Nikos

The island of Nikos is the primary seat of power within the protectorates and it was the first of those states to emerge from the tumult of the Sundering as a stable entity. The large island is separated from teh continent by the expanse of the Serrenian Sea a relatively narrow stretch of water typically requiring between half to 2 days of travel to cross depending on route and conditions. The island itself is dominated by small craggy mountains and hills with perhaps the largest flat area of land being the Siderine woods along the eastern coast facing the Deridian ocean.
There are three main population centres within Nikos with the intervening spaces dominated by the estates of noble families and smaller villages and towns. The capital of Nikos is Merpont holding the seat of government and the main commercial port in the whole island. Facing the continent it is incredibly sheltered from the harsher storms coming off the ocean and has grown into a huge city with around 400,000 inhabitants. The Bulwark is area of main military focus on the island and holds the main training institutions of the air force and non-Annexi regiments as well as a sizable amount of their equipment and surplus warehouses. The city is built around teh shattered citadel a huge pre-Sundering bastion which reaches up to s kilometre tall. Its outer walls are dozens of metres thick yet examination all over the structure has yet to find a single seam between two stone blocks. This strong military presence is around due to the Bulwark being on the northern point of the island where the Serrenian sea enters the Deridian ocean so it acts to guard against the pirate raids of the Hi-Karan flotillas. The third major city is The Seastone Bluffs and is substantially smaller than the other two cities. The Bluffs are located along the eastern coast within the Siderine forest, the city itself mostly consists of a dense network of underground tunnels and galleries carved into the soft dusk stone cliffsides. Due to the Siderine forest being all around them with its famous Valarwood trees that produce ship timbers as tough as steel yet as light and easy to work as a young willow sapling. Because of this huge dry docks have been built within the base of the cliffs allowing for huge vessels to be produced and immediately let out into the ocean to join the navy or begin their journey as huge oceangoing going merchant-fortresses.
Nikos has established itself as the dominant oceangoing power throughout the world, its prowess at sailing enabled it to establish the rest of the Protecorates and maintain effective rule and transport between them. Just after the Protectorates formed there began a series of escalating conflicts with the also newly formed Dorwinion empire due to a conflict of mercantile interests and seizures of merchant vessels on both sides but initiated by the empire. This naval war culminated in the battle of Farring reef where hundreds of Imperial warships were boxed into a series of reefs that were uncharted on Imperial maps and had only recently been found by the Protectorate Navy. With the Imperial fleets boxed in they were annihilated by the protectorate fleets. After this they moved quickly to raze every imperial port on the Deridian ocean to the ground, a blow that the empire has still to recover from.