Robyn.Blaber: /* Subregions of Free States */

2026-07-29T22:04:36Z

Subregions of Free States

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	~~== Subregions of [[Free States]] ==~~
	{{Copyright notice}}		{{Copyright notice}}
	[[Category:Regions]]		[[Category:Regions]]
	[[Category:Otan Regions]]		[[Category:Otan Regions]]

Robyn.Blaber: Created page with "{{Infobox region | region = Free States | world = Political - Otan | region_longname = Free States | caption = The Free States are a territory comprised of independent city-states with no central government. Their population is wildly mixed. | cloud_image_id = https://imagedelivery.net/TNzzP2IqyQLYoHEs2ZN5aQ/479c2112-b1c1-4ad8-5526-6c571be87600/wiki#.png | banner_image_id = https://ima..."

2026-07-29T22:03:15Z

Created page with "{{Infobox region | region = Free States | world = Political - Otan | region_longname = Free States | caption = The Free States are a territory comprised of independent city-states with no central government. Their population is wildly mixed. | cloud_image_id = https://imagedelivery.net/TNzzP2IqyQLYoHEs2ZN5aQ/479c2112-b1c1-4ad8-5526-6c571be87600/wiki#.png | banner_image_id = https://ima..."

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{{Infobox region
| region = [[Free States]]
| world = Political - [[Otan]]
| region_longname = [[Free States]]
| caption = The [[Free States]] are a territory comprised of independent city-states with no central government. Their population is wildly mixed.
| cloud_image_id = https://imagedelivery.net/TNzzP2IqyQLYoHEs2ZN5aQ/479c2112-b1c1-4ad8-5526-6c571be87600/wiki#.png
| banner_image_id = https://imagedelivery.net/TNzzP2IqyQLYoHEs2ZN5aQ/1adbe43d-3fa8-41a6-87c6-f076c7a1a300/wiki#.png
| banner_desc =
| govt_type = [[Anar]]chy
| capital = [[Asylzhan]]
| culture = Mixed
| ruling_faction_id =
| total_pop = 2,832,275
| urban_pop = 211,181
| rural_pop = 2,621,094
| settlements = 15
| strain_mix =
| area_g2 = 111,628
| gdp_annual =
| tax_revenue =
}}

With a hundred million inhabitants, [[Otan]] can sometimes seem a little crowded for some. Everywhere one goes, they seem to be in a country. Countries have a people, and they have laws; worst of all, they have social mores that keep a person from being themselves. For the millions of displaced individuals in [[Otan]], there are always the [[Free States]]. This westernmost territory on [[Otan]] is made of a collection of city-states, all situated on an anarchistic territory where the law of the jungle and the sea are the only laws.

Within the settlements of the [[Free States]], there are few laws and few social mores. The most powerful of the region tend to take on leadership roles in one village or the next. The largest and ostensibly most stable of these municipal regimes is in [[Asylzhan]], the unofficial capital of the [[Free States]]. In smaller villages, a ruling junta might take over the village just as you went out to fish, and another junta might be in charge when you bring in the catch. Sometimes these changes of government are bloodless coups and governors or generals are convinced to step aside. In just as many cases, they end up in a chum bucket and sold to the local fishermen.

The new government will issue proclamations about what you should and shouldn't do under the new regime, and if you don't care for these new things, then it is time to move on to the next village. [[Asylzhan]] grew out of frustration with the lawlessness of the rest of the region, offering at least a modicum of stability. The Governors of [[Asylzhan]] tend to have many connections, each with a finger in the giant plum pie that [[Asylzhan]] represents. Even the most chaotic of bandits prefers a steady stream of revenue in the end.

The fodder for this systemless state is fed by the other 20 nations of [[Otan]]. While it's not uncommon for a person to hate their government and leave their home country (especially at tax time), few actually up and leave. It is the people who no longer fit into their own society on any day, not just tax day, who fuel the [[Free States]]. People born half [[Grendel]] and half [[Aelf]], or born [[Aydahar]] outside Altiqor, find a haven here. Dual-strain individuals often face the daily barrage of pressure that they are not enough of one substrain or the other. When friends and family fail to register who these individuals truly are—a divinely enabled mix—they grow a strong compulsion to leave. In all, over 2,000 combinations of mixed substrains result from unorthodox pairings, and the one region of [[Otan]] where nobody cares about a person's parentage is the [[Free States]].

== Population ==
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There has not been, nor could there ever be, a proper census of the [[Free States]], though demographic estimates set the population at roughly 2.8 million mixed-up souls scattered across its chaotic coastline. With but two exceptions, all of the major settlements sit along the territory's ocean edge, having undoubtedly started as pirate coves before growing into sprawling ports. [[Human]]s of various substrains make up roughly one-third of the populace, while the remainder is an unpredictable melting pot of [[Grendel]], [[Aydahar]], [[Tozakh]], [[Ungir]], and their endless crossbreeds.

A walk through the crowded thoroughfares of [[Asylzhan]] or the bustling docks of [[Akhat]] reveals a physical tapestry unseen anywhere else on the continent. Stalky, thick-boned crosses between [[Aydahar]] and [[Ungir]] rub shoulders with gray-skinned [[Aelf]]es, while [[Grendel]] sporting massive, sweeping horns haggle over cargo alongside scaly, desert-adapted hybrids. In these settlements, abnormal physical traits are not cause for alienation, but merely the baseline of daily existence.

Because these coastal enclaves exist outside the jurisdiction of foreign crowns, they attract every manner of exile, fugitive, and unclassifiable wanderer. Settlements like [[Aysaule]], [[Erlan]], and [[Shakirbek]] are home to tens of thousands of residents who have carved out permanent lives amid the transient population of sailors and mercenaries. Whether one is a true outcast or simply someone seeking anonymity from distant tax collectors, the [[Free States]] provide absolute demographic sanctuary.
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== Culture ==
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[[Free States]]' culture is one of banditry, piracy, lascivity, and vice. A thread of sense and predictability runs through the culture, but anyone failing to pick up on the social cues may fall victim to the banditry for a start, and the rest for a finale. The key to a good life in the [[Free States]] is to know one's role. Anyone who sticks their head up should be connected, lest they lose that head. A sophist might wonder, "How can a society of thieves survive?" The answer becomes evident in the observance: thieves, bandits, and pirates are rarely rich, making stealing from a fellow thief a low-yield, high-risk endeavor. Those involved in banditry tend to look outward by making profit-seeking excursions into other nations as the unflagged "raiders" of [[Otan]].

Within the unguarded boundaries of the territory, a collective understanding has been reached that banditry directed at those who help the poor is a cause to be shunned by all. Organizations like the [[Free States]] Benevolent Society, which provides succor for the destitute, operate with a significant budget and are never harassed. An impoverished person might be one bread crust away from committing an atrocity to sate their own hunger, and the Benevolent Society fills stomachs to reduce crimes of abject desperation. Bandits who have attempted to extort or steal from them have quickly found entire cities hunting them down and dispatching them to the next life.

In a society with few rules, art and culture shed their restrictions as well. Stage performances are not confined to a single genre; dance, visual art, theatre, and music all have a chance to show up in the same performance. [[Free States]] audiences have learned to expect the unexpected to the point where they balk at the refined, yet painfully predictable "high art" of their [[Friggaelf]] neighbors to the north. When an actor in a play resolves a dramatic conflict by painting a picture, or the answer to a string quartet's musical question is a poem about a leviathan, art from the rest of the world seems comparatively stolid and dead.

Food in the [[Free States]] is simultaneously the best and worst in the world, serving as a culinary amalgam of twenty cultures in a single port. When you find giant centipedes, fissure spiders, or flies in your soup, you can safely wager they were put there intentionally to satisfy [[Aydahar]] or [[Dweorg]] tastes. On the other end of the scale, the [[Free States]] feature dishes that simply could not be created elsewhere due to foreign embargos and political rivalries that prevent rare spices, palm wines, and exotic meats from sharing the same kitchen. None of those restrictions apply here, resulting in flavors as wild and lawless as the land itself.
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== Politics ==
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To say that there are no politics in the [[Free States]] is a political statement in itself. There are few formal laws, but a delicate, unwritten web of rules keeps the region from collapsing into absolute ruin. The city-states feature complicated hierarchies and dozens of overlapping factions striving to make their settlements survivable.

When the peace is threatened too severely by an aggressive faction or individual, the others leap to action. While it might be easy to literally "get away with murder" in the [[Free States]], it is almost impossible to get away with multiple unsanctioned murders before powerful factions find and issue swift justice (or vengeance) upon the perpetrator.

Outwardly, the nation is viewed as an international pariah. Commercial shipping around the [[Free States]] almost always involves heavy military escorts to ward off aggressive raiders. The [[Araldar]] Navy, sharing a direct maritime border across the western ocean, routinely allocates up to half of its annual budget toward patrolling its coastal waters against Free State piracy.

Despite this hostility, the coastal settlements have a desperate need to trade, and special provisions are made for the transfer of goods. Even monolithic corporate powers like the [[Kuulik]] Trade Company skirt these dangerous waters, delivering goods to the mainland through privateers and proxy merchants to avoid direct conflict with any given city-state.

Nowhere in the region is there a desire to pursue unilateral statehood. Every settlement remains fiercely dedicated to absolute freedom, along with all the chaos and danger that entails. [[Dreame]]rs who arrive with grand designs for a "Consolidated [[Free States]]" are met with reaction ranging from flat indifference to lethal hostility.
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== Economy ==
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The early economy of the [[Free States]] was based entirely on theft, maritime piracy, and coastal raids. Raiding parties would venture outward and return laden with the plunder of neighboring kingdoms. Over the decades, however, this predatory dynamic evolved, and each of the city-states grew to become producers of specialized physical goods.

This shift birthed a surprisingly resilient merchant class. Mercantilism, as precarious as it is in a haven full of pirates, continues to grow at a steady pace. The flagship port of [[Asylzhan]] even features a massive shipyard that produces bulky merchant vessels, ships built with immense cargo holds and just enough armaments to scare off hungry sea creatures.

The specialty goods of the [[Free States]] economy closely mirror its eclectic culture: expect the unexpected. Local artisans produce multi-purpose hybrid arms and armor, unorthodox agricultural equipment, completely original musical instruments, and strange fabrics unavailable anywhere else on [[Otan]]. Because these items break all conventional crafting traditions, they command exceptionally high prices on distant black markets.
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== Geography ==
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The [[Free States]] occupy a roughly rectangular territory of approximately 111,000 square Goroms along the western coast of [[Otan]]. Across the open water to the west lies the naval realm of [[Araldar]]. The northern border is shared with [[Aelfgarad]], though the northern [[Aelf]]es maintain almost no settlements near the border, leaving a quiet buffer zone. To the south lies the [[Sweardaelf]] kingdom of [[Kiskentay]], where heavily armed garrisons stand perennially ready to repel Free State raiding parties.

To the northeast, the territory touches the [[Batis]] Republic, a border that is largely ignored by both sides due to a towering mountain range that bars ground passage. To the southeast lie the rugged hills of the [[Quarrylands]]. Because this terrain is rocky and barren, it offers few farms and little worth pillaging. Furthermore, transmuting or trespassing into the territory of the [[Dweorg]]es is widely considered foolhardy, though Free State governors do nothing to stop reckless adventurers from trying.
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== History ==
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When the settlements of the coast awoke from the Great Erasure, they were not called the [[Free States]]; they were merely a fragmented chain of pirate coves clinging to a common shoreline. It was simple enough to reconstruct whatever basic hierarchies existed before their memories were wiped, and few survivors looked outward for grander spiritual meaning. In the port of [[Asylzhan]], however, specialized trades took hold quickly, attracting thinkers, artisans, and opportunistic visionaries alongside seasoned buccaneers.

From this foundation of rapid growth and incoming trade talent, neighboring coastal coves took notice and began cultivating their own municipal centers. Daily accounts of heavy taxation, oppressive clergy, and tyrannical kings brought by incoming refugees convinced the coastal populace that traditional government was a disease. By 130 IM, the governors of the various settlements began holding annual summits in [[Asylzhan]] to coordinate how best to maintain total independence without resorting to formal nationhood.

By the current year of 260 IM, the [[Free States]] have become too populous, too fiercely independent, and far too martial for any foreign power to justify the staggering cost of an invasion. Even a successful military campaign would leave an invading army attempting to govern a populace that is historically ungovernable. To this day, no foreign strategy for conquest has ever made it past a rough sketch on paper.
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== Subregions of [[Free States]] ==
{{Copyright notice}}
[[Category:Regions]]
[[Category:Otan Regions]]

Free States - Revision history

Robyn.Blaber: /* Subregions of Free States */