Medland

Medland, or the Meniard Empire, is a large state in Pendria, on the central continent. Although it has undergone a long decline since the days of the First Dynasty, it's remains by far the largest and most powerful state in the region. The Meniard language is better known as the Common tongue, the standard human calendar dates its epochs by the different Meniard dyansties, and and the most coins found throughout Pendria were minted in the empire. Guldrex, the first emperor of Medland, is worshipped as a god.

Cultural Influence
Medland, large and populous, has been an island of (relative) stability in a shifting, chaotic world. Medland is cheating at history - they have the gods on their side. Their cultural institutions have outlasted their rivals and spread throughout the known world.

Almost every human culture in the region speaks Common, uses the Meddish calendar and dating system, make maps according to Medland conventions (with Medland in the center and other lands presented in rings of increasing barbarism the further you are from the capital), and is at least aware of Medland's Gods.

Guldrex's Pact
The first emperor of Medland, Guldrex, made a pact with four of the gods - Alderia, Bosht, Pender and Waglin - that in exchange for enforcing their worship as the official state gods, they would lend special support to Medland, elevate Guldrex to the status of a god, and create a special afterlife plane purely for the emperor's subjects.

As a result of the pact, Guldrex's subjects - and all their patrilineal descendants - would not be subject to the natural chain of being but instead go to a special afterworld after death, a place ordered much like the Meddish state. Meniards believe that they will be punished in death for laws they break in life. You can't "escape" the Meniard afterlife; it's like a curse placed on the original subjects and their descendants. Non-Meniards who live in Medland aren't subject to it, but Meniard communities who have lived outside Medland for centuries still would be.

Some Meniards, resenting the concept of a toil-filled afterlife exactly as bad as being alive, instead follow Landus, whose worship is banned in the empire.

Customse
Meniards wear bizarre, bestial masks when serving on juries - a sacred custom of Pender