The ‘‘gateway to the South,’’ Altruscia’s Fort Innana dominates the largest and most caravan-friendly pass south of the Doribatt Mountains. Altruscia has parlayed this position into a powerful merchant empire which predates even the Gelephian Tragedy, and despite the fact that Altruscia itself produces relatively little besides tariffs, merchants from this country can be found all over Ihlathi, selling exotic goods imported from beyond the mountains. As a side-effect, Altruscia is also one of Ihlathi’s greatest exporters of magicite, most of which is traded south, as access to the Great Shimmer means that even with the added cost of transport, Ihlathian magicite is often cheaper than local supplies to the south.

A great deal of modern Altruscian opinions towards its neighbors on the continent can be laid at the feet of the Galtean War of the late 13th century. While the war ended far more disastrously for the Galtean Protectorate (which was dissolved with the treaty of Olisham in 1305), a chunk of what had historically been Eastern Altruscia used the opportunity to merge with southern Galtea and form the new nation of Qoolia. Qoolia’s existence has been a sore point for Altruscian nationalists for the last two centuries, and the loss of those territories (and general existence of the war at all) has paved the way for a more active interventionist national policy for modern Altruscia.