Lumot

Lumot is a constitutional monarchy in the Southern Reaches. It was founded in A.Y. 3380 after the dissolution of the Layloma Empire. Lumot is part of the Alliance.

History

The Layloma Empire had been in a state of civil war for 10 years before a peacekeeping force, led by the Gudersnipe Foundation but including soldies from the Alliance, entered the territory. Lumot was one of three independent nations established that year, along with Kiatra and Senega. Much of Lumot's remaining material wealth, and most of its land was owned by the powerful Trurro Family, the Patriarch of whom quickly declared his daughter a princess. Yuls Trurro, an important minister in the Layloma Empire, had maintained a great deal of wealth and power and still held clear title to his lands when the hostilities were forcibly brought to an end. While the population did not like the thought of letting a part of the old guard be involved in the creation of the new government, Yuls was a buisness man and a landowner, and under Alliance law could not be stripped of his property. While he most definitely funded various warlords during the preceding conflict, he could not himself by accused of any war crimes, and indeed within his stronghold was well-respected.

Perhaps because of public misgivings, Yuls did not himself become a direct part of the new government. While he certainly had the power to name himself whatever he pleased, he saw the desire for democratic rule and felt it was the correct course of action. Instead of bestowing any formal title on himself, he crowned his seven year old daughter princess, and thus began a new dynasty. Lumot differs from other monarchies in that it has no king or queen, only princes and princesses. The crown was passed from eldest child to eldest child, or to another suitable heir.

War of Aggression

Relations between the three nations had always tumultuous. For much of the third and fourth Ages, there existed in an uneasy peace peppered by occasional fighting. The list of grievances went clear back to the Mage Wars, and minor skirmishes were a regular occurrence. The trilateral boarder was militarized and included varying degrees of fortification. The primary source of conflict was almost always over resources, Kiatra was rich in minerals while Lumot and Senega had some of the most productive agricultural land in the region. The three nations were locked into a sort of perpetual stalemate, as no one could invade either neighbor without opening itself to an attack by the other.

This all changed in A.Y. 5303, when Lumot and Senega formed an alliance and together attacked Kiatra. The primary driving force was water, Senega and Lumot were profitable exporters of cotton and flax, but had been dealing with a drought for several decades that threatened their ability to produce exports. Kiatra had a surplus of water it was unwilling to share, as well as valuable mineral deposites and a newly-discovered oilfield in the Lyot Gulf.

While nominally members of the Alliance, all three nations were technically part of Layloma, as none had registered independently. In this case, the Alliance could not intervene in an "internal" matter, unless any nation invited assistance. Kiatra was initially keen to hire the Crimson Blade mercenaries, having long been on friendly terms with the Foundation in nearby Modia. This presented an uncomfortable scenario, as the Crimson Blade easily had the military force to invade and occupy Lumot and Senega, and reduce them to puppet states. The Alliance was not eager to allow any such influence, especially on some of the chief suppliers of cotton and cereals in the region. Crimson Blade activity would thus have required Alliance intervention, which would in turn lead to something both parties were eager to avoid at any cost: an armed conflict between Alliance regulars and Crimson Blade Lancers. What happened next would become the stuff of legend. A 'great power' reached out, and divided the states physically, in 'a single night and a day of destruction'.

The actual event involved a series of earthquakes which opened three large rifts, over the course of a week, and apparently with enough advance notice that no one in Kiatra suffered any injuries. There was significant damage to their infrastructure, but fortunately, "most of the state-owned factories were closed for refurbishment, with their equipment dismantled and carefully packed into shipping containers". Additionally, the nations' twelve nuclear power plants were offline for refueling.

The rifts created a series of mountain ranges and fjords (the region had been mostly plains before), with the rifts swallowing most of the Lumot and Senga armies. These gave Kiatra its own boundaries, waterways, and steep mountains, to defend the nation against further attacks. The waterways became vital shipping lanes for the neighboring states. Eventually, the great schism would be remembered fondly.