M'Chek: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 23:20, 6 January 2011

M'Chek is the southernmost nation of Negaria, and one of the homelands of the humans of Avlis.

Geography

M'Chek is a large, arid nation. Even today with the population stabilized, it is still heavily inhabited, with few unsettled areas. Farming is the primary use of land on M'Chek's plains, though there is also some herding of livestock. A few scattered forests remain, but little compared to what existed several centuries ago. There are several ranges of rolling hills (including Mikona's infamous Hills of Tumult), but nothing large enough to be called mountains.

Despite the arid climate and use of water for agriculture, there are several significant rivers in M'Chek, including the Lost River.

Inhabitants

The majority of M'Chek's inhabitants are human. These are mostly the civilized humans of the cities, and the wandering tribal Romini. The rural lands also house small tribes of brownies, bugbears, fire giants, frost giants, goblins, mountain giants and ogres. In the cities, an even more diverse collection of races can be found. Mikona is also home to a sizeable dwarf population.

Settlements

The mainland area of M'Chek is dotted with hundreds of farming villages. What follows is a list of the major settlements.

Bachwood
Derrington Keep
Eastshore
Equaloria Keep and Dunster Commons
Finmaegen Keep
The Hills of Tumult (shown on map here, but located on Mikona Server)
The Lost River Caverns
Nelthrope Keep
The Order of the Way
Southill
The Warrens
Westshore

Religion

Aside from Mikon's widespread worship, Dagath, Kelvos, Ingoren, Maleki, Pelar, Ptah, Wilsash and Xenon each have significant bodies of followers in rural M'Chek. The city of Mikona proper likely contains worshippers of every deity known to Avlis.

Politics

Government

Government: Noble Democracy.

There are two Houses of Government in M'Chek: The Noble House and the Common House. The Common House picks its representatives from among the commoners of the nation, although rarely do any of these commoners come from outside the city. Thus most of the concerns of the Common House deal with city matters. Rarely do they interfere in matters of national action or policy, although they do have the power to do so.

The Noble House is made up of representatives from two places: the Noble families of M'Chek, and the various large Temples represented in Mikona, namely the temples of Mikon, Dagath, Ptah, and Valok.

This house deals mainly with foreign policy issues and affairs. Although each individual Noble family has total control over their own estate, they are expected to represent a portion of their nation's interest. For instance, all of the major Noble families have personal armies and troops, but there is also a standing national army of M'Chek to which each noble is expected to contribute a certain percentage of its force.

Political boundaries of M'Chek, before Drotid invasion

The two houses of government are presided over by a Minister who executes decisions and carries out the task of administration, although they are liimited in their actions by the legislators. In addition to the Minister there is a War Commissioner who is the commander and chief of the standing army. This is a hotly contested position, that has been filled by either Nobles or reputable warrior generals.

Here is a representation of the playable area of M'Chek, including political borders for many of the Noble Houses as they stood prior to the Drotid invasion. Note the disputed area in Lord Bostwick's estate... many argue that this village belongs to the Blandenberg Protectorate. One can easily see from this map the land lost to northern M'Chekian nobles such as Nelthrope and Bostwick as a result of the treaty ending the border conflict with T'Nanshi.

You can see a larger map here.

Law Enforcement

M'Chekian Guards

Military

Armed Forces

Fortifications

Alliances and Enemies

T'Nanshi and M'Chek still view each other with extreme distrust, but the alliances of the war were abandoned before its end. Today, M'Chek has no formal military partners, though in recent years some information sharing has begin between the M'Chekian Army and foreign military units fighting the Drotid invasion in their home nations. M'Chek is currently at war with its former ally, the nation of Drotid.

Commerce and Relations

M'Chek has trade relations with nearly every other nation of Negaria. Overland trade comes through the Blandenberg Protectorate, and follows the Mikona-Blandenberg Highway south to the capitol. But most commerce is conducted by sea, using one of M'Chek's three ports.

History

Legends claim that M'Chek is the site where Mikon was imprisoned during the Age of the Gods. Following the gods' defeat of the Negerai, Mikon is said to have created the human race here during the Time of the Dawning. At some point in antiquity, the local tribes coalesced into the nation of M'Chek.

Nearly a century after the end of the Great War, the foundations of Mikona were laid on the M'Chek coast. The nation prospered over the centuries, and the capitol grew into a densely populated metropolis.

By the late 1800's A.O.D., the population explosion had outpaced the capacity of the nation to produce food. Starvation, poverty, disease and death became widespread among the lower social classes. In desperation, the humans beseeched the elves to let some of their families move north into T'Nanshi, but the elves refused, citing the M'Chekians' mistreatment of whatever land they live on. The elves did not want hoards of men and women coming to live on their land and potentially destroy it, or at least grow to outnumber the elves and destroy their nation through attrition alone. This argument got uglier and uglier over time, and eventually M'Chek began to take land from the forests of T'Nanshi along the northern border. When the elven nation responded with military force, the M'Chek-T'Nanshi War ensued. What began as periodic border incidents escalated over centuries into a "world war" involving many nations. The extended fighting, exascerbated by a terrible plague, took its toll on both sides, and the war finally ended with the creation of a neutral zone between the two nations.

This neutral zone is named the Blandenberg Protectorate. It extends east to west across the breadth of the land, from sea to sea. The control of the Protectorate is in the hands of the churches of Dru'El and Mikon. Their holy warriors, the Avengers and the Equalizers, protect the land and her people.

The large number of casualties to the plague have eased the overpopulation problem for a time, along with the exodus of over one hundred thirty-four thousand people to help found the city-state of Visimontium. But forward-thinking leaders of M'Chek recognized that it was a temporary respite. A variety of solutions to M'Chek's food shortage are being tested to this day, including healing the ravaged land, farming mushrooms in the Underdark using Deglosian agricultural practices, and continuing emigration to new homes, particularly Visimontium.

Drotid War

Following a civil war inside the shaahesk nation of Drotid, the new leader embarked upon a widespread assault of the southern nations. M'Chek, caught off guard by the unexpected assault, has lost much territory in the east as well as control of the eastern waters. Currently engaged in a draining war, M'Chek struggles to drive the aggressors off its territory before simple attrition forces them to accept shaahesk occupation of the eastern coastline...

For a list recent history, see Mikona server in-game developments.

Technical aspects

Needed Files Server: M'Chek - world.avlis.org:5131

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 [[Image:M'Chek.jpg|right|thumb|200px|The nation of M'Chek]]
-'''M'Chek''' is the southernmost nation of Negaria, and one of the homelands of the [[Human|humans]] of Avlis.
+'''M'Chek''' is the southernmost nation of [[Negaria]], and one of the homelands of the [[Human|humans]] of Avlis.
 == Geography ==