Great Borea
Overview
Great Borea is the dominant power of Anash'col and the oldest continuously governed kingdom on the continent. For over a thousand years, it was ruled by an immortal Sorceress Queen, whose grip on the continent caused its isolation from the wider world and ancient matriarchal traditions.
Great Borea was once a harsh matriarchal society. Women were the only recognized citizens. Men were property, useful for labor and trade but not for positions of power or education. Having only sons was considered a dynastic catastrophe. This social order was in place for over two thousand years.
Recently, the country’s sexist traditions were upended when the Sorceress Queen was betrayed and replaced by her daughter Queen Anastasia. Anastasia married the Messiah of the Arthelian Faith and granted all men citizenship. The slave trade was overturned overnight. The resulting political fallout has made their reign a rocky one. Legitimizing both genders as equal will be their legacy, if they can succeed in altering Great Borea’s culture.
History
The matriarchal customs of Great Borea trace back to Queen Ingegerd, who ruled over two thousand years ago. Following a feast so humiliating that its details have been lost to riots and destroyed records, Ingegerd decreed that all males at court must show extreme deference to their betters. The decree expanded over generations. Those who objected left Borea entirely and traveled south to found what would become Kuenugarth. Those who remained had the will to resist steadily beaten out of them, generation by generation, until docility became the norm.
The Sorceress Queen who ruled Great Borea for two thousand years obtained immortality through a bargain made with Pythea, the witch of the Lonely Tower, at a time of great desperation. The precise terms of this bargain are not publicly known. What is known is that the Queen never relinquished power. Over the course of her reign she went insane; killing her husband, attempting to kill her son Leon, and ruling through escalating cruelty and paranoia.
Twenty years ago, the political landscape of Great Borea began to shift. A man named Agyrios arrived on the continent and brought with him the Arthelian Faith. Crown Princess Anastasia, the Queen's daughter and heir, fell in love at first sight with him. Anastasia betrayed her mother and took the throne, marrying Agyrios and simultaneously granting men the same rights as women. The change generated fierce resistance from conservative noble houses.
Government
Great Borea is a feudal monarchy. The old Sorceress Queen held absolute authority and distributed power through noble houses of women who controlled the land, courts, and military. Her court was ruthless. She was succeeded by Queen Anastasia, whose open mind made her deeply unpopular with the old guard.
Anastasia's marriage to Agyrios has made her a lightning rod for both adoration and contempt. She rules with him at her side as King-Consort. Her son Prince Leon is married to Tzarina Katarin. Whispers of the possible reunification of Great Borea with Kuenugarth have gained popularity, as citizens long for a stable and strong Northern Empire.
Culture
Borean culture is communal, a survival strategy developed for the intense cold. Its people settle in clusters and rely on each others skills in farming, tanning, hunting, and smithing to help get through each winter.
In the upper reaches of society, noble houses are deeply competitive. Alliances shift constantly. The court is a place of elaborate ceremony, and serves as constant reinforcement of Great Borea’s law and the current monarch’s traditions. Natalya Soborovsky, one of Great Borea's noblewomen, described it as a place where one learns either to be a shark or to be eaten.
Outside the palace, fur-clad pilgrims travel the roads between cities, clutching prayer beads and Arthelian crosses. The faith has taken deep root among the common people even as the noble houses resist it. Men particularly find sanctuary and solace in Arthelian teachings, as they can see themselves in their Messiah.
Military
Great Borea's military is composed entirely of women, including the formidable Ice Guard. The Ice Guard specialize in hunting and slaying demons. Borea’s soldiers are trained from youth and are formidable in cold-weather combat. They have a small, durable navy meant for traversal along the coast rather than long ocean voyages.
Demons and Corruption
Demonic corruption is one of the greatest threats facing Anash'col other than its internal political conflicts. For thousands of years, Vandun cultivated his influence in partnership with the old Sorceress Queen.
Under Queen Anastasia, that era has ended. Anastasia commissioned protective monoliths and installed them throughout Anash'col's cities. Demons within these wards feel their powers slowly dissipate until they are powerless. They are often captured by Ice Guard and imprisoned in dungeons below Borean cities, kept alive to suffer rather than slain to return to Hell.
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