Imperio Hispania

To Do:

Religious Head, and develop Carlos a tiny bit. A handful of interesting local rulers and military leaders. A pretender. Handful of interesting characters/organisations/locations in each city.

= Hispanian Empire =

Imperio Hispania has the entirety of Hispania (except for Gibraltar), the Palma islands, the Balearic Islands, Aquitaine and in theory the Madeira and Canary islands, but there are many a pirate there who would heartily disagree – then kill you.

The British Royal Navy and the Spanish Armada completely rule the waves. There are pirates in the Canary Islands giving the Spanish trouble, and Sino-Viking Raiders giving Britain trouble!! Vikings will raid the Spanish a bit and Pirates the British, mostly though it’s as I just said. Both raid the French, depending on the region.

Quiet temples in Barcelona.

Hispania: Sea-Faring. Everyone has rapiers. Their architecture is Spanish. They have Saints and Martyrs. (And Angels?). The Lord of Light.

The Dragonfolk of the Hispanic Empire are said to be as strong as anyone to be found, pilgrims from all over Europa say they feel the greatest holy presence while inside Hispania’s borders and adventurers laud Hispania as the most exciting place to travel and earn coin. Hispania itself faces a constant threat of piracy in the seas surrounding it, and Eastern Britannian and Hispanic France face regular monster-folk raids from Germania.

Political System
The Hierarchy of Angels/the Fire-Winged possess huge power. They are genderless - referred to as either his, her or they depending on appearance. Their leader is el Arco (The Arch) - their name is unknown.

Carlos the Dragonking rules with an Iron Fist, but his nobles and bishops are also powerful. The nobles have Bishops as their senior advisers, and some Bishops rule over their areas too. Carlos’ chief adviser and enforcer is… (come up with powerful Spanish pope or bishop or whatever). Carlos will be swayed somewhat by his closest nobles and cardinals/bishops, but when he picks a path he is tough to dissuade from this path. There is a College of Cardinals!!! Whatever the Cardinals decide will ultimately be what Carlos decides, Carlos considers them to be the enforcers of God (Bahamut) on Earth. (Or maybe have the Cardinals decide who the Pope is and the Pope is the enforcer of God on Earth, basically the same thing but Carlos would take advice from the Pope). But this way the players can go around the country convincing Cardinals.

Rulers and Pretenders
Rulers: Carlos the Dragonking, who was anointed by the Fire-Winged (Based on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_V,_Holy_Roman_Emperor).

El Arco - the most powerful angel. Dragonborn. Rumoured to be able to turn into a Dragon.

Geography
The stuff about Oman/Muscat too? I think it's probably just planned... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afonso_de_Albuquerque

Main settlements
Cities: Spain has Madrid, Barcelona and Lisbon. Southern France has Bordeux, Toullouse.

Córdoba - Al-Andalusian influence.

Gibraltar - Unique, British-occupied. A city being geared up for war - the Rock is a thing and interesting. Staging post for the rest of the invasion. Maybe it's under siege by Scaleson armies so would be tough to sneak in.

Demographics and Borders
WHY NOT HAVE THE SOUTH STILL BE SCALESON?? It'd be way more interesting! Could just be the lowest part like the Emirate of Granada - though really I'd want Cordoba included so the lower section of the map below might be closer to the mark (from Silves to Denia and excluding the top big chunks). Either an independent Emirate or a vassal state of the Scaleson Caliphate. Or even associated with Carthage but I haven't decided what's going on there with their religion... The British Empire could have conquered Gibraltar to 'help' and act as a staging post for the rest of the invasion.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Andalus#/media/File:Taifas2.gif

The British Empire have conquered Gibraltar to 'help' and act as a staging post for the rest of the invasion.

Races: Dragontouched (humans with slight Draconic features)/Dragonborn (most common, at least half)/Fire-Winged (like Dragonborn but have actual wings) – many will be partway between Dragontouched and Dragonborn or Dragonborn and Fire-Winged.

The Dragonbloods of Hispania: The Dragontouched are humans with slight Draconic features due to Dragonborn heritage, these are one of the most common races of Hispania and are considered blessed by Riteguardians. The Dragonborn are also common in Hispania, and there are rumours of humanoids even closer to Dragons than the Dragonborn. I’m not listing stats for these because there’s a blurred line between the Draconic races, it will depend on how much human blood/dragon blood your character has.

Plothooks for Spain
Pirates (Kidnapped at some point?)! Also the unease some feel with the Angels living among them (the Angels may give missions as well). Also just religious artefact hunting. Also the 9 planes of hell. Possible False Atlantis/Murloc raids. The Fountain of Youth and Christopher Columbus. Tension between the Fire, Frost and Thunder Draconic races.

Plothooks for France
Pirates a bit, Vikings a bit less, raids from Germany mainly (goblins mostly). The Matter of France. The invasions from Britain and Spain will produce conflict (both France-Britain, France-Spain, and North-South) and opportunities from both. Religious tensions between the two. Artefact hunter/treasure hunters. Opportunists of all sorts trying to make their way in France. The Fey and Fairies are extremely influential here and in Germany (in part because of the nature of France’s uncertain ownership).

Stuff
Hispania

Tensions between Rightguarders under Al-Andalusia and between Scalesons under Hispania

The players start in Toledo!?!?

ALL BELOW ARE FROM THIS: https://www.classic-collection.co.uk/blog/destinations/spain/historical-sites-in-spain/

Al Andalusia Cordoba - largest city in Roman Spain and a great caliphate of the Moors. The Mesquita is the pride of the province - a grand mosque

Granada - another key city in Al-Andalusia. Key site is Alhambra - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alhambra

The most significant construction campaigns, which gave the Comares Palace (or Court of the Myrtles) and the Palace of the Lions their definitive character, took place in the 14th century during the reigns of Yusuf I and Muhammad V. After the conclusion of the Christian Reconquista in 1492, the site became the Royal Court of Ferdinand and Isabella

Seville - Moorish important city. Alcazar Seville is the key site.

Hispania Barcelona?? Important historical city. Sagrada Familia is under construction

Tarragona - The capital of Roman Hispania, so a site of interest for Rome to reconquer. Port city, city walls, cathedral, impressive amphitheatre, lots of alleyways.

https://spainist.com/top-10-best-historical-sites-in-spain/

Hispania Toledo - The model par excellence of coexistence of the three great cultures; Christianity, Islam and Judaism. The Alcazar of Toledo is a key site and was first used as a Roman palace. The city is on a hill with the Alcazar at the top. It’s a cosmopolitan hub full of all sorts of intrigue, and has bazaars as well as features of Awaiter culture - though most prevalent is the dominant Rightguarder features. Very tempted to have them start in this city, Toledo. They can experience all three cultures, they’re stuck in Hispania for now and have to travel quite far to get out so are forced to experience some of Hispania.

They could encounter a guy who expresses incredulity at their plan to charter passage to Rome. He explains