Kalim

Legend states that when Janeas freed herself from Braekker and became the Goddess of Freedom, she took with her all the peoples enslaved by the God of Servitude and led them to the Kalim Desert so they could be free. They claimed the desert as their own and declared no one would ever enslave them again.

Kalim is land that follows the teachings of Janeas to the point of near anarchy. They believe every person is free to pursue their goals, whatever those goals should be (and free to accept the consequences should their goals be to bring harm to someone else). They are strongly against the idea of servitude of any kind; every apprentice dreams of opening their shop to put their tutor out of business, every mercenary has the goal of taking command of his company. Being complacent working for someone else is considered tragic and pitiful. In order to maintain some semblance of order, a Lord is selected by popular vote. The Lord serves a 10 year term, and then, because the act of ruling over someone is a grave sin to the Kalim, he is executed. This makes it a position of both great honor and gravity.

The Kalim Deserts were conquered twice by the Rosa Empire. Each time, the Empire found that holding the desert was much tougher than taking it. The Kalim refuse to be ruled, and it is considered the duty of every citizen to resist rule with whatever means they have. Occupying Legions found the food they purchased to be poisoned, were assaulted by housewives with hidden knives, were ambushed in the streets by armed children. In the end, it was decided that Kalim was not worth the expense of holding and it was better to just conquer around the desert.

Kalim is home of many large and prestigious mercenary companies. Since the outset of the war their services have been in high demand. Though Kalim is officially unaffiliated in the war, they are profiting from it, both through their mercenaries and through trade. They have also had to defend themselves more than once from forces that thought the desert would make an effective shortcut around their enemies.

Janeasbourn
The largest city in Kalim. Effectively acts as the capital as it is the seat of the elected Lord.