The Grand Duchy of Conventry

The policy of our nation is encapsulated in a few basic principles. We are friends to all, but allies of none. We hold our contracts sacred. We provide refuge for all who require it. When our military is deployed abroad, its sole mission is to enforce our contracts, and it will be withdrawn immediately upon compliance. Girded by the seas, we fear conquest by no power; but we acknowledge the suzerainty of the Imperial Throne, and will bend to the Emperor or Empress's power when it is clear that the Throne is occupied. Our policy, therefore, is to protect our commerce and remain strictly impartial between all other powers. And that is all. It is a policy that has served us in good stead for many years, and shame on those who think ill of it.

-- introduction to An History of Coventry, His Eminence, Graystone, Grand Duke of Coventry, Sekrandor House, Kiitomen Town, 7 IV Age

Ruler's Title: Grand Duke or Grand Duchess
Military Unit: Coventry Crossbows

History: The remote island of Coventry is poor in resources, its arable land limited. Because of this, it has remained independent throughout the Third Age, and with the coming of the Fourth, its ruler has declared his firm intention to submit to the new Emperor, whomever it may be -- and no desire to seek the Imperial throne himself.

Early in the Third Age, the largely human inhabitants of Coventry began to supplement the meager yield of its farms and crofts with fish; as the years passed, they became some of the most skilled mariners of the world. From fishing, they passed naturally to trading, carrying goods at first mainly to and from Alekki and Rontovar, but ultimately all across the sea, establishing trading posts and mercantile factories all about the Inner Sea. As befits a small trading nation, Coventry sought to establish good relations with all nations, and to negotiate treaties allowing its traders to pass without harm. At times, it needed a military force to enforce its treaties, but it could not afford a large standing army and took to hiring out its troops, the famed Coventry Crossbows, as mercenaries. To avoid reprisals against its traders, who might engage in commerce in a nation fighting a war against an army containing Coventry mercenaries, Coventry set a strict policy that its mercenaries must comply with the terms of their contract and be willing to fight against fellow Coventrians when necessary.

With the revival of trade concurrent with the revival of magic, which makes transport and travel far easier, Coventry has prospered mightily. Its reputation as an honorable, neutral, and independent nation means it is often called upon to broker treaties between other nations.