At the conclusion of the Forth Alchemist Wars in 543, The High Chancellors came together at Ulburn and laid out the doctrines that would form the basis of Grancell State. Gone away were the warlords vying for individual power, and in their place came a strict caste system. Family clans banded together to form larger guilds, rank awarded or revoked by The High Chancellors as they saw fit.
Each family from Grancell has a unique Family Sigil, a circular tattoo found on the right hand of adults. Upon marriage, the Sigil from the other family would then be tattooed onto the left hand, signifying the ties the two houses now shared. Should an individual fall from grace in some way, red gloves would be worn, letting others know the wearer had no current loyalties. These Red Handed Sellswords fought for whoever paid the most, drifting from gang to gang or one foreign army to another, sometimes changing sides midway through a fight, and even aiding Ulmassian forces during the invasion.
Off the coast of Grancell State, Brane Island had once been the seat of power to a large guild that was forced to surrender territories on the mainland in exchange for joining the other Chancellors. Easy to defend due to the water that separated it from the mainland, it had been one of the last guilds to accept the new form of government. But the families of Brane Island never forgot what they used to be and, after a short bid for independence in 720, it was granted a special autonomous status, still apart of the larger State, but free to govern itself.
When The Kingdom of Ulmass invaded for unclear reasons in 868, Brane Island was the last to be conquered. While the mainland fell to a larger force, it took until 885 before the Kings Standing Army returned to its shores and two more years after that for the island to become part of the Kingdom. Many within the Grancell region hold an amount of animosity towards anyone from the rest of Ulmass, but those from Brane Island openly despise them. Open hostility and the hassle of riding the ferries has kept tourism in this area down from the rest of the region.
Although the caste system was officially abolished after Grancell was absorbed by Ulmass, that did little to end it's unofficial implementation. High Chancellors still wield a substantial amount of power, with people very often go out of their way to win favor while blatantly discriminating against lesser families. As such, The Kingdom keeps a close eye on both them, and the remaining Red Hands who had once helped them but are now seen as rogue elements from a past preferred forgotten.