Kingdom of Dakar

The Kingdom of Dakar was founded by the dakarians when the migrated south from the Endless Snows. Aided by the dwarves of Stoneheart Hold they conquered the Ajaccico as well as several smaller tribes in the area. The chief of chiefs of the Dakarian people, Lukas, was crowed king of the people of Dakar. During his investiture ceremony he was blessed by the priests with forethought and great wisdom, so he took the name Reiner I to signify that he was no longer simply Lukas.

Currently the Kingdom of Dakar holds lands stretching from the Isaurus Ocean to the Druyen Highlands. While not the largest nation in terms of either population or square miles its strong population and fertile lands have made the kingdom very wealthy. Since settling south of the Stoneheart Mountains the Dakarian people have not known loss in battle nor suffered under civil wars like other nations within the Western Realms.

• Capitol: Celinus

  • Major Cities: Bornheim
• Official Languages(s): Dakarian

  • Regional Languages(s): many
• Ethnic Groups:
• Demonym: Dakarian
• Government: Hereditary Monarchy

  • 22,500 nobles
  • 5 Erzherzog (Archduke, Ruler of Archduchy)
  • 145 Herzog (Duke, Ruler of Duchy)
  • 300 Landgraf (Count)
  • 900 Barons
  • 3,000 Herr (Baronets)
  • 20,000 Knights
• Monarch: Aurora I
• Area: 425,000 sq. km

  • Approximately size of Uzbekistan
  • Slightly larger than Sweden
• Territories:
• • Rakarian Valley
  • Western Reaches
• Population: 4.5 million

  • 90,000 isolated/itinerant
  • 4,000,000 live in 10,000 villages
  • 270,000 live in 55 towns
  • 140,000 live in 10 cities

    • 32,000 live in Celinus
    • 26,000 live in Bornheim
    • 12,000 live in Haffen
    • 11,500 live in Ekeberg
    • 11,000 live in Aaldering
    • 10,500 live in Roblingen
    • 10,000 live in Daleiden
    • 9,500 live in Dankrieg
    • 9,000 live in Haelbaen
    • 8,500 live in Figl
• Structures:

  • 130 Castles still active

    • 95 in settled areas
    • 35 in remote or unsettled areas
  • 35 Castles in ruins or abandoned

    • 25 in settled areas
    • 10 in remote or unsettled areas
• Currency:

  • Drachen (15 grams gold)
  • Zwanzig (80 grams silver)
  • Groschen (15 grams silver)
  • Zettel (5 grams silver)

Dakar is currently ruled by a Queen for the first time. Queen Aurora took the throne after her father suffered a mental collapse at the death of his son. prince_corwyn_killed She has a weak hold over the nation and is supported heavily by the Church of Light.

Before the creation of the Bundswag, the Daconians “Children of the Dragon” were the rulers of the entire north. Supported by the powerful magicians who followed the teachings of the magi, they had pushed back both the Gothites and Vykir. For several decades, the Daconians enjoyed a period of rapid growth, peace, and prosperity.

During the spring thaw Dokar, the most powerful magician, had a disturbing vision. He saw the people of the north being consumed by a black raven rising from the south. The magicians met in council, and upon further study, discovered that indeed the lands beyond the Dwarven Mountains were about the fall to oppression and evil of the blackest sort. Several smaller tribes had migrated south of the mountains, but few survived the trip through the harsh mountains, and the dwarves steadfastly refused to open their gates.

However, Dokar’s vision warned that unless this evil was stopped, it would engulf the world. Dokar gathered his three sons south and gave each of them a task to save his people. The first, Aanad, he sent across the Isaurus Sea with most of the written knowledge of their people. The eldest, Celin, he sent south with the warriors and the most powerful magicians. His third son, Goddard, he charged with staying and preparing their people to resist the evil should Celin fail to stop it. The tasks assigned Dokar traveled alone to the north where he alone would prepare the final defense of this realm against the evil.

Celin lead the expedition south to the very northern gate of Stoneheart. There he waited at the base of the gate for two winters before the dwarves finally agreed to meet with him. He alone entered and the dwarves only know what happened, as Celin never discussed it. What is known is that the dwarves, for the first time, opened their gates to outsiders and allowed the migration of the Daconians to continue south.

Upon the banks of the mighty Zun River, on a hill overlooking the fertile land, Celin founded the new nation of Dakar, so named to honor his father. It took years before the dakarians were strong enough to begin expanding beyond their city, and years beyond that before the peace with the dwarves and elves gave them the land stretching from the Druyen Highlands to the Isaurus Sea.

In terms of area, Dakar is the one largest nations contained completely within the Western Realms. However, the vast majority of their western territory is undeveloped and considered very dangerous. When examining the area actually settled by Dakar, it is smaller than each of the major nations it borders. The Three River Valley does more than divide the land; it also divides the culture. Approximately one-quarter of Dakar’s total land is east of the Zun; however, its accounts for three-quarters of their settled land. The eastern parts of Dakar have rich and fertile soil well suited to both agriculture and grazing.

West of the Three River Valley the land dramatically changes. In place of the gentle rolling hills and rich soil, the west is mostly hard clay and heavily forested. The northwest is particularly bad for farming; however, it is marked by some of the more prosperous mines so it continues to grow. This makes the land good for smaller heavily fortified towns; however, any city would have to import a great deal of its grain products to survive in this dangerous land.

See also: Dakarian Fiefdoms, Dakar Shires

Dakar is founded upon a strict feudal system. Power and the law flows directly from the current King or Queen, through the various Dukes, Barons, and Lords, to the lowliest peasant. However, the law flows along the line of those who pay fealty to their lord. Few people below the rank of Count actually pay homage to anyone of the royal family; instead they pay homage to their lord. Thus a common peasant does not own fealty to the royalty only their own lord. Only a few rulers have been strong enough to command all without resorting to deals with the most powerful dukes. Instead, the more effective rulers learned to build their own support among the dukes so that no collections of nobles could rise up against them. This system has served Dakar since its first king without civil war ever expanding beyond a few baronies.

Like the Daconian, most of the other tribes that passed through the Iron Mountains on their way south were ruled by shaman and magic-men. These men held the law and choose the tribe's war leader. With the assistance of the Dwarves in Stoneheart, Celin broke the rule of shaman and set himself and his followers to command the various Daconian tribes. Once he had firm control over his own people, Celin set out to conquer the other tribes scattered south of the Iron Mountains.

With control of the Daconians Celin conquered the smaller tribes, forging them into a single people he called Dakarians. As he conquered the tribes he put his rule over that of their own shamans and named several people barons to rule in his name. There was some resistance at first, but over the years the shaman were replaced by people Celin named to the position of baron.

With the people now forged together by a common rule of law and practice the Dakarians conquered the remaining tribes. Over the years as the barons grew more powerful in both land and wealth they were named Counts, Earls, and Dukes. The more powerful nobles had barons and knights swear fealty to them rather than to the crown. This created a complex web of loyalty and oath that still binds the lands of Dakar to this day.

Under treaty with the elves the Dakarians gained all of the land east of the Zun River to the shore of the Endless Sea. Most of this land was heavily forested and untamed by the elves. However it wasn't until the reign of Queen Nadina that the land was really opened for conquest. To raise an army for her first war with the Three Kingdoms, Queen Nadina granted lands to mercenary captains that fought for crown in lieu of pay under their own banners. These new non-hereditary knights of the realm were granted royal lands to maintain their arms and horse.

Collectively these new knights became known as Burk Lords because they gained their title only through force of arms. Their titles could not be passed down to their children or subinfeudiated and they paid fealty directly to the crown, rather than one of the knightly orders. As the original lords died out the lands were given to other knights whose military service to the crown was great. Now these Burk Lords remain some of strongest supporters of the crown and help balance the scales when the most powerful eastern lords bring their pressure to bear.

West of the lands ruled by the Burk Lords is an area called the Western Reaches. The land is heavily forested and untamed eventually reaching the Fuldelf Ridge. Under King Reiner IV these lands were sold to the more wealthy nobles and given to knights of the realm. Unlike the lands of the Burk Lords, these titles were hereditary and few paid fealty directly to the crown. The Earl of the West is commonly held by the Crown Prince.

Because these lands were so far from Celinus the lords and ladies rarely had the opportunity to pay tribute to the court. To remedy this situation Crown Prince Erik was named the Defender of the West. His court was in the city of Nadenburg, where the Western Lords could seek redress. This collection of knights, mercenary lords, and blooded nobles can often be problematic; however, the land is rich in resources and many that did not fit in the settled towns of the east have journeyed west to find their own fortune. The land is still untamed and while towns are not longer raided every month, there are still a great many bandits and monsters that lurk in the forests.

This shared danger and feeling of being cut off from the rest of Dakar has given many of the Western Lords a feeling of independence. So far none have attempted to rebel and claim their own freedom from Dakar, but most eastern nobles feel it is only a matter of time before the Western nobles must be whipped back into line. The Kingdom of Dakar's relations with other nations can often be marked by the various wars it has fought with them during its history. The Kingdom remains one of the largest and most capable military powers on the continent. Thus the Kingdom's expansion has often come at the military conquest of their neighbors.

See also: Ellendar

Dakar’s relationship with Ellendar is proper, cordial, and distant. The treaty granted peace between all three neighbors, but it could not mandate closer ties. Ellendar has set up several outer villages to trade with Dakarian Trade Companies; however, they prefer their merchants to do business within the human cities. As a very long-lived race they still remember the Dakarian’s ancestors invading the land that was theirs and cutting back the forest - there are still plenty of elves that were alive when Celin came through the Gate of the Gods and claimed the territory for himself.

Relationships soured further when Ellendar openly supported the founding of the Three Kingdoms. Dakarian nobles still consider that area to be in open rebellion against the righteous rule of the crown. The one time they tried to take the land by force, a combined force of human and elves stopped them.

The best description of the alliance is a forced marriage. Ellendar cannot fight a two-front war with both Dakar and Xian, so it must maintain good relationships with Dakar. Dakar cannot hold back both Ellendar and Irill, so it must keep Ellendar from forging an alliance with Irill. Further complicating this matter is the position of Stoneheart; it will stop all trade with any nation that breaks the treaty.

See also: Republic of Irill

Considering that most of best land in eastern Dakar was once owned by Irill, it is amazing that open war has not yet broken out between these two nations. Tension on the border remains high, with many instances of cross-border raiding being claimed by both sides. What has stopped the cold war from becoming hot is the large amount of trade between the two nations - trade that both nations have come to rely on.

See also: Krandryia

While the amount of trade that passes between these two nations is minor, the type of trade is significant. Krandryia has the largest veins of rare ores found outside of the Iron Mountains. In addition, the Northern Trade route between the Western Realms and Turan passes through Krandryia - this is the only way Dakar can transport goods safely to Turan without paying Irill’s high taxes.

Normally, Dakar would just conquer the territory and take what they needed; however, two things stop them. Stoneheart claims Krandryia falls under the protection of the treaty, since its rulers were Dakarians when it was signed. Secondly, the terrain is difficult to navigate and the people are staunchly independent - any campaign to gain control of the necessary territory would be extremely expensive in term of men and money.

This has led Dakar to take a very friendly and open stance with the ranking nobility. Behind the scenes they are trying to forge secret alliances and play one faction against the others. If Krandryia should fall on its own accord they could step in to restore peace and place nobles loyal to Dakar in positions of power. Until this occurs Dakar will maintain strong economic and military ties with Krandryia.

See also: Stoneheart Hold

Bound by several treaties, a long history of expansive trade, and the true bloodline of Celin; Stoneheart is Dakar’s strongest ally. It’s not true that the alliance has always been smooth, but those areas of contention generally get worked out to everyone’s satisfaction. Dakar grants Stoneheart tax-free trading rights within its borders, it also allows dwarven traders to pass through its lands without collecting a tariff of any sort. In exchange Stoneheart sells their best steels to Dakar incredibly cheap.

To further ties these two nations together most of the powerful Dakarian nobles, including the royal family, own many holdings in Stoneheart's territory. In exchange several prominent dwarven families have holdings inside of Dakar. These binding ties further discourage any cross-border raids or small wars from breaking out along their border. That so much of Dakar's culture is based upon that found in Stoneheart has made these two lands natural allies.

See also: Three Kingdoms

The amount of virulent hate that Dakar has towards the Three Kingdoms can be best summed up by the number of invasions, assassinations, and bandits currently supported by the Dakarian crown against their former subjects. The crown has never forgiven the abandonment of their once loyal subjects and likely never will. If not for the invention of Stoneheart and Ellendar, they would have retaken the land.

This is not to say that some merchants don’t work as honest brokers for Dakarian trade deals with the Three Kingdoms, but these tend to be “smoke and mirrors” designed to hide what is really happening. The tension on the border has never settled down once the Three Kingdoms declared independence.

See also: Xian

Since Xian is a closed religious, governmental, and economical culture; there is no way to establish ties with the current rulers. Since the church hands down the rule of law, it would take the complete destruction of the Xianese church before any change could occur. By the “Treaty of Three” Dakar must maintain open warfare with the Xian until they declare a full, and unfettered, peace with Ellendar.

The Dakarian military depends heavily upon the local noble as the crown keeps only a large enough military to police its own lands. Given the fractured nature of the military forces in Dakar, most lords still maintain an unusually large stable of knights and professional men-at-arms compared to other civilized nations. Dakar's militaristic attitude has as much to do with their historical roots as it does with the current political landscape.

Tournaments and quests keep the large number of knights, squires, and local militia well-trained. It is not too uncommon for a very skilled archer to make as much competing in a local tournament as they would working the fields or mines for several months. This is often the only way for most commoners to earn enough money to improve their life. In addition, the crown has allowed many private wars and feuds to erupt between nobles as long as the neighboring lands are not overly disturbed. The end result of this is that even without taking the field against a foreign land, Dakar's military is well-bloodied and schooled in the arts of war craft.

This elite guard is swore to protect the throne at all costs. They are loyal only to the person that currently holds the crown of Dakar. Chosen from the bravest and most loyal knights, the Black Dragons are never far from their charge. Their plate armor is fashioned from dwarven steel and engraved with a large dragon holding the Dakarian crown in its talons. The dragon's wings are stretched wide to shield the crown from all harm.

The Crown Prince, who holds the title Defender of the West, commands all of the soldiery from the Western Baronies. Unlike the eastern lords who march to war under their lord's banner - the Western Baronies all march under the banner of the Crown Prince. This change has fused the Western Barons together under a common goal, unlike the infighting that often takes place between the various eastern nobles.

Still, while the Crown Price commands a hardened militia who live on the edge daily the number of skilled knights in the western baronies is lacking. Unlike the eastern lords who keep a great deal of knights under their banner and knight-errant on their lands, the western baronies do not have that capability. Instead, they need all of their men-at-arms and militia to defend their towns and patrol their roads - the additional expense of several skilled knights would be far too great.

This position has traditional been held by one of the Dukes that the Crown of Dakar currently favors. The General is supposed to command the armies of Dakar in battle and lead the Crown's troops in addition to their personal soldiers. In practice, the crown has put its troops on the battlefield so rarely that the position has become more political and military. The Duke currently serving as the General is usually part of the crown's inner circle of advisers and as such this position commands a great deal of respect.

Dakar is a land rich in natural resources and major trade routes connecting the craftsmen of Stoneheart Hold with the rest of the Realms. While many dwarven families have set up shops outside of Stoneheart, the best crafters still prefer to work the forges use by their great-great-grandfathers instead of working a new forge is a land far from their home. This means a steady supply of dwarven goods travel through Dakar, allowing their markets to provide the sale and their court to collect the taxes.

More importantly Dakar is very rich in minerals and the tallest hardwoods necessary for the large multi-master ships desired by Irillian traders. With their numerous mining camps along their entire northern border the flow of minerals to Dakarian markets continues without stop. Farther west these mines are usually over-watched bosses that plat at being noble, while the eastern mines are divided between the Temple, Crown, and local Nobility.

This system has stifled the growth of any large merchant class as Irill has seen over the years. Instead, it has made the three ruling entities in Dakar even richer. This has allowed them to expand their own holdings with richness and gilt, while stopping their peasant workers to get enough money to seek to improve their station.

The banking system is solely responsible for assisting the whims of the nobility. The local lord runs each bank and only contributing members of the bank are allowed access to the bank’s benefits. Only those approached by the bank are allowed to become contributing members, since the local lord serves as the head of the bank they have complete control over the membership.

The benefits of becoming a bank member can vastly increase one’s wealth. The bank will pay the royal as well as local taxes, in coin or their own bank notes, this allows the members to not keep large quantities of coin on hand to pay their taxes. This gives them the freedom to spend what hard currency they personally carry for other goods and services.

The largest benefit is the ability to conduct trade without the exchange of currency. Since no currency is exchanged during the transaction, there are no royal and few local taxes applied to the sale. Paying no taxes greatly reduces the cost of purchasing luxury goods, which helps support the local artisans. Finally, the bank also conducts loans or sells insurance to anyone in their membership.

The merchants are backed by nobility and while they have no more rights that other commoners, the very fact that they work for a noble give them a social standing just below landless knights in the noble's household. They may keep servile in their employ to drive the oxen, care for the horses, and do the physical labor of the caravan. The key benefit for the merchant who works within a Trade Company is that they are allowed to become a member of the bank to which his noble backer belongs. This gives the merchant the ability to purchase items on credit and easily exchange money without the high percentage demanded by other moneylenders.

These benefits offered to the merchants in Trade Companies make it very difficult for other merchants working in Dakar. Instead the other merchants tend to be much smaller and only work areas where they, and the quality of their goods, are well known. The only large caravans that can compete with the Trade Companies have been those from Stoneheart and the larger merchant houses from Irill.

Main Article: temple_of_light

The Temple of Light is the official religion of Dakar; although there are still small pockets of the various religious beliefs of the people that occupied this region before the Dakarians arrived, especially among the peasantry. Much of the Temple's influence within Dakar is directly related to the dwarves of Stoneheart Hold. When the Dakarians were semi-nomadic tribes they feared the dark gods and their children. During the time they spent in the shadows of Stoneheart, the dwarves taught them more than simply warcraft and rulership, they changed their perception of the gods they so feared. The Dakarians that marched into the southlands were not simply ruled by their new king, but supported by priests calling up the power of the gods to aid them.

Over the years the Temple has continued to expand its power and reach. It has supplanted the religions of the tribes who lived in the southlands as well as the power of the Dakarian wizards. The nobility draws is “right to rule” from both bloodline and the support of the gods. This mutual relationship has benefited both the Temple as well as the nobility so there is little reason to expect any changes in the future. The wizards of Dakar have either been driven out, killed, or forced to submit to the will of the gods. These wizards no longer hold the position of authority they once did, but as long as they are guided by the Temple they are under their protection.

This is what the church calls the years during which they removed all wizardry that was not directly under the control of the church. Since the people roamed their lands in the north, the wizards - those gifted magical power by kaa had controlled the destiny of the Dakarians. They protected the people from the power of the gods as well as many dangerous spirits that lived in the land. The word of a wizard was absolute even going as far as overriding the words of chief, war-chief, and lawgiver. When the Dakarians moved into the southlands their warriors were not only better trained, but supported by both wizard and priest alike. The priests of the Temple of Light called upon the power of the gods to aid the people and strike fear into the hearts of the non-believers.

A the people increasingly turned to the Temple for advice and direction, the will of the wizards meant less and less. Many of the most powerful wizards left in Dakar joined the elves of Ellendar in fighting back the Xianese and vowed never to return to Dakar again. Those that stayed behind were subject to purification rituals. Wizards who would not come under the guidance of the church were branded heretics and typically killed by mobs of followers. Within a few years no wizard was openly seen in the eastern holdings of Dakar. The surviving wizards fled either west or south.

While there were a great number of highly skilled magicians that first traveled south with Celin, most of these left to fight the Xianese army and later form the Three Kingdoms. There still are a few newer academies scattered about the major cities, but after generations of being taught by the nobility that magicians were dangerous they have never regained their rightful place in Daconian society.

Compounding this problem is that the Temple of Light does not look kindly on those that delve too deep into the mystical arts. While they have not spoken out against practicing magicians they use their pulpits to turn the people away from following in their footsteps. Without apprentices to pass on their knowledge the magicians that have made Dakar their home are slowly dwindling in number.

The crown still retains the postion of court magician and most of the western lords have followed suit. The eastern lords are more closely tied to the Temple of Light and few have magicians on retainer. While the court mostly maintains this position to help balance the power of the church, in the west a magician can be the difference between survival and death for any town. This means that many children wish to be apprenticed to magicians in the west. This has led to the steady flow of most magicians to the untamed lands of the west. Like everyone else they seek to increase their own fortunes. This trend has gone so far that the first new magical academies opened in Dakar in over a hundred years have been opened in the western lands.

Dakar was once a polygot land, forged together from many different tribes by conquest. However, all of these tribes came from the north and as such they shared many cultural icons and physical traits. Now most Dakarians appear close enough to be kin. Most human hair color is possible with brown-red to blond the most common - eye color also favors most light shades. Most are large-boned with prominent jawlines and deep-set eyes. Taller than Irillians they are still a few inches shorter than most Xianese.

It is best to divide the populace by which side of the Zun River where they live. Until the treaty was finalized with the elves, the Dakarians expanded their nation towards the highlands on the east of the Zun. It was this land that proved the most fertile and easy to tame. The Irillian Empire had begun to fall and most of their northern principalities were weak and without external support.

The people on the east of the Zun live in the most comfort. The land has been tamed for generations, the local nobility has a long line of ancestors with ties to each other, and the local law can keep the roads between the cities free from banditry. Over 80% of Dakar’s total wealth and population can be found east of the Zun.

More that the Zun River divides the eastern people of Dakar from the west. The west is a frontier land where a person's quick wits and strong desire can tame enough land to call their own. While the land belongs to the crown, in many places no noble has been put into place to rule over it locally. These Kingstowns usually spring up in areas where there is money to be made and then when the law arrives disappear before their taxes can be collected, leaving behind anything they cannot carry out overnight.

The nobles and knights that have gained land in the west are not much different from the people. Many feel the crown and the eastern lords have done little to help them prosper - so they deserve little of the rewards. Instead, the nobles of the west pay the highest taxes although they do have the smallest number of soldiers they must provide. This was done after some lords lost their own land to raiders when the crown called up their militias.

In contrast the eastern people are more settled and few desire anything more than to work and raise their families. The land is calm and well suited to the agricultural lifestyle the people pursue. This gives the people the freedom to look farther into the future and plan their lives. Most people invest a significant amount of their money into their homes and children.

Mirroring their people, the nobles of the east are far more interested in political and social gains than their western counterparts. They have more to fear from their neighbors gaining an upper hand on them at court than raiders sacking the towns under their protection. In place of a well-armed militia most nobles rely on a constable and a few men-at-arms to police the area from crime. The idea of a peasant gaining land through military service is unthinkable to any civilized eastern noble.

• List of Lakes in Dakar
• List of Rivers in Dakar
• List of Valleys in Dakar
• List of Villages in Dakar
• List of Towns in Dakar
• List of Cities in Dakar