Gilden
People
The History of Gilden so far
The region now called the Warlands once spanned multiple kingdoms, which all fell to ruin in the interminable wars that led to the region's collapse. The names and ways of these kingdoms have mostly been lost, but there is still a whisper of their cultures passed down in some of the people who inherited this battlefield land. This has left the Warlands just rife with ruins of desroyed castles, haunted villages, mysterious crumbling towers, abandoned catacombs, crypts and tombs of kings and sages and deified figures, old temples and shrines to forgotten gods and spirits, and old ruined monuments. Perfect for adventuring, and even more perfect for plundering.
Up in the northern highlands there was once a kingdom called Tirosanioth, made up of two distinct groups who both worshipped the goddess of time and memory, Veniathan. They were known for powerful spiritual magic, druids, medicine, and craftsmanship, and most of all their Seers, the most powerful clairvoyants in the world, in all of history. Tirosanioth was wiped out when the kingdom of Dymin rose to power, which would quickly become a massive empire spanning the entire northen region. A few hundred years later, now almost no one remembers Tirosanioth.
Current Species & Cultures
The Warlands now is made up of the descendants of the old lost kingdoms and people who fled the north when it was conquered by Dymin. It is an unstable feudal region full of constant conflict and violence, rife with harsh poverty and dire means of living. Only the strong and brutal thrive there. The people there have little in the way of unifying cultural identity, and those from outside the Warlands see them as uncultured and barbaric, warlike and primitive.
One of the countries neighbouring the Warlands is its opposite in pretty much every way. Sidusimpere is a republic governed by an elected council of mages, where Arcane magic is a central pillar of everyday society, and education is highly valued. Even the poorest folks of Sidusimpere seem wealthy compared to the Warlands' peasant-majority population. Sidusimpere was once a kingdom, but the corrupt monarchy was overthrown nearly two hundred years ago by a group of revolutionary mages. They have very advanced magic-based technology there, and several universities, including multiple dedicated entirely to arcane study.
Up north is the looming spectre of the Dymin Empire. They are brutal conquerors with a harsh, oppressive culture revolving around the worship of E'erendar, the god of the end of all things. Their armies are massive and deadly, their monarchs secretive and seemingly all-powerful, and their Churches of End rife with admittedly extremely compelling dramatic flair, panache, and pageantry. They threaten to take over the entirety of Gilden, and the thing is, no one really doubts whether or not they can, it's only a matter of when before all the world disappears into the dark shroud of Dymin. People outside Dymin know little of what goes on in within the Empire, but those who managed to flee while their lands were conquered will say it's nothing but suffering, and they're essentially right.
Needs & Relations
People in the Warlands need stability and peace. Few ruling bodies there last long for more than a few months, even less more than a few years, and the lands ruled by more established or powerful lords are constantly battered by territorial conflict. Everyone is surrounded by enemy forces on all sides at all times, and what they need is to stop being enemies, but unfortunately, that's kind of a tall ask right now. Any external state who could be in a position to aid the people of the Warlands is either uninterested, or unwilling to invite the same level of violent conflict into their own lands, or are more interested in exploiting them instead.
The people of Dymin need to be liberated from the oppressive rule of the Church of End, in order for their suffering to be relieved, but the problem with that is that followers of E'erendar, which is everyone in Dymin whether they like it or not, are extremely fanatical and don't want to be liberated, they want their god to rise and raze the entire world to utter nothingness in its complete and total destruction and be absolved in the perfect obliteration of eternal void. So what they really need is to have some sense smacked into them.