Kingspeace

All of the territory south of the arctic regions of the Ice-Heart Empress and Peltast's Kingdom are referred to collectively by the northern humans and Oreiad alike as "The South," but the Dragonscarred that dwell there subdivide those lands. There the humans refer to the dry bluffs and vast desert south of the High Mountains as "The South," and to all the rest of the landmass between The Arm and the High Mountains as the Mainland.
Just south of the Trollsrush, a large river running east to west dividing Ticonderos' northern tundra just under The Arm and just above the Mainland's vast mountain ranges, lies a tall volcano near the Mainland's northwest shore. To the west lies a small, but dense woods obscuring the Savage Sea but to the east the hills open into plains where the sprawling city of Kingspeace rises, governed by a sort of legally stitched together family of lords and ladies brought together from across Ticonderos' peoples called House Whitebranch. Their unnamed keep lies in the ruins that were once the Dragonlord's enormous castle, Dragon's Roost, decreed to forever remain ruined as an example of the Five Nations' collective wrath, and there are some who refer to their seat disparagingly as Ruin's Roost. There they are committed to the task of offering council to the rulers of the Five Nations, brokering trade and peace deals, and dispensing justice such as they can. A task easier said than done as the Five Nations are currently embroiled in a lust for the last remaining power of the Great Wyrms once controlled by the Dragonlord. Six dragon scales imbued with incredible magic power are all that remain of the dragons' might, and the Five Nations all have spies, thieves, adventurers and even armies out looking for them, and their petty squabbles have enflamed into border skirmishes across the continent.
While House Whitebranch is not permitted to have a standing army, Kingspeace itself does have a city watch of sorts under the command of House Drakeshead, a newly established minor nobility given to the commander of the Dragonlord's enslaved native forces after he turned on the Dragonlord and dealt a fatal blow to the Great Fire Wyrm in the climactic final battle to end the Dragonlord's reign. Additionally, House Whitebranch maintains a personal retinue of elite guardsmen for their protection, the Ruinguard. Unbeknownst even to House Whitebranch, the famed Ruinguard swordsman, Jameson Nordsbane (counted by most Dragonscarred men-at-arms as perhaps the single, greatest swordsman on Ticonderos, if not, then certainly among the top three), former heir to the powerful and wealthy House Eldred of Elnard employs a vast network of spies and agents throughout the Five Kingdoms.
Recently, House Whitebranch has become suspicious of the Oreiad Empire who dwell in mountaintop cities, but have been ruled for centuries by their Ice-Heart Empress in the North. The lords and ladies of Kingspeace have received grim reports of Northern cities under attack, of undead shambling out of the river flowing south, and have even heard rumors that the Empress herself is dead. They have called for a Congress of Kings to address what they earnestly believe to be a serious threat to the whole continent, but few have answered the call at all, let alone with their actual presence. The conditions of House Whitebranch's position demands they act only with the permission of all of the Five Nations' rulers, but secretly they have sent an intrepid battalion of knights led by the valiant Meris Buxman into the Savage Sea to investigate the rumors of undead armies, and to support the forces at Greengate if the rumors prove true, catching the enemy in a surprise pincer attack.
As if things weren't bad enough already, Dhogem from the Deeps flood to the surface in droves, fleeing from frenzied monsters in the Great Chasm and worse, darker nightmares they speak of only reluctantly, in hushed tones, abominations made from their loved ones that subjugate and murder with reckless abandon. Kingspeace has been flooded by Dhogem refugees but House Whitebranch also finds itself strained with the task of managing this diaspora of underfolk to Dragonscarred settlements all the way from Zelosport on the western coast to Sunshadow in the Southern Desert. Tensions between Dhogem and Dragonscarred run high in many places and the nations of the surface are disinterested in supporting this heavy influx of new people. Blood has been shed already and House Whitebranch finds themselves at a loss trying to wrangle in their wayward rulers in response to the undead threat to the North in the midst of this clear and present disaster. How will they bring the Five Nations to task and hold the realm together?

Demographics

90% Dragonscarred, 7% Dhogem, 3% Oreiad

Government

A council of lords and ladies drawn from each of the Five Nations, the governance of Kingspeace has no binding legal authority and is not allowed any standing army; however, they clutch at power through diplomacy, favors, secret agreements, and secrets themselves.

Alternative Name(s)

Dragon's Roost, Ruin's Roost

Type

State

Population

360,000

Location under

The Dragonlands