Evil Land is not a world governed by peace, but by friction—between ambition and desperation, between the ruins of the past and the empires clawing toward tomorrow. Its politics are less about lofty ideals and more about survival, domination, betrayal, and the bargaining of flesh, steel, and souls. Every faction eyes the others with suspicion, each one a potential partner, rival, or future corpse.
The Qin Dynasty looms largest, a colossus of order amidst chaos. Their Emperor, Zhao Hengdi, proclaims his mandate over all lands under heaven—including the fractured wastes of Evil Land. Their politics are expansionist, absolute, and uncompromising.
Allies: The Guild of Merchants courts Qin favor, trading arms, grain, and slaves in exchange for imperial protection and coin. The Guild of Fighters finds steady work as mercenaries under Qin banners, though they risk becoming cannon fodder.
Enemies: Tribal groups, Ashlanders, and scattered kingdoms resist Qin annexation. House Dagoth despises Qin’s iron law, declaring that only ash should rule. The Guild of Thieves hates Qin bureaucracy, which strangles smuggling routes.
Tactics: Qin diplomacy is blunt—submit and live, resist and burn. They employ both envoys and war elephants, peace treaties and crucifixions.
Far to the cold north, the Dominion of Canada governs through pragmatism and politeness sharpened into a weapon. They value resource extraction and territorial integrity, preferring negotiation but never shying from war.
Allies: They maintain cordial relations with the Guild of Merchants, relying on them to distribute timber, furs, and northern ores. They occasionally ally with the Guild of Mages for weather-shaping enchantments to control winters.
Enemies: Qin sees them as soft but strategically dangerous. Baron resents their control of northern ports. Megacorporations compete bitterly with them for resources.
Tactics: Diplomacy first, ambush second. They prefer treaties backed with hidden armies, and their forests swallow whole invasions.
House Dagoth wages a war of ideology as much as conquest. From ash-choked mountains, their dreamers and cultists whisper of unity beneath Dagoth’s vision. They infiltrate rather than invade, corrupt rather than conquer outright.
Allies: Cult cells nest within the Guild of Assassins and Guild of Thieves, using both to undermine rivals. Certain Commoner villages embrace Dagoth in exchange for protection from monsters.
Enemies: The Qin Dynasty despises them as anarchists. Baron’s dragon knights view them as abominations. The Guild of Mages fears Dagoth’s mockery of pure arcane study.
Tactics: Subversion, propaganda, and dream-plagues. They spread paranoia until entire cities rot from within, ripe for annexation.
An echo of old Final Fantasy kingdoms, Baron blends knightly honor with ruthless militarism. Their politics are tied to their airship fleets and the dragons they command, symbols of dominance over both land and sky.
Allies: The Guild of Fighters respects Baron’s martial culture, often training within their tourneys. The Guild of Merchants provides fuel and arms for airship fleets. Baron occasionally coordinates with Qin against House Dagoth, though trust is shallow.
Enemies: Dominion of Canada contests their trade lanes. Megacorporations hate Baron tariffs on airship commerce. Ashlanders resist Baron colonization.
Tactics: Displays of overwhelming force. Baron prefers wars that are short and decisive, crushing opponents before diplomacy resumes.
Operating as both syndicate and intelligence network, the Guild of Thieves thrives in cracks between empires.
Allies: The Assassins, when profit demands. Merchants, when contraband needs circulation. Certain tribal groups, in exchange for information.
Enemies: Qin’s bureaucracy and Baron’s patrols. Both regimes sentence thieves to public execution.
Tactics: Blackmail, forgery, and smuggling. Their politics are transactional—they will ally with anyone, betray anyone, if the price is right.
Seemingly neutral, but in truth the most dangerous of all. The Guild of Merchants manipulates alliances through control of markets and supply chains.
Allies: Qin, Baron, and Canada—when it profits. The Guild of Mages for enchanted goods. Even the Commoners, whose surplus goods fill markets.
Enemies: Megacorporations, whose monopolies threaten free trade. Thieves, who cut into their profits.
Tactics: Sanctions, embargoes, and currency manipulation. They play empires against one another, ensuring trade always flows through them.
Though mercenaries by trade, their political clout is immense. Whoever hires them gains not just soldiers, but prestige.
Allies: Baron, Qin, and even Commoner militias. They often lend instructors to smaller groups, ensuring broad influence.
Enemies: The Assassins, who see their glory-seeking ways as naïve.
Tactics: Patronage networks. Fighters establish training halls in every major settlement, turning them into soft power centers.
They do not control territory, but they shape politics with blades in the dark.
Allies: Dagoth cultists, Thieves, and sometimes Mages. They thrive in shadow alliances.
Enemies: Qin and Baron, whose rulers have both narrowly escaped their blades.
Tactics: Selective killings to destabilize rivals. They often orchestrate “accidents” that swing wars without ever declaring sides.
Knowledge is their coin. They sell enchantments, weather control, and battlefield spells to the highest bidder.
Allies: Baron (for enchanted weaponry), Merchants (for scroll circulation), and sometimes Qin (for siege sorcery).
Enemies: House Dagoth, whose corruption of magic they see as blasphemy. Megacorporations, who attempt to patent and monetize spells.
Tactics: Knowledge hoarding, magical monopolies, and occasionally outright magical terror when contracts are broken.
Politically underestimated, but their solidarity gives them quiet power.
Allies: Ashlander tribes, Mages (who train gifted children), and sometimes Dominion of Canada.
Enemies: Qin tax collectors, Baron’s conscriptors, Megacorporations demanding cheap labor.
Tactics: Nonviolent resistance, sudden revolts, and supply boycotts. Their numbers make them ungovernable when provoked.
These nomadic peoples value independence above all. They resist assimilation, whether by Qin law, Baron knights, or Dagoth cults.
Allies: Commoners and Thieves, both of whom respect their autonomy.
Enemies: Qin expansionists, Baron settlers, and corporate exploiters.
Tactics: Guerilla warfare, ambushes, and scorched earth. They turn wastelands into weapons.
Corporate enclaves from a lost age, they reemerge as capitalist warlords.
Allies: Qin occasionally, when contracts align. Merchants rarely, though both distrust each other.
Enemies: Commoners, Ashlanders, and rival corps. They wage economic war as often as physical.
Tactics: Monopolies, privatized armies, and devastating exploitation of resources. Their “contracts” often bind entire villages into servitude.
Survivors & Wanderers: Play all sides, sell rumors, or disappear.
Creatures of Evil Land: Their presence forces alliances of convenience—no faction is immune.
Secret Organizations: Whispers of hidden cabals influencing events from beneath.
Qin vs. Baron: Uneasy respect, occasional cooperation, inevitable war.
Canada vs. Baron: Trade disputes, naval clashes, frozen resentment.
Dagoth vs. Everyone: Infiltration ensures every faction has daggers pointed inward.
Merchants vs. Megacorps: Economic cold war across the wastes.
Thieves & Assassins: Symbiosis of shadow, tolerated but never embraced.
Commoners & Ashlanders: The hidden heartbeat of resistance, ignored at peril.
Politics in Evil Land is a maze of shifting allegiances and grudges. No alliance is eternal, no truce absolute. Factions war in daylight, scheme in darkness, and plot endlessly for dominance. In Evil Land, power is not permanent—only the struggle for it is.