02 - Iron Kingdoms W.. - Captain Spud Is Amazing

284 Iron Kingdoms
108.1.141.197
The kingdom of Ord has a long shoreline and is
home to the finest sailors and dock men in western
Immoren. Ordic fishermen and sailors are proud of
their seafaring traditions and exert a great deal of
influence and control over seaborne trade routes all
over coastal Meredius. True, some Ordic ports are
pirate havens and thieves’ dens, but the goods that
their merchantmen procure from all over the Iron
Kingdoms often make such disreputable cities well
worth the trip.
Ord itself is a melancholic land of haunting beauty
renowned for its expansive coastland and lonely
hillsides sprouting from misty moors and river flats.
Aside from peat harvested from hundreds of bogs,
Ord has little in the way of natural resources. The
riverbanks near Merin have abundant coal deposits,
but they are only sufficient to meet the needs of the
capital. Inland residents tend toward farming, raising
livestock, or trade in peat or wool. A number of farms
and cattle ranches are owned by scores of influential
castellans and moorgraves, but the bulk of Ord’s
produce is used locally with only occasional surplus
for exportation.
Like the craggy hills and boggy moors, the people
of Ord are rugged, weathered, and difficult to tame.
They are mostly a common people who enjoy a wide
variety of sports and gambling diversions from their
calloused everyday lives of dock work, shipbuilding, or
tilling frugal fields. Many an Ordsman tries to make a
few coins to stave off hunger for himself and his family
by working everyday with nary a break. Those wealthy
enough to get out of the peat and mire live in large
estates and veritable mansions high above the filth of
lowland Ord, while some who cannot endure a legal
workaday livelihood often turn to less respectable
professions. Despite the best efforts of Ord’s kings,
bandits traditionally plague this nation’s highlands
and lowlands in significant numbers.
A land of contradictions, Ord is the strongest
naval power in western Immoren though its army is
small and antiquated in comparison to its neighbors.
Nevertheless, they have managed to repel numerous
Khadoran invasions throughout their history. The
border between the two nations is separated by
jagged hills easily fortified with dozens of holds and
fastnesses.
Politically the king dominates the will of Ord.
Lacking military strength, King Baird Cathor II relies
upon shrewd political maneuvering and manipulation
to ensure his kingdom’s survival. He is perhaps
the best-informed monarch in all the kingdoms,
not only possessing a keen mind but an expansive
network of spies. Since the outbreak of war, he has
carefully maintained his country’s neutrality even as
he attempts to play other nations off one another.
True, Ord has suffered repeated attacks from Khador
over the years and Baird’s sympathies often rest with
Cygnar, but he is simply too pragmatic not to press the
advantage whenever he sees an opportunity to exploit
for the good of his kingdom.
Such opportunities of late have perhaps bestowed
Ord with the chance to rise and become a significant
power again. As the only kingdom not yet engaged
in war, Ord is in a beneficial position. Opportunities
large and small present themselves each day, and the
gamblers of Ord always seem quite willing to take
risks. Talented refugees fleeing from Llael arrive daily
in Ordic communities in search of new homes. Cygnar
seeks to solidify an alliance with the kingdom now that
Llael has fallen, and the Ordic throne recognizes its
worth to Cygnar now more than ever. Meanwhile the
Protectorate of Menoth is a remote threat but a threat
nonetheless, and Khador has proven reluctant to test
Ordic borders. Indeed Ord is Khador’s only source of
outside commerce; it is a market the kayazy wish to
keep open. Like the tides from which the kingdom
derives much of its livelihood, Ord’s outlook seems
to ebb and flow from day to day, and its leaders and
king cast their nets into the choppy seas of politics and
intrigue to see what bounties they might draw forth
from the deep.
Ord Facts
RuleR: King Baird cathOr ii
GoveRnment type: MOnarchy
Capital: Merin
ethniC GRoups & appRox. population: tOrdOran
(2,100,000), thurian (700,000), Midlunder (100,000),
caspian (50,000), gOBlin (40,000), rhulFOlK (23,000),
BOgrin (20,000), scharde (18,000), ryn (16,000), Khard
(12,000), trOllKin (12,000), MOrridane (4,000), uMBrean
(4,000), KOssite (3,000), sKirOv (3,000), iOsan (500)
lanGuaGes: Ordic (priMary), cygnaran, KhadOran, Five cant
(cygnaran dialect), scharde tOngue (cygnaran dialect)