Menkhazi Principality

Depending on whom one asks the cities of the Principality are either "havens for the truly free" or "wretched hives of scum and villainy". This area of the world has always been more-or-less lawless, ruled by various families whose only goal is to enrich themselves (kleptocracy). Even the Imperium couldn't change how things work in the Principality, it just gave the familis a legal framework to do what they have always been doing.

Every year a princeps (commoners just say: prince) is elected to enforce the "rules" and mediate between families. The ruling families often feud among themselves but they are quick to join forces if something starts threatening the "business".

Life in the Principality is either described as the epitome of freedom or as anarchy. There is no central law enforcement, the people make their own rules, the families rarely intervene unless their interests are threatened. There are hundreds of stories making the rounds over Aegeron about lone heroes and infamous bandits battling in the remote regions of the Principality.