Obwalla

Obwalla is a region of Modia east of the Sea of Shocked Quartz. Governance of Obwall is complex. Officially, it is a constitutional sultanate ruled by the Obwalla Ascension Dragon Flight, and nominally a member of the New Day Alliance. However, all of the major industrial centers in the region are owned by the Gudersnipe Foundation and are considered total control zones. These areas cover roughly 20% of the land in Obwalla, but contain more than 80% of the population. As such, Obwalla's official government is and always has been largely just for show.

Obwalla is geographically isolated

History

Long Night

During the Long Night, the region became a net-exporter of food. Given the region's lack of arable land and over all poor soil quality, this was something of a mystery. In fact, most of Obwalla's population lived in extreme poverty and starvation, working to export food to Samuel Fate's industrial regions.

New Day

In the New Day era, Obwalla first devolved into a series of waring tribes, then into a group of city-states. The Obwalla Ascension Dragon Flight waged a war of subjugation beginning in N.D. 95 and concluding around N.D. 100. There are two opinions on this event. The official history states that the dragons, acting as a benevolent force, intervened on the human's behalf in order to "save them from themselves". The probably more likely course of events is the dragons siezed the region in order to gain territorial rights as part of the then-burgeoning Trans-Draconic Federation.

In any case, the dragons quickly learned that even with the aid of draconic magic, the region could not be self-sufficient while providing for the humans to an appropriate standard. As such, they invited the Gudersnipe Foundation to re-open the mines and quarries which previously dotted the region. The Foundation, however, required some form of official human government in order for any concessions to be honored by the New Day Alliance. The dragons achieved this by finding a surviving member of one of the previously waring human factions, declaring him king, and calling it a day.

When the first king was assassinated mere days after his coronation, the Foundation stepped in and helped the remaining citizens of Owballa set up a sort of constitutional monarchy.

Over the next several years, the Foundation completed an initial survey of holdings in the region, and determined that the various mineral resources being offered had "at best forty to fifty years" of exploitation remaining, with very low potential return on investment. They proposed large-scale investment in the region, constructing factories and major industrial facilities initially to exploit the resources but that could later be converted for other uses. However, in order to ensure their own stake, the Foundation required the dragons(and by extension, their human puppet government) to sign 999-year leases on very large swaths of land. The dragons agreed to this despite fixed rates, because the lease would include an annual tribute in solid gold.

By roughly the third century N.D., the mines and industrial sites had involved to encompass all of Obwalla's major metropolitan areas, as well as becoming total control zones for the Foundation. Every human living in them was, on some level, an employee of the Foundation and received all the rights and privileges therein. This led to urban Obwellians having a drastically higher standard of living than their more rural counterparts.

The chief problem was governence. In the cities and total control zones, the Foundation ran the show. Obwall

dragons learn region cant be self-suffient dragons bring in foundation foundation requires membership in alliance dragons and foundation allow humans to set up puppet government puppet government decides on a monarchy various city-states and bloodlines fight over the throne for centuries dragons get tired of this, remove human king, place dragon kingh