Old Lastra
Patron: Unknown
Capital: Kladra Deeps
Primary Race: Drow
Primary Language: Deep Elven
Suggested Traits: Alchemical Adept, Competitive, Defiance, Education, Focused Mind, Levelheaded, Living History, Ruin Explorer, Templeborn, Work Hard
Regional Feat: Dayhunter
Description
Most consider the drow holdouts within the Lassus Mountains to be harmless; they are scholars and researchers trapped far away from the rest of the world. They have no ports for ships and are so far north that airships have difficulty making the voyage. Besides, their nearest neighbors are the Tyrancy and Voad; two of the most insular nations in Zenáthras.
The trouble is that, when it comes to hard facts about what Old Lastra is about, no one actually knows anything. There are assumptions and presuppositions and theories, but their tunnels within the mountain stone hide everything that goes on below the surface.
History
The Cult of the Spider already existed before the Age of Great Beasts even started. It was so closely associated with the drow—the subterranean 'dark' elves—that few actually realized that not all of them were not members of the bloodthirsty order of assassins and slavers. When numina fled the mortal races, those cultists died in their underground warrens, devoured by monsters that came boiling up out of the earth.
But a small colony of 'heretics,' who had renounced the Spider God as a false idol survived. Banished to the far north, they had found refuge amidst old ruins in the Lassus Mountains from when it had been the seat of the Kingdom of Lastra, a nation ruled by one of the Walking Gods. These ruins seemed doubly blessed, for the monsters were reluctant to approach them and many of the surviving drow huddled in their heart, hoping for the chaos of the coming age to pass them by.
Little is known, either about the drow themselves or what happened during this time. The few survivors who have ventured out of the new nation that has christened itself Old Lastra have shown signs of magic, though they refuse to name their patron when asked. They are reclusive, secretive, and singularly humorless, though they have not shown any real signs of hostility.
Foreign Relations
As a nation, Old Lastra is completely isolated from the other countries of the world. Their only interactions are in the form of rare individuals who come to the surface, known as their 'Dayhunters,' who are often seeking some rare reagent or exotic trade good. Once they have secured their prize, they will inevitably return to the Kladra Deeps.