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The Unified Kingdom of Alkamar and Miklar, more commonly known as Alkamar (though referred to on most official documents with the abbreviation UKAM), is a large island kingdom located to the east of the Vulpine Imperium, some distance beyond the East Tookumberry Keys and the island chain known as Valles Mensa. While the Vulpine Imperium is historically fox-dominated, Alkamar is mustelid-dominant, largely stoats, ferrets, weasels, and pine martens. Stoats and pine martens are mostly found in the western region of Miklar, and ferrets and weasels in the eastern region of Alkamar, though many centuries of migration and intermarriage have led to an ethnically mixed population.
Historically Miklar and Alkamar were separate nations, only united through prolonged warfare and held together by various power-sharing arrangements. Miklar, swept by powerful winds and storms buffeted off the Mahsterious Sahthern Cahntinent, developed a hardy, self-reliant culture, with various thanes acting as local lords and choosing a king from among their number to rule with the advice and consent of the Court of Thanes. Alkamar, shielded from the storms by the mountain ranges and from invasion by tall ocean cliffs, developed a sophisticated agrarian culture ruled over by a hereditary king and a bicameral council of dons, wealthy landowners who bought a position on the minor council with recurring gifts of tribute to the crown. Both nations developed deeply complex cultures, with Miklarian art centered on finely detailed weapons, armor, and ships, while Alkmarian art centered mostly on architecture and painting, especially frescoes. Both even had separate dialects of what is now termed the Alkamarian language, even giving different names to the mountain range bifurcating the island; while the Miklarians call it the Oldein Mountains, the Alkamarians call it the Perutian Mountains, a distinction only rectified today by cartographers who award these titles to the western and eastern sides of the mountain range respectively.
With the unification of the two nations, power shifted variously between the office of the king (and later emperor), the Miklarian thanes, and wealthy dons from both Miklar and Alkamar as circumstances demanded changes to the structure of the government. The current government structure, crafted in 1755 following a renewed period of Miklarian separatist sentiment, has revived the bicameral structure of the old Kingdom of Alkamar, applying the model to both Miklar and Alkamar. The Miklarian thanes have been reduced to hereditary nobility, though the king (a title restored to the position in the current structure) is still chosen from among them by the Council of Dons, the upper house of the legislature made up of anyone who can afford the steep annual membership fee paid to the crown. A new lower house of the legislature, the Council of the Public, is made up of representatives chosen by the populace of various towns, cities, and boroughs across the kingdom, though most are landowners of significant-but-still-insufficient wealth to purchase a position in the Council of Dons at such a time. The rise of a private structure of mine and factory ownership has spurred the development of a new class of industrialists, some of whom seek council membership, but many of whom have found value in bankrolling the careers of others in exchange for political favors.
Following a century marked by three bruising wars against the Vulpine Imperium, Alkamar has devoted increased attention to the possibility of a fourth war, and has determined that this war must be fought in Imperial waters and territory, not on their own. To this end Alkamar has devoted significant state resources to encouraging scientific innovation in both the public and private spheres, with the contracting and outsourcing of military development to private entities a common arrangement (and most leaders in those industries, in turn, bankrolling the dons who vote to award those contracts). The explosion of the mining and refining industries has led to an uptick in new military technologies, and intelligence gathered by the Ministry of Misanthropy suggests that Alkamar may be supplying newly-developed and prototype weapons in limited numbers to third parties, such as the Red Fleet, to test on their behalf. In the meantime, build-up of the Alkamarian fleet suggests that a full-scale war with the Imperium is a matter of when, not if. While relations with the Vulpine Imperium remain ostensibly neutral, both countries understand that neither can rely upon the other's goodwill, and so remain locked on course for an inevitable conflict.
Historically Miklar and Alkamar were separate nations, only united through prolonged warfare and held together by various power-sharing arrangements. Miklar, swept by powerful winds and storms buffeted off the Mahsterious Sahthern Cahntinent, developed a hardy, self-reliant culture, with various thanes acting as local lords and choosing a king from among their number to rule with the advice and consent of the Court of Thanes. Alkamar, shielded from the storms by the mountain ranges and from invasion by tall ocean cliffs, developed a sophisticated agrarian culture ruled over by a hereditary king and a bicameral council of dons, wealthy landowners who bought a position on the minor council with recurring gifts of tribute to the crown. Both nations developed deeply complex cultures, with Miklarian art centered on finely detailed weapons, armor, and ships, while Alkmarian art centered mostly on architecture and painting, especially frescoes. Both even had separate dialects of what is now termed the Alkamarian language, even giving different names to the mountain range bifurcating the island; while the Miklarians call it the Oldein Mountains, the Alkamarians call it the Perutian Mountains, a distinction only rectified today by cartographers who award these titles to the western and eastern sides of the mountain range respectively.
With the unification of the two nations, power shifted variously between the office of the king (and later emperor), the Miklarian thanes, and wealthy dons from both Miklar and Alkamar as circumstances demanded changes to the structure of the government. The current government structure, crafted in 1755 following a renewed period of Miklarian separatist sentiment, has revived the bicameral structure of the old Kingdom of Alkamar, applying the model to both Miklar and Alkamar. The Miklarian thanes have been reduced to hereditary nobility, though the king (a title restored to the position in the current structure) is still chosen from among them by the Council of Dons, the upper house of the legislature made up of anyone who can afford the steep annual membership fee paid to the crown. A new lower house of the legislature, the Council of the Public, is made up of representatives chosen by the populace of various towns, cities, and boroughs across the kingdom, though most are landowners of significant-but-still-insufficient wealth to purchase a position in the Council of Dons at such a time. The rise of a private structure of mine and factory ownership has spurred the development of a new class of industrialists, some of whom seek council membership, but many of whom have found value in bankrolling the careers of others in exchange for political favors.
Following a century marked by three bruising wars against the Vulpine Imperium, Alkamar has devoted increased attention to the possibility of a fourth war, and has determined that this war must be fought in Imperial waters and territory, not on their own. To this end Alkamar has devoted significant state resources to encouraging scientific innovation in both the public and private spheres, with the contracting and outsourcing of military development to private entities a common arrangement (and most leaders in those industries, in turn, bankrolling the dons who vote to award those contracts). The explosion of the mining and refining industries has led to an uptick in new military technologies, and intelligence gathered by the Ministry of Misanthropy suggests that Alkamar may be supplying newly-developed and prototype weapons in limited numbers to third parties, such as the Red Fleet, to test on their behalf. In the meantime, build-up of the Alkamarian fleet suggests that a full-scale war with the Imperium is a matter of when, not if. While relations with the Vulpine Imperium remain ostensibly neutral, both countries understand that neither can rely upon the other's goodwill, and so remain locked on course for an inevitable conflict.
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