Karine

Jutting out from the dense boreal forests and overlooking the wide cliffs of the fjords below, Countess Agathe's palatial castle is formed from strong dark stone and bear towering parapets and steep angled windows. Dotting the clearings in the forests below are small towns- shantytowns, many of them, at best- filled with those who work Agathe's land and who serve her. Scurrying through the filthy streets, drenched in the springtime mud, a ratfolk courier seeks his quarry- a halfling caravan departing the small hamlet in only 30 minutes. The notes he carries are integral to the success of the Karinian rebellion- architectural plans and maps of not just Agathe's estates but of several of her rivals and allies too, important information showing traps, secret tunnels, and back entrances. The ratfolk revolutionary nearly dashes his brains out as an imposing armored leg slams down into the mud before him, several hairless cloven feet standing in front of him and blocking his passage. Looking up, he sees the sneering faces of several Forlarren guards- equal parts eerily beautiful and horrifying- and hears the laughter of the guards insulting him. Ignoring the comments of the guards, he scans the muddy marketplace for a sign of the halfling Pariah troupe- and there! He spots them, packing up their supplies and preparing to move on. Desperately, he utters a prayer for his companion to arrive on time, and his prayer is granted as a dark-furred fox snatches the parcel of documents from his hands. The Forlarren wheel, realizing that the target of their ridicule may have been something more important, but the ratfolk is fast and the fox is even faster, leaving them no targets. The dark-furred fox leaps into the back of the halfling family's cart, shifting its body back to a more comfortable humanoid shape, before extending the package with mudstained paws. "Only a few bite marks, as promised," the kitsune says, jokingly, to the startled halfling matriarch in front of him. "Shall we?"

Structure

A council of vampires rules over Karine, each count or countess ruling their own parcel of land and the people within it as well as coordinating with the other counts and countesses in order to keep the country in line. Only rarely do the vampires trust others to serve in any major role below them, other than dominated servants, but when they do they'll give title to their own spawn in order to have a shared agenda in keeping the county profitable. It is unheard of for a vampire count or countess of Karine to trust a non-vampire with rule in any fashion, especially because non-vampires rarely have any interest in the vampiric agendas of procuring blood.

Public Agenda

Karine's leadership, although evil and malicious undead, are content to mind their own business more often than not. Isolated entirely from the rest of Aborea by the dangerous Borealis Reach, very few people outside of Karine are able to involve themselves in its agenda even if they're aware of the plight of its various living inhabitants. Because of its isolation and the incredible power of its rulers, very few good aligned organizations are willing to mount offensives against Karine, instead working in the shadows and attempting to further the agendas of the various home-grown revolutionary groups.
Lady Darya and her servitors view the living of Karine as an intermediary between livestock and pets, often referring to citizens officially as sheep or as livestock. They aren't concerned with annihilation or even total domination of their "flocks", but rather 'kindly' supply them with land to farm and places to live in return for a tax of blood and resources. The vampires leading Karine are, however, not fond of rebellion or revolution, treating it harshly and often enslaving those rebelling against Lady Darya.

History

Separated from the rest of Aborea after the Shadow Cataclysm's effects on the areas now known as the Borealis Reaches, the lands now united as Karine were peaceful places home to enterprising groups of halflings and ratfolk, as well as the Arctic Kitsune who had lived there for centuries. Although also home to the occasional human or half-elf, Karine's climate favors stockier and more community driven races like ratfolk or halfings, and thus other humanoid races rarely prospered there. The nation occasionally would unite under the banner of Karine or Karin, so named after a heroic figure who had battled off many corrupted monsters in the far north of Aborea during the years following the cataclysm. However, preferring to rely on subsistence from the land and the oceans, there was little conflict in Karine post-cataclysm.
This all changed in 973, when a powerful vampire by the name of Lady Darya brought a retinue of vampires and enslaved humanoids via ship to conquer the lands of Karine for her own. After wiping out the various local leaders and creating a 'united' Karine, Lady Darya partitioned the country into various counties and began her rule- enforcing enslavement of locals in order to satiate the thirst of her and her spawn, as well as engineering a race of impressionable Forlarren soldiers born from unions of her own summoned demons and the fey living in the Borealis Reach to the south.

Demography and Population

Karine's population is mostly made up of Ratfolk, Kitsune, and Halflings, although Orcs, Gathlain, and Dwarves aren't particular rare, even if they may receive strange looks upon the cold streets. Although rulers of the nation, vampires are quite rare in Karine, as none of the Counts is allowed to create a new vampire spawn without approval from the rest of the council- Lady Darya advocates against "new mouths to feed". Rarer still are the Dhampir, half-vampires who's births put them and their vampire parent in jeopardy. The vampires that rule over Karine will kill another vampire rumored to have created a Dhampir, and will go as far as to burn villages to the ground in search of a reputed halfbreed.

Territories

The territory held by Karine is north of the Borealis Hold and therefore cold, densely forested with coniferous forests, and home to quite a few glaciers and fjords in its mountainous reaches. The more open areas aren't the best for farming, so large scale farming in Karine is rare, usually restricting farms to small local affairs even with the assistance of druidic magic. Of course, land use requires the beneficence of a Count or Countess, a process that can often only be sped up by the donation of vast quantities of resources- gold, blood, or slaves are the general talking points for any Count or Countess.

Military

Although Karine's military is, in itself, quite small, the fact stands that a platoon of soldiers led by an incredibly powerful and cunning vampiric spellcaster and their dominated minions is usually quite an intimidating force. In addition, the power of many of the vampiric counts and countesses in Karine is dwarfed in comparison to Lady Darya, an expert conjurer reputed to have summoned whole armies to fight for her during her conquest of Karine in 973.

Religion

Interestingly, religion isn't a big worry of the vampiric Counts and Countesses in Karine. Although no churches or temples are allowed to be built, citizens are allowed to preach, pray, and even proselytize to each other. Some cynics believe that this is all a ploy of Lady Darya's to give false hope of salvation to her citizens, while others believe that Lady Darya is cunning enough to know that the danger of a faithful rebellion is much less if people are able to practice their faith without joining a dangerous rebellion. For the living of Karine, the empyreal lords are favored for prayer, especially those whose portfolios revolve around protection, warmth, or life.

The Sheep Trust the Shepherds

Type

Geopolitical, Country

Demonym

Karinian

Government System

Oligarchy

Power Structure

Unitary state

Economic System

Command/Planned economy

Currency

Most gold coinage is accepted in Karine, but the Karinian coin is called the "Blod"- all three denomination of Blod have the profile of Lady Darya on both sides, with the words "The Sheep Trust the Shepherds".

Location

Aborea