Forthena

One of the Six Great Nations of Alter-Mana, often called the Plains Kingdom or the Grasslands Kingdom. Forthena has been the dominant local power on Alter-Mana ever since Duran Ferrant claimed the Mana Sword. That, coupled with Forthena's making first contact with Guardia and entering into the Web of Worlds ensured a position of influence for the Forthenans.

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Shield-Emblem of the Knights of Gold

Land

Forthena comprises the northern extreme of the Me'Dielian continent, the main landmass of Alter-Mana. Most Forthenan settlements, including the nation's capital, are on the Forthenan Plateau. Polpotta Harbor and the cities of the Luon Federation (Barzel, Ulkan and Maia) also belong to the Kingdom of Forthena, though they lie off the main plateau.

Northwest of the Plateau, directly north of Polpotta, is the Isle of Glass, where the Knights of Gold once battled the armies of Drakonis. Immediately north of Forthena Castle, across the Icefang Channel, is the Kingdom of Altena.

South, beyond the Luon Federation, is the vast forested Beast Kingdom.

Map of Forthena

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Population

Forthena's population is comprised mainly of humans, with small minorities of Nekos and Dwarves. There are even smaller numbers of immigrants from elsewhere on Alter-Mana, as well as people originating from Alter-Dragon and even the Web beyond the Alter Dimension.

Religion

With very few exceptions, nearly the entire population of Forthena is Elementalist, believing to some degree in the cosmological design of the Wendelian Church. Contact with the Esper Union and Guardia has introduced a number of foreign philosophies to Alter-Mana, but none have taken root (at least, not in Forthena).

There is a Forthenan Church of Spekkio, but it caters mostly to the needs of Gatian immigrants and has a negligible number of native converts.

Economy

Forthena is one of the few Fringe nations that has a healthy practice of commerce with nations in the Core. This is due in part to Forthena's possession of its own space fleet, which makes it somewhat less reliant on the Core powers.

Forthena frequently trades with the nations in the Gate Dimension (Guardia, Medina and El Nido), as well as with Alter-Dragon and Esper. Recently the Kingdom normalized its relations with Tasnica, and now trades freely with the Republic, thus ending a decades-long practice of staunchly anti-Tasnican foreign and trade policy. Forthena has also had regular dealings with the free nations in the Merge Dimension (Karnak, Worus and Bal), but with the GSF blockade on Mergespace this has had to cease temporarily.

Like Guardia, Forthena has a rather generous social services program, though it is not nearly as extensive as Guardia's. A more apt comparison for Forthena's social services would be with the Tasnican government under Populist rule.

Law

The foundations of Forthenan law are codified in the "Book of Divine Guidance," written by the holy knight who founded the Kingdom. The book is filled with moral platitudes about honor and knightly virtue, each being a standard against which all Kings of Forthena are constantly measured.

A more modern document, being the Forthenan Constitution, was established early in the reign of Richard Mambrino in an effort to place some checks on the royal government and prevent future tyrannies.

Government

Forthena is ruled by its King, who is in turn advised by his Court. The Court is usually made up of those who are elligible to be named as heir to the throne, though the King can appoint anyone he wishes.

Land owning families in the Kingdom are permitted to send a single representative to the National Assembly, a body that meets infrequently. Their sole purpose is to check the King's power, and when they do meet it is usually because a Royal Decree has displeased them, or they wish to amend the Forthenan Constitution. They have legislative powers, but can be vetoed by the King. By the standards of some Core nations, Forthena is barely a democracy at all.

Internal Politics

Until recently, all internal politics revolved around matters of the succession, as speculation abounded as to who would follow after Duran Ferrant as his heir. Some expected the Mana Knight to step down and hand over power to one of the husbands of the Mambrino daughters, while others thought that he might finally marry Angela DeMere and produce an heir of his own, supplanting the Mambrino line.

Since Irzoile Ricrot took the throne in a bloody coup, there seems little else in the way of intrigue to speak of in Forthena. All suriviving members of the Court are solidly in Irzoile's camp, and the National Assembly seems either pleased with Irzoile, or else they are too afraid to voice any opposition.

Foreign Politics

Forthena's most solid domestic alliances are with the Beast Kingdom and Altena. These three nations aim to dominate the lesser lands of the North.

Nominally, all of the Six Great Nations are allies, but it remains to be seen how Naba'al and Laurent will react to Forthena's expansionism.

Military

Forthena fields a land army that boasts a mixture of technologies. The bulk of Forthena's armament consists of natively-manufactured Mana Canon weapons -- the Alter-Manan equivalent of magitek arms. There are also several occurences of Esperian gravitic arms and Guardian non-magitek energy based weaponry. The same can be said of armor and support vehicles: the Forthenan ground forces make heavy use of imported Jetbikes, but also use Esperian LCVs and support vehicles.

The Forthenans also field and impressive (for a Fringe nation) space armada, comprised of hand-me-down warships from the Confederation's space presence.

The officers corps of both the Grand Fleet and the ground army are the Knights of Gold. The Forthenan knighthood is not as storied as that of the Guardians, but they nominally do adhere to the code of conduct laid down for their order in the Book of Divine Guidance.

Selected Major Cities

• Forthena- The capital of the Kingdom, Forthena is an enormous castle-city that conjures up the Kingdom's proud chivalric military heritage.

• Domina- The hub of the Forthena Plateau, Domina sits at the center of all Forthena proper's major trade routes. It is also the location of Forthena's major religious center, the Domina Cathedral of the Goddess.

• Dorien- Home to the Kingdom's native Neko and Dwarven populations, Dorien is one of the Kingdom's major mining cities. All throughout the mountains that surround the main plateau are valuable mineral deposits, not the least of which is Dorien's magilyte reserve -- the largest known terrestrial magic mineral deposit on the Fringe. Dorien also happens to be the home of Forthena's major starport.

• Polpotta Harbor- Polpotta is Forthena's major sea port, located down from the Plateau on the Kingdom's West coast.

• The Luon Federation- The cities of the Luon Trade Road -- Barzel, Ulkan and Maia -- were recently appropriated as a province of the Forthenan Kingdom. With Forthena's backing, Barzel is set to become the major trading center of the Forthena Dominion. The Dwarven city of Ulkan helps to supplement the Forthenans' already rich mineral reserves, and Maia provides the Kingdom with a large port on its Eastern coast.