Sword Lands

The Sword Lands (also known as the "Boast Realms") are a confederation of small independent human city-states located in southestern Laerakond.

Geography
The Sword Lands is made of mostly forested areas sprinkled with rivers mountain ranges and marshes. All three of the major rivers of the Sword Lands cut through about the center of the country. The northern most of these rivers is the Sword River running through most of the major cities of the Sword Lands including Rorst, Harimmon, Fanedown, Ulark, and Aldreth before flowing into the Dragon Sea. On its way west it also passes through the Fanedown Marshlands, a flood plane that has turned into oversaturated marsh which is the home to many lizardfolk.

The second of these rivers is the Sundarra River. While cutting through the forest land in the center of the Sword Lands, making for a important riverway, no major cities rest along it till the end when it flows by Ramekho, a Windrise Port city, before joining with the Dragon Sea.

The third and southernmost river is the Tantulph River, which has several tributaries. One of these tributaries is the Darrath River, which has the southern trade city of Roddham along it. Cutting across the south of the nation, the Tantulph River passes by Windrise Port city of Imdolphyn.

The northern border of the Sword Lands is mostly covered by the Sword Mountains. The small Bregenduth River covers the rest of the border. To the east the Sword Lands has several mountain ranges that face out towards the Fleeing Ocean. In the southeast the Long Marsh makes up most of the coast line. Much like with the Fanedown Marshlands, many different tribes of lizardfolk live there. To the south is the Sambral Mountains, named after the Windrise Port city of Sambral. Also to the south is Valinheim Bay named after the city of Valinheim. On the west the Sword Lands is mostly boardered by the territory of the Windrise Ports, except in the farm north by the city of Aldreth where it touches the Dragon Sea.

Culture
Ever since the collapse of the nation of Amra the nation has had a bit of an independent streak. The land is oftedn called the "boast realms" for each of the small city-states that make it up. Each city-state is proud of their heritage and a weird mix of national pride that comes with their fiercely independent nature. Some of these cities are so old that they boast about the ties their families have to the dragonheirs of old.

Despite these city-states being mostly poor and lawless, the Sword Lands as a collective are quite prosperous, with plenty of trade, farming, and hunting to be had with little government interference. With little threat from the dragon lords around them, for fear of the dragonheirs, the land is quite jolly with few worries about the future.

Government
Each individual settlement of the Sword Lands is self ruled with lords feuding constantly with one another till they run out of coin, men, or both to continue fighting. Few of these city-states last more than a few years. Settlements often rise and fall with the leader that founded the city. Those few settlements that have managed to last through the years have become some of the largest in the nation. Even those cities though have seen power change hands in their city many times.

Each city has its own lord who's noble families often have feuded so old and deeply rooted against other noble families that go to the bitter end, where one family is distorted and the other is left victorious. Not only that though but each lord has their own complex web of alliances and deals to keep the balance of power steady in the Sword Lands. It is often hard to get too powerful as a lord as more often than not other lords of the Sword Lands will come to cut you down to size if they think you are getting too powerful.

Most of this inter-fighting and lack of a unified central government is due to a lack of external threats. Even though it has been decades and even centuries maybe since the last human to declare themselves a dragonheir, many dragons take the threat seriously that anyone in the Sword Lands could be one. Because of this most dragon lords leave the Sword Lands to itself.

History
Before the Sword Lands came to be, the same plot of land was controlled by the ancient kingdom of Amra. The former king of Amra was a dragonheir that made Gauwervyndhal promise that she nor any dragon would ever attack these lands again. The legends of this story are fuzzy as to the lands in question were just Amra or the lands as a whole and any future nation that rose up from it. So far though the dragon empress of Skelkor seems to be keeping her word. Wither that is out of fear or an honest attempt to keep her word, no one may ever know.

Notable Groups
There are many notable cults, orders, and factions that make up the Sword Lands:

Disbanded Groups:
 * There is a chapter of the Scions of Amber outside of the city of Valinheim in the East Sambral Mountains near the Wine River.
 * A chapter of Bastion Hollow is based along the East Sambral Mountains near the Wine River outside of Valinheim.
 * The founding chapter of the Knights of Hippocrates is based in the plains to the west of Valinheim near the Wine River.
 * To the north of Valinheim a chapter of the Listeners is based in the southwestern part of the Darrath Forest.
 * West of Fisherman's Cove is the base of a group of mercenaries known as the Wolves of Skelkor.