Also, swiggity swap here's a map
The dots're where my cities will be. #yolo
Nation Name: The Deauxerran League
Flag:
Region/colour on map:
Capital: Cazerra
Capital Population: 150,000
Other Major Settlements: Deauxerr, Aden, Mende, and Lycae
Population: 435,000
Racial demographics: 85% human, 15% other
The Deauxerran League: The League is a relatively new creation, being only thirty three years old, but… WIP
City Name: Cazerra
Flag:
Population: 150,000
Racial demographics: 95% human, 5% other
Social dynamics: Decidedly flamboyant, Cazerra is a city of decadence and overindulgence and the people, or at least the rich, are just as frivolous and exuberant. The Cazerran people are a people divided very harshly between the rich and the poor, and this suits the wealthy landlords fine as the 85% of uneducated, manual workers till fields as serfs simply ensure that the far superior 15% of the city and its territory can live in peace and prosperity.
Because of its large tracts of farmland, far in excess of what the city itself needs, and in reaction to Cazerra’s growing influence on the Deauxerran League, the pastoral has come to be highly valued, with artists and poets writing and painting huge and wondrous epics on the beautiful simplicity of agriculture and the romance of the sower, which is doubly ironic when one considers those educated enough to write such poetry have typically never performed the manual labour of the serfs. This burgeoning adoration for the simpler times, when Cazerra was simply a city state on the fringe of the world, has also led to Cazerrans coming to worship their twin gods of grain and plenty, Goro and Sulvia.
Arrogant would be a fitting word for Cazerrans, and they themselves would happily admit to it, yet they’re also forward and dependable. Morality to the Cazerrans is important, and their society is built upon a rigorously enforced series of codes and rules of conduct which ensure honour and goodness is upheld. That’s not to say crime is non-existent, on the contrary, of the five cities in the League, Cazerra has the most crime. No, what this means is that the stereotypical Cazerran is upstanding and decent, if stuffy and arrogant.
Fashion: The lower echelons of society wear simple tunics and trousers or skirt that’re inexpensive but suited to the huge quantities of field work they perform for their far superiorly dressed landlords. Indeed, the merchants, priesthood, and aristocracy of Cazerra are all far better dressed than the dirty peasants, and for good reason. After all, if the peasantry had good dress sense they wouldn’t be poor, or so the belief is. In comparison, the bourgeoisie of Cazerran is a fabulous explosion of gaiety that is, quite simply, absolutely sickening. The huge neck ruffs worn by men are, put simply, superfluous and useless, and the capes and cloaks used by both genders are equally silly.
Men’s fashion is ostentatious and a little bit garish. A doublet or a jerkin, usually highly stylised, fits over a linen shirt with either a collar or a ruff which is matched by a wrist ruff. Obviously, as it would be unthinkable otherwise, waistlines dip into a V shape, pointing to the highly fashionable codpiece which men have recently taken to wearing. Flat shoes with rounded toes are an important feature of any hip man’s attire, and a matching set of stockings cannot be forgotten either. For a man’s head, facial hair is in vogue, though it must be kept trim and sharp, and highly angular, while hats are a distinct no-go area. Instead, hair must be swept back and be short.
Women in Cazerra were afforded some more leniencies. The only areas they could not change was in wearing a skirt, and, more importantly, wearing a headdress if married, and a hat with neck ruff if unmarried, and a hijab (called a malorus in Cazerra) if widowed. The wealthier a woman is, the more decorative her headgear will be as a rule, though women are mostly expected to wear dark colours, either black or other deep shades of red, purple, and blue. Gowns for women come in several styles, either loose or tight, with sleeves typically floor length. Gowns, of course, must cover the woman completely, revealing no skin other than the face, and gloves must be worn when in public, or in the presence of an unmarried man.
Calendar: Under the League’s Great Reform Act, the five cities of the League share an identical calendar of ten months totalling 344 days. Holy days and festivals are standardised, though each city has several holidays which are exclusively celebrated in its own boundaries.
Cazerra’s exclusive festivals are as follows:
Ithos:
34th – Founding of the Goro-Sulvian shrines
Thasilos:
12th – Beginning of a three day long bout of jousting and ship races to celebrate the Cazerran victory over Lycae in the naval battle of Coris. This is a highly contentious holiday.
Artenos:
None
Caryna:
23rd – Six hour playing of the trumpets to mark the legend of the demigod Tarqus’ conquering of a local monster.
Mycena
None
Desosyll
1st – Throughout the day, taverns close and men and women crowd the street recreating a famous march by the merchants several centuries ago where four died due to a dispute over the quality of wine.
Menikyll
None
Anis
None
Posis
None
Art: Cazerra is famous amongst the League, and any other state that might listen, for its dyes. This is flaunted, of course, in the fabulous clothes worn by the people and the propensity for women to wear black. Fashion itself is a close second in a Cazerran’s art repertoire, and it’s remarked by everyone who has never left the city that Cazerra crafts the best clothes. Pottery is noticeably absent from Cazerran artistry, and instead poetry is a vibrant form that has flourished under such well-known names as Demio and Marco.
Law: There are no prisons in Cazerra, or the League itself, and so punishment is usually physical, or an exile. The death penalty is rare, reserved only for rebels who might lead a treasonous rebellion. Otherwise, thanks to its small size, Cazerra has only two courts. The People’s Court, for the poor, is a cheap, if unskilled and unrewarding, court which allows the peasantry to take people to court for crimes at a reduced cost. It’s run by the snobbish elite who would rather exile the accused party immediately than spend the King’s money on investigations.
The Proper Court, then, is the one which everyone flocks to see. Cases are done publically, and are a great spectacle, where advocates have days to perform for the crowds and appeal their case. Plagued by corruption, the Proper Court undergoes reforms every few years, only to have them undone within the next few.
Education: Only 15% of the population is literate. Education is important only for the upper echelons of society and is a mark of extreme intelligence and wealth. But then, why would the poor need education? They don’t need to read when they’re bound to land, they just need to work.
Type of Government: It would be unfair to label Cazerra as either monarchy or republic, as it constitutes both quite easily.
The King, Maulos III, is, in theory, bound by the Deauxerran Council, the Grand Parliament, the Senate, and the Minor Parliament. In reality, however, for the last hundred years, since the current dynasty ruling over Cazerra had all four bodies thrust upon it, the monarchs have been bitterly fighting, with weak kings being smothered, and stronger ones crippling the elected bodies. At present, thanks to the Deauxerran Council, an awkward truce exists between the monarchy and the government of Cazerra, as anytime one fights, the Prime Minister of the League, and head of the Council, intervenes and threatens economic sanctions against the city state.
The Grand Parliament of Cazerra is made up of nineteen elected officials, plus the monarch. Those elected must be aged forty or over, and retain the position for life. They hold no executive power normally, but advise the monarch and can, if backed by the a 8/10 majority in both the Senate and Minor Parliament, disable the monarch’s power for a maximum of five years and turn ruling of Cazerra to the Senate and Minor Parliament.
The Senate, made of one hundred elected members, should hold as much power as the monarch. In practice, however, it is overridden by the king at nearly every opportunity. In charge of justice, finances, and legislation, they are elected once every year, and the king, and more recently the Prime Minister of the League, has made great efforts to ensure at least 40% of its members are royalists. The means to achieve this are unscrupulous.
The Minor Parliament deals with the peasants, and is therefore undesirable and disgusting.
Influence and relations: Cazerra, due to the Treaty of Aden, holds a permanent delegate from the Holy Stomian Empire.
Trading and tax:
Major industries: Cazerra is, for its size, an agricultural powerhouse. Its climate is temperate and its fields abundantly arable. As such, other than dyes and fashion, food is one of Cazerra’s strongest export.
Major Associations: The Synod: The religious body across the entire League. They tend the churches and mark holy days.
Irregulars: Known to themselves and their supporters as the Cazerran Republican Army, the CRA, or Irregulars as the State call them, are a military body committed to the forcible overthrow of royalist power. Made up largely of the peasantry, and ruled by an eclectic selection of educated elites, they’re at the moment a flimsy power, but they could grow strong quickly if given support.
Separatists: A political faction which seeks to leave the League.
Currency: Crowns and Pennies, which 240 pennies equalling one crown.
Military -
Cazerra has the second largest navy of the League, second only the Lycae – a fact the Cazerrans have often been loath to admit. Marshal power in Cazerra, as with most cities in the League, is focused on this inflated navy.
Cazerra, in its bid to expand its naval power to a greater size than that of Lycae, has taken to building more ships than it can reasonably man. It can, of course, man them all, but to do so it would need to effectively evacuate all men from the city and surrounding villages and commit every single one of them to rowing, something which would not happen. As it happens, then, Cazerra simply has a very large backlog of ships that can quickly replace any lost. These ships are:
60 quinquereme
25 triremes
15 carracks
The rowers of these ships are usually the peasants, and are paid for their work quite double their pay for their usual jobs.
Above deck, marines are made up of roughly 10-100 heavily armoured spearmen and 5-40 archers who will attempt to board other ships. In the waters of the League, galleys such as the League use are still unaccountably efficient.
Landscape: Cazerra is mostly flatlands, with large swaths of rolling hills and long plains of grass. The western most area, however, is slightly more forested. The River Torera runs through the south of Cazerra and through the city itself.
Strengths: Strong navy, agricultural powerhouse, outfits sharp enough to take out eyes.
Weaknesses: Their army’s useless, ineffective government, uprisings in response to the League are forming, Republicanism is forming.
City name: Lycae
Flag:
Population: 150,000
Racial demographics: 95% human, 5% other
Social dynamics: Aloof and cold, the Lycaens are a disreputable people barely constrained by the ridiculously excessive bindings put on them by the League. The history of the island of Lycae is one of conquest, raiding, and piracy, and its relationship with neighbours has been lukewarm at best. In the League, it is the only city state which practices ritualistic human sacrifice, with its population sacrificing prisoners of war and tributes. It also adopts a type of eugenics, as, at a child’s birth, a Sybil would be present to read portents and study the auspices to ascertain whether the child will grow to be useful or not. If not, the child is taken and drowned.
As one might expect, this creates a people who are distant and cold, and they can be said to be the complete opposites of their more flamboyant Cazerran rivals. Above all, Lycaens are pragmatic and patriotic, with a strict sense of honour and a firm adherence to the law. They disdain the frivolity and gaiety of the other members of the League, and their grimness is often the premier cause of an end to parties.
Only twenty years have passed since Lycae formally renounced its piratical ways and agreed to its borders with the surrounding countries, and the time has worn on the Lycaen psyche, as many clamour for a return to the times when Lycae would raid coasts and establish colonies along shores. Yet the League, conservative as ever, has ensured that Lycae remains withheld, and while it retains the single largest navy in the League, with the most skilled sailors, it is no match for the combined forces of the League and the League’s allies. As such, Lycae has been kept in check, and its strong streak of land-grabbing has been curbed.
Gender is not by any means equal in Lycae, though it does sport the best women’s rights in the League. Indeed, women are prized for their ability to give children, and the family unit is highly regarded. Children especially are beloved by the city, and Lycae has an exclusive festival dedicated towards children which lasts for three days. Children are so beloved that women are expected to give birth to as many as possible, with special tax breaks and wage increases for those with upwards of five children. Unmarried women are expected to marry, while women in a childless marriage are meant to seek divorce (a right they hold) to marry a better suitor.
Fashion: Ascetic is a nice way to describe the Lycaen clothing. Known for their simplicity of fashion, Lycaens are the butt of many Cazerran jokes and relief campaigns, yet the Lycaens are happy dressing in bland and unobtrusive styles. Known for being far more risqué in the League than any other state, the Lycaens display skin to an alarming degree, easy to show chest, arms, legs, and breast without any modesty. Clothes worn by men are simple tunics with boots, while women would wear a similar tunic, only with a skirt that typically comes to the shins. Necklines are low on both men and women, and sleeves are short.
Calendar:
Ithos:
None
Thasilos:
None
Artenos:
None
Caryna:
2nd – Three day holiday to celebrate Pletha, queen of the gods and goddess of fertility and motherhood
Mycena
18th – Day of festivals to celebrate Lycaen dominance along the islands surrounding it. Contentious holiday that the League desperately wants ended.
Desosyll
None
Menikyll
None
Anis
1st – Sacrifice of human tributes to herald in the coming of winter. Candles are placed along house windows and a purple X is drawn on walls to draw the spirits of the sacrifices into homes to protect them from the winter and keep it mild.
Posis
None
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Type of Government: Republic
Influence and relations: (Any alliances or military pacts?)
Important People:
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Currency:
Military -
(Details of amounts and types of soldiers. Any war vessels, siege machines or other military constructs go here as well)
Landscape:
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Notable places: (Optional)
Summary: (Optional)
History: (Optional)
Strengths:
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City name: Aden
City name: Deauxerr
City name: Medan