White Alliance
From Ardrana
The White Alliance is a group of individual cities and regions that have banded together in a loose confederation. It covers most of central and eastern Kellan, including everything south of Hanaellan, as well as parts of the western lands. The current president of the Alliance is Lukus the Blue. The Alliance's heraldic device is a white stylized castle on a light blue field.
Members
The Alliance is formed of ten separate entities, which are referred to as duchies. The current member duchies are:
Each of these ten areas is host to a garrison of the White Army, with the exception of Braith, which is considered an auxiliary member.
History
The alliance formed during the Wars of Arin in the year 772 LC, when the SouthLands were under attack by the Onyx Empire. It was mostly the brainchild of Lord Morley Pallianor, a minor nobleman from Tindon, who brought together a vast array of cities and states in the region for mutual protection from the encroaching forces of Keraptis to the north. During this time, the Dwarves of Braith and the Humans of Itaron were members of the alliance as well.
For the next thirty years, the Alliance gained and lost members due to the ebb and flow of the war. Following Keraptis' final defeat, Itaron had been destroyed, and King Thorin Archer decided not to become a part of what he saw as becoming a quasi-political body in addition to a military one. Thus, the number of representatives was set at ten, which has been the official number ever since.
Political structure
The Alliance is nominally governed by the White Council in Morelenas. This council is made up of the ten highest ranking nobles of the land, presided over by a president chosen by popular election among all landholders from the member duchies. In practice, the Council has no authority over its members, although they can and have been granted certain powers when one or more duchies is under threat of war.
Recent events
Recently, the duchy of Semmarch, ruled by Duke Mirdael, withdrew from the Alliance and was renamed Hanaellan. The Alliance decided to promote Braith to a full duchy as a replacement so that the Council could continue to have eleven official members, although the status is in name only. Relations between the Alliance and Hanaellan are strained, but to date have not devolved into open hostility.