Pronunciation: SHO-suh-nay
Founding Date: 503 DA
Dissolution Date: -
Demonym: Shosara/Shosara
Capital: Seasalla
Racial Distribution: halfling (62%), gnome (24%), human (10%), other (4%)
Official Language: Santhia
Shosané is ruled by a queen, once a hereditary monarch, and now a democratic leader elected once every 30 years. Unlike in many nations, where a queen would largely serve as a head of state, Shosané's queen is very hands on, attending to duties as a military and diplomatic leader, assisting in the writing and enacting of laws, and personally conducting inspections to ensure Shosara's ships, docks, and anchor towns are in good working order. A well-defined order of succession among the queen's cabinet ensures that little time is lost should the queen die on the frontlines of a battle. This arrangement is somewhat vulnerable to exploitation by those willing to hire assassins, but the queen's status as a beloved and active member of the nation's communities makes such actions risky, as the nation is usually quick to turn on anyone suspected of such crimes.
The bulk of Shosané's exports come from in or around the ocean. Fish, often dried and smoked, kelp, seaweed, and other edible oceanic plants, and fresh fish and crustaceans if ice is available - all are gathered in abundance from the Iothian sea, and may be packed up and sold elsewhere. Salt can be derived from the seawater, and many oceanic plants have medicinal uses. Tools and jewelry crafted from bone are also commonly sold. Shosané is a leading provider of ink as well, offering varieties made from charred and ground bones as well as harvested from cephalopods.
Most of Shosané's territory is actually ocean, with the Santhia Cliffs, the Kel Islands, and a decent chunk of land around Lillivene Bay serving as their only land territory. The waters of the Lillivene Bay are shallow and tropical, hosting a wide variety of marine creatures that dwell in forests of seaweed and kelp. The deeper Iothian Sea is also full of life, but the flora and fauna here lurk increasingly deeper below the surface, at depths unlikely to be reached by anyone without magical aid. The Santhia Cliffs, dropping off from Shosané's strip of the Kiebe forest, are dangerously tall and fraught with sharp rocks in the ocean below, creating a challenging environment for seafaring that the Shosara nevertheless make full use of. The three Kel Islands mark the southernmost point of land before the Stormwall begins, and they are frequently battered by tropical storms.
Seasalla: the sprawling shore town that serves as Shosané's capital sits around the wide mouth of the Heledhuin River where it enters Lillivene Bay, serving as an important waypoint for trade coming down the river from Amalar and Votar. The more inland buildings are permanent, fixed structures, built on stilts to accommodate the occasional storm surge, but the southern sections of the city ebb and flow with the tide, sitting on the sandy beach when it's low and drifting upwards along anchored pylons when high. The farthest reaches bleed into something resembling an anchor town, with docks playing host to seasonal residents that live on their boats.
The Shosara make use of the Iothian Sea by building anchor towns, loose and ever-changing collections of ship docked around a central floating structure, which is fixed in place by a massive anchor and chain. These anchor towns stretch from the shallower portions of the Lillivene Bay to the deepest depths of the sea, allowing for frequent rest stops when traveling across the ocean. Most ships come and go from the anchor towns, either stopping on the way to elsewhere or staying a few months while seasonally seeking a certain resource, but each anchor town is manned by a retinue or permanent residents. These residents perform various services to the more temporary townsfolk, from cooking to mending to restocking, and they are also in charge of packing up the town and piloting the hub ship if a situation arises where they need to move. Severe storms and threats of giant sea monsters will send an anchor town packing, with the satellite ships detaching from the walkways, the walkways being drawn up and stored on the hub ship, and the anchor hoisted to allow the hub ship to sail slowly but steadily out of danger. The stars guide the way back to the anchor town's main location, and a star map inscribed on the hull of the hub ship and as well as the anchor ensures that either can be returned to their place of origin if lost.
Shosaré's people are largely friendly and welcoming, even to people that most would find strange or off-putting. It's considered the Shosara way to judge someone by the merits of their skills rather than their appearance or their past, so many former criminals, strange outcasts, and people running from their old lives can be found making their homes here. The halfling tendency to adopt children not their own extends to the Shosara, who will readily take the lost under wing, be they orphaned waifs or directionless adults. A ship's crew is often considered family as much as one's own blood is, sometimes confusing outsiders when a veritable army of wildly different people are referred to as aunts, uncles, and cousins.
x