We will start simply. When we hear the word Issligi, you will think a combination of the Spartans and the Romans. Militarily efficient they are also very advanced in the mechanical and magical arts. There are many city states in the South linked by efficient roads. The capital city is Isslig and is ruled by a hereditary monarchy. The nobility is predominately hereditary, but citizens of quality have been known to achieve high stations. Magic is a compensating tool for the Issligi. They use it to both make life simpler for the common folk and also to dominate the non Issligi who inhabit their realms. Most of the inhabitants of Helsport are of Issligi decent, and more particularly from the Issligi town called Saltmarsh. The deciding factors of Issligi diplomacy are to secure the primacy of the empire on this continent and to secure the sources of imperial wealth. When you meet an Issligi of importance you will feel slightly deficient as if the courtly manners and deportment are meant to diminish the non Issligi. The empire has focused most of its population south of the mountains, however over the last 100 years the settlements of Starmerge and LandsEnd grew in importance. Starmerge is on the northern edge of the mountains and acts as a consolidation point for the raw materials of the North. A trading company was granted a franchise to explore the northern most seas and it began to seek new trade routes outside the small continent controlled bythe Issligi. It was from LandsEnd that the Ranken Empire was first encountered. Below is an example of the Issiligi Standard, depicted is the Heavy Infrantry of the IV Legion of Maximus.
The Ranken Horde
Ranke should strike fear in any character who
is unlucky enough to meet them on their terms. Everything that the Issligis
are the Rankens are not. Think, Mongol Horde. They are assimilatorsof various
kingdoms andempires. The Rankens live across the northern sea and as yet
have never been visited by any player characters. Their lands are known only
by rumor as far as their homeland is concerned. They have no permanent capital,
but they do have a supreme warlord who runs an empire that dwarfs the Issligi
empire. On thiscontinent beyond the Northern Reach Mountains lies the conquered
port city of Tribat, the main harbor of the Ranken horde and their entry
point onto the Isslig continent.
The Issligi empire has the trade goods
and resources that would make a fine addition to the Ranken empire and it
is for this reason that the Rankens decided to invade Isslig. The reason
the war broke out is rather insipid, but it is central to the story of Helsport.
A Ranken Horde appeared in LandsEnd and a parley was requested. A lowly
priest of Hel was selected as the Issligi representative at the parley.
This was meant to insult the Rankens. The official state religion of Issligi
is the Norse mythos, Hel is but a minor and marginal deity. For theIssligi
the art of diplomacy is conducted largely by the priesthoods. Because LandsEnd
was still a very marginal site at the time, the only priestly representative
was Atlan Miskovar, an exiled priest of Hel from the capital of Isslig. TheRankens
were seeking a standard agreement that would have simply required a small
annual tribute and freedom of military movement through out Isslig territory.
Miskovar completely botched the parley and insulted the Rankens so greatly
that they decided parley was much too generous for the Issligi. What resulted
was one hell of a war. In short the Issligi armies though smaller used massive
amounts of magic to compensate for the numerical deficiency.The Rankens countered
by having armies that were often five times the sizeof the Issligi. There
is an actual record of all the battlesand who was doing what at which times
but that is beyond the scope of this guide.There did develop a first interbellum
which is where the history of Helsport begins. Below is an example of theRanken
Elite Berserker Unit.
