Shadowlands
The Shadowlands was the name given to the area of south west Tinturbean which fell under the direct political control of the Justice of the Shadows towards the end of the fifth millenium APC and continued as a hated and feared dictatorship for three hundred and twenty years until it was brought down at the very end of the Age of Shadows.
Structure
The Shadowlands were functionally an extension of the Justice of the Shadows and as such they were ultimately controlled by the Darkest Umbral and the Eclipsed but running a country and building a military force was far more than the hitherto secret organisation had ever undertaken and would have been far beyond its capabilities if it had not also made use of the structures of secular society which the Eclipsed wisely decided to retain and repurpose over many years. It is true that there were periodic drives to recruit members from the populations the cult controlled and these were more effective due to the coersive power they possessed within the region, but even in the final years of the Shadowlands it is thought that no more than one in five of its citizens were converted members of the Justice of the Shadows.
Public Agenda
The Public Agenda of the country was set by the Justice of the Shadows and preached through the words of the Testament Of Shadows. Magicians' End had escaped the fate ordained for a world of sinners when the denizens of the Dark Domains who had been sent to purify it at the time of the Planar Conformation were locked away behind the Hylacon Gates. They must be freed so that they could resume their work an the world could be brought to the justice it deserved.
History
In 4828 APC, the Council of Cynran which had been infiltrated by the Eclipsed, began a policy of public endorsement of the Justice of the Shadows and the mass circulation of the Testament Of Shadows in schools and colleges. An official declaration followed at the end of the year proclaiming the Shadowlands as a new political entity, henceforth to be ruled by the Darkest Umbral and dedicated to fulfilling the aims of the Justice of the Shadows.
Alistair Newton was an early and very successful leader of the Shadowlands between 4835 and 4890 APC, noted for his pragmatic and skilful political intelligence. He persuaded his masters in the Dark Domains not to push ahead with a more radical and rapid process of conversion in Oroth and he also found ways to make gains on the battlefield whilst cleverly avoiding a direct confrontation with Oroth, which most historians agree would have been a military mistake.
Linamna Keld was the Darkest Umbral when Oroth was conquered in 5135 APC. She was reputed to have great organisational skills and immediately set about the task of building a fleet to sail to the Dark Domains and fulfil the aims of the Justice of the Shadows. The fleet, however, was trapped in port at the Holy Battle of Oroth when the Cities Under Grace launched a pre-emptive invasion. She was killed during the liberation of Oroth and became tha last of the Darkest Umbrals
Alistair Newton by DMFW with Midjourney
Linamna Keld by DMFW with Midjourney
Foreign Relations
Relations between the Shadowlands and its neighbours were almost always universally terrible and the security of the new state would have certainly been under threat if it were not for the fact that local politics was fragmented and relatively disorganised in the early 49th century when the rogue state came into being. South West Tinturbean only had three major centres of population, Cynran, Oroth and West Anchor. The first of these had become the capital of the Shadowlands at the outset. The West Anchor leadership dithered and did nothing, relying on the natural barrier of the River Tellus for protection (which did actually work) so only Oroth remained to provide any significant opposition to the growth of the Shadowlands. The smaller towns were seized when Alistair Newton was Darkest Umbral between 4835 and 4890 APC. Oroth did successfully defend a large part of the Saranjum fields, south and west of Grasswich until 4912 APC but afterwards fell back to concentrate on the city walls and the port. The city fell in 5135 APC.
By this time the north of the continent, greatly perturbed by the public threat of the Shadowlands had unified into a powerful alliance that called itself the Cities Under Grace. It was this alliance that would ultimately confront and destroy the Shadowlands, beginning at the Holy Battle of Oroth in 5146 APC.
4828 APC - 5148 APC
Type
Geopolitical, Country
Capital
Ruling Organization
Leader Title
Government System
Dictatorship
Power Structure
Unitary state
Economic System
Command/Planned economy
Gazetteer
Official State Religion
Parent Organization
Location
Official Languages
Neighboring Nations
Notable Members
Comments