Kingdom of Castone

The noble houses of the Kingdom of Castone

Ruling: King Louie of The King Louie House, (crazy king)
Champions: Joan D'Orleans of The D'Orleans House, (joan of arc)
Economy: Annette De Antoinette of The Antoinette House, (obviously)
Magic: Jeana Dubois of The Dubois House, (forest elf witch girl)
Military: Leon De Lafayette The Lafayette House, (obviously)
Diplomatic: Talleyrand Dupont of The Dupont House, (bridge builder)
Religion: Saint Jean Montfort of The Montfort House, (french crusader)

General Information:

Archetype and Culture: Discount French - The Kingdom of Castone is ruled by an upper class of almost entirely elves and Pre-Devastation Machines and sentient magical items. This upper class lives in grand manors and castles the overlook the green and fertile fields where peasants toil to provide vast quantities of food, not just for their own country, but for import quotas into other countries as well. For the most part, the land in Castone is unusually green and full of life, a byproduct of the extreme amounts of magic that was unleashed as the Elves tried to defend their empire. In all areas but one, this magic has greatly helped their people, acting as natural defenses, improvements on their working and living conditions and production output, so much so that even the animals are mostly tame and docile in Castone. The working peasants all exit their hovels each day to toil in the fields for their aloof masters, who take a sizeable cut of the crops to sell to other empires, a practice which has caused a few famines within their own country on more than one occasion, but each time it does, the people are quick to show the nobles their ability to build guillotines, which generally causes the nobles to open up their stores and cast magics to allow the commoners to feast on cake until the crisis is over... a delicate balance, but one that the commoners seem to enjoy like holidays as they soon go right back to work without much issue.

History: Originally the heart of the Elven Empire, the strongest empire in the world, and the site of the greatest battles of the Devastation. At the height of their power they were able to project their military and magical might across the world, with no other nation able to compete they were able to ransack and steal from other nations as they pleased, collecting a vast array of relics and wealth that they would display with pride. They made vast advancements in the field of magic, discovering new spells and reaching new heights of technology and research that were all soon lost during the Devastation. They even created a race of sentient golems at the start of the Devastation, made to replace their rebelling human slaves, known as warforged these creations were built too little and too late to stop their downfall, with most being destroyed in the chaos. The Devastation was total, the elves slung their greatest spells which did nothing to stop Martius and his hordes of their former human slaves, the land was scarred and ruined as the human flags rose up on the highest elven towers. In the aftermath the elves were rounded up, men, women, children, innocent and guilty alike... and slaughtered via guillotine in their hundreds of thousands, it was said the blood spurting from their stumps ran so heavy that whole rivers were made in which the victorious humans bathed to try and gain a measure of elven beauty and agelessness. Then it was over, the surviving elves worked with the humans, now free of Martius' influence, to rebuild what was once theirs, at first they were no better than the human next to them, but then slowly and surely they were able to use their knowledge and prowess to reactivate old relics and implement government programs that saw bountiful harvests and happy times, times which still largely continue on today, with the elves using their former empire's remains to build up and improve the lives of the current empire. The humans now enjoy the might and comfort of elven magic and even the lowliest serf has a higher quality of life than the middle class in many other nations, they are content to drink their ale, wink at elven women and work in the simple but fulfilling jobs of plowing the fields as their elven "masters" hold onto their power with a flimsy grip, knowing that at any moment their populace could rebel if treated too harshly... and so the balance continues to this day.

Client Race: Elves have managed to travel back to their homeland, after being pushed out of every other empire, mostly through violent means. They have arrived back home and begun to rebuild what was once theirs, working with the humans as they rose back up to the top of the social structure, now as nobles and landowners they are allowed to govern the happy people of Castonne so long as they dont revert back to their old ways of tyranny and oppression, the humans are happy to let the elves run things in this way, as the elves magic, knowledge and prowess have improved their lives greatly. On the other hand, the elves are quite happy to become nobles over the humans peasants, but are haunted by images of the destruction of their former realm, they know the real power lies in the humans, and they know the humans know that too, but... its a better life than they would get anywhere else by far, and so they stay, some even eventually learning to like their human equals, and a rare few even learning to love them. This is the case for the majority of elves, but there remains a noticeable portion who travel around as gypsy's instead, unable to return to the nation of their defeat, to live under the threat of the humans they fear so greatly, these elves are looked down on by the nobles now living in Castonne and many are turned away even if they do decide to come back.

Leader: King Louie the first is an odd and ancient machine, created as one of the rank and file warforged of the elven empire, he was blasted apart in a battle by the magic of Martius himself, who waved his hand to cause lightning bolts to destroy vast swathes of a warforged army who was fighting his human worshippers, Louie was merely glanced by one of these godly bolts, and woke up a nearly 500 years later when the Heroes of Europa found and repaired him, the godly magic and rather shoddy repairs had granted him sentience, which he used to fight against Martius return, and in return for beating the God back into his stellar cell, he was awarded rulership over all of Castone, his old home. Choosing the rather odd and arduous task of setting up his capital in the barren and horrible wasteland that was once the elven capital, he now rules from Pierre Leon in a rather whimsical manner. Some suspect his circuits are failing him yet he refuses any treatment, instead spending his nations wealth and power to procure more and more relics, peoples and stories from before the Devastation, keeping them in vast vaults under the blasted and cursed ground where he now spends most of his days. His noble houses run most of the day to day actions of his empires, placating their rather silly king with ancient trinkets and songs as he goes about his merry life.

Source of Power: With the remains of the old Elven Empire lying strewn about the fields and rather densely in the ruins of their old capital, the Kingdom is able to call on mysterious and powerful relics, artefacts, and ancient souls and soldiers who have seen more terrible things than most alive could comprehend. Their elves are the most magical in the world and able to wield magic that was used in the Devastation itself, this magic is so common in their kingdom that it even aids in the farm work, making the Kingdom able to produce twice as much food on half as much land as anyone else, food which they export around the continent for a sizeable profit.

Religion: Vonaya still holds the worship of the elves and many of the humans in Castone, after all, the relics only work for those who worship the Goddess properly. She is a jealous Goddess, and those that worship her usually do so for selfish reasons, either to activate the relics in their possession, learn ancient knowledge, gain mastery in a skill and so on. However, there is actually a rather strong and fervent following that still see her as worthy of worship based on her glory, beauty, power and other such Godly traits alone, this following has a billion different excuses for her various lapses in judgement and her inability to defeat Martius and seem to be trying to curry favor with the Goddess by promoting her worship wherever they can, the movement is slowly gaining steam in Castone, but still hits a hard wall of hatred whenever its tried outside this shelter.

Capital: Pierre Leon is both the former capital of the Elven Empire and the new capital of the Kingdom of Castone. Unlike the rest of the luscious landscape, Pierre Leon is the site of the grand defeat of Vonaya and her entire council of elven supreme mages, the magical backlash that came from the Goddess herself being ripped from the heavens and sent crashing on top of the capital and the mages who were mid-spell at the time, sent a blast wave that rippled through and around the capital, forever scarring the land, destroying the building and voiding the entire area of life. No plants or animals can survive there, all creatures require magical protection or risk being sundered apart by the still lingering magical vortex of godly and mortal power that storms about as if a hurricane in a glass dome, air is non-existent and this... this is where Louie has set up his throne. The few that do remain here have enough wards to survive in shelters and bunkers, vast vault complexes fill the underground which is still mostly safe and is where most people reside, forced to live here to keep the kingdom going in accordance with the decree of their king.

History of the Castone:

The Age of Apostasy: During the Age of Apostasy, the elves were able to rise to be the strongest empire in the world through their advanced use of magic. They conquered hundreds of smaller nations, enslaving humans and carrying away their wealth and relics. In their society built on the backs of their slaves, each elf lived as a king, with no concern for the wellbeing of the humans they subjugated. They treated humans as nothing more than animals and often displayed their cruelty just to show their superiority. As the elven empire grew stronger, many of the elves became so full of themselves that they stopped worshipping Vonaya, the goddess of magic who created their race. Their arrogance caused her to weaken, but in her drunken pride in her children, she could not see what was coming until it was too late, and neither could the elves. The elves continued to expand their empire, becoming increasingly ruthless and cruel to the humans under their control. Despite their immense power and wealth, the elves were blind to the impending devastation that would eventually bring their empire to its knees. Their pride and cruelty had blinded them to the growing resentment of the humans they had enslaved.
The Devastation: During the Devastation, the heart of the once-great Elven Empire was cut off from the rest of it by rebelling slaves. Everywhere the elves looked, the slaves were taking up arms and mighty weapons given to them by the gnomes, and were slowly but surely pushing the elves back. The elves had great magical power, dragons, and expert swordsmen, but it wasn't an easy fight for either side. The elven warriors slaughtered humans in their dozens before they fell, some drowning in the blood of the humans they killed. Their mages were able to destroy whole legions of human slaves at first, but then the humans learned to match their spells by using conclaves of lesser wizards who combined their might to destroy even the strongest elven mage. The humans ground the elves down in a war of attrition until they were left starving, rulers over a barren wasteland of their own making. The once-great Elven Empire was reduced to ruins, and their grand cities were nothing more than rubble and ash. When Vonaya fell to Martius and was imprisoned in a cell of stars, it was the final nail in the coffin for the elves. Without their goddess, the elves were weakened and defeated. Soon they were rounded up, men, women, children, innocent and guilty, all slaughtered as the rivers ran red with elven blood. The devastation was so great that it is burned into the genetic memory of their species, and one that was only stopped when Addus defeated and imprisoned Martius, sparing the elven race from the death camps.
The Age of Armistice: During the Age of Armistice, Castonne transformed from a land of oppression and tyranny into a land of progress and prosperity. The elves realized the errors of their ways and sought to make amends with the humans, who had suffered greatly under their rule. The elves shared their knowledge and magical abilities with the humans, helping them to unlock the secrets of the relics and lost technology that had been left behind from the previous age. The humans were able to thrive, even in a land saturated with magic, thanks to the efforts of the repentant elves. As the humans and elves worked together to rebuild their nation, there was a shift in power dynamics. While the elves still held positions of authority, they were now more cautious and aware of the consequences of abusing their power. They made sure that even the lowest social classes were provided with basic necessities, something that was not the case during the Age of Apostasy. The elves were no longer content to live like kings on the backs of their human slaves, but instead saw the value in working together with the humans to build a better society. However, Castonne was not without its enemies. Saxony, who had suffered greatly at the hands of the elven empire, still harbored grudges and launched frequent attacks on the weakened nation. The elves, determined to protect their new way of life, fought fiercely against their enemies, using their magical abilities to fend off the attackers. The humans, grateful for the help of their elven allies, fought bravely alongside them to defend their home. Through their efforts, Castonne was able to survive and prosper, even in the face of constant threats from their enemies.
The Year 539AD: Castonne in the current age is a nation that has learned from its past mistakes and worked towards a brighter future. The elves, having repented for their sins, now live alongside humans in peace and prosperity. The land is once again flourishing, and the people are happy and content. But this peace is not without its challenges. Martius' return and the rise of his cultists threatend to undo everything that Castonne and the other nations had built. Castonne stood strong and joined the allies in the fight against Martius and his followers. The nation brought their magical relics and knowledge to the battle, contributing to the ultimate victory of the allies. The sacrifice of their king, who gave his life to atone for the sins of his people and try to save Europa, served as a reminder of the importance of peace and cooperation among nations. Now, Castonne is ruled by King Louie, a warforged and one of the Heroes of Europa who defeated Martius. The people love him despite his slightly insane nature, and under his leadership, Castonne has returned to its former prosperity. The nation continues to work towards a better future, and with the threat of Martius and his cultists vanquished, Castonne can focus on building a better tomorrow for all its people, both human and elf.