The Southern Corner

Industrious and ambitious, yet deep with corruption, the Southern Corner is the smallest of the 4 Corner countries. The mountain ranges create a natural northern border that separates her from the Wasteland deserts that lead to what used to be Crossroads and the Western Corner. It is known for its cool to freezing climate, its mining, brewing, and fishing industries, and for deeply corrupt government run by 6 noble families. Those families control the major money makers for the region, and each one has a monopoly on a specific industry.
Historically, the country was once known as the land of the warrior. Its patron god, was Marus a violent and rage driven sea entity. When he bestowed magic on a number of the people, he created an elite set of warriors that were immune to fear, pain, and the elements which would typically cause hardship to any who lived in that region of the continent. The Watertouched, as they were called, were practically worshipped in addition to the god, and the historical culture of the Southern Corner after the fall of Fezzeret was built on war games, gladiatorial combat, and a constant struggle for dominance. When Marus saw what he created, however, centuries later, he did not look at these people with pride but with shame, and as is his petulant nature created a major disaster known as Cataclysm which he hoped would wipe out the population.
The first Cataclysm served as a warning, and the people rebuilt the Southern Corner far more cautiously. But it was only a matter of time before the people reverted to those old ways. It did not matter if they were Watertouched, Maran Faithful or Untouched, all who lived there somehow would be driven by the struggle to the top, the desire to be the best, and as the people became more and more violent and started to stir up war with the other three corners, Marus decided he needed to eliminate his faithful once again.
Where the First Cataclysm was simply a tidal wave that wiped out the densest cities, the Second Cataclysm was meant to completely finish the job. First came the tidal wave, a freezing aquan force which destroyed buildings eroded the shoreline into a dangerous rocky seascape dangerous for almost all ship travel, and killed thousands upon thousands of people. Then the deep freeze came. The winter came and it did not leave. No crop could grow, the waters froze, and any that did survive fled the southern corner and sought refuge to the west, the north, and the oases in the center of the continent.
The Watertouched, however, remained behind to help escort the Southern Corner's people to safety. It was their last duty to ensure that some could survive, and they died out soon after.
The Second Cataclysm was the last straw for the Deities of Four Corners. They came to this place to save the people, not kill them off. Soon after, the Exile came. The active gates, the connections that the people had with their gods, their saviors from Fezzeret, and the givers of magic were severed, presumably forever.
6 families of people survived the Second Cataclysm. They established the Southern Corner Accords making themselves the governing families of the country and then sent word across the continent that the Southern Corner was safe and liveable once again. These became the Noble Families that control the country in the present day. As with the Southern Corner's cycle, corruption, greed, desire, and violent pride has permeated the population once again. Yet now, there is no deity to control them. The poorer populations of the South are growing warier and warier of their noble oppressors and rebellion is thick in the air.

Structure

The Noble Classes The 6 main noble families make their homes in the capital, but have extended family which runs the industries and their property in Upper Country. Each family has a complete monopoly of a specific industry as decided by the Great Family Accords. They are: Hawthorne: Herding and Fabrics: TrnMesto Salix: Mining and Metals: Jernberg Aethelgar: Grains and Brewing: Cerise: Quarries and Stoneworking Pengate: Lumber and Carpentry: Skovby Bedhelm: Fishing, Hunting, Canning: Point Aurora
It’s easy to see where a number of industries cross over, and many of these ventures were courtesy of marriages among them. A business deal is never struck unless there is a familial joint venture as well. The merchant’s guild of the south is a thriving thorn in the side of the nobles as they are both necessary but annoying. Occasionally a very powerful merchant will marry a noble or vice versa and there is a huge social uproar over it. Most of the time the noble in question becomes a black sheep of the family. Not exiled, but no longer treated with respect.
The eldest child of the Heads of Family always inherits the capital estate, and the eldest child of any noble family who holds property in the name of the family always inherits the business. In the event of death, it always goes to the next child in line. That child must be married to hold the title. If they are not yet married or too young to marry, then a temporary successor is named by the majority of the family until the child is of age. This is an incredibly rare and almost unheard of circumstance since the capital noble families are expected to be very, very large (each averages between 8-12 children). Since there is limited business ventures even within the family monopoly (this is partially because of the merchant class as well, then a noble is expected to pursue a different, noble occupation. These include medicine, academics, diplomate politics, military officers, family accounting, police, advocacy, and law enforcement. Marriages are still arranged for business purposes, but those children will very rarely hold more property than the comfort offered to them for having the noble name and being a member of the noble family (they will never be destitute, but not nearly as prominent as the oldest in the family.)
Politics of the Southern Corner are entirely run by the family living in the inherited estate in the capital. The Heads of Household of each family hold court the way monarchs do, and in times of war they will meet collectively in a designated location (this is kept secret for obvious purposes). Government measures are passed when a ¾ majority are signed on a bill which gets passed from court to court (that is 8 out of 12Heads of Household each get a signature).

The Merchant Class
The Merchant Class did not arrive in the Southern Corner until about a century after the establishment of Crossroads. As the demand from nobility to retrieve luxury goods and technology from the other three corners grew, as well as the growth of the alchemist and engineering industry which created the industrial complex that the Southern Corner is today, the Merchant Class also grew. The Merchant Class includes: Transporters of goods (in and out) shopkeepers, artisans of fine handcrafted goods (jewelry, furniture, armor, weapons, beer, distilled liquor, fine clothing pieces such as dresses and suits, occasionally a culinary master is brought into the fold like a cake baker or a gourmet chef), engineers, alchemists, ship captains, merchant bankers(the nobility have their own in and among the family).
Marriage, gender equality, and other social issues are considered to be more fluid among the merchant class. Many marry for love rather than for financial gain. The Merchant class is also very difficult to enter if you are not already among them however, and often takes a master taking on an apprentice. Since there is such a large number of people who live poor and destitute, many many try to make it into the Merchant trades and very very few ever make it. The Alchemy Academy in the capital as well as the Engineering Forum require a letter of sponsorship to enter either by a master in the trade or another Merchant or Noble that is willing to pay for their education.
There is always tension between the Merchant and Nobility class since the Merchant class very much see the nobility as lazy and pretentious and old fashioned, and the nobility consider merchants beneath them, yet they hold many of the items they cherish and therefore get along. Some are more respected than others depending on what they do (a fine artisan such as a painter or a chef is held in higher esteem rather than a fabrics merchant who simply transports silks and charges the nobility an obscene price because they can). The Merchant class is not limited to only the Southern Corner, but can be found in 3 out of 4 (there are no merchants in the east only enslaved artisans and crafters.)
The Lower Class/Poor Class
The Lower Class of the Southern corner makes up the large majority of the dense population. These are mostly laborers who work under the umbrella of one of the Noble families manufacturing umbrellas. While the Southern Corner is the most progress technology and industrially speaking, most of it has been built on the backs and from the hard work of this class. Nobility maintains and continues to further their fortunes by barely paying the workers of their factories, not providing a safe or well maintained environment, and providing them with the smallest of creature comforts to keep them happy. Bars, gambling, wenching are all legal, and kept as affordable as possible (thanks mostly in effort to the Aethelgars for creating the cheapest swills for the working class to drink and also having a third of the politics and police force in their pocket/family). Yet the fact that people are constantly sick, hungry, hurt, and taken advantage of is a problem which now, after over a century of oppression, coming to a head. Protests and strikes in factories have started to erupt. Their days tend to be regimented by the nobility class in an effort to quell the rebellions. Factory work in the capital is a mandatory 15 hour shift, one day crew one night crew. In the dark hours the streets are only to be used to get to destinations. People caught loitering on the streets will be forcibly moved along by law enforcement. More force is used in exchange for the amount of resistance given. It is not uncommon to see a man who is resisting law enforcement get beaten to death.
Places of vice are small havens for the lower class. Poor people run the places, and poor people pay them. While there are a few here and there throughout the city, there are two main places in the capital to find them in high concentration. The first are the streets that surround the Warehouse district. Workers going to and from work can stop along the way to their homes if they have one. Some who only have money to either pay for a shared room or live in the street often simply stay on the vice streets until their next shift. While not good habits, it is a common plight for the working/lower class. The other spot in the city is just along the docks. While the places that flank the main arteries of the city have been reserved for Dock Masters, Teamster employers, and for the fishermen, the distant flanks also house a collection of working class bars, gambling houses, and brothels. Rather than factory workers, these tend to host those that work at the docks and the collection of transients that come off the ships or about to board one.
Between, oppression, poverty, negligence, homelessness, and hunger the poor class as begun to organize and start to protest and rebel against the upper classes. The Unbound Uprising or simply dubbed Unbounders are loosely organized and headed by a mythical outlaw simply dubbed the Badger. There are wanted posters all over the capital promising a hefty reward for their capture, yet there is no picture that goes on the poster since there are so many conflicting stories as to exactly who they are.

Culture

The Unbound Uprising The Unbound Uprising is a group of fed up working class in the capital who have had enough of being subjugated by the noble class. They’ve organized strikes and protests, sabotaged luxury goods going in and out of the city. Some acts of the uprising are not ordained by the Badger, though not opposed by him or the uprising.

Demography and Population

The Noble Class
The 6 main noble families make their homes in the capital but have extended family which runs the industries and their property in Upper Country. Each family has a complete monopoly of a specific industry as decided by the Great Family Accords. They are: Hawthorne: Herding and Fabrics Cerise: Mining and Metals Aethelgar: Grains and Brewing Salix: Quarries and Stoneworking Pengate: Lumber and Carpentry Bedhelm: Fishing, Hunting, Canning.
It’s easy to see where a number of industries cross over, and many of these ventures were courtesy of marriages among them. A business deal is never struck unless there is a familial joint venture as well. The merchant’s guild of the south is a thriving thorn in the side of the nobles as they are both necessary but annoying. Occasionally a very powerful merchant will marry a noble or vice versa and there is a huge social uproar over it. Most of the time the noble in question becomes a black sheep of the family. Not exiled, but no longer treated with respect.
The eldest child of the Matriarch or Patriarch always inherits the capital estate, and the eldest child of any noble family who holds the property in the name of the family always inherits the business. In the event of death, it always goes to the next child in line. That child must be married to hold the title. If they are not yet married or too young to marry, then a temporary successor is named by the majority of the family until the child is of age. This is an incredibly rare and almost unheard of circumstance since the capital noble families are expected to be very, very large (each average between 8-12 children). Since there are limited business ventures even within the family monopoly (this is partly because of the merchant class as well, then a noble is expected to pursue a different, noble occupation. These include medicine, academics, diplomate politics, military officers, family accounting, police, advocacy, and law enforcement. Marriages are still arranged for business purposes, but those children will very rarely hold more property than the comfort offered to them for having the noble name and being a member of the noble family (they will never be destitute, but not nearly as prominent as the oldest in the family.)
Politics of the Southern Corner are entirely run by the family living in the inherited estate in the capital. The Lord and Lady of each family hold court the way monarchs do, and in times of war, they will meet collectively in a designated location (this is kept secret for obvious purposes). Government measures are passed when a ¾ majority are signed on a bill which gets passed from court to court (that is 8 out of 12 Lord and Lady each get a signature).
Both men and women have an equal voice among the nobility. This carries for the most part among the classes, yet there are some religious sects among them that organize differently. In terms of marriage and name holding, this is negotiated between the families when the marriage is arranged. Whoever holds the highest rank and best chance of inheriting property is the name that remains between them. (The second oldest child is a woman and is arranged to marry the fourth born male son of a different family, then both will most likely take her family name. This changes naturally in case of some family death where he inherits the Noble house before the time of marriage. This is why the law is considered a noble profession.)
The Merchant Class
The Merchant Class did not arrive in the Southern Corner until about a century after the establishment of Crossroads. As the demand from nobility to retrieve luxury goods and technology from the other three corners grew, as well as the growth of the alchemist and engineering industry which created the industrial complex that the Southern Corner is today, the Merchant Class also grew. The Merchant Class includes Transporters of goods (in and out) shopkeepers, artisans of fine handcrafted goods (jewelry, furniture, armor, weapons, beer, distilled liquor, fine clothing pieces such as dresses and suits, occasionally a culinary master is brought into the fold like a cake baker or a gourmet chef), engineers, alchemists, ship captains, merchant bankers(the nobility have their own in and among the family).
Marriage, gender equality, and other social issues are considered to be more fluid among the merchant class. Many marry for love rather than for financial gain. The Merchant class is also very difficult to enter if you are not already among them, however, and often takes a master taking on an apprentice. Since there is such a large number of people who live poor and destitute, many many try to make it into the Merchant trades and very very few ever make it. The Alchemy Academy in the capital, as well as the Engineering Forum, require a letter of sponsorship to enter either by a master in the trade or another Merchant or Noble that is willing to pay for their education.
There is always a tension between the Merchant and Nobility class since the Merchant class very much sees the nobility as lazy and pretentious and old fashioned, and the nobility considers merchants beneath them, yet they hold many of the items they cherish and therefore get along. Some are more respected than others depending on what they do (a fine artisan such as a painter or a chef is held in higher esteem rather than a fabrics merchant who simply transports silks and charges the nobility an obscene price because they can). The Merchant class is not limited to only the Southern Corner but can be found in 3 out of 4 (there are no merchants in the east only enslaved artisans and crafters.)

Government System

Oligarchy

Power Structure

Feudal state

Economic System

Command/Planned economy

Legislative Body

Politics of the Southern Corner are entirely run by the family living in the inherited estate in the capital. The Lord and Lady of each family hold court the way monarchs do, and in times of war, they will meet collectively in a designated location (this is kept secret for obvious purposes). Government measures are passed when a ¾ majority are signed on a bill which gets passed from court to court (that is 8 out of 12 Lord and Lady each get a signature).
Both men and women have an equal voice among the nobility. This carries for the most part among the classes, yet there are some religious sects among them that organize differently. In terms of marriage and name holding, this is negotiated between the families when the marriage is arranged. Whoever holds the highest rank and best chance of inheriting property is the name that remains between them. (The second oldest child is a woman and is arranged to marry the fourth born male son of a different family, then both will most likely take her family name. This changes naturally in case of some family death where he inherits the Noble house before the time of marriage. This is why the law is considered a noble profession.)

Judicial Body

There are two methods which people who are accused can be tried.
The first is through arbitration. This functions as a standard trial. The accused stands before one of the noble houses (the lord and lady or a proxy if they are busy elsewhere) and the crimes are read. Then a prosecuting arbiter and a defense arbiter present the trial. The Noble family then determines whether they are guilty or innocent and issue punishment as indicated by the Accords of the 6.
The second method is the accused my always as to by tried by Justice. Justice is carried out by the Church of Elios. Elios is one of the few savior deities that is still permitted to be worshipped among the people of 4 Corners. This is mostly because the religion is so prolific, but also because Elios did not create magical beings to help save the people, but provided them with sacred weapons so that the people could fight Fezzeret themselves. These weapons still exist today and are carried by the Scarlets (or Scarlet Knights). When Judgement is asked, the presence of a Scarlet Knight is requested to hear their story and their crimes. It is up to the Knight to determine what the intentions of the accused were and whether they are guilty of evil. If the Knight determines that they are guilty of evil, then they are quickly beheaded using the weapon. If they are granted mercy, then they are free to go.
The Nobility, while they find trials to be boring and loathsome, find Trials by Judgement to be even more infuriating as the results always prevent the accused from the favored punishment - years sentences at one of many labor prisons throughout the country. The cheaper the labor, the more money they can make after all.