From NSwiki, the NationStates encyclopedia.
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| − | ===NATIONAL ANIMAL===
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| − | ====The Moon Ram====
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| − | The moon ram is Gruenberg's national animal, and is known in Rukialkotta as ''Tak Blomberdun Kassafanion''. It is a protected species, and there are fewer than 10,000 specimens left in the wild. Hunting the ram is a capital offence, and crimes as seemingly slight as snipping off clips of wool (thought by some to possess magical charms, moon ram wool, horns and bone are highly-sought after lucky charms, and precious commodities - on the black market) can carry jail sentences. Once prevalent throughout Gruenberg, diminishing numbers and the relative isolation of the majority of the animals to the far north is usually attributed to over-hunting.
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| − | However, many zoologists believe the government expansion of industrial agriculture in the late seventh century of the Gruenberg calendar may have played its part. The insecticide ''Reptacil'' (4,4,4-trichloromethyl benzyl thioniafrol) was widely sprayed. It is harmless in its own right, but when mixed with other common ammonium-based fertilizers is intensely toxic. Reptacil continues to be used, but in smaller doses as more efficient substances are developed.
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| − | The moon ram (''ovis lunar'') is in fact the male of the moon sheep species, and although ewes are not held in sacred regard, are extended the same legal protection. Its wool is thick and off-white, but can appear pale blue in darker light. Larger and more aggressive than normal rams, it is thought to be unique to Gruenberg. It is a herbivore, eating mainly grasses and bracken, but is also thought to eat a variety of fruit and berries. Its dung, which commoners are legally allowed to collect (providing they avoid harassing the animal), consists of dark, hard pellets, and is largely tasteless and odourless. Loosened with water, it is used to paint decorative religious tokens, or incorporated into jewellery.
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| − | ====History====
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| − | The moon ram is believed to have inhabited Gruenberg for thousands of years: a number of references to it are purportedly made in the sacred texts of [[Wenaism]]. Its population was estimated at around 40,000 during the third century of the Gruenberg calendar. With tough meat and coarse wool, it is hunted mainly for spiritual reasons.
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| − | The moon ram's importance in Gruenberg is mainly on account of the Fable of the Shepherd. In The 192nd Year, two of the seven sacred texts still remained lost, and many believed they would never be found. Then, Gulgon Vonderbat, an impoverished widower who tended moon rams high on Hatash Myari, stumbled into The Holy City with two vast clay urns, inside which were found the ancient scripts. His story was that, tracking down a moon ram, he had come to the thin valley pass where the Four Sages had encountered their first vision of Wena. At that point, the spirit of Wena came down and entered the moon ram, guiding him to a concealed tunnel where the Sages had hidden the final two texts. Ever since then, the animal has been given holy status in Gruenberg. (In an unfortunate epilogue, Vonderbat was executed for attempting to read the Bazhtan writing.)
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| − | [[Category:Gruenberg]]
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Revision as of 15:25, 6 August 2005
NATIONAL IDENTITY
RELIGION
Wenaism
Wenaism is the state religion of Gruenberg. Official figures routinely put observance at 100%: whilst these are doubtless exaggerations, Wenaism certainly was a popular faith long before the Court chose to officially impose adherence on its citizens. Gruenberg's status as a Wenaist nation is confirmed by the constitution, the first article of which reads:
"...that Gruenberg shall act as one nation under Wena, Mighty Goddess Of All Things, and commit itself at all times in every act to upholding the core beliefs of her faith..."
William Embury argued in 'Motherland', his highly-regarded book on Wenaism and its role in the political and social development of Gruenberg, this is "the most significant sentence ever written in the history of Gruenberg...acknowledging the ultimate subservience of the Court to the Mother Goddess...at its very core, Gruenberg remains a nation bound by ties not of devotion to its monarchy, but to its religion". Dismissed by many as overstatement, there is probably a certain truth in the claim: certainly, no less a luminary than H.D. Welch noted that "without the fortune of their genuine link to the heart of Wenaism...the rise of the [Woltzten family] would not only have been significantly more difficult, but quite probably impossible."
Tribal Religions
Christianity
Other religions
![[1]](http://img212.imageshack.us/my.php?image=gruenberg7ea.jpg){kind=link}