Ulquaan Ibasa

Before humans came to live on Ulquaan Ibasa, it was known as the Isle of the Trolls—named for its main inhabitants. Even after Ikosians invaded and settled Atlazia, they primarily left the archipelago alone, with only a few forts and bases to deter pirates placed on smaller islands.^[2]

After the conclusion of the Necromancer's War, the losing side, primarily consisting of undead nobility and their followers, fled to Ulquaan Ibasa and settled the south of the island, assuming correctly that the Alliance would not pursue them. Over the years they've developed into a strange sort of culture, with some of the most permissive magical laws of any human nation but a comparatively stunted and underdeveloped industry as the Ibasan leadership views modern technology as "immoral and disruptive".^[2] Interestingly, guns are banned on Ulquaan Ibasa (though this does not stop the black market from obtaining and selling them).^[2]

Primarily copy-pasted directly from the cited lore post on MoL Universe.

Despite being founded by undead elders who lost the Necromancer’s War, most of the inhabitants of Ulquaan Ibasa remain regular mortal humans. Since the undead cannot really breed, the leadership has always been fine with this and has never attempted any kind of mass conversion of population into undead. Being transformed into undead is treated as an honor in Ulquaan Ibasan society, and despite its permissive laws, is not available to just about everyone. They do have a number of operations that make use of mindless undead as workers, which is not actually as great as it might sound – zombies still require maintenance and often make stupid mistakes. More importantly, Ulquaan Ibasa just doesn’t have many people, and nobody likes having their relatives used as disposable drones after death instead of being properly buried. Trolls are routinely turned into zombie workers after death, however.^[2]

Almost all of the island’s leadership is composed out of unaging undead elders, many of whom still remember the Necromancer’s War and their life on the mainland, before their exile. There is no king or any other hereditary ruler – instead, these ancient undead convene regularly to decide on policy and common projects. Many of the elders used to be highly ranked, even kings, and they come from different countries and lineages, and are too prideful to submit to someone they consider to be their equal at best. The elder council does have a First Speaker whose job is to be the chief cat-herder, and who is elected every 10 years. In a way, this almost makes them similar to a noble republic like Falkrinea, except that Ulquaan Ibasa’s government is far more shadowy and less transparent with its operations and rules. It is well known among the populace that the government of Ulquaan Ibasa is fairly dysfunctional and only kept on track by the fact they are surrounded by enemies and have to stick together. There is a lot of politicking and backstabbing going on, many members nursing grudges and ambitions from a long time ago.^[2]

Ulquaan Ibasa has been a major center of piracy ever since its founding. Although the mainland nations didn’t want to pursue the exiles to their island, they did do their best to blockade them and cut them off from any international trade. This, coupled with the fact Ulquaan Ibasa doesn’t have many things to trade with, meant they frequently prey on any ship passing close to the island. Since the closest nation to Ulquaan Ibasa is Eldemar, it is mostly their economy they’ve been disrupting.^[2]

Much of the fear of technology comes from the very aristocratic nature of Ibasan politics, and the fear that technological advancement will put too much power in the human and/or non-mage inhabitants of the island.^[3]

Primarily copy-pasted directly from the cited lore post on MoL Universe.

There is a major split among the leaders of the island as to how to proceed in regards to the rest of Altazia. The currently in-power faction has been advocating a sort of reconciliation with the mainland, cutting down on piracy support and giving up on old claims there in favor of making themselves a legitimate player in Altazian politics that can make actual trade deals and alliances with the states there. They aren’t really idealists, but rather they regard trying to recover the territories on the mainland (the official goal of Ulquaan Ibasa) to be a lost cause at this point, and desire to find a way forward rather than being stuck in the past.^[2]

The second faction, led by Quatach-Ichl, opposes this on the grounds that it is naive and short-sighted. In his opinion, Eldemar and the other powers (but chiefly Eldemar, because they’re closest to the island) will always want to attack Ulquaan Ibasa, and the only way to make sure that doesn’t happen is to keep them off-balance and weak. The island is a frozen wasteland for the most part, and doesn’t have much going for it, so the piracy has to continue. And any kind of stability necessarily involves getting back at least part of the territories on the mainland, since they’re so much more productive and conductive to human life than the island itself. Quatach-Ichl’s goal is to keep probing the continental powers, destabilize Eldemar, hopefully trigger another continental war where Eldemar will lose, and then look for an opening somewhere to swoop in and acquire some land on the mainland.^[2]

Quatach-Ichl’s opposition is very strong – in fact, the ruling powers are part of the reconciliation initiative and consider him as something of a stubborn fossil, though far too powerful to simply write off and ignore. However, he still has a lot of supporters, not just among the old undead that can’t let go, but also among the regular living citizens of Ulquaan Ibasa… because he supports piracy and rejects ideas to restrict it and scale it back, which the island’s inhabitants really like.^[2]

After the failed invasion of Cyoria, Quatach-Ichl is satisfied that he's effectively squashed any chance of diplomacy between the more moderate factions and Eldemar. It's unclear how politics will shape up in the future, and relies primarily on Eldemar's own unstable situation.^[3]

Though first referred to as 'the Island of the Exiles', later mentions of Ulquaan Ibasa change that that 'the isle of the exiles'.==References==