The Kingdom of Rebmos (Northwest)
The Kingdom of Rebmos dominates the northwestern continent: a varied heartland of rolling plains, dense forests, river valleys, and scattered low hills (more fertile breadbasket than rugged mountain). Its cities are generally opulent, with marble facades, gilded domes, and manicured parks masking the soot beneath. The most notable is Kaldius, the glittering capital (a sprawling metropolis of crystal-lit boulevards, grand opera houses, and towering clockwork spires). Rapid technological advances originate in Kaldius (its academies and royal laboratories birthing self-regulating looms, etheric railguns, and clockwork surgeons), then spread outward to the rest of Rebmos in waves that leave outer cities struggling to adapt.
Rebmos is ruled by King Douglas Northington III and his sprawling family, a dynasty of stern industrialists in brown frock coats with gold trim. Its flag is brown with a gold-trimmed black gear and silver crown. The Rebmos crest is a male lion with a crown. Several Northingtons are secretly vampire thralls, ghost-possessed, or Covenant puppets.
Rebmos embodies oppressive order: rigid class system, draconian laws, and a dominant faith centered on the Holy Order of the Anointed, an institution that mirrors Christianity during the Crusades. The Order preaches “Purity Through Progress.” Anointed clergy wear flowing white robes with gold trim; their flag is pure white with a gold-trimmed chalice-cog. The Order is prominent in all aspects of Rebmosian life: it controls education, sits in parliament, collects tithes in ether-crystals, and runs the inquisition. In the military, the Order’s paladins serve as the elite: the Anointed Templars, armored in powered exo-plate etched with holy runes, wielding blessed ether-rifles and massive two-handed flails inscribed with psalms.
Rebmos fights with the latest technology: repeating rifles, ether-grenades that detonate in arcs of lightning, automated gatling turrets, and steam-tanks bristling with cannon. Officers carry monomolecular sabers and shock-mauls; infantry supplement firearms with bayonets, trench clubs, and alchemical blades.
Technological velocity is the primary divider of class. The Iron Aristocracy and engineers in Kaldius master each breakthrough. The middle class retrains constantly or slides downward. The low class, unable to keep pace, are left with no choice but to enlist in Rebmos’ military; the Iron Legion is swollen with them. Everyone knows why they joined: desperation. They are sneered at as “gear-fodder,” marching with obsolete rifles while Templars wield the latest ether-blades.
Cog-Necromancers (secretly guided by vampires) create Iron Wraiths: ghost-bound automatons. Rebmos wages war to “civilize” the Redlands and secure ether-crystal monopolies. Dissenters vanish into Reeducation Forges. Public executions are spectacles; bodies disappear before burial. The air is toxic; gas masks are for the wealthy, the poor choke on fumes that mask blood.