Snefaldia

Snefaldia ) is a smallish country almost entirely surrounded by mountains, bisected by the Saard river that runs through the mountains, emptying into a sea.

The largest city in Snefaldia is Sargedain, which is also the capital.

Geography

Snefaldia is surrounded on all sides by high mountain ranges, with the Seril Mountains in the east, the Zogar Range to the west, the Hightops in the south, and the Velnar Mountains to the north. The central country is dotted with lakes and valleys, and the Saard river bisects the country, running from the northeast Velnars down through the southeast Serils before empyting into the Bay of Fuschal and the Memdar delta.

The centre of the country is called the Dayan Plain, and is very fertile, expansive, and covered in rolling hills. The Dayan forms a basin where the Saard river cuts through it, and floods from time to time.. To the north is Sring Issa, defined by old-growth deciduous forests, low valleys, and small, numerous lakes. South of the Saard and Dayan is Neer Dal, home to marshes, subtropical forests, and hundreds of small rivers.

To the east, in the foothills of the Serils, is Bae, a region defined by deep gorges and hot, windy steppes. The western region of Allasha is largely rolling hills and valleys, considered excellent farmland.

The mouth of the Saard river forms a fertile, shallow delta called the Memdar. Flanked by mountains and sheer rock faces, the area surround the mouth is nearly uninhabitable. However, due to the regular flooding of the Saard the soil is very rich, and in history city-states took advantage of this.

Climate

Snefaldia has a mixture of subtropical, temperate, and tundra climates. The mountains are high and rocky, though lower in altitude are very hillish and flat before descending into the central plain.

Sargedain

The capital of Snefaldia, Sargedain, is located on the Saard river in the center of the Dayan basin. Relatively young compared to the other cities of the country, Sargedain was founded in 1850 on the site of the city of Saarge, a Rejni administrative center destroyed by flooding. It rapidly grew, and in 1935 the legislature moved to the city from the old capital of Sijsar after they ousted the executives.

Sargedain went through several phases of rapid expansion, first in the early 1930's, in the 1960s and again in the early 1990s. The most recent expansion saw the city reach roughly its modern area, with many high-rises and parks being built to beautify the old buildings of the 60s and 30s. The government buildings, which were the royal residences remaining from the 1850 construction, are some of the oldest buildings in the city.

Society

Snefaldia society is a mixed one, with several distinct ethnic groups competing over land and resources. Largely divided along regional lines, the Dayan, Sringal, Bae, Neeri, and Allashi ethnic groups comprise Snefaldia societies, and make up the nation's racial distinction.

Snefaldia has long been isolated from other nations, despite having a perfect seaport situated in the Memdar delta, but has never been a great seafaring or trading nation. Most foreign influence arrived through the mountain passes, and each region recieved a great deal of cultural influence from the peoples that made the trek over their respective mountain ranges.

Government

The Centralised Mountain States are a in name a federal monarchy, but in practice a unitary republic. The monarchy, held by the Jaddars, has been vacant for many years, and power in largely concentrated in the upper house of the republic's legislature, the Sensraad.

In Snefaldia, the government is ostensibly made up of three branches: the Executive, the Legislative, and the Judiciary according to the 1803 Declaration of Orders. However, since 1935 the Executive, which was supposed to be held by a member of the Jaddar family, has been vacant and its duties absorbed by the Legislature, including the ability to appoint the members of the Judiciary.

The legislative branch of the government is made up of three elected bodies: the Sensraad, or High Chamber, the Arsraad or Low Chamber.

The Sensraad is not divided along party lines, and is headed by a group of the seven most senior members. To be a member of the Sensraad, a citizen must have a noble title, or own more than 12 acres of land.

The Arsraad, in contrast to the upper chamber, is divided along party lines. The law states that there can never be less than three political parties, but makes no mention of a maximum. The majority party holds the position of Drone, akin to the Speaker of the House.

The Tuhran Bel is a third governing body, which is akin to a national ecclesiastical council, handling matters pertaining to the native religions.

Politics

Religion

Most major foreign religions are present in Snefaldia, but the majority of people adhere to one of the "Three Native Faiths", the native religion in Snefaldia. The "Three Native Faiths" are Endiri, Draghdatha, and Aatem Nal.

Endiri

Part of the "Three Native Faiths," Endiri is a polytheistic religion that is centered around the worship of personal, family, local, and regional deities. Practitioners do not have a word to describe themselves, and the word "Endiri" translates literally as "religious faith."

Endiri has no centralized structure, but disputes between religious areas are handled by the Tuhran Bel, the national ecclesiastical council. There are no priests or monasteries, and worshippers attend no standardized services. Temples and shrines vary in size and majesty depending on the amount of patronage they recieved, and maintenance is carried out by worshippers. Regional deities and local spirits generally have traditional services performed by the members of their district.

Personal deities are given when a person comes of age, and are usually a deceased ancestor or relative. It is common for family members to have the same personal deity. The coming-of-age ceremony takes place in the presence of the shrine of the family god, and the person choses both a name and a talisman that will become their own.

Draghadatha

One of the "Three Native Faiths," Draghadatha is more ascetic than Endiri, and has a more definite normality than the common faith. Like Endiri, pracitioners of Draghadatha do not give themselves a name, and Draghadatha translates from Bagura as "lonely mountain," a reference to the ascetics who go into the wilderness to contemplate.

Draghadatha is based on the study of the ederni medragha, holy texts supposedly inspired by the spiritual world. Ascetic practitioners copy the ederni medragha by hand and memorize them, developing the mystical spells and rituals and practicing them in the wilderness. Ederni medragha are very similar to Jewish midrash, in that they are commentaries written by the ascetics themselve, dealing with the mysteries of the spiritual and physical worlds.

Ascetics, in common language called "Draghas," have mixed receptions in everyday life. Some are feared for their supposed mystical power, and some are sought out as both faith healers and holy men. Then are often seen worshipping at Endiri shrines, but are usually seen in the harsh wilderness.

Aatem Nal

The third of the "Three Native Faiths," Aatem Nal is the more scholarly branch of the three faiths. Aatem Nal translates as "study of the tower," a reference to the development of the school in places of learning. Aatem Nal has a power base, located in the city of Bandalan in northern Sring Issa.

Aatem Nal is more complex and secretive than Draghadatha and Endiri, and is not entirely comprehensible even to the average Snefaldian. Common lore places the genesis of the faith somewhere in the murky blackness of Snefaldia's ancient history, along with that of Endiri, but it only became commonly known in 1214 when Khsayakan, apparently a powerful Dragha, came down from the Velnars and taught the people the secrets of the universe.

Practitioners of Aatem Nal call themselves Arsathaes, scholars of the universe. Ederni medragha focus heavily into their study, but unlike Draghas they use a very specific set of ederni medragha, known collectively as the Amershaman Medrahov, "Books of Motions." Arsathaes organize themselves into hierarchical schools led by the senior scholars, and believe that all things are to be recorded. In their golden age, 1300-1651, the Arsathaes builts amazing libraries and schools, huge citadels devoted to learning, archiving, and the stduy of occult, esoteric knowledge.

It is very common to see Arsathaes of low rank in towns and cities, and they generally worship at Edirni shrines. However, high-ranking Arsathaes, the senior scholars of the sect, are regarded with reverence, fear, and whispers. They do not worship at Edirni shrines, and after death sometimes become Edirni gods themselves. Of course, they rarely leave their vaults as it is, so they are not often seen in towns.

The Aatem Nal oversee the Tuhran Bel, the ecclesiastical council that forms a part of the Snefaldian civil government.

History

Ancient History