River Kingdoms
Scattered among the forests and marshes of the Sellen River basin are the River Kingdoms: a loose confederation of tiny, independent states, the largest of them holding only a few thousand souls. Hundreds of such kingdoms have risen and fallen over the centuries, for treachery and chaos are rife in this region, and few River Kingdoms outlive their founders.
The lawless reputation of the River Kingdoms draws outcasts, refugees, and anyone else so desperate to escape their pasts that carving out a new life in a rough frontier town seems like an attractive proposition. Such settlers rarely have much money, and as the skills developed in their homelands are often ill suited to hardscrabble lives in the river basin, they generally find it difficult to rebuild their fortunes. The region is further depressed by the River Kingdoms’ instability, which deters trade, investment, and even travel. Thus, most of the River Kingdoms are poor, isolated, and backward—but stubbornly, proudly free.
More information:
A summary of the River Kingdoms
History of the River Kingdoms
Economy in the River Kingdoms
Diplomacy in the River Kingdoms
Government in the River Kingdoms
Life in the River Kingdoms
Outlaw-Council
The River Freedoms
The six freedoms are summarized below, and explained in detail in River Freedom
- Say What You Will, I Live Free:
Talk is cheap, and everyone is entitled to speak their own words. - Oathbreakers Die:
Those who swear oaths—particularly those of fealty to a River King—and break them can expect any number of painful and lethal fates - Walk Any Road, Float Any River:
Freedom to travel is fundamental. No River Kingdom is allowed to bar traffic on a river or a road, save in times of active warfare. - Courts are for Kings:
The law is always malleable. Who you know and who you can count as friends are more important than what the law says, and a lord can change laws in his territory at will. - Slavery is an Abomination:
Slavers may visit the River Kingdoms, but taking or holding slaves there upsets the many people who were once slaves themselves. - You Have What You Hold:
Property laws are weak in the River Kingdoms. Taking something openly by force is different from stealing, and those who can’t protect their property don’t deserve to keep it.
Geography
River Kingdoms
- Artume
- Cordelon
- Daggermark
- Hymbria
- Leydis
- Liberthane
- Mosswater
- Nystra
- Outsea
- Protectorate of the Black Marquis
- Riverton
- Scrawny Crossing
- Sevenarches
- The Stolen Lands
- Thornkeep
- Touvette
- Tymon
Map
