Once the homeland of the great Maronni empire, this gigantic lightning-shaped peninsula was torn apart into barbaric kingdoms, which then grew into one of the most cosmopolitan parts of the continent. Thalia is the land of poets and courtly princes, most wars are petty, small skirmishes, and when they become bigger they see more fighting in the court's feast halls than in the field.

The peninsula is limited to the north by the Halvedain mountains, to the west by the Stule mountain pass that leads to the Kingdom of Normand, and to the east to the Kingdom of Mythrelle. To the south only the sea and its islands are neighbors, although across the ocean many pirate raid have come from the caliphates of Tarica.

Almost being a stellar opposite to the Riamer peninsula of the Crown counties .Life in Thalia is easy and pleasant, for the most part. Bread and wine are plenty even for the poor and the lords know to keep their taxes low, they also know to constantly harass the domains. Bands of bandits, unemployed mercenaries or worse constantly roam the lands. Here the lords must constantly watch their backs, as their servants, their knights, even their own family will turncoat the second they look like they are on the losing side. The exception to this rule being the Condottiere mercenaries, who are extremely loyal to the terms of their contracts

There is no overall lord over Thalia, the diplomatic background is an ever changing array of noble families, traders, mercenary captains and court wizards. Religion is strictly fixed to Amaunator, but the ambition of power and its corrupting temptation have allowed the worship of demons and the arts of necromancy to run under the veil of darkness. The attempts of the Holy Zee to purge this heresy have been many, but none fruitful enough.

Vanneti society is the most cosmopolitan of them all, trade is their life and money is their deity, the rest is secondary. Whilst Amaunator is the only openly recognized god, their churches are rife with merchants, and all attempts to cull heresy were mostly for show. Bargains with devils in exchange for riches are far from rare, and travelers bring many new, interesting religions for the extravagant city nobles to delve in. All magic arts are allowed, but illusion and enchantment magic are scorned, as they can be used to charm or manipulate fair trade. The vanneti people themselves are very open to new ideas and other peoples, as long as these ideas are not too deep and the peoples have deep pockets.

The vanneti army itself is nothing surprising. The doge himself has a respectable council guard of handpicked elite fighters. the so-called “Excusati”. They employ many citizen soldiers, these men are given the best kit money can buy, but no amount of money ever bought skill with the sword or a valiant heart. To cover these matters they employ large amounts of mercenaries, be them thalic condottiere, craot clansmen or bress brutes. As for a battle strategy, they don't have one, for their main goal is to never wage a war with their own troops. The vanneti preffer diplomacy, cunning and deceit over any pitched battle, which is understandable considering how expensive their mercenaries are, the skill of their own citizens and the brutality of their enemies, one of which is the ragozans.

Up where the Stule mountain pass meets the sea lies an ancient citadel with deep catacombs and tall cathedrals, where the masses mourn what passed away and pray for what is to come. The history of Arlequin is the history of a noble woman, who in the fall of the maronni empire made a last stand against darkness and paid the ultimate price. For this, the pope of the time, one Leonorius the strong, canonized her as a living saint of Amaunator, patron saint of lost causes. The living part remains more myth than fact today, as it is said that the saint retreated to the deepest catacombs under the city, to mourn the loss of the oldest heroes the city has on memory.

The Signoria reigns over a few chapel towns and abbots, but their main domain is the ancient city of Arlequin,once a great city of the maronni empire that saw more tragedy than its people could handle. As it stands the noble class of Arlequin has no distinction with the priestly one, so do the warring and educated folk. Knights pledge their allegiance to the signoria or the light of amaunator, mages study elden lore as well as the word from the lord, and the ruler is not chosen from the most influential knight nor the wisest mage, but from the holiest amongst the ladies. The current ruler is one Signora Orleana Ausmundus, the daugther of Estebano Ausmundus, Headmaster of the Knights Vigilant.

The ancient city of Maroon was once the heart of the greatest empire in the continent, with its fall it became a dark, desolate place, but it now shines with the light of Amaunator. Churches to the god of light rise alongside the old ruins of the Great Fighting Pit, the amphitheater to the “sun god” and ancient statues of emperors and heroes of legend. The holy city is both the holiest site of the church as well as a living testament to what was lost when the maronni empire fell. Many adventurers seek permission to dwell into the ancient ruins that run deep under the city, and many more go without the church´s blessing, regardless of the consequences.

Whilst the church of Amaunator holds considerable domains across the continent, most of it is under the authority of bishops and archbishops, who obey the authority of the Father very indirectly. The domains of the Holy seat proper are the ancient city of Maroon itself, the surrounding villages and the coastal town of Neamaros. It borders the Kingdom of Anjou to the south and east, has the sea to the west and the Duchy of Argens to the north.

The ruling class of Anjou has since then relinquished all taste for violence, becoming diplomats, courtiers, traders and brokers, but refusing to even learn the language of their subjects. So big is their disconnect with their thalic subjects that they have adopted the moniker of “Les Idylliques” which was given to them as an insult. 

As in like their ancient homeland, noble squabbles and infighting are commonplace, the many noble houses battle for power in the cities, domains in the fields and influence in the courts, a war waged by honeyed words and cunning tactics rather than military might, although many a noble has found itself falling from a high window at night, or accidentally falling onto their own sword. That being said, the rulers of the kingdom are well aware of how hatred they are by the commoners, and make the effort to look strong and united towards them.

The current king of Anjou is one Charles the Sixth of house Anjou, who surrounds himself with the personal bodyguard of Longbeards, Handpicked Leromer Dwarves skilled in the greataxe, sworn to loyalty by sacred oath consecrated under the light of Amaunator. House Anjou has invited other normand noble families as well as many hardy crownsmen from the crown county of Aguerre, and adopted many Leromer families as their men at arms. The waging of wars and submission of the populus falls to these men, and the many mercenary captains they hire with the vast wealth they have gained through trade and taxes. 

The only openly praised god is Amaunator, as per the Seat´s command, but meddling in the correct circles will get you into some underground faiths, some harmless, others more interesting for the boring life at court or cruel life working the farm. People are openly segregated. with cities having quarters for the commoner thalic peoples, the noble servants, the mercenaries and always a small palace for Les Idylliques.

A few miles south of the biggest mountain passage to the Halvedain League lies a single walled city, with cunning lords and talented smiths. With ancient dwarven walls older than the maronni empire, mansions full of wealth on the surface streets and dozens of underhalls running beneath, this is a city full of history, known and forgotten. 

Before the conquest by the maronni, this ancient city was mostly abandoned, with savage tribesmen having occupied it, trying and failing to access its buried secrets. After a swift conquest it was put under the banner of the empire, and for hundreds of years it prospered, although most of its underhalls were sealed off by the imperial authorities, fearing they may pose a bigger threat than a boon due to the large amount of slaves the city funneled to the home province. With the fall of imperial authority the city was occupied by barbarian tribes, one of which quickly recognized the opportunity buried underneath. The Laugrim, mountain dwarves, far cousins of the Leromer and renown craftsmen amongst the Magerni tribes almost declared war on their fellow tribesmen , but after a few skirmishes became the overlords of the ancient city.

With the centuries the Laugrim allowed more and more thalic peoples in positions of authority, and even converted to their religion, although to this day rumors of ancestor worship taking place on the deep halls remain. The thalians took almost full reign of the priestly class in the city as well as many minor administrative roles, but they shone in one single activity that the dwarves very rarely cared for, the art of trade. With honeyed words and promises of gold they convinced the master smiths not to try and create the best , but instead what is affordable and mass producible Laminese smiths are known to be some of the best of the world,their steel can be found across the continent, but the Halvedain and Duergar smiths foam at the mouth when yelling profanities to their name, with the same ferocity an inquisitor accuses of heresy.

The domains of the city state border the Vanneti republic and Duchy of Argens to the east, to the south they have the domains of the Holy seat, and to the west they are met by the Signoria of Arlequin. The republic barely has some watchtowers on their borders, preferring the walls of their cities to be the first thing the enemy crashes against. All of the few cities they hold domain over have seen magnificent walls raised and halls dug as deep as the wealth of the citizens allowed.

The duchy is technically independent and it pays no tithes to any other state, but it is well known that influence from other states seep through the hundreds of easily bought nobles. The importance of the silver they mine has brought the attention of the whole region, specially of their neighbors the vanneti and the lamin, but also of the maronnian emperor himself, who has openly supported house Gedanz.

Despite the immense number of nobles, the people of Argens enjoy a large amount of freedom. Taxes are almost non-existent as the nobles base their wealth off the mines and trade, laws are strict, but generally fair when the issue is within one´s class. Magic is widely used by the gnomes and high elves, but no institution exists to deepen this knowledge outside of the families. The official religion is the one praised by the Holy Seat of Amaunator, but no investigation has gone into the depths of the mines or under towns.

In times of war the duchy prefers to let the enemies come to it, relying on its harsh mountains and hordes of skirmishers to wear the enemy down, then make it crash against the walls of their cities. Owlins are known to fly high into the sky, then drop loads of stones into advancing armies, so are the halfling and gnomes renowned for their skill at sabotage and subterfuge. With the drow and wood elves attacking at night, no room is given for an attacker to rest whilst in the lands of the Argens.

The mountains of the duchy are well known for being extremely cavernous. Rumor has it that they contain passage to long lost dwarven holds, or to the Duergar Under empire, but so far the deep gnome explorers have claimed to never found anything going that deep. What is known is that these caves hold a lot of life, be it fauna or flora, and both being extremely dangerous to the outsider. People are advised to stay away from the unexplored caves, but many an adventurer party has been slaughtered trying to find lost riches or mythical treasures.

Spread across the Thalic peninsula one will come across many knightly chapter houses, the unexperienced will believe them to be mansions of moderately wealthy nobles or traders, but in truth, these are the holdings of the Knights Famigliare. 

Also known as the silver-tongued order or the knights of the rose and prose, the order spreads peace across the peninsula by pulling on strands of influence, relying on the quill to be mightier than the sword. When war threatens to loom they are behind a letter sent to the correct noble, a rumor spreading through a court or the necessary people meeting in a place in which matters could be talked rather than sparred in the battlefield. They are present in every court of importance within the peninsula and on many more abroad, to the point that their presence is something of a status symbol. 

The current master of the order is one Knight Dominico Del Toro, a bald hulk of a man with very little elegance and a master horse rider, known for preferring to deliver peace with his words and if need be his mace before using letters or favors. Many speculate about the number of chapter houses and members of the order, most agree that there should be no more two hundred knights, which explains why they are so thinly spread. They also take the tasks of being bodyguards for people they deem important for the peace, rooting assassins and conspirators out of courts, although the less engraced with them have called them out for being conspirators themselves, and some even have suggested that maybe the few failures they had in protecting their nobles were not failures, but just another way to get closer to the target.

Any noble without claim to property may try to be accepted into the knight's famigliare, for which they are tested in their persuasion skills as well as with the sword. The Rapier and the longsword are the preferred arms of the order, with many of them being renown duelists.