Lycoras
'Modern' Lycoras is, essentially, three different powers competing for control of the same narrow strip of land on the far southern end of Lorlithia:
- 'Old Blood' - descendants of the nobility/upper class and priesthood who reside in the sister-cities of Coranis, Ethaesis, Myrrinah, and Petras and who are mainly interested in preserving the culture of the old Empire and gaining enough power and influence to reclaim at least the heartland; they're hampered in this by their scraps with each other over resources/territory as well as their Forever War with the Nerethi Krin. They also frequently lock horns with each other over who would/should rule the new Empire they'd like to found; the entire Imperial family perished in the Drowning and none of the current archons has an especially compelling claim.
- Nerethi Krin - a semi-nomadic tribe descended from an army of thieves, whores, and manumitted slaves that arose in the aftermath of the Drowning; their territory is concentrated in the northeast, spreading out from the city of Lucitas, which they call Kiyam'vir; they're engaged in a running semi-religious war with the Old Blood, and not above conducting raids for the supplies and horses to keep it up. They've historically baffled Lore and Zenyrar by showing up half the time as raiders and the other half as peaceful, legitimate traders, but nowadays actually have pretty decent relations with southern Zenyrar and the Marches of Hawarden and Kilgerran. They also despise the Grass Sea People for their practice of slavery, holding them to be nearly as bad as the Old Blood.
- The People of the Grass Sea - descendants of rural farmers and other peasantry who lost everything in the Drowning, and took to raiding and counter-raiding against their nearest neighbors in the aftermath in order to survive; they also devolved into intensely insular clans, frequently too small to hold much territory the way the Krin do; they hold the Old Blood in contempt, but will deal with them where the Krin won't and tend to be better armed as a result. These are the raiders the Southern Marches of Lore were formed against, mostly, as they will straight up kidnap people to sell as slaves in the sister-cities in exchange for supplies and weaponry.
Structure
It varies depending on who and where exactly you look; within the surviving sister-cities,
Demography and Population
The population is largely human and mostly concentrated in the sister-cities; before the Drowning, the population of Lycoria alone was estimated at somewhere near 1,500,000. Today, the population of all four sister-cities combined is just under 1,000,000; the Krin and Grass Sea Peoples together might make up another 200,000-500,000 all told, but their semi-nomadic lifestyle and lack of written records makes it near impossible to get an accurate count.
The Old Blood are the closest to "pure" Lycoran stock, intermarrying mainly with each other or with the Lycoran-descended nobility of Cathosul; the Grass Sea People have a larger percentage of Lorian and Cathosi ancestry due to the tradition of stealing spouses during their raids along with supplies and livestock. The Krin have the most diverse population; they started off with a mix of Lycoran, Elvish, Zenyran, and proto-Lorian ancestry and have continued to intermarry with the people of southern Zenyrar and those Marches they have the most contact with.
Religion
The Old Blood follow the traditional Lycoran pantheon. The Grass Sea People largely do not, aside from the Poppy Queen and her children the Stars; they particularly revere figures like the Hunter Star, as well as a post-Drowning cult to a pair known as the Good Man and the Black Mother. The Krin have also eschewed the traditional pantheon; theirs is a syncretic blending of the Elvish pantheon and a twist on the Good Man and Black Mother: in their tradition, the Good Man was their founder, who they believe will one day be reborn and lead them to a final victory over the Old Blood, and the Black Mother was his mother who first led them in their war after the Good Man was killed.
Foreign Relations
The sister-cities depend heavily on trade with Cathosul and Lore, and through Lore Escanthus and Zenyrar, to sustain themselves; much of the farmland that survived the Drowning never fully recovered, and regular raids by the Grass Sea People and Nerethi Krin have constrained local farming and ranching efforts even further. It's no real secret that the Old Blood resent this state of affairs and dream of founding a new Empire and regaining their place as rulers of most of the continent; their few historical attempts to build alliances by 'marrying out' have tended to be met with guarded neutrality at best and outright suspicion at worst, and all trade deals are heavily scrutinized.
There are two exceptions to this: one is Escanthus, which sits clear on the opposite end of the continent and which was never part of the Empire anyway, and so is closer to true neutral in their dealings with Lycoras than Lycoras' nearer neighbors are; the other is Cathosul, which for much of its history was a voluntary vassal of the Empire and nowadays sees itself as the Empire's successor.
Intermarriages between Cathosian nobility and the Old Blood are frequent, especially in Coranis; Cathosul and the March of Cemais in Lore both deal harshly with raids by the Grass Sea People and the Krin alike; the throne of Lore and the Marches of Oswestry and Elfael are largely neutral and concerned mainly with border security.
Thanks to their close ties with Cathosul, Coranis has a bit of an edge over the other sister-cities in terms of wealth, secure trade, and military strength; they haven't yet managed to parley this into the capital to found a new empire because Cathosian response to a potential Lycoran restoration has historically been lukewarm at best, and Queen Margarete is particularly uninterested.
Type
Geopolitical, Province
Predecessor Organization
Demonym
Lycoran
Government System
Anarchy
Power Structure
Confederation
Economic System
Mixed economy
Neighboring Nations
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