Akora

General Information

Honour, glory and the satisfaction of hard won victory are all that matter to the people of Akora. Through sheer will and determination, the Akoran's have built a strong society that has been able to avoid major internal conflict for most of their history.

Geography

Akora has but one settlement across its land mass, nestled safely along the Southern coast. This is due to Akora's strange and unusual landscape, which the Akoran's claim to be alive. Magical phenomena have been observed as the forests shift, the mountains grow and shrink and rivers grow wider and more forceful in reaction to those who would travel through them. This leads to two definitive seasons in the Akoran calendar: Slumbering and Waking seasons.

During the Slumbering, the Akoran guilds take contracts to hunt beasts. The beasts of Akora are extremely rare and are often mutations of regular beasts that can be found elsewhere. Scholars of all levels offer large sums to get their hands on these beasts or materials derived from them.

During the Waking season, the landscape itself fights all who wander into the wilderness. Many adventurers have sought to conquer Akora during Waking, but most have failed. To stop the guilds from warring amongst each other in what small amount of land they have conquered, they all participate in the Tournament of Succession. Each guild puts forth their best hunters to compete in a series of challenges against one another, ending with one guild claiming victory over the others.

The Guild Concord

In Akora's early days, the guilds would often fight over contracts. Some of these fights nearly scaled into civil war, but before they could the guild masters convened to discuss an alternative method for settling disputes. Together, they devised the Tournament of Succession, which would serve a two-fold purpose. Not only would it keep their hunters occupied on the Waking season, but it would also settle the dispute of which guilds had priority for contracts.

Whichever guild wins the tournament may decide the pecking order for all guilds in Akora, an agreement which was thought to spark fierce rivalry but also help forge better hunters. For those who are not hunters, the tournament offers them a boost in trade as well as a season long festival where they can display their crafts.

Organisations and Ethos

The guild concord is an agreement held by all guilds within Akora, with strict laws detailing the penalties should they fight amongst themselves prior to the Waking season.

There are also several famous teams of hunters and explorers from throughout Akora's history. Among them, the four largest are:

• The Crimson Blades
• Utgarde's Finest
• The Coastal Crushers
• The Brotherhood Eternal

The old common phrase Aeternum Pati is a reflection of Akoran values, values that each of the winning guilds embody. It translates to Endure Forever and stands as a testament to Akora and her people's will to set aside their differences in the spirit of competition.

Notable History

The Founding of Akora (1417)

Akora as a country was found by accident, an expiditionary fleet leaving Tulva found the landmass while returning to Mitlind. The expidition's leader, Vorth Daedark, thought that this would be a good spot to resupply before the long journey home.

The First Akoran Expidition (1417 - 1421)

Under the guidance of Vorth, the expeditioners began to explore the landscape. They had set up a base-camp on the coast but by the end of the expidition there were rudimentary homes made from the trees on the woodlands' edges. It was throughout this time that the expedition came to learn of Akora's two seasons as many of the explorers never returned during the Waking. One of the explorers thought to have died in the wilderness was Vorth's friend, a friend whose name was given to the land as a tribute to them.

The Akoran Rush (1421-1453)

Rather than keep the country to themselves, Vorth believed that Akora held boundless opportunity, and so he sent word to other countries through his expeditionary fleet. With the promise of adventure and potentially plunder, other fleets began to flock to the country leading to Akora becoming one of the most densely populated countries in Laan at the time.

The Forging of Guilds (1453-1455)

While Vorth was the first to find Akora, and the utmost authority on its seasons, there were those who believed they knew better. The expeditioners from abroad forged alliances and began to travel deeper, even spending nights in the wilderness. Vorth, while initially apprehensive found these explorers to be extremely useful and established them as some of the first Akoran guilds.

The Contract Riots (1666 - 1667)

Long after their initial founding, with news of the species on Akora being unique mutations from the original form, scholars began to offer exuberant rewards to those who could get them the reagents and parts they required. With so much wealth being offered, it was only natural that the guilds whould disagree with who would take which contract. Small disputes scaled into large ones. Large disputes scaled into riots that lasted longer than many had predicted.

The Inaugural Tournament of Succession (1667)

In hopes of quelling the riots taking place, the guildmasters of Akora agreed to compete for contract priority rather than trying to settle the disputes with violence. This gave birth to the long standing Tournament of Succession, where guilds can rise and fall due to the outcome. And for those who don't compete, they can watch the spectacle unfold in front of them over the course of the Waking season.

The Akoran Golden Age (1668 - Present)

Akora is experiencing an age of peace and prosperity. The guilds are drawing wealth to the region through both Hibernation and Waking seasons, with crowds making the trip to Akora to watch the Tournament and experience the variety of crafts that Akora has to offer.

Aeternum Pati

Founding Date

1417

Type

Geopolitical, Country

Demonym

Akoran

Neighboring Nations

• Morris Cove