Kobalos

Just because a certain person thinks I'm enjoying this, here's another nation from my trilogy:

Kobalos

Traditionally Kobalos was a kingdom with a line of royals going back nearly a thousand years. However, approximately two hundred years ago a certain Lord Verkain used a mixture of political conniving, assassination and powerful magics to take over the land's throne. Since that time an individual has ruled as king of Kobalos under the name of Lord Verkain; some historians believe this is a single person, a powerful mage who has discovered magics of long or eternal life, while others believe there has been a string of individuals, all with the title of Lord Verkain.

The Kobalans are a strong, dark-haired people, descended from the same mountain folk who gave birth to the Jorsicans and Dartague. The Kobalans are also the most stoic of the northern peoples, and some would call them dark, if not downright brutal. However, most of this reputation is from the last couple of hundred years since Verkain has ruled. Before that the Kobalans were considered stoic but affable.

Technically, everyone who lives within Kobalos is a slave to Lord Verkain, and all property is owned by Lord Verkain. Some few classes, military and some artisans and merchants, are allowed much more freedom than the average serf. Also, there are a few old noble families remaining in Kobalos, but rumor is Verkain has only allowed them to survive because they have been helpful to him financially or militarily over the years.

All foreign religions in Kobalos have been outlawed. Officially, the only religion allowed is worship of Verkain himself as a living god, and all old churches or temples in the nation have been converted to temples honoring Verkain himself. However, Verkain tends to look the other way to private religious gatherings and worship services, at least as long as they pose no threat whatsoever to him or the kingdom.

The major export from Kobalos is gems dug up from the nation's mountains, through fishing and wool are also decently selling exports.

In recent history, about 60 years earlier Lord Verkain invaded Ursia during that nation's civil war. His forces were driven back by a united East and West Ursian army, and in the treaty that ended the war Verkain had to give up a large valley in the south of Kobalos. That valley became the Prisonlands.

More recently, about five years ago there began to spread rumors that Verkain was systimatically killing off all members of his family. He had many children and several wives, and no one knows why Verkain would do such an awful thing. To add to this rumor, about three years ago several of his adult children forged an alliance to rebel against their father. The children, some of them wizards and some military leaders, had only begun to put together their own army when Verkain and a cohort of his best troops swooped into their campsite in the middle of the night and wiped out all opposition. Rumors continued to surface for some while that one of the younger sons had survived, but he has not been seen nor heard from. Most likely, if alive, he is hiding in a hole somewhere.

Despite the darkness of Verkain, and the recent bloody history of Kobalas, all is stable within the nation's borders. Most of the populace is too afraid to even think to raise a hand against Verkain or his minions.

Kobalos is surrounded by two arms of The Needles mountain range to its east, west and south. To the north lies the Northern Sea. To the east is Dartague. To the west is Jorsica. Directly south is the Prisonlands.