Kingdom of Asalay

Merchants, warriors, adventurers, masters of crossroads and hoarders of secret knowledge: this is how the world sees the monarchs of Asalay, and how they see themselves. They foster an ideal image of Asalay as a land of a thousand cultures and religions, united under the enlightened rule of the monarchs.
The Kingdom of Asalay is a kingdom built entirely around the city of the same name. Much of the countryside is a decentralized web of tributary communities and trade ports stitched together to support the great city. To control the city of Asalay is to control trade across the region, as well as production: great amounts of iron, copper, silver, gold, steel, bronze, jewels, and silks are hauled out of The Asalay Underworld and flow through the trade routes into the greater world. The coastlines are also directly controlled by the kingdom, raising vast levies of soldiers and great harvests of spices, fruit, and cotton.
This very limited but pragmatic way of running a country has let the kingdom move its core quickly to adopt new technologies, magical arts, and ideas - by focusing entirely on the urban center and allowing the countryside to manage its own affairs, the kingdom can reform quickly and aggressively without disturbing most of the country.

Structure

At the top of the kingdom is the Monarch and Royal Family, which directly run the Crownlands - a stretch of urban and coastal land directly owned by the state that contains near every city in the Kingdom. The monarch is theoretically allowed to rule the crownlands as an absolute monarch - all titles and positions in the crownlands are non-hereditary appointments, and all laws are subject to crown revision. The royal family is expected to run this extended bureaucracy for the monarch.
Within the crownlands, there are two legal categories beneath the crown: Citizens and Subjects. Citizens are those who can prove that their families have lived in the crownlands for three generations. Citizens alone have the right to pass land along family lines, and have rights to their own courts. Subjects are everyone else. Subjects can still pass property to their children but require royal approval. 
Outside of the crownlands, the land is run by the nobility - the greater nobles being known as Princes and the lesser ones only as Lords. Each noble has a unique relationship with the monarch, formalized in a Noble Contract that writes out the specific obligations of both parties and cannot be easily altered. Similar Village Contracts are used between the nobles and the local communities not directly under them. Villages and towns often have Constables that are either elected or chosen from the local elite by the nobility, creating a patchwork web of divided authorities that prioritize local rights and tradition.

Culture

Food Culture: Variety, Dumplings, and the Spice Challenge

Every kind of food can be found in Asalay, and that is a point of pride. A wide range of spices and fruits are available here, and every kind of outsider brings their own tastes and recipes. Rice crackers, fried rice (cooked in coconut milk), banana bread, meat buns, and confectionary treats are all quite common. In the cities, restaurant culture has emerged: a corner shop or stand for a taste from home, wherever your home may be. Cooks hybridize these endlessly, creating a kind of culinary fusion found nowhere else in the world. It is said that the royal family never eats the same meal twice! 
But in this chaotic world of food catering to every identity, what does the native eat? How can you tell a real Azalen from a tourist? To become a true native of Asalay, you must pass the three trials: the dumpling test, the lambanog trial, and the spice challenge. The dumpling test is something of a religious element: in traditional Ishkibism, humanity is the purest species. Asalay has never really accepted that tenant, but that foreign Ishkibite connection has placed human food above dryad and prism food. An Asalay has made it its own: there is something holy about placing the true meal inside a plain dumpling, to hide the Soul of the food inside a mortal shell of dough. You can't tell if your neighbor is eating rock, detritus, or shrimp if its in a dumpling- it is the ultimate spiritual statement. Foreigners just don't understand how base it is to leave your food naked, un-dumpling-ed, unloved.
Wary travelers who learn the way of the dumpling have only begun the naturalization process. The Lambanog trial awaits them next. Sure, they know about beer, wine, maybe even rum. But Lambanog, alcohol derived from coconut sap, is 40-45% alcohol and has a unique flavor. Often spiced or mixed with other hard liquors, lambanog is a formidable booze for those unfamiliar with it. Not only do foreigners find lambanog hard to approach, but they often fail to understand when to drink it. Lambanog. tequila, and hard liquor are for community occasions, typically consumed in "phases" so some people are more sober than others. Beer, pulque, and watered wine are for less serious occasions. Foreigners misunderstand this, and often get absolutely smashed during socially unacceptable times- humiliating themselves and marking themselves as outsiders.
So, you've figured out how to handle your lambanog and how to clothe your food - but can you handle the heat? The final gauntlet is the hardest: getting used to incredibly spicy food! Azalen food has used every culinary innovation to increase the spice when possible. While not every meal is burning hot, Azalen meals often lean that way. This spice training prepares them for a traditional Azalen honor-challenge: the spice challenge. Basically, two people eat and drink spicy things that ramp up in heat while remaining stoic in appearance. Often, the spicy drink is also alcoholic to make this even more difficult. Challengers also are expected to give toasts and compliments with each serving and drink to demonstrate their wit. 

Contract Culture

Formal contracts are an incredibly big deal in Azalen culture. Written contracts are considered the most important, with the physical paper or slab actually acting as a kind of sacred object. Oaths of binding are often carved into the doorframes of houses and shops as a ritual binding of government loyalty- rebellions often are formalized by the defacing of these written oaths. Multiple copies of a written agreement are created for virtually any business venture, and scribes are a common profession for the educated.

History

Foundational Legends

The Legend of the Underworld: It is said that when the first moon gave birth to the second, that it actually gave birth to twins. It loved them both dearly and wished for them to live in the sky with it, but it owed a terrible debt to the Earth. The earth had waged war against the sky once, and as part of the peace the sky and the earth had promised each other the first children born to each as hostages. And so, the Earth God Lupathi emerged in a great thunderous eruption and stole one of the twins away. Lupathi accidentally suffocated the child, killing her. Terrified, she resurrected the child with part of herself - the child was now also her own. When the other spirits of the Deep met together and agreed to place the hostage child in a great vault for all of eternity, Lupathi felt great sorrow- this child was now bonded to her, was now a person to her. And so Lupathi crafted the child a mortal body and placed her in a great temple beneath the Earth. The local villagers heard a great rumbling and visited the temple, finding the child and adopting her. She was named Asala, and grew up to be a great hero and magician.
Asala performed many great tasks and trounced many monsters, but one foe forever eluded her: death itself, which stole her loved ones and foiled her greatest schemes. Eventually, she had enough, and decided to storm the Underworld itself to steal back the souls of her loved ones and acquire the secret fruit of immortality. She returned to the place of her birth, and tricked her way past Lupathi into the land of the dead. But just as she was about to escape with all she loved and desired, the Earthen Gods recognized her and surrounded her. Lupathi interceded, demanding she be allowed to defend herself in a trial. She laid out her many good deeds and had her identity as moon-and-earth revealed; but it was not enough to entirely purchase her freedom. She was imprisoned in the Underworld in a gilded garden, but Lupathi left open the path she had made. When the villagers went to find her Asala, they found the passage to the Underworld, full of monsters and riches, still open. And when both the moons were full, they heard Asala sing to them of her trials and fate, and how she would one day escape.
The Legend of the Traders: While the village kept near the Underworld and their dearest Asala, word of their discovery spread rather slowly. Surrounding villages and peoples did join the locals in revering the Underworld, ritually sealing it, and occasionally venturing in, but it was nothing like the grand expeditions that occur today. The local villagers did use Asala's gifts of steel weapons and gold trinkets to rise as the great fighters and traders of the region - but they always treated the Underworld as an ecosystem to be navigated respectfully, not a wilderness to be conquered for maximum exploitation. The first to break this world arrived several centuries after the discovery of the Underworld: a pirate and merchant from far-off Sonev named Idoni. Idoni had noticed the appearance of carefully cut gems and unique coinage, and followed the rumors and evidence East to the Underworld. Idoni and her crew negotiated their way into the Underworld through gifts, lies, and exploitation of local political divides and began doing their best to pillage loot and fantastical beasts.
Idoni lost many warriors in the depths. She stocked her ship with treasures and left behind a few crewmates to try and "keep the locals conquered" while she was gone. The locals did not appreciate this and ultimately unified to kill off her crew. When she finally returned, she found an extremely hostile countryside. She was unable to conquer the villages, and instead discovered a new entrance which she set up camp around. She and her group eventually were killed off by Azalen raids, disease, and dungeon monsters. Her remaining crewmates ultimately rebelled and joined the locals. While Idoni ultimately did not take over Asalay, she accidentally introduced new technologies and connections. And while Sonevans were unwelcome in Asalay for some time after, the locals begin sailing North to encounter and trade with other Izekrans.

The Brotherhood Era

The tension between outsiders and locals over access to the Underworld became a consistent problem. This was largely resolved through the strategic initiation and adoption of outsiders into an extended "Family" of adventurers - an organization that could encourage outsiders to stick around, settle into local worldviews, and face accountability and regulation for their actions in the Underworld. This was translated as a "brotherhood" and understood as a kind of knightly-monastic order by outsiders. From the 300s ME to 700s ME, the Brotherhood ruled over the Underworld. At first they worked as a defenders of the local villages, guardians of the Underworld, protectors of merchants, and diplomats to foreign parties; eventually, they morphed into a formal military cult that ruled the area. Its hard to say exactly when that happened; the villages themselves were in the process of transforming as well, increasingly becoming something of a large sprawling city. And the Brotherhood never did rule unilaterally, but in conjunction with other priestly oligarchies.
As the Brotherhood became more formalized, militaristic, and hierarchical, it also became more overtly religious. During the 500s, it took on the name "The Order of the Dragon" and began revering Asala-Yakara (Asala the Dragon) as their symbol and protector. Instead of treating the Underworld as an ecosystem or holy land, they began treating it as a battlefield. They began categorizing creatures and things into "holy" and "unholy" categories (largely based on their threat capacity) and started trying to actively create a "Path of Purity" into the depths of the Dungeon. They started curating and protecting Flowyrms, which they saw as emissaries of sacred truth and agents of Asala.
In the 700s, the Order had become corrupt and factionalized. The demand for extracted loot had grown, but many sects and groups disagreed on who could be allowed to enter. Many also disagreed on the place of the Order in relation to the nearby city. Individual groups started doing their own thing, taking over corners of the Underworld and even the city for themselves and ignoring orders from above. In 755 ME, a local Dryad Warlock named Kandaro was able to lead a coalition of local cults into the Order's brewing civil war, uniting Asalay under their rulership. Kandaro was the first autocrat of Asalay, a priest-warlock-monarch that united all the many villages and cults under one legal code and one rule.

Imperial Era

Kandaro left behind a theocratic elected monarchy, a temporary measure in theory that soon became permanent. Monarchs justified their continual rule through military conquest, turning their military machine from the Underworld to the overworld. Slowly, the Order of the Dragon became synonymous with the military as a whole. This meant both a zealous religious conquest of surrounding peoples (as the military's goal was theoretically to "purify the land"), and an increased military-occupation attitude of the Underworld. Society became more and more militaristic as a whole, as every regime upped military spending to justify its own existence. From 785 to 875, this went on: conquests and civil wars becoming the norm. Outside mercenaries were slowly allowed into the Underworld with limited and highly regulated access. 
In 875, the new ruler of Asalay converted the country to Ishkibism. Ishkibism had always been tolerated in Asalay and had been popular among the Order, but had struggled to really take permanent hold in the majority-Dryad land and leadership. But, after centuries of war and "purifying" violence, the Ishkibite civilian militarism and dualistic worldview was actually a stabilizing influence. Rather than accept the rule of the International Temple, Asalay built their own priesthood that incorporated local beliefs. The Ishkibite empire stopped focusing entirely on conquest and started turning inwards towards the Underworld. The new regime allowed outsiders to adventure in the Underworld as well (with regulations). From 875 to 1250, the Underworld expansion boomed. The 1100s even saw the industry go aquatic, as aquatic voiceboxes were mass produced and Octopeople explorers found an underwater entrance to the third dungeon layer.
In 1250, disaster struck. Continual disturbance of the lower levels and excavations to make larger hallways allowed a beast of great size and power to crawl into the upper levels. This began a massive resurgence in hostile Underworld wildlife. Excavations and modifications also destabilized parts of the upper levels, which came crashing down. Humanoids that had settled into the Underworld began to turn on the overworld, blaming them for the crisis. Chaos reigned. For two hundred years, the Underworld trade slowed to a snail's pace. The economy crashed and the Empire fell into decay.

The Dynastic Era

In 1308, a subject group known as the Banalo people rallied against the Empire's overtaxation and failed rule. Mathrin, a charismatic warrior that had been an officer and local governor, defect to the rebels and ultimately took over the movement for himself. For years he fought other rebels and invading groups for dominance, but by 1320 he had established full control over the Asalayan empire. He created a new administration, which he felt would be more stable and sustainable: a hereditary monarchy, with tributary groups and territory distributed out to feudal lords for management. Many other rebel groups and allies with co-opted into the new feudal aristocracy, and peace was restored to Asalay. This new regime only sped up the decay of the city of Asalay, which rapidly deteriorated.
In 1340, Mathrin opened the Underworld for anyone to enter, regulating only the removal of monsters. The military withdrew completely and ceded all rights to land or loot below the surface. Outside adventurers rejoiced at the opportunity to adventure without restriction or tax. Companies began to set up shop for this first time, feeding in large numbers of mercenaries and desperate contractors like a meat grinder. Outside interests began investing, funneling foreign capital into Asalay for the first time since 1250 - as well as foreign influence. By 1450, these outsider companies and groups had finally slain the great beasts and restored the Underworld to full operation. The merchants and companies worked together, creating a vibrant market and business center in the upper levels of the Underworld. The city returned as the heart of the kingdom, a bustling metropolis of trade.
Through the 1500s, this out-of-control financial sector began dabbling in organized crime (as Mathrin had ceded all claims to legal power over the Underworld) as well as massive tax and tariff evasion schemes. The power and influence of these merchants ballooned, undermining the government and the Azalen Temple of Ishkibism. In 1590, the monarchy sought to outright dissolve the Temple of Ishkibal the Dragon (the Azalen temple) to court favor with the traditionally Ishkibite merchants- leading to great dissent among the city-goers and old-guard military. The Temple of Ishkibal the Dragon resisted dissolution and ultimately backed a coup in 1595. A back-and-forth of counter-coups occurred from 1595 to 1616, almost leading to civil war. The 1616 regime was able to act quickly to exploit factions among the Under-merchants and enact reforms without being overthrown.

The Current Regime

The 1616 reforms taxed loot, extended the rule of law into the Underworld, and reformed the Order of the Dragon as a policing body run by the Temple. The taxes were far more punishing to merchant contractors than actual adventurers, driving a wedge between the merchant-lords and the mercenaries that actually launched their expeditions. The reforms also limited alterations to certain areas to prevent another round of cave-ins. The 1616 reforms temporarily slowed growth, but stabilized the kingdom and city.
Another period of wild growth began in 1650, with the signing of a very generous treaty with The Khilaia. Selkie immigration and investment skyrocketed, and trade flourished. New ideas arrived. In the late 1700s, flourishing international trade inspired a Zerua-style stock exchange for forming large corporations. The rich got richer, new ideas and peoples arrived by the boatload, and a seeming golden age of commerce began. Not everyone benefitted equally, though: an outbreak of piracy and nativist criminal groups targeting wealthy foreign tourists and merchants exploded across Asalay in the early 1800s. The piracy was suppressed, but the urban nativists never really went away. Corporations rose from the stock exchange, exploitation of the dungeon intensified.
The kingdom re-instated the old legal category of "citizen" to sate the needs of locals and nativists in 1850, but that has only really strengthened the movement. This has greatly empowered the monarchy, which profits greatly from a divided but loyal populace. And boy has it profited- it has built great universities, palaces, and greatly expanded its cities. The Crossroads Kingdom stands dominant, wealthy, powerful.

Demography and Population

3,000,000 humanoids live in this kingdom. 35% are Human, 35% are Dryads, 15% are Prisms, and 15% are Other species.

Territories

The Kingdom of Asalay is based around the isthmus of Asalay, with the capital city sitting at the narrowest point on the isthmus. From the isthmus, the kingdom then follows the coastline in every direction, moving 150 miles East, 90 miles West, 200 miles North, and 70 miles South. 
Island of Onsepu sits 55 miles to the South of Asalay. It was once co-ruled by the Temple of Ishkibal the Dragon, but after the Temple was driven out in 1790, the Azalen kingdom formally invaded and occupied it. It is theoretically its own kingdom, but its monarch is by law the same as Asalay so that's mostly legal window dressing.

Military

The Azalen military is a composed of four main parts: the Crownguard, the Temple soldiers, Feudal levies, and Mercenaries. The crownguard is the core, and operates as a small standing army loyal to the royal family above all. The crownguard are a full-time standing army that doubles as an urban garrison and police force. They are chosen for their flexibility and value as guards over warriors, making them fairly disciplined and reliable but less than ideal as a formal fighting force. The greatest tactical advantage of the crownguard is its versatility: the wide range of recruits and magical resources it has access to allow the crownguard to draw on a wide range of fighting styles, policing styles, and magical support.
The Temple soldiers are warriors provided by the Temple of Ishkibal the Dragon. These warriors have trained from childhood as Ishkibites and are often veterans of either distant wars against religious enemies or The Underworld. The Temple guard covers many of the crownguard's deficiencies, including heavy infantry, cavalry, and battle monsters extracted from The Underworld.
The Feudal levies rarely join up with the others, but rather keep order in the countryside and protect the kingdom's borders. They are primarily made up of highly autonomous local warbands.
And, wherever there is a gap, Asalay has the unique ability to compensate with mercenaries from around the world - there are often great hosts of them along the trade routes, both to protect merchant vessels and to plunder the Underworld's riches.

Religion

The Kingdom of Asalay is deeply entangled with the Temple of Ishkibal the Dragon, and is theoretically very Ishkibite. It would be a mistake to imagine this as a purely theocratic state, however: outside religions are welcome in Asalay as long as they do not undermine the government. 
If a foreign religion manages to carve out a neighborhood of its own in a city, it is offered a Banot ("nation"): essentially, its own legal and tax category. Each Banot has a leading council of religious minds that represent that religion and inform the kingdom what is considered acceptable and legal in that tradition. The crown and Banot then work out a system of taxation and law that will keep that religious community happy and harmonious. For example, if a religious community traditionally outlaws a kind of food or drug and someone within that community breaks that taboo, the crown might allow the Banot of that community to hold a trial and punish the offender. In regards to taxes, the Banot can also promise to take on certain civic responsibilities in their neighborhood (policing, sanitation, education, etc) in exchange for the ability to collect taxes on their residents and keep some of those taxes for neighborhood improvements.
The Temple of Ishkibal the Dragon has long embraced the Banot system: by acknowledging and segregating the different religions into different legal systems, Ishkibites in Asalay feel even more different from other religions and actively identify more with the Temple. It helps that many of the general public spaces fall under the Temple of Ishkibal's jurisdiction: they manage The Underworld, the market squares, and the ports (all very lucrative areas to rule over). The Temple of Ishkibal the Dragon also runs the state-sponsored central bank, has sway over the media censors, is involved in the military apparatus, has a monopoly on the nutmeg trade, and has unlimited legal power over all things involving Flowyrms, which they consider to be holy messengers of Ishkibal. 
But there is one eternal threat to the Banot system: mixed faith neighborhoods. Until recently, these have been taxation nightmares generally discouraged by the state. However, ever since the Laranharta cadet branch took power in the monarchy in 1840, the monarchy has eased restrictions on these- even legitimized them! At first this was a scandal that threatened to explode into full-on political crisis, but the leadership of the Temple has worked out a compromise: wherever the neighborhoods are mixed, the Temple will be able to work out a contract between itself, the kingdom, and the member-temples (or Banots) for that neighborhood's operation. As the contract-makers, the Temple always ends up in a position of dominance and gets to appear welcoming and cosmopolitan.

Foreign Relations

Asalay has emerged as an unlikely champion of Western Ishkibism, defending same-faith countries and opposing Halikvar invaders. The greatest rival of Asalay is the neighboring bastion of Halikvar, the Kingdom of Isaok.
Despite this reputation as a defender of the faith, Asalay is more of a pragmatic defender of trade lines - only really lashing out if it detects a growing threat or if trade is disrupted.
Asalay is closely allied to The Khilaia.

Agriculture & Industry

caffeinated and coconuts (for milk, as food, and for palm oil). Flowyrms are also grown with Temple permission for their fruit and psuedodragons. 
Great smithies and kilns can be found here as well. Asalay has a long history of steel smithing using artifacts from below, and that remains true. Mining is more for Prism food than anything else here as the Underworld is a superior supply of pure metal, but quarry work is common. Glassblowing, carpentry, shipbuilding, alchemy, and tanning are all major industries in the cities and towns. 
The Healing Church of Samvara has its Eastern headquarters here, and operates a massive Alchemy business here. 
The Island of Onsepu to the South also produces nutmeg - one of the only islands in the world to produce the rare spice. It is rumored that the Kingdom has secret nutmeg production facilities on mainland Asalay where they are experimenting with off-island cultivation, but those are only rumors.

Trade & Transport

Finance is huge here. A massive stock exchange sits in the heart of the capital, and Zerua-style corporations have begun to form. Selkie merchants direct foreign commerce into the kingdom from abroad and allow for goods to cheaply and easily be shipped in and out of the coastal settlements. A Temple-run bank supplies many of these corporations and merchant groups with easy access to loans - and often use their network of perpetual debt to keep the merchants and corporations in line. It is a business paradise - big merchants willing to cuddle up to the Temple and monarchy can win big here, as long as they remain loyal. 
Small-time businesses and artisans face a harsh economic ecosystem if they want to prosper. Guilds do exist to protect small artisans and peddlers, but many of these are for citizens only. Non-citizens that want to ply a trade or peddle goods often have to find a larger patron to work under. Or they can seek out organized crime syndicates to protect them- equally risky to be honest.

Education

Almost all education is managed through local temples. In religiously plural neighborhoods, multiple temples of different faiths have been known to pool educational resources to create unusual hybrid educations- one of the great sources of that weird multi-religious Azalen culture. In centuries past, this hybridity was socially stigmatized, but it has increasingly been adopted and legitimized by the central government.

"We Hold the Crossroads"

Founding Date

1616

Type

Geopolitical, Kingdom

Capital

Asalay

Demonym

Azalen

Government System

Monarchy, Absolute

Power Structure

Feudal state

Currency

Asalay Dungeon Coinage: Gold Dragons, Silver Eagles, and Copper Bulls

Major Exports

Coinage, jewels, steel, magic items, silk, sugar, pepper, coffee, energy brews, fruit, monsters

Major Imports

Food, salt, tar, cotton

Official State Religion

Ishkibism

Location

Izekra

Related Ranks & Titles

• Banot

Controlled Territories

• Asalay
• The Underworld

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