Ferron, also called the Great Duchy by its citizens, is the largest and oldest of the new-found realms in the known world. Ferron was united after a devastating civil war  by the self-proclaimed Grand Duke Axerius of Gatei through a tactical alliance and intermarriage with the Tyrant of Launam. Between these two large and powerful city states, the western half of the  peninsula which forms Ferron was finally brought to peace in a few years. Averius was not content with conquest alone, but formed a functional administration out of his new territory through granting yielding opponents their titles and lands, and in-vested heavily in a new infrastructure, building streets and founded small settlements to re-claim the land, which he granted to his loyal soldiers. 
 

Modern day Ferron is a feudal realm, where small local lords and landed knights rule over most of the country, while the large towns of Gatei in the west of the realm and Launam in the east form parentheses that hold the land together, but also could tear it apart. While the Grand Duke resides in Gatei, and has most of his personal power and retainers in the West of the country, the Launam nobility felt that they came short in the unification wars and that they were betrayed by their Gateian allies. In the East, there are rumors of separation and civil war, and a strong dislike for the ruling class of the Western parts, especially since many of the knights who were granted lands were former commoners who were honored with the lands and titles due to their services in the unification war, and in the more traditional east, they are seen as brutes and upstarts.

Culturally, Ferron is divided into two parts around the civil centres of Gatei in the West and Launam in the east. Traditionally, western Ferron has always been the poorer part of the country, but also the more progressive and open-minded one, while the eastern provinces were more static but as most of the silver mines that form the backbone of the wealth of the Grand Duchy are in the east, it was also the wealthier part. This cultural gap increases the tension between the former allies Gatei and Launam. 

Feronians are of average size and stature and have a bronze colored skin and straight black to dark brown hair. In the north and west of the country, in the border regions to Venna and Thuria, these traits are a lot less dominant and ‘mutts’ of Feronian, Thurian and Vennaran parents are probably as common as straight Feronians and suffer from no form of social stigmata. In the south and east, especially in the Launam territories and the city itself, prejudices against foreigners and those of foreign appearance are much more common and a mixed heritage is often seen as a curse and a sign of inferiority.

Non-humans are rare in the Ferron lands, because they were killed and driven off in the early pogroms which lead to the Grand Duchy's foundation and the long civil war which went along.
 Beastfolk always had a bad reputation here, because the local magocrats loved to abduct people from the streets and use them for their experiments, which often ended in the creation of new beastfolk, and during the unification wars, several tribes of beastfolk waged a long and brutal guerilla warfare against the troops of Gatei and Launam. The result is, that Beastfolk are tolerated at best in Ferono, and are often treated more like animals than like humans; killing a beastfolk is never considered murder, while people are publicly humiliated and scorned for love affairs with beastfolk.
Daimonids on the other hand are so extremely rare in Ferron that they are most often treated with curiosity and an arguably higher tolerance than further up North or in the West.  In the east of the realm, where an usual appearance is suspicious by default,  there are  no larger communities of these, but in the more open-minded western part, especially in the Metropolis of Gatei itself, a small streat of extraplanar heritage is quite fashionable, as long as it subtle and work along with the general sense of aesthetics of the rich and powerful of the city.

Ferrono is not a very religious country, at least when compared to the influential clergy in Rhyrgia or among the Sarcan Tribes. The religion in Ferron is polytheistic, and the Ferronian Pan-theon, also called the Southern Pantheon is worshipped in Ferron and parts of Venna and the Eastern League. The nine gods of the pantheon have no separate clergy, and the few priests are usually little more than managers of sacrifices and religious festivals. There are also few temples that are dedicated to one god alone, usually the temples are sacred to all gods with separate niches and altars for every deity. While few Ferronians pay more than lip services to their gods, the sacrifices are an important gesture to show the own wealth, and generosity and have therefore a more social than religious aspect. In addition, every god of the pantheon demands a festival or holy day, which are usually the cause for much revelry and debauchery, and therefore attracts many travelers.

The Ferronian society consists effectively out of four social classes – the true nobility, which are sworn in to the Grand Duke directly and control the majority of the country, their direct vassals, the knights, whose titles were often granted due to their services in the unification wars, who administrate small territories (often only a single settlement and its environment). The vast majority of the population are the Freemen, who live both in the new-found rural settlements and the large cities as farmers and craftsmen. In Ferron, slavery is a long-standing tradition, but actual slaves are rare and only appear in the households of rich freemen and aristocrats; slavery is often a form of punishment for criminals, who are officially enslaved and marked permanently with a brand sign on their forehead. Other slaves are war captives, but slavery is not inherited in Ferron – the children of slaves are free.

The Feronian society is slightly matriarchic. According to the societal image most Feronians have, men are supposed to work while women are supposed to think, which has led to sepa-rate gender roles in the society. Most administrative roles are usually filled by women, while most tasks involving physical labor – including warfare – are seen as the domain of men. These gender roles are not too rigid, and while it is uncommon to see female blacksmiths or male scribes, it is not very scandalizing. It is though very typical for Feronian armies that the command is almost completely female, while the actual core of the army is dominated by men. This general conception helped the Grand Duke to raise in power, because his rivalrs tended to underestimate him, because of his sex. He used this greatly to his advantage. 
In question of inheritance, the sex is normally not considered, and usually the oldest child inherits everything.

Ferronian culture is both tolerant and bigot in questions of sexuality – equal sex relationships are openly tolerated (especially between two women). Since the general prejudice in Ferron insists that males are… well, a bit dim-witted compared to their sisters and mothers, there is a steady belief among many women that they are too primitive to actually feel true romantic love. Thus, open homosexuality does not include any form of social stigma, but is sometimes seen as selfish because of the lack of children. Due to the gender-based prejudices against men, many women believe that true love between equals is only possible between two women and many warriors believe that the highest form of loyalty between comrades in arms also include romantic love and sex.
On the other hand, sexual relations to non-humans are heavily persecuted and marriage is considered to be extremely important – while it is completely unproblematic to marry the same sex, adultery is seen as a major offense and can be punished with slavery, whereby the betrayed spouse gains the profit from the sale of their former husband or wife.  

Ferron is mostly covered by dense deciduous woodlands, and while the soil is fertile, the only noteworthy ore deposits are the silver mines in the mountains of Launam. Ferronian farmers grow mostly wheat and sorghum which forms the base of the daily nourishment. Husbanded animals include pigs, bovines, and mostly sheep.

Due to the lack of large deposits of weapon grade metals, Ferronian military forces has usually tried to overcome this weakness, with varying degrees of success. Traditionally, Ferronian soldiers are only lightly armed with armor made out of cloth or leather. The traditional infantry weapons are javelins, fighting spears and shields made out of wood and leather or basketwork. But these spearmen do not play an equally important role as in other armed forces: Traditionally, the most potent weapon of Ferronian armies are archers with the traditional recurved composite bows. Ferronian bows are usually regarded as the best in the world, but are difficult and expensive in the production. The elite of the armies, the knight class, form the cavalry backbone of the armies, and also produces the officers of the other branches. Feronian Cavalry often consists mostly out of fast, highly mobile mounted archers, whose main task is to attack the flanks of their enemies.