Southern Federation of Kingdoms

The Southern Federation of Kingdoms (SFK) was a political and military coalition in southern Mundus formed by several states—Jalbarra, Yaxton, and the Grand Duchy of Greater Urq are explicitly attested—to coordinate against regional rivals. The Federation emerged between ~500 and ~450 cycles ago and became the principal antagonist of Directionland in the War of the Empires (~300 cycles ago), after which it collapsed and was dissolved. Within the Aetherian tradition, the SFK’s patron deity is recorded as Darg.

Southern Federation of Kingdoms
Flag of the Southern Federation of Kingdoms
Coat of Arms of The Southern Federation
Nation type	Federation
Form of government	Imperial Federation
National anthem	We Are One
Motto	Truth Binds Us All
Currency	Urqot
Languages	Directian
Territory & population
Capital	Fort Yaxton
Major cities
Arriqon Gurron Pomian Vale

Etymology and composition

Primary sources refer to the polity as a federation of kingdoms, with member states including Jalbarra, Yaxton, and Greater Urq. The exact number of additional members, if any, is not preserved in surviving summaries.

Formation and purpose

The SFK formed in the window after the United Realm of Directionland (c. 500 cycles ago) and before the Great Unification (c. 450 cycles ago). Contemporary accounts link its creation to border disputes with Ruulran, alongside wider southern security concerns. By the time Directionland fully centralized at the Great Unification, the Southern Federation was already seen as a looming threat.

Government and leadership

Sources characterize the SFK as a federated imperial structure during wartime, headed by a “King-Emperor.” During the War of the Empires, the coalition’s leader is named as King-Emperor Larsi. Further constitutional details (e.g., councils, capital seat) are not recorded in the extant overviews.

Religion

In Aetherian lists of national patronage, the Southern Federation is associated with Darg (the Wise), in contrast to Directionland’s veneration of Simonius and Ruulran’s association with Odivia.

Society and noble houses

Surviving civic registers and later southern legal commentaries consistently portray the Southern Federation of Kingdoms as a rigidly stratified society in which noble Houses were the primary unit of law, property, and identity. House affiliation governed inheritance, titles, heraldry, and most forms of political legitimacy. In practice, a person’s name was treated as an assertion of legal belonging, not merely a personal identifier.

High Houses

Within the Federation’s aristocratic tradition, High Houses were chartered lineages recognized by state and temple record. They held the greatest estates and offices and served as the formal backbone of the Federation’s internal order. Legitimacy was narrowly defined: children were considered of a House only if born to a recognized union or later publicly acknowledged and legitimized through the proper registry process. Without such recognition, an individual had no automatic claim to House protections, inheritance, or heraldic standing.

Heartnames (bastard-names)

Children born out of wedlock and unclaimed by any House were recorded under a standardized class of registry surnames commonly called Heartnames. These names followed a fixed pattern: a place term, often geographic, paired with the suffix “-heart”. The suffix was legally and culturally reserved for unclaimed births and was not used by legitimate Houses, making it immediately recognizable in Federation lands.

Heartnames functioned as a clear declaration of status: the bearer belonged to no House and, by default, held no rights of House inheritance unless later legitimized. If legitimization occurred, the Heartname was typically replaced with the legitimizing House surname in official records. After the dissolution of the Federation, Heartnames faded with it.

Foreign relations

With Ruulran

The Federation’s origin is tied to a Ruulran border dispute, suggesting a guarded or adversarial posture toward Ruulran at its inception. Later, during the War of the Empires, Ruulran refused to intervene when Directionland requested aid, a decision that reshaped regional diplomacy but is not shown to have been coordinated by the SFK.

With Directionland

From its earliest mention, the SFK is framed as Directionland’s primary southern threat, a status that influenced Directionland’s move from a symbolic union to a centralized empire at the Great Unification. Tensions culminated in the SFK invasion ~300 cycles ago, which overran Gandry and Grelian and nearly broke the young empire before Directionland’s counteroffensive.

Role in the War of the Empires (~300 cycles ago)

Under King-Emperor Larsi, SFK forces launched a full-scale invasion, swiftly seizing Gandry and Grelian. After seven cycles of attritional war, Directionland’s Imperial Engineers of St. Niam debuted the TNT trebuchet, a siege innovation that shattered SFK positions. In the eighth cycle, Directionland burned the Federation’s core territories; most civilians were spared and allowed to flee. The Southern Federation was dissolved thereafter.