Kur Maeth

| General | History | Geopolitical | Military | Culture |
| Geographics | Economics | Languages | Religeon |

Capital: (City State) National Alignment: Lawful Good Population: 200,000 Size: 75 thousand square miles Government: Military Theocracy Ruler: ArchPrelate Talon Bhramord Law: Written Constitution Coin: Karatikan standard

General: Kur Maeth is a small city-state at the mouth of the Dreneb River in Halganath. An ancient city with a foul and rotten history, she was recently over run by the Fourth Crusades. With aid from the far east, and tensioned trade with Rakore, she is an Inquisition run city devoted to the forces of good and order. ArchPrelate Talon Bhramord proved instrumental in its take over, and now works not only to clean the city's dregs out, but to keep the nearby Ogre Nations from destroying the home he's carved out for his people -- the refugees of Giranhad. Composed of crusaders, paladins, clerics, priests, and blessed refugees, Kur Maeth is one of the holiest cities on Gaeleth, second only to Karmen in the far east.

History: Old even during the Shaping Wars, Kur Maeth has been built upon and then destroyed hundreds of times. It's position at the mouth of the mightiest river on Gaeleth makes it a city of some prominence, for whomever controls Kur Maeth, controls all the trade with the Laekenala Jungle, and the Avris Mountains. The current city was founded nearly nine hundred years before the Storm Wars, and served as the root of all evil in the west. Temples to Argunas, Mazripos, Milthel, and even Nathel periodically dominated the religeous aspect of the city, though few probably paid much attention to whichever gods declared themselves dominant. Illicit trade, drugs from the Laekenala Jungles, slaves and slave labor, and all manner of forbidden things earned the city the name 'The Heart of Darkness', or Kur Maeth in ancient Karatikan. Not long after the Storm Wars, Kur Maeth became an extension of the Alekdan Principalaties, and came to be dominated by pirates and their trade.

During the War of the Undead, the centuries of hatred and harsh death came to haunt the city. Overrun by undead, the city was then conquered by Nabrolian armies, and the undead bent to Nabrol's ferocious will. Then came the crusaders.

The Fourth Crusades had been organized from doomed Giranhad by ArchPrelate Dolf Antolin in 1310 Avard. The ArchPrelate and his backers in Karmen hoped to invade and wipe out the Ogre Nations under Supreme Ruler Itzak. Funded by the Inquisition, and aided by dozens of nations in the far east, Antolin would have set sail with close to half a million crusaders, paladins, and holy warriors to wipe out the evil and magic of the west. Word came that Giranhad would be destroyed, and quickly. The crusades became an evacuation, as space was made aboard the myriad ships and vessels for the refugees of the fated city. Many crusaders stayed behind of their own volition, becoming martyrs and heroes in death.

The crusaders set forth from Giranhad just as it sunk into the whirling vortices of the maelstroms in a flood of fire and thunderous clouds. Arriving in Kur Maeth several months later, they smote the Nabrolians with all the pent up rage at impotance they possessed. Shocking even the Nabrolians, the Yatindaran led crusaders forced the Dark God to bring in two archons to try and stop the crusaders -- to no avail. ArchPrelate Dolf Antolin was killed in the fighting, though not before he slew an archon in single combat. Nominated as a saint by his successor, Prelate Talon Bhramord, Antolin is still revered in the city.

Talon Bhramord had been a forward scout of the crusaders, and rose quickly to the position of ArchPrelate. Under his guidance and directorship, the city expanded to encompass a great deal of the lands nearby, and was formally established in 1319 Avard. Bhramord reinforced the navy with Nabrolian-built heavy triremes, allied himself with Rakore, received supplies and reinforcements from Karmen, and set about preparing the city to survive any seige -- even one from the massing Ogre Nations. When the War of the Undead ended, Arpelos's Chosen set up a massive temple in Kur Maeth -- and with the temple came a dragon. Artanus, an ancient titanium dragon of enormous size, guards the city in the air from all that would harm Kur Maeth. Coupled with the crusaders themselves, and the formidable blessings of Yatindar and the Inquisition, Kur Maeth has become a fortress of light in the dark western lands.

Geopolitical:

Military: The heart of the crusades is the holy warrior formally known as the 'Crusader'. Priests of considerable prominence and military training, they are the backbone of the Kur Maen military forces. Numbering in the tens of thousands, their divine worship and healing prayers, combined with their raw steel swords and chain mail, makes them a formidable force in the west. Mainly followers of Yatindar, there are also crusaders from other gods. Nearly equaling their numbers are the paladins who have set about to settle the untamed lands and peoples of Kur Maeth. Armored in field plate, and armed with lances and massive chargers, only the Toomarans are more formidable in cavalry engagements. The crusaders can be assumed to be 3rd-level, one and all, and the paladin cavalry averages out at 2nd-level.

The Kur Maen navy is formidable, as well. Stocked with Nabrolian triremes, their crews number over three-hundred each. Experienced with rounding up pirates, and patrolling the waters of the Laekenala Jungle, they are sailors and crusaders who wear studded leather and wield short swords, averaging out at 3rd-level. The triremes have formidable arsenals, complete with ballistae and battering rams, in addition to steel plating on the undersides.

Because of the plethora of good woods, Kur Maeth also sports a formidable amount of artillery. The city itself is on an island, and surrounded by trebuchets, catapults, and ballistae. Prepared for a seige by the Ogre Nations, the passes through the Avris Mountains are also heavily defended by massive artillery. The average artilleryman can be assumed to be 1st-level.

The Seekers within Kur Maeth number several thousand, and all can be assumed to be 4th-level rogues of considerable skill at infiltrating even magically defended settings. The Inquisitors average out as 5th-level specialty priests, primarily of Yatindar.

The elite of Kur Maeth are a specially trained order of Paladins known as The Order of Saint Antolin. The order was founded by ArchPrelate Talon Bhramord to handle the most dangerous of missions for the Fourth Crusade, and consists of paladins from several different gods and goddesses. Averaging out at 9th-level, they wear a variety of armors and carry a variety of weapons, but they are formidable as a whole, trained as a whole, and deadly as a whole.

Perhaps the most powerful weapon in the Kur Maen arsenal is an ancient titanium dragon known as Artanus. With wings nearly one hundred feet long, he is a relatively small dragon, but his formidable armor and breath weapon, combined with powerful defensive magics, makes Artanus a match for nearly any other dragon on Gaeleth. The domain of the city was decided as being the radius of Artanus' flight in a day from the temple to Arpelos on the main island of the city. It should be noted that Artanus is also a 7th-level specialty priest of Arpelos.

Also because of Kur Maeth's role in the Fourth Crusades, a number of Disciples of various gods reside in the city. Their prescence could turn the tide of war, particularly the Disciples of Rahne, Mikindim, and Habrem. Most of them are at least 18th-level.

Cultural:

Geographical:

Economics: Kur Maeth has become self-supporting under ArchPrelate Bhramord, exporting spices, peppers, lapis lazuli, mahogany, hemp, honey, sugar, wax, medical applications, and teas from the Laekenala Jungles and the Avris Mountains. The city imports relatively little, such as lead, cotton, silk, and stained glass.

The unit of currency in Kur Maeth is the Karatikan standard, twelve-sided coin. The purity of each coin is verified with a dated stamp from the temple of Lul in the city.

Languages: The dominant language in Kur Maeth is the Common trading tongue, because of the variety of backgrounds and nationalities. Between any two people in Kur Maeth, the odds are against them speaking the same national language, unless of course their national lanague is the Common tongue. Though a majority of the people are actually from Giranhad, Giranhad itself was a hodgepodge of languages and cultures because of its trading port status on the Aboriac Sea.

Religeon: As organizer of the crusades, Yatindar is the dominant religeon for Kur Maens, followed closely by Whalin. Mikindim and Olorin are well respected, and temples to Habrem, Rahne, and Galgiran are fairly common. There is but one temple each to Lul, Elinthar, Arpelos, and Galanus.

The Bastion is the largest temple in Kur Maeth, and is a massive dome-shaped fortress on the southern end of the main island of the city. The Bastion houses all of the crusaders, paladins, warriors, and priests of Yatindar, and is the center of government for the city-state.

The next largest temple is the Temple of Light to Arpelos. Built of golden marble from the Avris Mountains (supposedly in a single day), the temple is large enough to boast an aviary for the great dragon Artanus. Though dragons were on the crusaders list of things to kill in the west, Artanus is the holy symbol of Arpelos, and beyond reproach.

Next of the Nations of Gaeleth

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The ancient city of Kur Maeth has a long and sordid history. Located at the mouth of the mighty Dreneb River, the city served as a focal nexus for the western nations for much of the last millennium. That focalness led to a corrupt city, with many underground warrens, much trade in slaves, drugs, and other contraband, and ties to the underworld that were very strong. Crusaders from Giranhad, serving as the nexus for the next crusade, recieved word that Lake Kiriath would soon expand, explosively, into the Sea of Kiriath. Escaping west, the crusaders quickly over ran a city the Nabrolians had just conquered -- Kur Maeth -- and took all of the Nabrolian triremes, arms, and equipment. Leading the crusaders was a paladin of Yatindar, who quickly set about bringing the bloody and bloated city around to Yatindar's justice. Remnants of the underworld organizations still fluorish, though in hiding. Under the direction of the paladins, and with funds from both Rakore and the original funders of the crusades, Kur Maeth began to turn into a profittable depot of operations for the Eastern Realms to influence trade in the west.

Alignment: lawful good
Bribeability: 4%
Races: humans
Ruler: ArchPrelate Talon Bhramord
Military:

Army: very powerful (well-trained and well-armed, w/ many paladins of Yatindar

Navy: strong (heavy triremes in fair numbers)

Officers: seasoned and veteran
Diplomacy:

Alliances: Rakore

Peace Treaties: Al Fahim, the Sholin Tribes, the Amar Tribes

Trade Treaties: Vridara, the Toomar Tribes
Exports: spices, peppers, lapis lazuli, mahogany, hemp, honey, sugar, wax, medical equipment, tea
Imports: building stones, arrow-wood, iron, lead, cotton, silk, glass, gold
Taxes: moderate
Tariffs: moderate
Customs: very thorough
Capitol: Kur Maeth
Established: originally established in -204 Avard; conquered by crusaders in 1319 Avard

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