Continent: Attellaria
Capital: Neusmik
Government: Pedocracy - College of Doctors, elected from a pool of scholars.
Ruler - Dasaratha Maurya
Dominant Religion: Vishnu (decrepit)
Typical Physiology: The typical appearance in this country is brunette to black hair, dark brown skin, blunt features, slim to average build, height around average for world population.
Neusmik consists of several small islands, one city, and nine towns with a total population of less than 50,000. Neusmik's islands are what was left over when Lyda and Biru nationalized, and they banded together in self-defense as much as for any other reason. Three of the islands are uninhabited, one is mostly swamp, only Neusmik Island is land worth having, and its nearness to the Bay of Lizard Men and Keth Coastal Swamp make it less than choice real estate. Neusmik is a pedocracy where (mostly descended from marriages of Neusmiks with Biruans) scholars rule; the rule is a sort of council called the College of Doctors, whose members elect new members from the educational leaders of the country (almost all from the capital city), with posts being held to represent specific interests - farming, mining, sea trade, military, and so on. The senior member of the council is simply referred to as The Wise.
The population is made up of pair-bonded and multiple-husband households (child and mother mortality is very high due to primitive conditions).
The primary religion is Indian, with Vishnu being the most revered diety; there are few clerics of any level in Neusmik, and they are generally unaware that all the Indian deities are dead. It is not known how the Indian religion came to dominate these islands; there are no countries that practice that faith anywhere close by in the world.
Neusmik was formerly a very strong nation, raising its flag for the first time in 890 Eighth Age.
Of major import in its history was a war with Biru which began in 1004 when Helen, daughter of Tyndareus of Biru, eloped with a scholar-warrior from Neusmik named Susharma Chand; this resulted in a ten year long war with Biru that ended with the utter destruction of the city of Troyius, located on Heltor island; no trace of the city remains. Helen and Susharma fled to Neusmik; Tyndareus and most of his generals, along with three quarters of the army, were slain in the final battle, and the survivors limped home. Helen was forgotten and the war ended.
Ever since 1036, when the Consul of Biru surrendered himself and his children to Neusmik in an effort to end the wars between the two countries, many of the children of the leaders of Biru have sent their children to be educated there. This has fallen off somewhat since the Judgement War.
Neusmik has a strong alliance with Lyda.
There are mines in the mountains of the main island where precious metals such as silver and gold are found in some quantity, which helped the island become very prosperous in the early 1100s.