Government: Lumenor is governed as a constitutional monarchy. The Kuunin, Lumenor's King, is a largely ceremonial figure, serving as a figurehead, a symbol of national authority, and a balance of power against the more democratic institutions of the Lumen state. Most real legislative power in Lumenor falls upon the Vanha Suuri, a unicameral legislature composed of a mixture of appointed civil servants from various aspects of the state apparatus, as well as elected representatives of the (male) citizenry. The Vanha Suuri is decidedly lacking in intrigue and excitement; corruption and other unscrupulous acts are strongly despised by the Lumen, and vigorously prosecuted when suspected to have occurred. The parliament also has a reputation for reactionary action, even among its more liberal members. Itself a product of ancient history, the Vanha Suuri and its members—called Vansuurs—are fiercely protective of the cultural and historical institutions of the Lumen state. Times change rapidly in Lumenor, however, and the possibility of the Vanha Suuri changing along with them grows ever more likely with each passing day.
The Vanha Suuri's parliamentary powers, unlike in most monarchies, precede the rise of Lumenor's Kuunins. It was the Vanha Suuri, in fact, that appointed Lumenor's first Kuunin, over a millenium before the current day. The Vanha Suuri's history lies in the history of the pagan Lairreen people, to whom the Vanha Suuri served a religious purpose as the echoing of the Gods. The people of the Lairreen tribes would select the most devout among them and gather them together in the precursor to the modern Hall of Elders to hear the desires of the Gods. It was such a convening, the very last that the Vanha Suuri ever held as a religious body, that resulted in the appointment of the first Kuunin. The Kuunin's purpose was to politically unite the Lairreen people, and to forge an army from them capable of casting back the Lansi, an invading people originating from the west. The Lansi were a strongly militaristic folk, descended from the same family lines as the people of modern day Acier. They were united under a powerful emperor, Soturi III, the grandson of a former Lansi chieftain who led his tribe to conquest against the other Lansi tribes, and in the process forged himself a powerful, centralized Lansi empire.
The Vanha Suuri and the Kuunin were ultimately unsuccessful in their attempts to cast back Soturi III's invasion. After a horrifically bloody struggle, the Lairreen eventually found themselves a subject people of the newly implanted Lansi. The Lansi, out of respect for the tenaciousness and ferocity of the Lairreen, and in an attempt to pacify the land and avoid future rebellion, came to adopt many of the Lairreen practices as their own, morphing them as necessary to accommodate their traditional Lansi practices. Soturi III adopted the title of 'Kuunin', and had it passed down by his sons over the following generations, as was the custom under the Lansi empire. In the decades and centuries that followed, the Lairreen and Lansi gradually merged into one cohesive people under the leadership of the Kuunin, merging together over the years into the Lumen of today. For its role in creating the title of Kuunin and mediating the Lansi takeover of Lairreen society, the Vanha Suuri is considered to be responsible for the creation of Lumenor.
Economy: Lumenor's economy is strongly centred around manufacturing. All manner of products, though especially those produced mostly or entirely from metals, are fashioned and assembled in the numerous factories dotting the industrial centres of the country's south. The economy of the north, meanwhile, is mostly focused on the production of the metals themselves. The mountains of northern Lumenor are abound with mines of varying sorts, and their bounty's extraction to fuel the industry of the south compromises most of the north's economic activity. Also of note in Lumenor's economy is the country's fiscal probity. Both cultural and legal measures contribute towards Lumenor's strong fiscal standing, and this monetary expertise has resulted in the emergence of a rapidly expanding financial sector in Lumenor's southern population centres.
The Kingdom of Lumenor is strongly protectionist, weary of growing overly dependent on foreign goods and services. Protectionist policy is a long-standing fact of life in Lumenor, and has over the years made a lasting cultural impact on the Lumen people. Lumen are distasteful towards the idea of purchasing goods from abroad, and buy locally whenever possible both because of the effect of government policy and simply out of habit. This trend towards mercantilism extends doubly to products arriving from colonial possessions; rather than merely being heavily taxed, import of resources from colonies on the southern continent is illegal. Export of domestic materials in Lumenor of unique or special value, such as Elan, is equally illegal.
Leader(s) and Important People
Naavalor IX Kuunin; Born Jarrd Eskven, Naavalor is Lumenor's current sovereign. A native of Pientila, Naavalor was born in the purple, and has been preened for leadership since his birth, fifty-two years ago. Naavalor took up the title of Kuunin after the death of his father, who was the longest reigning Kuunin in the country's history. He has one child, Yarnal Eskven, a son of age twenty, born to a wife who took ill and died shortly after her son was born. Jarrd is an old man who has long since been made bitter from his wife's death and his son's constant escapades. He doubts that he will ever live long enough to outmatch his illustrious father, and has taken it upon himself to outdo in accomplishment what he cannot outdo in longevity. Naavalor has colonial ambitions, and his desire to achieve prestige in this manner has resulted in his stepping increasingly outside of the bounds of his constitutional powers, to suppress naysayers of the Lumen Empire. Although intended to be apolitical, Naavalor's desire to be known in history backs as the man who brought Lumenor into the new age has resulted in his being an illicit supporter of the modernist factions within the Vanha Suuri since his ascension.
Maat Vinter; Lumenor's Head of Government, and the leader of the Auld Stripe: the traditionalist faction of the Vanha Suuri. Maat's family line, the Vinters, are a leading industrialist family in Hoportti, Maat's place of birth. Members of their family have held office in the Vanha Suuri for hundreds of years, and they're heralded as the first family to bring the wonders of the Industrial Age to Lumenor. Maat has five children with his wife, Brigitte Vinter, who is a relative of the exiled royal family of Acier. The couple life in a manor in Hoportti, but own a second home in Pientila for Maat's work in the Hall of Elders, and a summer home in the mountains in Lumenor's north-east.
Maat's political party, the Auld Stripe, is the largest faction within the Vanha Suuri. The Auld Stripe is a long-standing formal alliance of social conservatives and other traditionalists. They strongly opposes Lumenor's entrance into colony-building, and voraciously defends Lumenor's protectionist policies, which incidentally keep industrialist Auld Stripes like the Vinters from having to compete with foreign enterprises on equal footing. The Auld Stripe is supported by the vast majority of the appointed seats in the Hall of Elders, 39 out of 50, signifying their support by most of the country's generals and lawmakers. Of the 150 seats in the Vanha Suuri which are elected, the Auld Stripe hold 60, giving them just over a third of the country's popular support. This discrepancy between support by appointed seats and by the electorate has long been criticized by modernists as a mechanical bias in favour of traditionalism.
Tuuli Vanska; The second most noteworthy politician in the Vanha Suuri, and the leader of 'Usikun', the largest of the modernist factions in Lumen politics. Tuuli is the founder of Usikun, which she formed in an explicit attempt to unite the modernist movement and remove the Auld Stripe from power. Her successes have been partial, at best. Though Usikun is the second largest party in the Vanha Suuri, it has failed to annex the other modernist parties, and is even divided from within. Various different elements from republicans to extremist monarchists find themselves together within Usikun, united together more or less by only one thing: a desire for serious change, in one way or another. The only policy which all members of Usikun support is ending the practice of granting high level civil servants appointed seats within the Vanha Suuri. That, and a general dislike towards the Auld Stripe, is the glue that keeps Usikun together.
Tuuli herself is an imperious woman, tall, and exuding an aura of calm. She is relentlessly confident, even in the face of stacked odds, and devotes herself entirely to her political work. This devotion has resulted in her becoming something of a social recluse; she has never married, and though she was born in a small village in the country's mountainous north-east, she has never been there since she first left for Pientila to pursue a career in politics. Tuuli is the first woman to achieve notable political office in the Vanha Suuri, and one of the changes she seeks to enact in the country is the expansion of rights for women.
Sarko Voros; A famous (some might say infamous) Lumen explorer. Sarko was born in the mountainous north-east of Lumenor, but left quickly upon reaching adulthood, seeking a new home as far removed from his old village as possible: the coastal metropolis of Hoporrti. It was in Hoporrti that Sarko began work as a merchant, establishing his business, "Voroseskso", as the premier vendor of exotic goods in Lumenor. Sarko's attempts at acquisition of rarer and rarer wares eventually led him to launch a large-scale exploratory expedition to the southern continent. Upon his return, Sarko told tales of a land untouched by modernization, where the rarest of all goods can be found in bountiful abundance. The Voroseskso expedition ignited a curiosity in the Lumen of what might lay in store for them in South Adara. This curiosity, however, has been tempered by the tentativeness of the Auld Stripe. Although Sarko's merchant fleet's activities are technically legal, as he is a Lumen citizen, and the goods he exchanges in Hoporrti were not purchased from any foreign state recognized by the Vanha Suuri, his quickly expanding trade networks are a threat to the dominance of the Auld Stripe's ideal of isolationism, and their Vansuurs' tight control over the Lumen economy. King Naavalor, arguing for the precise opposite of the Auld Stripe's demands for Vorosesko's abolition, has been in talks with Sarko to turn Vorosesko's southward trade missions into missions of colonization and territorial expansion.
Televa Tikari; A loyal ally of King Naavalor, and one of Lumenor's greatest foreign diplomats. Mr. Tikari was a man born into squalor in the slums of Pientila's south, and found himself completely without family before reaching adulthood. King Naavalor's illustrious father took Tikari in from the streets, and educated him in the ways of the statesmen, grooming him to become one of his finest and most dedicated aides. Upon Naavalor's assumption of power, Tikari's loyalties turned to him, and his actions to furthering his ambitions. Although he presents a calm and tactful presence, Tikari is devious man, and without emotion. He thinks nothing of doing all that is necessary to accomplish his goals, and strikes only when he is sure he is capable of delivering a fatal blow.
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Important Locations
Pientila
Lumenor's capital city, and home to the Hall of Elders (the Vanha Suuri's Chambers) and the Royal Residence of the Kuunin of Lumenor. Pientila is Lumenor's second largest city, and is situated along the north coast of Lake Vanha, in the nation's south. The modern day city is built around a historic core that dates back to before the foundation of Lumenor. Many historical sites such as churches and ancient fortresses and villas have been preserved in Pientila, including an imposing medieval wall that encloses the historic city centre. It is this centre, the Historic Quarter, which is home to the Kuunin's Palace and the Vanha Suuri. Outside of the Historic Quarter, the city is notable for being home to a great many public parks and low-density housing projects. Many of Pientila's poorer residents live in the city's extreme south, which is home to a number of branch plants developed by industrial enterprises based out of Hoporrti.
Pientila is an ancient city, its founding preceding the arrival of the Lansi into Lumenor by several hundred years. The settlement, merely a large town at the time of the Lansi Conquest, was the place where the Vanha Suuri submitted themselves to Soturi III, ending the conquest with a decisive Lansi victory over the Lairreen. The Vanha Suuri's surrender was encouraged by threats made by Soturi III against the town should they persist in their defiance; if the Vanha Suuri did not surrender, Soturi III had threatened to burn down the settlement entirely, and slaughter every single one of its residents. The surrender of the First Vanha Suuri avoided this fate. Instead, it was only the Vanha Suuri themselves who were burned, their Hall of Elders set ablaze with the Vansuur locked inside by the Lansi victors. On the ashes of the Old Hall of Elders, Soturi III built a new Hall, in the Lansi style, which has stood (albeit with extensive renovations) to the modern day.
Hoporrti
The largest city, main trade port and industrial and financial centre of Lumenor. Hoporrti rests along Lumenor's southern coast, at the tip of the Kast peninsula. Originally a small fishing village, Hoporrti experienced an exponential population boom upon the arrival of the Second Industrial Revolution, and its rapid outward expansion led to it administratively annexing numerous other neighbouring towns, which now serve as neighbourhoods of Hoporrti. In significant contrast to the historical buildings and wide open spaces found in Pientila and most of Lumenor's small settlements, Hoporrti is both densely urbanized and starkly modern. The city is home to start-of-the-art infrastructure to facilitate public transportation—including an underground railway system—and its tall, gleaming buildings and polished streets act as a statement to the rest of the world of the wonders of the modern age. Hoporrti downtown core is home to most of Lumenor's rapidly growing finance sector, and the rest of city is largely what gives Lumenor its industrial might: Hoporrti's industrial enterprises are a Goliath of Adara's manufacturing industry, and their factories pump out products twelve hours a day, earning vast wealth for their owners, and a fair slice of the pie of prosperity for the hard workers that man them. The Hoporrti Docks, from which the metropolis originated, are home to much of Lumenor's naval presence, and also serve a role as a major commercial shipping centre and trade area.
Cultural Overview: The Lumen are an orderly and just people, famed for their calmness and their somewhat superfluous formality. Crime and other instruments of chaos are rare sights throughout the domain of the Lumen, and the Lumen love of order permeates even into their art and leisure. Lumen enjoy highly regimented sports, and are masters of artistic styles demanding strong adherence to boundaries, and representing realistic concepts.
Lumen are also infamously introverted. Social events, though not by any means rare, and almost never spontaneous. Public displays of emotion are typically restricted to special events, and are more often that not displays of patriotism. The state itself, in particular the Kuunin, plays an important role in Lumen national identity. The state existed, as a union of the Lairreen and Lansi, before the Lumen did themselves. Another, relatively unique facet of Lumen culture is its secularity. The traditional faith of the Lumen's precursor peoples was extinguished long ago, and although Lumenor permits free religious practice, the vast majority of the Lumen are irreligious.
Technology Overview
On the whole, Lumenor's technological development could be best described as 'average'. Domestic Lumen ingenuity is counteracted by protectionist policy and a more than healthy degree of technological conservatism, preventing foreign technologies from being rapidly adopted. The exception to this rule is the city of Hoporrti, which is home to the very latest in infrastructural developments and other instruments of civilian import. This is due mostly to the extremely high focus placed on R&D by Hoporrti's ruling industrialist families. The need to preserve isolation from foreign economies is matched by the need to keep up to date with them, ensuring that much of the profits earned by Hoporrti's (and thus Lumenor's) most wealthy go back towards furthering technological advancement.
Military Overview
Lumenor's tradition of isolationism demands for a strong defensive-oriented military. Land fortresses, either newly constructed or newly renovated mark the eastern and western borders of the Lumen homeland. The Lumen Royal Navy, though lacking in experience at long reach operations, excels in defensive actions, and patrols the Lumen northern and southern coasts as rigorously as the Lumen army casts eyes and aims rifles over the land. The importance of military self-reliance is not lost on the Lumen, and all Lumen military ships, weapons, ammunition and supplies are all conceived and manufactured within the confines of the state. As with civilian technological advancements, this results in Lumenor being unreceptive to foreign inventions. Unlike with civilian technological advancements, however, the militaries of Lumenor's neighbours likely would not be fond of sharing their technological secrets with foreign states in the first place, making isolationism more effective in the military sphere than in the civilian sphere.
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