Sovgorod
Updated: May 31
Overview
Sovgorod is the youngest kingdom in Anash'col. It spent a thousand years frozen in time beneath the ocean before being restored to life by its rightful heir and a fated Hero. Sovgorod’s sudden emergence from the seafloor has destabilized the political balance of Anash'col and heralded the Soborovsky dynasty's return to the world in dramatic fashion.
Sovgorod is ruled by Queen Natalya Soborovsky, a sharp-minded, politically astute woman who left Great Borea, discovered her ancestral kingdom submerged beneath the waves, and fought to restore it. At her side is her champion and hero, Evelyn Grey, who broke the kingdom out from its temporal prison. Natalya is married to a sun elf reviled by the Vestian Empire named Eridus Amberleaf.
History
Sovgorod was once a prosperous realm of humans and elves, ruled by the Soborovsky dynasty, situated in the waters of Anash'col's coast.
Approximately a thousand years ago the kingdom faced two simultaneous catastrophes. A massive tidal wave was incoming, caused by the aftermath of Aeon's Demise. Simultaneously, a Dark Prince from a neighboring desert kingdom launched an invasion through the now-empty waterways exposed by the receding ocean.
The King of the Sovgorod, facing certain destruction on both fronts, turned to chronomancy. He activated an ancient megastructure in a bid to save his kingdom. As the structure powered on, the Dark Prince attacked. With his forces locked in battle, the Prince apprehended the King and cursed him by transforming him into a boat.
As the tidal wave approached, the megastructure finally completed its sequence: a temporal shield expanded and covered the kingdom of Sovgorod. Inside the shield, time froze, and Sovgorod sank beneath the waves. Something went wrong and the kingdom did not rise. It remained inside its temporal dome, frozen in time, on the sea floor.
The Soborovsky name faded into myth. The dynasty was forgotten. The King wandered the waterways for centuries, his memory fading, until he eventually forgot who he was. He came to call himself the King of Red Lions, and no one remembers his past.
When Queen Anastasia took the throne of Great Borea, a noblewoman and playwright named Natalya Soborovsky left, fearing retribution for her political views that opposed the crown’s. She discovered the submerged kingdom with the help of the King of Red Lions and champion Evelyn Grey. Together, they gathered four gemstone keys and descended into the frozen kingdom, where they eliminated the Dark Prince's army while it stood frozen in time, gathered the kingdom's people, and used the gems to restore time to Sovgorod.
Natalya was hailed as Queen Soborovsky by her newly awakened subjects, and Evelyn the Hero of legend.
The Megastructure
Sovgorod’s ancient megastructure is believed to be a remnant from the god wars. It projects a field that gods cannot see into or out of. Its origins can be traced only by the god of war, who knows its true purpose: a prison for a cosmic threat called the Fear. The Fear feasts on fear and uncertainty. After Sovgorod’s revival, the megastructure was tampered with and the Fear escaped. The consequences have yet to be discovered.
Government
Sovgorod is a feudal monarchy. Queen Natalya Soborovsky rules with absolute authority. Her economy is agrarian, supported by feudal serfdom composed solely of male serfs. The state controls the merchant class and Sovgorod’s warm water ports. Before the kingdom's restoration, Natalya's family wealth — inherited from the Soborovsky dynasty's ancient treasury — was effectively the wealth of an entire kingdom. Sovgorod holds abundant gold and diamond mines.
Sovgorod’s succession law favors women, and the state religion is Orthodox Pantheism. Queen Natalya tolerates the Arthelian faith.
Important Figures
Queen Natalya Soborovsky is a writer, an intellectual, and a vicious politician with a sharp tongue and very little patience for fools. She is deeply protective of her people and feels the weight of their survival personally. Natalya is famous for her play, the Irony of Fate, which is a satirical commentary criticizing Great Borea’s shift in politics with the coronation of Queen Anastasia.
Evelyn Grey is the Hero of Sovgorod, a bard and fighter whose ancestor was Hejong's Chosen and the leader of the Valkyries. Evelyn carries the keystaff used to lift Sovgorod from the waves. She is beloved by the people of Sovgorod. Evelyn has composed many songs which are sang throughout Anash’col.
Soon-to-be King Eridus Amberleaf was once a member of a Verunist Holy Order who fought in the First Crusade. Disenfranchised by the lack of divine protection for his brethren, Eridus grew to hate all gods and the beloved Vestian Empire’s dragons. Today, he has made many efforts to weaken the gods’ influence on the world and handicap the Great Mountain Wyrms whose expansionist Brood King continually places his children atop the thrones of the world’s greatest empires.
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