Bloody River
Bloody River is a theocracy in the Northeastern forests, bordering Talinin, Jarrith, and Ardeleth.
Bloody River is a hilly land, home to deposits of silver as well as gold and iron… iron in the water gives the state, and the Bloody River , its name. Forests once grew across the land, but they have been clear-cut in the years since the Contagion to free room for mines and to fuel forges and smelters. The land is known for producing excellent metalwork, which is highly valued in trade across the region. The borders of the kingdom are marked with cold iron obelisks to deter encroachment by the Fair Folk.
Bloody River is ruled directly by three gods: Gradig, Dreaming Lotus, and Rejak. The state is entirely religious, prayer going exclusively to its three deities and government conducted by their priesthoods.
Various parts of the nation had long been under the influence of those gods, through the time of the Shogunate, but in the wake of the Contagion the three gods formed an alliance and exerted direct control: Dreaming Lotus brought the people of his forest tribe, Rejak brought the power of his Bloody River, and Grading brought the industry of his portfolio as God of Metalwork. Trees were cleared and mines dug, metals forged and then worked. Surrounding states such as the Linowan and the Haltans were thirsty for such goods, and Bloody River grew rich. The gods and their people cared not for the flora-based disputes of their larger neighbours, for trees of any type were nothing but an obstacle to further mining pits, and so they were cleared away as quickly as could be managed. Naturally this saw the nation in military conflict with both powers and their allies, but what it lacked in size it made up for in the power of monopoly: its would-be-foes NEEDED its metal goods, its cold iron axes and silver coins, and the cost of war was too high for either regional power to push against the gods.
Bloody River has done well since the coming of Yurgen Kaneko to the East. At a time of increasing tensions with Halta, declaring allegiance to the Icewalker Anathema was meant to provide some protection, but the gods found themselves at the center of a war effort which matched their own designs, and dreams of their places in the new Solar order filled their heads.
Today Bloody River is choking on smoke and effluent of smithies and smelters. Food is no longer grown in the land, the people and terrain given over entirely to girding the armies of the Bull for war. The people receive less wealth than they once did, for the Bull does not buy he requisitions, but their gods reap great benefits and so pay little heed to the concerns of underlings. Foodstuffs arrive by similar requisition to meet the basic needs of those who labour, and the only luxuries remaining are breaks taken in the gilded temples of the three gods to accept food rations after required prayer.
