Important People and Factions

The current Master Admiral of Dask is Dalen Erzenka, a stern officer who was originally from the Justice division of the PKF. He has been in power for about 5 years, and his rule has been a stable time so far. The former Master Admiral was killed by an unexpectedly tough behemoth that was attacking a southern province, and Erkenza, his right-hand man, was set to take his place. However, there was a significant delay between the prior Master Admiral's death and Erkenza taking power, which is commonly explained as being caused by grief, but Erkenza has not spoken about it. Some suspect more insidious reasons, as Dalen was not seen even by family and close friends during this time. However, he has since made up for the initially slow start with both with improving fortifications, and earning the approval of the outer provinces with a more diplomatic approach to their complaints. Erkenza still has his detractors, however. Some consider him too defensive and passive to be a good leader for Dask, and that he is leading the country into a time of degradation.
    On the subject of Dasken politics, rumors abound about a shadowy group called New Ermane, who are said to infiltrate the government to manipulate influential people to their wishes- which is to facilitate Ermane's takeover of Dask.

The Vincia League is another of Dask's many syndicates run by criminals, but with a twist. The Vincians are scholarly people, who wish to further Ermanen research into the potential of magic and crystals- at any cost. Working closely with organized crime in Quinae, the syndicate brings in test subjects and Kintite to experiment on. Lately, their work has become focused on creating a biological substitute for Kintite.
    While many Ermanens find their ties to human trafficking in Quinae distasteful, it doesn't change the fact they have access to a lot of useful knowledge that can be a lot of help for those who are willing to ask, and maybe pay a price for it. As much as they like to ignore it, many magic users in Ermane learned their skill from a Vincian, or someone otherwise tied to the League.
    The Vincians make their headquarters in one of the mountains in the same range as Mt. Ermane, where they take their name from (Mt. Vincia). Certain parts of it, generally the surface levels, are surprisingly easy to access for non-members, including a modestly extensive library covering the subject of magic and crystals. However, the further levels are quite heavily guarded, and are where the league conducts its experiments, and where the records of those experiments are kept. It's also rumored that there's a tunnel at the centre of the mountain that goes through the border to Quinae.
    Before Dask turned the territory into a prison, there were other people living there. Calling themselves the Mairsa people, they are now few in number, first due to the leaders of the Dask prison operation evicting them from their villages and later the worst criminals of Dask being set loose. Most of them have relocated to Quinae, though an unfortunate amount became involved in the underground, or were victims of it. However, there are still a few Mairsa in Ermane- the majority of them keeping to a remote swampy region isolated from the rest of the world, as to not draw the attention of Ermane's current inhabitants. There are rumors that this Mairsa village is gathering intelligence on the Vincians, but this is highly implausible. [Not in public writeup: While the Mairsa village themselves aren't spying on anyone, there is a group of Mairsa, formerly involved in human trafficking in Quinae, in the Vincian league who have come together. They plan to take over the League from within, and use that to assert Marisan control over Ermane once more.

The Quinaen Underground is made up of criminals, Ermanen warlords, corrupt law enforcement, nobles who buy their "products", plus those who see nowhere else to go- such as those who are otherwise unemployed, or who dropped out of school- who either join the criminals or end up as one of their "products". Basically, the Quinaen Underground is a network of criminals and the people who pay them to do unsavoury things like assassinate political rivals, or smuggle in contraband to and from Ermane. One infamous part of the Underground are the human traffickers- who kidnap people and sell them into slavery, usually to nobles looking for cheap servants or consorts. There have been many attempts by Quinaen law enforcements to cripple the Underground and reduce its impact- but these have all gone awry due to internal corruption, and heavy security and secrecy around the criminals involved.