The Urdrevan are a very decentralised coalition of bands, sworn societies, and kinship groups. Different bands choose their leaders based on consensus; be they experienced elders, family heads, master traders, storied warriors, holy-folk inspired by the Gods, or simply the wisest and most ambitious. Band leaders speak for their people when bands meet in council, but there are seldom any prohibitions on band members speaking their minds.
Among the Urdrevan it is very easy to vote with your feet, and unlike a settled person who must leave resources or at least space behind a Urdrevan can take their whole life with them when they depart. As a result Urdrevan governance tends towards compromise and consensus, with additional bodies of authority such as community elders mediating between the leadership and any fractious membership.
A support network exists for the assistance of folk who have to stop travelling due to health, age, or pregnancy concerns in the form of Elder Villages, which often crop up around landmarks that the Urdrevan use for navigation or place value in. The Villages can offer a moment of respite and grounding to people constantly on the move who understand that sometimes there is a need to stay in one place. The presence of elders make these places of wisdom and learning, the presence of the sick make these places of compassion and charity. There are many stories that begin with young outcast Urdrevan being taken into an Elder Village only to emerge years later with honed skills and a drive to right the wrongs that saw them exiled.
Good Nation leadership roles would be an Elder with respected experience of the road, a Lorekeeper who knows many stories, a Chief Healer in charge of a hospice, a Master Diviner, a Prophet or High Priest of the Traveller.
Politics
The Urdrevan have yet to decide how they will be represented at Haven, there is no precedent for so many far flung bands being obliged to share space. Urdrevan culture lacks the hierarchies like nobility or established churches that give other nations their stability. Leadership of a band might be obtained through overthrowing the incumbent, but it is maintained through mutual gift-giving and generosity. Some bands may be linked by bonds of kinship but equally there are bands who have fallen out or split apart now forced into close proximity due to the loss of the open road. There are very limited structures of national governance due to those never being needed before, there is tension between the various factions trying to organise that with a lack of precedent or formal authority. There are doubtless some ambitious sorts that see this change in the nature of the Nation as an opportunity to establish themselves as a ruling coalition or dynasty. Only time will tell…
Externally the Urdrevan range the whole world over, and tend to thrive in places other cultures cannot survive. They have established cordial relations with the other members of the Commonwealth, mainly through the efforts of Hammerstadt and Portavas’s enterprising traders. The Urdrevan find much to admire in Portavas’s dedication to autonomy as well as their self-reliance and wanderlust. Although Hammerstadt would seem to be the epitome of the “civilisation” that the Urdrevan reject, the brilliance of their artifice provides the high quality weapons and luxury goods that the Urdrevan value as gifts. The way the average Urdrevan sees it; the tall walls and easy living in the city of Hammerstadt make for soft people and fine crafts, while the hard life walking the earth beside the great beasts makes for strong people with basic crafts. Strong people can alway earn or bargain for fine things, but in times of crisis soft people find themselves lacking in ways their wealth cannot fix…
The Urdrevan have a saying “You get the welcome the previous guest earned.” As a mobile people they understand the importance of leaving a good impression, so as not to make the road any harder for the travellers that follow or for yourself should you need to return. This attitude carries on into their general foreign policy, which is not to upset potential hosts or trading partners. This conciliatory attitude is strongest among those bands who focus on trading spiritual or magical expertise. It is weakest among the more mercenary bands who have to pick sides in conflicts out of necessity, but who also see firsthand the harm caused by Urdrevan neutrality. Once the nation as a whole has an agenda for the first time – who knows what will happen?
As broadly travelled as the Urdrevan are there are still relatively few folk who have visited all eight of the other nations. Most know of the more far flung foreigners from news carried between the bands and the tropes of Urdrevan storytelling. Individual Urdrevan bands will of course have their own experiences with the various nations of the world depending on their history with them.
Avereaux
The Freeholds of Avereaux and their sprawling networks of farms and villages are to the Urdrevan the quintessential “settled” folk, people who have given up their spirit in return for comfort. Those Urdrevan who have actually visited the Freeholds might say that the folk of Avereaux can still show plenty of “spirit” under the right circumstances, but the general perception is that they are soft and had little chance at defending themselves from the Corruption.
The Wonder
The Urdrevan have respect for the folk able to make a home in the twisting paths of the magical forests, particularly those who do so by choosing to play a part in the ecosystem rather than trying to impose themselves upon it. The Wonderfolk’s way of life has much in common with the Urdrevan of the rainforests, another point that stands in their favour. It is the Urdrevan that carry the Wonder’s resources out into the world for trade, and bring them the things that their forest home cannot provide. The Urdrevan have also provided the Wonder with the expertise of Beastmasters from time to time, when truly strange creatures have emerged from the deep forest and threatened the natural balance of their tended groves.
Valdraeth
While it is a brave Urdrevan who ventures to travel the paths of Valdraeth, it is also a foolhardy forest-thing that would confront an armoured Drevan riding a Sickle-Claw. Those that do travel these storied lands in search of trade or adventure know to stick together in large groups and not to follow pretty lights or distant laughter off into the woods. The Urdrevan have great appreciation for the Valdraeth traditions of hospitality, and find the commoners of Valdraeth to be practical and welcoming people – albeit they tend to be portrayed as a little mad for living somewhere so dangerous. The ‘Refined’ rulers of the Nation represent exactly the kind of feudalism the Urdrevan reject with all their being, and many of the traits of the capricious Fey are perhaps unfairly projected onto them by the wild folk.
The Republic of Portavas
It was the Starseers of Urdrevan that first taught the Navigators of Portavas the secrets of finding direction by the stars. There remains a warm relationship between the two traditions. Since the routes of nomadic Urdrevan and seafaring Portavians only ever cross in ports, where the Urdrevan are typically celebrating festivals of Arriving, the Portavians are often left with a jovial and light-hearted impression of the Urdrevan that belies their serious and pragmatic natures.
The Hammerstadt Charter
Cordial and profitable relations with the merchant citizens of the mighty state marked the beginning of the Urdrevan’s modern role as worldwide traders. There are few Urdrevani who have not visited Hammerstadt and wondered at its marvels while also experiencing its dirt and noise. Their ways of life are very different, but the prevailing Urdrevan attitude is that “If you’re going to give up your freedom for a gilded cage, it better be as fancy a cage as Hammerstadt”
Kairos
The people of Kairos claim to be the oldest nation in the world, and in earlier ages certainly had plenty of contact with the Urdrevan before they made the broad transition from raiders on terrifying beasts into the traders and pastoral nomads they are today. The Urdrevan see the Kairosi as a deeply “settled” people, full of contradictions. They value sophistication and comfort while also preaching self sacrifice and service to the nebulous “state”. They exalt their champions in story yet also petrify them into undying sentinels upon death. Those Urdrevan who have met and grown to know Kairosi folk may have come to see their nobility of spirit, but the bulk of Urdrevan regard the ancient island people with a mix of confusion and a sort of pity.
Syradonia
The Syradonian way of life is utterly alien to the Urdrevan, who associate digging with servitude and caves with the lairs of dangerous creatures that should only be approached by Beastmasters. Those few Urdrevan who have travelled beyond the High Bulwark to the city of Syradonia proper liken it to an anthill in its industry and coordination. The Syradonians do make for good customers, with a steady demand for the resources of the outside world and an abundance of precious metals and steel goods to offer in exchange. The Urdrevan can appreciate an individual Syradonian’s inclination to focus on the solid realities of the here and now rather than upon airy concepts of academia. There is also at least some appreciation that duress has forced the Syradonians underground, in the same way that a band of Urdrevan might take refuge in a canyon to fight off a larger force of attackers.
Morvalis
The Shroud of life-sapping mist that delineates the boundaries of this nation mean that few if any living Urdrevan have visited the three great cities of Morvalis. The Urdrevan find physical undead to be repulsive, trusting to their animals that what is unnatural is a threat. This has led to fraught encounters along the Charnel Road or other places where folk from Morvalis have crossed paths with Urdrevan traders. Even those Urdrevan Matchmakers who have put the effort into cultivating contacts in the shaded nation regard their counterparts as hopelessly decadent and more than a little creepy.
Economic Interests
Rich in businesses and mercenaries, poor in raw resources and industry, the Urdrevan are nevertheless a valued member of the Commonwealth, who along with the Republic of Portavas and the Hammerstadt Charter value freedom in trade and freedom in life.
The Urdrevan are rich in livestock, but poor in farms, and rich in personal wealth, but poor in taxable assets. The central Banker’s Guild has not been as important to them as it is to almost every other nation, as individual Bands may be wealthy but with no centralised government there is no centralised wealth; no way for the nation as a whole to invest or sell assets.
However, the Urdrevan People are essential to the running of the economy in the Commonwealth: overland trade, messenger/postal services, mercenary work including road wardening, nomadic herding of livestock, dinosaur and direbeast services and hospitality are all valued by travellers passing through their lands and the towns, villages and cities at the far reaches of Urdrevan rangings.
Important economic sites include the places where the routes intersect and many bands meet at once. Development of such places begin with corrals with walls of cut logs or piled stone for the livestock, over time becoming stops for settled traders, and the most prosperous become the sites of great caravanserai that feel like the crossroads of the world.
These are often lively places of exchange, where goods change hands and folk change bands. They are a favoured site for weddings and enjoy the largesse of celebrating families. The greatest caravanserai in Elandra is to be found in Hammerstadt, whose endless appetite for materials makes it the yearly destination of hundreds of Urdrevan bands.As world travelling traders the Urdrevan are well aware of the value of information, and how bringing the right people together is the key to successful economics, their Matchmakers live by helping folk meet and making good use of the knowledge they glean by doing so.
The Urdrevan are major producers of: fresh and preserved meats, dairy products, hides and leatherwork, bowstrings, wool, blankets, furs, bones, horns, ivory, scrimshaw, rennet, tallow, soap, lanolin, animal glue, horses, dogs, hunting birds, and wild herbs.
The Urdrevan are major consumers of metalwork, cookware, cutlery, tools, weapons, armour, jewellery, cloth and thread of linen and silk, dyes, honey, flour, vegetables, salt, spices, alcohol, furniture, barrels, cosmetics, and musical instruments.