| abstract
| - Thus, all expansion is conducted by the King, and by him alone, and all territory is royal territory. The army swears allegiance to the king alone, and all administrative functions flow from the state rather than a master-servant system. There is no feudal system among the Kuriotates. The powerful live in the cities, and compete for positions there. In the outlying areas, the powerful are only powerful by royal decree, and Cardith Lorda's careful machinations ensures that it stays that way. Thus arose the system of settlements. The Kuriotates are a confederation of peoples and races, marked by a very powerful core region, vast areas more loosely connected to the core cities, and full freedom of asylum, even citizenship, for those who wish to move from other nations or the wilderness of uncivilised territory. The settlements, controlled solely by the central administration (i.e. Cardith Lorda's government) act as administrative centers, tying vast areas, often with their own highly advanced semi-autonomous indigenous populations, into the Kuriotate confederacy. The settlements provide facilities for transit, trade, administration and diplomacy in the affiliated regions, but never develop a very large population of pure Kuriotates. They are mostly populated by bureaucrats, merchants, a handful of soldiers and their families and the most promising born here quickly relocate to the central cities. A system of trade and friendship with their centre on the small Kuriotate settlements keeps the hodge-podge of allies, protectorates, semi-autonomies and client states happy and ensures that much-needed resources continue to flow to the core lands. The vast areas with sparse human population that get locked within the Kuriotates' disproportionately large sphere of influence and cultural domination mean that they get in contact with many of the rarer species of Erebus. For many civilizations, that might prove problematic, even act as a source of conflict and destruction. For the Kuriotates, it is a boon, and a source of their strength. For the Kuriotates don't much care who you are as long as you have something meaningful to offer to the nation as a whole. The Kuriotates' particularly positive relationship to the non-human species of Erebus dates back to the very beginnings of the confederation, when a small group of Centaurs aided Cardith Lorda in his rise to power. Other creatures, attracted by the special power they detect in the boy king, have since flocked to the Kuriotate banner, escaping marginalization or even persecution in other parts of the world. The Centaurs, having risen to be a force to be reckoned with in Kuriotate political life, smooth their transition and integration into the society, putting their special skills to good use in the areas at which they excel, through innate ability or cultural conditioning. The culture of the Kuriotates is such that the demi-humans are treated as, and indeed regarded as being, equal to the human majority, and judged by merit and benefit to the nation alone, although the fundamental differences between the races mean that some measure of distinction is necessary in order to allow the Kuriotate nation to run smoothly. However, again this may be a secret benefit. This specialization and segregation has given rise to something akin to a Caste system, another reason the Kuriotates have such a stable central government. While the humans are the jack of all trades, each of the races have found their niche, dominating their own area. The Centaurs, the warrior caste, hold many high positions in the army, the Lamia wield great magical power, and command respect among the magi, and so on. Since all these subcultures owe allegiance to the king alone, they act, in their specialized roles, as an effective bulwark against the ambitions of human noblemen. Those few dissidents who let their resentment at being bypassed be channeled into irrational hatred of demi-humans are held in check by strong personal trust in Cardith Lorda and an emphasis on the state religion, not to mention state superstition and traditions. Few Kuriotates dare cross or even question the will of the state, the will of the people of the confederation, and most importantly, the will of the divine Boy-King. The Kuriotates hold loose sway over a massive sprawl of an empire, but the borders are porous, and when war threatens, they will often act as a turtle, retreating into the hard shell of their core lands until they can muster the forces to take back that which was lost. Thus, the Kuriotates through their openness to others, strong central authority and large but loose sphere of influence have a flexibility many of their opponents lack. Truly, they are one of the centers of enlightenment in the dark of Erebus.
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