NationStates Jolt Archive


The Countries of the Hildlands (PT/Fantasy Factbook)

Weccanfeld
16-06-2008, 18:01
The Hildlands

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee269/sladt/Hildlands-1.png

(Political Version Forthcoming)

"We could have done it, my friend. All those years ago, in Seairo. There we were, the champions of Lizardfolk, when they went back on their promises. They expelled us, and all we did was leave. The gods were angry that day, and they didn't forgive us for years after. Now, we know better than to trust others with the power we truly deserve!"

The Hildlands are yet another consequence of High Elvin hegemony – a land of states, rather than a state. The modern states – those of the cities of Seairo, Scohwyrtia and Fyr, are the results of years of on-off wars that have seen a multitude of tiny states disappear to obscurity, resulting in these three main lands.

Seairo is the most populous and technologically advanced – but suffers from a severe shortage of metals, save from precious ones, of which they have plenty. Scohwyrtia has a smaller population, but controls vast swathes of land, and has access to advanced armours and weapons that are sometimes more works of art than military tools. Finally, there is Fyr – a simple, small land that has taken the long, peaceful route to civilisation on their plains above the rainforests.

Populations
Total Pop. of Seairo Empire:
~7000000
Total Pop. of Scohwyrtia Empire:
~4000000
Total Pop. of Fyr Empire:
~2000000
Total Pop. of unaligned tribes:
~2000000

Culture
The culture, or perhaps more correctly the cultures of the Hildlands, varies considerably. This is due to the poor relationship between the three main cultures, which ensures little cultural communication between the three main cultures. This has to three main cultures that have developed mainly independent of each other.

Seairo and it's territory have a culture that seemingly draws more from the High Elven kingdom, whose provincial capital it now inhabits, than it does with the other two main cultures - though significant influence from traditional lizardfolk beliefs ensure that the similarities with their former masters are little and far between.

Producers of perhaps some of the finest and sturdiest leather in the region and maybe even beyond, and explorers of the fine art and technology of civilisation, the Seairohim see themselves as the most civilised of the lizardfolk - they no longer see the jungle as a help, but a hindrance to the ever encroaching might of civilisation, the tribes mere brutes that are crying out for the light of civilisation to come to them. Their religion is a polytheistic one - but one in which all other gods are increasingly being seen as servants to the almighty head god, thus one could argue that Seairo is a monotheistic land.

Indeed, the architecture of Seairo is magnificent – the city is mainly built upon a isle, with small towns across the causeway making up the remaining, poor population of the city (though in elven times this was the other way round), and the architecture of the city takes form in large, stone buildings with much gold embroidery. Gold in Seairo is seen as the ultimate show of wealth and status – which can be seen in the jewellery that many of the rich of the city wear, and the outrageous amount of gold the king wears. Clothing is also very important in the city, from the richly coloured and magnificent robes of the rich, to the modest tunics of the poor. The only people who live in rags are the menial slaves – a practice that all the cities practice to a degree

A world away from this is the city and constituent vassals of Scohwyrtia. This is perhaps the harshest culture of them all – a fervent practiser of the sacrifice of sapients, the Scohwyrtian culture is a warlike one, one that has settled uneasily into the club of civilisation. The denizens of this land seek to appease rather than venerate their malicious gods, and Scohwyrtian art takes the form of martial art, and metalwork, which shows in the magnificent, if limited nature of their armies.

The temples are also large and stone, and their fortifications massive and forbidding – but save from this, the architecture of Scohwyrtia pales in comparison to their northern neighbours – though the production of the city manages to keep up with Seairo.

Last and perhaps least, Fyr, Despite inhabiting the volcanic highlands of the nation, enjoys a culture almost identical to the uncivilised tribes of the jungle, save for worship of the local volcanoes, as opposed to worship of ancestors, and the so called 'great lizards' that inhabit the local area. They, as arguably the weakest and least civilised, are incredibly paranoid of the other two powers, and are largely isolationist in their affairs, in an attempt to keep their culture free from foreign influence. Thus, these find themselves the neutral party in a never-ending war, able to develop from just another tribe into a respectful power.

Yet, Fyrians live in fear of their bigger cousins – they are taught to boot-lick both parties, and this enforces their isolationism somewhat. During this uneasy peace, they have domesticated the Saurian equivalent of the horse, and have learnt to ride it to some success. Besides this, Fyr has little time to develop arts beyond the traditional ones.

Technology
Again, this varies considerably between the three factions. Fyr is at a disadvantage, since it did not inherit a city from the High Elves, and therefore had to develop the technology from scratch, whereas the other two civilisations have had something to build upon

Seairo is arguably the most advanced of the lot – terraced and floating farms, advanced architecture, and good use of husbandry. What it lacks is in metallurgy - though it has the technology to work metal, as evidenced by the breathtaking gold ornaments that the rich wear, it doesn’t have the resources to do so, which ahs led to years of stagnation in the field. Thus, these too are restricted mostly to the use of obsidian - and although the occasional sword can be seen, metal weapons are rare, and metal armour is non-existent, yet gold finds plentiful use due to it massive abundance. Instead, Seairo utilises sophisticated leather armours, Lamellar a typical example.

Scohwyrtia does have the knowledge of sophisticated metallurgy, and the architecture required to build sophisticated fortifications. The armourers of this state not only know how to work bronze, iron and steel, but also to work other, much harder metals as well. In farming technologies, they lag ever so slightly behind the Seairohim, the cutting edge forming raised farms.

Finally, Fyr uses the obsidian of the local land in its weapons, and little else forms its limited technology. It barely progresses beyond slash and burn in agriculture, and the use of metal is an alien concept to them - never mind in the use of weaponry and armour! However, it does have one significant advantage over the other two cities – animal riding, something it has developed to a respectable extent.

All cities have knowledge of the bow and arrow, spear, ram, siege tower, and catapults, with nods toward a possible incoming discovery of trebuchets and the crossbow.

Governments
Again, three governments with certain dissimilarities dominate the political landscape. It is perhaps in this regard that the factions differ the smallest – even if that is still a large amount.

Seairo's King has developed from the chieftains of old – and even back in the days of primitive tribalism, these folk have always had a penchant for dressing magnificently. The hereditary king presides in a massive palace in Seairo, the so called Golden Palace, named so for the excessive amount of gold that exists in it. The King also practices excess in other areas – he has a harem, and a massive complex in which many of his large family never leave. Kings in the past have been tyrants to their vassals, demanding materials to ever glorify the palace. It is no wonder that this is the greatest target for any raider – to take the infinite wealth of Seairo.

Scohwyrtia also has a king of sorts, though he still carries the title of chieftain. Instead of the magnificent apparel that his counterpart wears, he is instead wearing the armour that he rides into battle for most of the time – and his palace is much less glorious, with him devoting more resources to the temples of Scohwyrtia. This position is also hereditary – but more often than not this is hotly debated between the sons of the Chieftain.

Fyr echoes its ancestors in having a council of elders to run the city. The number of elder's on the council fluctuates, and all the members are not necessarily old – just respectable. At present, nine make up the council, with a certain Akoynki, a young respectful person, being notable

Economy
In this respect, Seairo dominates – though foreign trade is virtually non-existent, the alluvial wealth of its holdings stand as testimony of this lands sheer monetary superiority. Combining services, a potentially a massive agriculture base, a primitive version of a postal service, shipbuilding, and of course jewellery manufacture, the behemoth that is the economy of this state.

Scohwyrtia relies on a war economy, and Fyr on subsistence one – and suffer economically due to that. Yet, Scohwyrtia could offer great alternatives to dwarfish armour and weapons, but little else. Fyr has barely anything it could export.

Military
Scohwyrtia, with its caste warriors and metal armours and weapons, as well as large slave armies, is the principal military force in the region. The mere sight of the shield line, dark armour and banner of the city has caused many a Seairohim to bolt. Yet, they lack in truly large armies, and archers, both of which Seairo has, and the cavalry of Fyr. Yet, here you will find some of the finest generals in the region, debatably better than their Seairon counterparts.

Seairo, as has been mentioned, is truly massive one. Formed up by normal men called to the army rather than recruited at birth or the slave market, it is able to swarm the severely outnumbered heavy infantry of the south east. Fyr is largely pacifist, and therefore has little more than a militia of cavalry and lizardfolk unable to afford a horse. It pales in comparison to its neighbours, both Lizard, dwarf and elf.

OOC: That Turned out a bit longer than expected