Tolamain

Kingdom on a continent in the southern hemisphere, the largest in the region.

It's bordered on the north by the Spine (mountain range), which trails off into hill-country in the north-west. There are lands to the north and north-west who are major trading partners. Overland trade routes are pretty much required to go through the hills.

Magic is used for crafting, music/entertainment, alchemy, healing, etc. Battlemagic is a recognised thing, but not very common, given the nature of magic as they understand it.

"Witch" is an insult which holds fear as well as disdain. Witches can be anything from mage-priests of religions Tolamainians don’t worship; to desperate people who have made contracts with gods for power or otherwise managed to find some way to pervert magic (like using sacrificial rituals) to gain power; to superstitious people attributing supernatural power to natural forces like the sea. Generally speaking, people think that most magic attributed to witches doesn’t really exist, but that which does is destructive and dangerous.

Calling someone a Lantene witch generally holds connotations of suspicion, xenophobia, and superiority. A Lantene witch is probably just some backward foreigner with strange superstitions and unfounded, unscientific beliefs about magic and the natural world. But they might be a completely amoral lunatic who would kill you to call a storm, or someone who was once human, but who has devoted themselves to a foreign and malevolent god, or in thrall to some magical phenomenon brought back by their sailors from the far north, beyond the known world, or who knows what else.

Most Tolamainians view Lanteans as superstitious and inferior, backward islanders, but they are also quick to fear them given any evidence of power beyond magics they are already familiar with.

Governance

Governance is feudal. Pretty standard fantasy medieval kingdom. Maybe a bit on the small side? But still the largest in the region.

At the top of the system is the King, followed by nobility granted land by the king:


 * Nobility of the First Rank (3-5) - Duke (duchy)
 * Large tracts of land, generally supporting one “large” city (pop~50k), surrounding towns and villages and farmland
 * ~2500-5000mi^2
 * It would take about two to four days to cross on horseback (more if on difficult terrain) or 25-35 hours on foot
 * Often split into county- or dominion-shares by the duke to facilitate management
 * Nobility of the Second Rank (15-25) - Count (county)
 * Moderate tracts of land, generally supporting a decent-sized town (pop~10-25k), often at a major trade crossing, several villages/hamlets, and surrounding farmland
 * ~500-2500mi^2
 * It would take 1-2 days to cross on horseback or 10-25 hours on foot
 * Nobility of the Third Rank (150-250) - Baron (barony)
 * Small tracts of land, generally along major trade routes, supporting up to several villages/hamlets (3-5 w/ pop~1-1.5k ea.), generally reasonably prosperous since they’re on the roads, but not at major crossroads
 * ~150-500mi^2
 * It would take a few hours to a day to cross on foot, or 1-4 hours by horse


 * Landholders granted property rights/tax collection responsibilities by local nobility (basically middle-managers)
 * County-shares held by vicounts (not actually a noble title - assigned by duke)
 * Barony-shares held by baronets (not actually a noble title - assigned by count or vicount)
 * Dominion-shares held by mayors (not actually a noble title - assigned by baron or baronet)
 * One per village/hamlet (pop 1-1.5k), plus surrounding farmland
 * A village or hamlet that might otherwise be considered a dominion can also be administered by the peasantry at the discretion of the baron/baronet responsible for collecting their taxes (village council, self-appointed mayor, etc.)

There are traders and craftsmen in the cities and towns, as well as employed by nobles to do what they do.

And at the bottom of the system are Tenants/Peasants.

They're patrilineal.

They're polytheistic, with a relatively small pantheon. Melinoë is the queen of damned souls - not only the bad parts of the afterlife, but also madness, nightmares and emotional turmoil/suffering among the living.

They've been experiencing a rash of peasant rebellions as word of the self-ruling Freeholders spreads, which is almost a larger problem for the crown than the fact that the Freeholders are taxing merchant caravans and resist all efforts to kill them.