the only avenues for leaving serfdom, albiet exchanging it for another set of obligations. While joining a guild does not necessarily mean leaving the lands in which one grew up, any and all obligations to their feudal lord are replaced with obligations to the guild. Despite not requiring permission, it is considered both polite and prudent to ask before becoming a guild apprentice so as not to bring your lord's anger down upon your family or the guild.
The Guilds
Ancient institutions, some of which date back to the formation of The Kingdom, The Guilds are powerful associations of craftsmen or other professionals who have banded together in order to gain bargaining power with the nobility and restrict competition. In the name of ensuring that Fruchtbarian knowledge and skill is retained within The Kingdom and master craftsmen have free access to find apprentices from within the population of feudal serfs, a number of laws have been passed to give special powers to the guilds. The guilds are largely responsible for preventing foreign merchants and companies from gaining a foothold within The Kingdom due to their stranglehold over trade and most skilled crafts.
Organization
The guilds are democratically run organizations that run on an apprenticeship system, with masters sponsoring candidates and adopting them as apprentices who then become journeymen and finally masters themselves, at least in theory.
Apprentices
Apprentices are largely recruited directly from the population of feudal serfs, although some are children of guild members or minor nobility. Becoming an apprentice in a guild is one of the few ways to escape from serfdom without becoming an outlaw, as the guilds have free reign to recruit from the population regardless of feudal contracts. Apprentices are typically recruited in their young teens and are usually paid in only room and board, sometimes with a small stipend. Apprentices are expected to work for a set period of time, typically 5-7 years, before being eligible to become Journeymen.
Journeymen
Journeymen are far more independant than apprentices; able to run their own shops, take their own customers, and get paid for their work. Even Journeymen who still work directly under their masters are are expected to pay for their own materials and be self sufficient. Between buying their first sets of tools from their masters and having to purchase their own materials many journeymen acquire significant debts to their masters early in their careers before they learn how to properly manage their own shops.
Masters
Masters are, in addition to being masters of their trades, incredibly wealthy and influential individuals, often being in charge of dozens of journeymen and apprentices and multiple businesses. Most guilds are democratic, with each master having one vote, although voting blocks of masters with shared interests often form and internal politics can be complex. The masters determine which journeymen are qualified to become masters and what dues must be paid to take the title, and as each new master provides more competition for the current masters, this can make them reluctant to approve new ones.
Internal Conflict
While the guilds are theoretically both democratic and meritocratic, with each master getting one vote and every journeyman and apprentice having the ability to rise to the rank of master, the reality falls somewhat short. The temptation among masters to reduce competition and retain skilled journeymen as workers in their personal businesses has lead to the fees required to attain mastery becoming prohibitively high. In addition to the high fees, many journeymen who are required to produce a mastery project have found their masters standards to be literally impossibly high, preventing them from ever advancing. With the masters so tightly controlling ascension within the guilds, the position of master has become a nearly hereditary one, with masters who are seeking retirement allowing their own chosen heirs to attain the rank, sometimes with skills which are far inferior to the other journeymen.
Realising that their prospects for advancement are low to nonexistant, many journeymen have formed 'fraternities' within their guilds to push for better working conditions. The fraternities advocate for better wages, better hours, and more hours to work on their own projects instead of their master's contracted work, and they have drawn the ire of the guilds. In some cases individual guilds have banned these groups, typically only pushing them underground, and in others they have gone after the organizers, stripping them of their ranks or kicking them out of the guilds altogether.
Leaving the guild
While apprentices are bound by contract to serve the guild until the end of their apprenticeships, journeymen have a good deal more freedom. Assuming that they have paid down their debts to their masters, typically gained through the purchasing of their first set of tools and having to replace materials that they've ruined and been unable to recoup their costs on early in their careers, they are free to leave the guild, at least in theory. In practicality, leaving the guild is a choice that few journeymen take, as their options are limited once they've left.
Assuming that a former guild member isn't from a family of landed nobles, they will find themselves in the awkward position of being freemen in a feudal nation. No land is available for purchase and while becoming a feudal serf again is an option, it isn't likely to be a very attractive one. Renting a room at an inn is likely the only other possibliity, but that gets expensive very quickly and obviously practicing whatever profession the individual had as a guild member isn't an option due to the monopoly the guilds hold. Most ex-guild members either return to serfdom or end up leaving The Kingdom to ply their skills elsewhere.
Foreign Competition
Each of the guilds have exclusive rights to provide the services or produce the goods that they have domain over, as well as the power to regulate how those services are provided or goods are produced. Anyone who wants to join a trade which is covered by a guild has no option but to seek out a master to apprentice to or risk being shut down for violating guild law. Many foreign companies including The Crater Sea Trading Company have attempted to break into the Bommbergonian market and been utterly defeated by the guilds.
The Crater Sea Trading Company has made inroads into The Kingdom in the past by moving into areas which no guild controls, although many of these operations have been shut down over the years due to the guilds. Because the guilds only cover the skilled trades and a few broad services such as the merchants and banking guilds, The Company was able to bring their transportation, courier, banking, security and mail services into Fruchtbarland even if they were unable to bring their main trading business into The Kingdom.
Their transportation services were largely shut down almost immediately due to the merchants guild claiming that the transportation of goods by anyone other than the producers of the goods constituted mercantile activity which was covered under their charter. Their security services were shut down almost as fast as the Landsknechtverband, or guild of mercenaries and adventurers, claimed that the rental of armed men as guards fell under their purview. The banking guild claimed that The Company's banking services were clearly in violation of their charter, but The Company successfully countered that the banking guild only offered loans using invested money rather than offering bank acccounts and money transfers between locations and until such a time as they did, The Company's banking services didn't overlap with the banking guild.
Today, The Crater Sea Trading Company stil offers courier, banking and mail services within The Kingdom which, while not exactly a success, leaves it one of the most successful foreign companies in Fruchtbarland. Few if any others have managed to attain any sort of foothold in The Kingdom, and one side effect of this is that the Fruchtbarian guilds have found foreign markets to be nearly as hostile to them as The Kingdom is to foreign business. Many of the most powerful companies and business owners on the continent hold grudges against the guilds and have worked together to make finding warehouse space, transportation, and business partners outside of Fruchtbarland tremendously difficult for them.
The Free Cities
Independant, self governing states outside of the control of the princes, The Free Cities are a unique collection of non-feudal regions within The Kingdom. Despite the name, The Free Cities are full sized states, not just the titular cities, and they each send a representative to any convocation of princes, giving them the same voice in the running of The Kingdom as the other states. Despite their independant and non-feudal nature, they are bound to capture and return fugitives from justice to the other states, even if what they are wanted for isn't a violation of the law within the free states.
The Free Cities are home to the largest concentration of foreigners in the entirety of The Kingdom, most of them finding the idea of binding themselves to a feudal contract to be unthinkable. With the foreigners come foreign gods, and while siegmund is still the most worshipped god, the worship of other gods is far more prevalent in The Free Cities than the rest of Fruchtbarland. Many of the princes have distrusted the Free Cities since their inclusion into The Kingdom, and the number of foreigners who reside there only fuel their distrust and accusations of disloyalty.
The Three Cities
As a result of territory losses in the east to Galacia, only three of the original free cities remain, making them all the more unique within The Kingdom. These cities have all grown far more rapidly than their feudal counterparts, and all of them now rival or exceed the capital city, Elterdorf, in size.
Freiburg
Located towards the western end of Fruchtbarland's northern coast made Freiburg a natural launching point for expeditions into The Shattered Sea, and now that exploration has died down and regular trade is moving to and from Waylon's Landing, it has become a regular stop on that route. Freiburg is ruled by a council composed of the wealthiest and most influential residents of the city, with new members being chosen by the council itself.
Boizenburen
Situated on the north eastern corner of The Kingdom where the great river known as the Grosserfluss meets the sea, Boizenburen is the primary point from which trade goods enter and leave Fruchtbarland. Ruled by a council of guildmasters, the city is an absolute stronghold of guild power, with foreign companies finding it nearly impossible to even rent office space, being expected to sell their goods directly to the guilds from the docks.
Stralbeck
Right in the heart of The Kingdom lies Stralbeck, a reasonably prosperous city surrounded by fertile and well developed farmland and dense forests. Stralbeck elects a governor every few years, and the governor rules with the assistance of an elected council of advisors.
Religion
Due to his role in the creation of The Kingdom and his title of King Eternal, Siegmund is by far the most commonly worshipped god among Fruchtbarlanders, but his church somewhat ironically fallen out of favor with the princes who rule in his stead. The creation of The Valorous Dominion out of the wartorn section of no-mans-land which was formerly part of The Kingdom was seen as an open power grab by The Church and their refusal to fold their newly taken land back into The Kingdom a complete betrayal. While the popularity of the worship of Siegmund and the fact that they nominally represent siegmund in his role as King Eternal limited how much they could openly retaliate against The Church, they have effectively removed representatives of it from all decision making and advisory positions within the government.
Among the populace, the popularity of The Lawbringer is undimmed, with a church or shrine in nearly every settlement that isn't just a handful of huts. Houses of worship to other gods, primarily the other Ascended, can be found but are generally rare outside of larger settlements. In the Free Cities, worship of other gods is far more common due to the higher number of foreigners living there, but Siegmund is still the predominantly worshiped deity. The worship of other gods is most common among those who live outside of the law, many of whom equate Siegmund with the system of laws and justice which seeks their capture or the detested feudal system.
Adventurers in The Kingdom
Due to the Landsknecht's Guild, or Landsknechtverband, having a monopoly on all paid mercenary and adventuring work it can be difficult for foreign adventurers to work in The Kingdom without falling afoul of the law. While foreigner adventurers are free to travel throughout Fruchtbarland, they are unable to take paid work, although they are free to wander around and find trouble. A notable loophole to this restriction is that foreign travelers are allowed to bring their own contingent of guards, so scholars seeking to explore ancient ruins or do similarly dangerous things can bring hired adventurers who arent guild members into the country with them.
The 'Monstrous Races' in The Kingdom
When the term 'The Monstrous Races' was coined by Siegmund during the unification and pacification of Fruchtbarland, it was intended to convey his belief that orcs, goblinoids, and other similar races were fundementally incompatible with the law and order that he felt was necessary for justice and good to exist within a society. Since it's inception it has become ubiquitous across The Shattered Continent much to the displeasure of those who might be tagged with it, although its meaning has largely changed to simply indicate heritage. In Siegmund's homeland his original meaning is alive and well, and while members of the so called Monstrous Races may face prejudice anywhere on the continent, they are likely to have a particularly hard time within The Kingdom.
Foreign Relations
With the notable exception of Galacia, Fruchtbarland has historically had at least decent relations with every other nation in The Shatteed Continent. It has never had expansionist tendencies and has always been an exporter of food and other agricultural products across the continent.
The Alborian Empire
Neighbors along the perimeter of The Crater Sea, these nations have a trade relationship which goes back centuries and resulted in a friendly relationship between them. Fruchtbarland's relationship with both The Alborian Empire and Bommbergonia has left it in the position of neutral party during many of the conflicts that the two have engaged in over the years.
The Kingdom of Bommbergonia
Shared emnity of Galacia has lead to a friendly relationship between the Fruchtbarland and Bommbergonia, although only limited trade occurs between the two, as they both export similar goods. Fructbarland's good relations with both Alboria and Bommbergonia has put it in an awkward position at times, frequently putting it in the position of neutral intermediary between the two during times of war.
The Oenotrian Republic
Oenotria and Fruchtbarland have had a decent trade relationship over the years, with Oenotria generally prefering to import grain and other agricultural products from Fruchtbarland rather than Bommbergonia due to historical bad relations with it's neighbor to the north.
The Achaean City States
Unlike their protectorate to the north, The City States don't hold much of a grudge against the Bommbergonians for past conflict and so fulfill the majority of their trade needs via either Bommbergonia or Lechia, so they have never had much of a relationship with Fruchtbarland.
The Republic of Lechia
Lechia once had an extensive trade relationship with The Kingdom, but now that Galacia controls the entire eastern border of Fruchtbarland they fulfil their trade needs through bommbergonia as not much Fruchtbarian trade goes as deep into the Great Inland Sea as Lechia. They still maintain good diplomatic relations regardless of the lack of physical access between the two nations.
Galacia
The only nation which shared a land border with Fruchtbarland until their expansion and the creation of The Valorous Dominion, Fruchtbarland and Galacia have a long and violent history. Their shared border has shifted back and forth by over a hundred miles at times, and until the last fifty or so years they have been at war as often as not. Today, with Galacia controlling all access to the Great Inland Sea, Fruchtbarland's ability to trade with the region has been completely crippled, with most of it going through Bommbergonia via the eastern strait, and their relations are as bad as they have ever been.
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