Kunland

Kunland is a bastardisation of the Donner name "Kind Land". The Donner who initially conquered and settled this small, fertile valley found the lush farmlands and beautiful woods to be the most hospitable and inviting region they had seen in their journeys. The initial settlement was quite a minor principality, not considered of any great military value.

Early History

A low ranking Donner noble was gifted the small stretch of pastures and woodlands and the people within (Kundland can be easily traversed within a day) for distinguishing himself in battle. The Donner, who was approaching the last years of his life, proved to be an intelligent ruler who phased in Donner presence among the population with great acumen. His main tactic of assimilation was one of rebuilding structures that had been damaged in battle and giving them to dispossessed families, acting as a "paternal conqueror" of sorts.

It ended up being a wildly successful tactic, the native "Kindlanders" being thoroughly demoralised after a series of defeats. Any animosity directed at their conquerors quickly dissipated as their lot was generally improved by having a very efficient military force and system of law enforcement, the introduction of more advanced architecture, roadways and farming techniques, and the rather simple introduction of walls surrounding towns. The mental difference that this created in the emerging nation of Kunland cannot be downplayed. The wall, while seeming like little more than a logical defensive barrier in times of war, ended up becoming a subconscious icon of a powerful and pervasive xenophobia that defines the current Kunland national identity.

Around year 0YR, a series of plagues wiped out the small Donner presence in Kindland entirely, and both sickness and the natural disasters that followed were devastating to the human populace. What Donner survived returned to their ancestral homeland in the Donnerclere Mountains in desperation.

Modern Society

The Kun (as they've come to know themselves after years of linguistic isolation and bastardisation of the Donner tongue) have come to see the rest of the world as the "outside", and in their opinion, what's already outside should damn well stay outside. To that end, they've developed a powerful military presence. Every man is required by law to own arms and train with them at the nearest town center or village green for one full day in seven, and is required to spend one full week of every three months in the capital of Lundskout.

Primarily, Kunland is a farming nation, self sufficient, rarely allowing trade with outsiders. While they are willing to deal with individual merchants, they do not allow the presence of established mercantile companies within their borders, and the Kun outright refuse to set up treaties of any kind with outsiders, regardless of the common ground they seek to establish.

Military

Their professional armies are mostly mercenary forces. They array themelves into "septs", groups of seven troops which are then organized into larger units according to the overall size of the force. They can be hired by anyone, but have a notorious reputation for refusing to fight other Kun under any circumstances. They are also known to be absolutely chilling in their dealings, turning coat should a greater offer come without any hesitation, or even simply walking away if they cannot be paid on time, as per the initial agreement. As the now proverbial saying goes, "Kun gul, kun Kun" (No money, no Kun).

Almost all of them are rabidly patriotic, however, and will immediately end their commission to return home should their country be in need of defence. All four of the major kingdoms, and many minor nations, have attempted to conquer Kunland. All have failed spectacularly. This is part of the reason no Kun force will never fight their countrymen on the field, regardless of their employer's orders - they only kill outsiders.

They make up for these potential shortcomings by being one of the fiercest fighting forces alive, one who subject themselves to an incredibly strict code of honour and laws. Any man who turns and runs on the battlefield is hanged, along with every man in his sept. They also place great importance on the care and maintenance of equipment, as well as in returning with as much kit as possible.

The Kun as a force do not run - they fight to the last, and when faced with overwhelming odds, will very occasionally allow an orderly retreat to be called. Otherwise, they will neither give nor ask quarter, summarily slaughtering any foe who surrenders.

While they may be employed by a party, they do not follow orders from anyone but their own captains called "Heads." In any sept, the man assigned as one is the first number, and therefore highest rank. Every sept has its chain of command organised numerically, if one dies, two is in charge, then three, and so on. Even in a case where seven septs are organised, everyone knows his place in the chain of command and can step into the lead.

While it has not happened historically, should it reach a point where seventy seven septs are linked, each Kun is required by their martial laws to know every single man's place in the chain of command.

The only man who can command a Kun is his superior. When hired, they will often engage when not given orders, press the initiative when not told to do so, and either chase down fleeing foes or stop to tend their wounded in violation to any orders they receive. This usually aggravates their employers to no end, but their knack of destroying everything that they oppose makes them too great a commodity to leave on the market for one's foes.

They fight from armor ranging from padded and leather armour to chainmail. As a rule, they mostly use polearms, halberds when facing the more heavily armored troops. Pike and spear when facing more lightly armoured troops and cavalry. Every man is assigned a short sword of some kind, some being little more than a large butcher's knife, some being as advanced as katzbalgers. They wear helms that are generally open faced with a nosegaurd. Bills and more elaborate face protections are next to unheard of. They generally take one archer to every spearman into battle, and use short recurve bows that can be quickly drawn and shot.

The Kun are infantry only troops, and use no cavalry whatsoever. Their breeding stock is rather poor for horses, and they seem to have almost no interest to trade for them, as horses are seen as domestic animals, not weapons of war.

Government

While they have a reputation for fearlessness, brutality, and atrocity (more than one counter attack on the lands of an invading force has involved rape, torture, mutilation, crucifixion and the display of corpses), the Kun are essentially a collection of farmers and townsmen. They have no great cities, and their capital of Lundskout is little more than what was built around the old Donner structures. They have a ruling line that is essentially the equivalent of a baron in feudal hierarchy. Due to the bastardisation of the old Dværg title, their ruler is called the Earl.

His position as Defender of the Kun occasionally treated by the titleholder as ceremonial, but is for the most part very much a practical duty of the Earl. Martial prowess and tactical acumen are viewed with great prestige in Kunland, and thus a Earl of Kunland who distinguishes himself as a general and soldier is often adored by the public. Dynastic change is rare, and only occasionally occurs through outright battle between houses. More often, it's a case that one family has lost all of its heirs of age, and either disappears from the picture entirely or intermarries with its successor. The Kun are far too xenophobic to begin warring amongst each other with regularity - even the smallest of towns have walls (some unstripped logs), and to live in the foulburgh outside the wall is seen to be the position of a pariah.

Culture

Kunland is not revered for its centres of learning or fine wines, nor for its philosophers or poets. They do, however, have exceedingly good cheese, cuisine, ciders and ales, as well as some of the best engineers in the middle kingdoms. They very rarely use siege warfare, but their engineers similarly have a great degree of skill. Most of that is garnered through practical experimentation, but their small schools of mathematics in Lundskout are regarded as some of the finest in the known world. While literacy is not common outside of Lundskout, it is a matter of national pride that every child in the nation can count to a hundred by the age of seven, and by twelve can remember the chain of command in a set of seven septs.

Plothooks

To date, only two Kun forces have been defeated - one that was hired in an attempt to make an incursion into northern lands, and a second that was simply never heard from again when hired on an expedition to the east. Neither their men nor their benefactors ever returned, and for centuries their fate has been the subject of debate and speculation.