Uladreng: A Dark Kingdom of Masks

Uladreng

A Dark Kingdom of Masks

Uladreng (oo-luh-drayng) is an absolute kingdom founded before the epoch of flame and has built a unique mixture of a foundationally militant human, drathi, bestial, and zethite dragon culture that welcomes diversity but has a peculiar way of expressing it. Its citizens are required to wear strange featureless black and white masks and robes throughout their lives. These masks are made in such a way that no one knows what any other person looks like and they can eat and work without issue. The military of Uladreng also uses these masks and forms but arm and armor themselves with rank denoted by colors lining seems and armor. This military is very important to Uladreng, having let it keep its independence from other realms and defend itself from the vampires to the northeast. Visitors to Uladreng are not required to wear these robes and masks and it is very obvious who outsiders are. Much of Uladreng is built around old ruins built around oases and livable areas in the desert that makes up the majority of the land. Closer to the edges one can find more varied climates from the jungles to the west and south, the mountainous terrain to the east, and the grasslands and fields near to the north. 

The Uladrengish are one of the largest mixed populations in the world. Half-elves, half-bestials, and even those that cannot naturally mix without hybrid or chimera spells like half-avians and half-humans flourish in the nation. This is due to the historical promotion of mixing to remove older divisions that settling Uladrengish had along with the mask and robe system hiding everyone's forms down to one's gait. These vestments are legally enforced and complied with by the inhabitants gladly as they see it as a cultural strength of theirs that has led to their survival and prosperity. Even the royal family's true kind identity is unknown and that simple fact removes the ability for one group to claim genealogical superiority. Knowing such knowledge about another Uladrengish person's form is only for spouses and their children to know, although of course that knowledge can be shared which has led to such unfortunate things like distrusting wet nurses for being privy to that private knowledge.

Uladreng was founded as a part of the drathi diaspora that went its separate ways with the original returning clans that now inhabit Drath. Traveling the world for a home where they could be themselves, they found one in the desert lands, mesas, and grasslands of middle eastern Xatla. Not well desired by local powers, it was somewhere they could be left alone in to find their identities. Other groups and cultures had similar ideas including those that wished to remove themselves from the dogmatic rule of Zeth and those running from the wars of the southern and western Xatlan lands. This came with issues. Multiple conflicts occurred over generations until the first of the current ruling family, whose founding member was known to constantly change their shape and not let anyone know who they truly were, created the founding accord of the united nation to end the bloodshed. They set up the original founding law chiseled upon a rock that would be the founding stone of the palace of Kanilveld, the capital of Uladreng. The first decades were awkward and difficult but eventually the practices came to being fully accepted and embraced.

The military takes a central role in Uladrengish life. Each citizen is trained to defend its borders and war against monsters, especially the vampires of the northeast. Uladreng's northern border is a natural corridor to the rest of southern Xatla and it is commonly pushed against by the undead tyrants. Due to this, military conscription is widespread and the armed forces are well supplied. Uladreng will be one of the first nations to adopt firearms and even the extremely expensive magitek weaponry of Skalovia which is notable as they do not ascribe to any worldly ideology, especially not equitianism, so their relationship is a special one between the Uladrengish and the Uhlionics. The aeroship fleet of the Republic may have caught their eye as well and it allowed them to have one middle man to sell Uladrengish goods instead of the many that surround them.

The deserts are not kind and from them comes myriad trouble from monsters to bandits to cultists worshipping dead gods and archdemons. Along with this, conformity is a socially and legally enforced norm in Uladreng. While it is difficult to enforce what one can do with one's body when one can't see it, proper behavior and social mores are heavily enforced. The prosperity of the nation is seen as being because of the wiping away of individual differences. This can clash with very individualistic people and is also against equitianist ideology which teaches that the differences should be acknowledged, used to strengthen the common man, and be accounted for to insure equity and justice. Along with this, the ruling crown is very interested in keeping itself in power which lead to other issues running along these veins.