Odessa

Name: The Kingdom of Odessa
Adjective Form: Odessan

Government: Odessa is a monarchy. Supreme executive power is held by His (or Her) Majesty the King (or Queen), currently King Aden III. Legislative authority is held by the King, as well as the Landed Council, which must approve any legislation related to taxation or force of arms.

The People: The people of Odessa are a diverse lot, ranging from freehold farmers in the Odessan Lowlands to the rugged mountain folk of the Resian Ranges. Still, some common threads run through Odessan cultural identity. They see themselves as self-sufficient traditionalists, upholders of the ancient Imperial traditions of stoicism and practicality, an image often stereotyped by others as being rather bland and unoriginal.

History: Odessa possesses a particularly long and proud history, dating its independence to the Third War of Fracture, which ended in 1152 BI. The Odessan Royal Family can claim descent from the Wistarian Dynasty of the Empire, as well as direct blood ties to the elven Teldandilion Dynasty of old.
For centuries, even before the Elven Exile, an alliance bound the elves of Sidhe to the people of Odessa. After the exile of the elves and the creation of Sidhe-Praxen, the nature of the alliance shifted into a more explicit and binary arrangement, with the elves ruling the waves supported by Odessan force of arms, particularly their well-trained yeomanry and heavy infantry. Since the general retreat of the elves from mainland affairs, the Odessans have subsumed Elven naval supremacy and currently boast the world's largest, best trained, and most advanced navy.
The Odessans have a long history of conflict and animosity with the people of Celestia, as the various Celestian ethnic groups were dominated by the Odessan crown between the Third War of Fracture and the Celestian Revolution (312-293 BI).

Economy: Odessa is a massive nation that covers almost the entire of the western mainland, running north south from the Quiram Woods to the Pwelldyn Valley. The Odessan economy is large and diversified, and the power of the Odessan fleet means that Odessan traders are common in all of the nations of the world. Odessan textiles, particularly those of cotton and wool, are highly prized, as is Darkwood from the Dragonhearth Forest.