Seat of the League

The Kingdom of Kvesland, held by some to be the last true bastion of civilization before the northern realms give over to the domains of orcs, trolls, and Northmen, is a land that many peoples call their home. The majority of the population is of Togarmic stock, but the ruling class claims descent from Northmen - the kingdom was founded by settlers from the North that conquered Togarman lands, and to this day, the ruling dynasty - the Daggorids - exalt their Northern roots as a point of prestige, even if they have little in common with their pillaging ancestors. Then there are substantial communities of Vardessians who settled from the south, of dwarves who came down from the mountains, and in the east, the nomads of the Ukian March.

But in particular, the northwest corner of Kvesland, on the Sea of Bartel, marks the Levic Marches, home of the Levic peoples, and theirs is a culture distinct from that found anywhere else in the Kingdom.

Though contact between Levic, Togarmic, and Northern peoples happened with some degree of frequency through the centuries thanks to their geographic proximity, as Kvesland's influence grew, the insular and agrarian tribes of the Levic regions were not able to compete, and they soon became subjects of the crown. Though the Marches pay fealty to Kvesland, they enjoy a considerable degree of autonomy thanks in part to cultural differences among the population - and, increasingly so, in part due to the League of Three Crowns, a powerful merchant association that controls many ports in the area. Though officially the League Cities belong to Kvesland, Togarmah, and Vardessy, in practice, their great wealth and influence means they can muscle out authority for themselves, and the League itself, in the eyes of many, may as well be an empire all its own.

The Levic region boasts many marshes and forests, and the northerly climes are known for harsh winters and long nights, though unlike in the lands of the Northmen, there are no periods of 24-hour darkness. Many Levics have clung to the traditions of their forefathers, and they subsist as farmers in tribal villages, more loyal to family ties than to the authority of any king. They have largely adopted Pantheonism thanks to decades of trade with the outside world - though they obey folk traditions and revere many saints and local deities that speak to their history with the Old Faith, and some villages, revering their ancestral ways, are reluctant to adopt foreign gods. Unlike other so-called barbarian peoples of the west, like the Northmen and Sonderlundings, the Levics do not have a strong warrior culture, preferring to be left alone and to mind their own business, though they do have a reputation as a stoic and stubborn people who are set in their ways.

The Marches are a land of contrasts. Inland, the tribesmen live in scattered villages on lonely moors or in the clearings of deep forests, honoring the same blood oaths that their ancestors have for generations, while on the coast, the cities of the League are among some of the wealthiest and most cosmopolitan for miles, ruled by companies whose reach stretches far across the seas. The coastal elite regard the Levic tribes as slow-witted barbarians (even if their resources are appealing); the tribesmen consider them effete fools who are sticking their noses where they don't belong. So far, the conflict hasn't escalated into outright hostilities. But for how long?