[center][img]https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/541675577262735381/542771579201912842/GG3.png?width=400&height=241[/img] [u][b]Southern Verdasou[/b][/u] [b]Type of Government:[/b] Parliamentary (Plutocratic) Monarchy [b]Head(s) of Government:[/b] Gishath, Minister of Agriculture Nezahl, Minister of Defence Vona, Foreign Secretary Tishana, Chancellor of the Bank of Glass (Prime Minister) Kumena, Queen of Verdasou [/center] [b]Economy:[/b] - Imports * Heavy Weapons * Manufactured Goods * Metals - Exports * Food * Shaped Coral and Water Glass * Financial Services * Naval Hulls * Luxury Goods (Tobacco, Coffee, Sugar) The Verdasoun Economy was once driven by the Privateer Fleet. Its ships once moved luxury goods like spices, shaped coral, and pearls in enormous fleets for great profit. Pre-calamity, they had reached a point where they were moving private cargo between ports for corporations both foreign and domestic for a modest markup, protected by the guns of the Golden Fleet. The Privateers no longer rule the seas unchallenged, but their influence is still felt in the Coral Market. When the convoys of Merchants began returning from long voyages unchallenged during the Age of Piracy, their wealth was jealously guarded by Verdasouns and re-invested. Banks and vaults in Verdasou hold accounts for corporations, rulers, politicians and oligarchs from across the world. The Verdasoun Guilder is one of the primary trade currencies against which other forms of cash are measured against. Indeed, it's a joke among political circles that most Government Ministers of the Economy have direct lines to a one of the Glass Bank's branches rather than an official embassy. The two primary entities of the Verdasoun Finance industry are the Glass Bank and the Coral Exchange. The Coral Exchange is a stock and bond market that is managed by private corporations, though interest rates and trade taxes are managed by Verdasou’s Minister of Finance. The Glass Bank is a government run institution. It provides loans to nations and corporations alike (the latter are overseen by the Minister of Finance, the former by bureaucrats), and holds enormous wealth in underground vaults. Bouillon from nations, kings, emperors and private individuals are stored on the remote island under intense scrutiny. While it is not readily available, nations and leaders sleep soundly knowing part of their nation's gold supply is secure deep within the Sunrise Sea. Finally, the Sunset Shores provide a route for luxury goods that back up the Verdasoun Guilder. Spices, tobacco, and sugar are shipped out from their colony regularly to supply the world’s appetites. [b]Unique Technologies:[/b] Verdasoun technology relies heavily on their magical innovations. Rather than producing explosive gunpowders, their Water Shapers engineer shaped cannons that fire pressurized blasts of water, striking with the force of wrecking balls against concrete and steel when they hit home. When they must rely on modern technology, they import it from trade partners. Similarly, hulls of ships- both trade vessels and warships- are grown from a fusion of coral and water glass. Such large undertakings require multiple master shapers working for months at a time, so the growth of the navy is directly limited by how many shapers are available at any given time. Warships of the Verdasoun Navy are built with the express purpose of being crewed by Merfolk so that they may double as submersibles. [hider=Best Image I can find for the Submersible Warship] Make it look more WW1 era, less futuristic, and this is what you get. [img]https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/supcom2/images/4/43/Poseidon.png/revision/latest?cb=20110410234104[/img] [/hider] The shapers are also able to manufacture an artificial crystal substance called "Water Glass" to market for sale, a clear crystal with the strength of some basic steels. While a potent luxury good of aristocrats during the old era, now this skill has fallen to the wayside in favor of more industrious uses of their shaping skills. Shapers are put to work building hulls for the navy and private shipping conglomorates [b]Primary Species:[/b] Merfolk, Human [b]Population:[/b] 17,000,000 [b]Culture:[/b] Verdasoun culture is that of two peoples that have joined as one. Having abandoned the madness of their North Verdasoui ancient homeland in North Verdasou before its collapse, the Merfolk were adopted by the human tribes of the Sunrise Shores. This is both literally and metaphorically- the Rahuri tribal law allow any fit adult to adopt an individual into their family. As part of the price for their settlement, the Merfolk had to consent to being joined as family with their new hosts. This Great Joining of peoples gave the Merfolk hope and purpose by adopting the ways of their new hosts. Rahuri art and culture reflects struggle against the sea- its storms, its monsters, and its deprivations. The worship two deities. Mama Tortue, the Great Turtle, She who Shepherds and Protects. And Tiburon, The Protector, The Shark Whose Maw Consumes. They also practice a form of ancestor worship, seeking guidance from those who came before. Rahuri hold hospitality sacred. Denying shelter to one who means no harm is a grave taboo, but it is acceptable to shut one's door in the face of danger. They also place special emphasis on curiosity and exploration. The normally insular, isolationist and proud North Verdasoui were content to shut themselves off from the world until their realm was consumed by great Doom. The Merfolk have gone a full one-hundred-eighty degrees in the opposite direction. Households are made up of a mixture of humans and the adopted Merfolk. The heads of the household can be either male or female, and same-sex couples do exist within these households as a legal holdover from the Rahuri. Rahuri surnames are tied to location and profession. Rather than Joe Smith, a Rahuri would be titled "Joe, Car Mechanic from Brooklyn." While the Verdasouns have maintained the culture of hospitality among themselves, their Golden Fleet has brought wealth and splendor unheard of in the past hundreds of years. The Merfolk arrived as beggars, desperate for a homeland. Within a century they began to build the South Coast into a nation-state. The Rahuri and the Merfolk chafed at these rapid changes, but so far the Rahuri have not repudiated their Hospitality. The Caciques have formed a full Parliament in response to the crisis of the Great Eruption to the north, utilizing their power as farmworkers and fieldhands to demand additional political power. This Parliament was granted to prevent a full civil war from breaking out, and the Merfolk Autocrat, the direct descendant of Galina Verdasou who holds the sacred pact of adoption via her bloodline, now gives her Royal Consent to its laws and mandates. [b]Religion and Other Beliefs:[/b] Among the human tribes, ancestor worship is still common and regional folk gods and goddesses are revered in local shrines and temples. Among merfolk, the people revere two great deities- Tiburon (also called the Great Shark) and Zacama (the mother turtle). Worship of these deities tends to drift with the times. Tiburon is a protector and war deity, a great shark who appears to lead the merfolk in times of unrest and conflict. Zacama is a nurturer and provider, a turtle who helps shepherd the merfolk through times of plenty and calm. [b]Location/Territories:[/b] Across the great ocean from the Empire of Hastur, Southern Verdasou lines the coast of the great jungles of the southern continent. While they claim dominion over the entire southland, the reality is that their control is limited by the travel of the navy. [center][img]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/541678674768953385/551094098803556362/Map_3.jpg[/img][/center] [b]Climate:[/b] Tropical/Sub-tropical. Southern Verdasou regularly suffers from autumn flooding and summer tropical storms. [b]Military:[/b] The Royal Verdasou Army is a standing army of roughly 132,789 infantry. Trained in jungle and hill warfare, equipped with semi-automatic rifles and grenades, the Army has not been deployed overseas in living memory. Still, it stands ready to defend the nation's jungle borders and ports. The Verdasou Air Corps, such as it is, is a component of the army and is comprised of 322 aircraft deployed in three squadrons- North Division, East Division, and Inland Division. The Royal Verdasou Navy keeps a standing force of merfolk crewed vessels rating as follows: - 17 Battleships - 61 Cruisers - 182 Destroyers - 43 Patrol Boats and Costal Cutters The hulls of naval vessels are shaped over a period of years by Merfolk Water-shapers, combining Water Glass, Coral, metals, and other materials to form ships capable of standing in combat against others. Their merfolk crews, construction process, and the Royal Combat Doctrine means that these ships are capable of submerging beneath the waves before surfacing to engage the enemy. The Golden Fleet (Privateers) is a division of merchant cartels that voluntarily build their ships to Destroyer specifications. During times of war, they may voluntarily take up arms to harass enemy shipping and defend the homeland. While the ships are undoubtedly out of date by modern standards, they do allow the Royal Navy to deploy their dedicated combat units further afield without fear of the home seas being completely undefended. [b]Magic Prevalence/Usage:[/b] Magic is used in the construction of coastal cities and the grand Coral City. Cities rise and fall beneath the waves, but Water Glass tunnels allow both Merfolk and Terrestrial individuals to travel the streets in safety when floods and storms strike. Likewise, the ships of the Royal Navy use cannons that fire pressurized blasts of water, heavier and more dangerous than the pressures found in the deepest oceans and striking hulls with the force of a wrecking ball. [b]History / Background Info:[/b] TBD [b]Nation Relations:[/b] [u][b]Unitary State of Coreshaw[/b][/u] - The closest ally of Verdasou, the people of Coreshaw and the Merfolk of Verdasou both seek a return to normalcy on the international stage. Where Coreshaw's diplomats go, they can always count on unspoken support from Verdasou. [u][b]Fenice[/b][/u] - The one-time colonizers of the Pandyssia have had a complicated relationship with Verdasou. The human tribes and merfolk both were unable to prevent the establishment of their colony by force of arms or diplomatic intervention, and so they began to intertwine their economies and diplomatic systems in order to promote trans-oceanic trade. After the devastation of Fenice by the great volcano, the colony is becoming host to more and more refugees from Fenice's mainland. For now, Verdasou supports them in their exile- but they are definitely looking to leverage this generosity for political favor in the future. [u][b]GCR[/b][/u] - The so-called Greater Republic represents a threat and an opportunity in the eyes of Verdasou. Their economic and social system is a barricade to a restoration to the world prior to the great eruption, and the Royal Family's gold reserves remain secure in the vaults of Verdasou's Bank of Glass. Verdasou's diplomats hold a winning hand so long as they hold these gold reserves, and they still don't know what they will demand in exchange for their release- but it will be substantial. [u][b]The Divine Empire of Hastur[/b][/u] - The Divine Empire is a burgeoning market for the newly opened Coral Exchange, and the modernization of has been fueled by Verdasoun currency. The market has gotten so lucrative that some shipping cartels are buying and selling stolen goods, seized by Hasturian warlords from Arcad, with nary a thought to the consequences. Should Hastur and Acrad go to war, the Verdasoun stand to lose much from their aristocrats. [u][b]The Republic of Acrad[/b][/u] - After the parliament of Southern Verdasou spent so much time and capital trying to reopen the Coral Exchange, the first international buyers of stocks and bonds were the oligarchs of the Republic. Her Majesty's Government looks favorably upon the Republic, even as regional tensions are on the rise. With so much money in the Coral Exchange, there could be an argument made that any attack upon Acrad's ports would, in the best case scenario, lead to severe disapproval from Her Majesty's Government. Worst case? Blockade and war would ensue. [u][b]Royal State of Unified Saraya[/b][/u] - Her Majesty's Government had long-standing agreements and relationships with the prior monarchy of Saraya. High King Padvia IV fled to his estate within Verdasou, claiming refuge by using prior familial marriages with Rahuri tribes as justification for citizenship. The newly empowered Parliament went to bat for the exiled King and he remains a private citizen, constantly lodging complaints and courting favor to return to his throne. High King Padvia will be waiting a long time. Due to rising tensions with the Sovereign Istian State, along with "bandit" raids on Rahuri border settlements, the Ministry of Defense has engaged in limited joint defense operations to deter Istian aggression. Her Majesty's government already shares a border with one militaristic tyranny. They have elected to reserve judgment upon High King Angara Kassaji I until they have taken his measure as a ruler. Verdasoun intelligence operations have stepped up their monitoring and fact-finding missions within Saraya at an alarming rate. Should he swing toward outright fascism, Her Majesty may elect to use King Padvia to stage a coup and remove a dangerous element from Her border. If Angara demonstrates a respect for liberal values and the international order, King Padvia will remain in his private abode, politely ignored and rebuffed by the official diplomatic channels. For the moment, Her Majesty has seen Kassaji can be trusted to keep his word, and may be a future partner in much more important endeavors. [u][b]Note:[/b][/u] Verdasou is being written as a hotbed of political intrigue and espionage. This is where the sausage gets made, so to speak. I intend to not write martial conflict as it's not my preferred cup of tea.