Connected to the rest of Aladagia by only a thin isthmus, the lands that now house the Orcish Empire are the most mountainous. Few forests exist in the landscape, though several rivers rush from the mountains and it is believed that farms are plentiful. The technological level is in great variance, as the Orcs are still recovering from the war with the other races, and the Concordat makes frequent raids to attempt to decrease technology. Scholars speculate, however, that the Orcs have merely moved their manufacturing facilities too far inland for the Kentish to find them. Far from containing just Orcs, the Empire also has sizable numbers of Goblins, Gnolls, Drow, and beings better left to nightmare. Oddly enough, the Gnomes are still part of the Empire, and they resisted attempts by the Council to free them from their bondage. Their spokesman said, to the offer, "Ourstuffisherethankyouverymuch!" What the Orcish citizens lack in agricultural and societal know-how, they make up for in ability to survive. The races under the mountains subsist on mushroom farms, while those aboveground subsist on whatever can be grown on the rocky hillsides. Government-wise, the Empire is divided into many nations, each owing fealty to a strong Orc ruler, whose successor is chosen by trial of battle and cunning. Most of the nations are dictatorships, a figurehead leader lording over subjects until he can be deposed and supplanted, but some of them are near-benevolent feudal structures and, in the case of the gnomes, a council of learned scholars. It is believed that the citizens are willing to live in these conditions due to propaganda that they will soon supplant the Humans. This is cause for the Kentish to be far more on guard.
These lands are to the Northeast, and consist mostly of open plains. The north is almost completely bordered by mountains, cutting off access to the ocean, and the center is home to a great forest. The rulership of the lands is a strict military-feudal structure, and though most peasants are contented they are under the constant shadow of being forced into service in border protection. The population here is strictly human, and the national religion follows belief in the war-oriented deities of the Council pantheon. By and large, life is very good, as the leadership is usually chosen for merit, not by succession. However, the lands are very unfriendly to non-humans; long years of propaganda have made the sight of anyone different a cause for alarm.
The body known simply as the Council rules over this central area, and has advisory control over the Kentish. As expected, the government is a council of men chosen for their wisdom, and they generally have a very happy populace. Unfortunately, they fall frequently into the trap of debating so many permutations of a problem that it has resolved itself by the time it leaves committee. This was what occurred with the Theocracy, and many speculate that it will have to spread to the gates of the Heart City before the army is mobilized. Unlike the open plains of Kent, the Council lands are mostly hilly, having a major length of mountains bisecting the region and making the coast an almost separate area. For the most part the Council lands are composed of humans, though there are a few areas in the mountains still populated by dwarves, and the vast forest is still home to Gray Elves. In theory, the Council lands also extend into the lands of the Elves and Dwarves, but such a vast frontier buffer exists there that this is only Council possession on paper. The Council religion is a Pantheon of gods, and quite a few of them. Only the major ones have any kind of temple, however, and the lessors are usually worshipped at home alters of those they especially favor.
A recent development, many nations on the Southeast part of the continent have been unified in belief of a single deity known as Arkand. These lands were little more than frontier until this announcement, and were not mapped very closely. The details of the landscape are as sketchy as the religion, and it is unsure what the strength of the religion is. It is known that their faith is powerful enough to have inspired them to absorb many nations in the isthmus connecting them to the rest of the continent, and they show no signs of stopping.
This vast forest is now the home of the Elves, as it has been for ages. No humans have made the journey in years, and none ever made maps. It is uncertain whether modern travelers would be greeted with a brace of arrows. The elves are fearful of change, and therefore it is likely that they still follow their ancestral gods and system of tribal leadership.
Southeast of the Elves the Dwarves also live in ancestral lands, mined deep beneath the mountains and hills. They are even less appreciative of company than the elves. As in the past, their society is likely still a meritocracy based on wisdom and skill, and they, like the elves, still likely worship their ancient gods.
Since the end of the war with the Orcish Empire, the Halflings have been content to live on a small peninsula between the elves and dwarves, living a peaceful existence in the forests. Their religion was never very clear, and they are believed to follow a conglomerate