Minor Powers of the World

The Frontiers are not empty. Many small states (relative to the great powers of the world) live, trade, and fight in the continent. Minor powers are essentially a state that does not have territorial reach or a unique advantage. May of the smaller states exist near the Road of Forgotten Kings, displaced by the vengeful Frontier Legions after the Deluge of Xan.

Vassal States
Those that had resisted Xan had been integral to the ASH’s victory during the Deluge by threatening the lines of supply and tying down armies that sought to crush the young Autocracy. The luckiest of these petty kings found themselves as vassals or incorporated into the rampaging Frontier Legions. The least fortunate were deposed with little fanfare.

Frontier Legions are made up of soldiers, not statesmen. Many of these vassals survive in one form or another. As long as they are able to send tithes of men and materiel, they are mostly left to their own devices.

Bandit nations
Worse fates awaited those who joined Xan. Whether they chose to lend their strength to Xan’s armies or were forced by the creature didn’t matter to the crazed Legions. The devastation of their former homes left little mercy in the conqueror’s hearts.

Some of these royal families have survived, fleeing into the wilds of the Frontiers. These can be degenerated tribes of humans living in caves that worship iconography or sophisticated lineages that carve out entirely new fortified towns in the wilds. These bandit states sometimes even adorn themselves with the old symbols of Xan’s armies.

Bandit nations are only a category. There are as many forms of government, policies on Cursed/Fleshcrafters, and responses to aberrant events as there are bandit nations.

A notable danger of Bandit Nations comes from other hostile powers. Though they have their own goals and methods to achieve them. Any threat to the ASH is likely viewed as a friend to larger opponents of the Autocracy. Aid from the Technocratic Commonwealth, Khuland, or mercenary Oblivionites is common.

Subtle Kingdoms
Subtle Kingdoms are similar to Bandit Nations but are often more subversive. Entire royal families and their retainers that have built communities that blend in with the wilds and find themselves occasionally expanding into aberrant events to hide from their conquerors. They prefer to operate clandestinely to take out Vassals and Legionary outposts through guile rather than force. There are multiple recorded instances of usurpation of Vassals by these hidden nations, marrying into royal families and almost imperceptibly drifting from the ASH.

Notable Minor Powers

 * Mausoleums of Urbat
 * Caelor
 * Mandumine
 * Free Cities