Ber
Structure
Four decades ago, an orc warlord, Vairday Bruse, declared himself king of Ber after he managed to conquer the three largest cities in the land. Risur expected an imminent invasion, but instead the new king opened diplomatic channels with Danor, asked for help writing a constitution, and arranged for the construction of factories. The wealth from this new industry helped keep tribal warlords cooperative, and the work gave would-be soldiers something to do with their energy.
Dubbed “Le Roye,” a Danor diminutive for “the king,” Bruse managed to keep peace until his death five years ago, and had the foresight to arrange a peaceful transition of power. He took his cue from Risur, and passed the crown to a respected ally who was not a blood relative; indeed he was a minotaur, not even an orc. The new king kept his predecessor's name in place of the typical “king,” and so was crowned Bruse Shantus.
Though there are still factions in the Anthras Mountains who refuse to bow to the new monarchy, many old enemies are now clamoring for a share of this new prosperity. Against nearly everyone’s predictions, it appears that Ber will endure as a unified nation.
Culture
Executors dola Liberta
One of Vairday Bruses’s more contentious pro-grams was to aggressively end the practice of slavery except as a punishment for criminals. He enlisted bureaucrats from Crisillyir to reform the country’s legal system and track convicts, and then created a law enforcement group of warriors and priests, the Enforcers of Freedom. Comprised primarily of women, the executores dola liberta are officers of the king, tasked with wandering the country and find-ing rich or powerful people who abuse their station by forcing others into slavery or slave-like conditions. Such wrongdoers they thrash brutally, dragging them into public locations and pummel-ing them with royally-empowered fists or staves while proclaiming the person’s crimes. They inflict similar punishments on those who try to quash protests, silence vocal complaints, forbid the undesired religious practice, or hoard wealth from those they tax rather than providing value for their money. Membership in the Enforcers is strictly monitored, and those few who hypocritically abuse their own authority suffer excruciating public torture, then are executed.The Ursaliña Bear Games
The mountain city of Ursaliña hosts a strange tradition, wherein those who wish to act as ambassadors of Ber hold proxy battles us-ing trained short-haired bears, each standing a dozen feet high at the shoulder. A great coliseum, once used for entertaining blood-thirsty dragon tyrants, now hosts these vicious battles, which occur every few months; different days determine the positions of differ-ent ambassadorships. Thousands turn out to watch the games, which are surrounded by grand pomp and much feasting. The fights between the bears are seldom to the death, because each beast is worth a small fortune. One game five years ago, however, witnessed an event so unbelievable that word of it spread throughout Lanjyr. Minotaur merchant Brakken of Heffanita was competing to be named Ber’s ambassador to Orithea, a tiny war-torn nation be-tween Danor and Drakr, when his dire bear’s throat was mangled in the arena. Brakken leapt into the arena and stepped between his bear and its opponent, staring into the other bear’s eyes. To the shock of the crowd, the other bear hesitated in its attack, then fled, as if intimidated by a person half its size. Bruse Shantus gladly named Brakken an ambassador. Perhaps even more unexpected, two years after Brakken began his ambassadorship in Orithea, the country’s civil war ended, and it came under the protection of Danor. Today Orithea is part of the rail route along the north Avery Coast, and it is enjoying unprecedented prosperity. This past year, Brakken competed to become ambassador to Risur, and won without any challengers.Public Agenda
The Panoply
This young movement consists of a few educated Berans who have proclaimed themselves scholars. Inspired by the new – and comparably peaceful — cooperation among the many races of Ber, they have begun to found schools throughout their nation. There they educate students in matters of art and culture from around the world, pursuits normally mocked by those who follow the old tribal ways. A few traveling professors from the Panoply schools have made a splash among the dockers in Flint, and every year more foreign artists and poets attend the parties of wealthy Beran nobles who are eager to appear cultured.Fear of the Clergy
Ber has never had any close ties to Clergy religion, for it was insulated by its neighbors. Some eladrin sought refuge in Ber after the Second Victory and brought with them great distrust of the Clergy. Ber’s religions are a disjointed mish-mash of different tribal beliefs, involving hundreds of gods and spirits without any unifying doctrine. Recently, however, preachers from Crisillyir have begun to visit Ber, and a few have set up missions to spread their faith. Some of these have been met by violence retaliation, including one incident where an Enforcer of Freedom tossed a battered priest into a row-boat and told him to return home after the man’s church abducted several children from a nearby village under the auspices of teaching them. Ber has seen what the Clergy can do to a nation when they dis-agree with its faith. Especially since the Bruse became so friendly with Danor — itself deemed heretical by the church — many in Ber fear that Crisillyir might someday invade in a bid to forcibly convert them.Assets
Scars and Loyalists
The nation bears the scars of many mines. Sadly, the wealth from these mines is mostly lost, hidden away in the lairs of paranoid dragon kings, and booby-trapped even after the tyrants’ deaths to prevent their recovery. Along the southern coasts, unincorporated tribes composed primarily of gnolls refuse to join the nation. Bruse Shantus has cheerfully appointed one gnoll as his Minister of Rebellion, and claims this shows his graciousness to his enemies. In truth, the gnolls are simply too numerous to ignore, and they have a violent and messianic faith in the eventual return of their slain dragon tyrant Gradiax, the Steel Lord. By contrast, the citizens of Ber’s cities love to keep trophies of long-dead dragons. In the capital Seobriga, the courthouse has integrated the skeleton of the dead tyrant Widoreva into its décor.History
Ber’s history is tied to dragons. Until just a few centuries ago, the land was in constant flux, with different dragons battling for supremacy while the mortal races served as their slaves. Tribes of dragon-born, gnolls, goblins, kobolds, minotaurs, and orcs ascended to tiny nation-states under the banners of their draconic overlords, built cities and strip-mined mountains to gather wealth for these kings, and eventually collapsed into chaos when their rulers fell. Newborn nations conquered each other like a ring of serpents devouring their tails, and whenever a dragon had willpower enough to unite all of Ber, it would inevitably make the mistake of pressing into Risur or Elfaivar, and be slain in retaliation.
Despite the endless turnover of rulers, Ber did manage to establish a few long-lasting cities—Ursaliña, Reo Pedrecoso, and the capital Seobriga, among others—and develop a shared culture, often thanks to wandering minotaur bards who were seen as neutral. After the death of the last dragon king Inatch the Hex-Eater two hundred years ago, Ber splintered into racial and tribal factions. Only in the past forty years has a semblance of unity re-turned to the land.
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