Alignment: Neutral
Status: Recommended
 

Province	Law	Temples	Guilds	Sources
Negive (3/2)	PC (3)	TCB (2)	OT (0)	SP (1)
Thamad (3/4)	PC (3)	TCB (1)	OT (1)	SP (1)
Aral (7/0)	PC (7)	TCB (5)	NF (4)	-
	NF (0)	RFW (2)	OT (1)	-
Sarabit (2/5)	PC (2)	RFW (2)	NF (2)	SP (3)
Aqaba (2/5)	PC (2)	RFW (2)	NF (2)	SP (3)
Zaraba (4/3)	PC (4)	TCB (4)	ETC (4)	SP (3)
Gebel (1/4)	PC (1)	TCB (1)	ETC (1)	SP (2)

* Fortified holding
 
Abbreviations: PC = Prince Corean (Aral); TCB = True Church of Brenna (Untrini the wise); OT = Ornasis
Trading (Kerri Summarn); SP = Silver Princess (Halwan); NF = Northern Foresters (Pinter Ollinie); RFW = Reynir's Forest Wardens (Harri the druid); ETC = Eiflholt Trading Consortium (Serra Talat).

Province/Holdings: Aral is the most northern of the lands still controlled by Nehalim. The regent is usually sent from Nehalim after the previous ruler dies.

• Law: Prince Corean, the current regent controls all the law in this land.
• Temples: The True Church of Brenna has temple holding in the coastal provinces, while the Forest Wardens hold temples in the inland forested provinces.
• Guilds: Three different guilds have holdings inside Aral, including one from Ornasis.
• Sources: The ruler of Halwan, the Silver Princess is the only wizard to have holdings in the northlands.

Treasury: The treasury currently holds 30 GB, and the kingdom generates about 20 GB a turn, including some taxes that are placed on trade routes.

Army: Aral supports a large army to protect again any attacks from the rogue nation of Ornasis to the north. At the moment it consist of 5 units of Nehalim swords, 4 units of Archers, 1 unit of scouts and the prince's favourite a unit of War Elephants. Most of this army is based along the northern border, although the Elephants are kept in the capital.
Aral currently has no navy.

Regent: Prince Corean (MNe; F10; Unblooded; Age 47) is a member of one of the oldest Nehalim noble families. In his younger days he was the head of the Imperial Chariots, the Emperor's personal guard. As a reward for his loyal service he was given Aral when the previous ruler died five years ago. Currently he is attempting to retake the rebel kingdom of Ornasis which has declared itself independent of the empire of Nehalim. Corean is very loyal to the empire and sees Ornasis as traitors and is doing all he can to retake the lands north of Aral. He has not been very successful so far though.

Lieutenants: General Harmen Kalan (MNe; F14; Unblooded; Age 56) is the head of the Aral military and leads the armies when the prince is not personally in control. General Kalan is an old soldier from the southern deserts of Nehalim and would prefer to be down there where it is warm than in Aral where the cold winds bring air all the way from Thaele in the far north. He was sent north after the unit he commanded in the south was ambushed during the last attack by Ghanim raiders. He managed to fight them off losing only a few of his men and was promoted to general and sent north as a reward. The general does not think much of his reward however.
Jern Yunin (MNe; T6; Vo, tainted, 4; Age 24) is the head of Aral intelligence service. He has only recently taken the job after leaving his home in Halwan after a problem with some of the leaders there. He tries to avoid all travellers from Halwan and will not talk about what happened in his past. The Prince has accepted him as a lieutenant though, as he makes a fine spymaster.

Important NPCs: Untrini the wise (MNe; P5, Brenna; Unblooded; Age 34) is the head of the temple of Brenna in Aral. He is very expansionist and has been busy in the past two years expanding his holdings inside Aral and moving into Ornasis in the north. The temple of Brenna is only popular in the coastal provinces of Aral, with the inland forested provinces preferring to follow Reynir.
Pinter Ollinie (MNe; G7; Unblooded; Age 29) heads the Northern Foresters guild. His operations are mainly focussed in the inland forested provinces where he runs vast logging camps, exporting the fine timber of Aral's forests to the south. Nehalim is his main market, although Halwan has also recently been a large purchaser of Aral timber for their ship building program. His operations often encounter problems with the temple of Reynir who are seeking to protect the forests from people like Pinter. The guild itself is only young, taking over from the old Royal Forestry Guild after that was sold off by the last prince. Pinter purchased it cheaply and has been making a lot of money from it ever since.
Harri the druid (MNe; P7, Reynir; Unblooded; Age 67) is the leader of Reynir's Forest Wardens an old temple that has strength in the inland areas of Aral. He has served the temple for nearly fifty years, many of those as a high priest and has a strong following in the provinces where he has holdings. He has reached an agreement with Untrini of the temple of Brenna not to interfere with each others holdings and the two temple have a peaceful relationship. The relations with the guilds however are not good, especially the Northern Foresters Guild who insist on logging the very woods that Harri is trying to live in. Priest from the temple often harass the loggers and send wild animals to attack their camps.

Description/History: Aral is one of the younger nations that owes allegiance to the Nehalim empire. It was first settled nearly a hundred years ago and has grown steadily over the past century. During the what is now known as the great Nehalim expansion many settlers set out from Nehalim over the passes near Halwan. Over two centuries they expanded northwards along the eastern coast of Aduria founding several new nations. This expansion halted about twenty years ago after the settlement of Ornasis to the north of Aral.
Of the four new principalities Aral remains the most loyal to its Nehalim masters and continues to hold much to the ways of life that the settlers followed in the southern lands. Along with Eiflholt, and Nordli to the south these nations form a major part of the northern empire. The northern realm of Ornasis however has chosen to stand apart from Nehalim and following the beginning of the latest Nehalim/Adurian war Ornasis declared itself independent of the empire. Aral has been attempting to retake the rogue nation ever since, and many soldiers have lost their lives in the battle.
As only a young nation few traditions have been formed, and there is little history to recount. Before the settlers came however several small tribes of Humans and Humanoids lived in the lands that now make up Aral. Descendants mainly of the troops that drove out the Rjurik people many centuries earlier they remained in this land after the rest of the Nehalim soldiers had been withdrawn. Once the Nehalim had returned to Aral however the lands were cleared of most monsters and the tribes that lived there either forced into the mountains or enslaved. Many still work the fields of Aral as slaves today, the beginning of a new slave race, similar to the conquered people in Aduria.
A land rich in natural resources Aral is fast becoming a very rich nation through logging and mining in the east of the realm. The rumour of riches has attracted many new settlers of the years, and although only a few have ever found these riches they still keep arriving. With a new treaty with Halwan again opening up the route to the south, and Halwan itself buying large amounts of timber and mineral thing are looking very bright for Aral.

Provinces: Aral borders the Azure peaks in the east and most of the eastern provinces are forested hills, along the coast however are large areas of farmland, and in Sarabit forest.

• Negive (3/2): The most northern of Aral's province, Negive is home to the Aral army. Most of the army is camped in this province awaiting the order to march north into Ornasis once more. The rest of the province is rolling hills and farmland. It is generally a peaceful province with several large towns and villages.
  
  
• Thamad (3/4): In the north-east of Aral is the hilly province of Thamad. Sitting on the foothills of the Azure peaks it is rich in minerals and timber, but also has large numbers of bandits and monsters raiding. As a result most people live in fortified towns and villages in the east of the province. Mining and forestry are the only real industry found here.
  
  
• Aral (7/0): The capital of the principality is the small coastal province of Aral, named after the city which was found here over a century ago. The city sits in the north of the province, on the road which runs north through Sarabit, and Negive into Ornasis. Aral itself is a sprawling unfortified city, supporting more than a fifty thousand people, making it one of the largest cities in the northlands. The Price rule from a stone palace which lies in the middle of the city. The rest of the province is mainly farmland.
  
  
• Sarabit (2/5): East of Aral province is the forested province of Sarabit. Most of the province is forest with only a string of fishing villages along the coastal road. Reynir's Forest Wardens maintain a large temple in the centre of the forests where new priests are trained. Thanks to the priests the forests are still fairly intact with most felled trees being replaced each year.
  
  
• Aqaba (2/5): The forests of Sarabit eventually run east into the province of Aqaba. This province is still fairly wild, although the activities of some loggers are threatening this. The temple of Reynir is trying to protect the land as much as possible and trouble often flares up between the two forces.
  
  
• Zaraba (4/3): South of Aral province Zaraba is on the main road south to Nehalim. It is fairly heavily populated, with farming and grazing being the main occupations. Some fishing villages can also be found along the coast.
  
  
• Gebel (1/4): In the far south-east of the principality is the foothills province of Gebel. It has only a small population of miners and little else.

Enemies: Ornasis is the main enemy of Aral. The Prince would like nothing more than to retake the rebel kingdom for the empire. Several wars between the two have already been fought and border clashes are fairly common.
 

By Ian Hoskins

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