The Races
Humans: humans are the most prolific race of Amora. They are found on all 3 continents and in the central isles. There are four powerful human kingdoms/empires:
1.) Karthay: Karthay began as a small group of cities at the mouth of the Dido river famed for trade and notorious for piracy and brigandage. However, in the last two generations, the Karthayan nobles have overhauled the city's government, stamped out corruption, and crushed the brigands and pirates that used to lord over the land and sea. This is not to say that such behaviors are absolutely forbidden, but the karthayans have worked very hard to gain legitimacy in the eyes of the rest of the world. Nevertheless, Karthay is seen as a country where a honeyed tongue, style, and money will get you anything.
The Karthayan noble houses, having formed a council (closer to a senate, with 100 members) have gone from being interested in only trade to having imperial ambitions. Karthay, using powerful citizen militias and mercenaries, have conquered most of the territory surrounding the tributaries of the Dido river. Since this is the largest river on the southern continent (in fact, the largest river in Amora), it represents a hugely profitable trade route, and Karthay has grown ever richer through this move. Their territory is very large, second only to Czarra in raw surface area).
The Karthayans employ an infantry heavy force, centered on their heavy infantry citizen militia. These troops are supported by light and medium infantry auxiliaries from subjugated peoples, as well as a mixed citizen/mercenary/auxiliary cavalry (medium to heavy, with very little super-heavy knights).
The Karthayan school of magic is an earth/metal focused school. It is quite young, and as such, hag magic and druidic magic are still very prevalent in the land.
The Karthayan religion places Father Mountain as the head of their pantheon, With Dido, the lifegiving River Goddess as his consort. In recent times, the War God Diomed has also gained prominence, along with, of course, Amor, goddess of loyalty and family.
2.) Arthuria: Arthuria is still technically a collection of Fiefdoms, although its identity as a kingdom is essentially assured: a young but wise knight of the duValle line has united the majority of the barons, put an end to brigandage in the land, and subdued many unchivalrous lords. It is known that the Baron Germanicus DuValle has close ties to the Northern Fae Kingdom, ruled by the fabled magician the Raven King. It is believed that his ability to succeed in the unification of Arthuria where others have failed is through the aid of these mystical allies.
Arthuria subscribes to the principles of serfdom, with powerful lords ruling over a vast peasant class: few middle class merchants and artisans exist in between, largely dependent on the patronage of their lords. Although such systems are easily subject to corruption, Arthuria is the most devout of all the kingdoms, and a very strict code of chivalry governs the actions of the nobility. What has, until now, kept arthuria from being a true world power is that amongst the chief tenents of this code is that of "questing": that is, constantly seeking out other noble chivalric foes to test ones skills in battle against. As such, the kingdom has been, almost constantly, in a state similar to guerilla warfare, not to mention the beaurocratic nightmare of having many lords absent from their lands many days, weeks, or months at a time. DuValle has begun to quell this, however, and currently Arthuria enjoys the beginnings of a rennaisance of wealth and prosperity.
The Arthurians do not use spellcasters. They have powerful priests, however, and their ties to the Fae seems to have also given them a tremendous talent for taming and training magical beasts.
The Arthurians worship the Lady of the Lake, Amor, above all. Their other dieties are led by Justice, who is also their god of war.
the arthurian army consists first and foremost of its super-heavy cavalry (including many beasts other than horses). These are supported by peasant archers and pikemen, as well as a few outriders chosen from men-at-arms.
3.) Csara: Csara was the first kingdom of man to form. Many generations ago, The first God-King of Csara unified the northern tribes, blessed by the Old God. Since that time, Csara has been one nation, or at least this is what the Csarans like to say. The truth is that Csara has had more civil wars than there have been wars between nations: in a nation rife with intrigue and power struggles, it inevitably comes to blows. Csara is a mountainous and forested country, spanning a large portion of the Northern continent. It is separated by great tracts of forest from Arthuria and Eburon. The land is naturally split into many valleys, and very little of the land is flat enough for large scale farming. Those territories that are flat are the most coveted.
Csara has an immensely complex court, with many different ranks and titles. Their nobility are tremendously rich and notoriously decadent: the king of Csara is considered semi-divine, a son of the Old God, and this divinity trickles down through the nobility. The country has grown fat on its mining operations: since the dwarves do not really share, Csara is the major source of precious metal and a significant source of base metals and stone for much of Amora. Most of these profits go straight to the nobles.
The Csaran religion worships a single deity, the Old God. They claim that all the "lesser divinities" of other races are mere facets of the great creator. Unlike other nations, Csara has a strong centralized church that represents arguably the most powerful political entity in the country. Other cults are not tolerated in the country, although there are numerous "patron saints" (notably the patron saint of the royal family, St. Amor, the saint of devotion and unquestioning loyalty, who's monks and nuns are the healers of the land) that sometimes bear a more than coincidental similarity to the deities of other lands.
The Csaran military centers around the personal forces of the nobles, which are a wild mixture of whatever kind of fighting that noble happens to like. With their close contact with the dwarves, the Csarans sport some cannons and firearms, although the manufacture of gunpowder (which requires alchemical magic) has not yet been mastered by them. They draw inspiration from all the areas of Amora, and these forces are quite mixed and often totally ineffectual. However, the Csarans do have two powerful military arms: the Knights Templar, monks who train for battle in the service of god, and the Crag-Clans: the ancestral organizations of Csara based mostly on blood-ties. The crag-clans, primarily light to heavy infantry, are incredibly fierce fighters (and are usually busy fighting) that are complete masters of the environment of Csara. Although flashy victories in Csara's civil strife are often won on the few plains by knights and persona guards, decisive victories almost always come in narrow mountain passes at the hands of the clans.
Csaran Magic is a school of shadow and death. Hag magic and Druidic magic have largely been stamped out by the church.
4.) Eburon: Eburon is in the far East of the Northern continent. The rise of Eburon to the status of statehood are shrouded in mystery, for the area it is in is covered in marsh, thick forest, and mountainous terrain, inhospitable grounds that make state building difficult. The tribes that had inhabited it until recently were subdued in a lightning campaign by the city-state of Eburon, situated near the Eastern Coast. This occurred shortly after a powerful sorcerer and 3 angelions formed an alliance and seized power in Eburon. These individuals rapidly marshalled the forces of Eburon and expanded outwards, gaining control of a very large amount of territory, more than it was thought they could hold. But Eburon's stability has increased, and now it is recognized as probably the most stable and organized nation. Eburon, even more than Csara or Karthay, makes heavy use of slaves, and the Blood Elves are welcome in their ports. Eburon is ruled by the group mentioned above with an iron fist. Currently, the state remains highly militarized, having just conquered the very peaceful saurians to the south. This act, in fact, has made some ripples throughout amora, since it is a clear unprovoked act of war. Given that Eburon has been unapologetic and has not since demilitarized, this has many people worried. Eburon has only one close Ally, the Imadigo across the strait to the south.
Eburon makes extensive use of magic, and they have a well established school based around summoning magic.
Eburon has an extensive pantheon centered around a creator/destroyer figure, an entity of change. Interestingly, for the few that know this, Eburon does not include Amor in their pantheon.
The Central Isles: Though not a human kingdom, humans are the dominant presence in the central isles, which technically also includes the inner coasts of all 3 island continents. Here, civilization flourishes, with many small city/island states, trade, and by and large an absence of mythical monsters.
Elves
1.) Sea Elves
