Estruaza

Patron: The Golden Lady (Unknown Fey)
Capital: The City of Rivers
Primary Races: Centaur, Human
Primary Language: Sylvan
Suggested Traits: Alchemical Adept, Artist, Education, Focused Mind, Levelheaded, Luck, Seductive, Templeborn, Wealthy
Regional Feat: Feyblessed

Description

A land where beauty is paramount and harmony is considered the highest virtue, it is a singularly peaceful place in modern Zenáthras.  Not even the Council—though both more powerful and more wealthy—can admit to having borders as secure or lands as safe as those of the fey realm of Estruaza.  Part of this is due to the diligence of its people, we will always stand up to defend their homes, but most is the responsibility of the tremendous numbers of fey who seem to reside in every stream, tree, and hillock and whose presence makes the country a peculiar place indeed.

The residents are used to living with the fey, who have many small demands, and they know to always leave out a saucer of milk and to never step on wildflowers, to care for any injured animal they find and never, ever leave iron lying around.  In return for these devotions, the Estrua'a are free to pursue lives devoted to the writing of poetry and playing of music, the crafting of beautiful jewelry, the producing of fine plays, and the tending of great gardens.

Overseeing all of this the Golden Lady, a powerful fey of tremendous size and beauty, towering taller than a giant and glowing with an inner light like the luster of molten gold.  Her hunters patrol the forests of her domain and massive red hounds sit around her throne of birch and yew.  She rules from a mighty temple complex in the Lake of Gardens, with towering wooden gates and lofty, arching pagodas.

History

Estruaza is the only modern nation to have existed before the destruction of the Well and the Golden Lady had long dealt with mortals, being an ally to many a crusading hero of ages past.  She even provided a small unit of her royal sword-sages to fight at the Field of Broken Crowns, where they were counted amongst the most valiant—and successful—of the defenders.  When the Traitor-Heroes claimed victory, she was quick to offer her protection to the people living in her lands.  Unfortunately for the survivors, Estruaza was never a densely-settled land, instead being home to only a small number of villages and towns.

Mobilizing her fey, she was able to keep the resurgence of monsters from entering her lands, though it created many a furious border skirmish before the beasts of the land learned that dealing with fey wu jen or the deadly sword-sages would end only with their deaths.  Refugees were welcomed with open arms, but other than a few small tribes of centaur, few could make it through the growing numbers of monsters.

Many of the locals already looked on the Golden Lady as a semi-divine figure, and as she continued to protect them and their civilization flourished while the rest of the world collapsed, more and more began to pray to her.  The most fervent of these, priests and priestesses known locally as shugenja, began to develop mystic powers of their own, often called forth with intricate dances and rituals used to bless homes and businesses, to inspire followers, or simply to worship the spirits of land and animals in thanks for their many gifts.

Foreign Relations

Even before the War of the Traitor-Heroes, the Golden Lady was an ally of Duchak the Elder, and that has continued on into the present age, with her alliance with Duchak the Younger.  Though somewhat aloof as far as foreign matters are concerned, Estruaza's ports and borders are open to all who would come in peace and it is not unusual to see ships from the Tide Princes, Dwallutham, Marukeem, and even Kyth and Jyvestra there.  Though the country is predominantly human, it is also common for elves from Idyle to make pilgrimages to Estruaza, to walk its peaceful glades and cleanse themselves in its rivers and waterfalls.