Sutan is a large province on the eastern continent. Like all the eastern provinces, Sutan is matriarchy, but perhaps only technically. Or perhaps it's more like a duopoly, but one where women have the final say….which, makes it a matriarchy. But whereas other eastern provinces (esp Lore/Places/Rhian) don't allow men to rule at all, Sutan's political structure includes men, though it's more like a parallel structure to the women's…and it doesn't have quite as much power.

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Sutan is complicated. There are essentially two political bodies: The Fathers and The Mothers, each of whom have their own separate ruling structures. While The Mothers form the primary governing political body, arguably, the only actual ruling body, The Fathers still have a rather significant say in a lot of matters because of their ability to organize…strikes.

Yes, The Fathers are, essentially, a nation-wide union of men. They were organized centuries ago to counter balance the matriarchy and ensure men as a whole have a voice in the choices of their nation.

Sutan has always had a close relationship with the Empire, and most believe it is that relationship and exposure to the Empire's egalitarian ideals that created enough cultural movement within Sutan for The Fathers to arise. This is supported by the fact that The Fathers didn't arise from a single location, but spontaneously in over a dozen cities within the same decade. These fractured unions only merged into its current unified form in response to a rather intense and brutal cultural backlash several hundred years laters. The unified Fathers were then able to organize a strike that lasted for three months, effectively crippling the nation and forcing the matriarchy to accept concessions.

At the end of the strike the matriarchy formally accepted The Fathers in a landmark decision, sealing their existence into the province's writ (think of it like a constitution) as law. At the same time, they established The Mothers (a not at all derivative name) as the primary and only recognized provincial political body, also sealed into the province's writ. The matriarchy may be forced to accept The Fathers, but they sure as hell weren't going to give up their ruling power. Which was fine—usurping the matriarchy was never the goal of the Fathers. They just wanted a voice.

Within a week of this decision, Lore/Places/Rhian waged war on Sutan for the first time in history, which was not suspicious at all—why wouldn't Lore/Places/Rhian have kept a large army at the border of a nation they'd never warred with? Until that point, Lore/Places/Rhian and Sutan had been effectively sister provinces, enjoying robust trade with open borders. The Father's war (as it would later be called) firmly ended that, and for the next thousand years the two provinces would be at each other's throats.