Mooringsland
Mooringsland’s central city is where East Colassia's widest, most navigable river meets the sea. Mooringsland is East Colassia’s busiest port (suck it City of Light!) and is the main gateway between the Colassian Confederacy and the more distant lands of Everywhere Else. Mooringsland is the most populous and richest nation in the Confederacy.
Structure
Officially power is held by the king and his vassals. In reality, the king is reasonably powerful, but the lesser nobles below him are toothless paper tigers. The real power is the guilds with whom the king butts heads with frequently.
Demography and Population
As a bustling port city, Mooringsland is the most cosmopolitan place in the Confederacy with a very large non-human minority. Most nations have a non-human minority of around 10% the total population. About a third of Mooringsland is non-human.
They have the most gnomes in the Confederacy, the largest concentration of free half-human half-elves outside of Apsedlia, a bustling goblin ghetto (goblin slavery is outlawed here), a tengku district nicknamed "the nest", and a small district that caters to grey elves sailors and wood elves on Rumspringa . They also have a lot of ethnic neighborhoods made up of humans cultures from other continents.
Thanks to a tiny number of dwarf immigrants which have passed on their secrets, Mooringland claims has some of the best metalsmiths in the Confederacy (though Mineraland disputes this).
Mooringland also has a fairly bustling theater district with celebrated playwrights, actors, and musicians. The Bard’s Guild is pretty powerful and including a number of arcane bards capable of fairly potent magic.
Military
by Eron12 with Hero ForgeThe backbone of the Mooringland military is their navy. Fighting onboard ships or in cramped alleyways has nurtured a proud sword fighting tradition. They also are fond of crossbows, due in no small part to how useful they can be in cramped spaces. THe Mooringslanders are great at urban fighting or during boarding actions, but they tend to embarass themselves when fighting on open ground. -Tahir ofMarginalland, sell sword captain
-Eknok of Mooringsland,, tengku merchantTengku #5 by Zeta GardnerThe realm boasts the strongest navy in Colassian Confederacy, but having the strongest navy in the Confederacy is a lot like being the tallest gnome. During the last war with Kahdisteria, our flt spent most the war hiding in the harbor. Since the war has ended, we've improved the fleet since then. Our sailors and ships are of excellent quantity and they are more than a match for most pirates, but I don't fancy our navy's chances if our armistice with the dark elves falls apart. Because so much of Mooringsland's population is so urban, our soldiers are more like a police force than an external army, but they are well-equipped with the best weapons and armor we can afford to give them. Thanks to the river and roadways, we can call in reinforcements from our Confederate allies pretty fast if need be.
Religion
Religious practices vary widely due its very cosmopolitan population. None of the priesthoods wield much political influence, but not for a lack of trying in the case of the Guardians, Masks, and Keepers.
The permissive atmosphere of Mooringsland attracts a lot of priests and spell-casters that are normally not tolerated in civilized lands. Testers and Children quietly sell their services to the highest bidder, as well as the Bacchites, a fringe group of Nami’s Rovers that are known for their frequent acts of criminality.
Foreign Relations
Mooringsland is the Colassian Confederacy's main link to the rest of Scaterra. Most people and goods from other continents flows through here.
A stolen diplomatic letter showed that the kingdom of Uskala has a vague plan that when they choose to expand into East Colassia, rather than hit Marginalland which is closest, they plan to take over the port of Mooringsland so they can cripple the entire Confederacy transportation network. Some people in Mooringsland state that the letter is a forgery created by the people of Marginalland. Uskalan ambassadors of course claim the letter is a hoax. The idea that the King Drosst is planning to conquer any lands in East Colassia is preposterous…
It’s hard to tell whether the asocial religious orders brought organized crime or if organized crime attracted these religious orders, but nevertheless Mooringsland is riddled with crime and has a legendary red llght district where sailors from around the world stop by for gambling, prostitution, and recreational drugs. Remember the aforementioned dwarves that make Mooringland's metalworkers so good? Most of them are outcasts or criminals on the run from their own society.
Smugglers and pirates leech profits away from legitimate shipping interests. Some fear that there are Kahdisterian elves pretending to be from Loren or the Elven Empire but these fears are largely exaggerated. Former slaves of the dark elves are very good at spotting dark elves pretending to be grey elves or wood elves, especially if they are half-elves. Grey elves and dark elves have very different naval jargon. Wood elves know next to nothing about ships. If you ask a dark elf spy a dozen rapid-fire questions about the ship he took into port, he will probably slip up with his fake accent.
Agriculture & Industry
The same river that supports the port is also good for irrigation, so Mooringland is a veritable bread basket. They have the largest population of any of the Colassian Confederacy, so they can’t really export any food. In fact, they import livestock and luxury food items from elsewhere. Fishermen make a decent living in Mooringland, but sea food is comparatively less plentiful here than in other coastal nations of the Colassian Confederacy.
Timberland is limited, but fortunately they have large deposits of easily accessible clay so most buildings are made of ceramic bricks. Coal is imported to heat most homes and to fuel their local metalworkers.
Stereotypes
Hear the wisdom of Eknok, tengku merchant. Marginallanders: The potato farmers don’t contribute much, but we cannot leave them high and dry against the dark elves and dabeshi, otherwise their stark lands would become a breeding ground for our enemies. Musselanders: Friendly, a little boring, but friendly. "Marshlanders": Peace is good. Peace with goblins is risky, but the marshlanders seem determined to make a go for it and they haven’t had cause to regret it yet, though perhaps that is because they are somewhat goblin-like themselves. Magiclanders: They are prideful, but for the most part they earned a right to be a little arrogant. Give them a little flattery and they can be very useful business partners. Meralanders: Negotiating trade deals with a Paladin diplomat is like having teeth pulled, not that I have any teeth. I imagine it is like having teeth pulled. They are staunch military allies against our mutual foes, but they are not our friends. Mineralanders : Putting the goblins to work is more merciful than killing them outright and I cannot deny it gets results. Without out their ore, Mooringsland would be much poorer. Without our trade goods, Mineraland would not survive at all. Greater Mereshnari Tribe : Thank you for keeping the desert passes safe. Here is some salt, spices, and a newly forged scimitar in payment for your services. Now go away. Principality of Midlandia : Valuable trading partners and easy to work with. We need their meats, cheeses, and wool, they need our everything else. Riverlanders : Valuable trading partners. We need their grains, honey, and wines, they need our everything else. Half-Elves: The rest of the Confederacy thinks we are at peace, but really we just moved from a hot war to a cold war. The harbors are full of dark elves pretending to be wood elves on rumspringa or grey elf merchants selling their wares. No one is better at smelling out these spies than half-elves who once scrubbed the dark elves' floors or warmed their sheets. Goblins: Thieves and murders all of them. I’ll pay a gold coin per goblin ear you give me. Kahdisteria : We have an uneasy peace, but we must maintain the fragile peace as long as possible, at least until we’ve built more warships. At the rate we are building ships, we should reach naval parity in about 812 years. dabeshi : Hopefully our trading partners will keep them far away. Elven Empire : I hear the dark elves and the grey elves don’t like each other. I am loathe to trust an elf, but if war with the dark elves breaks out, we cannot keep our shipping lanes open without the grey elves' help. Yeti: We periodically send them gifts via Mereshnari couriers. A waste. What good are allies on the far side of the continent with nothing worthwhile to trade?
Type
Geopolitical, City-state
Economic System
Market economy
Currency
Parent Organization
Location
Official Languages
Controlled Territories
Comments