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Ri'En is one of the major powers within The Five Realms. It is the wealthiest of the realms, yet has traditionally had the largest class divide and most poverty, now though resources are divided so that everyone may live and work comfortably and currency is not used within the realm. It is currently ruled by King Alexios "The Mad Prince" Rivvermont, following the overthrowing of Queen Katraine Rivvermont in 2AR, who made these radical changes to life within the kingdom.

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Geography

Ri'En shares a land border with Arimore to its west, and Quell to its south. The Kingdom's land is prodominantly made up of the Bezmadan mountain range, spanning the northern peninsula and land to the east. The rest of the kingdom is densely forested, though with good roads maintained between the various cities and towns. The river Aver passes through Ri'En through the capital Cerebon, where the river Niar, which flows down from the mountains, joins it. Ri'En has a largely temperate climate, though temperatures quickly climb approaching the border with Quell, whilst the mountains are covered with snow all year round. Beasts and monsters native to mountain, hill, forest, grassland, and arctic habitats can be found in various places throughout Ri'En.

Major Cities

The Capital City of Cerebon is the largest city in Ri'En by a considerable margin, with many of the world's most talented craftsmen making it their home. Other major cities include Leanor and the dwarven cities of Hilyde and Thorge, with other settlements being more akin to large towns or villages.

Demographics

Whilst the majority of Ri'En's population is technically Dwarven, the vast majority of the Dwarves live within the Bezmadan mountain range, with far less settling in the cities and towns of what many see as Ri'En proper. As such, most cities and towns hold a largely Human population with a large resurgence in the Dragonborn population following the Creation of Gem Dragonborns. Major cities hold a smaller mix of people from other ancestries, with towns perhaps having a few families who are not Human.

Life in Ri'En

Until recently, life in Ri'En was bleak for all but the rich and the noble. The common folk being bled dry with ridiculous taxes they could not afford, living in slums and performing hard labor to survive, with those unable to keep up with their payments to the Crown ending up in labor camps in the last two years of King Byron Horncloak's reign. Tavern life was a welcome respite from the constant struggle, with many a popular tavern song created by the beloved Prince Alexios "The Mad Prince" Rivvermont and with him throwing many parties in the streets where all food and drink was paid for. Whilst life had improved somewhat for the people with Queen Katraine Rivvermont's reign, with the labor camps and huge taxes being abolished, she also reintroduced the death penalty and tried to eradicate the dragonborn population, and Prince Alexios "The Mad Prince" Rivvermont disappeared from public life as he became her ward.

Since King Alexios "The Mad Prince" Rivvermont took the throne life in Ri'En has changed radically. All nobles were stripped of their titles and holdings, with many of which who were complicit in Queen Katraine Rivvermont's crimes being arrested, and the Council of Nobles was disbanded. In their place The People's Council was formed, comprising of working folks from each major trade to represent those within that trade, with each settlement having its own representative to ensure all voices are heard. Guided by The People's Council, King Alexios "The Mad Prince" Rivvermont distributes the kingdom's resources amongst the people so that everyone may live and work comfortably. Every person in the kingdom that wants one is given a house, and everyone is given enough food and water to live comfortably, with luxuries given out on celebrations and festivals or when the kingdom has produced a surplus. As such, currency is no longer used with the kingdom, used only in trade with other realms.

The old noble houses and houses of the especially wealthy have been transformed into community centres, providing space for the new public education system, meetings and activities, healing, orphanages, and temporary housing until more homes can be built to meet the Kingdom's requirements. This extends to Cerebon Castle, which too has been opened to the public as well as being used as a meeting place for The People's Council, even though King Alexios "The Mad Prince" Rivvermont still lives there in his childhood room rather than the royal chambers.

Each village, town, and city in Ri'En has created its own festival as encouraged by King Alexios "The Mad Prince" Rivvermont, with many public holidays being created too for everyone to enjoy.

Governance

Ri'En is now ruled by Monarchy, with the position currently held by King Alexios "The Mad Prince" Rivvermont, although he claims that the monarchy will end with him.

Law

Ri'En is ruled primarily by its reigning monarch, with the support of The People's Council, who advise the crown both on how resources should be distributed and on the desires of the people. The 'guards' or Protectors of the kingdom exist to defend and protect towns from monster or animal attacks rather than to enforce the law, in most instances where the law is broken the relevant Facilitator will speak with them to find out why the law was broken and to ensure they have what they need to live comfortably without feeling the need to do so, though people are encouraged to speak to their Representatives in the first instance. Those who repeatedly break the law who are considered to be provided sufficient means for comfortable living may be exiled with enough to set up a comfortable life elsewhere. Where laws have been unacceptably broken (e.g in the case of violence against another person) an Investigator will investigate the crime and the reasons for the crime, and arrest those responsible.

History

It is thought that people have called the of Ri'En their home since the Beginning. It is thought that originally the mainland forests were prodominantly home to Dragonborns, with some smaller populations of Firbolgs and Minotaurs.

The ancient Dragonborn clans are said to have held connections with actual dragons that populated Ri'En. Over the centuries there were a great many small conflicts between clans, particulary between clans of chromatic and metallic ancestries. Other races also began to settle in the area, including Humans, Tabaxi, and Dwarves, though initially they were generally not considered welcomed, they began to intermingle with the draconic clans and form settlements of their own.

It is said that the Bezmadan mountain range was forged by the god Malleo himself as a promised land for the Dwarves so that they might escape the Kingdom of Arimore's expansion of their rule. Though it was the Kingdom of Arimore's continued expansion itself that led to the Dwarven claiming of the mountain range. The then Princess Katraine Rivvermont forged an alliance with the Dwarves, promising to ensure the natives of the area did not prevent them from claiming their rightful lands so long as they financially supported her conquest of the surrounding lands and rule of those lands.

The existing clans and settlements, unprepared for full scale war, were taken one by one over the short span of a year of conquest. Once the conquest was complete, Queen Katraine Rivvermont declared that the lands she had conquered were to be their own independent Kingdom, founding Ri'En as it is known today. This declaration led to a war with her home Kingdom of Arimore, and brother King Benedyn Varconlis, which spanned five years, ending with a truce and trade agreement, whereby Queen Katraine Rivvermont could keep the lands she had conquered undisturbed.

The new Queen set about improving life in her new kingdom, establishing great improvements in transport, infrastructure and security for her people. These efforts to establish the kingdom she wanted to rule were greatly hampered by attacks by dragons. In response, and much to the horror of her dragonborn subjects, she ordered the death of all dragons on sight and actively took a role in hunting down and killing them, despite reportedly being pregnant at the time.

In 3197BA her eradictation of dragons extended to all dragonborns, whose fractured clans banded together under the leadership of Livjatan to protect themselves. Both leaders reportedly perished on the front line on in 3195BA, with the culling of dragonborns ending with her reign as her husband King Frendrel Rivvermont took the throne. He declared that Ri'En would return to the patriarchial rule of succession whereby no woman could rule alone, and male heirs would take prescendance. He went on to establish the Council of Nobles within Ri'En to assist in the ruling of its cities and towns.

The Rivvermont family continued to rule over Ri'En until 15BA, with the tragic death of King Jarold Rivvermont, with the only heir, Prince Alexios Rivvermont too young to rule and his mother Queen Luisa ineligble to rule alone, the then Lord Byron Horncloak married her and took the throne himself until such time the prince was fit to rule. This extended beyond the prince's coming of age due to Prince Alexios "The Mad Prince" Rivvermont's madness with the Council of Nobles's ruling in Byron's favour that he should rule until the heir's treatments were shown to cure his afflictions.

King Byron's rule was characterised by large increases in taxes, introducing the city entrance tax, and much later introduced labour camps to house and feed those who could not afford to pay their taxes. Life in Ri'En for the lower classes was often difficult, with large populations having lived all their lives on the streets or slums of the cities, and many taking to criminal activities and joining gangs in order to survive. A history of crippling taxes, especially those set during King Byron Horncloak's rule kept the poor in abject poverty, whilst the wealthy and ruling classes lived in luxury. This divide came to a head when King Byron decided to clear out the streets and slums and mandate work camps for those who could not afford his exorbitant taxes, though it was framed as providing free food and board in exchange for work, conditions in the camps were awful with no way to work to leave.

King Byron declared war on Quell, joining Mironia in the Quellian/Mironian War following a failed assassination attempt on Princess Kara's life at her engagement celebration in Ri'En to the then Prince Alistair Sonnique of the kingdom of Mironia on the 1st Soldus of Firewax 0ÆR, making peace soon after on the Third Morndus of Sunmas.

The kingdom's founder, Queen Katraine Rivvermont returned in 1AR, reportedly having been in a petrified state since her disappearance thousands of years ago. Seeing what had become of her Kingdom, and with renewed support of the Dwarves, Katraine started what has become known as the Rivvermont Revolution. Katraine set about freeing the people from the labour camps they had been consigned to under King Byron Horncloak's reign. Those she freed joined her cause, rallying into a people's army, which began to sweep across Ri'En.

Queen Katraine regained her kingdom and throne on the 1st Thordus of Nightwax 1AR when she led a sudden assault on Cerebon Castle, overwhelming Byron Horncloak's defences and killing him herself. Katraine took her only surviving descendant, Prince Alexios "The Mad Prince" Rivvermont as her ward. Her reign saw the end of the city entrance tax and all labour camps throughout Ri'En, as well as the reintroduction of the eradication of dragonborns and the death penalty. Life had largely improved for the people since the beginning of her rule with taxes being slashed and a significant crackdown on crime. As such, support for her had reamined high, despite her persecution and execution of dragonborns, until a group of adventurers thought to be associated with the The Circus Llūfain overthrew her and placed King Alexios "The Mad Prince" Rivvermont on the throne.

King Alexios has since made radical changes to the kingdom, disbanding the Council of Nobles and revoking all noble titles and holdings. In their place he formed The People's Council, made up of a series of representatives for each major trade and every settlement to ensure that everyone’s views and expertise is heard. He removed the use of currency from the realm in favour of a system of resource distribution whereby everyone gets enough to live and work comfortably, guided by The People’s Council.

Relations

Ri'En has an amicable relationship with most of the other Realms, though there is currently a lot of tension towards Mironia, and therefore Visia. This tension is largely due to Mironia's previous alliance with Ri'En's previous monarch, the daughter of whom is still married to King Alistair Sonnique, with his help having been sought towards the end of the Rivvermont Revolution, though too late to prevent its success. In addition, King Alistair Sonnique is known to possess a number of dragons, a species Queen Katraine Rivvermont hunts with the aim to erradicate them entirely. Since King Alexios "The Mad Prince" Rivvermont ascension to the throne, things have improved somewhat, though the two realms cannot be said to be close.

Relations with Arimore are generally amicable, though the closeness of the neighbouring realms was weakened by the death and relegation of the Arimorean noble houses, trade is still strong between the two.

Relations between Ri'En and Quell have been tumultous in recent years, with King Byron Horncloak having briefly declared war on Quell following a failed assassination attempt on his daughter's life. Since the end of the war, and the start of Lord Astor Harana's rule, with trade having resumed between the two.