Cutefinder: the History of Kova
To understand the history of Kova, it takes more than simply understand the history of Kova.
That's a bit roundabout, admittedly, but Kova is the name given the land by the 'ruling royalty' after they had invaded from Krava.
Still, a good place to start.
Roughly 130 years ago, the land of Krava, a thriving Elven ruled dominion desired to expand it's borders. At the very least, that was the popular line being handed down from the royalty and nobility to it's citizens and peasants. Enlist in the Kravatian military, earn land and accolades by helping to clear the neighboring land (to be called 'Kova' in honor of some long forgotten event) of it's natives, either through peaceful relocation, or violent invasion.
Unfortunately it turned out that was a bit of a dodge. Surely, Krava was suffering a bit, but as many of the non-elven nobility and citizens... thought privately, (saying it out loud would have been fairly treasonous, and insulting in this case.) it was and issue that could have been solved simply by expanding the sizes of cities, clearing more of the land for living...
It turns out that Kova has always been a bit inaccessible, even the western pass used to enter was unusually difficult, not exactly mountains, but seemingly impassibly rocky terrain. It would take days to clear a path large enough to move caravans of equipment through, then in almost an entire day, the path would be rendered impassible again, sometimes resulting in the destruction of supplies or even the deaths of soldiers.
With the use of magic and explosives, they managed to make less than half a dozen pathways capable of transporting safely, and from there, began their expansion into Kova.
The natives defended themselves quite well, displaying a great knack for magic as well as an understanding of advanced metalworking, despite mostly being made up of 'lesser races': orcs, goblinoids, fey, kobolds...
It wasn't until halfway through the 'war' (although from the outside, especially to the citizens, at least what little news came back, it sounded more like violent bullying) the Queen of Krava, in Kova helping direct the troops, discovered a large ancient city of some kind, and then learned that the King had been looking for this city in specific. Apparently the land here was quite rich with magic and resources, and he had heard rumors from travelers and spies that there was something great hidden within it's walls...
The Queen was not pleased, not only because of the huge waste of life and resources for what was basically a power play, but she was even less pleased to learn this from the dying breaths of an assassin sent to ensure she would 'tragically' never return.
She feigned ignorance and continued on, working in the shadows, slowly turning Krava's forces to her side, revealing the King's plans to the Kovanians and secretly managed to convince them into peaceful talks...
The end of the war came as a surprise to the King, when he received word that supply caravans from Krava had been fired upon from the forts they had established, and they had been sent back with a message.
Kova was not a land to be pillaged for profit, and instead would become it's own country, ran partially by the now homeless Queen, and also by a number of natives that realized she did not mean them any further harm.
That is more or less the history of Kova, as it is told now. During the remaining years of her life, the Queen worked to repair things as best as she could between the natives and the newcomers, coming to a bit of an unsteady alliance where the 'Royal Military' would defend the border from future attacks, they were allowed to build a port city so they could construct boats and begin trade with other nations the Queen had made friends with during her reign back in Krava, and the Queen ruled, with her Kovanian Advisors, from the capitol city, which would also be protected as long as they remained in these lands.
The Queen has passed, a new Queen was passed into power to represent the Military, and that is that.
The Guild came to soon after the new Queen came into power, as it was during this time that saw a rise in violent incidents not only due to monsters and other strange magical phenomena, but also violent incidents between Imperial and Native people.
The Guild, formed of members of both sides, swore allegiance to the guild and only the guild, leaving behind previous connections to their respective homes so they could work together to defend the land itself. They are sent requests for all sorts of things, from simply local requests to use domestic skills to help out, to more martial matters, hunting down monsters and criminals, and even diplomatic efforts, such as mediating as a form of impartial law in matters that involved members of each society.
The rest of the history, the part that is harder to verify or even really understand, comes only in the form of legends regarding the creation of Kova and the history of it's people.
According to Kova natives, a belief that is passed nearly religiously amongst their kind, and defended sometimes to the death in certain incidents, is that Kova was not part of this land to begin with, but rather 'arrived', from the stars, at least a millennium ago, if not more. It is said that Kova hides a massive wealth of artifacts, magical and otherwise, and that is likely what drove the King of Krava to such lengths.
There is really no way to deny or confirm this, other through the efforts of archeologists who are still trying to understand some of the more common mysteries of Kova, like how all the maps of the land include only the largest and most well known geographical landmarks and permanent cities and villages, as most other communities, imperial and native, exist more like nomads, traveling back and forth across the land, which is seemingly constantly shifting: part of the reason of the roads which are maintained not only by the nomads but also by the guild, which can sometimes become impassible for the weirdest reasons...
Still, these days, Kova has been seeing more and more incidents, like a transport of an artifact gone wrong, leading to a plague in Mosulk, the only port in the land, and the creation of tighter trading restrictions. It also has been seeing more adventurers and other soldiers of fortune coming to the land, in hopes of striking out to discover something worth something... Most of these are never heard from again, sometimes not even remains are found.
Welcome to Kova. Watch your step please.
