Irthiron

The United Republic of Irthiron and Balleron (Shaenweald a Irthiron er Balleron), more generally called the Republic of Irthiron or simply "Irthiron", is the most powerful nation found along the shores of the Shallow Sea in Western Pelia. One of the five great powers, the Bithwealdes, in the modern world, Irthiron is an island country, comprising the four main islands of Shandoo (also just called Irthiron), Balleron to the southeast, Ossaw to the northeast, and Arlo to the west. Shandoo itself is peaceful and temperate, with white chalk cliffs to the south, an extinct volcanic crater in the centre of the island (now filled with beautiful mountain lakes), and stark, cold islands to the far north.

After the initial invasions and occupation by the Theryke, a group of semi-nomadic warriors from the Mainland, the country became a hereditary monarchy, with the King or Queen effectively a figurehead against the increasing power of the clans but still a near-divine being. That is, until the Ashenacom Invasion in the late 26th and early 27th Centuries, an occupation of fewer than seventy years that ended with the monarchy dead, the state reformed into a republic that Rome would be jealous of, and a burning desire to see all magic across the world wiped out. (The invaders had done considerable damage through their abilities, the projection of emotions into other people's minds, but the Theryke had already had a time trying to combat the angry spirits of the islands when they first arrived, and had built up something of a resilience.)

Today, Irthiron controls a little more than a fifth of the globe, the largest existing empire in modern times. Its colony of Ghellyre takes up most of the continent bearing that name, but it also has colonies in Taanavuu and Potamia. Regardless of imperial ambitions, at home the spirit is decidedly republican. The Taedar, or Parliament, meets daily to discuss issues of the Republic and its Empire, the positions of the Lesser Isles, and the development of further political and technological advancements. And regardless of imperial ambitions or the prospect of Enlightening a world brought low by corrupt conjurers pretending at magic, they remember their homeland first. So it stands on the flag: the great island, red iron and white chalk surrounded by green meadows, and the three Sister Islands as stars in the dark-blue sky.

It's not a perfect place to live, is Irthiron. The gullie or "dons", although technically outlawed, still hold considerable sway in the cities. The capital, Hamhyre, is very firmly divided between the mansions and manors in the west and the skyscrapers and factories in the east, old money against new (and so many poor folk squashed in-between). But it's still, overall, not a bad place to be. There's regular train services, the hospitals are free and top-tier (for the time), there's relative freedom of religion (so long as you participate in some way in the overall rejuvenation of the Republic, even by bowing when one ways through a spirit-gate), and electricity is spreading even to the furthest villages. As a citizen you get a right to the dole, to public libraries, and to choose not only your representative in the Taedar but what position they hold, from whealdon (Prime Minister) down to the Minister of Fishing—and more to the point you can choose to elect them to both positions, if you feel they can handle it. You also have the right and obligation to serve either in the army or on a constitutional jury, defending the empire and her vassals or learning enough about the law to provide justice for your peers. Neither is long-term, both are paid decently, and it gets you a decent view of the bigger picture across the Empire. It is essential to the Irthironians that their people be, if not always happy, then at least contented or at the very least not wound against the nation. Their very survival depends on it, and always has.

If you're in the neighbourhood of Hamhyre, the great capital, be sure to take in all the sights. The great skyscrapers (including the newest, the Moran Tower, tallest in the world), riding around town on the Volt, the great stock exchanges down at Shoal Docks, the Museum of Truth (where the magic of the past is rewritten to suit the science of today), the Cathedral of the Royal Five, and maybe round off the day with a picnic in Cwane's Park, named after the founder of the Republic. The sun catching the glass off the skyscrapers on the other side of the river…it's like the towers of heaven, burning bright against the cold of the night. That's what Irthiron is, after all—a fire to bring the world to justice and peace and logic. Against monsters and zealots, warlocks and warlords, Irthiron is the truth in the night—it's only us out here, so let's make the best of it, and keep as many people safe and comfortable as possible.

History

History on Irthiron can be divided into three broad periods, namely the Warruk, Imperial, and Republican Periods. There is some variation as to how long these last, but generally speaking the two dividing dates are held to be July 19th, 2593 of the Long Count, and May 5th, 3796 LC.

The Warruk

Prior to recorded history, Irthiron was in fact a peninsula—part of an ancient civilization known as the plain of Abhallyn. Covering an area of something like 300,000 square kilometres, it received regular watering from the rivers both from the Brush and from the mountains bordering it to the east and west. Rather like a small version of the Quiramic Grasslands to the southeast—and like the dwellers on the Grasslands, the people of Abhallyn began to build their own culture around the rivers they lived in, fishing and hunting and setting up places to plant various crops. A group called the Djandja are mentioned in Metahuvian records as doing good trade in certain spices that were otherwise hard to acquire.

The first inhabitants of this peninsula, before the initial growth of civilization in Abhallyn proper, were the Warruk (locally the Warrukaartimi, the "Eight Tribes", or the Wherreesim in Modern Irthironian), a group of interrelated clans living in various clans across the island. Eight separate ethnic groups—including the Rapuki, the Nriki, the Drari, the Pjurakari, and the Nangudari—divided the island between them, coming to domesticate the jumbuck (penovis penovis) sometime around the 73rd Century BC.

The Warruk were firmly established on the island by the time of the Great Flood, a retreat of the glaciers to the north which caused Abhallyn to sink beneath sea level. A number of islands survived, but the majority of the great plain was completely flooded. Remnants of prior villages are still occasionally found beneath the seas. The effect on the Warruk was profound; a great many of their myths made them, if not thalassophobic, then certainly prone to revering the sea as an entity of great power.

The tin, copper, gold, and silver found in the Highlands, alongside deposits of opals, made the Nangudari and Pjurakari (more commonly known as the Nengodáir and the Furegáir) surprisingly wealthy. The eucalyptus trees of various sorts in the southern lowlands, as well as the bountiful fish did the same for the Nriki and Rapuki (Nic and Rhebwc).

It is impossible to talk about the Warruk without mentioning their views on language. As far as they were concerned, their language was capable of summoning spirits of all kinds to bring aid or vengeance. As such, it should not be used lightly. At the same time, common concepts were important to understand; it would be no good in mincing the words, speaking around them in the same tongue. Arrangements, so to speak, were required, to allow continual functionality without actually drawing the attention of the spirits.

Perhaps due to this, in addition to relative geographic isolation, they began developing taboo languages for use outside their communities that actually broke a number of phonological laws. While the original speech, such as it was, became something of a religious language, used only for rituals and traditional names and pretty much unchanged from its original form, the eight tribes each developed their own vernaculars for non-religious work. They are unique to the island; nowhere else, across the whole of Doas, was such a liberal use of fricatives, excess vowels, and lenition used to mark words. This "slurred speech", as it was called in Tjamowehrl, would become a hallmark of the island, and add to their sense of exoticism and barbarousness.

The chiefdoms of the Warruk rose and fell with the ages, no one group ever gaining a full monopoly over the others. There were attempts at this; under the influence of the Glass Empire, a High King of sorts called the Dhaalani would be chosen from one of the eight tribes' chieftains to lead them either in war or in trade. The Glass Empire tried to hold the islands, but thanks to developing naval technology and a better understanding of the land, the Warruk were largely able to maintain their independence. The city of Shoal (from the Rhebwcan word for "estuary", Druuli in Profane Warruka) was founded at the mouth of the River Mishneele (Mirdinaahuli) in 1066 LC (1527 BU, Before the Union). This was used as a general gathering-place for the Warruk from all over the islands, but took on little significance beyond a place to trade. Beyond Shoal there were a few large settlements, but nothing that could be considered a city per se.

At least, not until the arrival of the Theryke.

The Theryke

Strictly speaking, no Tharoc (plural Theryke) ever referred to himself or herself by that name. They called themselves the Tjaruki, singular Tjaruka—more specifically, that was the name they called the bravest men among them, the raiders and hunters. The wisest women were the Bani, singular Banu (today ban, bennie). Altogether they were the Rdjiirnartah, the Great People. Nevertheless, it is generally the case that they are referred to as the Theryke in Irthironian tales, much as the Norse settlers across Europe are occasionally deemed "Vikings" even today. And they spread like a bushfire across the continent at the fall of the Glass Empire.

The Theryke were initially driven forth from their homeland to the southeast, on the edge of the most inhospitable part of the coastal desert, to raid the more fertile lands around the Shallow Sea. Why this was, though, has remained a mystery throughout the ages. The Theryke themselves, in Rumhuwr and Irthiron, have a story about the acceptance of divinity by a mysterious leader who was blessed as the child of the goddess Gjuurumu (later Djooarum), being able to shine with radiance like the sun itself, and to control and extend the months of summer to his liking. This was Moalam (Mailumah), a warrior from the Sea-Bear moiety and a man with a mission. Said mission was the expansion of his people "to the lands of ever-water", far from the constraints of the growing oasis-city of Limbir where Glass Imperial demand for gemstones and desert spices had made life somewhat harder for the ordinary farmers.

Moalam never reached the shores of Irthiron; that was left to his son, known to history as Aragab I (Árakubah) and a man from the Kangaroo Moiety, but a man who retained his father's ability to commune with the Good Days, as they were called. Around him and his family developed a cult of sorts, and through this cult they drew the attention of other Theryke and Bennie. The former were instilled with a sort of mad courage, the latter with a quiet wisdom that involved the taming of the lands they took. And for over two hundred years, they expanded across the Eastern Arm of the Shallow Sea and ruled it as overlords.

The creation of an empire around the persona of the Mardagjula—also called the Mashawl, the Sun-King—was a surprisingly lax affair. The Theryke weren't out to rule anyone; all they wanted, for the most part, was stable employment as warriors and farmers. They brought their wayfowl (hippostruthus sonipes) with them, as well as camels (naca perpetiens) pulling them along on wheeled chariots while they fired arrows at those whom they deemed enemies. An impressive innovation; the Glass Empire was at that time limited to dogsleds. The lands they took were carefully watered and given sufficient warmth for crops to grow through the powers granted to the Mardagjula through the Blessing of Gjuurumu. They conquered most of the Eastern Arm of the Shallow Sea within a few decades. But it should have stopped at that sea.

And yet it did not, because of one fundamental mistake.

The Glass Emperors, realizing that these raiders could be used to maintain order in the land, and after a few unsuccessful raids, attempted instead to "domesticate" them. Although they could never fit into the delicate caste system of Mirran, and were indeed an obstruction to it, they would be useful in other matters. They provided them with a number of "creature comforts"—writing, new agriculture, and (importantly) seafaring. They hadn't counted on the Theryke in their service passing it back to their cousins who were on neutral or antagonistic terms with the Empire, but likely the raids on the coast would have begun all the same; the Theryke were given training against another group of invaders from the west, the Kaali, and the Glass Imperials were determined that the eastern barbarians could fight a war against the western ones for them.

So the Theryke became more acquainted with boats, and a second culture emerged, one where the raiders would take to the sea and do a little raiding on the raiders. If they came across the Kaali, they would do their best to wipe out the settlement, and the sentiment was mutual. But they also grew more familiar with the Warruk, who, cut off from the empire, were becoming more and more impatient with Imperial rule. The fact that the Theryke were beginning to settle in the south of the islands didn't help one bit. Finally, in 2591, High King Nangu-Uurdaani (locally Nang'aisheen) declared that the islands were to be independent once more.

Then, in what has been described as either the most pragmatic or the stupidest decision of that millennium, Emperor Kubah Gaakad made a deal with Aragab II of the Sea-Bear Moiety, a direct descendant of the first Aragab and ruler of Rimihiiru, a territory on the northern shores of the Eastern Arm. The offer was, quite simply, an attempt to split the Theryke in two. If Aragab would take the Woolly Isles—Shandoo and Balleron in particular—then he could claim them as his own kingdom in addition to his territory on the coast. He would gain a monopoly over the still-present trade in gold and copper, as well as the newly-found deposits of iron. In exchange, he would pledge loyalty to Kubah Gaakad directly, not the current Mardagjula, Rtjaharah. Or he could refuse, and Kubah Gaakad could pass along the news of their conversation directly to Rtjaharah. The man was not known to treat traitors well, after all; as Mardagjula he could do as he pleased, just as Kubah Gaakad could.

Aragab's decision was twofold. First, he promised to capture the islands. Second, upon doing so, he immediately informed his cousin Rtjaharah of his intentions, although not of the tribute promised. The Mardagjula accepted the proposition.

Perhaps it was because Rtjaharah was genuinely afraid of the man. Over the years, the Blessing of Gjuurumu had faded in the royal line—but Aragab's powers, as they were, seemed almost a return to form. His own child needed to be confirmed as his heir, but there were a great many in his court who would back Aragab if it came to it. Rtjaharah thought it better to risk dividing the kingdom but keeping his son in charge rather than risk the whole collapsing around the persona of Aragab. At the same time, it wouldn't hurt to make a personal alliance with the Glass Emperor proper, just in case they ever needed the manpower…and, after all, it was technically his land that Aragab would be taking.

And take it he did.

The Irthironian calendar officially started on July 19th, 2593, although it is usually backdated to the beginning of the year. The event that took place, quite simply, was the taking of the city of Shoal and the deposition of the High King, aided as they were by a terrible drought that swept the countryside, burning wooden houses and boats and even drying up the Mishneele. Nangu-Uurdaani was deposed, and Aragab, true to form, took on not the title of the Sun-King but the High King, locally deelen, which became Old Theryke diilin and is the descendant of Modern Irthironian dyelinn. Most importantly, he kept the title of gjula, "chief" or "king", maintaining his subordinate status as a careful ruse. And yet, at the same time, he cultivated followers of his own, demonstrating his own magical powers as a sign of divinity which even the Warruk were loath to deny. He also set about using the organization laid down by the Warruk to bolster security and begin to conquer the highlands, but set his capital at some distance from both Shoal and his old capital of Kwinpjiida, in the Bay of Arrag on the island of Balleron just to the south of Shandoo. And as was customary for Sun-Kings in the Mardagjula Empire, he claimed a position outside of the four moieties; his children could marry whom they wished, all the better to cement alliances, and thus could also transcend the very different sets of moieties the Theryke and Warruk both used.

Kubah Gaakad received a tribute of metal for a number of years, but then it stopped; complaints in the capital led Aragab to seek alternative negotiations, perhaps the scouring of the Kaali that his people were already selected for. Kubah Gaakad, at that time old and ailing, launched an attack on the island. Aragab called in help from Rtjaharah, which did not come; the ruse was discovered, and the Mardagjula was withdrawing all aid for his cousin. In desperation, Aragab's wife Esmaer (Irtmaaruh) managed a communion with the spirits of the island, and together the two of them summoned a great storm that swept the ships away, far out into the Eastern Ocean—if any survived onboard to tell the tale. A second fleet was similarly destroyed. Finally, a single boat, bearing a messenger from a new Glass Emperor, Dibam Aadjahrl, was allowed to pass. The territory would be theirs, said the messenger; an alliance, not a vassalage, was now on the books.

It was accepted.

Once a tributary to two empires, now beholden to neither, the Kingdom of Rimihiiru was born.

Geography

Irthiron is divided into five general districts, each of which has its own unique culture and history.