Medland

Medland is a Human empire on the eastern continent. It's by far the largest and most powerful state in the region; the Meddish language is better known as the Common tongue. Guldrex, the first emperor of Medland is worshipped as a god. People from Medland are called Meniards.

Medland as a cultural hegemon
Medland, large and populous, has long been an island of (relative) stability in a shifting, chaotic world. Medland is cheating at history - they have the gods on their side. Their cultural institutions have outlasted their rivals and spread throughout the known world.

Almost every human culture in the region speaks Common, uses the Meddish calendar and dating system, make maps according to Medland conventions (with Medland in the center and other lands presented in rings of increasing barbarism the further you are from the capital), and is at least aware of Medland's Gods.

Guldrex's Pact
The first emperor of Medland, Guldrex, made a pact with four of the gods - Alderia, Bosht, Pender and Waglin - that in exchange for enforcing their worship as the official state gods, they would lend special support to Medland, elevate Guldrex to the status of a god, and create a special afterlife plane purely for the emperor's subjects.

As a result of the pact, Guldrex's subjects - and all their patrilineal descendants - would not be subject to the natural chain of being but instead go to a special afterworld after death, a place ordered much like the Meddish state. Meniards believe that they will be punished in death for laws they break in life. You can't "escape" the Meniard afterlife; it's like a curse placed on the original subjects and their descendants. Non-Meniards who live in Medland aren't subject to it, but Meniard communities who have lived outside Medland for centuries still would be.

Some Meniards, resenting the concept of a toil-filled afterlife exactly as bad as being alive, instead follow Landus, who is said to have broken free from Guldrex's pact and escaped this afterworld, but little is known about the practices of this secretive, persecuted group.

History
During the First Glorious Era, which began with the establishment of the empire by Guldrex, Medland was ruled by the _____ Dynasty,

The Age of Wolves, following the collapse of the first dynasty, is a dark age about which little is known - by design, according to the hints of some writers, who imply the deliberate destruction of records by Meniard authorities. The length of this period is generally estimated at 300 years or so, but some say it was actually much shorter or longer. Certainly, much seems to have changed during this period; gnomes, for instance, were never mentioned in earlier records, but suddenly appear from the Second Glorious Era onwards, with no one seeming to acknowledge that they weren't always there.

The ____ Dynasty was briefly reestablished during the Second Glorious Era, only to collapse after a few decades when the Dwarves of Brena invaded to avenge a diplomatic slight, burning the capital and killing the imperial family, ending the line of Guldrex for good.

It's currently the Third Glorious Era, and Medland is ruled by the ____ dynasty, of foreign origin and not patrilineally descended from Guldrex. There are disputing religious schools of thought about what this means for the Meniard Afterlife; soldiers, for instance, under the strict letter of religious law, are only excused from punishment for their bloodshed if they do it in the service of an heir of Guldrex, so many feel that they are damned to posthumous torment no matter what they do, and a culture of vicious hedonism has developed in the army and the military castes.

It's widely felt that the current era's a pale shadow of Medland's previous glory, but they're still the dominant human power.

Customs
Meniards wear bizarre, bestial masks when serving on juries (refer to god)