The last 20 years have been kind to New Taeorn. The elected council has only fallen once more due to corruption in the last 20 years. The Red Dragon would like to apologize for that, we didn't know that our candidate was going to try to bribe the entire council. Apart from that things have been going very well. A distinct lack of invasions and armies has agreed with New Taeorn and whilst it is not as rich as the City States it is perhaps the most famous city in the world because thanks in part to… The Edificium, which was finally completed two years ago and is Lamuriel Langley's lasting legacy to the city, apart from easy alliteratio. The high white walls contain thousands of books and scrolls carefully maintained by the priesthood of Tokol and people from around the world come to study and learn in this center of teaching.
Tension has returned between the now re-emerged E'Koyoni and A'Peylion families. An unpleasant little battle over food franchises has sprung up and the citizens are left wondering if this is just the start of something bigger. Mongoose Meat Products now is the major meat supplier for both families though and the owner of that company must be a very happy man. Oh and in the middle of the city a machine can still be seen, but the entrance price has gone up.
It seemed to loose appeal to people about 20 years ago when it became a smoking crater. Reports of strange presences and ghostly figures have been common in the area and most people avoid the place like an invitation to go swimming with special A'Peylion rock shoes!
The Scrivenite Enlightenment seems to be coming to an end. The radical reforms of the first 15 years to have taken their toll on the old Pope and his death in his sleep surrounded by his family has become one of the most painted images in the Papacy. Pope Scriven changed the way the Papacy works and their newfound ability to peacefully exist with everyone seems to have made the entire continent a nicer place to live. The Ministry of Enlightenment seems more concerned with ensuring that people are polite in the streets these days by asking nicely and leading by example, rather than ensuring that people were polite by burning heretics who weren't polite.
Of course all good things must come to an end, and the new Pope, a man shrouded in mystery, seems to be anxious to do away with the "weakening of religious virtue" as one insider has commented. General Brandon Kilmargan is rumored to have threatened to quit if the recent disappearances of heretics aren't proved to have come from an outside group.
If anyone can be said to have won the peace of the last 20 years it is the City States. Having recently become an empire under the heredity rulership of Lady Protector Alyssa, it seems that her power is complete. Some would consider this a bad thing but not the people of the City States they just can't seem to get enough of her. Voted in the most popular ruler in the history of the City States she has managed to ensure that the City States have the most powerful trading empire in the world. If it can't be bought in the markets Chute, Delam or Irridol then it probably can't be bought anywhere. Equally no one really wants to upset her as with her control she seems to be able to ensure that no one can afford to upset her, lest she just buy them outright.
Of course this economic control is all well and good but without knowledge what use is it, but even here the City States are flourishing and with the second largest library in the world, after the Edificium, the people of the City States are amongst the most well spoken, multi-lingual and literate in the world. All thanks to Lady Alyssa, and we aren't saying this because she might be about to buy the Red Dragon and make us all very wealthy.
Nitlas has grown and prospered under the rule of Queen Lucia and King Morgan. Whilst the City States may have the edge in money, New Taeorn in learning, the Papacy in religion and numbers Nitlas has produced the finest individual swordsmen in the world in the last twenty years at the Lucia's School of Swordsmanship.
On the whole though little has changed in the Nitlas, the King and Queen rule wisely and well. The gleaming City of New Kanveh stands as a truly incredible testament to the champions of the rebellion against the Papacy, there are fewer bunny rabbits than anyone remembers, but otherwise Nitlas carries on.
Under the leadership of Calan, with the help of his general Satanta the people of the plains have had things easy. With their reputation as a roving police force not challenged in the last 20 years the plainsmen have returned to their lives of wandering and hunting. At least until recently with Gur becoming more and more paranoid and militant it seems that they have set their sights on the plains and war is once again in the air.
Strange stories have come out that there are actually great underground farms somewhere beneath the plains. Strange plants have recently been seen in markets and the plainsmen seem the only ones who can find these herbs.
Time has not been kind to Gur. The something changed 20 years ago and it has never recovered. The people of Gur live in fear, terrified of the armies of the Head Shamen who rules the country with an iron fist. Having stripped his own country of resources and pillaged his way through his own country the Head Shamen has turned his eyes westward to the fertile plains. Even now his armies march to claim land that isn't theirs. Once a haven of peace and joy Gur is now a broken country desperate for freedom.
Emperor Akato Tang-Chan is rumored to be the only friend of Flencaal anywhere. Chamata is the only country that has any kind of diplomatic contact with the xenophobic Flencaali and periodic rumors surface that they are planning something together. Otherwise Chamata has returned to its old ways, worshipping their ancestors and committing genocide against the Kshi-Mshi people of the nearby desert.
Who knows what is going on in Flencaal. Retreating back behind their navy after a near invasion they have not troubled the north since then. The few diplomats sent to visit them have been rebuffed and what goes on behind the borders of this country and as much a mystery now as they were twenty years ago.
Where?
Ilith-Lee has become something of a rumored paradise. No one knows exactly where it is and whenever people somehow manage to get there they either disappear or they return talking of ghosts and other terrors. However stories persist amongst the desperate that there is a place for those who truly deserve a chance at heaven.
Tokol and Arinda have become the major religions of the north, outside the Papacy of course. Tokol's might and connections have spread and spread, and only Chamata, Flencaal and the Papacy are truly unaffected by the preaching priests of the God of Enlightenment. Meanwhile from the opposite end of the spectrum the party priests and priestesses of Arianda have managed to tap into a real need. Huge parties and plans to institute an eight day week are both created an dropped as fast as it takes for the congregation to get drunk.
It seems that even marriage to San Holo cannot still this relationship. Baroness Seven of Nitlas has apparently divorced San Holo and is to marry Theodore Mandeville - the man who cirumnavigated the globe and didn't fall off.
After two decades of internal collapse and destruction Gur has finally turned outwards. With their armies marching on the Plain's of Ranna the treaties of alliance that have lain untested for the last 20 years stand ready to be renewed. The question the Red Dragon asks is will other countries who pledged support long ago, and have maintained their friendship out the years, react ask they once promised to?
The Institute for Statistical and Cultural Understanding is going to open its records fully for the first time. The 20 year lock on some of the private documents of many of the world leaders of today. The institute has done wonders for promoting peace and understanding and their existence has helped to ease tensions considerably as anyone who wishes to learn can turn to them for help in trying to understand another culture, no matter how confusing.