Difference between revisions of "Bryn Shander"

Latest revision as of 04:35, 2 July 2007

Bryn Shander
Region: Side 3 Motto: Across the planes and the stars... Official Language(s): Common (English) Capital: Niflheim, Side 3 Population: 8 Billion+ Currency: Gold Piece Leader: King Damien Nightbane of Shar Website: The Eternal Kingdom of Bryn Shander Alliances: The Hermes Alliance, The Vascilian League
Stats: NSEconomy Pipian XML

Overview

Bryn Shander is a large, technologically advanced nation with most of its population living in orbital colonies, with most orbiting L2 at Side 3, though many orbit the asteroid Mathilde in orbit over Mars and the asteroid Axis in the asteroid belt.

Other sizable, but much smaller populations live in the asteroids Axis, Solomon, A Baoa Qu, Pezun, and Mathilde, which act as fortresses to protect Bryn Shander's colonies. About 30 million people also live in the Lunar city of Granada, in the Tsiolkovsky Crater.

Bryn Shander's terrestrial territory is the Principality of Bryn Shander in the arctic. Its extra-Solar territory is made up of the star system of Forodren Annon.

Population

• Population: 8 Billion+
  • Humans 62.42%
  • Half-Elves 24.16%
  • Elves 09.11%
  • Nekojin 01.29%
  • Fey'ri 00.93%
  • Other 02.09%

Government

Bryn Shander's government is an absolute, though enlightened monarchy, ruled by King Damien Nightbane of Shar. Although King Nightbane is the high priest of his religion and one of his goddess' chosen, Bryn Shander's government is avowedly secular. To manage his territories, King Nightbane has bestowed power upon seven of his closest friends, granting them the titles of prince and princess.

• The first and most powerful of the princes is Prince Aseroth Xiloscient, a powerful Fey'ri sorcerer who commands the nation's space forces.
• Next is Aseroth's sister, Princess Kiari Xiloscient. She is also Fey'ri, although she was trained in thiefly arts rather than arcane ones, and holds the god Mask in high regard. Kiari rules Bryn Shander's Martian holdings, the orbital Principality of Mathilde.
• Third on the list is Prince Cain Darklight of Velsharoon, who, like King Nightbane, is a human and the high priest and chosen of his deity. Prince Darklight commands Bryn Shander's ground forces.
• The fourth is Princess Season Amastacia, a half-elven bard in the service of the goddess Mielikki. She rules the star system that makes up the Principality of Forodren Annon.
• Fifth is Princess Cassandra Mizuno, a human fighter in the service of Torm. She rules the planet of Forodren Cormandor in the Forodren Annon system, and has close ties with Princess Amastacia.
• Sixth is Prince Artemis Bonaduce, a human, who, like Princess Xiloscient, grew up making his living at the expense of those more fortunate than himself, though through acts of piracy rather than outright theft. He rules the Principality of Principality of Axis in the asteroid belt.
• The final princess is Princess Mitsune Kato, a foxgirl of Arctic Fox descent. She rules the Principality of Bryn Shander in the Arctic, and is known for defending her honor with brutal acts of violence with a large titanium mallet.

Bryn Shander spends most of its budget on the environment, defense and law and order. As such, some would consider the nation a police state, although the populace are afforded extensive civil rights and economic freedoms. Any attempts to change the government, however, are considered treasonous and are dealt with accordingly.

Bryn Shander has an odd mix of socialist and libertarian policies, with a massive public sector, public transportation system and free healthcare as well as lack of many common restrictions of personal freedoms, non-environmental economic regulations, and weapon laws. In fact, Bryn Shander's citizens are expected to have weapons and know how to use them, with an emphasis on melee combat.

Culture

Overview

Bryn Shander's culture is an odd mix of advanced futuristic technology and ancient medieval technology, all mixed together with a heavy dose of arcane arts and divine devotion.

Religion

Religion in Bryn Shander is highly integrated into the nation's culture, with nearly everyone proclaiming faith in a patron deity. The most common deities worshipped come from the Faerunian pantheon and the Seldarine, though the Olympic, Asgardian, and to a lesser extent, the Phaeronic pantheons are also commonly worshipped.

Monotheism simply does not exist in Bryn Shander, primarily because of the militant clergy of the various gods, combined with a govenment that is openly hostile to monotheism and tends to look the other way when monotheists come to Bryn Shander and get killed.

Atheism is not discouraged, but the fact that the gods have been known to make personal visits and grant their faithful spells tends to kill any arguments that one could make for atheism in Bryn Shander.

Environment

Bryn Shanderians as a whole tend to be very protective of their environment, a fact that is reflected in the government's strict environmental laws. One reason for this fact is that two thirds of the population has Elven blood. Another reason stems from the fact that the vast majority of the population lives in enclosed colonies which have a limited atmosphere.

As such, Bryn Shander's environment is one of the most pristine in the known world, with its citizens enjoying clean air, water and soil. This is achieved in a number of ways:

• All land vehicles in Bryn Shander must produce zero emissions. Any vehicle that does not meet this requirement is not allowed inside the nation. Period.
• Cities have absolutely no urban sprawl, with all expansion inside the city walls. Cities may expand as far as they need vertically or underground, but they may not under any circumstances expand past the walls.
• All highways are underground. No land vehicles may travel on above ground roads. The only exception is for vehicles drawn by animals.
• The nation has a massive public transportation system, with the cities serviced by underground maglevs, above ground monorails, and an extensive bus network.
• Simple and efficient fusion reactors make producing energy clean and cheap, removing the need for polluting industry equipment.

Foreign Policy

Bryn Shander maintains a somewhat strict isolationist foreign policy, rarely interacting with anyone but its neighbors and allies. Until recently this policy has kept the nation out of conflicts, when the nation engaged in a short but intense battle over Tiburon-held Shen-Zhou against New Haven during the Hogsweatian-Tiburonese War, which ended when ZMI placed its ships between the Bryn Shander and New Haven forces. This intervention resulted in a conference abord the ZMI flagship where Prince Xiloscient and Commander Donaldson, the XO of the New Haven flagship agreed to a cease fire, but not before New Haven nearly lost both of its Island Class Motherships, with James Newman's brother dying on the New Havenic flagship. A short time later, King Nightbane, New Haven's President James Newman and representatives from ZMI met in Ocanthus at Castle Elyssium, and cemented the cease fire with the formation of the Concordat of Hermes.

When Bryn Shander was ejected from the Concordat during the Midlonian coup, New Haven withdrew in protest, and the two nations retained their bilateral ties in the Hermes Alliance.

Later, after New Haven fell to the Concordat, Bryn Shander retreated into isolation. After Volaria's destruction on Mars and the subsequent devastation, Bryn Shander began to return to the international community, beginning the Year 00 Rearmament Plan, regaining contact with New Haven, and sending a ship to the Sculptor Dwarf Galaxy in search of the New Havenic refugees.

However, Bryn Shander recently withdrew from the Martian Mangalan Accords in response to the constant bastardization of the Duma by many members. Since then, Bryn Shander has begun a major military expansion and has become increasingly belligerent in international politics.

Military

The Bryn Shanderan military is split into two primary branches, the Navy and the Army. Of the two branches, the larger branch and the branch which receives the vast majority of funding is the navy, which is split into wet and space forces, as well as the Bryn Shanderan Marine Corps. The army is much smaller, with the only significant forces stationed in the Principality of Bryn Shander on Earth and the planet of Forodren Cormandor.

The primary means of force projection for Bryn Shander is through the warships of the space fleet, all of which carry a sizable compliment of marines. These marines are charged with defending Bryn Shanderan warships from enemy boarding operations, onboard security, and possibly deploying from their host ships for boarding actions or ground operations. On Earth, the wet fleet takes the primary force projection role, with the space fleet coming in to assist only if the situation requires it.

Conscription

In Bryn Shander, all citizens are conscripted into the military at the age of fourteen. This conscription is manditory, and waivers for school or medical reasons are unheard of. Training lasts for a period of four years, during which the conscripts learn combat techniques and tactics that start with bare hands, sticks, and stones to swords and spears and bows to assault rifles and bayonettes. Depending on whether or not the conscript enters the naval forces or marines/army, the training will then expand to training on boats and ships or training with mounts and vehicles.

For the naval conscripts, training begins with canoes and small oar powered craft. From there, training extends to small sailed vessels such as catamarans and caravels, and then to larger sailing ships and eventually steam and diesel powered training warships. Finally, sailors join the crews of Bryn Shander's active warships, be they wet or space. For the army and marine conscripts, training expands on the earlier combat training with more advanced formations and tactics, as well as cavalry and vehicular combat.

After the initial years of training, the conscripts become active duty troops until their four year conscription is up. After the conscription is up, the citizens are given the choice to re-enlist or receive an honorable discharge from the military.