Name of your Sovereign: Lord Exarch Anton Barson
Name of your Nation: Enorian Republic
Fluff: Enor, bordering to the east of major nations like Guerrand and Granfi, is the part of the Great East, north of Jautonlund. There, among the vast forests and many hills, lies Kyre Valley, where the great river Kyre flows from the peaks of Enorian Verge.
The Republic (named Enorian to those beyond the reaches of this part of the world) is a bizarre affair of popular councils throwing out their prince and replacing them with another, who promptly disbanded them and established a noble Viec in its place to rule over the land.
Composed of many districts and territories, which in the olden days were tribal lands, the Republic focuses nowdays on its capital of Kyresfel at the mouth of Kyre, where the elected Lord Exarch and his Viec execute their rule over the people. Nobility is still very much the dominant class, but over succesive struggles, freemen of Enor secured their rights by establishing and running counterpart district assemblies that accept, enforce or reject the rulings of Viec, as well as send representatives and local nobles as representatives to the Viec.
Pride of the freemen of Enor as well as arrogance of their nobles leads to constant class warfare that nonetheless is tempered by the feeling of common culture and blood against the outer world that has treated Enorian tribes with little kindness until they settled in the Valley and started taking over the wilderness around them in organized fashion. Now living in towns and fortified villages, Enorians enjoy prosperity built on work and ethic of a freeman - a citizen farmer who does not work for a noble but owns his property and respects his duties to the community, whether by contributing taxes or serving in citizen levies, or pulk. The pulks are the backbone of Enorian strength, both numerous and well-equipped, either raised as a public levy or commissioned by nobles with their own funds as a contribution to the state (and their own power). The serfs, either freemen who were too poor to maintain their status or tied to nobles for generations, form a small, albeit slowly growing underclass under the thumb of aristocrats. In the valleys and forests of Enor, sword and polearm dominate, but no pulk is without a detachment of marksmen and a noble cavalry squadron to round off the infantry army. Mercenaries are the preferred form of peace-time troop, hired as police, border forces and noble entourages, with majority of them being the surly Guearrand mercenaries, although some freemen ply their trade as sellswords as well if they are too poor to maintain property or like the taste of war more.
The Capital of Kyresfel is a rather metropolitan place as compared to the rest of the country, as it focuses on trade from abroad, holds both the Viec and the Court of Exarch as well as is the centre of administration. Straddling Kyre and jutting out into the sea, the city is perhaps the largest urban centre in the East (as there are few other nations in this part of the world to challenge it).
The land is fertile, if little harsh, with long, mild summers and frosty winters, with soil unsuited to planting grapes or olives, but perfect for hardy rye, hops and apples. The mountains of Verge supply needed raw material for tools and weapons, but do not contain much in way of precious wealth. Forests are the fuel of industry and ever-expanding civilization and Enor has those in vast supply. As such, hunting is a popular sport and many Enorians are good hunters and rangers, with furs and leathers forming the dominant form of clothing, next to linen and wool from local flax and sheep. Given the climate and resources, raw materials form the main export commodity of the land, with few local specialties like beer or honey being close second, while Enorain merchants form the majority of bulk goods suppliers in the wider world. It is probable that many trading ships from far countries are made of Enrian wood, with Enorian cloth in their sails, Enorian iron in their anchors and Enorian beer in their holds.
Enorian architecture is sturdy, utilitarian, but allowing for a splendid displays of imaginative woodwork in most places, while places like Kyresfel or noble properties show foreign influences fashionable in any given age.
Unlike the monolithic faiths of the West, Enorians are beholden to a myriand of deities, from few Major gods to a vast number of local spirits that inhabit forests and rivers as well as the hills. More than a few of them are malevolent or ignorant of human fragility or weakness, so protection of Major Gods is seen as vital as well as temples dedicated to them in each locality (most towns and villages have a patron god, either a local deity of ancestral origin or one of the major national ones.) Enorian religious convents and priesthoods usually form communities and retreats around holy places or temples, with faith focusing on the Mount Gedron in the Enorian Verge as the divine peak where the Viec of the Gods happens to oversee the world. Ancestors are worshiped and remembered too, as souls that can influence the unseen for the benefit of the family and prepare the way to the afterlife for the living. It is the peace of the dead and thus the future of the living which relies on Major gods and their patronage and protection form the spirits which forms a second large pillar of Enorian religion, with barrows and deep tombs necessary homes and gateways to the afterlife. Skulls and bones are as such an often motif that can often be found in the most unusual of places.
Focus: Population
Author
Topic: Against the Gods (OOC) (10/8) (Read 8667 times)