In the world of Hern, there are only 3 presently known continent. Dalian, Azuran, and the Kandar continent.
It was only during sometime around 300 years ago that civilizations in each continent became aware of each other's existence due to fact that long sea voyage during that time was not dared to be thought of or extensively invested on by each continents ruling empire and or kingdoms because of the dangers sea voyage entails... Unpredictable sea conditions and of course Giant Sea Monsters.
It is only in those few hundred years that the leap towards improving the quality and advancement in sea voyage was considered as a good investment due to the fact that it became apparent when these empires and kingdoms are having a hard time conquering and expanding their inland territories because of each continents natural terrain, territorial claims from other ruling bodies and lastly the ever dangerous other inhabitants of Hern.
Although the human civilization were already present thousands of years ago base on each continents recorded history, other humanoid beings such as Dwarves, Elves, Beast men, Halflings, Orcs, Goblins, Trolls, Giants, Ogres, etc. are also present and each one of these races also holds their own thousand year history on how they came to exist in this mysterious world of Hern.
Pretty much the entire world of Hern still holds large areas of unexplored territories both onshore and offshore because of the limited sea travel and undeveloped wilderness, people tend to stick to areas close to large cities or frontier towns.
With these thousand years of history between the different races, different kingdoms were born some co-existing with one another which later turn into empires, while others tend to keep it to themselves and were rather hostile to races not their own.
The Humans are the most populous ones amongs these races due to the fact that they are one of the races with weak physiology and short life spans they make it up for intelligence, adaptability and better governing ability than those of the other civilized races. In turn, Humans were able to rise above the rest and were able to established kingdoms far greater than that of the Dwarves or the Elves.
Despite what seems to be a working empire or kingdom, problems such as wars, famine, slavery, etc. are still ever present because of some flaws in the human nature.
Jealousy, greed and lust for power are still common issues even in this mysterious world.
If on Earth money rules, in Hern.. Magic rules. Yes, Magic... and is only possible because of that mysterious world energy called Mana that gives you the ability to control the elements and bend it to your will.
Although some humans are able to access this world energy, it is only limited to a gifted few who can fully use it, the majority of the Human population are still in the darkness regarding its nature, this doesn't stop other individuals to abuse its power and often tend to dominate others with it.
While the Humans are limited in numbers when it comes to being an innate magic user, the Elves on the other hand are natural magic wielders and are usually the envy of those power hungry individuals.
The Dwarves are a different case; they don't have any affinity with magic. Magic itself seems to not affect them nor put a huge strain or damage on their bodies; in short they are resilient to the effects of magic albeit not fully invulnerable. A mage can shoot a lvl 3 fireball at Human foot soldier that can easily turn him into ashes but Dwarves on the other hand would only receive a minor black marks if not just a smell of singe hair. (Dwarves are very hairy)
Hern is a planet dense in the world energy known as Mana and controlling it is limited to certain gifted individuals or a race, Mana itself flows through in every living being in Hern and with this its effect.
An Earth human only lives up to an average of 75yrs while others rarely reach 100 much less pass it. In Hern, human lives to an average of 150 and others would reach up to 180 or more and we are just talking about regular humans.
Dwarves depite having no affinity to magic, the mana flow grants them sturdier physique, greater strength than humans and often on par or greater than some Beast Men and would often live up to even 350-450 years before biting the dust.
Elves on the other hand are a different case, since they are often called the real children of Hern because of their innate affinity with Magic and mana flow, they tend to live for thousands of years are often mistaken for immortals. Despite these advantage, Elves and Dwarves reproduce slow due to the fact that the former bound by cultural norms and their physiological needs due to longevity and the latter is either engrossed so much with their work and passion that they don't have time to copulate.
The 2nd largest continent between the 3 is the Dalian continent which is mostly ruled by the Sundor Empire in the North and Forsan in the South.
Although it may seem that both empire are at peace and exerts mutual trust in one another, it is not the case with what's happening behind the curtain.
Both Empire are always at each other's neck to win over some territiories held by some scattered and neutral kingdoms in between their borders, it is always done discreetly.
They would not let their huge armies march and take these kingdoms by force for fear that the other empire would exploit this chance to make face and help that kingdom in return and by doing so win some of the scattered kingdom's allegiance.
Another reason is that some of these neutral kingdoms are impossible to be part of either empire since they are more of a liability in terms development, security and too much of a cultural difference that may hurt these empires more rather than benefit from it thus kingdom treaties are rather preferred over an empire rule.
In this case concern parties reap the benefits more such as the Merchant Guilds and Adventurer Guilds.
One of these neutral kingdoms that either empire would not even bat an eye to consider taking in is the Kingdom of Danan situated far west in the Dalian continent .
The kingdom is too far from the nearest border city and the roads leading to it are either filled with bandits and dangerous beast much less the road condition outside is so bad it would take weeks sometimes months to deliver and trade supplies.
Within the Kingdom of Danan are compose of 3 large cities. Milard the largest, situated in the middle of the kingdom and it is where the Hesta monarchy resides.
Olshe the 2nd largest and the only port city within the kingdom ruled by Duke Lest and lastly the City of Ruka ruled by Duke Sherman.
Between these cities, Ruka is situated further in the wilderness and is surrounded by different Fiefdoms ruled by Marquis comprise of border and mining towns commonly managed by Counts and Barons.
The frontier town of Irongorge is located within the outskirts of the territory of Ruka City which is under the Feldan County ruled by Marquis Sernan.
Irongorge itself is supposed to be a mining town but due to the large concentration of dangerous beast, monsters, and unexplored wilderness it had been proven to be quite difficult to manage.
Baron Durick is the one incharge of managing the town of Irongorge but instead of doing what a good Baron is supposed to do, he chose to line his pockets with gold from illegal activities and unscrupulous dealing outside of the Kingdom's knowledge.
The Almiraj's Horn Tavern is one of the few remaining businesses that is still operating in Irongorge that caters to the different adventurers, merchants, travelers and locals who would want to spend their coins after a whole day of exploring, trading and work.
Right now, the tavern is very lively, bustling full of customers, and all are somewhat amazed as to what just happened a few moments ago.
"He... Help me... Don't just stare! Useless fools.. arrgh.."
uttered Nalec who is still gasping for air as he tries to issue command on his stunned men as they are not used to seeing their boss to be easily toppled by a woman much less a barmaid to add insult to injury.
Sashi was also surprised as to what happen since everything was too fast for her to grasp due to the fact that whatever she did was merely out of instinct.