Thrale: Thrake's Vale and its Major Civilizations

The Thralish Commonwealth

The National Rags to Riches Story

Epoch 1

Thrale is a nation found within the southern region of Velas known as the Anchor. Its name is a shortening of Thrake's Vale, but others in the nation claim that it was named as a spiritual successor to the proto-kingdom of the Mekkhorsi Empire, Thralonika. It is inhabited by a human majority that first colonized the land hundreds of years ago. It is known to be a very wealthy nation with deeply harmonist and materielist culture and a powerful military.

Thrale as a Geographic Region: Its climate, biome, land features, and animals

Thrale is a temperate region with mild summers and moderately cold winters. It has very wet springs and snowy winters with a high amount of average precipitation a year. Many rivers cross Thrale and end in tributaries to Leviathan Bay. Thrale's most notable feature is a towering mountain found in the center of the region named Mount Thrake by the later Thralish people that modern Thralish claim lineage from. The mountain was at one time a spewing volcano that laid the foundations of Thrake millions of years ago. The translated name of the region meant Thrake's Vale named after the area around the mountain in older Thralish before the adoption of Universal Tysian. Mount Thrake at one time was thought to be a god in and of itself before the adoption of the Velassian pantheon spread by the Zekhorians.
Montane forests take up much of Thrale's biome. They cover around 3/5ths of the land stretching out in a radius from the mountain. The areas in the region furthest from mount Thrake are generally flat grasslands and are made up of good farmland fed by regular rain. Going nearer to Thrake, the land becomes hilly and the forests thicken and the temperature becomes moderately colder. Rich mineral deposits and useful herbs lie near to the mountain. However, so do monsters, brigands, and stranger things. The majority of Thrale's civilizations lay near the fertile coasts. While technically part of the Thrake region, the immediate northern area leading to the Satie Sea is often treated separately being made of rougher marshlands and steppes. The immediate west lies the grasslands and deciduous forests of Tarkaria where multiple bestial tribes have historically lived.
In terms of animals Thrale is quite varied. Thrale is home to a suite of reptiles including snakes, newts, sand lizards, and sea turtles. Its mammal grouping includes deer, moose, wolves, hares, rabbits, voles, beavers, rodents, mice, squirrels, moles, shrews, hedgehhogs, bats, foxes, wildcats, raccoons, and seals. Many species and groups of birds gather in Thrale's forests and coasts from birds of prey to herbivorous birds. Along with this are many sea creatures both mammal, fish, and more fantastic.

Before the Kingdom of Thrale

The Elakansi

It is unknown who the original inhabitants of the Thrake region were. However, the earliest living group in history that still persists today are the of Elakansi, which seemed to have originated from mount Thrake itself, the culture having no references to migration like others have. The Elakansi are named as such because of the earliest name of the mountain in their language being Elakan. The translation of the name in the Elakansi language meaning the Partitioning Peak, although this was not the first meaning of the mountain. The similarity to the name of the region and later nation of gnoll-inhabited Wakunan has been theorized to possibly come from an ancient root language, but no proof has been substantiated that this is the case. The Elakansi mainly inhabit mount Thrake itself, and have been able to observe the world around them while up in their safe perches. Tribes have ventured from the mountain to ply the lower forests and coasts for food and resources but often they historically met bad luck and ruin. Their mountainous culture allowed them to avoid the eyes of the Velassian Elven Empire and the progressive waves of human tribe conquering, assimilation, and settlement of Thrale

The Elakansi society is based upon societal units made of multiple families known as kyrn in which the heads of villages known as kyrn braugan form a league made up of each family head, the braug. The kyrn brauga exists as the leader council of each village and direct the kyrns to insure their survival and prosperity. The Elakansi resemble bats, but lack the ability to properly fly, but they do have the ability to glide and it serves them well when traveling from cliff to cliff in their mountain home of Thrake. Along with their gliding ability, their hands and feet are built to climb very well on even steep surfaces. They live within natural and Elakansi-built caves and on the dug out mesa-like cliffsides within the mountain. They live on a diet of gathered berries, insects, fungi, and vegetables either found or grown in their villages in farming plots. They mine out and build cave farms for fungi and insects and create plots upon wider plateau-like areas in the open caverns of the mountain to grow other food. The limitation of sunlight is solved by the Elakansi's use of the energy kah, an inner life energy found throughout living things. Each Elakansi is trained in its use and the most talented and proficient of them become kah-cyq, or essence weavers. Kah-cyqs can channel their power using totems in a similar way to Talahviri Eukorr, choirs, and their metal resonance techniques. However, kah-cyqs often can work alone versus eukorrs. The totems are used to build up kah within and then release that energy in multiple ways including punching large tunnels through Thrake and empowering plants and crops to grow. They are also fearsome warriors and multiple historical figures among the Elakansi are kah-cyqs.

Elakansi living is not without conflict. While not clearly resource-rich, multiple dragons have attempted to conquer the mountain with a few succeeding and either extorting or outright enslaving the bat-like people. Mount Thrake is not far away from Yaegless, a place of origin for scaled dragons. While not great smiths, they had the fearsome power of the kah-cyqs to fight off these tyrants. The same power that allowed the totems to dig large tunnels also allowed them to carve out the dragons' flesh. This type of concentrated power was not available in other areas outside of Thrake which made fighting the creatures perilous. Even tahlaviri eukorrs cannot create such a singular force but eukorrs can also often fight for longer than kah-cyqs. Many of the weavers have died from exhaustion fighting dragons that it is almost assumed their bravery will result in a martyrdom. Aside from those great threats, monsters exist on Thrake as they do everywhere. Great flying things, chameleonic ambush predators, pseudo-kindlike abominations, and more existed. There have been wars over farmland between kyrn braugans as well because even with the empowerment given by the weavers, it was seen that there was only so much to go around. Along with this, some Elakansi took to banditry.

The kyrn's isolation upon the mountain is partially due to their natural fear of the great forest of Thrale, the Wynde. Falling to the forest from the mountain was seen as a fate worse than death for the Elakansi before their world was opened up by the action of the Thralish. The mountainous terrain they are used to and are optimal in surviving in falls to winding great trees and monsters. It has been said in their culture that the forest occupied a sort of hell in their cultural cosmology.

They became great masons and much of their culture and history is represented by great works of art chiseled and carved into caves and mountainsides. Along with this, their histories are recorded through a mixture of the spoken word along with chiseling of history in the Elakansi language. Much of Elakansi tools are based upon stone due to the lower forests beneath mount Thrake being difficult for them to return from. They also used roots, vines, and sinuous materials in their daily lives. Religion was very affected by their use of kah, and they based it around the inner energy in each life. They believed when they died, they would be reborn into the things they were used as sustenance for or become part of by like the soil or stone of the mountain. Even being eaten by monsters or animals was not seen as a worse fate as the dead were considered to help the living by weakening the monsters via their energies.

The Elakansi culture would be isolated for much of its existence, although there was trade here and there between them and their neighbors below. Not until the aeroship was created would contact increase greatly, and lead to a great diaspora after the mountain's conquering.

The Human Civilization of Thrale

-800 ON

The civilizations surrounding Thrake's Vale considered civilizing the wild forest too much effort be worth it, hence why it was not colonized other than the pirate colonies that began the nation.

The majority of Thrale was heavily forested and infested with monstrous creatures along with magical phenomena that would not be superseded in its danger until the continent of Shudder was found. Much of what is now considered the western half of the nation was also a continuation of Tarkaria that is inhabited by tribes of nomadic bestials who were well suited to the dangerous terrain. Human presence in Thrale began with pirate and smugglers holds on the southeastern portion of the nation and would progress to villages and further colonies. The oldest of these being the city of Crebar. The humans of Thrale are a mutt-like mixture of multiple civilizations in their blood. Some arrived in Thrale as the original seabound pirates of an older age, some arrived in Thrale as vagrants, others were tribes and cultures running from threats both mundane and magical such as those that fled south past the Wakun desert (before it was rehabilitated into a savannah) from rising powers and empires such as Mekkhor or the Scale Princes. Expansion and colonization proceeded at a snail's pace and conflict would break about the multiple peoples where multiple conquerings and assimilations would occur. This very heated melting pot did gradually increase the ability of the Thralish to further master Thrake's Vale, the lands around mount Thrake. They would receive the ability to make more advanced weapons, better armor, receive magical aid (especially by those who fled from the Pentaphany before the Epiphany of Saint Bromae). Along with this, they would find that the land, once cleared of monster and its magical hazards removed or at least cordoned, was resource-rich with very good soil, a varied ecology with expensive furs to be sold, untapped mining resources, and more. However, as said, continuing on was slow. Along with this, those bestial tribes would conflict with the colonists at times for many reasons. There were times that the colonists had trampled over a holy space for the bestials such as a grave built after a significant battle and they would demand compensation in the form of supplies that the colonists would not give at times. Other times were expansions into bestial heavy areas justified by taking the land from uncivilized creatures that surely were made of the same stuff as monsters to walk like men but have the abilities of beasts. There have been aeth-based monsters that resembled men found in the past which supported this justification in the eyes of the colonists. 

Thralish society from its beginning was out of the traditional spheres of influence from the rest of Central Tys. Here there were no landed men unless one proclaimed that land theirs or took it. The growing cities also had not the influence of regents nor did they require charters to be subservient. They resembled the warlords and city-states of old, but they also lacked old lineages to back up claims that the princes and kings of lands like Ravois and Orcini could make. The prototypical thinkers of the Great Unburdening found a refuge here when they were chased out of their home nations. Those values would spread here with only the regional powers of the local rulers to attempt to snuff them out. Harmonism would grow here and it would be exported across the known world.

In the beginning, the temples of the Pentaphany did not take hold in Thrale with the strong secular power they held in Mekkhoria. However, they did have powerful religious presence. Living in the first cities and on the frontier was tough and the settlers would attempt to find comfort (and power) in whatever they could. The clerical power from that worship also served as a large boon to the struggling colonists and was one of the first examples of power that did not need to be given by a prelate as it traditionally had been done for millennia. While first declared as heresy, later, the first of these clerics, Regdra of Weybrid, would be sainted in the temple of Liestra. While the Pentaphany was not overpowering as it was in Mekkhoria, it was often a key institution in the villages and cities. It would provide food to the needy, heal the sick, and also provide paladins to fight against threats.

The Wynde

The majority of Thrale is covered by a winding, overgrown, and monster-infested forest known as the Winde to the human inhabitants. The flora and fauna within the forest are extremely diverse with animals such as wolves, mountain lions, deer, and the like coexisting with beings like whisper-walkers. It takes a very long time to "tame" the forest by cutting it down and making space. Those cultures like the Tark bestials essentially do not bother and instead learn how to traverse the forest and learn how to survive in a place they consider unconquerable. They call the paths traveled for millennia the Wild Paths and know not to stray away from them. Learning the Paths is culturally important for the Tark. The forest was not naturally made and in fact, much of it was made for extremely a frivolous purpose: recreation. The old Velassian Empire morphed the forest into their own interconnected and shaped form using their fantastic magicks. The land around mount Thrake was a vacation spot that many flocked to in the times before the modern kinds. What remains is the result of thousands of years of neglect and the unstopped growth of creatures and plants within the great forest. One can walk and traverse that old space but it is fraught and likely to lead to travelers plummeting to their deaths or being caught by nasty beasty or simply getting lost. Underneath the forest, however, are great big ruins built into the earth that are found throughout the nation. They are hidden beneath the great matrix-like canopies and may have been designed to be hidden from the treetops. Their purpose is unknown but they may have serve any purpose from military bases to experimental labs. Here is where adventurers make a large amount of their wealth from the scraps left behind that include potent magical artifacts.

The Elakansi fear the Wynde, the Tark respect the Wynde, but the Thralish seek to conquer it. Large amounts of resources have gone into mastering the forest via logging and settlement creation. Moving out from the original smuggler settlements, one can find their fortune in the forest. The logging efforts create giant amounts of lumber which is used to make homes and sold to naval companies. The coal and ash from burning the trees is used in heating, cooking, and as fertilizer. Past the trees themselves, the pelts and pieces of the creatures within, both magical and non-magical, are very valuable and many are exclusive to Thrale. Then there are the old perilous ruins where brave explorers can make their fortune upon use or sale of the trinkets left behind by the old empire. Over the course of centuries, a great rending of trees has taken place to create large spaces and paths to build settlements and roads upon. The frontier is not for the faint of heart and those willing to fell the forest must also deal with the dangers uncovered. Opening the forest also creates greater danger between those that travel the Wild Paths due to the displacement of creature and monster across the forest along with the physical destruction of the paths that require new ones to be found or great diverting of journeys to occur that may leave the Tark without the sources of food they rely on to survive for a dangerous amount of time. This has caused tensions to raise between the Tark and the Thralish for many years. 

Adventuring in Thrale and the Formation of Adventuring Companies

Adventuring in the nation began as a way of attracting far off mercenaries and warriors to Thralish shores in order to help clear out the deep forest and protect work camps from attack by bandits and monsters. It was one center of many for adventuring and helped ramp up the practice. What really drew parties was the discovery of Vellassian ruins in the deep brush. Really what was left was scraps from the old civilization but those scraps were magical fortunes that could be used and more often sold for great sums. Adventurers were often seen as uncouth and a necessary nuisance to civilized nations that would rather their armies and personal agents deal with problems of the day, but in Thrale they were immortalized in their entrepreneurial spirit. Adventurers often would settle in Thrale as landowners and business owners, turning their youthful spirit and energy into capitalizing the investment of their peril in the dangerous forests and ruins. Materielism would take hold in Thrale powerfully partially because of the values adventuring engendered upon the nation.

Slavery

-500s ON

Expanding west and north, there soon came to be a problem once the -500s ON began. The frontiers became too dangerous for Thralish citizens to willingly move out from the protected villages and cities in the southeast. Prisoners were more likely to run than to stay and farm. Along with this, there was an overabundance of bestial prisoners from the wars and they were strong from harsh living in the wilderness. Rather than kill them and skin them for their fur, the oligarchy decided that enslaving them using the power of covenant rings and putting them to work in developing the frontier would be a better use for them. Covenant rings were a set of one ring with one ring or more that were more anklets than finger rings. The rings were originally made for bodyguards and their wards and would allow each to feel what the other felt and was thinking, but they were modified to allow a one-way relationship where the dominant party could punish the submissive party. These were known as dominance rings and they were key in allowing the humans of Thrale to force the bestials to labor and submit. While there were not enough rings for every bestial, there were enough to put them on popular tribe members or key family members that would be punished if the others attempted to fight back. Along with this, the rings would kill the other party if either the dominant or submissive one died. This forced most of the bestials by fear of their friends or family dying for their actions into working along with whips, chains, harsh punishments, indoctrination of their young, and examples being made out of the non-compliant. Slavery became a giant moneymaker with labor costs minimized and with the growing of several profitable crops in megaplantations. By the full expansion in the north, rather than just relying on conflict with the beasts, there would be full incursions into Wakunan to gather the strong gnolls there and expeditions past Thralish borders in the west for more bestials. This was made easier by the workshop industry of mages making dominance rings, and it became profitable to export them from other nations. Enslaved bestials over the generations would change in form from their wild and free fellows, almost mirroring domestication of livestock and animals. Multiple attempts at revolts would occur along with the progression of abolition attempts, especially around the decades on both sides of 0 PR. However, until the Great Unchaining, it would stay as an institution for centuries.

Magic was outlawed for slaves. Any divine spark seen in them would be put down and labeled heresy by local priests if found. Reading and writing was outlawed. Their old animist beliefs were outlawed. Each had to adopt Thralish names and convert to the Pentaphany under threat of death. Wild Path rituals were outlawed. They worked long grueling hours in dangerous frontiers and were disarmed of the ability to defend themselves against the monsters and creatures of the forest, having to need their overseers to fight to keep their employer's property in working shape. The terminally sick, the infirm old, and the disabled were "mercy-killed". Families were torn apart in slave sales that did not require children nor spouses to stick together. Their culture was worn down to nought and their distance from the Wild Paths and Tarkaria nearly severed their old connections. Escape was near suicide if the only place to run was the Wynde. Those old ways of survival and traversal had been burned out of their minds to use well again. 

That's not to say they did not try to free themselves. Freed slaves that could survive the forests became bandits. Revolts would occur again and again and the power of their masters, the state, and the danger of the forest would keep them from truly succeeding. The dignity of the Tark was disregarded. Those young born of Thralish and Tark blood were left on hillsides to die of exposure or were added to the master's property depending on whom they took after. Those that looked less non-human would sometimes be raised by their fathers and lived in between worlds. Magic was used to make them look fully human and their Tark identity was broken from them by whip or word. Some of those lines that had the beast bred out of them would rule over those their blood unknowingly

The Territories

Much like neighboring Ruk and Wakunan, Thrale grew rich from trade and its society reflected the respect in wealth that grew from it. Social mobility was subject to money and power was subject to money. Of those that benefitted most were the heads of the ten territories, those colonies that grew on the eastern and southeastern coasts of Thrale which grew from the original smuggler and pirate territories. These were made up of different powers that treated each other as rivals. Outright war was rare as it was assumed that the precarious situation the colonies had would not be able to sustain such resource-draining action. Rather, the territories competed through spectacle, through outdoing each other, through funding new and novel magical experiments. Along with this, adventurers could align themselves with the heads of the territories and then essentially be shown off by them. Their prestige and feats being used to one-up the others. The position the adventurer held was known as the Gallant seat and it was a rotating position that could change arbitrarily on a whim, but the Gallant was given wealth and land while in the seat along with essentially acting as chief of other adventurers. The authority of the Gallant changed in degree from territory to territory from a proper position that could give orders to just a fancy title. However, it was a cushy job and many would want it.

The rivalry of the territories would one day become an alliance in the form of the Oligarchy of Barton. The Alliance of Barton was made of the richest landowners in Thrale that unified their lands in the face of the invasion of the colossal and seemingly barely sapient sea monster zhurine Zhos and its servants.

Zhos the Corrupting

Zhos's greatest threat was its eminent land corrupting manner. With a horrid song of a language long forgotten, it could spoil crops, call terrible storms, and worst of all it could turn men into beasts with horrifying transformations. Indeed, its very being seemed to lock its corruption into place as the land was seemingly impossible to heal via miracle or magic until its demise. Its invasion destroyed the original founding settlement of Barton and with it close to 10% of the entire population. There was not time to entreat other kingdoms or nations to aid the Thralish as the monstrous thing writhed and continued to cross the land in seemingly mindless hunger. The Alliance was formed by help of the heads and their gallants. They and any adventurers in the land were to drop anything they were doing, drop any grudge they held, and were to come together to destroy the thing. However, this was not an easy nor automatic process. The different heads wanted something out of the alliance and had their own angles and agendas to pursue. They saw the event as something to profit from and argued for weeks in how to proceed. It was not until the writhing tentacles of Zhos were over the hill and casting the meeting house with shadow that they were forced by their Gallants to come up with a deal immediately. After a hasty retreat and the sacrifice of multiple adventurers, the heads formally declared the alliance with the Gallants as acting generals. After years of hard fighting, their armies eventually defeated the abomination and were able to destroy it by venturing into its heart and cleaving it in twain

Disturbingly, the name "Zhos" was only found after the fact by the clerics and mages cleaning up the lands disturbed. The name had shown up in corrupted places and what was really disconcerting was the fact that it was in universal script. This led to the idea that a cult may have gathered to worship the thing.

This war expanded the political power that adventurers had by keeping them separate from the militia but still playing key parts alongside it. It also expanded the powers of the Gallant seat from being simply a trophy position to a proper seat of authority. While intending to break their alliances after the war, it was found to be economically and politically expedient to keep it after the intertwining of their forces and territories in combatting the threats. They declared themselves the Nine and their authority was established.

The Oligopoly

Life under the Oligopoly, as the Alliance called itself, changed for the settlers of Thrale. New taxes, regulations, and the united army of the Territories quickly established the legitimacy and power of rule. Along with this, the temples recognized the Oligopoly as legitimate rulers in exchange for leased land, allowing them to expand their own influence and keep an alliance with the rulers of Thrale. The settlers and the original heads had an understanding between each other that allowed a good degree of liberty for the common man of the Thralish frontier. There was a dynamic give an take that seemed fair. With the Oligopoly, all other institutions including the basic family unit had to submit to the ruling body. In the days of the Alliance, this made sense as the nation had to be tooled to war and the people seemingly knew their roles and were happy to play them. A grisly fate waited for them otherwise. However, with the aftermath, those powers that seemingly were raised for the specific emergency were now being tightened and institutionalized.

Reckoning for the Few

The Oligopoly was always opposed by other Thralish groups. Largest among them were the Plurality, an alliance of businessmen and adventurers that pushed for Harmonistic and Materielist reforms against the now authoritarian state. The Oligopoly's generals and officers in the war against Zhos were given positions of power and those adventurers and settlers with land and business holdings were finding their positions undermined and threatened by the government. Much later near the epoch of flame, the Neo-Millers, an Equitianist group, would also rise up as an opposing force to the Oligopoly.

The Dearth of the Nine

Around the turn of the 1st century ON, the power of the Nine was weakened greatly by the Dearth, a large famine accompanied by a plague that was said to be preventable were it not for the Oligopoly's stubbornness. Stores of grain that were necessary to dole out during the famine and that were made for that purpose were sold off to foreign buyers. The shipment of clerics needed to combat the disease for the growing population of Thrale that was orchestrated by the prelate of Liestra were denied the coin necessary for their transport from an Alarian port. As such, many starved and grew ill. Great riots, including slave riots, broke out during this time and many were suppressed by the Gallant forces, state retinues of soldiers whom at this time were paid and fed well by the Nine. At this time the Plurality beat the drums for reform but essentially did something setting them apart from the rioters. At the point the Gallants were beaten and bloody, the Plurality would essentially extort from them powers on a village by village and municipal basis to stop the chaos. The Plurality was made up of middle-class adventurers, merchants, and landowners that were equipped to outlast the Dearth along with being able to solve the problems of the state. The Oligopoly slowly had their government's powers bleed out from them when they were hiding in their estates away from the plague and the famine. Under the cover of a disaster, the Plurality took the part of victimized and victimizer and with their expanded powers began to overwrite the laws of the land first locally, and then across the reach of the realm. This was not immediate but what was put into place subverted multiple powers of the new centralized government and slowly decentralized it and allowed it to be attacked over the years. Eventually, a new normalcy was being settled into place over time and living institutions like the temples supported it from the pulpit and the laws would support it in time. Essentially, a quiet revolution was taking place that would shift powers from the old to the mercantile classes. 

Before they realized what was happening, the Nine found themselves to be nothing but figureheads near the end of the Epoch of Steel. The sovereign parliament would be entrenched by then; first as seemingly a guidance council and then as the real base of power of the nation.

Thrale and The Epoch of Flame

Thrale's Station in the First Epoch

By 0 PR Thrale has spread west and covers about two-thirds of what is considered Thrake's Vale. The coastal cities have developed into large developed areas helped by the wealth being brought back by the explorer companies along with now freed resources hidden under a forest canopy. Along with this, the mass of timber from the trees of the Wynde have been converted into shipbuilding materials and domestic trade companies ramp up in power compared to foreign trade companies and merchants that the developing nations has had to rely on before. The explorer companies thrive and set up shop near hotspots of monster activity and large ruin accumulations. Contrary to the map (light blue for Thrale, dark blue for Elakansi and Mount Thrake), not all of the painted landmass that is pictured have been cultivated to Thralish tastes. Rather, that is what is claimed by settlers of Thrale even if they do not personally have the land cultivated toward their use. Thrale is a growing regional power and it is the home of notable mage colleges that employ professors from across the known world. 

Along with this, the use of kah and martial arts schools using it has been spreading across the cities with a similar diverse set of teachers. The natural competition of kah versus aeth-use has also spread to Thrale and been encouraged by those mages hailing from the Arcanium that disdain kah's natural disruption of aeth-based spells and creatures. 

The sovereign parliament coordinated many continent-spanning actions such as the multi-front defense against the underwater Xheolian empire, the second great worm invasion, and grew its trade empire wider with the adoption of aeroships a "Thralish invention" (stolen from Skalovian designs)

Thrale will be one of the first nations to recognize the power of firearms and gunnery outside of the commonly accepted niche use of the Skalovian kobolds. Very interestingly, these designs were not stolen from Skalovia as others like the Klasttic kingdom's were, but seemingly gifted by an outside figure who is shrouded in mystery. Along with this, similar ideas of industrialization would spread in Thrale just as they did in Skalovia, using the same techniques and methods as well. Yet there was no proof of research subterfuge by Thrale.

However, Thrale will have a healthy diversity of older and newer military weapons and tactics. Firearms are given to militias as one of their first weapons to learn in order to have a working force of volunteers to defend settlements and keep property in line. Along with this, its ability to overwhelm armor popularized its niche use for that work. They would be taught archery and focus upon it more as a main weapon along with the spear and shield. The uneven terrain makes Thrale unfavorable toward cavalry work along with proper optimization of Skalovian-style line regiments. However, flying mounts are extremely useful if expensive. Small but well-trained companies of flying cavalry made up of the wealthy scions of the higher classes in the cities help to serve as quick-response units. 

Thrale's most important defense is a consistent offense of adventurers clearing out monsters and brigands. The role of the Gallant has been outlawed but the different explorer companies do coordinate in switching companymen in and out to keep getting paid by a collection of different settlements and property holders. The largest concentration being by the wealthy estates of mining and logging settlements and slave-run farms. Often those settlements that have less profitable pursuits such as sheep herding or fishing villages will go months without the sight of an adventurer, and when they come some take advantage of the built-up problems and exhort more than is reasonable. There is not much impediment to these types on the frontier and they only answer to the explorer companies, if they even belong to one.

By Epoch 2, Thrale would find itself sitting in a throne as a bonafide superpower of its day. However, it would clash heavily with the reascendant Republic.

A Haven for the Damned

Thrale began its existence as merely a region with a notable number of pirate outposts so its reputation of harboring less reputable types is long founded. Along with this, the region was used as a dumping place for the nations of Central Tys where it could let its criminals, defaulted debtors, and other unruly sorts fester. Included in the unfortunates were many groups of fallow, devil and demon-touched folk that resembled kinds but with corrupted features and skin. Often scapegoated against, fallow would be run out of towns and ports or arrested en masse and either flee or be forcibly deported to Thrale. They did not find a warm welcome in the slowly developing colonies either and often found themselves attempting to live lives of peace on the frontiers which held its own dangers. Bestial groups that walked their paths near the frontiers often found them to be novelties and while they would normally ignore other settlers they would approach the fallow out of curiosity. They were outside of the influence of the old religions and the historic Pentaphany so they did not know the unsavory reputation that fallow had. They would trade with these strangers and a few would even intermarry with them and provide haven and a place in their tribe when some would be driven off even the land they cultivated. In the cities, the fallow transitioned from living in poorly kept ghettoes and being given the work of pariahs to taking on roles and responsibilities within their communities mainly due to times of population shortage like disease, monster attacks, or famine. Essentially they were thrust into power and positions they would not have before due to a shortage of menfolk dying and the refusal to allow women to take their places. These horned, blue skinned, silver streaked, or otherwise strange looking folk would end up gradually taking the roles and positions of those that looked down upon them. This was a rare occurrence, however, but those settlements hit the worst by a lack of manpower still have prominent influential fallow communities today like Cresomyard and Calta Mal. 

Djiinari were often not given the same opportunities as fallow were and many fallow communities that had become entrenched into the power structures of their settlements were not looking to share what they worked for for generations.

Morph-Pattern Outfits

One piece of Thralish fashion is literally inspired by scraps. Delving in ruins near the settlement now known as Romneytes, adventurers found what appeared to be the closet of some older Velassian prince or princess. The fabric felt like a strange contradictory mixture of soft silk and metal knurling. Putting it on, the fabric changed color and displayed different patterns based upon the local color and light conditions of the area, but only partially and incompletely as if what allowed the fabric to change had been damaged or ran out of energy. It was called "pattern-morph". It was brought back as an oddity to a trader who gave a pittance for it, thinking they could hock it on someone as a novelty. Hock it they did to a hunter and leather tanner, Rogurd Thane, who saw great potential in the concept. Thane had been attempting to hunt a very illusive creature in the wild known as a whisper-walker. These were camouflaged animals that used the sap of trees as their main sustenance. They were very fast and had long bendable bodies that made them very hard to catch, and they seemingly could tell fake sap for genuine sap when trappers attempted to catch them. Along with this, their movements were near completely silent and for those that could get close the movement of their appendages sliding upon surfaces were like faint whispers. Their camouflage ability looked very similar to the Velassian pattern-morph and Thane wondered if one of the base materials was the skin of the whisper-walker. He set up a trap using the material and to his delight, it worked. It would later be found that during mating season, whisper-walkers severely drop their guards to attract prospective mates and have a sort of biological cooling system used in order to produce clutches. Hunters often could not take advantage of this because they would gather in trees or hard to reach crevices where their bodies would fit. However, the material tricked the whisper-walker into letting its guard down and made it immobile, allowing it to be struck. Thane would go on to use this trick many times and would make clothing out of the material. First he sold capes as luxury fashionable items and then moved on to making entire outfits out of it when his store of pelts was large enough to take the risk. Along with this, the original fabric was used to advertise these whisper-walker leather as of being of prestigious ancient design only known to a few. This garnered a lot of attention from the very wealthy settlers of Thrale and decades after he introduced it the fabric can be seen at many a gala and ball.

Later, anthropological evidence upon the ruins found that the pattern-morph fabric may have actually belonged to an underclass of animal keepers and leather makers, meaning the high classes were essentially using peasant apron material. Despite this, the pattern-morph has spread wide as an expensive luxury item as far as Wakamoto and beyond.

It is a proud piece of Thralish culture and often one of the most immediate things one can associate with the nation. 

However, its production is carefully guarded via protectionist policies to the point that smuggling whisper-walkers out of the nation to start new schools of them is punishable by a lifetime of prison. 

Its item description can be found in the equipment post

https://riddleofflame.blogspot.com/2020/03/weapons-equipment-tools-armor-ground.html

Equitianists out of Thrale

With the fall of Klastte and the failed aggression of the Gromdal war, equitianism was seen as an evil totalitarian ideology that would lead to the destruction of everything a decent man would hold dear. Including the removal of their rightful property with its inane edicts against private property. Abolitionism was seen as an outreach of equitianism and its progress was set back by centuries by true and false association. Equitianist literature like the writings of Zekaezi, Zelien, Jarnir, and the like were burned as aberrant pieces of propaganda. All equitianist groups were forcibly disbanded and any licenses or charters they had revoked, even those that had no association with the Equilibratists of Skalovia. This antiequitianist hatred would be high for many years. One thing influencing it were the bordering equitianist gnolls of Wakunan that were allied to Skalovia, even if they had not participated in the Klasttic war nor the Gromdal war. Another were rumors and accusations of equilibratist spies in Thrale leading to witchhunts. Now, this was entirely true but those leading the searches were often completely off the mark from the true Blyska Initiative spies. 

Equitianism as an ideology is fundamentally opposed to Materielism. Which did not suit well with the burgeoning materielists of Thrale that were growing out of the older merchant class. While the flames of anti-equitianism would heat up at times, even at their lowest was a smoldering tension between the two that would come in direct conflict in the second epoch of flame.

The Great Unchaining of the First Century 33 to 46 PR

The great revolts stuck in this period. The Great Unchaining came about with the fall of the abolitionist movement following the scapegoating of abolitionists, both harmonist and equitianist, as secret equilibratists that wanted the nation to devolve into totalitarian tyrannical rule. The Massacre of Port Brau and the occupation of Klastte was pointed to as the natural endpoint to any work by those aligned with the enemy, especially those wishing to take away the natural property of good gods-fearing gentlemen of the community. All abolitionist groups were forcibly disbanded and many were arrested and imprisoned on charges of treason. Those that escaped either sunk back into greater society and hid their earlier sympathies in fear of their livelihoods or fled to the forests to help the bestials. Along with this, great manufacturing of covenant rings was begun again to quell revolt attempts that had been agitated.

The Martyrdom of the Chained

In 33 PR, a plan that had been in consideration for centuries was put into action. Those sympathetic to the Tark slaves had always considered the effect of fear the covenant rings had upon the other bestials that kept them in servitude. The rings were put onto the most respected and revered of the slaves and they were a constant reminder that dissent would be met with the punishment of those related to the bestials. The rings and the threat of violence against their loved ones were one of the largest reasons why the bestials were kept in servitude for so long. Agitators for freedom told those slaves they could speak to in secret a last resort method for breaking the power their masters had over them: allow those under the control of the rings to kill themselves and free the rest to rise up. The rings were extremely expensive and forged from materials requiring the use of rare magical artifacts along with great effort by the enchanters. The selective use of being put on those that would make the largest effect on the morale of any would-be dissenters was a cost-saving measure. Whips and chains can only go so far but these kept a majority in line. Until the threat was rendered moot.

Not every enslaved bestial was aching for rebellion. They had centuries of conditioning, torture, and cultural upbringing that taught them their place was a righteous one and their masters were kind for taking care of them. The burning rage of indignation also was under the surface and for every hundred complacent or merely compliant bestial there was one that felt the rage of their fathers. Along with this, traveling abolitionists agitated these and others. It was decided by key slaves and those abolitionists and runaways of five key giant estates, the largest in Thrale holding the greatest populations of slaves: Keeler, Frake, Wennic, Rodern, and Layne what needed to happen to free the bestials. These were located in the northeast of the nation.

On the spring solstice, a majority of those bound by the covenant rings committed mass visual suicide in full view of the other slaves in dramatic ways. Throats were slit within the chapels they were allowed to worship in, they fell from the tops of their master's houses, they fought past pain caused by their masters to strike them down and die from the effort and pain, and anything else they could think of.

The Rage

This was the breaking point. The rage of centuries flared. From these five plantations came a swathe of thousands of armed slaves that spread like wildfire to others to free even more. Masters were struck down, estates were burned, and for the first time they used their animalistic teeth that was used to mock them against their captors. The Thralish army was called to quell the revolt. Sympathizers came and aided the bestials including a swathe of adventurers from the companies. However, the first wave of revolts was stuck upon the northeastern peninsula. The bestials only had what they could take from the masters and the guards they killed within the region. They would have to fight an asymmetrical war against the better armed and organized military.

However, this first spark inspired a gigantic wave of revolts across the nation. All over, from the cities to other plantations great riots and rebellions occurred. It cost Thrale a fortune to keep putting down over 13 years. The power of the nation was such that it could have permanently destroyed the great revolt but by the point their coffers were running low they would have had to destroy almost every rebel. Which also removed a large amount of their labor force to even rebuild. They lucked out with the capture of a respected leader of the northeastern rebellion in 46 PR. They were able to talk out terms with the others using him, and the revolts were finally ended along with the practice of slavery. However, the thumb on this beloved figure allowed them to force the bestials into making concessions. 

The End of Slavery

The Great Divide was put into place, a policy of segregation that allowed the humans of Thrale to keep the labor of the bestials even if they were not directly under their thumb as before. Many bestials became sharecroppers, performing work they had done before on subsistence living. Many bestials were uneducated, removed from their roots, and were exhausted from the fighting and fraught situation of their lives as well. The freed gnolls had Wakunan to go to and it was very accepting of Tark but it was unknown to them and the savannah was an entirely different place. Tarkaria was similarly a different world. Even before their captivity, the tribes of the Wild Paths had split from their cultural connection to those tribes. A minority of the freed Tark did however make the trek to Union City. They would also find some of their old leaders assassinated by human extremists and the freedom of the bestials would lead to one of the first true Tierian organizations, The Gentlemen of the Vale, which would agitate for a return to slavery and when that failed used their influence to keep the Great Divide. The bestials were also not fully free citizens and lacked privileges the true human born and fallow-born had. Thrale accepted the terms wanting peace, but peace in the form of the absence of tension rather than the presence of justice. However, they were free.

Epoch 2

Thrale is Glorious

At 273PR, Thrale has expanded its borders to butt up against Ruk, Wakunan, Tarkaria, and Samdiria. Its attempts to settle around the bottom of the great mountain are stymied by the monsters coming out of the untamed forests along with the effort of the Elakansi that are wary of them from Thrale's dealings with the Tarkarian bestials. The Thralish have built a large and wealthy nation built upon its agrarian power, its widespread craft industries, its plunder from old Velassian ruins, its large trading company fleets, and the development of its cities. It has the second-largest presence of magic users and magical colleges built from it being a center of magical research due to the artifacts found in its findings along with the cultivation of the nation as a reasonable alternative to the extremely hierarchical and power-hungry magical culture of the Arcanium, a Greater Samdirian nation that is home to the most powerful wizards in the world. The death rates of the Thralish universities are at least a magnitude lower compared to the trial-by-fire attitude of the Arcanian ones. Along with this, it has cultivated a large and prominent adventuring culture that also extends into mercenary work which makes and bring back a large amount of wealth to Thrale. It is a major cultural center producing music, theatrical production, literature, philosophy, and a variety of art. Thrale is a stronghold of religion as well with the Pentaphany's shrines and temples reaching into the wilderlands and rising high in its cities. Many clerics and paladins hail from it.

Economically, Thrale has profited massively from adopting Materielist and Harmonist policy and the Oligopoly's downfall and the transition of central government becoming the Sovereign Parliament of the Nation. Over the course of more than a century of decentralization and the breaking of the original power of the Nine, Thrale has become a revolutionary nation in its own right and causes as much legitimate concern to long-landed aristocrats as the radicals of Skalovia. Once again, the position of Harmonist Materielism was strengthened against the aristocracy of old with another example that could be pointed toward and inspire others to rise up.

However, Thrale did not squander its political potential as Skalovia did in its blunders of the Klasstic and Gromdal wars. Instead of a hidden and cloistered fortress like the Uhlionic Republic became, it was a thriving beacon of its values of individualism and profit that played its cards extremely well and set the course of Central Tys toward a majorly Materielist and Harmonist course. It also used its influence and soft power against many states along with more secretive and direct movements such as the support of Harmonist forces in the Lireskite Revolution. 

The Spread of Materielist Harmonism

Materielist Harmonism is baked into the core of Thrale and through trade and its gathering of soft power and influence it was spread across the world to the point that by 273 PR, 2/3rds of the known world had converted to the system. Thrale helped spread it greatly its acquisition of vast wealth was shown in its ships, in its architecture, and in the values of the nation. Its culture was spread through trade and over time many places started to resemble Thrale in one form or another. It held constant vigilance against that ideology and philosophy that was against it: Equitianism, and specifically the authoritarian Equilibratists.

The Grush War

Thrale came to the aid of the Twelve Baronies based on their earlier trade relationship along with their hope that they could stop Uhlionic expansion. While tensions with the Republic had simmered to near nothing with most of the world with the passing of nearly two centuries, Thrale saw its possible revival as a waiting threat waiting to drop. Wakunan, still allies with the Republic, never lost its place as a massive trading nation and its influence of Zikaezian Equitianism spread through its contact with other nations. However, that soft power was more easily stopped. Zikaezians do not have the militant zeal of the revolutionarily proven Equilibratists although the ideology had spread farther. The other weakness of it is that Zikaezian ideology is a pseudo-nationalistic force as it was designed for and ran by the gnolls of Wakunan. They also had to keep a large level of neutrality to keep the prosperity afforded to them by trade to the point of seriously considering severing their alliance with the Republic. However, this special relationship would continue for the sheer fact that without the Republic, Wakunan does not have the military capacity to defend itself against those that would plunder its cities and conquer it for their wealth. Including Thrale whose borders had just reached it. Historical fear of Thrale and Alaria has kept them firmly aligned with the Republic. Alomg with this, they profited massively from aeroship trade with the Republic. Thrale could not afford action against Wakunan. The shadow of the Uhlionic Republic always loomed against their supremacy.

Finally, it was no longer a shadow with the Republic's declaration of war against the Baronies for destruction of a trade fleet and military action to dismantle the pirate Nua Ragha that the archipelago harbored, intentionally or not. With their own aeroship fleet, Thrale had been trading with the Urkain as well and trade contracts had been a constant competition between the free trade companies of Thrale and the Ministry of Trade of the Republic. Along with this, they had signed an old agreement that the archipelago, if under attack, would have Thrale come to its aid. However, this also put them in league with the New Firmament, a collection of mercenary and militant organizations that claimed a lineage from the Alarian Knightly Orders of old. The New Firmament were secretly Tierians and their involvement mucked up a clean alliance action that may have caused the other nations of Velas and Xatla to attack the Uhlionic Republic from fear of overaggression. Instead, the war that was a police action between the Republic and the Baronies became one where the Republic was defending near half the archipelago against Thralish and Firmament aggression.

Thrale and the Republic fought to a draw over decades, and from that ceasefire came a centuries-long rivalry and the changing face of the planet as Equitianism was re-legitimized and the most powerful Harmonist nation in the world was challenged.