Post by Kaez on May 10, 2009 14:20:41 GMT -5
'If ever you do find yourself has broken some device; Do call upon a Gillaani man, he'll fix fast, and for double price.' -- A Humorous Yawn, by Pip Brailtop
Gilaan, the Gilaani
Major or Capital City: Votic
Other Cities: Amustine, Sundria
All Towns: Goldsfall, Haro, Essin, East Keep
Government Type: Monarchy. Since roughly 225 BR, there has been a king or queen on the throne in Gilaan. This has followed, over these past 625 years, 9 families have held the throne for some period of time.
Crime and Law: Law enforcement is an active force in Gilaan. It is a single, federal organization upheld by a branch of that nation's militia. The nation does not have a serious crime problem due to its law being upheld by a militia force, and not a judicial system -- though like all nations, its streets are not pristine. The death penalty is fully active, and is served for severe crime.
Professions: Due to the far east and much of the west lacking any fertile soil for farming, the central sections of Gilaan that do have fertile soil lead to a vast population of farmers. The outer sections therefor focus more on the other professions, such as crafting and smithing. On Amus Isle, engineers, technicians, scientists, researches, and doctors make up the vast majority of professions.
Trade, Currency and Economy: The Ash is the currency of Gilaan, like Uhl, Ichuk, Akha-Raa, and Dranada. Their economy is centered in Votic, though both Sundria and Amustine have banks. Trade is almost nonexistent in the economy, with currency use being essentially absolute. The economy is currently in a state of flourishing, with petals and ashes pouring in for their technological market.
Market: While markets are common and often major parts of towns and cities, traveling vendors are exceptionally popular in Gilaan, and sea trade between Amus Isle and the mainland are of course common. Possibly more prominent than any inner market is their outer market -- with export trade being a booming business in the past century, and their economy blooming because of it.
Organizations: The three prominent organizations are the Militia of the State, the Qan, and AGS. The Militia of the State is an organization that has held nearly as much power as the king or queen themselves since the birth of the empire. Proved powerful through war and keeping the homeland intact via a law enforcement wing, they remain prominent and recruitment is high. The Qan and the AGS (see religion and subcultures), too, have large populations and are ever-growing.
Celebrations and Events: Though the first of each month is celebrated as a different holiday in Gilaan, no other holidays are nationally present. This is rather an odd practice, and though celebrations are often held for birthdays, anniversaries, etc -- only monthbirth national holidays are present.
Education: Gilaan may very well have the most advanced educational system present. A free, public education is intact, so unless a child's parents would choose not to school them, all children are given school, regardless of wealth. School is a ten-year system of literature, agriculture, mathematics, physics, chemistry, technology, economy, and politics. The population is about 85% literate and 75% have been through at least ten years of school, and possibly postschooling at Sundria.
Communication and Language: Gilaan was one of the first to make the shift from Old Common to Common, and have a similar dialect to Rosia. Communication is common and active, moreso than nearly any other nation with a very high literacy rate.
Social Class Structure: Social classes are very balanced within Gilaan. Farmers are paid heavily by technicians and technicians are paid heavily by exporting. Taxes are moderate and noblemen stay well-paid. Besides the king or queen themselves, technicians are only slightly more well off then noblemen, who are but slightly more well off than priests, who again, are but slightly more well off than farmers.
Population: Votic has a population of about 250,000. Amustine and Sundria have about 180,000 each, and around 400,000 live in towns and outside metro areas. This gives the nation a relatively low population, but in comparison to a small size, is not drastically different in population density at around 1,000,000.
Nature, Food and Resources: Fishing the coastlines provide the main food source, while importing and small wildlife (deer, etc) provide any other animals. Plants are hence a major part of the nation's food, and resources share a common lack of variety. While the mountains and valley provide resources, it is not a wide and varied amount, and imports are popular (though all of these imports are matched by technological exports). Naturally, while they have a fairly wide amount for a small area, nature is limited.
Wildlife: The wildlife of the region is very limited. Some wildcats, goats, and rams live in the mountains to the south, and some small animals like deer and foxes scatter the landscape otherwise.
Climate: A windy, warm climate surrounds the area, with seasonal heavy rains. While southern mountaintops are laced with snow, snowfall is rare in the area and Amus Isle lacks it complete, a fairly sunny and warm climate year-round.
Geography: Geographically, Gilaan is limited due to its small size. With towering mountains making the southern border, a river on the west, and coastline on the northeast, it's fairly enclosed. Valleys, plains, and hills make up the main geography, with fertile pockets of land tucked between the rivers and large, rocky islands dot the high, cliff-ridden coastline and serve as protection from most naval attacks. Amus Isle has a small forest, like the mainland, but otherwise lacks geographical features. Redrock off its coast, however, houses a large volcano.
Mounts and Pets: Stallions are the main personal mount, with some oxen used in aid of farming. Pets are not exceedingly common, with some birds, fish, and the occasional dog or cat known to be kept.
Technology and Medicine: Technology is quite possibly what Gilaan is best known for. Amus Isle is the technological hotspot of the entire Known World. Astronomical research and physics research make up the northern side of the island, chemistry, mathematics, and geometry on the south, and anatomy and medicine oi the west. Steam-based machinery and clockwork, black powder, medicines, geometrical architecture advancements, and a better understanding of existence and the cosmos are the most recent advancements.
Subcultures: Qan is a subculture of the Aqinian religion in Gilaan -- a nation possibly less religious than any (see religion). The AGS, the Architects of Gilaan Society, is the organization that holds must control of Amus Isle, and is based in Amustine. It is the foundation of all scientific research in Gilaan and the greatest scientific organization in the Known World. And like all other nations, a limited presence of XOXO has been noted in Gilaan.
Militia: The Militia of the State is a powerful, long-standing organization that has often had power that rivaled the king or queen themselves. It has defended the kingdom through many invasions and its law enforcement branch continues to hold authority over the towns and cities in the nation. Recruitment has slowed, but continues productively.
Weapons and Armor: Gilaan is noted for their primary use of ringmail and thick and layered cloths, lacking many sources of leather. With large archery regiments and black powder research continuing, ranged battle is their strong suit. Nevertheless, swords and spears (shields fairly uncommon) are the main weapons of basic infantry and cavalry divisions.
Brief Timeline: In around 225 BR (a time system they adopted), nearly 200 years before Rosia even began to settle, the first civilization formed in Gilaan near Votic, where they'd ventured to from Ichuk. The fertile soil of the area allowed for much expansion up to and along the coast. By 50 BR, expansion up to the eastern coast and Sundria took place, and the many towns and villages were united under under the single king of Votic.
As agriculture increased, it allowed further expansion, and they made their boundary along the river to the west. For nearly a hundred years they developed, fairly peacefully, along their natural borders, with only the open plain in the southwest being debated. As expansion was attempted around 46 AR, and sparked the start of the Century War. A powerful military and a strong will for expansion, Gilaan didn't give up their expansion attempts without a fight, and Ichuk, the very area where the founders of Gilaan came from, not only made a stand but attempted their own expansion in the process.
Until exactly 146 AR, battle was waged between the two nations. While nearly all adult, male citizens of Gilaan waged war or were working in the fields to feed them and crafting weapons to arm them, a small group of men took to the seas and landed on Amus Isle. Living almost strictly off of sea life, these scientists and adventurers began research far before nearly any other scientists in the world, and did so unnoticed for the hundred years that mainland Gilaan fought war.
While after the Century War, Gilaan's boundries went unchanged, and many politician claimed the war a great loss -- Gilaan's militia held their borders boldly, and kept their ground. This has resulted in very mixed opinions on Gilaan's military since. When the war ended, contact with Amus Isle resumed, and Gilaan's military soon left the spotlight for their technological advancements. Though a civil war nearly broke out due to Amus' reluctancy to join the nation at first, eventually a deal was settled.
For 150 years afterward, peace, technology, and agriculture advanced, with a strong collection of armed men ever-present at the border of Ichuk. Then, in 323 AR, an 'accident' occurred at the border, and a small conflict began again. No political backing involved, the border became a 20-day battleground before the governments of the two nations called off the fighting. The last seventy-five years have done little to ease the tension between the nations, though Gilaan has been booming economically through exports and tech advancements.
Relations w/ Other Cultures: Relations with Ichuk are, as they have always been, tense, and both nations keep patrols on the border. This has kept relations with Akha-Raa limited due to distance, and Dranada almost non-existent. Close friendships, then, have been built with Rosia and the Kharnathian Empire, and both have boosted the Gilaan economy and provided them with many necessary imports.
Homes: Homes in the region are often stone and brick, wood being a less common, rural building material -- and one that not much of it available. Often small, and sometimes grouped in a single building, homes are far from eccentric.
Religion and Spirituality: Aquinian religion is the main religion in the nation, though that's not saying much. An organization called the Qan formed and built a few churches in their hope to reassert religious beliefs in the area. Though the organization has held up for many years, technology and science have almost always come over religion for the nation. In recent years, Polianity has attempted to spread into the region, to very little success.
Architecture: Architecture in the region is rather advanced. Masonry has grown increasingly popular in the recent decades and the development and use of arches and domes have helped stone architecture get even stronger.
Clothing: Clothing in the region is based on a wide variety of cloth. Silk and cotton make up most clothing, still, and it is often worn to fit the warm weather. Fashion and style seem to be very limited concerns.
Arts and Literature: Art and sculpture have been increasingly popular throughout the nation. Especially on Amus Ilse, science-inspired art and sculptured have increased in popularity and Amustine is now known for its many stone and marble sculptures. Literature in the highly-literate nation is also popular, and with a few working printing presses, mass production of a few works is ongoing.
Entertainment and Culture: While entertainment is limited to theatre, the nation's happiness hardly relies on this. An intelligent, literate people with a wide variety of professions at their disposal, they are of a very distinctive culture. Their technological advancements echo through every aspect of their society and their long ages of war are far from forgotten in many areas of the nation.
1 - Zan Mountains
The mountains that make up the border against Akha-Raa.
2 - East Keep
The base of the nation's military and the easternmost settlement in the nation.
3 - Iglan River
The river that makes up the other side of the fertile pocket of soil near Votic.
4 - Votic
The capital city and the birth of Gilaan civilization.
5 - Cero River
The western river that has a flooding cycle to keep the land around it very fertile for farming.
6 - Scarred Hills
The war-torn hills in central Gilaan on which the Century War was found.
7 - Yansin Plains
Central, fairly barren grassland on which many fishing villages are set.
8 - Sundrian Wood
A small pocket of woodland which most of the nations wood is produced from.
9 - Sundria
A city based around its fishing imports, it's the second largest metro area on the mainland.
10 - Essin
A town built on the edge of the battlefield of the Century War, used to bring in agricultural and crafting works to the troops.
11 - Haro Valley
A deep, cool valley filled with an assortment of plant and animal life.
12 - Haro
A town surviving off the River Grey and attracting visitors to the Valley.
13 - River Grey
The river that makes up the western coast, seperating Gilaan from Rosia.
14 - The High Coast
A tall, cliff-laced coastline.
15 - Goldsfall and the Golden Fjord
The thin fjord where the short Gold River comes in and meets the town of Goldsfall.
16 - The Jagged Coast
A collection of jagged, mountainous islands with little to no known life.
17 - Amus Isle
An island famous for housing Amustine and being the eastern-most point of land in the Known World.
18 - Amustine
The technological center of the world, where all of the greatest scientific advancements have been birthed.
19 - Redrock
A massive volcanic island just off the coast of Amus Ilse.
Gilaan, the Gilaani
Major or Capital City: Votic
Other Cities: Amustine, Sundria
All Towns: Goldsfall, Haro, Essin, East Keep
Government Type: Monarchy. Since roughly 225 BR, there has been a king or queen on the throne in Gilaan. This has followed, over these past 625 years, 9 families have held the throne for some period of time.
Crime and Law: Law enforcement is an active force in Gilaan. It is a single, federal organization upheld by a branch of that nation's militia. The nation does not have a serious crime problem due to its law being upheld by a militia force, and not a judicial system -- though like all nations, its streets are not pristine. The death penalty is fully active, and is served for severe crime.
Professions: Due to the far east and much of the west lacking any fertile soil for farming, the central sections of Gilaan that do have fertile soil lead to a vast population of farmers. The outer sections therefor focus more on the other professions, such as crafting and smithing. On Amus Isle, engineers, technicians, scientists, researches, and doctors make up the vast majority of professions.
Trade, Currency and Economy: The Ash is the currency of Gilaan, like Uhl, Ichuk, Akha-Raa, and Dranada. Their economy is centered in Votic, though both Sundria and Amustine have banks. Trade is almost nonexistent in the economy, with currency use being essentially absolute. The economy is currently in a state of flourishing, with petals and ashes pouring in for their technological market.
Market: While markets are common and often major parts of towns and cities, traveling vendors are exceptionally popular in Gilaan, and sea trade between Amus Isle and the mainland are of course common. Possibly more prominent than any inner market is their outer market -- with export trade being a booming business in the past century, and their economy blooming because of it.
Organizations: The three prominent organizations are the Militia of the State, the Qan, and AGS. The Militia of the State is an organization that has held nearly as much power as the king or queen themselves since the birth of the empire. Proved powerful through war and keeping the homeland intact via a law enforcement wing, they remain prominent and recruitment is high. The Qan and the AGS (see religion and subcultures), too, have large populations and are ever-growing.
Celebrations and Events: Though the first of each month is celebrated as a different holiday in Gilaan, no other holidays are nationally present. This is rather an odd practice, and though celebrations are often held for birthdays, anniversaries, etc -- only monthbirth national holidays are present.
Education: Gilaan may very well have the most advanced educational system present. A free, public education is intact, so unless a child's parents would choose not to school them, all children are given school, regardless of wealth. School is a ten-year system of literature, agriculture, mathematics, physics, chemistry, technology, economy, and politics. The population is about 85% literate and 75% have been through at least ten years of school, and possibly postschooling at Sundria.
Communication and Language: Gilaan was one of the first to make the shift from Old Common to Common, and have a similar dialect to Rosia. Communication is common and active, moreso than nearly any other nation with a very high literacy rate.
Social Class Structure: Social classes are very balanced within Gilaan. Farmers are paid heavily by technicians and technicians are paid heavily by exporting. Taxes are moderate and noblemen stay well-paid. Besides the king or queen themselves, technicians are only slightly more well off then noblemen, who are but slightly more well off than priests, who again, are but slightly more well off than farmers.
Population: Votic has a population of about 250,000. Amustine and Sundria have about 180,000 each, and around 400,000 live in towns and outside metro areas. This gives the nation a relatively low population, but in comparison to a small size, is not drastically different in population density at around 1,000,000.
Nature, Food and Resources: Fishing the coastlines provide the main food source, while importing and small wildlife (deer, etc) provide any other animals. Plants are hence a major part of the nation's food, and resources share a common lack of variety. While the mountains and valley provide resources, it is not a wide and varied amount, and imports are popular (though all of these imports are matched by technological exports). Naturally, while they have a fairly wide amount for a small area, nature is limited.
Wildlife: The wildlife of the region is very limited. Some wildcats, goats, and rams live in the mountains to the south, and some small animals like deer and foxes scatter the landscape otherwise.
Climate: A windy, warm climate surrounds the area, with seasonal heavy rains. While southern mountaintops are laced with snow, snowfall is rare in the area and Amus Isle lacks it complete, a fairly sunny and warm climate year-round.
Geography: Geographically, Gilaan is limited due to its small size. With towering mountains making the southern border, a river on the west, and coastline on the northeast, it's fairly enclosed. Valleys, plains, and hills make up the main geography, with fertile pockets of land tucked between the rivers and large, rocky islands dot the high, cliff-ridden coastline and serve as protection from most naval attacks. Amus Isle has a small forest, like the mainland, but otherwise lacks geographical features. Redrock off its coast, however, houses a large volcano.
Mounts and Pets: Stallions are the main personal mount, with some oxen used in aid of farming. Pets are not exceedingly common, with some birds, fish, and the occasional dog or cat known to be kept.
Technology and Medicine: Technology is quite possibly what Gilaan is best known for. Amus Isle is the technological hotspot of the entire Known World. Astronomical research and physics research make up the northern side of the island, chemistry, mathematics, and geometry on the south, and anatomy and medicine oi the west. Steam-based machinery and clockwork, black powder, medicines, geometrical architecture advancements, and a better understanding of existence and the cosmos are the most recent advancements.
Subcultures: Qan is a subculture of the Aqinian religion in Gilaan -- a nation possibly less religious than any (see religion). The AGS, the Architects of Gilaan Society, is the organization that holds must control of Amus Isle, and is based in Amustine. It is the foundation of all scientific research in Gilaan and the greatest scientific organization in the Known World. And like all other nations, a limited presence of XOXO has been noted in Gilaan.
Militia: The Militia of the State is a powerful, long-standing organization that has often had power that rivaled the king or queen themselves. It has defended the kingdom through many invasions and its law enforcement branch continues to hold authority over the towns and cities in the nation. Recruitment has slowed, but continues productively.
Weapons and Armor: Gilaan is noted for their primary use of ringmail and thick and layered cloths, lacking many sources of leather. With large archery regiments and black powder research continuing, ranged battle is their strong suit. Nevertheless, swords and spears (shields fairly uncommon) are the main weapons of basic infantry and cavalry divisions.
Brief Timeline: In around 225 BR (a time system they adopted), nearly 200 years before Rosia even began to settle, the first civilization formed in Gilaan near Votic, where they'd ventured to from Ichuk. The fertile soil of the area allowed for much expansion up to and along the coast. By 50 BR, expansion up to the eastern coast and Sundria took place, and the many towns and villages were united under under the single king of Votic.
As agriculture increased, it allowed further expansion, and they made their boundary along the river to the west. For nearly a hundred years they developed, fairly peacefully, along their natural borders, with only the open plain in the southwest being debated. As expansion was attempted around 46 AR, and sparked the start of the Century War. A powerful military and a strong will for expansion, Gilaan didn't give up their expansion attempts without a fight, and Ichuk, the very area where the founders of Gilaan came from, not only made a stand but attempted their own expansion in the process.
Until exactly 146 AR, battle was waged between the two nations. While nearly all adult, male citizens of Gilaan waged war or were working in the fields to feed them and crafting weapons to arm them, a small group of men took to the seas and landed on Amus Isle. Living almost strictly off of sea life, these scientists and adventurers began research far before nearly any other scientists in the world, and did so unnoticed for the hundred years that mainland Gilaan fought war.
While after the Century War, Gilaan's boundries went unchanged, and many politician claimed the war a great loss -- Gilaan's militia held their borders boldly, and kept their ground. This has resulted in very mixed opinions on Gilaan's military since. When the war ended, contact with Amus Isle resumed, and Gilaan's military soon left the spotlight for their technological advancements. Though a civil war nearly broke out due to Amus' reluctancy to join the nation at first, eventually a deal was settled.
For 150 years afterward, peace, technology, and agriculture advanced, with a strong collection of armed men ever-present at the border of Ichuk. Then, in 323 AR, an 'accident' occurred at the border, and a small conflict began again. No political backing involved, the border became a 20-day battleground before the governments of the two nations called off the fighting. The last seventy-five years have done little to ease the tension between the nations, though Gilaan has been booming economically through exports and tech advancements.
Relations w/ Other Cultures: Relations with Ichuk are, as they have always been, tense, and both nations keep patrols on the border. This has kept relations with Akha-Raa limited due to distance, and Dranada almost non-existent. Close friendships, then, have been built with Rosia and the Kharnathian Empire, and both have boosted the Gilaan economy and provided them with many necessary imports.
Homes: Homes in the region are often stone and brick, wood being a less common, rural building material -- and one that not much of it available. Often small, and sometimes grouped in a single building, homes are far from eccentric.
Religion and Spirituality: Aquinian religion is the main religion in the nation, though that's not saying much. An organization called the Qan formed and built a few churches in their hope to reassert religious beliefs in the area. Though the organization has held up for many years, technology and science have almost always come over religion for the nation. In recent years, Polianity has attempted to spread into the region, to very little success.
Architecture: Architecture in the region is rather advanced. Masonry has grown increasingly popular in the recent decades and the development and use of arches and domes have helped stone architecture get even stronger.
Clothing: Clothing in the region is based on a wide variety of cloth. Silk and cotton make up most clothing, still, and it is often worn to fit the warm weather. Fashion and style seem to be very limited concerns.
Arts and Literature: Art and sculpture have been increasingly popular throughout the nation. Especially on Amus Ilse, science-inspired art and sculptured have increased in popularity and Amustine is now known for its many stone and marble sculptures. Literature in the highly-literate nation is also popular, and with a few working printing presses, mass production of a few works is ongoing.
Entertainment and Culture: While entertainment is limited to theatre, the nation's happiness hardly relies on this. An intelligent, literate people with a wide variety of professions at their disposal, they are of a very distinctive culture. Their technological advancements echo through every aspect of their society and their long ages of war are far from forgotten in many areas of the nation.
1 - Zan Mountains
The mountains that make up the border against Akha-Raa.
2 - East Keep
The base of the nation's military and the easternmost settlement in the nation.
3 - Iglan River
The river that makes up the other side of the fertile pocket of soil near Votic.
4 - Votic
The capital city and the birth of Gilaan civilization.
5 - Cero River
The western river that has a flooding cycle to keep the land around it very fertile for farming.
6 - Scarred Hills
The war-torn hills in central Gilaan on which the Century War was found.
7 - Yansin Plains
Central, fairly barren grassland on which many fishing villages are set.
8 - Sundrian Wood
A small pocket of woodland which most of the nations wood is produced from.
9 - Sundria
A city based around its fishing imports, it's the second largest metro area on the mainland.
10 - Essin
A town built on the edge of the battlefield of the Century War, used to bring in agricultural and crafting works to the troops.
11 - Haro Valley
A deep, cool valley filled with an assortment of plant and animal life.
12 - Haro
A town surviving off the River Grey and attracting visitors to the Valley.
13 - River Grey
The river that makes up the western coast, seperating Gilaan from Rosia.
14 - The High Coast
A tall, cliff-laced coastline.
15 - Goldsfall and the Golden Fjord
The thin fjord where the short Gold River comes in and meets the town of Goldsfall.
16 - The Jagged Coast
A collection of jagged, mountainous islands with little to no known life.
17 - Amus Isle
An island famous for housing Amustine and being the eastern-most point of land in the Known World.
18 - Amustine
The technological center of the world, where all of the greatest scientific advancements have been birthed.
19 - Redrock
A massive volcanic island just off the coast of Amus Ilse.
