Varishah Federation

The Varishah Federation is a nation that arose following the defeat of the Kaysani Reconquista by the combined forces of the Empire of Estellion and the Commonwealth of Esotre.

History
With the remains of the Kaysani forces in disarray following the deaths of Altus Priors Alejo de Porres and Heliodore de Moreno, the survivors turned to Exarch Usun Motare for leadership. On the advice of Damien Laurentius, Usun Motare rallied his forces and retreated to East Isle, where the Kaysani and the Islemen fortified and prepared to repel Imperial attempts to crush them for good. However, the Empire, weakened from the Reconquista and internal strife, could not muster enough forces to end the Kaysani for good.

Moreover, the people of the Faiths, who had never quite fit in with the rest of Estellion due to their complex religious beliefs, chose this moment to rebel and threw their lot in with the Kaysani and the Islemen. Together, the three groups decided to form a new nation, calling it the Varishah Federation, installing Usun Motare as its leader, with East Isle being the capital.

No longer interested in crushing the Empire and taking the ancestral Carsis lands, Usun leads the Federation on a new path of independence and self-determination, free from the Empire's control.

However, tensions with the Empire remain as high as ever, and the Scarlet Empress is hell-bent on destroying what's left of the Kaysani and retaking East Isle and the Faiths. The Sotrans are likewise unfriendly to the Kaysani, given that their own people have suffered under the attack of the Inquisitors. Fortunately for the Federation, the alliance between the Tellions and the Sotrans dissolved not long after the end of the Reconquista, with the tensions between the Empire and the Commonwealth rising, so a sizable portion of both nations' armies is dedicated to keeping each other in check. And the secession of the Twin Cities from the Empire has dealt a serious blow to Tellion economy and morale. Thus, the three powers are locked in a three-way stalemate, with none of the sides being powerful enough to completely crush any of the others.

Military
The Varish military is largely composed of the surviving Kaysani troops, bolstered by trained Islemen forces, so much of military strategy still relies on throwing large numbers of poorly-trained Cardani elves at the enemy. Like the Empire and the Commonwealth, however, the Federation has started enlisting the services of the mercenaries that have flooded into the Twin Cities after their independence. They are used for a variety of tasks, both to augment regular troops and to perform sensitive missions that the regular forces aren't well suited for.