Post by Anastasie Searlait Mulciber on Nov 5, 2008 0:07:43 GMT
Land:
Hengarreg's landscape is diverse, ranging from rolling hills and pasture in the south and east to desolate upland heath and Taiga-like expanses of snowy forest in the north. It is for the most part a wild country, littered with strange rock formations about which the wind blows almost ceaselessly and from which it takes its name: Hen meaning old or ancient, Garreg meaning stone or rock.
Population is sparse and mainly concentrated in the capital Meinol Morfa; to the south and east, where the land is slightly more forgiving and suited to arable farming; and along the banks of the wide river which spans almost the breadth of the country. At its mouth Hengarreg's second city Aber Arian serves as the country's major port and centre for trade, controlling shipping up and down the river to ports on the foreign bank as well as it's own.
Two vast swathes of woodland account for nearly a third of the country's land, sweeping from the wild unclaimed lands of the west and up towards the milder north-east coast, where their canopy opens and becomes largely deciduous. In the east this is being slowly cleared to make way for farmland, but to the west it spreads largely untamed, host to a plethora of superstitions and dark tales.
The north and west of the country are uninhabited for the most part: the odd isolated lord still holds court in austere stone buildings built to keep out the wind, but these are wild areas not known for kindness to or from their people, and mainly notable for the horses they breed and their off-hand cruelty when dealing with others.
Language:
Hengarreg's language is based on Welsh. Notes on pronunciation can be found below with links to sites with basic vocabulary should you wish to learn more or incorporate it into your characters backstory (eg. place names etc). However, please note that no knowledge of the language is required.
www.omniglot.com/writing/welsh.htm
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Welsh_pronunciation
People:
The people of Hengarreg are hardy, first and foremost. They tend towards pale skin and either red or dark hair, though as with any people there are many exceptions and a vast range within this standard.
Social classes are arranged feudally to a point, though in outlying areas the boundaries blur: in the capital, a lord would not think of stooping to speak to a peasant, but in the harsher wild domains of the west might work beside one for a day if times were especially hard.
Religion and superstition form an important part of the lives of the people in Hengarreg. They worship old gods, obscure in origin and often in purpose, these gods may appear entirely inscrutable to the uninitiated. The fact that they are depicted for the most part as indifferent to the suffering or otherwise of their worshippers may be linked to the harshness of the Hengarreg environment. Religious piety increases the further from the main centers of population one travels, with the capital and other cities being permissive to a large degree.
Land:
The rolling sunlit plains of Ivraie Vivace rising to arid foothills in the center of the country, are a more forgiving environment than that to be found in the north. It is the great cities of the country however which are most noted among those that visit it. From Estivage du Bétail which over looks the rocky valleys of the south west, they punctuate the coast, looking east and south towards the legendary island of Royaume des Cieux.
Of these cities the capital, Caché Creux, is exemplary. Its pale marble civic buildings rise majestically above the river, looking out over the busy streets of the mercantile district with its colourful markets and exotic emporiums, and across to the elegant manses of the wealthy, set back from the streets in their neatly manicured gardens. The pale facades which rise up the steep ground overlooking the harbour are a welcome and well remembered sight to any ship finding port there. But like any country where capitalism has made its mark, the cities of Ivraie Vivace are home also to the more unseemly side of life: there are districts where a noble would not dare to be seen for fear of losing purse or life, and dirt streets lined with sleepers rather than the neatly shaped trees of the richer areas. It is where these two aspects collide that the true spirit of Ivraie Vivace might be said to exist.
However, though the cosmopolitan centers of the south are undoubtedly what the country is known for, much of Ivraie Vivace's prosperity originated from the rich, fertile soils of its eastern regions and the land close to the northern border. Here small villages and market towns dot the landscape amid the spreading farmland, woodland and vineyards that surround the small city of Anatheme, continuing to the northern border.
Language:
Ivraie Vivace's language is based on French. Notes on pronunciation can be found below with links to sites with basic vocabulary should you wish to learn more or incorporate it into your characters backstory (eg. place names etc). However, please note that no knowledge of the language is required.
www.languageguide.org/francais/grammar/pronunciation/
www.essortment.com/all/frenchpronunc_rsih.htm
People:
As in Hengarreg to the north, there are distinct delineations between social classes in Ivraie Vivace, but unlike that of its neighbours, the caste system here is in a sense vestigial, and arbitrary to a certain degree. Having adopted democracy some decades ago, the country is ruled by a senate - albeit one riddled not only with idealism but corruption and occasional discord, as might be expected - and while the lower ranks of the population are yet to be included in the process of electing it, the middle and merchant classes enjoy as much privilege there as the nobles.
In appearance, the people of Ivraie Vivace are perhaps more varied in traits than those of Hengarreg, having long traded with a variety of other nations. They are expansionist in outlook if not militaristically, preferring instead to establish trade routes.
Largely free-thinking and more advanced in their attitude to religion, people are free to practice whatever traditions they chose, though many have an indifferent attitude towards superstition and organised religion, viewing it as a chore or an empty gesture.