Ioric League

The Ioric League
One of the major powers of Tol, the Ioric League - also referred to as the Galen League, after the lead city - is nominally a confederation of independent human and Faun city-states.

In more practical terms, it is an imperial thalassocracy organised and lead from the city of Galen.

History
Prior to the arrival of the Faun, the Ioric Peninsula was rather sparesly populated, being a mountainous and hilly region with little fertile space for agriculture. Raids from the inland hill tribes also contributed to the lack of significant population growth of the towns and villages that had come to dot the coastline as a result of colonisation from mainland Tol.

Initially, the Faun emporiums had little bearing on the wider geopolitics of the peninsula; there was cautious contact and trade between the emporiums and human towns, and much fear on the part of humans about the intentions of these strange newcomers from across a sea that they did not know could be traversed.

But as time passed, and the Faun continued to pursue a policy of peaceful co-existence, primarily establishing their emporiums of the sea-facing western coast - which had been neglected by humans due to the frequency of dangerous storms coming from the open sea - and soon trade and cultural exchange had begun to win them allies among the peninsula's human townships.

But it was the action of the Sabilites - the northern culture of hill tribes on the peninsula - that was a lightning rod for development of what would eventually become the Ioric League.

The Sabilites had been a series of entirely independent tribes, with common language, customs and culture, but always politically separate. This changed around a hundred years after the first Emporiums had been established on the peninsula; the Sabilites felt threatened, their raids against the Faun had been distrastrously unsuccessful, and as relations between the coastal peoples and the Faun improved, they found themselves increasingly squeezed by the changing political atmosphere of their land. In a bid to oppose these changes, a demagogue emerged; Nubis. He convinced large swathes of the Sabilites to eschew old tribal rivalries and serve under him as the single King of the Sabilites, conquering yet others to ensure their loyalty, adding their people (and so their warriors) to his own.

The brewing conflict came to a head when Nubis lead a significant force of Sabilites (supported by troops from the few coastal towns equally opposed what they saw as an Faun takeover) in a sweeping battle against the large town of Abarsh. The town was raised to the ground, it's people slaughtered or enslaved, and Nubis returned to his mountain home victorious and more popular than ever before.

The response of the coastal peoples was to beseech the Faun for assistance, brokering a loose alliance between themselves and the Faun emporiums. Nubis again gathered his forces, and again he marched them down from the mountains intending to lay waste to another coastal town. This time, the alliance swiftly gathered their forces, with Faun sailing rapidly to join the mustered defense, preparing to meet the Sabilite King in pitched battle. 3 days of back and forth skirmishing culminated in the Battle of Olobus, where the Sabilite King Nubis was slain and his forces routed.

In the aftermath of this defeat, the Sabilites retreated into their mountain homes, where they could not be easily pursued, whilst the allied coastal towns submitted to the alliance. This was a watershed moment in human-Faun relations, and in the following decades the relationship was further cemented as official structures were put in place, culminating in the Treaty of Galen.

Galen
Eponymously named after the now legendary war hero who is said to have slain King Nubis in single combat, Galen was founded as a multicultural venture between displaced humans of Abarsh & Olobus (which were both devastated from the fighting), and those Faun looking to build a more permanent settlement on the eastern coast of the peninsula. The village of Hanutica was selected by the Faun for its strategic location near the Pelagosian channel, it's surrounding swampland (which the Faun had the means of draining to create the arable land needed to support larger populations), as well as terrain that made the area a natural harbour.

Under Faun tutelage and supervision, a city was quickly erected on the site, and within half a century it was already a bustling trade port.

Galen, as the capital, is also home to the League's treasury.

Society
Ostensibly a confederation of independent city-states, the Ioric League often behaves as an imperial power, dictating League wide military actions from the capital - Galen - and strong arming member cities into following Galen's whims.

Some of the earliest changes to member states - under Faun direction - was the building of great stone walls around settlements, in place of the wooden mounted palisades that were the norm previously. This effectively extinguished the threat posed by Sabillite and Saeafinei raids.

Governance
Although there is no uniform rulership of the member cities, most are ruled by a wealth aristocratic oligarchy known as Patricians. These Patricians are powerful families constituting the ruling class of their respective cities that between them form the Patriciate; a governing body.

Military
As a thalassocracy, the bulk of the League's power comes from its naval strength and maritime dominance over the Pelagosian and Bara'al seas.

All member states must either provide ships, or funds, as a tithe collected by Galen. Land defence is largely organised on a city-by-city basis, with each mustering a body of citizen militia in times of threat and duress. Some member cities employ a force of fulltime professional soldiers; this is mostly commonly observed among cities close to the borders of non-allied states, or cities with significant land threats, such as those near the neck of the peninsula near to or on mainland Tol. Notable among these are the cities of Amyklai and Argea, both of whom maintain large standing armies, competing with one another (and sometimes coming into conflict) despite both being members of the League.

As a result of the general lack of land based standing military, the Ioric League makes extensivr use of mercenaries. These mercenaries are recruited from all over Tol, sometimes even Ekuka, and in a far more limited capacity from Gamb.

Atroxi bands in particular find employ among Faun, who do not harbor the natural distrust humans have towards beastfolk.

One of the stranger mercenary battalions employed within the League is that of the Flathead Goblins, known as the Hammerhead Legion. Renowned for their ferocity, they form a disciplined phalanx in the Faun-fashion, and serve as permanent guardians of the city.

Human

 * Orissia -Second only to Galen within the League, Orissia is a large human settlement at the neck of the peninsula, occupying a strategic position that guards the rest of Ioria by land.
 * Partheleon - As one of the oldest settlements in Ioria, Partheleon is seen as the traditional cultural home of Ioric civilisation.
 * Cadmeis - An island within the Makednos Archipelago. It is a major exporter of grain, having a temperate climate and protected from open sea storms by a buffer of other, smaller, islands. Much of the grain from Cadmeis ends up on the markets on Galen, giving it a particularly important and prestigious standing within the League.
 * Ankereon - One of major the western coast cities.
 * Heliknas - Built at the foot of a mountain, the city is notable for its silver mines.

Faun

 * Da'amat - Considered the centre of learning among Faun, it has a great library which also tends the remaining relics and artifacts from the Faun homeland of Epor.
 * Nezool - The largest Faun city. "The walls of Nezool" are renowned for being momentous and impenetrable.
 * Ousanas -
 * Bazen - The first Faun emporium, many Faun make pilgrimages here to pay tribute to their ancestors and forebearers. It sits the furthest out to sea of all the islands in the Makednos Archipelago.