Western Kingdoms

The Western Kingdoms are the two extent kingdoms west of the Longspine Mountains. Due to their relative military might, and their insistence on their own cultural importance, they were able to retain their own independence during the formation of the Silvertree Empire. As the empire grew in strength and the gnolls and orcs represented clear threats to their continued way of life, both of the Western Kingdoms agreed to become vassal states to the empire, accepting their military aid for annual tributes.

Today, the Western Kingdoms represent problematic legal issues for the empire. Nobles, especially in Tyresia, Northland, Ravynnar, and the Plainmarch have been illicitly storing significant portions of their annual tribute due to their superiors within the banks of the kingdoms, where they are free from seizure or monitoring by Watchmen agents. Also, fugitives running from justice have been known to disappear into the Kingdoms, "gone Kingdoms" being the term for being on the lam in a safe place.

As a curiosity, the people of the Western Kingdoms had a much more easy relationship with orcs in their early history. When humans first came to Broadholm, the orcs in the central plains were living in small villages on the edge of the dwarven civilization. As they grew in power, so did the humans in their midst, and cultural and genetic exchange was constant for a time. But as Zeeland and Lachland began to consolidate, and as further exchange with the Lands of Man occurred, their easy peace disintegrated. The only remnants in the culture of the kingdoms of the orcish exchange is the taller average height, even among halflings, and a common heavier brow and larger teeth. Most orc loanwords have disappeared into the lexicon, and orcish settlements exist only as mounds, either covered in vegetation, or built upon by humans.

 Zeeland 

Zeeland is the larger of the two Western Kingdoms, bordering the larger of the two Inland Seas, Deep Sea, to the west, Coldwater Sea to the north, the Longspine Mountains to the east, and Lachland to the south. Zeelanders came around the tip of the Longspines in deep history, around the same time as the Northlanders settled their lands, and share many of the oldest parts of Northlander culture and language, and Zeelanders are very physically similar to Northlanders.

Zeeland is ruled by a king, King Flednerskall, the most recent in a dynasty of proud, haughty halflings. His kingdom is broken down into guild rule from there, the guilders being led by guild-prinzen, and most of the larger communities are dedicated to specific industries and are ruled by guilders. The smaller hamlets and villages are the only locations to find independent Zeelanders. Imperials who have "gone Kingdoms" in Zeeland tend to join guilds associated with their former employment, or live on houseboats on the Deep Sea.

Zeelander dress changed only slightly after the Arrival. Their heavy leathers and furs changed easily enough into woolen suits in contemporary cuts, but Zeelanders wear dark, drab clothes for the most part, and eschew shiny metals on their clothes or bodies, and wear their hair covered. Their worship of Saint Cuthbert (Sint Koothbart in their tongue) represents the largest single body of worshippers in the known regions of Broadholm.

 Lachland 

Lachland is quite small compared to Zeeland, and is now, and before the empire, the smallest human kingdom. Like its neighbor to the north, it too is named for the body of water it borders to the west, Dark Lake, and it is bordered to the south by the vast forest of the White Leg Woods, the Longspines to the east, and Zeeland to the north. Like Zeelanders, Lachlanders appear very much like Northlanders, but are built more heavily, with obviously thicker bone structures.

Lachland is ruled by the Archduke Franzis of Lachland, who is regent as the twin child princes grow older and are trained in courtly life. Lachland is structured very similarly to the peerage system with the empire, but due to its size, is managed more easily, and the Peoples Parliament has a more audible voice. "Gone kingdom" dissidents enjoy a life similar to the ones they had in the empire, but there are fewer available industrial jobs, so many skilled workers find employment in farmlands.

Lachlanders adapted quickly and easily to the sea change in imperial fashion, and do it with a flamboyance that is rare elsewhere. Common folk in Lachland are just as likely to wear garish robes and richly-embroidered suits as imperial aristocrats are, giving Lachland the moniker "the Land of Ten Thousand Dukes." Lachlanders worship the same abundance of gods that are worshiped elsewhere, and like Zeeland, never fell out of the traditions of belief. Lachland has a large number of reformed St. Cuthbertites from Zeeland, attracted to the more free-wheeling atmosphere of Lachland.

The capital of Lachland is Westenbourg, "the Jewel of Dark Lake," or more recently, "the Gateway to the West." Before the Western Settlement Act, it was the westernmost settlement of any size, and mixed the excitement of the frontier with the culture of neighboring Tyresia, and the wealth of a mercantile capital. Located at the border of Zeeland, and on the narrow stretch of land between Dark Lake and Deep Sea, it has grown even larger and more cosmopolitan within the last twenty years since the WSA, as it is the most traversed path into the Westmarch.