The Monarchy of Kune

The Monarchy of Kune is a large nation that is mostly made up of elves that is very close to the Empire of Ralo, located on the continent of Krat.  Kune controls extremely large forested areas and two large inland seas.  Kune is an ancient nation, nearly two thousand years old.  They have only had four previous monarchs though, each having ruled for an extremely long time.

Within Kune, magic is common and practiced by a great many people.  All forms may be practiced without restriction, and the druids remain prevalent and extremely powerful within Kune, as do bards and clerics.  However, Kune's wizards and sorcerers are not as powerful as those of the Empire of Ralo.  Magic is used in the lives of many more of the common people than in the Empire of Ralo, and it is often speculated that the elves have secrets that the humans and gnomes of Ralo cannot fathom locked away in their many academies and competitive guild organizations, though there has never been any proof of this.

The current monarch, Queen Mirabella the Second, is a frail, ancient woman of six hundred and forty years, who has been on the throne since her father was murdered more than six centuries ago.  She is an awesomely powerful wizard, but her rule is failing as her people lose faith in the government.  Her heir-apparent, Prince Tirralon, is a pompous and gullible young man who has just been thrust into the spotlight after the death of his two older sisters and elder brother in a terrible assassination plot.  He was also almost killed, and bears terrible scars on his neck and shoulders where the assassin's arrows pierced him.

The Monarchy of Kune has a small, volunteer military supplemented by tiny town and village militias and slightly larger city guards.  Only Kune's long-standing alliance with the autonomous orders of druids and their powerful animal companions allow them to protect their border from incursions from the Empire of Ralo.

While the Empire of Ralo does not want any of Kune's territory, they would like to push right up to their borders, which includes chopping down long protected forests worshiped by many druids and clerics within Kune.  Kune also maintains a wary relationship with their powerful southern neighbor, the Dwarn Republic.

Kune is populated mostly by elves, with small pockets of fey and the occassional gnomish and halfling village along the frontier with the Empire of Ralo.  The elves have not built great cities, preferring to build a multitude of small and medium sized towns.  A city of ten thousand is a regional metropolis in Kune, and the capital is less than twice that size.  This unwillingness to build large cities has also contributed to a lack of expertise at building defensive fortifications.  The Monarchy of Kune has few castles, mostly located in traditional rather than pragmatic locations.