Founded by Ross Coutraman, one of the greatest human heroes to have lived during the period when humans first arrived on Therafim, the Coutraman Confederacy is the only cross-continent nation that presently exists on Therafim, part of its cities on Summer Country, including its capital, and part on Cargando. Built on trade, the Coutreman Confederacy is steadily moving towards a Republic form of government, though its individual cities have not quite gotten to that point of unity yet, likely because of the gulf of water between the two parts of the Confederacy. Avalon City is a close ally of the Coutraman Confederacy, though it staunchly maintains its independence.
Because of the Coutraman Confederacy's strong emphasis on individual worth, independence, equality before the law, and a strong, shared code of laws that help to unify the Confederacy, lawyers are an especially important part of Coutraman culture. All towns, for them to be legally recognized, must have a mayor, a sheriff, and a judge.
Major Races: Humans, halflings, beastfolk, dwarves, elves.
Government: Closely-Allied Confederate States with Republican tendencies.
Nation Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Major Cities:
Rosslund: The capital of the Coutraman Confederacy, Rosslund is roughly level with Avalon City, along the coast to the west, making it the major hub of trade with the parts of the Coutraman Confederacy on Cargando. Rosslund is a central location for all trade in the Coutraman Confederacy, as well as a major craft and trade city, especially noted for its exquisite work with wood and precious metals.
Besides its importance in trade, Rosslund is also the location of the vast Capital Building, where the Coutraman Senate meets, with representatives from every major Coutraman city sending their elected Senators to come and represent their interests in the Senate. The number of senators that a city can send to Rosslund is based on population, equaling roughly one representative for every thousand people living in a city and the regions around it (this number varies slightly depending on various laws and regulations that change from year to year, but is a good rule of thumb). Thus, minor settlements (called territories) that have fewer than this number do not get votes unless they work together and count themselves as a single voting bloc. The Senate elects a President to run the Confederacy, with elections taking place once every eight years. While the elections are theoretically open to every citizen of the Coutraman Confederacy, only those able to muster up a significant standing all over the Confederacy - an effort that requires extensive (and expensive) travel and hard work - really have a chance at winning these elections. Also, though the terms of office for a given President last for eight years, no citizen can ever be President for another term after those eight years are up. A similar limitation exists for Senators, except that they are limited to three terms, or a total of twenty-four years in office. Despite this latter limitation, most former Senators are usually able to fairly easily get their children and relatives elected into their places when their terms run out, and so it is not unusual at all for unofficial dynasties to develop among Senators.
Wilder: North and slightly to the west of Avalon City, on the east coast of Summer Country, Wilder sprawls, its buildings mostly going straight up in an intricate network, with the tallest, most narrow buildings near the center of the city, and shorter, broader ones found near the outskirts. Wilder was originally built by birdfolk, who used some of the hills in the region to start building towering mounds. As humans arrived (giving it the name "wilder" because of how desolate and lonely the land around them seemed at the time), it soon grew up (quite literally) as a port city for immigrants from Autumn Land, and then quickly developed into a major site of commerce, housing the headquarters of most of the major trade companies on Therafim in its towering, interconnected buildings. Birdfolk are a major part of the population in Wilder, and it is common to see those of them with working wings soaring between buildings at the highest places. Ratkin are also quite common, lurking out of sight in the middle regions of the upward-built city, with gangs of sirius toughs roaming the lower quarters. The richest members of the city's society live on the highest levels, which are also the most elaborate and beautiful, while the poorer classes live in steadily lower and less well-decorated regions that correspond to their income levels.
Leather Hill: Named after its major feature, Leather Hill, located north of the foothills of the Anvil Peaks, is the major city of the Coutraman Confederacy on the continent of Cargando. The site called Leather Hill, a very tall and exceedingly broad hill on the south side of the city, is actually an ancient, magically enchanted burial ground where, it is said, the body of a great dragon was buried in long ages past. It got the name Leather Hill from a magical effect that causes all once-living flesh placed on or inside of it to decay at a vastly slower rate than normal. This, in turn, has led to the practice of the locals burying their dead in the hill, in a complex tunnel system beneath it, and then placing the boots and belt of the deceased on top as markers, the magic of the hill ensuring that they withstand the elements for decades, and sometimes centuries. The tunnels that run beneath Leather Hill are known to be occupied by a variety of dangerous creatures, especially ghouls, but these creatures are almost always inactive during the day, and leave the magically-protected dead of the hill alone, preferring to prey on the cemetaries and outlying communities that border Leather Hill.
Besides acting as a massive cemetery, Leather Hill, the site, is also a sacred place for the many tribes that roam the lands of Cargando. Because of this, it acts as an effective neutral ground for almost all the tribes of Cargando, making the town of Leather Hill a vital location for maintaining diplomatic relations with the tribes.
The town of Leather Hill itself is a cattle city primarily that grew up incredibly fast less than a century ago, as the Coutraman Confederacy worked to expand its holdings on Cargando. It thus has all the problems with lawlessness that come with a young, thriving community, and outlaws sometimes run rampant, to say nothing of the dangerous tribes of humanoids that live in the Serewind Plains to the south, and often come out to raid Leather Hill's outlying regions and farmsteads. Because of this, while Leather Hill has a mayor who mostly deals with making sure trade runs smoothly with the rest of the Confederation, the Sheriff of Leather Hill is the de facto ruler of the city, the elected position employing numerous deputies and posses on a regular basis (adventurers being favorites for short-term deputizing) to handle the many situations that crop up almost constantly in and around Leather Hill.
Coarsegold: Right on the edge of the Serewind Plains to the south and east of Leather Hill is the mining town of Coarsegold, also called "Last Chance City" because it is the last civilized waystation before entering or leaving the wild Serewind Plains. Outlaws heading out into the plains will usually stop here to restock and prepare for the trek, as will trading caravans going to deal with the tribes, or posses getting ready for an extended hunt. Besides being a necessary waypoint, Coarsegold also produces a fairly steady stream of silver, copper, and iron ore from the hills bordering the Anvil Peaks. As a border mining city, however, Coarsegold has some serious problems with outlaws and with claim jumpers, making almost constant work for the constabulary in charge.