Kesst: An Ancient Realm

Epoch 1

Overview: Kesst is old. Exactly how old, no mortal could say, but some of the oldest recorded writings were found there, on a clay tablet recording a beer merchant's monthly sales. It mostly flat country, except for the gigantic mountain range on the borders of Klast and Alaria. Several mighty rivers run through the heart of the country, forming veins of agriculture and riverboat commerce that have left the country and its people well fed and rich. The King and Queen takes great efforts to ensure this state of affairs remains, with support from the Noble and Merchant councils. The rule of law is extremely strong in Kesst, with laws tending towards being straightforward, easy to understand,and harsh towards those that break them. A nobleman who stole a freeman's fine horse might lose a hand - but so might an urchin who stole a piece of fruit from a market. They are also one of the foremost producers of Golems; the rigid, logical structure that their animating scrolls must be written in are not entirely disimilar to the structure of Kesst's written laws.

Environment: The heart of Kesst is the rivers that run through it, forming several extremely fertile deltas and providing life sustaining water to all who live near them. As one ventures furthur from the heartland rivers, however, the already generally hot country becomes more and more inhospitible; much of the northwest of the country is dry desert, inhabited mostly by nomadic tribes. The difficult terrain culmiantes in the Isin Du, a giant and forboding range of mountains that seperate
Kesst from the neighboring countries of Klast and Alaria. These mountains are also the ancestral home of the Goliaths, originally a number of tribal societies, though most left to join typical Kessian society centuries ago, with only the staunchest traditionalists remaining. Kesst also has a very large coastline, which supports a tremendous amount of fishing and trade; it is to the edges of the country what the riers are to the center, providing a powerful source of food and trade. While they
have limited access to large quantities of stone and wood for building structures, and thus largely rely on towering, clay buildings, they do have reasonable amounts of metals. Gold, silver, and iron are not terribly uncommon. The few forests in the country's heart are regarded as sacred; while they are regularly harvested to provide wood to make river boats and sea ships, the procedures concerning such are very strict and closely monitored.

Origins: Kesst is one of the oldest still existing civilizations; some scholars claim that the first ever codified set of laws was written in there, and would not be incredibly surprising considering their emphasis on laws and rules, but it has not been certainly established. Oral tradition states that, in the old days before Kesst was anything more than a group of unaligned city states a hero-queen rose to power in her native city, and brought it to great prosperity. So prosperous, in fact, that other nearby cities asked to join her domain out of awe for her incredible administrative and mercantile skills. Eventually, through wit and cunning and diplomatic marriages of herself, her allies, and her children, she came to rule over the the land that came to be known by her name, Kesst. Realizing that she and her personally appointed judges could not possibly oversee every dispute and demanded judgement, she set into clay the basis for the laws that still govern the country to this day. What written evidence (and firsthand accounts recorded from truly ancient sources) corroborate this to an extent, reality is more complicated. For every city won through diplomacy, another was won through skulduggery or force of arm. During the reign of the King of Death, several centuries later, the Duarchs willingly joined his empire in exchange for remaining more or less as the rulers of the country; aside from new taxes and a few new laws, business continued as usual. After the collapse of his empire, new rulers were selected and business continued more or less as usual.

Government: Kesst is ruled by a pair of monarchs, one chosen by the merchant's council, once chosen by the Noble's council. Though they are ceremonially wed, they are not legally required to marry each other, though it is not terribly uncommon for them to marry in truth. The two monarchs are the head of the government, though their powers are not absolute. Those people on the Merchant and Noble councils have certain inviolable rights, and even the rights of ordinary citizens can only be
breached in very rare circumstances. While the councils may suggest laws and courses of action for the state to take, the monarchs must ultimately decide between themselves what the best thing to do is. In addition, each town and village may have certain regional laws and rules, though the number, subject, and penalties of these laws have certain restrictions.

Culture: As befits a major trading power, the cities of Kesst are very metropolitan, featuring at least a small number of almost every species and people under the sun. More rural areas are less diverse, being mostly peopled by Humans and Enkidu, with some dwarves, with a number of villages made up of Kobolds and Dragonborn who fled Scalovia and, for one reason or another, did not settle in Klastte. The Humans who make up a small majority of country's population tend towards dark skinned, ranging from olive to black, though the Enkidu who make up much of the rest of the people are as gray as stone under their paints. Culturally, Kessians tend to prize personal achievement, with an emphasis on 'fair play' - the exact meaning of this has drifted considerably over the years, but it's generally held to be every man and woman deserves what they can win - and that everyone should be given a reasonable chance to win what they can. Kessians also tend to strongly value order, civility, and following the laws. However, in spite of their cultural legalism, most Kessians favor plain, straightforward speech, and despise indirect, veiled conversation. This trait
carries over into the courts and written laws; trials are typically conducted in a public square dedicated to that purpose, decorated with towering clay slabs inscribed plainly with the current laws. Kessians, as a group, also loves games and sports of many varieties; mancala is very popular, as are many variations of card games, and of course many more active sports, such as boxing, melees, and of course the ever popular whipball.

Economics: Kesst is a very wealthy country; Kessian glass-work is among the finest in the world, and their farms, combining natural fertility, good farming practices, and plenty of druidic magic produce a tremendous amount of food and other agrarian products including cotton and animals products, much of which is exported, either over land or sea routes. The abundant natural resources are amplified by their use of golems; while incapable of multi purpose work, a single golem can do the work of
ten men in the very specific role it can serve. Kesst also export fair amounts of refined luxury goods, such as worked gold ornaments, tapestries, and other things of that nature. While most of their buildings are clay or stucco, some areas also import stone and certain woods to construct buildings. In particular, as their shipbuilding enterprises have expanded, they've been forced to rely on importing most of the materials for their construction. They also import things like foreign fruits that don't grow well in the climate, exotic animals, and other various items that are difficult to obtain locally; many wealthy people keep menageries. The artificers' guild also export highly limited and regulated numbers and kinds of golems and enchanted items.

Magic: The main forms of magic practiced in Kesst are Druidic and Artiface. The druids both help to ensure that the farms and rivers of the country continue to be as bountiful as they are, and to make the deserts and seas almost impossible to cross in the case of foreign invasion. The Artificers serve a similar purpose through different means, by creating golems and more general magical items that are either useful to craftsmen, farmers, or ordinary people. Golems automaton, generally created from clay, and their actions are entirely controlled by the specific rituals and commands used during their construction; The Artificers' guild jealously guards the secrets of their creation, though artisans from other countries have begun producing basic versions of them. Kessians as a rule do not buy into either the godly religions nor devil worship; while there are some exceptions, they tend to distrust what they see as the sophistry of both groups. While there are some traditional wizards in the country, academics tend to prefer to study elsewhere; while Kesst's attitudes are great for wizards who produce valuable goods, they are not particularly favorable towards those whose pursuits are entirely academic, generally looking down on spending so much time, effort, and resources for little concrete reward.
To represent golems, use the Golem spell from GURPS Magic (M59).

Military: Kesst does not have a standing land army, though many cities have large guard forces that can double as one in times of crisis; the mountains offer a great deal of protection from land invasions from their larger neighbors, and any that do get through them have to contend with crossing a desert that actively is trying to kill them. While the Druids can help in naval engagements to an extent, especially in the North and the East where direct sea access is more limited, the Kessian navy
navy in the southern sea between Liresku and Thrake is formidable.  Golems also make generally poor soldiers; it is not as simple as engraving one with the command "Follow your orders." While they can be horrifically effective in war, the potential for a poorly thought out command or engraving to cause them to devastate their own side is too great for them too see general use. Kesst are not entirely without a national ground based defense, however; the monarchs have an arrangement with the world renowned Isin mercenaries, composed almost entirely of Enkidu who are chosen for their strength, size and temperament at a young age, with a few soldiers of other races who are big and strong enough to keep up. In exchange for supplying the mercenary groups with the best arms and armor money can buy, a large number of them are permanently assigned to defend Kesst's lands, and they will never support an effort to invade Kesst. They are primarily armed with longbows, pikes, and halberds, with more close quarters melee being fought swords large enough to require two hands from a human. While one might think their greatest asset is their strength and size, this is incorrect: it is their endlessly reinforced iron discipline. The primary weakness of pike and halberd squares is that they have difficulty turning to face a flanking attack; trained from childhood, a square of Isin can, on command, turn to any direction and have a fully coordinated battle formation from standing at attention to fighting ready in no more than ten seconds, and far less once already ready to fight. In addition, their size and strength allows them to more or less ignore the other major difficulty of such large weapons: the difficulty of carrying out a running attack. Very little is as terrifying as hundreds of giants clad in plate charging your position with polearms so long you can't hope to reach them before being impaled. Such is there reputation, at least one documented battle has actually been fought over the right to hire a group of Isin Mercenaries.

Notable Places:
Exceldius Adventurer's Guild - Founded by the red Lupinae Joanna Hume in 3 PR and led with her husband, an Enkidu named Vaulk Lukal the original founder of the precursor Exceldius Mercenary company, in the capital of Badab and with the help of the original Exeldius mercenary band (Abil-Kisu [Enkidu Highlander], Rashad Ibn Salah [Human Tazerouti Ranger], Simon Merse [Human Thralish Mage], Tezecu of Teotlan [Celotl Huatec "Samurai"], Nahatwa daughter of Dehhewamis [Human Sho'ohi Cleric of Liestra], Thales "Mercury-Temper" of the Caprinian Tribes of Tarkaria [Caprinian Berserker], Yaela Quartz [Samdirian Bronze Scaled Dragonborn Cavalier]. Became a very notable and successful venture that franchised to other nations. Here those seeking to become adventurers can sign up as initiates and work under veteran members to learn the tools of the trade, find jobs on notice boards that display work region-wide, strike out on their own, get healing at reduced costs, find private and common beds, and enjoy a meal and drink at the downstairs tavern.