C	ultare

Government: Monarchy
Capital: Benden City
Ruler: King Leonitus Cultare the Refined (Human Male, Aristocrat15, N)
Regional Benefit: Perform and Diplomacy are class skills.

Nowhere is the decadence and excess of the Age of High Culture more evident than among the nobility of Cultare. The royal manor of King and Queen Cultare and its meticulously kept grounds take up a large part of Benden City and all manner of performances are given within its walls. Despite holding lands elsewhere in Cultare, many of the nobles keep expensive manor homes surrounding the royal manor so that they can be present in the court of the King and Queen and hopefully gain their favor. Meanwhile the populace mans the country's dual fronts against the orcs, and most commoners havea relative manning the front lines.

Benden City
Benden City is the undeniable center of culture in the Southlands. The city can be divided into 3 distinct rings. The inner ring is the royal manor. Surrounding that is the manors of the nobles is the royal courts. The outer rings is a heavily populated a built-up city. Within this ring on opposite sides are two ancient and mysterious needle-like towers, whose gates are magically sealed. A couple of miles upriver from Benden City is the extravagant and highly popular High Temple of Aurora.

Marcola
This large town in northwestern Cultare is run by the Sagotche noble family. It is involved with a long standing border dispute with Sengra's House of Aertier.

Cultareport
This planned city was the idea of King Leonitus, who wanted to built a porminant port for his nation. Construction was began for this marvelous and grandious city, but the porject was abandoned after pirates became too much of a problem, and much of the city stands unused, including an abandoned partially-constructed palace.

Lasteast
Lasteast is a border town shared with Ephasia and is the next to last stop east on the Great Caravan Way before entering the inhospitable Ergas Forest. It lacks the importance of its sister city, Lastwest, because of Nature's Gate in Ephasia.

Peterstown
Peterstown is a small logging town located along the Great Caravan Way. The Inn of the Heroic Blade is one of the most famous places to hear tales of heroes or possilby meet a famous hero. On a darker note, many challenges between heroes are settled in the nearby forest.