United Dominion

The United Dominion of Ell and Neria, better known as the United Dominion or the Dominion, is a nation of elves and dwarves found on the southern half of the Western Continent. The country encompasses the majority of the Forest of Nep as well as large sections of the Crescentpeaks. It is a founding and current member of the United Mortal Confederation.

Country Information

 * Allegiance: United Mortal Confederation
 * Population: 3,210,000

Government
The United Dominion is a constitutional diarchy led by a Parliament of a hundred elected officials known as Speakers. The Dominion has two royal families, the elven Lax'Lethas and the dwarven Fasteads. Both royal families serve largely ceremonial roles while the Parliament makes and enforces laws.

In the current era however, the remainders of the Lax'Letha family have left the Dominion.

History
The United Dominion began as two sovereign monarchies, the Kingdom of Neria from the Forest of Nep, and the Kingdom of Elid from the Crescentpeaks. Though the two peoples knew of each other since ancient times, they each kept to their own, rarely making any contact. However the presence of the sinister River Empire slowly drove the elves of Nep east, with their migratory treetop city, Neria, being moved to a section of forest near the Ruby Mountain. It was also around this time that the ancient dwarf king Gammus Fastead made the decision to relocate the Elid capital from the tundra peninsula of Elid to the mine city of Ell under the Ruby Mountain. Unknown to both the dwarves and elves, Ell was situated almost directly under Neria. As Ell and Neria both expanded as cities over the next thousand years, the two kingdoms came to the startling realization that they were literally on top of one another. Tensions quickly rose, with the dwarves of Ell digging massive tunnels under the trees of Neria in an effort to stop Nerian expansion. Not willing to give in, the elves built canals diverting the waters of the nearby Ruby Lake into the underground passages, flooding sections of Ell. The Forest War broke out, causing great devastation to both cities, leaving them in ruins. In spite of this conflict however, two individuals - the Lax'Letha crown prince, Prince Panya, and the current Fastead king, King Harrk - formed an unlikely friendship. This friendship would be tested by the struggles of the Forest War, but regardless grew into a close brotherhood.

The Forest War ended when Prince Panya defeated his father, the vengeful King Genwa, in a duel for the throne. With the two royal families now working together, they called for a unified reign to ensure that peace would last forever between the elves and dwarves of the Western Continent. The two monarchs built a new city, Elleria, on the coast of the Ruby Lake, with the intention of accommodating both elves and dwarves. However, they faced stiff resistance from their people. A large section of the dwarf population seceded from the kingdom, taking their ancestral homeland of Elid for their own. Many elves also left, migrating west into the Menetar Valley. However this migration ended in disaster as the now warmongering Menetari slaughtered the immigrants, taking the survivors as slaves. The alarming news of the massacre unified the remaining elves and dwarves, reorganizing the two kingdoms as a single United Dominion. With their combined elven resourcefulness and dwarven ingenuity, the Dominion would successfully hold off the warlords of Menetar and grow into the most powerful nation in the Western Continent. It was around this time that most Nerian elves and Elid dwarves discarded their old cultural identity and became a united Ellerian people. The Lax'Lethas and Fasteads withdrew from the leadership role, believing that the Ellerians had finally come to believe in their own unity. A constitution was drafted by prominent elf and dwarf nobles, and a Parliament was created to be the new governing body for the Dominion.

The Great War
When the Menetar arcanists opened the first planar gateways, the United Dominion was the only nation in Mortium to correctly predict the terrible war to come. By the time the Great War was in full swing, the entire Forest of Nep had become a deathtrap to any unwanted visitors, with the Dominion's military forces constantly patrolling its woods and eliminating any perceived threats. Despite avoiding the level of devastation suffered by nations such as Menetar and Lantria, the Dominion lost many warriors to the invaders. Since both dwarves and elves were long-lived, slow-breeding peoples, they were not suited to an attrition war of such a scale. Soon even their capital city of Elleria began to see the war within its walls. The Dominion was eager to find an answer, and they were among the first to accept Menetar's offer for an alliance. For the remainder of the Great War, the Dominion would become the alliance's supplier in the war, leveraging the dwarves' unmatched capacity for mining as well as the elves' great knowledge of magic. Once the Tellemetra Accords were signed, the Dominion were eager to become part of the new United Mortal Confederation. The Ellerians were proud to show that even sworn enemies could become a single people.

Current Era
After the Great War, the Dominion continued to be a supplier for the rest of the member nations of the Confederation. Elves would join the many spellcasting organizations all over the Western Continent and dwarves would become major proponents of international trade. The Ellerian dwarves even reconciled with their cousins in Elid, though the two groups of dwarves no longer feel as if they are the same kin.

However the peacetime of the current era would still be marked with unease. Two months ago, the head of the Lax'Letha family, King Belam, was accused by the Parliament for conspiring to secede from the Confederation. Soon after, mercenaries were hired by unknown benefactors to deal with King Belam's "conspiracy." The large group of mercenaries and white-cloaked assassins stormed the Lax'Letha royal palace at night and slaughtered the family, along with most of the Nerian Royal Guard. The only survivors of the massacre were a single party of Royal Guards who managed to escape with the young Nerian crown princess, Quenya. The Palace Massacre caused a division among the elven people. Elves loyal to the royal family, calling themselves Nerians after their old kingdom, criticized the Parliament and accused several members of hiring the assassins. Fearing for their lives, the remaining Royal Guards and Quenya gathered as many loyal Nerians as they could find and struck out for Menetar in order to petition the Forum of Mortal Races for refuge. The Nerians have formed their own encampment outside Menetar while the issue is discussed among the members of the Confederation. The incident has since caused high tensions within the Dominion as elves have begun to view each other with mistrust.

Furthermore a mysterious group of white-robed elves have begun to spring up all over the Dominion, claiming to have a mission to find out who murdered the Lax'Lethas and restore power to the Nerian royals.

Settlements

 * Elleria, Capital
 * Ell
 * Neria