[ RALUBIA ]

Kingdom of Ralubia

The Kingdom of Ralubia encompasses a vast area, most of which is not controlled by any single body that could be considered a true state. Even Ralubia proper is now only a mercantile league of city-states, nominally under control of the king at Vathir. Aribind and Caracand also owe him lackluster allegience.

National Administration: The Elar of Vathir is nominally King of Ralubia, but as the league is a free one, he exercises little authority beyond the province of Vathir itself.

Provincial Administration: Each of the three city-states of Ralubia is self-governing. At the head of each is an elar or elare, with the exception of Vathir, whose elar is also called king. The term elar means voice of God and the elar is the chief priest of the city's religion.

The Marshway is a military district protecting the causeway between Vathir and Tharam.

Local Administration: Each city-state is divided into districts administered by officials with the title of warden.

Organization

Ralubia is a kingdom that nominally holds sway over the vast region combining Anphirai and the Prulam, though control rests in the hands of the rulers of five cities: Vathir, Delanthel, Tharam, Aribind, and Caracand, all of whom owe allegiance to the king at Vathir. The interior countryside is practically lawless, where nomadic tribesmen live as they would.

  • RALUBIA (Vathir)
    • ANPHIRAI (pop. 1,570,000)
      • Delanthel (pop. 460,000) (Delanthel/Blue Wyvern Keep)
      • The Marshway (pop. 36,000) (Voldire/Voldire)
      • Tharam (pop. 374,000) (Tharam/Omphathi-Sandliri)
      • Vathir (pop. 700,000) (Vathir/Spire of Maldai)
    • THE PRULAM (pop. 160,000)
      • Aribind (pop. 25,000) (Aribind/First Tier Citadel)
      • Caracand (pop. 10,000) (Caracand)

Anphirai

Area: 150,000+ sq km
Population: 1,570,000

Anphirai is the basin of what was once the Phirine Sea, but now Phirai Swamp. This is the most heavily populated region of Ralubia.

Ralubians live in large and very old cities, dating from before the Maletrian Empire. The indigent Phirean multitude populate the countryside in villages. The Relorians are nomadic, but are known to have semi-permanent camps located on the edges of their territory to within riding distance of civilized parts. The Ralubians also maintain fortified temples in remote locations for training their elite warriors.

Name MktPop.DefGarr.Area
Delanthel C45,000W4/C470090 ha
Tharam C35,000W4/C350070 ha
Vathir C64,000W5/C5100081 ha
Voldire C3000W0/C05010 ha

Delanthel: A city of southern Anphirai, Delanthel is the primary center of trade with Samodania, far to the east, and is also the terminus of this end of the Melandrian Road, a Maletrian-built highway that crosses the Prulam to Aribind.

Delanthel is ruled by the Elara Rhalinie from the lavishly ornamented Blue Wyvern Keep.

Malancine Lancris War Temple: The primary training center for Tharamite knights, located in the hills just northeast of Tharam.

Pelithozzel War Temple: An infamous training center located deep in the Dorazari Rifts. The warriors trained in this place are fit to be the personal bodyguards of the King himself. The temple itself is dedicated to the Cazzirian war god Pelithozzel, though aspiring trainees often hope to become the next Bezzaitor.

Tharam: The city of the north, on the terminus of the Verentian-built Forest Highway, which crosses Goertha and Somberwood. Tharam has long been a stronghold defending Anphirai against the Cromirlings and tribesmen of the forest.

Tharam's electrum mines are unique in the known world. The gold-silver ores are hoarded by Tharam's Office of the Mint, which supplies talths for the entire League.

Vathir: Capital of Ralubia. Vathir was built by the god Maldai over the ruins of the city of Sorel. She is a massive fortress with six levels of buildings on top of each other, and guarded by four citadels and a ring of outerworks. Rising through the center of the city is the Spire of Maldai, twelve levels high, which is both a major temple to Maldai and the palace of the king.

The city has its own self-contained gardens located on its lower two levels. Several hundred lower-class inhabitants tend these gardens. Outside the city walls are also fields of grain which supplement the delicacies grown in the gardens.

Vathir is especially known for its jewellers and finesmiths. Delandrians have a penchant for adorning themselves with metal ornaments.

The city of Vathir is built on top of the ruins of Sorel, a city that was the Relorian capital back when those people pretended a civilization, before being crushed by the Kruthad Empire. These ruins, rather than being filled in, were converted into an underground labyrinth and used for holding prisoners. The Dardonor was introduced later. The legend says he was a prince who, by the experimental sorceries of an evil king, was transformed into a hideous creature.

Voldire: The administrative and law enforcement center for the Marshway District. Voldire is built atop what was once an island in the Phirine Sea, now situated the main causeway between Vathir and Tharam called the Muddy Road.

The Prulam

Area: c. 74,000 sq km
Population: 160,000

A vast plain sandwiched between the Plateau of the Chardrakesh and the Cromirlon Mountains, the Prulam is ostensibly Ralubian, but the isolation of its population centers makes it mostly independent, with only a lackluster allegiance to Vathir.

NameMktPop.DefGarr.Area
AribindC25,000W5/C590090 ha
CaracandB10,000W4/C316020 ha
Ensum D 5000 W4/C2

Aribind: The chief trading center between Kruthedan and Ralubia. The city controls a large portion of the western Prulam, including the area from Hillam to Simber.

Created by Maldai shortly after Vathir, Aribind is built on a mound in the valley of the Limrine (Kr. Sahlena) River. She has six tiered levels with the palace of her ruler at the very top. The conical mound over which the city is built is riddled with tunnels and secret chambers. The streets circle the city on each tiered level, or else rise in broad stepped avenues from tier to tier.

The cult of Gavilet is not strong in Aribind, but the city's Temple of Jaldrali is well known for its seers, in particular the one known as the Bindic Oracle.

The city army is a mixture of pikemen, mounted archers, bird lancers, and elephants.

Caracand: A port-town of the Prulam. The Maletrian port of Calarcaides was built over the Varhalet River as a base from which to launch attacks against Kruthad. Though later falling into Ralubian hands, the city still boasts a large Maletrian-descended population.

Ensum: A market town at a fork on the route to Samunsarum or Aribind. Ensum serves as a resting point for those on a pilgrimage to Aribind, or for those bypassing Aribind when travelling to or from Samunsarum.

Relationships

Ralubia is bordered on the north by Worlorn, Tredaen, and Cro-Carlon, on the west by Aurelia, on the east by the Relorian Desert, and on the south by Kruthedan and the Chardrakesh.

Allies

Ralubia and Worlorn have renewed an early relationship wherein each land contributes a company of men to the Order of the Cross. The Order of the Cross is dedicated to protecting merchants travelling between the two lands via Somberwood.

Family Ties

Ralubian princes traditionally acquire their consorts from Makurian families in Samodania, and vice versa.

Economics and Trade

Ralubia allows traders from anywhere to buy and sell goods in the kingdom, subject to tariffs imposed by the local governing bodies. Traders pass through Ralubia from all corners: a route extends from Goertha to Kruthedan, and another from Aurelia to Samodania.

Resources

Natural Resources: Ralubia: livestock, wood; Chardrakesh: asphalt, hurn ore, food plants, livestock, raw gemstones; Prulam: perrodines

Processed Resources: Ralubia: electrum, grain; Chardrakesh: coffee, dates, steel; Prulam: dates, oil

Manufactured Goods: Ralubia: jewelry, metalwares; Chardrakesh: spices, frankincense; Prulam: ceramics, perfume, wine

Exports

Anphirai's famous metalwares are sold in markets of Goertha, Sevalia, Kruthad, and Samodania: eating utensils, buckles, censers, bracelets and necklaces, fine boxes and cases, pins, clips, amulets, talismans, coronets, and so on.

Imports

Tharam is located at the southern terminus of the Forest Road, also called the Ralubian Road by Goerthans, and thus receives goods from Goertha. Vathir brings together traffic from Tharam, Delanthel, and the trade road coming down from the Cromirlon Mountains from Aurelia. In addition to being at the northern terminus of the Malandrian Road (which crosses Anphirai and the Prulam all the way to Caracand), Delanthel is also the receiving point for exotic goods from Samodania and Makuria.

From Goertha: copper, grain, iron, silver, various fruits
From Kruthad: balsam, gems, ivory, sepia
From Samodania: armor, carpets, drugs, female slaves, musical instruments, poisons, rare herbs, utensils, weapons
From Sevalia: armor, gemstones, silk, weapons, wine

Monetary System

Coin Obverse Reverse Value Material Weight
rhelt Elar Grain 1 p bronze 5 g
talth King Wine 100 p electrum 5 g

Ralubian Law

The Relorian province was long under Maletrian rule, so many of those laws still exist. However, the Ralubian invaders had their own harsh punishments, and those replaced the Maletrian ones. Additionally, the mercantilism of society looks to make punishments profitable.

The Ralubians favor what might be considered unusual punishments, especially concerning non-Ralubians. One is to throw the criminal into the labyrinth to face the Dardonor. Some punishments are public spectacles, but people are charged for the privilege of spectating. The Ralubians have no true prisons, but they do have torturers.

Punishment for:
Crime Ralubians Others
Assault Fine Labyrinth
Black Magic Fine Flagellation
Burglary Restitution Hamstringing
Extortion Banishment Oubliette
Impersonation Fine Blinding
Murder Banishment Labyrinth
Public Disorder Fine Flagellation
Robbery Restitution Hamstringing
Theft Restitution Dismemberment
Treason Labyrinth Labyrinth