NOTRION (Kingdom of)
Location: Northern Bellissaria, south of the Alphatian Sea, west of Meriander, northeast of Veroth. AS
Area: Approx. 214,000 sq. miles (554,000 sq. km). Area is approximate as there is still dispute with Veroth as to where exactly to place the borders.
Population: 50,000, including Aaslin (pop. 10,000).
Languages: Alphatian (Bellissarian dialect).
Coinage: Alphatian Standard: crown (gp), mirror (sp), judge (cp).
Taxes: 15% income tax on everyone of servant status or higher, and an import/export tax of 2% on magical items and components, and 1% on all other goods (Naycese kingdoms, Karameikos and Thyatis excluded). 10% of tax revenue goes to the Naycese treasury, and an additional 10% is spent on military forces in the name of the confederation.
Government Type: Monarchy, member of Nayce.
Industries: Agriculture.
Important Figures: Corydon (King).
Flora and Fauna: Like its neighbouring Bellissarian kingdoms Notrion boasts little indigenous animal life, aside from fairly common animals like foxes, deer, rabbits, rodents of many types, and various species of bird. The seas abound in many types of fish, and sea serpents are not unknown.
Further Reading: Dawn of the Emperors boxed set, previous almanacs.
Description by Feldimur.
The Land
Notrion, once the largest kingdom on Bellissaria, and prosperous due to its proximity to the Alphatian continent, is shorn! When the mainland sank beneath the waves, we lost our best market for our agricultural produce and cattle. Then, along came the arrogant Randel folk, who seized half our kingdom out from under us. We quietly asked, nay, begged the other Nayce members to back us up in resisting this land-grab, but they declined to help us (and what is Nayce for if not to protect its members?). Thus we submitted to our fate, quietly but sullenly, knowing we could not fight these deadly warriors on our own and would likely lose our entire kingdom to their avariciousness if we tried.
Many of our fellow Alphatians from other kingdoms, including correspondents in previous almanacs, describe Notrion as boring and unremarkable. But they like to eat, don't they? And our kingdom may not have exotic buildings, but we have vast plantations and ranches, dotted with beautiful mansions in out of the way locales (we like our privacy, and thus build in secluded areas), in addition to the more humble abodes that make up the communities for the servants and slaves who work under our direction and guidance.
The town of Aaslin may be small by mainland standards, but it is a good port city frequented by merchants and traders from many lands. They bring their goods for our use and ship out the grain and other produce we sell them. Vast shipments of grain were transported by sea from here to Randel, Vertiloch, Stonewall, and even Haven in years past, but this is all gone now. Aaslin may not have soaring towers, but most of our best families have fine residences there, though I would recommend avoiding the areas where the dockworkers and other lower-class people live and the taverns they frequent. Why is it that the poor insist upon living in filth and letting their homes get run-down? No one is too poor to clean up after themselves, as my mother always said.
There are many fine forests where hunts and other activities are conducted, though some of these were grabbed by the Randel folk when they wrested half our country from us. They are now quibbling over the border, insisting upon still more land, more than they need, in their grasping aggressiveness.
The People
The Randel land-grab stripped many of our finest, oldest families of much of their wealth, as the lands they had owned for generations were wrested from them. The cunning Randel folk claimed the lands were little used, but they were ours; we occasionally grazed cattle there, and the lands were a carefully husbanded resource as well as collateral on many loans (which the sinking of Alphatia and resulting loss of revenue from grain sales created the need for). The Randel folk said that in exchange they would buy our grain, but they refuse to pay a reasonable price for it, claiming a lack of ready cash and still more arrogantly claiming that we should be happy to serve as their suppliers in exchange for the protection they provide. Such protection we can do without, it is more like the rackets run by Thyatian thieves than duty-bound soldiers serving their magocratic lords. As a result of these conditions, and the burden we bear in the enchanting of dome sections for the city of Torenal, in the last couple years we have had to sell our grain to the Thyatians! At least they have the mouths to feed, but some landowners are worried because already the purchase orders they place are declining, something about their own agricultural capacity recovering and their development of colonial lands in their so-called empire. But if we don't sell our grain to them, I don't know where we will get money to support the aristocrats of Notrion in the lifestyle which we deserve.
On top of all this is the burden we bear in constructing the underwater city of Torenal. When initially proposed, this project was described to us as a means of helping us out of our financial difficulties. But neither Nayce as a whole nor Aquas have kept up with the payments. They're now claiming that the dome sections we produce should be considered in-kind contributions to Nayce's welfare, and that we should accept that because cash taxes are kept low. But this has just meant that the burden is ill-distributed. At least they have enacted a supplementary enchanting surtax on commoners to generate some additional revenues with which to pay the aristocrats involved in the project. The lower orders have whined and moaned about this burden, but I can only say it is a step in the right direction, as the common classes' role is to provide for the needs of their betters. After all, we are enchanting a city that they will also benefit from, so if we are made to bear that burden they have no cause to complain about theirs.
There are few mages here compared to what there was on the mainland, so we are all over-burdened by the requirement to enchant for Torenal. But, on the other hand, this does mean that there are more than enough servants at our beck and call, even with a sparse population (also good for privacy). This means that if anyone gets uppity they can be quickly replaced by a more respectful servant. They all know this, so we don't have the kind of social problems found in, say, Dunadale or (Immortals forbid!) Esterhold.
Don't Miss
As I mentioned, most of us like our privacy and don't want strangers wandering around on our lands without an invitation or permission. But an appointment can be made through each family's major-domos in Aaslin, and traders are always welcomed to serve our needs in buying produce and providing import goods we desire, transactions can be arranged in that town through our sales agents.
Do Miss
The border near the Randel folk of Veroth is filled with tension, an
explosive situation that could come to conflict at the slightest
provocation. Therefore, I would
recommend avoiding this area lest you accidentally spark a fight with these
violent men. Also, the forest areas are
maintained as hunting preserves for the aristocrats of Notrion, and you should
not enter them as that is considered proof of an intent to poach. As always, you should also stay off private
property if you do not have the owner's permission or are an invited guest.