The Five Nations were the five provinces of Galifar before the Last War. They include Aundair, Breland, The Mournland, Karrnath, and Thrane.
Player's Guide to Eberron
Although Khorvaire now contains no fewer than fourteen different countries, principalities, and territories (not to mention the desolate Mournland and the Demon Wastes), the vast central region of the continent is still referred to as the Five Nations by a great many people. For most of the last thousand years, this name was not a confusing moniker but the literal truth. Five nations held sway over the majority of the land—the five nations that made up the Kingdom of Galifar.
The calendar used throughout Khorvaire counts years from the date 1 YK (the first Year of the Kingdom), when Galifar I united five dispa- rate nations into a single kingdom that carried his name. Even as Galifar ascended the throne of the Kingdom of Galifar, he set his five children up as the governor-princes of the Five Nations, each of which retained much of its unique culture and national identity through the life of the united kingdom. Today, they remain the heart of Khorvaire, carrying the names of Galifar’s children despite conquest, unification, and the devastating effects of the Last War.
In theory at least, the Five Nations once covered all of Khor- vaire. In reality, the Demon Wastes, the Shadow Marches, Droaam, Q’barra, the Lhazaar Principalities, and Valenar—all the lands that lie far beyond the central core of Khorvaire—were never solidly under Galifar’s control. Maps of the united Galifar from around 500 YK (see the facing page) show these lands as parts of the Five Nations, but the reality is that Cyre never had a strong presence in what is now Valenar, for example. Some of the frontier areas had scattered settlements (such as what is now present-day Valenar and the Shadow Marches), while others were home to monstrous races until relatively recently (including Q’barra and Droaam).
Aundair lies in the northwestern part of Khorvaire’s central core. Today, it is the most sparsely populated of the remaining four nations, with much of its land occupied by farms and vineyards. Fairhaven, its capital and largest city, is less than half the size of Sharn, and Aundair in general is far less urbanized and industrial than Breland and the other nations. As a center of learning, it exports books and scholars alongside its wines, cheeses, and grains. Breland, the largest surviving nation in population as well as land area, has a highly industrialized economy, relying on mining and metalwork of various kinds. Despite the urban image it presents— primarily because of Sharn (Khorvaire’s largest city) and the bustling metropolis of its capital, Wroat—Breland covers large tracts of land that include tilled fields as well as mines, quarries, and forests.
Karrnath rivals Breland in sheer size, but can hardly compete in numbers of people. Karrnath suffered under plague and famine at the start of the Last War and has never quite recovered. It is best known for its militaristic mindset and extensive use of undead troops. For all that, it is not a nation of necromancers. Because the nation is heavily forested, Karrnath’s economy is based on its lumber industry, and it also exports ale, livestock, and dairy products.
Thrane, the smallest of the Five Nations in land area, boasts a population larger than that of Aundair. Thrane is a theocracy, no longer ruled by a descendant of Galifar but controlled by the Church of the Silver Flame. Outside the great cities of Flamekeep and Thaliost, orchards and ranches help support the nation’s economy, while textile production and other fine crafts drive its industry.
Cyre, the fifth nation that carried the name of a scion of Galifar, no longer exists. The outlying lands that once belonged to Cyre have been divided among Dar- guun, Valenar, and the Talenta Plains, while the former heart of the nation has become the blasted waste called the Mournland (see page 116). Created by a magical catastrophe near the end of the Last War, the Mournland remains hostile to all life. The remnants of the Cyran population live in its old territories, as well as in eastern Breland and Q’barra.
Although only four nations remain of the original five (and with some of those partitioned into smaller kingdoms now), the name still carries a powerful emotional weight. Few living people have any memory of a united Galifar, but “the Five Nations” evokes images of a better time, when the diverse cultures of Khorvaire lived in harmony and cooper- ated to their mutual benefit. “By the Five Nations!” remains a common exclamation of surprise or indignation, and the people who once lived under the rule of Galifar’s heirs still consider themselves residents of the Five Nations.
Five Rulers
King Galifar I established a royal line that continues to rule parts of Khorvaire to the present day. When Galifar united the Five Nations, he gave each of his five eldest children regency over one of those nations, and thirty years later the nations adopted the names of those rulers as their own. While the Kingdom of Galifar endured, the rule of succes- sion was that the five children of the king of Galifar would serve as the governor-princes of the Five Nations, with the oldest taking the throne of the united kingdom when the monarch stepped aside or passed away. In this way, every ruler of the united kingdom would learn leadership at the helm of one of the Five Nations.
With the shattering of the kingdom, each governor- prince declared himself or herself to be a monarch, and today the monarchies of Aundair, Breland, and Karrnath are held by specific branches of the Galifar family. Thrane, now a theocracy, still has a royal family that traces its lineage to the last monarch of the nation, and the bloodline of Cyre operates in exile within the borders of Breland.
Eberron Campaign Guide
For a thousand years, civilization was synonymous with Galifar. A great nation forged on the principles of justice and progress, it stretched across Khorvaire, shining the light of innovation into dark corners of wilderness until all lands and all peoples were subject to the crown. Powerful and farreaching as it was, though, Galifar was not eternal— the overriding ambition that saw its birth also rang its death knell.
Divisiveness and greed shattered the kingdom’s tenuous bonds. The scions of Galifar’s last king each vied to emerge as heir, stopping at nothing to claim the throne. Avarice, delusion, righteousness, and naked ambition plunged the kingdom into a bloody civil war that raged for over a century. Indeed, it might have lasted longer were it not for a singular event—the catastrophic destruction of an entire people in one terrifying magical eruption.
Without warning, the cultural center of the Five Nations, Cyre, was consumed. The heavens caught fire, eerie mist boiled up from the ground, and death spread far and wide. Nothing was spared. Cyre’s annihilation struck terror into the hearts of people of all nations. This fear led to an accord between the surviving nations and brought a temporary end to the bitter struggle.
The Last War looms still in the hearts and minds of the people of the Five Nations. Veterans and victims search for meaning in the uncertain peace of this new age. Old battlefields littered with the bleached bones of the dead line the borders of rival nations. Clandestine organizations fight a new war—a cold war—in which battles are waged using proxies in the shadows, all against the threat of a reignited war.