Though borders and boundaries have shifted slightly over the centuries, Greendale has always been the heart of Regna�geographically, at least. Thanks to the distribution of land, the city-state has only ever had access to a single legitimate coastal port, and that has been forced to vie with Gvante for dominance since time out of mind. In an indirect sort of way, this actually makes it Gvante's fault that the Regnan Federation evolved.

Though the contributions of the Collegio played an enormous part in securing Regnan dominance over the other nearby realms, Greendale was the first to partner with the queendom�first out of spite and, later, out of necessity. Having always controlled both the largest forested area on the peninsula and the greatest section of the Jellaby river network, Greendale has historically possessed three major advantages over its neighbors: A stranglehold on Arcadian and Hanasi river trade with Regna; a monopoly on certain critical hardwoods, herbs, fruits, and vegetables, all carefully husbanded through ancient conservation traditions; and the biggest swathe of arable land among all the city-states. Thus, when Gvante's industrial practices and Arcadia's militancy alternately threatened the sovereignty of Greendale, its leaders took action by leveraging these assets in Regna's favor, throwing its lot behind the queendom in exchange for protection from its Streghe.

Arcadia has clashed more than once with nearby provinces, but has never dared to try and attack Greendale through the great barrier of its primeval woodlands. When the duchy started flexing its muscles in search of greater elbow room around -152LL, the peaceful Dalish folk had had enough; they solved the looming threat of invasion once and for all by signing a treaty with Regna, offering the queendom's merchant vessels unconditional tariff-free use of its waterways. This arrangement was effectively too good a deal for Regna to pass on, and Arcadia recognized that any attempt to expand into Dalish territory would now be met not only with resistance from the Dalish, themselves, but also from furious Regnan traders and politicians�a far more serious and substantial threat.

In return, Greendale received duty-free use of Lombard's ports, eliminating their need to compete with Gvante. West-coast trade was allowed to dry up as the Dalish shifted focus back to their traditional farming, increasing exports of avocados, olives, wine, grain, and more�almost all of it going south and east. Gvante was forced to buy Dalish produce through Regnan merchants at considerable markups, while Arcadian commerce was funneled down the Jellaby at substantive cost to the duchy. By the time Greendale officially assimilated into Regna, Arcadia had almost no choice but to follow, and Gvante was not far behind.

Despite this decades-long demonstration of political acuity, Dalish shrewdness is often dismissed by the realm's detractors as blind luck or, at best, a one-time victory. For all that Arcadia's leaders deliberately repress their own people as much as they can get away with under Regnan scrutiny, it is Greendale which suffers a reputation as the Federation's backwoods; in fact, the term actually originated from the not-entirely-false notion that most Dalish folk prefer the company of trees over people, building their homes and communities pressed along the timberline. The truth is markedly other: Of necessity, the Dalish are excellent mathematicians and master agriculturalists, in tune with the earth and seasons in a way that seems foreign to, but is no different from, the bond most other Regnans have with the sea. While they may prefer to live simple lives, the Dalish have nonetheless embraced the idea of the Collegio's fora minora and have taken to the notion of free press and civil rights quite readily.

The contemporary stereotype of Dalish as rustic mystics probably persists in part due to their overwhelming preference for the Harvest philosophy above other religions and deities, eschewing gods in favor of reverence for the land. Superstitious and gullible folk whisper that the elders of Dalish communities possess natural magic that is poorly understood and little seen by "civilized" scholars of the arcane; more thoughtful people point out that most Regnan cultures�and the Federation, as an entity�have strong magical histories, and whatever the Dalish get up to of an evening is their own business, so long as they don't hurt anybody. Perhaps preferring to embrace the aura of mystery generated by such gossip, the Dalish, for their part, say nothing save to point out that�between the cold, the thistles, and occasional sudden hedgehogs�anyone smart enough to wield magic probably has better sense than to waste their time cavorting through the forest in the dark.