The Kingdom of Cygnar has no lack of gold, iron, timber, food, gems, rock quarries, or any other resource coveted by a modern nation. It is a state boasting many great minds, which have pushed advances in alchemy and mechanika to new heights, giving the nation a technological edge over its neighbors. Its warjacks boast inventive armaments that harness the power of electricity, and they bow to the will of their warcasters, who are trained at one of the two finest military academies in all the Iron Kingdoms.

From the time of the Corvis Treaties, Cygnar has bordered each of the kingdoms those treaties created: Ord to the northwest, Khador on the far side of the Thornwood Forest, and Llael to the northeast. The Bloodstone Marches made up its eastern border until the Cygnaran Civil War, which gave rise to the Protectorate of Menoth. Khador’s invasion of Llael has put Cygnar on the offensive, as it struggles to help its northern ally stave off the Khadoran juggernaut. The loss of the Thornwood and the Black River would separate Llael from Cygnar and diminish hopes for the smaller kingdom to regain its autonomy.

Cygnar endured political upheaval in recent times when Leto Raelthorne, “the Younger,” ousted his tyrannical brother King Vinter IV, “the Elder.” The deposed king managed to escape before being put on trial for his crimes. Nearly a decade later, he reappeared from the Bloodstone Marches with strange allies from the far reaches of eastern Immoren. Since his return, the former king has created constant peril on Cygnar’s eastern border, even attempting to seize Corvis in 603 AR. While it has never been easy to wear the Cygnaran crown, King Leto has borne more burdens than most sovereigns have to bear, yet there persists a growing divide within the nation between those who support their king and those who are discontented by the privations of interminable warfare…and beginning to conspire to arrange for a different sovereign to occupy the throne.