The Golden Hegemony of Manachillies

The Golden Hegemony of Manachillies is a long withstanding nation within the Esterlands of Varuna. Originally a collection of warring city-states, Manachillies was brought together by the famed Merchant Prince Achillies Haranum; then ruler of the city of Manathracia. Once the city-states banded together and shared endeavours, they almost immediately became one of the largest political powers in the Esterlands. The rulers of Manachillies are a council made up of the individual rulers of each city state within the borders, called The Gilded Council.

Manachillies is often warring with it's neighbour superpower Mandovan, these disputes often last a few months before each side coming to a satisfactory end to hostilities.

Government
The Gilded Council rules over Manachillies, made up of the ruler of each city state. The council is a multiracial and multigender collection of Humans, Elves, Vanq and Hobgoblins. The council meet once every two months to review laws already in place and to decide on new ones, as well as discussing the delegation of wealth and military power.

The Golden Road
The Golden Road is a privately run merchants guild which funds business ventures in and around Manachillies, they also are paid by the city states to keep the roads between cities safe and keeping caravans running on time.

Banking in Manachillies is mainly held together by The Golden Road. It offers loans to cities and rulers in return for cut taxes and other such incentives. If any one city should start losing money then The Golden Road will come and balance their accounts, making sure that the city is still profitable. In the case of Lumis they failed, given that their iron mines ran dry.

Terrain
Manachillies is a land of variation, the northernmost parts of the nation being covered in scrublands and savannahs, the midlands covered in marshlands and bogs, and the south covered in sandy beaches and small deserts between scrublands. The only mountains in Manachillies almost cut off the nation from the city of Wasteward.

Notable Settlements

 * Manathracia (Capital)
 * Anatto
 * Crestview
 * Dawnstar
 * Kaen's Fork
 * Lumis
 * Sandime
 * Wasteward

Religion
Given Manachillies' vastly different cities and cultures, there is no state religion for the nation, many cities have their own patron gods and people have their own household gods on top of those. In every city however there are large temples to most, if not all of the gods, so that whomever you worship, you may have somewhere peaceful and calm to do it.

Racial Demographics
Dependant on which city state you visit, you will see a shift in racial demographics, Lumis being almost entirely comprised of Hobgoblins who've escaped from Mandovan and wish to protect the Hegemony from the neighbouring nation. Crestview having a large community of Vanq, and Sandime having a large presence of Irridons. Manathracia is the most racially integrated of the city-states, although the majority of the populace are human.

Recreation and Entertainment
Many different pastimes exist in the various city-states of Manachillies, but a game that is prevalent in all of them is the game chess. Chess matches were often used to settle disputes between rival city-states, and rulers would hold great tournaments. The winners of these tournaments would have the honour of representing their city in disputes.

Customs & Quirks
In Manachillies the exchanging of coins must always be passed from left hand to left hand, if this is ever strayed from it is considered an insult and a implication of mistrust.

Architecture
Architecture in Manachillies varies between the city states, but is generally made from chiselled stone and carved wood. In Manathracia, there are large arrogant towers that overlook the sea below the great cliff. In Lumis the city is partly within the old iron mine, and a great deal of the homes are carved into the hillside. The architecture of Kaen's fork is mainly houses built in and on the trees of the marshlands, apart from the stone keep that sits slightly unevenly in the mud.

Imports & Exports
Given it's booming internal trade, Manachillies does often import a great deal of foreign fine art, as well as exotic ores and minerals from Wuulzian and Khalsaren.

One of Manachillies' main exports are products made of crested whales, as well as food grown in Massan and plants/herbs growing in the bogs near Kaen's Fork.

Foreign Relations & Military
Manachillies maintains fairly amicable trade agreements with the nations of the Esterlands. Wuulzian, Astadian and Khalsaren being their closest allies and most frequent customers. Bakura is generally avoided, mainly due to the isolationist stance their government likes to take, refusing to take part in other peoples' wars and generally keeping to themselves. Manachillies' relations with Mandovan is tenuous, the expansionist and aggressive Mandovans often encroach on territories and perceived boundaries of Manachillies, often leading to short but heated wars between the two nations, before they both slink back home and concentrate their attention on their own domestic responsibilities.

The military of Manachillies is less of a standing army and more of a mish-mash of the armies of each of the city states that come together to defend places that they have invested interests in, this army is often merged with various foreign mercenary bands that are paid for by the Gilded Council.