Since 1121 Kakranfé has been a federation consisting of five Territories. Each is governed by an elected parliament, who in turn vote for a central governing council and the members of the federal government. Each Territory has considerable autonomy. The parliament can, within only loosely defined parameters, set their own economic, fiscal, penal and social policies. Some Territories, particularly the Bandar, have pushed this freedom to the limits. The Bandar effectively has its own foreign policy too, which it gets away with because the federal government has little power to sanction it.
The looseness of the whole structure was introduced to formalise something which always existed anyway. Kakranfé is a vast nation sprawling across terrain which is all but impassable. Of the five Territories, only the Azat Isles, North Azat and the Mittelgs are in regular contact. In winter especially, the Zanzin Mountains and the northern snowfields cut the Bandar off from the rest of the country and isolate each of the Wastes cities. No strong central government would be possible. There is some belief, though, that the Territories have been given too much freedom. It is debatable how much Kakranfé is really a single nation, rather than just an alliance of separate states with a shared army. And also whether the increasing autonomy being exerted by the Bandar will eventually lead to an Erenland-style rebellion.
The Azat Isles
The spiritual and, nowadays, political heart of Kakranfé. The islands in the Azat Estuary have always been the chief prize contested in the numerous wars with Labland. For Kakranfé this has been for religious reasons as much as anything; the islands of Arazit, St'lakan, K'luth and Darkmeet all hold shrines which a true Narlat follower must visit at least once in their lifetimes. Since their final capture from Labland two centuries ago, the Isles have blossomed. The shrines themselves have blossomed. The shrines themselves have become jewelled, gaudy extravaganzas. The capital Y'kel F'raf, on St'lakan, has exploded in size and become one of the biggest cities in the world, part metropolis and part fortress. Other cities like Arazit and Telbair have also grown rapidly in size and wealth. The Isles were subjected to a campaign of sustained ethnic cleansing after their recapture. Most Labbish were expelled, the rest were stripped of citizenship rights. Cities like Y'kel F'raf have been almost totally rebuilt in Kakranfan styles, all Labbish traces gradually eradicated. Partly as a result, the Isles are where Kakranfans tend to act the most stereotypically Kakranfan. The ocean is everything to them. Worship of Narlat is almost absolute. All major settlements stand on the coast. Inland areas are cultivated to some extent but most wealth comes from the fishing and merchant fleets which patrol the whole of the Eastern Ocean. Society is not as equal as it pretends to be, each island being dominated by a few rich clans. But politics are almost excessively communal and inclusive, from the Territorial Parliaments down to the plethora of neighbourhood councils. The only island at all different is the largest, Sardac. Though the city of Sardac is a port almost the equal of Y'kel F'raf, and in active competition to the capital, the mines and orchards of the island are as important as the seas. Sardac has belonged to various countries in the past but always stood apart from each one. It has its own dialect, folk stories, legends, customs and even religion – an extremely distorted version of the Garran faith. Its only close cousin is the island of Savacia, an affinity which has survived even though the two now nominally belong to different governments.
North Azat
Nowadays includes the lands on the north bank of the Estuary as well as the coastal rim as far as K'ram. North Azatans rather resent the Isles' claim to be the heart of Kakranfé. After all, cities like Nachbar and K'ram have always been Kakranfan, whereas the Isles have spent centuries under Labbish or Erish rule. (The counter is that Kakranfé only retreats to the North Azat when it has nowhere better to go.) North Azat can be divided into two; the Estuary and Eastern Ocean coast and the inland areas. The ports on the coast are almost as stereotypically Kakranfan as those on the Isles. They too have prospered considerably in the past two centuries. Only K'ram, though, has a distinctive culture. The birthplace of Q'ern W'fac and his revolution, is has maintained a fondness for politics which are radical even by modern Kakranfan standards. It also has a very un-Kakranfan love of music and dance. Inland, the North Azat is quite heavily populated but there are few large settlements. The people are itinerant herdsmen who continue the tradition of living on the steppes on the edges of the Wastes in summer, then migrating further south during winter. Their 'economy' consists almost entirely of their herds of cattle, horses and yaks. They are also fighting almost permanently; with bears and wolves, with Orc tribes in the Zanzin foothills, with each other. The Azatan tribesmen are viewed with a mixture of awe and derision by other Kakranfan and are traditionally used as shock troops in the armies.
The Mittelgs
By contrast, the least Kakranfan part of the country. This is partly because of its relatively tranquil climate. Sustained and varied development of the land is possible and has reduced the dependency on the sea. Wheat, barley, roots, hops and apples are all grown; timber and wool industries are flourishing. The Mittelgs have also belonged to other countries for long periods and, in the case of areas like Unthian and Vinto, were only recently added to Kakranfé. Unlike on the Isles there has been little ethnic cleansing since, with places allowed to retain their old character. Together with new elements being added by settlers from Christoté and Flauge, the result is considerable heterogeneity. Barbel, for example, remains a Labbish city in spirit. Jomat, chief port for the Isles, is more classically Kakranfan, while Dorleans nowadays is more Christotan than anything. As a result the Mittelgs barely exists as a single Territory. Parochial infighting paralyses most of its Parliaments and on the ground it operates as a lot of little regions. The strongest tensions lately, though, have been on class lines. Many of the leading families still have a Labbish mindset and don't believe that democracy should interfere with their traditional right to rule. 'Their' people, though, are increasingly contaminated by Kakranfan egalitarianism and Christotan irreverence. The result has been an increasing number of demonstrations and riots, a particular feature in Barbel recently.
The Wastes
A product, really, of mankind's colonial stubbornness. The Wastes (in Kakranfan called I'ilt Ariko, literally 'Icy Wastes') are a vast frozen plain which covers the north-east of Teraf. Lying between the turbulent Northern Ocean and the aptly named Cold Hills, which rise into the Zanzin Mountains, they are covered with snow for most of the year and tundra the west. The Wastes were first settled in the 600's and 700's. This colonisation consisted of five cities on the northern coast, Rushot, Parbola, K'aam, Estot-Galahan and G'moum, and very little else. The ports survived and even thrived, however, sustained by cod, whales, seals and mink, and today each is a city of considerable size. A small around each has even been made fertile, allowing some rudimentary farming. The Kakranfans have built boats more and more capable of surviving the harsh northern seas. The High Road, a miracle of engineering, has also given the ports an all-weather overland link. All this is only relative, however. in winter, with about three hours of light every day, storms battering the coast and blizzards covering the land with white blankets, each town is almost totally isolated. The tend to operate as autonomous units even in balmier months. There are few parliaments, the politicians concentrating on the affairs of their own town. The communities are also very tightly-knit, with very little emigration or immigration and a lot of interbreeding. More positively, this sense of 'all in it together' has fostered a strong culture of equality. Wealth is shared more and people involved more in politics than anywhere else in Kakranfé; or the rest of the world. Each city also has its own unique culture. Estot-Galahan, for example, reveres the whales it hunts, G'moum revolves around frequent religious festivals, Parbola has developed a form of Narlat worship almost unrecognisable by the mainstream church. A shared feature, though, is a love of verse; all the best Kakranfan poems and poets have come from the Wastes. It seems at odd with the rest of the harsh land but is possibly the product of being stuck indoors with nothing else to do for three months each year.
The Bandar
Always a state within a state, isolated from the rest of Kakranfé by the Zanzins and the Wastes. The Bandar have more in common with nearby Norisca culturally, have been under its control for a couple of brief periods and kept up regular contact with it. A Noriscan-style clan systems prevails in many areas and Torgu is worshipped almost as much as Narlan. Inequality is also considerable, with the ruling families having turned the democracy into an oligarchy. Unlike in the Mittelgs, this is generally accepted by the people. The Bandar has also followed its own diplomatic agenda. From the suicide attack on Norisca in 1122 to the annexing of the Narlat Canal coast to the recent colonisation of Sh'rlathia, it tends to act unilaterally and hope the federal government will endorse its deeds later. Which almost always happens; Y'kel F'raf has neither the ability nor the will to reign in its western territory. The southern lands of the Bandar are farmed extensively, sheep and goats are kept in the Zanzin foothills. Again, though, most wealth comes from the sea. This is due to trade as much as fishing in the Bay of Disune. The Narlat Canal, though cut by the Erish, transformed the area. It offered a sea link between western and eastern Teraf and the island city of Eko-Drakan, in particular, has flourished. Though the Erish trade has dwindled recently, this has been more than balanced out by goods from Sh'rlathia. Eko-Drakan organised most of Kakranfé's Sh'rlathian colonies and is one of the few places to work out how to actually make money from that marshy, mysterious continent..