PROTECTORATE OF RODACH

The Protectorate of Rodach is often seen, whether fairly or not as the most cosmopolitan of the modern nations. Forged in the wake of multiple past calamities, Rodach was always a center for trade. While not the only nation to have a shoreline on the Lanstall Sea of the interior as well as the relatively clement waters of the oceans to the south, it's the most stable of them, and has never had one of the magical incursions take place within its borders. Because of this, it has built itself up as the premier place for trade. Its wealth, relative stability and pleasant climate have also made it a popular destination for emigration, which the people of Rodach, lacking a strong king who cares for the long-term prospects of his people, have encouraged due to its ability to bring short-term wealth gains, albeit often at the expense of the common people who are not sufficiently connected to profit from the comings and goings, but rather find their own employment prospects limited by the influx of other races and peoples willing to do the same jobs for less.

The center of much of this is the city of Cliffgate, perched on and around a massive mountain that overlooks a deep fjord on the shores of the Lanstall Sea. While not the capital of Rodach, it is the largest and most populous city, as well as the wealthiest. Renowned for the beauty of its architecture, but with a seedy underside; the disparity between the haves and the have-nots is more stark here than almost anywhere else in all of HFX. Because of this, class, race, nationality—all are grist for factionalism and tribalism unlike anywhere else as well. Unbeknownst to the feckless leadership of Rodach and Cliffgate alike, the place is a powder keg of tensions, intrigue, skullduggery, sedition and worse, masked by the short term profits that some are able to make and the ambitions and greed of those who want to join the ranks of the prosperous, who are starting to realize slowly that the deck is stacked against them ever rising above their current station.

Although outwardly beautiful, Cliffgate is an almost noir-like city in terms of its attitude, its mood and tone, and the themes that games or stories set in Cliffgate would be likely to have. In spite of its cosmopolitanism, it is a hotbed of crime, espionage, ethnic and class-based pressure. It's reputation, whether truly justified or not, as a libertarian Mecca has many arriving believing that if they are a bit discrete and careful, they can do anything that they want here. Smuggling, black-marketeering, human trafficking, and vile cults—to say nothing of the occasional monstrous predators—haunt much of the poorer neighborhoods, where people are often angry, bitter, beaten-down or cynical. Not that the obvious upper classes know this, because they have little to no interaction with most of them, and see their lives as beneath their notice anyway.

While Cliffgate is the largest city, in the far north of Rodach on the southern shores of the Lanstall inland Sea, Prospero is the capital, also a port city far to the south, on the shores of The Ocean, which surrounds the entire HFX continent. There is sometimes bitter rivalry between the two cities, who act, in many ways, like large rival city-states within Rodach itself, and the various other cities, towns, villages, hamlets and estates of the country are generally aligned with one of the two of them. Easy travel between them does not exist because of the distance and the vast forestlands that separate them, so they can operate somewhat autonomously from each other. The rulers of Cliffgate tend to resent interference from the King in Prospero, and his relationship legally is weaker than some other kingdoms; Cliffgate and its surrounds are technically a protectorate of the King, not explicitly his kingdom, although the distinction is somewhat unclear, and depends on the strength of personality of the King and the Grand Duke of Cliffgate.

Fallenstar is the other relatively large city in Rodach, and is farther to the west, against the mountains and far from either the Sea or the Ocean. While immune, for the most part, from the drama between Cliffgate and Prospero, Fallenstar has its own problems; it was originally named Falkenburg, but was renamed when a mysterious meteor fell nearby, causing a localized natural disaster. More about Fallenstar on its own page.