Little Countries

"The Little Countries is the collective name for the number of small, poor countries either side of Kandar that never recovered from the Third Sundering and in particular the Ascensionists during the aftermath, and technically includes Kandar. The term Little Countries refers to the fact that there are many small kingdoms constantly fighting amongst themselves and often changing rulers and names, so outsiders are rarely able to keep track of such changes. Travel here is not advised without a trusted guide due the high number of cultist and bandit led settlements and even countries in the area."
Excerpt from "A Brief Introduction to the 'Little Countries' and the History Therein" by Sylas M. Francisco.

Geography

Much of the Little Countries is plains, forests and rolling hills. The ground is less fertile now due to the affects of the Sunderings and some of the rivers being blocked or drying up further upstream. The edges border Kandar, Antarak, Candala and the ocean.

History

Though Kandar was the worst hit by the Sunderings, for obvious reasons, the neighbouring areas were also ravaged and continued to be less wealthy than the southern Candala Union as well as border towns suffering from the creatures wandering out of Kandar's wastelands. Though never rich like Candala or Antarak was, the Little Countries used to be productive enough that their citizens could live comfortably enough and border clashes were common but usually not too deadly. It was the Third Sundering that hit them the hardest, and the Ascensionists were the final nail in the coffin for the Little Countries. Awash in chaos from the recent Sundering, the fractured kingdoms of the Little Countries and their disillusioned, impoverished citizens were easy pickings for the egotistical and intelligent would-be Ascensionists. Even after a century of fighting to prevent them ascending or slay those that had successfully ascended, many remained in the thrall of the cults that had grown up around them. (According to the citizens of Kandar, the infamous Ghostlands in the southwest of Kandar is not due to losses during a Sundering but was a settlement that an Ascensionist took control of with promises of safety and power and later wiped out to fuel his Ascension.) In the years leading up to the present, Ascensionist cults have continued to dominate, though some have been subverted by cults of the Betrayer Gods and some Betrayer God cults have some in the names of other, fake deities to slowly turn settlements and even sometimes entire countries to their will. The Sand Snakes Cult are a particularly violent one, preferring violence and open enslavement to honeyed words and devotion, simply because it is faster. There have been recorded instances of them taking over villages/tribes by force in the Little Countries, and the borders of Kandar and Antarak, though the latter has not been attempted in recent years. (See The Strangers Three folksong for more information on the rebuffing of such attempts.) Various groups of bandits lead by men known as 'Bandit-Lords' also tend to have considerable power in their local land. Bandit-Lords are more stationary than regular groups of bandits, and make their living by staying near settlements and driving off raiders from neighbouring lands and the more violent of the cultists. After all, they actually have money and items worth stealing, unlike the poor villagers, and the villagers would often send baked goods and food in thanks. However, the Bandit-Lords will still take their own interests into account over that of whatever settlement they are near most of the time; if their camp's location becomes too well known they will usually move on, leaving whatever villagers don't come with them to their fates.

Type

Continent

Included Organizations