The Realms of Darmonica 23/6/2013

It is the plan to do at least a couple of posts on the blog each week, typically on Mondays & Fridays to give it a schedule of a sort. Some weeks there may be extra posts, though at least twice a week is a good promise to keep.

The Realms of Darmonica

Simply put, the Realms of Darmonica is the name of the actual setting in which Frozen Skies is set and also the title for the series of books that cover it. Darmonica is the name for the setting and as can be assumed, 'Realms' refer to the various nations that make up this world.

Objective of today's post is to give a brief overview of these nations;

The Commonwealth:- One of the most powerful nations currently in the setting, it emerged from the embers of a major conflict called the Great Darmonican War with alot more territory than it had when the war began. Though it was on the rise long before the conflict started and controlled an entire continent (which includes the Territory of Alyeska), though it started out as a collection of small islands where its capital sits and remain very vulnerable.

Presently it is dealing with a long drawn out insurgency in a former Tyland colony called Pamayan it captured during the War, though this colony and the revolt will be the subject of a future book called Blood on the Bayou.

Artian Confederation:- Another nation that did well during the War and is the Commonwealth's main rival. The Confederation actually owes its existence to the various states that it is comprised of coming together and forming an alliance against the Kingdom of Tyland during the Tyland-Artian War that pre-dates the Great Darmonican War by half a century. In this earlier conflict the Artians managed to kill the Tyland ruler which brought about the end of the Tyaldn-Artian War and set the Kingdom of Tyland into terminal decline. During the Great Darmonican War the Artians and Tylanders fought one another in a long stalemate of trench warfare until the Artians managed to smash through Tylander lines after the Commonwealth made a several pronged attack against Tyland's colonies and islands off the Tylander coastline. By the War's end large parts of the Tylander homeland was occupied by Artian troops, a situation that persists to this day.

Despite now being the Commonwealth's main rival, the Artians are more preoccupied with shoring up its border that it shares with the Iron Collective.

Iron Collective:- One of the newest Darmonican nations, having been formed in the aftermath of the Great Darmonican War. Originally it was the Holy Sodkan Empire, one of Darmonica's previous superpower along with the Kingdom of Tyland. The Holy Empire's collapse came about when the Order of the Great Machine, a radical religious sect opposed to the 'waste of resources' that the War caused, first crippled the Sodkan by causing a general strike across the Empire before taking power in a coup against the Sodkan Emperor. Not long after a powerful explosion destroyed the key city of Serlinberg on the Artian-Sodkan border, though who was responsible for the explosion was never discovered it still helped to bring about an end to the conflict.

Since the end of the War the Iron Collective has focused on becoming a technological theocracy and rebuilding, though the rest of Darmonica watches warily as to what the Collective's ultimate plans are.

Union of Sodkan Republics:- A loose alliance of small nations thats broke off from the Holy Sodkan Empire when it became the Iron Collective, the Republics branded together for mutual protection as it was expected that the Collective would try to subdue them. Couple of decades later the Collective has made no move towards them, something that has led to infighting amongst the Republics as each and every one of them see it has a chance to improve their position. A Collective attack is still expected, though doubts grow whether it'll actually come.

Tyland Free State:- A rump of the Kingdom of Tyland and what is left of its territory that isn't occupied by the Artians or captured by the Commonwealth. Alot of resentment remains following the Tylander's defeat during the War, there are a number of groups operating from the Free State supplying the resistance fighters in occupied territory. This doesn't help matters for the Free State government as it tries diplomatically to reclaim some of its lost territory from the Artians.

Sultanate of Taramate:- An ancient kingdom located in a vast area of desert known to most Darmonicans as the Southern Wastes. It shares a long northern border with the Union of Sodkan Republics with whom it shares cordial relations, to the west it shares a border with the Artian Confederation whilst to the east the former Tylander, now Commonwealth, colony of Pamayan. To the south even the Taramates aren't entirely sure what is actually there, though it reluctantly allows expeditions from other nations to venture in the great sea of sand that lies past its southern most frontier forts.