The Kingdom of Hain

A "Hain" is a traditional word for community-tended walled garden native to the region. This is not coincidental- old families and records here even call the kingdom by its original title of "The Great Hain" rather than "the kingdom" or "the empire". Outside scholars assume that this is because Hain is a state dedicated to courtly beauty and serenity, as Hain is known to outside lands as a realm of courtly romance, chivalry, and sophisticated warrior-poets who slay monsters and Kivish armies for honor and piety.
The truth is that this has little to do with beauty or honor. The hain gardens have a very different meaning in traditional culture: they are not for beauty or peace, but a communal place to grow shared village crops and hide vulnerable community members during attacks. The hains are a basic unit of community, which designates clear communal roles: are you one of the community members guarding the walls and keeping watch, or one of the vulnerable community members who are there to tend the plants and keep protected from danger. These roles have been idealized and codified into the Hainish Code of Honor- a cultural standard for behavior that defines ideal social roles for farmers, visitors, and warriors. It beautifies the strict militarism and hierarchy that serves as the foundation for Hainish culture. Beneath all the romance and chivalry is a fundamental principle: that to deviate from social norms is to put the community at risk of death or worse. If you cannot fight, you must serve; if you cannot obey you must leave.
Reputation is everything here and has been codified into a kind of currency for aristocrats and merchants known as Honors. Honors are awarded to families for honorable behavior- stuff like building roads or defensive structures, fighting against monsters, or questing against "evils" such as the Kivish. Honors are stripped from a family whenever they are publicly associated with dishonorable behavior such as fighting other families or spending tax money on personal projects. Honors are used to measure political weight in the crowned assembly and generally to decide who deserves what privileges. The Honors system is also a way to keep the old families in power perpetually, as honors are hoarded by a small clique of ancient clans that use their influence to secure more and more honors. It is a way to both regulate behavior and exclude newcomers from the social ladder.
That said, the Hainish spirit is effective at holding the line. They have time and time again repelled armies that no other land could stop. Their warriors are legendary, and even during civil war they have a miraculous ability to re-unify in the face of danger. No foreign power has even held Hain, though they have gotten close- and one can only wonder what horrors might come to pass if Hain ever truly falls.

Structure

The Kingdom of Hain is led by two authorities:

• The Monarch , who is elected for life by the Elector-Princes, typically from among the top nobility and manages military affairs
• The Uvaran Archdruid, who is elected for life by the Autumn Court of high druid-priests and manages religious affairs

The electing bodies of these two executives serve as close advisors and policymakers:

• The Elector Council manages military affairs and selects generals to lead campaigns. They also act as the leadership of the Crown Diet . Each Elector represents one of the eight most Honored families in Hain
• The Autumn Court is made of the top magicians, scholars, and administrators of the Hainish Uvaran religious hierarchy. Each new member is chosen from hierarchy by the rest of the Court. The Autumn Court hands out Honors and acts as a top judiciary.

The Crown Diet is a body of landholding families dedicated to tax management and dispute resolution. Families hold power within the Crown Diet according to their collected Honors - though particular weight is also given to any families holding the title and responsibility of Margrave, Herzog, or Elector-Prince . Noble ranks are as follows:

• Elector-Prince: leader of an elector-clan
• Margrave: a noble who holds border-lands, both a great responsibility and honor (and a potential source of Honors)
• Herzog: a Herzog rules over a large tract of heartlands territory and is often tasked with protecting Uvaran church preservation lands
• Junker: Junkers are urban nobility, masters of towns or cities
• Graf: Grafs manage medium-sized land tracts, and often have lesser vassals
• Burgrave: Burgraves are the smallest-tier major landholder
• Below Burgraves are the Gentry or Lesser Nobility: the Ritters and Edlers

Titles are not reserved for the nobility: Burghers are titled artisans, merchants, and middle-class businesspeople. Typically, the title is available and common among all urban landholders and designates middle class status
The common people have their own hierarchies:

• Cherls are free commoners. Most cherls still have an overlord of some kind, but they have greater mobility, privileges, and access to legal institutions than other commoners. Many cherls live in cities, as official membership in a city community automatically grants cherl status for commoners. These cities include Telgen, Vruhafen, Ozaren, and Zinduhl. Most towns do not have this legal status, despite being urban in their own way. 
• Dienstmann are not entirely free commoners, but they are privileged ones. Many Dienstmenn are men-at-arms, mercenaries, or martial communes. They have greater rights, access to legal institutions, and often pay less in taxes and rents. Many Dienstmenn are fighting commoners drawn upon for Hain's armies and warbands.
• Eigen represent the vast majority of Hain's population. These are serfs, bound to either their parcel of land or their ruling title. An Eigen has fewer rights than others, but they do enjoy some economic security.
• Tunrokken are bound day-laborers and generally represent the poorest and lowest status commoner in Hain that still holds formal social rank
• Exiles, outlaws, and foreigners represent the lowest rung of commoner society, the perpetual outsiders who hold no position and enjoy few to no rights. Wealthy foreigners may have some legal protection, but poor refugees and wanderers are often seen as dangerous and disposable in a way that even the Eigen are not. 

Honors are reserved for families or individuals that hold a land parcel or title.

Culture

Honor and Hierarchy

Hainish Culture is known by outsiders for its fixation with honor and chivalry, its constant hierarchies, and its hearty love of a good celebration. Hain embraces grand, sweeping emotions: the tearful and solemn oath before the chalice, the raucous celebration of victory, the heartfelt declaration of courtly love. And while Hain is not above a good tragedy, the culture tends to celebrate positive emotions while dismissing those who express more negative emotions. The Hainish also love tradition; while new things are not outright rejected, they are seen as less tasteful. Hainish people are taught from a young age to value "Honor over coin" as a principle of nobility and class, and despite the increasingly commercial world outside their borders they still condemn profit-seeking as gross and sinful. Hain generally focuses a great deal on the past in its cultural expressions, with scholars and artists pushed to depict the legendary heroes and deeds of the past in everything they do. 
Hain is a place of many hierarchies, many of which are fixed by birth. Species is not one of these. You can be any species, any race, any gender, and still be superior to the peasantry. There are unfortunate exceptions to this: Hainish beauty standards values symmetry and can be quite dismissive of more radically-changed or lopsided Starspawn. Odd Starspawn are associated with the Ederstone-irradiated wastelands. More mundane and "normal" Starspawn, however, are welcome along with every other species. While Kobolds may be somewhat associated with the hated Kivish religion, it is considered boorish and small-minded to hold any prejudice against Kobolds for their species alone. Some places, particularly the smaller villages in Graefsher or along the borderlands, may still take issue with a religiously-ambiguous Kobold wandering alone. These minor prejudices aside, Hain is for the most part defined by class and bloodline hierarchies. The Kingdom is incredibly biologically diverse and it is generally quite easy to find food and medicine for any species (no matter how niche) here. 
Hain's hierarchies generally follow a shared logic that permeates Hain's major cultural stories (such as the Kofalin Stories ), social rituals, and village structures: that there are those who tend to the garden (the gardeners) who are to be protected, and those who defend the garden (the warriors) who are to act. The warriors are the decision-makers, but they (supposedly) are measured in their success as warriors by the safety and prosperity of the gardeners. The entire world is broken into this dichotomy between active (warrior) and passive (gardener). Things that cannot be neatly fit into this structure are either to be ignored or condemned. 

Living Hain

Hain isn't just one experience or culture - there are several subregions and pretty significant cultural differences between social classes. There are certainly some similarities, though. There is a vibrant love of expression, cheer, and bright colors across Hain, and even the lowliest serf often wears colored clothing and has a painted house. Clashing rainbow colors are always in fashion in this kingdom, and the nobility are always wearing the most garish and ostentatious clothing. Even the moody militants of Graefsher and the backwards superstitious farmers of The Delent appreciate a good rainbow.
Hainish life is structured by the Stildanian Calendar, with monthly holidays marking out the time and seasons. The most important festival is the Uvaran Frelden Festival of the spring solstice, which is the coming of age ceremony for youths, the new year festival, and the day for honoring the dead. Other Uvaran festivals structure time and space, even for those few who belong to other religions. 
Rye bread, porridge, vegetable soup, maybe a little chicken or fish are common day-to-day peasant foods. Pork is the food associated with spring and fish is the food associated with winter. Pancakes are a common winter delicacy associated with the God Vanoke. Egg noodles are a common side dish, or are placed underneath main courses to absorb the sauces or fats. A famous Hainish soup contains egg noodles, ox-meat, and potatoes - a hearty stew indeed. Maultaschen, or dumplings of onions, meat, spinach, and soaked stale bread, are another big thing in meals and are often put in nicer soups. Schupfnudel, or thick rye-potato noodles that kind of look like fat fingers, are a popular dish frequently served with sauerkraut (fermented cabbage). Schupfnudel-and-sauerkraut is known as the "Warrior's Meal", as it is often served on campaign as a way to keep morale up on the march. The Ozaren Quiche, a cream-egg tart with diced and roasted ham, is another big Hainish dish of the Heartlands. Garlic aoili is a favorite Hainish condiment.
See Hainish Culture for a more in-depth exploration of Hainish cultural norms, etiquette, gender, cuisine, art, beauty standards, courtship, and values.

History

Early Period (-100 to 460)

Perhaps the greatest irony of the history of Hain is that it began as a comparative backwater dominated by a land it now considers a controllable backwater. The first settlements were not originally along the river, which were simply too dangerous to settle, but along the Northern coastal valleys of modern-day Andrig. It was in Andrig that the first 3 great cities arose in the mid-200s and began subjugating and colonizing Southward in the early 300s. In 400, Hain was divided among the great Andrigan families of the North, who had divided the river valley into 3 empires. The local Hainish did not particularly care- to them, the great enemy was the monsters to the South in the irradiated Deverkel Wastes. These early kingdoms united into a brief Empire of Andrig, which served as a unifying force in the early 400s as it rose and fell. This unity enabled a great push to fortify the central valley by the clans there, who emerged as a political unit in themselves.

Vetkan Period and League of Eight (460 - 610)

The 460s made Hain. Far to the North the first Empire of Kizen had begun the First Kivish Scouring and in 464 a mysterious figure arrived along the banks of the Saress River: a dryad named Vetka, an extremely powerful and ingenious Alkoa (land druid) from distant Samvara who had long traveled across the continent (at first to return from a storm, later to discover new lands). Vetka would go on to become the greatest Land Druid in world history, and his introduction of Druidism and Samvaran ideas handed Hainish communities a vital new tool. Vetka helped organize the Hainish clans, arm them with druidism, and drove out the monstrosities. This rapidly accelerated Hainish development and power just at the right time, and soon refuges began to flood down from the North, fleeing the Kivish. As the Empire of Andrig fell into civil war once again, Hain rose to replace it as the regional center of power.
The four greatest river valley clans reached out around them to the mountain Prisms and neighboring groups to form the League of Eight in 480: a group dedicated to harboring refugees, driving out monsters, and building up defenses against the eventual arrival of the Kivish. Refugees brought tales of how the Kivish fought and what monsters they used- and the warriors who had fought and lost against the hordes were re-armed and integrated into the Hainish League. All who could fight were made warriors, all who could not were given land and told to produce as much food as they could. Kivish bands began raiding Hain in the early 500s, but the main force arrived in 560. The war was brutal, but Hain fought like no other- with the world's largest Ederstone waste to the South, there was nowhere to run. The Kivish had never faced druids before, nor had they faced an opponent that had ample time to prepare for them. The Hainish also had the advantage of a clear line of attack- the Kivish had to send all their forces through a 20-mile gap, from which mountain-savvy Prism raiders could harass their supply lines and fortresses could slow their attack. Solar Clerics sent by Haru arrived at the last moment to provide assistance, and a daring Prism attack to retake the mountain pass behind Kivish lines forced the Kobold army into a panicked retreat. To their surprise, Hain's defenders pursued them and they were crushed between Hain's armies in a dramatic defeat in 565. Hain began raiding Kobold lands and destroying Kivish outposts to the North from 565 to 570, when another Kivish army arrived and was defeated again in 574. After that defeat, Kivish forces became less and less ambitious and they finally stopped trying to destroy Kizen in 610.

Infighting and Negotiation (610 - 1100)

The League of Eight was built around destroying the Kivish, and no peace could hold their fury. They attempted their own invasion of the Empire of Kizen in 630, which ended poorly and led to a counter-invasion in 644. When the dust settled from that, it was clear that another Northward invasion would not work- and the League began to collapse from within. Not every group was happy with the draconian rule of the League's military, and a wide variety of factions and cultural groups all began fighting for control. In the end, it was an alliance between the Druids of Western Hain and the far Eastern Mountain Prisms who took over in 670. Unfortunately, the Eastern mountain Prisms had their own rivals even further East, who migrated Westward in an invasion in 700. These nomadic Prisms seized control in 703, integrating quickly into the existing system as Kivish armies approached from the North.
There were so many regimes that would rise to power, legitimize themselves fighting Kivish, and then fall to an internal rival from 703 to 1010. There were notable attempts in the early 900s, but an outbreak of Sunekan Yellow Death (bubonic plague) had crippled the economy and opened the country to Kivish invasion- which only became worse when the Kivish Ederstone weaponry mutated that bubonic death into Mageplague. While that Kivish army in 919 almost took all of Hain thanks to the disease, they brought it back to their own empire- ultimately destroying the Empire of Kizen entirely in 980. This took some pressure off of Hain, but Kivish splinter groups still made their attempted assaults on the land.
While the country recovered from the plague in the late 900s, research into how it mutated and how it could be contained proved immensely useful in the deciphering the puzzle of Wizardry. Academics working together across state lines worked with the great Courier Network to transport research around monsters and Kivish civil conflicts. The Courier Confederation had a mundane name, but was a breathtaking experiment in Stildanian unity- it brought North, South, and Center together. It delivered messages and packages, smuggled goods through hostile empires, spied on Kivish factions and bandit cults, and even took out hits. Many savvy lords, priests, merchants, and warriors across religious and cultural lines supported these couriers and the unity they brought. And when the Wizardry was finally made real in 1001, these allies of the Courier Confederation got first access to this new magical art.
The Courier Confederate group in Hain, a group of merchants, healers, and academics that had formed their own trading clique, quickly began training these new wizards. One of the most influential of this group, a Kobold Border-lord named Endrig Devhauzen, believed that this new art was a weapon against evil given to Hain by the Gods and that unless the infighting was stopped immediately they would squander this gift and offend the heavens. When the ruling clique failed to implement reforms put forward by the Confederates, Endrig gathered the nobles in rebellion. One palace coup later, and Endrig seemed poised to be the new monarch- but astonishingly, he went another way. He invited all the families most committed to fighting the Kivish and monstrous frontiers to join him in writing a series of rules for the new government. While many of Endrig's loyalists were deeply offended that he passed over them, his use of still-new wizarding magic was scary enough to keep them in line. The system Endrig and his moot decided on had monarchs elected according to their honor and record in fighting the Kivish, not by blood or by the size of their holdings. This system also created a united religious structure to determine honor- a much needed reform, as the Samvaran-infused local religious practices of the heartlands had begun to chafe against the Uvaran outskirts and newcomers. This system did not try and define them, but created a series of grounded local positions that allowed both to have representation. Both the political and religious systems did not seek to eliminate competition between factions, but instead hoped to anchor them in the traditional form of Hainish legitimacy: competition to act as protector of the community.

Holding the Line (1100 - 1300)

The stability brought by Endrig's "Kofalin System" of elected monarchy led to a Hainish renaissance of sorts. Kivish splinter-factions were driven away from the Northern marches, the Southern frontier was locked down, the population boomed, and development grew. Religious tensions grew but never bubbled into violence, and a Starmetal star in the far East served as a great excuse to not only consolidate Hainish religion but Uvara as a whole. The 1201 Starlight Assembly worked to define Uvara (or decide where it should remain undefined), and it brought together Uvaran and local-religion priests in compromise.
This was not a time of peace, but a time of prosperity. The Third Kivish Scouring in 1300 ended that golden age.

The Spring-Monarchs (1300 - 1450)

The Kivish once again invaded in a great horde, and once again they burned deep into Hainish territory. The armies of Kazalim the Phoenix slaughtered the elected monarch and attempted an occupation of Hain, launching a massive invasion the kingdom in 1352.  Hain drove out the Kivish by 1355, but the old system was largely wrecked. It was the religious structure that retained most of its former strength, and Uvaran Archdruid Itigun and General Savad were left with nigh unlimited authority to remake the government as they saw fit. Savad received a Supreme Honor for his campaign to remove the Kivish- essentially a designation of honor that would give his family multiple elector-votes in determining succession. Savad's line became de-factor the hereditary monarchs of Hain, and slowly the Hainish Crown Diet and Elector-Clans fell to the side as the Archdruid and Royal Family consolidated power. As the Kivish bore down and invaded once again in 1390, there was no room for argument. The Kivish armies launched a coup in the Hainish capital of Artoril and threatened the very heart of the kingdom with Ederstone weapons - simultaneously destroying much of the old government and paving the way for a new one.
The Wars against the Third Kivish Scouring, ensuing Kivish revenge campaigns, and the Fourth Kivish Scouring all were brutal times for Hain. But Hain had spent centuries in preparation. Fortresses stood at every strategic location. Hainish druids collapsed mountains on the invaders, and the border-communities had been armed and trained from a young age. Wherever the Kivish put down a supply line, the countryside rose up to besiege it; livestock seized by the Kivish were often fed poison; even the cats rose up against them, as they formed their own army of druids and paladins that coordinated with the Hainish military. 1310 to 1440 was a time of stress, but a reforging and re-invigoration of the Hainish spirit. It also saw the arrival of the Hainish Promised Path Kivish- a group of Kivish who sought asylum in Hain and offered their Ederstone weapon and military intelligence in response. Their leader was seen as the Irunek and they remain the only legally accepted Kivishta sect in Hain today.

The Return of Honor (1450 - 1800)

In 1450, peace was made with the Third Empire. Uvara was legalized in the Empire of Kizen and 11 border states were made in Andrig to create a buffer zone, and the invasions ended. Peace never truly reached Hain, but it meant an end to armies invading the land. It meant another population surge, more pushing of the Southern frontier, more fortifications and rebuilding. This time, cats were recognized as equal partners, with their own Druidic government known as the Ketarun (cat ownership was subsequently outlawed). Some kept to the old ways, but as mutated wasteland starspawn-cats were disturbed by wasteland colonization and began migrating into Hain, it was often a choice between Ketarun or death.
But as prosperity returned and war became less eminent, the legitimacy of the Savad line began to fade. In the late 1500s, the rise of non-Kobold merchant and artisan associations in Kizen made the Empire of Kizen even less of a threat. Questing there stopped, and the nobility became unruly. Hainish Honors were becoming pointless for the Electors, who began gathering power internally instead. In 1600, the Great Clans petitioned the Uvaran Archdruid to remove the multiple elector votes from the royal family; war broke out as the royal family tried to intervene. In 1603, the royal family was toppled and their honors removed. Competition was restored, and questing was encouraged in the South. Numerous holy orders devoted to specialized questing became common for aristocratic heirs, and chivalric culture flourished. In 1680, this Hainish restoration came under threat once again: the Empire of Kizen's government fell to a coup, and radicals gathered once again to invade Hain's pristine lands.
From 1680 to 1730, Hain fought the Kivish radicals pouring down in what is now known as the Fifth Scouring. This time, they also imported huge numbers of Kasten and Eketeni mercenaries from the South, bolstering their ranks of elite knights. The Empire of Kizen and Hain both brought far greater numbers and far larger firepower this time, and the war was unusually devastating. But Hainish villages only surrender to get behind enemy lines for the next strike, making occupation pointless. While the Kivish army killed tens of thousands of civilians and burnt the landscape, they also created dozens of logistical challenges and incinerated much of their own potential loot. It was like occupying Ederstone frontier, and while there were colonization efforts in Northern Hain they were ultimately unsuccessful. In the 1728, Hainish paladins captured a major Kivish general and rehired their demoralized troops as mercenaries, and Hain suddenly surged forward. In 1730, they marched into the heartlands of Verzavek (center of the Southern empire), which through open its gates to the Hainish soldiers and met with them to begin their own rebellion. After 1730, Hainish soldiers fought their first true offensive campaign that almost reached the cities of Eveko and Rumakel in 1740 before the North pleaded for peace with the South and the Hainish had to withdraw. While Hain returned its common soldiers to the countryside, knightly families sought honors by raiding Northern Kizen. The famous Spring Knights even managed to ride down the imperial heir in 1745, paving the way for a succession crisis in 1749. Many of these knights participated in the Week of Cleansing in 1750, and withdrew afterwards to Hain with great honor.
Following the last Scouring, the question was: what now? Some argued that Hain should march North and destroy as much of the Kivish successor kingdoms as possible; others said that would lead to corruption and dishonor. The militaristic regime of the 1750's did their best to project power and even tried to make the monarchy hereditary again in 1781 as a way to keep that policy moving forward. But such a violation of the garden kingdom's policy undermined the regime, which was overthrown in a brief civil war in 1800.

The Garden Peace (1800 - Present)

Since 1800, Hain has withdrawn again to its land, and focused on rebuilding, fortification, and reclaiming Ederstone frontier as farmland. The population has resurged once again, and the desolation caused by the last war has faded. Hainish isolation has created a period of great peace: 200 whole years of it! But peace never truly visits Hain. They are always building, training, hunting as if war will visit tomorrow. They tirelessly hunt monsters, quest, and compete for honor as always. The great noble families have found other ways to play out their vendettas: proxy wars in the North! While Hain has entered isolation, its families have not, and de-facto rule the many fragmented states of Andrig as well as bits and pieces of the Kingdom of Verzavek and the Kingdom of Gennorholn .
Now that the Empire of Eketen has begun to collapse in the South, there has been whisperings of possible Questing to be done there as well. While it has previously been off-limits due to coastal Ederstone deposits, innovation in shipping has allowed for far greater interaction in the last century.

Demography and Population

2,500,000 humanoids and 950,000 cats live in the Kingdom of Hain. Hain's humanoid population is 15% Kobold, 20% Human, 15 % Starspawn, 20% Prism, 20% Dryad, and 10% other.
Of the cats that live here, around 80% belong to the Spring Cat Clans (known as the Ketarun Cats).

Territories

Hain is a little over 27,000 square miles of territory. It is generally defined as the region between the Saress River in the South and the Gardog Mountains in the North, and contains a mixture between forest, plains, river floodlands, and hills. The bulk of the Hainish population and development is in the North-central rivervalley, known for its lush forests and floodplains. In the Northeast, the forest opens to grassy plains and hilly expanses before reaching the Gardog mountains. In the Northwest, heavily developed forest has become partially grassy flatlands from historic deforestation. The Southern side of the Saress river is colonial Hain: a constant march Southwards to develop the irradiated marshlands.
Hain is broadly divided into seven main provinces:

• The Hainish Heartlands, also called the Bellinbrosh. These are the richest and most insulated lands of Hain, an agricultural basin of great plenty. Not all parts are equally developed, but generally this is the safest and most "cultured" region
• Graefsher, the Northern reaches of Hain, is the haunted corridor of countless wars. Graefsher is known for its xenophobic and militaristic local peasantry and its chronic plagues of undead.
• The Delent, The North-central breadbasket of Hain. This is a large valley used to farm vast quantities of wheat, reclaimed from the Ederstone wastelands. The Delent is known for as being somewhat backwards, unsophisticated, and is associated with the unwashed peasantry - notably the insular and superstitious Yolps
• Halmenter is the traditional mountainous realm of Prisms and other stone-folk. It is seen as the great wall against foreign aggression, protecting the heartlands.
• Selkeren is the province of the Eastern valleys, a disjointed area reclaimed from the Ederstone wastes. Somewhat unstable and currently being integrated into Hain proper
• The Northern Frontier is an active front against the Ederstone wastes, a realm of monsters and monster-hunters at the edge of the Hell's Cradle, the Bladed Wastes, and the Warrens. 
• The Southern Frontier is an active front against the Ederstone wastes, a realm of monsters and monster-hunters at the edge of the Deverkel Wastes 

Hain's territories are generally somewhat ambiguous, as the government's hold over any territory is decentralized and loose. A lord's power is more concrete in any place than the monarch's power, and many noble families hold lands beyond the legal boundaries of Hain.

Military

Hain's military is led by knightly orders, backed up by the Clans, supported by Southern auxiliaries, and tied together by warrior levies.
The knightly orders of Hain are the greatest in the world. They include one of the few assortments of mixed-divinity government-attached paladins in the world, as all of the Lunar Pantheon  supports Hain. While some knightly orders are attached to specific Lunar patrons, some of the greatest knightly orders go out of their way to include all of them.
Most notable of the Knights Orders are the Orders of the Four Seasons- specifically the Spring Knights. Founded by Arvarad the Magnificent, a famous Half-Dryad warrior in the 560's who led his group of companions in riding through the early Empire of Kizen liberating slaves and destroying Kivish  outposts. He was originally a druidic student who was called to paladinhood and became something more: a Green Knight or nature paladin. Arvarad may have died in Kizen, but his daughter-squire returned the companions to Hain with a great treasure: the Knucklebone of Ustav, the only remaining physical piece of the Spring God. It is rumored to have great magical power that is connected to the strange tokens or amulets Green Knights carry- whenever Hain is under attack and the Spring Knights are needed to return from their quests, the amulets are said to whisper to their knights to return. Spring Knights are rare- they require immense skill, experience, and commitment, and they often spend their lives abroad questing for the glory of their families. The most common place for their Questing is deep in Ederstone wastelands.
Winter Knights, meanwhile, are said to blend arcane magic and wizardry with their fighting, and often quest in civilized lands and reject paladinhood to belong only to Hain; Autumn knights practice in learning magic to better spot and disrupt enemy casters, and hunt rogue magicians; Summer Knights specifically hunt Kivish, and often work with Kobold-bone (many are Kobolds themselves as well), and prefer to Quest against Kivish bands as training.
Other groups such as the Rose Knights (who quest for the glory and influence of Hain abroad), the Horned Knights (who quest for Uvaran religion exclusively), and the Starry Knights (who fight for the glory and honor of the Ketarun Cats) abound. No knightly order isn't themed, as each must have a reputation and some sort of quality to make it a truly honorable calling.
The Eight Clans (not to be confused with the eight Elector Clans) are not the actual Eight Clans of old, but are rather titled free peasant groups that can gain Honors as a local community, are exempt from certain taxes, can directly hold land, and are in charge of making sure that the local areas are armed and ready. "Adoption" into these clans is as much a low-level independent military position as anything; they often take particularly skillful peasants in to improve their martial education. These Clan communities are sprinkled throughout Hain but are most common along the Northern border.
Southern Auxiliaries are basically monster-hunters from the Southern cultural groups that are absorbed into the Hainish Southern frontier.
The common levies are also nothing to stick your nose at. The common people are expected to be armed and prepared to fight- the old hain levies never died. The kingdom avoids drawing on them because they are "gardeners" to a certain extent. But when the Empire of Kizen invades, they become "protectors"- and while the walled gardens can't truly withstand artillery fire, they essentially create a massive network of tiny village forts. The levies are the invisible backbone of Hain's supposedly knights-only military, and the secret weapon that any invader faces.

Religion

Hain claims to be the leader and defender of the Uvaran faith, though other Uvaran communities disagree. Hain does carry a lot of weight in the Uvaran religious system, though, and works to archive holy texts, train priests, and protect holy artifacts for the greater faith.
Hain's brand of Uvara is a lot more hierarchical, formal, and legalistic than other varieties. Uvaran Priests who hold status within the hierarchy are expected to be spellcasters of some kind, and spellcasting power is itself a path to power. The religious structure attempts to have a monopoly on spellcasting, with all casters receiving religious instruction and bound by specific religious rules. Druidic magic is seen as the most direct form of channeled wisdom and is the highest status form of magic; wizarding magic is seen as a holy gift from the Gods against the Kivish  and is only slightly less prestigious. Bardic magic and sorcery are less prestigious, with bardic magic more common in the military and sorcererous groups largely existing as their own associations. Warlockery is not understand and therefore suspect.
Uvaran Priests in Hain may follow a familiar Uvaran selection process, but require official acceptance by the greater Temple hierarchy. The Autumn Court and Uvaran Archdruid are the official religious heads here, and temple policy is strictly top-down.
The Hainish Sovikov is also has a very specifically Hainish addition: the expanded sagas of The Kofalin Stories. These are literature, religious parables, and national legends all in one; the governmental system of honors and elected monarchy is also named after them. If you are to say that Hain has a national religious mythology, Kofalin is a critical part of that mythos. Veneration of Vetka the Liberator, greatest of the Alkoa is also fairly common among druids here. Vetka is honored as a Hainish ancestor along with other great heroes.
Worship of the Lunar Pantheon  is very specifically regulated here to "maintain balance". All Lunar cults are legal, but are to be kept in the open and regularly reporting to the Uvaran temples.
Speaking of legality, religious law is the norm here and religious courts are as well. Religion itself is highly regulated, with Kivishta all-but-banned (you must be Hainish Promised Path Kivish) as well as the Suneka and other foreign faiths.

Foreign Relations

Hain is a walled garden- it seeks no conquest, which would only weaken it. This policy is a part of the Code of Honor, and has guided Hain for centuries. This makes many kingdoms and empires very fond of Hain, as they can actually trust that they won't attack unprovoked.
The only threat to Hain's spotless reputation is Questing. Questing is when a warrior or warriors make an oath to go abroad and defeat an evil or perform some "good" action. Most common forms of Questing are monster hunts, bandit hunts, pirate hunts, oaths to protect an Ederstone-waste frontier settlement, or attacks on some radical Kivish group or Starspawn wasteland cult. But they can also be to avenge an injustice, topple a local tyrant, or obtain a sacred relic of Uvara This is where Questing is problematic for neighboring countries, and where Hain can be seen as troublesome.
While Hain itself does not expand, its noble families have been known to engage in quite a lot of imperialism - which the Kingdom supports.

Laws

Hainish law is primarily local. Nobles have great legal leeway and authority within their fiefs and laws can vary wildly from place to place. This system is prone to confusion and mostly works because the serfs, or Eigen, are typically tried in private fief courts by their liegelords rather than in general royal courts. Secular crimes follow similar suit, with vassals being tried by their respective liegelords. Courts that handle contested cases, religious law cases, or royal cases are operated by the Uvaran Priests of the Autumn Court. 
Each lord has a handful of sheriffs, who handle formal law enforcement. Communities often play a very active role in policing; village militias are allowed to hold court for petty crimes, though the interior counties all demand that all murderers, witches, or other perpetrators of serious crimes be tried in official courts. 
Eigens are divided into groups of ten families, called Eigenchups. If the a member of an Eigenchup commits a crime and that crime is knowingly ignored by other members of the Eigenchup, all ten families may face punishment.
While most law is local, there are general kingdom-wide laws and royal edicts that do bind all Hainish subjects together. These include:

• Eigens, or serfs, must acquire permission from their liegelords to move from their assigned plot of farmland
• No faith but Uvara may influence government. All landed nobles ranked Burgrave or above must be of the Uvaran religion. 
• All forms of Kivish religion except for the Promised Path is banned. All forms of Sunekan religion are banned. 
• Any commoner who slanders or wounds a noble is to be punished and humiliated; if the instance is seen as particularly foul and unprovoked, the commoner will be disfigured or branded in such a way to mark them as shameful
• Only nobles may grow food of any kind for sale outside the country - all exported food must be sold to them first, then typically resold to a Burgher
• The Divine Contact cannot be performed by any commoner without an Uvaran Priest's permission
• Commoners who commit crimes can have their sentences reduced if they were deemed intoxicated by the court; in exchange, the commoner must work a set number of years as an indentured servant (typically for a lord).
• To break an oath is a criminal matter that may lead to fines. 

Agriculture & Industry

Hain is overwhelmingly agricultural, though it does have a few major urban centers in the central river heartlands.
The Saress river valley region is primarily based around rice, wheat, and potatoes. Cash crops such as cotton and dye-crops are grown in the East, while the Northern plains focus more on livestock. Renewable lumber-forests are used in rotation around the kingdom, and the Northern hills have many mines and quarries. Outside of mineral gathering, Hain plans around sustainability and isolation - they need to be able to sustain total war conditions even when cut off from trade and under attack for decades.
Interspersed among the crops and lumber-forests are the Preserves. The Preserves are forests kept largely untouched, reserved for hunting, foraging, and druidic meditation. These are temple lands used for druidic mastery, but their day to day management falls to the Ketarun Cats. The Ketarun chieftains are given plots of these preserves in which their people hunt freely. Some of these forest fiefs are like miniature cat cities, with cats herding domesticated poultry in order to feed densely populated cat communities; others produce basic plant dyes to both dye their own fur and trade with other Ketarun fiefs.

Trade & Transport

Hain is a lot of things, but it is not a mercantile power. The emphasis on taxes paid in labor and services performed for Honors means that a lot of the economy isn't in actual coinage. This makes the Hainish economy difficult to access for foreigners (this is somewhat intentional, as it helps insulate the region from trade exploitation and bribery). Add in the Hainish obsession with self-sufficient production and you have a country that is severely handicapped in trade.
Most Hainish trade takes place in the large urban centers around the Saress River, where strong guilds hold sway and Junkers set trading policy.

Education

Almost all of Hainish education is done for Honor. Local aristocrats often send their least militarily suited children out as school administrators, who set up local Charity Schools for rural or urban communities. This informal patchwork of free private schools is extremely messy but somehow functional.
Temples also often provide basic literacy training and can have further education for those on the track to become priests. Particularly bright children (particularly of the middling class) are often flagged for promotion into wizarding studies. Higher education is entirely religious, and academies for specific disciplines or areas of studies are run by priests educated in the field.

Infrastructure

Constructing walls, fortresses, roads, and aqueducts are all sources of Honor in Hain- and as such, communities often work in construction as part of their taxes. Hain has traditionally focused what little fluid money it has on construction projects, and works hard to maintain a staggering level of building development.

"No Evil May Enter Here"

Founding Date

1800 ME

Type

Geopolitical, Kingdom

Capital

Ozaren

Alternative Names

The Great Hain, The Kingdom of Hainzen

Demonym

Hainish

Leader Title

Hainish Monarch

Government System

Monarchy, Elective

Power Structure

Unitary state

Economic System

Market economy

Gazetteer

• Ozaren, capital city of jousting, honors, and memory
• Vruhafen, the great port city of riches, priests, and colors
• Telgen, the war-port city of monster hunters and feasting
• Zinduhl, the great milling city of strange magic
• Hodsyarn, a haunted farming town 
• Artoril, a mountain-city known for its ancient relics
• Kamminfost, a small cult-town of Lunar cultists
• Gornin, a small border town known for its prison and monks
• Hauzen, a prosperous college town known for its mages
• Slevenk, a town of many cursed monks, reformed monsters, and a great prison
• Feltarnok, a lighthouse temple-keep and honory home to the wandering God Haru
• Ozginheilk, a rich coastal enclave known for its great library and many authors, artists, and philosophers

Currency

Sunekan Golden Lions, Silver Foxes, Copper Stars

Legislative Body

The Hainish Crown Diet

Judicial Body

The Autumn Court

Official State Religion

Uvara

Subsidiary Organizations

• Hainish Crown Diet
• Hainish Elector Council
• House DevHauzen
• House Dezuren
• House Geinman
• House Hunain
• House Neshelna
• House Savadan
• Kingdom of Dovenar

Location

Stildane

Official Languages

• Hainish language
• Wakingtongue language

Related Traditions

• Hainish Honors
• Questing

Related Ranks & Titles

• Burgher
• Burgrave
• Cherl
• Dienstmann
• Edler
• Eigen
• Elector-Prince
• Graf
• Hainish Monarch
• Herzog
• Junker
• Margrave
• Ritter
• Tunrokken

Controlled Territories

• Andrig
• Artoril
• Farlin
• Farlin Ruins
• Gornin
• Graefsher
• Halvzarmoor
• Hodsyarn
• Kamminfost
• North Elvertov
• Ozaren
• South Elvertov
• Telgen
• The Delent
• The Hainish Heartlands
• Vruhafen
• Zinduhl

Neighboring Nations

• Empire of Eketen
• Halvzarmarch Preserve
• Kingdom of Dovenar
• Kingdom of Nidever

Related Ethnicities

• Hainish Culture

Related Plots

• Hearth and Home
• Vruhafen Never Sleeps

Related Historical Events

• 1781 ME
  King Volstr Dissolves the Hainish Elector Council

Regions of Hain