Notes

Military Area of the Church of Hope
(MACH)

POLITICS:
The land is ruled by Hope. Not blind, foolish hope, but the true Hope that shields the heart from hardship and helps people survive in this harsh land. The inhabitants of the realm expect - or Hope - every member of the society to fulfil their destiny and take responsibility. Based on that idea, MACH is a democracy - mostly.
For, you see, democracy rarely prevails in a situation as tough and hazardous as that face by the MACH settlers in their everyday life. As the Military Area lacks any centralisation except for that of the unifying religion and the occasional Conclaves of Hope, which most elderly dismiss as ridiculous and which thus command little power, each settlement is left to decide their own way of governing.
The High Marches are the border areas of MACH, located at its mountainous borderlands. As the area is hostile to humans - a mountain-dwelling bestial race by the name of Thmurra inhabits it - democracy is often too slow to take the lead and thus a dictator is often elected for emergency scenarios. Many of the lowlanders, however, find this precaution in conflict with the ideas of ultimate Hope.
The deepest of the valleys have plentiful arable soil. There, the crops are grown and the life is the simplest. Majority of the MACH inhabitants live here and these folk are usually the most stalwart advocators of the original idea of Hope and their village councils are thus very democratic.
A few cities also dot the landscape of MACH; as they often do, commerce and riches go hand to hand with corruption, and differences of classes have begun to emerge in these cities. In the largest settlements, there also has come to be the caste of a priest; as the original idea of Hope is common and mutual to everyone, those not from the cities often fail to understand the essence of this profession.
Furthermore, ethnicity divides the land. The majority of the population - in the valley farms - are Kishlates and it is they who provide for the other areas. Norflungs have mostly made their residence in the harsh High Marches and the cities are inhabited by the eloquent and opportunistic Comans. As these folk do not mingle and mostly keep to their own in distinctly different areas, they often do not see eye to eye with each other.
CULTURE:
MACH was founded by three people: a Coman, a Norflung and a Kishlate, who came from the south in the first wave of the migration. Travelling in a not too sturdy craft into the glacial waters, they were prone to die. Storms assaulted their boat relentlessly and as each prayed to their own gods, no help came.
They realised they were not so different; for instance, none of them wanted to die. Thus, they began to work together even if just to lengthen their life by a few hours. And behold, soon before their eyes opened a crack in the wintry and rugged shoreline and they held a blissful realm of spring!
Their boats soon pulled in and, delighted with their newfound life, they created a new religion, for as none of the gods they had heretofore revered hadn't deigned to come to their aid. Now, their philosophy was instead focused on true and unmasked Hope and a unison of humanity under Hope.
Soon enough, other settlers came to the land and took the Hope as their own; and under this way of life that always seeks for the better tomorrow without being too concerned with it, their existence was a happy one.
However, problems have since arisen. Firstly, albeit everyone agreed to the prospects of the united settlers under Hope, the differences in ethnical temperament resulted in the three folk keeping each to their own. Thus ensued the process that will undoubtedly at one point bring about the ruination of the religion of Hope. The separation is easily seen in the place names of MACH: cities, like Mellowford or Drakenburg, bear Coman names; farming settlements and fields are called in Kishlate, like Veliki Zelen or Zlote Pole; and Norflung is used in the naming of the Marches like Kalttand or Dösterberg.
Secondly, life has made many in MACH too distant to the original ideas of Hope. Some, merchants in the larger towns, have become so used to splendour that they no longer see need to Hope for the next meal and next morning; others, embittered by the harsh realities of the guerilla war against the Thmurra, have concluded that even hope does not shield one from blade or blow.
GEOGRAPHY:
What makes MACH the paradisical realm amidst the harsh land, far beyond thousands of miles of tundra and algid wasteland, is the Dragonspine Mountains. The mountain chain spreads into two lesser barriers that nicely envelop MACH, protecting it from the cold winds of the North. Furthermore, the current ust so happens to carry warmth into the MACH coastline, making the weather yet milder.
The Dragonspine Mountains are a chain of volcanic mounts that cuts through the whole North; thus, earthquakes and even mountains spitting fire are commonplace in MACH, but the volcanical ash also provides the land with fertile soil.
Ships would have a hard time reaching MACH's coast due to storms and a trek through the hundreds of miles of snowy desolation from northern Galania or Border Empire would be impossible; thus MACH is very isolated and knows little of the south; however, the Thmurra race was here before the humans, and speculation remains in the air - was this race born here or are they demons from the far North where the sun never shines?