Sunday, September 29, 2019

Melinya

I've been away from my blog, but I've got material I want to work on. Six nations, their cultures, and their nature.

Magic

Essentially none. There are priests, but no clerics. There are academics, but no wizards. Superstition is treated literally, as tall tales in an attempt to explain the unexplained. This isn't to say there aren't fantastical elements - there are the Alahbmahn iccu, giant centipedes that feed off minerals and heavy metals, and a strain of nonhuman heritage flows throughout the people of the six nations. Modernization has begun to rise, with the invention of gunpowder to the mad science of Axphain's medicine.


Race(s)

There are two. Humans and Half-elves. Those with elf heritage do so only through descent from a historical figure known as the All-Father. To be half-elf is to be descended from this figure; though the term is a misnomer, as one is considered a half-elf if you claim as little as 1/16th the blood of the All-Father. Culturally, being a true half or even quarter elf is to be considered "noble"; and the concentration of this heritage is plain to onlookers, from the greatly extended lifespan to lesser talents possessed by their legendary ancestor.


The All-Father

Well over two millennium ago, a mysterious figure known only as the All-Father came and conquered all of Melinya to rule as Emperor. This was the only elf the world had ever seen, and his rule was absolute. Primae Noctis was enforced throughout the great kingdoms of the Empire, thus ensuring his bloodline was spread throughout all of the royal lines throughout Melinya.


Birth of the Nine Ways

Three centuries ago, civil war broke out, and saw the death of the All-Father. As the dust settled, the people of Melinya branched off and founded their own nations in the remnants of the once-unified empire. Naturally, this was not to remain stable, as the names and borders of the original nine nations have shifted. Three of them, in fact, have fallen and their people and territory were claimed by the victors.

Melinya Culture Focus: Zuvendis



Lay of the Land
Deserts cover the majority of the nation, interspersed with fields of irrigated crops and strip mines. Empty riverbeds are scattered about, filled with silt and dangerous predators waiting in near hibernation for passing prey.

The Spectrum River and its tributaries, changing colors with the seasons, separates the deserts from the Aikoh rainforest. Hollow shoots grow from the broad branches of titanic trees, forming a nearly impenetrable canopy and thick forest.


Major Cities
Industrial capacity is ever running, and many of the larger cities are built around strip mines with the rail transport between them and the Great Road.

Much of the industry’s more advanced technology (especially cannons & firearms) is restricted from exportation, as Zuvendis is a young nation rebuilding after the unification of the three kingdoms; the Zuvendis desert nomads, the Spectrum river folk, and the Aikoh forest tribes. The numerous river tribes have integrated seamlessly with the much more populous Zuvendis, and are usually only publicly discernible by their accents. There remains social unrest with integration of those from Aikoh, stereotyped as grifters and sexual predators, and their numerological traditions are routinely vilified.

Many of Aikoh have moved to Paper Street, backed by Ipos Investments, which produces the most famous theatrical productions and dance troupes in the known world.


Economics
An industrial giant, whose steel and glass produces the Crystal Spire and the recent unification of the territory has permitted for the beginning of the Great Rail. Firearm and paper advancements are at the forefront in Zuvendis as well. All of this is directed by the national banks, directing the capital necessary to fuel the ventures in its most efficient form, and in fact currency is backed by the capital directed with the complicated banks and bureaucracy.

The majority of citizens work for one of the construction companies, where upward mobility is high in the face of ravenous need for industrial capacity, a number of whom are granted grants to earn technical educations from Rotak. Working alongside, though viewed with distrust despite their economic advantages, are the entertainers and dancers; many of which are of the people of Aikoh.


Law & Order

Complex at best, Kafka-esque at worst, the legal system is one of rigid codes created by the Theorem Politic. Law enforcement requires a trained computer to entirely rebuild the law book to determine what they can even do, let alone what laws they enforce.


Government

A technocracy, public office requires a formal education which has resulted in very positive foreign relations with Axphain and Rotak. Officially, there is no such thing as voting for people in public office, but instead a series of political surveys taken by the Statistical Census, the collation of such data is used to calculate which eligible citizen will be enlisted into public office.

The closest thing to a supreme ruling body is the Formulae Commission, where policy decisions are designed and incorporated into the Theorem Politic, the execution of which to determine actual political decisions is performed by the members of the Computer Commission.