Plenty enough to consider though, are the known lands of Coalse, the continent is a grand and diverse place of great cultures, civilisations ancient and young. For this text, I shall concentrate upon the lands in the West of this great land.
Erranor
A cold and barren land by large, stretching across vast tracts, from great mountains and valleys in the west to great, endless plains and rolling hills of scrub, tundra and snow to the east and north. The vast and desolate lands known as Erranor dominate most of the North West of Coalse, though without any central power structure.
Erranor is a cold and unforgiving, largely unbountiful land. Life in Erranor is often harsh and short. Some small human city states do exist scattered throughout the land, but these are few and small and oh so far between. The land shelters most of Coals's Dwarves and surprisingly, many Beastfolk, though these tend to be winterised versions of their eastern cousins and share few traditions. All are independant folk and trade is infrequent. Great Monsters and Dragons in truth rule the lands and have been known to ally with or enlist various folk to repel an invading army.
In the past, great empire have conspired to annex the lands of Erranor, but many an empire's ambitions have died upon the great, unforgiving, monster-ridden wastes. Erranor is a logistical nightmare at best and utterly untamable in any realistic sense.
Peakwind
A rough and difficult land, Peakwind has fertile soil, but little farmable land. Like most lands of Wesetern Coalse, Peakwind's land is furrowed with mountains and valleys, carrying water from inland to the east to the Great Circle Sea of the west. Posessed of a cool but temperate climate, but high winds, the rough landscape is known to sing in the breeze. Whilst some land allows for farming of crop, sheep and goats, the primary wealth and sustenance of peakwind comes from its many pine forests, with its game and endless lumber, though its geology holds great mineral wealth as well.
Whilst the land of Peakwind is not as populous as most, its people are strong and independant, with a great martial and heroic tradition, where soldiers and adventurers are held in high regard. Town Councils each send a representative to a Regional Council, which in turn chooses a representative to the Royal Court in the Capital of Shield's Guard. Many of these positions are held by former defenders of the land, many of which have defended the land from envious nations to the east and raiders from the north, whilst the land has long been a great ally of hnourable Sunderage, to its South, whilst quietly dissapproving of its feudal structure. Ultimately however, Peakwind's political structures function top-down from a ruling bloodline and most councillor positions are held by local nobles.
The primary religion of Peakwind is that of The Temple of Lerelin, God of Light, who is said to have first blsessed the land after the age of darkness and it is the Temple of Lerelin which sends a representative to every Council in the land, to offer advice on Goodly conduct. Krang, Haramor and Tassus tend to have strong followings however, in the lands to the north, middle and west, respectively.
Sunderage
A land of rich valleys and fertile plains, Sunderage is one of the most populous and prosperous lands of all. A rich, deeply rooted feudal tradition brought together many feuding houses under the Council of Kings of Sunderage several centuries ago and the land has seemed all but unassailable since.
Honorouable to a fault, the people of Sunderage are a quiet and busy folk, making much of their wealth by external trade but allowing few visitors in retun. Sunderage has none the less provided wheat and vegetables to many of the lands in the West, historically, though recently its external trade has begun to diminish.
Casual visitors from outside its tight class system are not welcome in Sunderage, but it is known that Sunderage is peaceful and prosperous, with a strong standing army which ever patrols to keep its people safe. Walls protect the entire country in a triple-layered defense.
Sunderage strictly worships Lerelin, The Great Judge and Cirreheen, which are known as the Triumverate of Light, Law and Order in that land.
Myrteth
A warm but dry land, Myrteth is none the less a wealthy and prosperous land. Its dry hills and plains are well irrigated by ancient and clever design and culture is rich amongst its many Families. Trade is the way of life in Myrteth and strong Commercial Alliances are the only power structure there is... that and Myrteth's proud and distinct culture.
Every member of every Family in Myrteth must prove themselves as an adult and a citizen. Each must have a Craft, a Profession and an Art, in which they must practise all their life. In addition to this, to be accepted as an adult and a citizen (and fit to hold an opinion) every member of every House must undergo The Travel, whereupon they leave their home and must travel for a year, taking a stipend and enough basic provisions to last them a week. What they return with compared with what they departed with determines their position and future prospects for the rest of their lives. A generation's wealth is generally measured by how great a proportion of Citizens it held, compared to how many did not attempt or failed upon their Travel.
Due to this, Myrteth is one of the most advanced and aware Lands in all of Coalse, never once has an advancement slipped it by and never once has Myteth suffered a true surprise attrack. Despite its fractious nature, Myrteth is also known to come together quickly in times of crisis.
Outsiders are scorned and yet welcomed in Myrteth - should they bring wares to trade. Myrteth has no end of means to extract gold from travellers, with a profusion of vices and wares collected from the known world over.
Kaleth
A land of milk and honey, Kaleths combination of comfortable climite and terrain has made it very prosperous and given rise to a very unusual people.
Lacking any class system or royalty of any kind, the people of Kaleth are as proud as any, prouder, they would say, espousing the ability of any citizen to grow to their fullest potential in a free society of equals, the people of Kaleth spit on the values of nobility and commercial greed alike.
No religion holds dominant in Kaleth, nor any of its bickering political parties. Locally elected Village (or District) Councillors represent the people in local matters whilst answering to a similarly elected City or Regional Councillor Primarch, who will on occasion travel to meet in the National Council. The National Council Building in located in the geographic centre of Kaleth as a Fortress City maintained by a strictly neutral volunteer force "The Fort Kaleth Swords." When nost hosting all or part of a National Council to debate a mater of Kaleth-wide significance the capitol serves as a city of the nationwide press, an information nexus tasked with keeping all citizens in all parts of Kaleth informed of all matters Kalethian whilst exhiting no bias.
In practise most press firms are very biased and loyal to one political movement or other. Prominent political figures and more often enough the rich and influential, though any fair grounds for an accusation of unfair trade or practices is sure grounds for political censure, in return, the crime of libel is taken very seriously in Kaleth. The resulting society is very messy and fractious.
Kaleth has long earned the contempt of its neighbours for its ways and if not for said neighbours, then it might have disintegrated into nationwide civil war a dozen times over and more. However, with the threat of the greedy Myrteth to the South, the bold and disapproving feudal nations to the west and the ever present threat of belligerent Harvelde to the North and East, Kaleth's internal conflicts have never escalated too long before factions have to reunite to face an opportunistic external threat.
Harvelde
The land of Steel and Blood. The Warrior Nation. The People of Perpetual War. The Cursed of Coalse. The Bloody Folk. These are names the Harveldians came up with themselves.
The primary and near only religion of Harvelde is that of the worship of Hodom, the God of War. Clerics of Hodom are in essence Governance, Generalship and liege Lords. Every community is a battle-ready, independant army, ready to work the fields or take up arms at a moment's notice.
Every aspect of life, from child rearing, to feeding the population, to the distribution of required resources is handled as a military matter by a Hierchy of Cleric-Officers. "Peasant Forces," composed of those unfit for war are held in no value whatsoever and are sustained only as an afterthought, if at all. Only the loyal and the strong survive in Harvelde.
The only Law in Harvelde is the Code of Honour, a simple set of articles which are enforced religiously. These and the ever shifting Alliances of Vassalage are the closest Harvelde has to a central power structure.
Conflict is common within Harvelde, held as an essential part of life. Most conflicts, which are over resources allocation rights or simple disputes over honour or long-held grudges are constant and repetative and it's not uncommon for neighbouring settlements to do battle once per month. Most conflicts are held under some form of agreed condition supported by the Code of Honour to prevent Harveldian internal attrition from making the Forces of Hodom weak, such as, "at the third wound, a soldier has lost and must retire." Most Harveldians will respect these conditions religiously, fearing dishonour to themselves or their "Unit." Most Harveldians have been cut up by their neighbours and stuck back together by their Cleric Officers innumerable times.
Harvelde turns its attention outward with distressing regularity. Any nation with Harvelde on its border is no stranger to War with Harvelde. Harvelde's borders change with every generation, sometimes shrinking, sometimes growing, always changing.
War with Harvelde is never a good thing. The Code of Hnour does not apply to Heretics of Hodom. No other enemy is said to be as ruthless, vicious or indefatiguable. Harvelde might have conquered its nieghbours by now or had them turn on it as one, were it not for two things. Firstly the Harveldian habit of granting The Honour of Mercy to a beaten enemy who put up a good enough fight (in hopes that the survivors will in turn train up more decent soldiers for next time) and the fact that the Harveldians have been known to ally themselves with others on occassion and aid their ambitions, "so we don't miss a really good war," and conveniently keep their neighbours destabilised.
Karrath
Very little is known about modern Karrath. It was once a joint colony and outpost of Peakwind and Sunderage, seekting to expand across The Great Circle Sea. At the time it was felt that the frozen North of Coalse's "Dark Western Spur" would provide the best beachhead into those savage and little understood lands as it was said by the explorers to be the only lands not stricken with strange curses and monsters.
So, those two centuries gone, the two great nations created the largest fleet in history and sent out their most brilliant Clerics and Wizards along with thousands of Colonists and two small armies to protect them. The Peakwind/Sunderage Allied Forces would forge a new bridgehead of civilisation and begin to free the lands from the evils that held sway over them. It was the Crusade Expedition and it was meant as the greatest venture of the age.
Due to the distances involved, it was expected to take months before the aligted fleet would return to report on the progress of the expedition and report on the specifics of what further shipping would be required to support the Crusade.
No portion of the Crusade Expedition Fleet, large or small ever returned. The peoples of Sunderage and Peakwind despaired at the fate of their departed countrymen. Eventually, after five years had passed had passed, a small, lightweight expedition of fast ships were sent from Peakwind to attempt to determine the fate of the Crusade Expedition Fleet.
One ship returned, with damage to her hull. The remaining crew, a mere twelve men, reported that the expedition had come under attack shortly after coming in sight of the shore. There, they saw glimpes of a great fortress chain before being met in the sea by the ships of the Crusade Expedition, painted entirely in white.
Initial jubilation ended at the point of a longsword. The Crusader Seamen were said to attack suddenly, wordlessly, mercilessly and "as though of a single will." The surviving crew of one ship were spared the sword and surrounded. The attackers spoke the only time they would in this encounter, telling the men one thing, "Do not return."
