Colonialism

Introduction

A growing geopolitical change across the world of Atharen is the advent of colonialism, wherein powerful nations - often those industrialized or in contest with more technologically primitive nations - have been steadily expanding their borders, culture and base of power through cleaving into other lands. Most modern colonialism is currently taking place on the continent of Icheron, largely due to the destruction of many of the Kingdoms present within that land at the hands of the Unbreathing Horde. While colonialism is a global phenomena affecting many regions across the world, the recent replacement of Icheron's social and political order with the grabbing hands of various powers has begun to shape the landscape of the modern world, and is considered a defining hallmark of the Age of Industry.

Icherranian Colonialism

Lorien

Lorien is one of Atharen's two premier colonial powers. Wielding one of the world's strongest navies, as well as an unprecedentedly large reserve military force numbering nearly ten million Hollows, the Kingdom has long since taken the opportunity to expand beyond its own shores. In the Year 4519, Lorien began to explore the continent of Icheron. Six years later, much of the continent had been mapped out, either by expedition or by purchasing maps from locals across the continent. As time went on, it was discovered that - outstandingly - one region of Icheron, along the coastal northwest, was the location of what appeared to be the world's only other reserve of lorianum, the material that allows for the production of Hollows. This region, known to the natives as Natanis, was determined to be integral to Lorien's future as an industrial power, and rather than attempting trade, the Kingdom began weaving together the necessary components for invasion.

Lorien's invasion of Natanis began with the intentional proliferation of continental Atharen-specific diseases, a strategy that worked to cull over eighty percent of the regional population and produce mass unrest. Two years after this strategy began, in the Year 4529, an army of eighty thousand Hollows and several hundred Knight Argent landed on the shores of Natanis, tasked with eliminating the vestigial remnants of civilization. Today, there are nearly no indigenous populations left within the region, while Lorien has secured a strong influence, growing an expansive colony in their place.

Anderereich

Anderereich was built on the remains of Natanis, its capital the place of Natanis' last stand, the great city of Cahan. One of the old wonders of Icheron, Cahan was built nearly a thousand years before Lorien's arrival, with nearly a million residents at the time of their incursion. Cahan, now called Revenstadt by Lorien after the name of the Kingdom's royal family, is comprised of colossal pyramids hundreds of feet in height, with the royal palace a great ziggurat. Built into a mesa overlooking vast desert, Cahan is awash with a sand-colored hue with blue, white, gold and emerald accents.

Aside from Revenstadt, there are a several dozen colonial towns and villages, many of them either appropriated from the abandoned remnants of the native population, or built anew along the semi-arid coastline. Within the deep expanses of Natanis' desert exist seemingly countless reserves of lorianum, more always being discovered. Lorien has long since begun exporting unnecessary segments of its population to Anderereich, often Nameless, Koltoskans, or Lustrians and Savants looking to join the ranks of the higher castes. Exceptional industry within Anderereich is a condition for Knighthood, or even the ascension of one's family to that of a Celebrant. As such, Anderereich is a land of ambition, one that has quickly begun to grow as a result of the Rien civil war, the decimation of Koltoskai and the increasing violence and subversion by the Kindred.

Anderereich's population is, currently, barely short of eight hundred thousand people, with around a million Hollows present in the region. Already, the coastline burgeons with locales that aspire to become cities, more ships arriving nearly every fortnight. It is led by a Colonial Viceroy, Countess Emilia Chelmburg of House Revenlow.

Grisic Empire

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Elsewhere

Rúnskaldr

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The Krish

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Ganeron

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