In the center of Zentravalk around two thousand estates as small as a hamlet to outright kingdoms cobble themselves together and claim the title of the ancient maronni empire. Centuries ago the great king Rexus of Astonia ruled over most of Zentravalk, by diplomacy or might had most of the original domains of the maronni empire under its hand. With this and the blessing of the Father of the church of Amaunator he was crowned emperor of the fallen maronni empire. The Istvani empire, inheritors of the eastern part that never fell, at first tried to establish an alliance of marriage, which would have seen the empire fully restored, if at least to its former territories. Due to many things that historians cannot seem to agree on, this unification never came to be, and with the death of Emperor Rexus his great domains split into warring factions , sons , daughters, generals and close friends tore each other apart for a place under the crown.

Currently the empire´s domains are restrained to the territories of the once magerni tribes, sworn enemies of the maronni. To the west across the Cecoule river lies their main rival , the Kingdom of Normand. Down to the south across the Stule mountains and its northern pass lies the Halvedain League. To the southeast a small passage leads to the brother Kingdom of Mythrelle, very similar in culture although much more centralized. To the north lies the cold sea ,and the small Kingdom of Druz. To the east lies the biggest border with the Kingdom of the LLapocks and a small border with the Kingdom of Gahunry. There is no city to be called capital of the whole empire, emperors recur to use traveling courts or rule from the capitals of their home province. 

A religious order of knights raised at the end of the calamity and based on the cold northwestern reaches of the kingdom, given a holy mission by the Father of the church centuries ago to teach the heathens of the north into the faith or force them into it. Martial by tradition, these knights care very little about their personal wealth, although not a single knight ever lacked coin for war. 

The current master of the order is Brother Master Heinrich Krieger, a stern old half orc with more battles to his name than any other order warrior. Below him are the closed thirty, the inner circle of the order who assign command of their many forces within their own table. Each brother of the inner circle has complete authority with the forces and domains assigned to him, but they are wise enough to listen to their veterans, be them knight or sergeant.

The order answers to the Father himself, but listens to the Maronnian lords and has on occasion done small favors to the Emperor. Their castles are tall and dark, with a very spartan style of life of the people who join. Recruits can be both nobles and commoners. The nobles join as brother knights, usually second sons or the losers of feudal disputes, whilst the commoners join as brother sergeants, and are usually trained to fight as a heavy defensive spear wall. Mercenaries are commonplace as well, southern Landsknecht and western bowmen are the most common and favored men for hire on their roster. 

Heavily armored knights are the premier force of the order, they may lack the elite quality and divine sense of other orders, but they and they alone stand as the only order to ever field a thousand knights in battle. Their foot troops tend to be on a support role, to tie the enemy down or guard their domains. Spears and lances are the main weapon of choice, but flails, maces and other bludgeons have grown popular, making the image of a Knight of the Steel Cross be the one of a fully armored knight bearing down on a barded horse, wielding a flail the size of his head onto his enemies.

Almost fully inside the other domains of the Maronnian empire lies a big kingdom in and of itself. Many centuries ago when the Emperor Rexus was old he came across the Helmars and saw their mighty army, not mightier than his, but mighty still. Stories tell of a friendship between the two men, that they knew each other from the days where fiends and beasts tore the world apart. Others say that the old emperor grew tired of shedding blood and came to an agreement with the then king of the Helmars, they would become part of the greater empire, but would otherwise remain independent, to rule themselves and live as they saw fit. 

The kingdom is almost as big as the Riamer peninsula and is around ten percent of the domains held by the Maronnian empire. The rivers Valtavan and Elver split it in three, but where these collide the capital city of Valver lies, a trade hub of the whole empire. Valver is home to not one, but three schools of wizardry and worldly matters, many an emperor was trained in the art of ruling by a helmar scholar, and many a foe has been bested by the fireball casted by one.

The helmars are rather reluctant to join the greater empire, having fought many wars of defense for their right to hold a more independent branch of the church of amaunator, the so called “Samussian” Church, named after the priest who rose in protest of the corruption of the institution. That being said, these wars have forged many of their men into rough mercenaries, fighting from their armored wagons with heavy crossbows, mighty magic and the occasional simple firearm. The current king Wenceslas the mute has managed to keep this state of affairs, but many have looked at this kingdom and deemed it too independent for the good of the empire.

In the western reaches of the empire the forests grow deep and the roads scarce, with few big cities, but many towns , castles and outposts, each managed by their “noble” lords. Consisting mostly of tribal wood elves and orcs, these “lords” are technically subservient to the command of dukes that own the major cities outside their forests .In reality no city duke worth their salt has ever tried to have any degree of real command over them, although it is common for deals to be made and use them as mercenaries.

These tribal lords see their domains intertwined with each other , often with small bits of terrain no bigger than a couple miles of forest land dotted around other lords'  domains. Family feuds are the norm, with some spanning centuries as the wood elves won't forget and the orcs won't forgive .This constant small scale skirmish on broken terrain with incredibly confusing political lines has grown them into some of the best skirmishers in the empire. Wood elf bowmen will have running skirmishes for hours with an enemy, then vanish at a moment's notice. Columns of normand nobles marching onto the empire´s heartland will find themselves cut off in sections by trees falling onto the marching troops, followed by javelins and hordes of armored orcs. These men are the masters of the surprise, knowing all the secret paths and when to stop their inner quarreling to fight a greater foe. They are a veritable force that many nobles have known to use, as well to misuse.