Northernmost of the three western kingdoms, across the Circle Sea from Hazad — and the most stable of the three, under an elected Doge.
Source
The 1739 background here is from the GM’s Western Kingdoms player primer, shared 2026-08-15 and cited
(GM). Raw original:Sources/Western_Kingdoms_Eastern_Hazadi_Player_Primer_v1.md.
Overview
Mild winters, dry summers. Capital La Serenissima sits at the mouth of the great river Isolia; most major settlements lie along the river or coast. East of Cardacci is the Circle Sea, where the mighty elven city of Tir-en-Tiel once stood.
Cardacci is the hardest of the “kingdoms” to describe as one: a shared civilization of old cities — most predating the Old Empire — noble families, and commerce, under the elected office of the Doge rather than a hereditary crown. Local city identities remain strong. (GM)
Cardacci merchants and communities have long been present in Hazad’s coastal cities, and the Cardacci language serves many Hazadi merchants as a trade tongue.
The Doge (GM)
- An elected monarch: selection mixes voting and lottery among a broad aristocratic pool. Most noble houses swear to the Dogal office, not to a dynasty — so many great families can imagine one of their own someday holding it.
- The current Doge is Alessandro Falieri, elected 1721 — a compromise candidate turned competent ruler, and a hero of the Fifth Crusade.
- Stoccarda is the constitutional exception: it has never sworn to the Doge, yet is accepted as part of Cardacci.
Cities (GM)
- La Serenissima — Dogal capital at the Isolia’s mouth; major maritime hub connecting river traffic to the Circle Sea; naval facilities of the Order of the Gull. Its Archprelate’s see produced the current Most Holy, and it formally appoints the head of the Western Church in Halwa.
- Basilea — major coastal city, built dramatically on steep ground above the sea.
- Stoccarda — the southern city that never swore to the Doge; the snake-demon incident (Summer 1735).
- Genevra — inland, on the Isolia corridor.
- Velletri — the productive northwestern farming country.
- Scandicci — another of the old cities, less famous abroad.
Economy & Culture (GM)
- The most manufacturing-oriented western society: pottery above all (household to prestige wares), plus shipbuilding, metalwork, textiles, furniture, leather, dyes — and notorious mercenary companies (their savagery in Morrschatten’s War of the Three Princes is already on record).
- Feeds itself — the coastal lowlands are highly productive; trade adds variety, not survival.
- The West’s strongest source of new fashions, which reach Hazadi elite circles indirectly despite the formal trade ban.
- The pioneer of modern commercial finance — written credit, transferable claims, balances between houses — its major contribution of the last two centuries, copied in Hazad with mixed enthusiasm. Hazadi merchants respect Cardacci technique while holding it religiously at arm’s length. (GM)
- No university on the Touraine/Krenau/al-Hakim model — learning is dispersed through tutors, households, Church institutions, libraries, and sponsored scholars. Legal and commercial practice is famously elaborate.
- Three great dwarven clans have major settlements here: Drang (leatherwork), Khazak (weaving), Dzur (forging and large-scale metalwork).
Current State (1739)
- Stable, and playing every side at once (GM): recognizes Rincon d’Envers as king of Averoigne while sheltering the Daughters of Touraine; recognizes all three Morschatti princes but none as king; keeps strong military and naval capacity while avoiding other people’s wars.
- Falieri’s government runs notably draconian plague controls — the benchmark the GM’s Halwa notebook says the Harbormaster of Halwa exceeds — and is believed to favor cautious practical normalization of trade with Hazad (commercial incentive, not religious reconciliation). The plague and the Schism make rapid change unlikely. (GM)
- A terrible demon attacked a Cardacci noble court during The Troubles — very probably the Stoccarda snake demon of Summer 1735, and the old geographic objection to that identification is gone now that Stoccarda is confirmed a Cardacci city. (GM)
- Protected (in the Western Church’s scheme) by the Order of the Gull.
- Baldessare Malipiero, Archprelate of La Serenissima, was elected Most Holy in Summer 1734 and reigns as Pious III (GM) — the pontiff under whom the Order of the Owl was dissolved and executed. See On the Summoning of Guardian Spirits.
- One of the three sanctums from The Recovered Documents lies “in badlands south of Cardacci.” Estelle independently places the Sanctum of the Stars in the wastes south of Cardacci (S5) — the two lists agree here, which makes it the best-attested site after Halwa. See The Sanctum Investigation and The Six Voices.
- The Order of the Owl party that visited sanctum #1 ~5 years ago lodged with a Cardacci merchant in Halwa — a man later caught up in the Owl/Eagle fight. (S5)