Freekingdoms

Artwork by beet

The Freekingdoms are the last remnants of several once-powerful human civilizations, now crushed and driven out of their homelands. Nothrog invasions, Deverenian conquest and the shattering of the land due to the passage of the Blood Moon has brought these refugees together. Now, only their abiding hope that the world will be reborn keeps them intact. The Freekingdom, once known as the land Khalenar, has been ravaged by the Elves and their leaders have been destroyed. The refugees have seized upon empty lands left behind by war victims, and the Freekingdoms ­ a united force of nobles, merchants, soldiers and peasantry ­ has been born from Khalenar's ashes.

The people of the Freekingdoms suffer from their losses at war, and are badly traumatized by their continued destruction of their homelands. Still, they turn their eyes toward a better future, uniting their meager armies into one last force for good, determined to try to restore the balance of the world ­ or die, trying. Their faith is strong; their courage stronger.

The soldiers of the Freekingdom have seen a great deal of war. They are a rag-tag group comprised of those good enough (or lucky enough) to have survived the destruction of their native kingdoms. Many of them are too old, too young, or otherwise not first-sting soldiers; in desperate times, everyone who can fight, must fight. Their armies are comprised of archers and pikemen, the clever and the lucky. Where the other armies of the world have strength, the Freekingdoms have cunning ­ and guile. Thieves are not uncommon; many of their new leaders gained their posts by shrewdness or wit, and not strength. They use guerilla tactics and strike-and-run maneuvers, and the few wizards who have survived are typically those who specialize in movement, illusions, or divinatory spells ­ most of the sorcerers with directed war power fought, and died, long ago.