Mercia

The central kingdom of the Heptarchy is Mercia, lush forests and lakes divided by rich plains given over to the massive flowering plants that produce the favored dietary staple of Mercia's folk, the fairies. Mercia has complex traditions and codes of honor, very rigid rules that often seem upheld in the breach. They extoll their warriors and an elaborate etiquette that keeps their warriors of benefit to the kingdom. Mercia is known for it's intriguing nobles and brilliant knights, beacons of purity and justice defending the poor and downtrodden. Mercians are typified as vaguely out of touch and easily distracted, bound by outrageously high morals and expectations, their leaders said to be conniving opportunists capable of any atrocity. This bizarre combination of high morals and low cunning seems unique to Mercia, as fairies in the Empire are thought to be beautiful but dim. Mercia has an elaborate system of territorial courts that appoint their own nobles, each with a king or queen who doles out titles in exchange for fealty and service. Every noble has the power of low justice on his land. Above the territorial courts are the seasonal courts, whose powers are nationwide in their season, unlike the territorial courts who range a certain area but whose powers are year round. Above these are the two highest courts, who range the whole of the Heptarchy but by tradition act through proxies and lesser courts. All of these courts, each with their own king, choose one to serve the Heptarchy Council as Master of Ceremonies if not First Dragon (most commonly).

Government

Families bond together in communities where the most esteemed member(s) of a family convene to decide issues of importance. There are two types of gatherings, circles that focus on maximum exploitation of the territory to ensure it produces enough to guarantee a surplus with room to grow and courts that handle interactions with outsiders. Courts have diplomats and militaries at their disposal, but as the faeries were largely nomadic prior to the Empire, so to are the courts while circles remain in their territories. Circles can expect a percentage of a territory's yield, but the courts recieve fees based on actions beneficial to the territory. Successfully driving off invaders, hunting predators, forcing warring clans to peacefully arbitrate are all court activities for which they recieve recompense.

Defences

The powerful illusions and psi talents of the fairies have stymied most invaders. For being an open field, Mercia has repulsed every invader to date but Klavdivs.

Industry & Trade

Mercia does produce much more food than it requires, but it's major export is the diplomats that intrigue on the Heptarchy's behalf.

Infrastructure

Almost every settlement will have a smith capable of handling weaponwork but more familiar with tools and farrierwork, and mills for the grinding of grain. Only mines will have smelting facilities. Public works tend to be old Imperial innovations the circles maintain.

Assets

Mercia produces food, both with rich farmlands and abundant game. There are few predators, mainly dire wolves and dire lions, who prey on each other as much as the deer and boars. Mercian trade is through favors, vows, and obligations as much as product when they barter, but Imperial coinage is accepted at face value while other coins are factored by weight.

Guilds and Factions

Too many to count. Most noble families are factions in their own right, with some larger families consisting of multiple factions striving against each other but uniting against outsiders. These nobles band into courts of much that same description who shift alliances with the seasons as well as the whims of their members. Even the small local courts are nests of intrigue with methods that grow crueler in proportion to the pettiness of the prizes.

History

Mercia was first found by the Divine Ivlivs, the First Citizen of the Republic whose nephew was the First Emperor. He found it beautiful but cold, and was somewhat disparaging of the fairy in his journals, prefering his Dumnonian allies. When Klavdivs conquered, he pacified the fairy adequately to place a massive Imperial port of Lowonida just before Tamessa, the dark river opens into the sea. Imperial rule ended with the Eternal City's secession, and for a time Lowonida was called Kaerlud after the ogre warlord who held it safe, though Idris restored the old name to reflect a return to Empire.

Architecture

Most structures in Mercia are old Imperial buildings. The fairies have constructed many monolith sites throughout the land for various purposes, many of which are long forgotten. Standing stones and stone circles scatter across the landscape and the fairies sculpt the very living earth, but native construction all appears to be for ritual rather than necessity of use.

Geography

Merciais a vast plain with rolling hills in it's northwest at the coast, running from the sea to Powys in the east, with Strathclyde and Northumbria to the north and the Weald and Dumnonia to the south. Mercia is largely flat, dotted with lakes and rivers.

Natural Resources

Mercia's forests are filled with prey animals, deer especially but also boar. It's lakes and rivers are home to many varieties of freshwater fish. Mercian forests are managed woods, harvested for timber both by woodgatherers who collect fallen branches and woodcutters who saw down trees either as property owners or employees of the property owners. The great flowering plants that wrap around each of the multitudes of Mercian lakes ooze a nutritious and sugary sap through spring and summer, but require tending and drainage when colder weather sets in and the plants grow sluggish.

Type

District

Location under

The Isle of the Mighty

Owning Organization

The Heptarchy