Heka-Voll, South Thaera, and North Thaera

I was thinking about these possibilities for the Harmonium countries.

South Thaera

My basic idea for this particular kingdom is that is an exemplar of quite a lot of the bad that goes on in the Harmonium. The basic idea is that the Ruling Triad of Authority in this region is Hellishly corrupt (literally). The leadership in the area has been corrupted with an Alliance of Devils that have been slowly infiltrating this area from a portal they've established in their area. Thus, there's a sizable slave trade and other evil deeds being worked upon there.

Unsurprisingly, South Thaera is also a location that houses a lot of Rebel activity that's probably being conducted by our resident terrorists (some in the service of the Ruling Triad). Thus far, the Ruling Triad has managed to blame any and all bad incidents on the fact its a place riddled with Tieflings and other creatures of Chaos. Thus far, thanks to the aid of his Baatezu allies, the man has actually managed to convey that he's performed exemplary in a difficult situation and may be on his way up.

I also envision this place to be a bit of an Industrial Nightmare where large amounts of the Harmonium's weapons, arms, and objects are created at low prices because the working class is pretty damn oppressed. It's pretty much proof positive that the Harmonium Dream hasn't touched all parts of Ortho and I'd definitely like to place a fairly powerful Thieves/Assassins Guild here as well.

I just like the image that the forests are all chopped down (the lumber now exported from Northern Thaera), the creeks soaked with coal sludge, the foundaries blasting massive amounts of smoke every day, and everyone keeps their doors locked in their state housing because they're all too much in debt to get out of the control of the Ruling Triad leader.

North Thaera

I had the idea that this could be the Greater Hobgoblin Empire on Ortho with its populous being primarily Hobgoblins as opposed to being primarily Humans. I envision that it was a kingdom "claimed" from Chaos by the Hobgoblins version of history and then promptly settled by all the veterans receiving land grants in this particular area. The implication would be that it was once elven territory.

I envision the place as a massive military Empire with only a small portion of human farmers while the vast sum of Hobgoblins join the military and prepare all their children to do so. The place produces a vastly disproportionate number of soldiers in the Harmonium and are eager to win glory and battle in wars on other worlds.

I had the amusing idea that there's a High Drama going on at the top levels of North Thaera that you normally wouldn't associate with Hobgoblins. The current Hobgoblin ruler is a complete fool and fop for all things from other worlds while also scandalous in his behavior (CG) but unfortunately is also the last remaining direct descendant of the original Marshal who founded the country, but the final straw is he intends to take a Tiefling bride. Quite a few of the Warlords of the kingdom are preparing for the possibility of Civil War. The Harmonium intends to step in but have found themselves rebuffed by allies who consider it an internal matter.

It's a bit of a sovereignty crisis the Harmonium is not used to having and is hoping can be resolved peacefully.

I also thought it'd be pretty cool to have an Illithid cavern underneath the city. The Illithids are new arrivals in the plane rather than having been there all along. They're slowly using their powers to hollow out a city for themselves as they've begun moving in their colonists from the world they've been driven off from.

Voll

Going with the idea of this as a stereotypical Medieval Fantasy Kingdom, I think it'd be very cool if it's "post" D&D with it having a substantial number of monstrous villages living at peace with the local villagers after the original heroes went forth and slew all the badness in the land.

I had the idea that the current ruler of Voll is the "Holy" King Valian whom is known as the Silver Crown. In typical subversion and dealing with Ortho's themes, my idea is that Valian is actually a Blackguard of the God of Murder but has been placed under a Helm of Opposite Alignment by his shapechanged Gold Dragon advisor.

I also had the idea that Voll has a curious adventuring tradition to it with the locals, despite being the home of the Knights of Harmony being JUST that slightly out of step with the rest of the countries of the world. I think a higher percentage of Neutral Goods and Neutrals indicates that this might be the place for adventurers to come from who aren't quite the good little citizens the Harmonium wants.

I also think Voll has the "Cursed" Chaos Caverns that continually change their nature and spawn new monsters whole cloth that they're continually sending people forth into in order to clean out. In truth, the Caverns are drawing monsters and the like from other worlds.