For thousands of years the Dea al Mon have stood between the whole of Kaeleer and the Closed Territories of the Kindred. The wild, proud, and feral Children of the Ebon Wood have been both vigilant and aloof as they toil their political rivalries against one another for centuries. But a mysterious disease known as the Waste that plagues the Dea al Mon has made the proud people desperate, and their tried and tested methods have failed them. Gale Galoneth, Queen of Dea al Mon for the last thirty years, has opened the borders of the Ebon Wood in a bid to bring in outside help.

Three seekers, placed under a geas by Lady Gale, search the whole of Kaeleer for talented Priestesses who might hold the key to solving the Waste and curing eleven of Lady Gale's twelve daughters. To the seeker who would be successful, Gale promises her uninfected daughter's hand in marriage, and a place as the First Escort of all of Dea al Mon.

But while Lady Gale offers invitations to the envoys of other Territories, Blade Amdir, her current First Escort, makes his own plans for solving the Waste without the help of outside interlopers. The Ebon Guard and the Red Cloaks steel themselves against the ravenous Brood of the True Born who are slowly but surely taking over the whole of the Territory.

And in the Dark Forest of Morwuud, Genesis Gil-Gannus, the Broodmother, works earnestly to uncover an ancient and terrible secret that will change Dea al Mon and indeed, all of Kaeleer, forever.

Cultural Reference: Black Forest

Dharo's political waters have always been the defining feature of this Kaeleer Territory. Like the ocean tide the political waters of Dharo has given and taken from each of its Queens since the Purge without prejudice. The peace between the Landens and the Blood within Dharo is balanced upon a precarious perch. And in the District of Westwood there are quiet whispers emerging of a resurgence of Cymrean loyalties.

The current Queen has been spending the last decade putting the Territory to rights following the destructive rule of the former Queen. There has been a shift in focus for the Territory from rebuilding their lives, reclaiming their infrastructure from the Landens, and re-asserting their power across the Territory, their mercantile exports and their crop harvests.

Politics is the motivation of all decisions and alliances in Dharo. Each Queen has a sizeable army of spies at their finger tips and the Territory's greatest commodity are secrets and knowledge. The small District of Westwood threatens rebellion as they seek to reclaim a heritage that has long since been forcibly suppressed. And political masterminds move their pawns from the shadows of the Territory.

The Territory Court is plagued by a menace hell bent on making life for the Queen and her Court a living hell. Dharo is also known for its complex network of Spies; and in particular an elite and ancient society called the Rampart Club. All of these elements make for a truly high level of intrigue throughout the Territory.

Cultural Reference: England

Dhemlan, Kaeleer has slowly become a land divided. Blessed with an abundance of everything and anything the Realms of the Blood could offer, the Blood of Dhemlan have become increasingly entitled and self-serving, and the Landen have become increasingly ill-treated and abused. The corruption and oppression that Witch’s Purge wiped out in so much of the rest of the Realms was thwarted in its work by the well-meaning sacrifice of the territory’s Ebon Gray Queen. Mitra Sa Roya lost her jewels and much of her family and court while defending Dhemlan, but it was the price she paid for saving the better part of her territory from the destruction of Witch’s judgment against them. As such, the corruption here has only intensified. In particular, the tension between the Landen and the Blood who were meant to care for them is close to reaching a boiling point. The Landen Council is currently biding its time and watching the skies, but only a fool would think them idle.

In the midst of this turmoil, Province Queen Teoda Araneina stormed the capital palace in Amdarh, and exposed for all the Territory the farce perpetuated by the Territory Court: Mitra sa Roya had disappeared some time ago, and a shadow Queen, moved about by the Black Widows of the Coven, had been ruling in her stead. With the Coven shamed and Mitra's old court decimated, Teoda has begun to rebuild. Her path is a dangerous one; not only are the disgraced Black Widows intent on revenge, but every other faction in Dhemlan has just been reminded that the throne can belong to anyone, given enough blood spilled.

Cultural Reference: Spain

Glacia’s Silent Civil War has found its voice.

For years, Glacia has been embroiled a religious fanaticism that places the Light Jeweled and Landen as cherished, but lesser children of Mother Night. To keep these errant children from further staining their souls, the Dark Religion, originating in the Gray Priestess-Queen Isyviel and perpetuated by her messianic Gray Jeweled protege, Elisif Brenden, rose to power, declaring that it was the responsibility of those blessed with Dark Jewels to nurture their less fortunate brethren. As with many religions, the zealots amongst it twisted its doctrines to fit their political agenda, creating the brainwashed cult known as the Progenitor’s Trust and propagating the dehumanizing Craft-locked collars that signified the Light Jeweled as under the protection of a Dark Jewel. As Elisif Brenden and her Triangle of Ebon Grays grew greater in power, this same zealotry enabled Glacia to forcibly annex a weakened Nharkava, spilling the Dark Religion’s agenda into her neighbor Territory. 

The oppression and hostility began nearing a boil, as those brave enough to risk the Queen’s ire began smuggling others out of the Territory, finding sanctuary in other places like Rihland and Little Terreille. Yet the collars and cult continued, hurtling towards a theocracy that promised to envelope another Territory in its Dark shadow.

Until the death of its Queen.

Now, Glacia has become a battleground on multiple levels and fronts, with the Light Jeweled protesting their second-class citizenry and forces gathering beyond Glacia’s borders to ensure that the Dark Religion does not continue in its path to domination.

Cultural Reference: Finland

In 191 AP, desperate Nharkavans who were weary from years of Glacian “protection” and exploitation made a desperate attempt to force Glacia to end its occupation of Nharkava. They kidnapped the parents of Elisif Brenden, the tri-casted, Gray Jeweled ruler of Glacia, and tried to ransom their lives against Nharkava’s freedom. Elisif and three Ebon Gray males who served her went to Nharkava, ostensibly to parlay with the kidnappers. Instead, the depth of Elisif’s fanaticism was made clear when she killed her own parents to negate the leverage in the hands of the Nharkavans. She then had her males slaughter the entire court that had gathered to parlay, including the Nharkavan Territory Queen Mahamari Rien, and left the Territory Seat empty and awash in blood. Elisif sent a Glacian Queen to rule over Nharkava in the wake of the massacre, cementing Glacia's hold over Nharkava. Maarika Sydan-Harmaa has had her court uprooted and moved to Orissa, where she's been tasked with bringing the unruly Territory into line.

Meanwhile, tension that has been threatening to boil over for generations among the Nharkavan natives is heating up. The Landen of Nharkava, overworked and underestimated by the Blood even before Glacia's occupation, have suffered more than ever under Elisif's thumb. Those who comprise the Landen Rebellion have been fighting for power for years in careful and selective ways, leveraging guile and anonymity against the terrifying abilities of the Blood in hopes of carving out room for them to govern themselves. For generations now there have been precious few Nharkavan Queens born, and without their sacred Craft the land will not yield enough food for all. Recently, Glacian spies inside the Rebellion have betrayed the meeting place of the Rebellion's leaders. Glacia's Coven launched a surprise assault which killed and scattered the Council of Eight, those revered Landen who led the Rebellion.

The people of Nharkava are growing desperate. The discontent native Blood and the remaining Landen rebels have formed an uneasy alliance under the umbrella of the limping remnants of the Council of Eight, and are determined now to cast out their oppressors at any cost. New attempts at Council of Eight leadership will rise and conflict with one another, and the way they fight will shift in response to their losses. Small teams of Landen who have until now been able to affect only the most careful and guerilla-type attacks will begin to see their ranks bolstered by sympathetic Blood, lending a new level of effectiveness to their old techniques. Blood supply lines will suffer more than they ever have, and new kinds of poisons based on obscure native plants and animals will begin claiming the lives of Glacians and their sympathizers. While Maarika is secretly sympathetic to the plight of the Nharkavans, she is beholden to Glacia and must maintain the appearance of submission even as she works behind the scenes to aid the people she is meant to be oppressing. Though she will attempt to quietly solicit Queens from neighboring Territories to help restore the land, her public facade will draw continuous fire from the natives who can’t know she desires to help them. Native Warlord Princes and Priestesses who took hold of thrones in order to hide and protect their precious Queens will struggle to keep hold of these seats in the face of hungry Glacian usurpers. The revelation of webbed and disguised Glacian spies in their midst will prompt Nharkava’s Black Widows to begin returning the favor.

While the nascent rebel alliance is motivated at the moment, surely it is only a matter of time before the Blood and Landen bow to the tensions between their races once more. The only question is when: before or after they manage to eject the Glacian Queen who may be their most powerful unknown ally?

Cultural Reference: India

For a time Little Terreille was openly ruled by men. Logain Morr, the former Steward of the Territory, had put a slave collar on the Queen he served and paraded her around like a pet dog. Morr shaped the cosmopolitan Territory into his image and none challenged the Red Warlord Prince.

But that has changed.

Lord Black, a mysterious Black Jeweled man has destroyed Morr's court and torn down his rule. Now Amerys Tiernan, a young Tiger-Eye Queen, rules Little Terreille after being put onto the Territory Seat by this mysterious Dark Jeweled man. Amerys Tiernan tries to heal the wounds that have plagued the Territory and tries to unite them and restablish proper rule.

But male rule hasn't vanished from Little Terreille. Now it just rules from the shadows of Amerys's Court.

Cultural Reference: Hodge podge/Trading post/melting pot

The short-lived Rihlanders have long been second class citizens in their own homeland. Kalvar Elbremov, a Black Jeweled half-breed, destroyed the bulk of the Eyrien occupying force and has given back the Territory to the Rihlanders -- under his rule. Now a people who have not ruled themselves in generations begin to reconnect to their culture and their ways of life. The Eyriens nurse their wounds and plot revenge, and the Glacians who have fed their own subjugation build alongside the Rihlanders who now govern them. Despite their differences all three peoples rest under the shadow of Ebon Varos, where their distant, godlike ruler decides the direction of the Territory.

Cultural Reference: Denmark & elements of Norse culture

Scelt is a Territory in turmoil and facing many hardships throughout its rugged landscape. The dynastic ruling of the line of Killan Queens has remained intact despite the violent attempts by the Sheane Clan to wrest that power away from the Killan Clan and their allies. The power struggle between the two mighty Clans came to a violent end only a few years ago when the Queen, Loreniel Killan, destroyed the entirety of the Sheane Court. When the Sheanes retaliated against the Killans and killed Daveil Killan, the elderly Queen who had once ruled the Territory, the Sheane Clan was outlawed, seemingly putting an end to the centuries old feud.

The Sheanes, despite their outlawed status, seem intent to continue to cause problems within Scelt. New powers have risen in the Clan ranks to fill the gap in power, and the Queens are desperate in their attempts to achieve peace in the Provinces and Districts at large. And in the shadows another danger lurks for the Queen and Sceltic people alike. The Black Widows, a repressed caste within the island Territory, are preparing to do battle against their oppressors. For too many years they have suffered in silence but with their unique and deadly craft as their only ally they intend to make Scelt pay for their suffering.

Cultural Reference: Ireland/Scotland