Bilkan Kingdom

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Bilkan is a diverse land. The majority is flat and fertile farm lands, expert use of these has made the Bilkanese known as exceptional farmers. The Woods of Tranquility and Dread Forest may once have been the same stretch of trees, though now the Swamp of Reawakening sits between them. However, Brisbane's famous Grove of Slumber is trying to bridge the gap between both forests. West of the Dread Forest sits the capital, Bilkan Castle, and to the north of the castle, the Spine Mountain Range, which crosses into Telish Throne territory.

Government

The government of Bilkan is much as Telish Throne's: there is the mido, the kagi and the sitchu.

The mido is a deeply devout and religious person, spending much of his time in meditation and prayer, leaving most of the duties normally requiring the mido's attention to the kagi, a elderly woman by the name of Khalina Avestos. She too, being deeply religious and loyal to the mido, takes on these extra duties with care and concern, passing several of her less important duties down to the sitchu. The sitchu are like mayors in other realms, and posted in various towns and villages across the kingdom. Each sitchu reports monthly to the kagi, who then in turn reports directly to the mido.

History and Rumors

Bilkan formed into a kingdom in 1045, under the guidance of Brax Strongheart. Even back then, they were a peaceful and religious people, a country of philosophers and farmers, their lands being some of the most fertile lands in the world and their people being among most experienced farmers.

Many grand inventions and works of a religious nature came from the Bilkanese people, though in this day and age, many have been lost to time and war.
For many centuries Bilkan's people flourished, sending vast amounts of crops and religious teachings to the many keitai in the north, in exchange for protection from the occasion bandit or raiding party. This changed of course, with the arrival of Sinthar Bloodstone.

Bilkan found itself almost defenseless, as the Keitai that would normally have defended them, actually began making raids into Bilkan lands, stealing food and resources, hording them away in their fight to outlive Sinthar's onslaught.

It was during this time when the Rohden Alliance was formed, Bilkan was asked to join and jumped at the opportunity, increasing the size of their tiny navy tenfold and allowing for further opportunities for trade and import.

The kingdom was in a state of relative peace, until the madness of the Telish' Mido and his continuously rash and incomprehensible behavior turned itself slowly towards Bilkan. Now in a state of war, and unable to remove themselves from it, the Bilkanese struggle to amass a working army, and hold off the Telish attacks on their borders. What most are currently unaware of however, is that this war is merely for show for the Telish Mido, and that all skirmishes and battles have been pre-planned by the Kagi of Telish and Mido of Bilkan to ensure minimum casualties.

Although several are aware of this fact and protest that Bilkan should be the constant loser in these battles to appease the madness of the Mido in Telish, few have their doubts about surviving a full scale attack. And so the deception goes on.

Military

Since joining the Rohden Alliance, Bilkan has now managed to muster itself a small navy. Not nearly as impressive as any of the other members, but much more than Bilkan ever used to have. It has no actual army to speak of, although since the aggression from Telish Throne, preparations are now underway to arrange a permanent defense for the kingdom. This has taken some time to get underway, since the mido himself was opposed to the creation of such an army, and rumor has it that it took much pleading from the kagi to get this done.

At this time, the army stands at just over three thousand men of which the meja- is the leader. While the navy takes orders from the Throne, the meja- has the power to discuss it although he does not use it often. The structure of the army is also modeled after other armies, with a command structure that includes lieutenants and privates. In fact, because of outside influences in both the navy and the army, most of the ways and terms of old have died out in the wake of rebuilding and only the titles of the highest ranking officers remain.

Notable People

Bidai Khai - Bidai Khai, born as the mido, is a man of deep, devout religious beliefs. Much of his time is spent in prayer and meditation, which he expects his subjects to do as well. He is rarely seen outside his temple, if at all, and leaves much of the responsibilities normally required of a mido to others. He is revered and awed by much of his kingdom, many of which strive to follow in his footsteps. Greed and lawlessness are things rare to the kingdom because of this, and peace and tolerance are his guiding words.

Politics

Much like Telish Throne, honour, loyalty and family are of prime importance to the Bilkanese. Their mido's devout faith and personal teachings strengthen their desire for peace and prosperity.
The Ona-ko-do is followed strictly here as in other parts of Tilmar, though positions of station here does not negate them from the daily rituals followed by its people. It would not be a surprise to see the local sitchu working in the fields before the harvest or chopping wood for the cooking fires before a feast. The sense of community with these people is vast, and it would be rare for one person to not know another.

Many Bilkanese live lives of faith and inner searching, spending years in prayer and teachings of their God.

The druids of Katia, although having no real political position in the kingdom, have a strong voice and are regarded with deep respect and given much courtesy.

Since the druid Brisbane healed the Swamp of Reawakening and nursed the Grove of Slumber to its current glory, and was declared High Druid of Tilmar, she and her followers have often been sought for wise counsel and aid.

Since Telish cut off most of its trading with Bilkan, the kingdom has struggled to maintain itself, arranging less than profitable oversea trading routes to import many of the things they were accustomed to receiving from Telish. Although a rather secret trading operation is underway in Creedo with the Kagi of Telish, it is not nearly enough to continue to provide for the entire kingdom.