Difference between revisions of "Roania"

Revision as of 06:10, 15 September 2005

Roania

Flag of Roania
Motto: Amor Patriae Nostra Lex (Love of the Fatherland is our only law)
[1]
Region	Fatal Terrain
Capital	The Holy City of Tarnaqin
Official Language(s)	Russian/French
Leader	HDIM Tsar Adrik Alexei Chyornyev
Population	4.4 billion
Currency	Imperial Mark
NS Sunset XML

The Empire of Roania (proper name: The Divine Imperium of Novar Ohan and the Sunset Isles) is an imperialist nation coextensive with the entire continent of Novar Ohan in the Northern Pacific. It was founded first by Russian, and later by French, colonists fleeing from internal struggle.

A rather introverted and defensive nation, the country consists of 5 States (Roan, Agua, Arquis, Altara and the Sunset Isles), several territories ((Divine Imperial East Africa, the Red Sea States, the Micronesian Federation, and the Divine Imperial Eastern Territories, as well as the Capitol, the Most Holy City of Tarnaqin)), and two Free Cities ((Novaya Archangelsk and White Harbour)).

Its metropolitan territory spans across the entire North Pacific. The Continent of Novar Ohan is bounded on the south by the Pacific, on the east by the Western Marches (locally known as the White Sea), to the west by the straits of Tolemsky, and to the north by the Arctic Ocean. Its closest neighbour is the Republic of Iansisle. The Archipelago of the United Sunsets (to give it its full name) and their companion group, the Isles of Sleep, lie to the south and east of Novar Ohan.

People of Novar Ohan

The Divine Imperium is a land of contrasts, not least amongst its people. There is an entire world's worth of difference between His Divine Illuminated Majesty Tsar Adrik Alexei Adrian Chyornyev and the average Altaran farmer, or indeed that same farmer and a tribesman in the jungles.

Generalisations

Broadly, the key fixation of many citizens of the most blessed Empire is with order. Many centuries of long aristocratic tradition and close cultural ties with the Confucianist states of the East (evidence of this includes the existence of a large Chinese community in the state of Altara) have affected the society of Novar Ohan in that there exists in many places a very united society in terms of cultural and social morès.

This great cultural equality is at its lowest in Arquis, where the lords and commons live almost in parallel worlds to one another; and at its highest in Altara, where the Shattering effectively eliminated the vast majority of the population, with especial attention paid by Death to the ranks of the nobility.

The culture itself has been described as a mixture of Tsarist Russia and pre-revolutionary France. To the Roanians, (to speak vulgarly, as we are forced to do for lack of any uniting word for the entirety of the Imperium's citizenry) though, such a comparison would seem both an insult and a sign of a diseased mind. The Divine Imperium is, for all its faults, a fully democratic society, despite the existence of a mass of meddling nobles and monarchs. Over the past half century, more and more of the nobility have stopped interfering in matters within their territories, seeming content to let the people govern themselves so long as entertainment, profit, and food keep coming.

Unless something interesting happens. Or their local elected official (Mayor, Lord Mayor, Premier, Lord Chancellor) acts rude. Or they get bored. Or feel like doing something. Apart from those instances, the elected officials are left free to run the country. More of this later.

There are certain similarities between the DIR and the aforementioned nations, though. Firstly, religion is an integral part of society. The Church of Novar Ohan is, despite repeated demands for reform from the Vatican and its officers, one of the largest landowners in the Imperium, controlling almost 5% of the territory (which might not sound over large. However, if that territory was brought together it would roughly cover France from the Pyreenes to the English Channel, with the addition of the Rhineland). This Church is the great column of Roanian internal society, maintaining stability and unity in troubled times. In recognition of this fact its Archbishops (One for each historical Duchy) and Patriarch (Currently Patriarchs of Novar Ohan always are welcome to address the House of Nobles, despite repeated protests by Papal Nuncios for the practice to halt.

Even for those who, for one reason or another, decline to be part of the Official Church (including the roughly 20% of the population who schismed into the Aguan Orthodox Church in 1825), religion remains a vital part of life. It soothes the pain of labour and the hurt of war, and keeps the people reasonably content. After the excesses of the Order of Saint Michael (or Holy Imperial Inquisition for the Purity of the Faith) were wound down in the reign of Tsarina Malissa, freedom of worship was extended to all (though hardliners, led by the Archbishop of Arquis, continue to struggle against this, threatening a further schism.)

On a further general note, education is guaranteed and mandated for all up to the tenth year of schooling, with further education open to those who can pass moderately difficult competitive testing. Education, however, means something completely different for most Roanians than it does for outsiders. A heavy focus is laid on practical skills and functional education, with little time being spent on interpretation or critical thinking in the years of compulsory schooling. Post-modernist topics are unwelcome in any of the institutions of higher learning within the Divine Imperium.

For more information, which would probably be better placed in those sections anyway, go to the seperate pages of the states (when information is added).

Religion

As mentioned above, the religion of the majority of the population is an affiliate of the Catholic Church of Novar Ohan or its schismed association, the Aguan Orthodox Church. It is the Catholic Church that concerns us primarily here, as it is the most powerful politically and socially. Headed by the aforementioned Patriarch, the church is split drastically on regional grounds. The Patriarch is the Bishop of Tarnaqin, and he holds that position either for life or until his underlings decide he's become senile and he's convinced to move aside.

It is a heavily heirarchical body, and tradition dictates that the Patriarch is always chosen from amongst the Four Archbishops pertaining to the traditional divisions (there are two bishops for the Free Cities, but the only Patriarch from Novy Archangelsk split the church and their name has been low for sometime). Dionysius's predescessor, Dmitri II, was chosen from Rome (previously he had been Bishop of Roslin and secretary to Patriarch Apollo) precisely to break that tradition, which he did by nominating his own successor (also slightly heretical, but it was confirmed by an election, so no harm was done). Dionysius has since broken with tradition and acted as a semi-mitigating force against the government and nobility, a fact which causes Adrik Alexei and Lord Chancellor Nicademus Darsalin no end of grief.

The Archbishops (who are almost always the Metropolitans for their states), as is general Church tradition, always come from the Bishops in their broader dioceses, as the Bishops and their auxilaries are chosen from their local priests. Generally a city and its surrounding countryside will always have a cathedral and a Bishopric as a mark of prestige and tradition; however in Altara, where the vast majority of the great cities are ruins now only disturbed by squatters, rats and weeds, the bishoprics (apart from those of Alaitoc and Altara) are conferred upon priests put forward by the people within every pair of counties for special merit (a system not spoken of before the Roman Nuncio.)