Zurgite Varshan

The Worshipful Realm of Varshan is a country in Western Crona and considered the largest country on the continent. Its history is a turbulent one, with challenges posed by natural disasters, periods of rapid change, attempted colonial exploitation, corruption, separatism, ideological conflict, dictatorship, religious fanaticism, war and mass slaughter.

The Varshani solar calendar has no months because the Moon is their personification of evil. Hieratic Varshani has no grammatical distinction between singular and plural.

History
The lands comprising modern-day Varshan were once inhabited by a variety of different Cronite peoples belonging to several different linguistic families. These peoples, most of which have been lost to history, were all tribally-organised until the early Cronite Bronze Age, when city-states began to develop in the region's fertile river valleys. The area now known as Umzàg or Central Varshan, emerged as the most heavily urbanized part of Western Crona, possibly as a result of its fertile volcanic soils and geographic circumscription by high mountain ranges.

The history of Varshan proper beings with the arrival of the Varshani (Waršaŋ), a migratory tribe of uncertain geographic origin speaking a who subsisted primarily by raiding settled societies and hunting. Attracted by the wealthy city-states of Umzàg, the Varshani migrated into the foothills of the Mountains of Terror, from which they launched periodic raids against their neighbours. Initially, the Varshani raided only to capture food, women, and basic materials, and to spill blood in order to honour their gods. However, over time they also took to pillaging valuables, such as precious metals and stones and fine clothes and handicrafts, originally as trophies, but later as luxury goods for their own enjoyment. In order to provide higher standards of living for themselves, the Varshani began capturing slaves for labour rather than exclusively sexual use, and exacting tribute and ransom from communities within striking distance of the foothills rather than raiding them, obtaining wealth that allowed them to engage in trade with the prosperous central city-states. This began a process of acculturation through which the Varshani transitioned away from their traditional migratory raiding lifestyle and adopted many material, religious, and socio-political practices from the settled peoples of the region. This process reached its culmination under the Varshani chief Biji, who after sacking the city of Hoklo, chose to take up residence there instead of returning to his camp in the foothills. Biji renamed the city 'Anzo', and established it as the first Varshani state.

The subsequent history of Varshan is divided into a number of dynastic periods, punctuated by intervening periods of civil war and political decay.

Demographics
Ethnic hierarchy: TopVarshanis with Divine ancestry> Other TopVarshanis > Petty Varshanis (includes the Bepsi Catalans n' shit) > "Martial among Gentiles" > "Natives" (All other Cronite and Asiatic peoples, peoples paying tribute to Varshan, plus metics/helots/indentured people of full or partial Varshani descent) > Slaves of all backgrounds, including Varshanis.

The vast "Native" and enslaved classes belong to hundreds, perhaps thousands, of identifiable Cronite ethnolinguistic groups shared with some of the prehistoric people of Quetzenkel, plus many more who were conquered and acculturated so long ago that any knowledge of them is lost. The largest ethnic group in both classes, however, are ethnic Varshanis who became enslaved for military ineptitude, failure to complete certain cultural and religious rituals, or as a criminal penalty; as well as millions of ethnic Varshanis born into slavery, mostly as descendants of people in the previous categories or as the result of sexual slavery under free Varshani masters. Many slave children fathered by their owners are allowed to become metics, especially if their mothers are also ethnic Varshani.

There are also several million Westerners living as slaves in Varshan. Most were kidnapped or IxShanghai'd. Western women are especially prized for their exotic appearances.

Because the government places heavy restrictions on foreign travel by ordinary subjects, the Varshani diaspora in other nations is small. The largest overseas population with ancestral origins in Varshan are the Kulukusi people, a tribe of moon-worshippers whose civilisation was destroyed by God-King Burusho IV for heresey against the Sun God. The Kulukusi survived as a tribal people in the mountains of southeast Varshan, and aided the Kiravian Army Rangers during the Bootleg Wars. As a token of gratitude, the Federal Stanora helped to resettle the Kulukusi in South Ateranda and Intravia. There is also a significant Kulukusi community in Azikoria.

Varshan has an estimated literacy rate of 58%, and a majority of its population were illiterate until the 1990s. Until 1956, it was illegal to teach slaves to read, but this law was gradually relaxed over time as slaveowners themselves became more literate and wanted the convenience of being able to issue written orders to their slaves. In 2002, the law was waived for slaves kept in urban areas, but almost all slaves and most free persons living in rural areas remain illiterate. There is no public education system in Varshan. Instead, those higher up the social ladder make use of private schools, tutors, and religious institutes for education, while the lower classes of free persons rely upon informal schools and tutelage by country priests.

Religion
Polytheistic/Henotheistic religion, Arzalism. Sort of like Hinduism in that there are a whole bunch of gods and sectarian differences but these don't amount to exclusive denominational differences. Human sacrifice is the central and ultimate rite of Arzali worship, with archæological evidence dating it perhaps as far back as the first modern humans to arrive in the area.

Varshanites were originally heliolatrists (sun-worshippers). Orthodox Arzalism was born when some emperor proclaimed the Death God's primacy over the Sun God. Ancestor worship is strictly forbidden in orthodox Arzalism and is punishable by death, though it persists as an underground, esoteric/initiatory practice in certain heterodox strands of Arzalism, especially among particular ethnic groups.

Gods: The Death God, the Sun God, the Blood God (especially venerated among warriors), the Pain God, the Fire-Thunder God, the Sex/Rape God, and the Soccer God. Also various God-Emperors and God-Kings. Also Rain and Earth Gods that demand child sacrifices, exclusively. Maybe Raideron and Cthuhlu got absorbed into the pantheon somehow.

The Warriors of Varshan come from a longstanding fundamentalist current within Arzalism that believes that Varshanite society has strayed from authentic Arzali beliefs. They believe that unrestrained, sadistic violence is the only true virtue and that predatory warfare is the only acceptable occupation for free men in the eyes of the Death God. They are TopVarshanite racial supremacists, and only allow TopVarshanis into positions of religious or political authority. Nonetheless, they believe that men who do not heed the Blood God's commands and live by predation deserve slavery or dishonourable deaths, regardless of race or ethnicity. Arzali fundamentalists believe that Varshani society has strayed from the true meaning of Arzalism over the past several centuries and has been only selectively obeying Arzali tenets in order to develop a centralised state society and a market economy. As such, most fundamentalists believe that some or all of the Zûrgs of recent centuries have been illegitimate (Arzali Sedevacantism), and they reject the worship of God-Kings and all God-Emperors except for the first one and the one who made the Death God top dog. They believe that organised state militaries are heretical and a corruption of holy warfare, believing loosely-affiliated bands of predatory warriors to be the only type of fighting unit sanctioned by the Death God. Nonetheless, like all free Varshani males, fundamentalists are required to serve in the Varshani military, and which they chose to use as an opportunity to develop their combat skills and religious knowledge.

Arzalism is the sole legal religion in Varshan, and observance of certain religious rites is compulsory for all free persons. All other religions, as well as atheism and agnosticism, are illegal and punishable by some public and particularly gruesome methods of execution. The degree to which slaves are required to observe the Arzali religion is at the discretion of their owners: Slaves owned by the temple system for non-sacrificial purposes are expected to participate in self-degrading Arzali rites regularly, whereas most private owners require only minimal commitment to the religion or none at all. Many (perhaps most) slaves privately dissent from Arzalism, and many, especially first- and second-generation captives, adhere to various native Cronite religions or, in the case of slaves kidnapped from the Occident, Christianity or irreligion. Slaves have been known to make an effort to maintain organised non-Arzali Cronite religions in secret, but these are suppressed by slaveholders and punishable by torture.

International Relations
Varshan is widely considered a in international relations. Its extensive practices of slavery, human sacrifice, and infanticide have resulted in various trade and travel restrictions being placed upon it by many other nations, but the main source of tension between Varshan and Ixnay's great powers is strategic rather than moral. As (by far) the largest, most powerful, and most well-armed Cronite polity, Varshan has long been an obstacle to colonial and commercial expansion by seafaring nations like Burgundie and Kiravia. Though cultural and political barriers to domestic innovation have caused it to lag behind more developed Old World nations in terms of military technology, the sheer size of the nation's military manpower and its aggressive foreign policy have long been a threat to the overseas colonies in Crona and engendered hostile but cautious approach by colonial powers toward Varshan as they look to limit its military capabilities and power projection without provoking it into a full-scale ground war that would likely visit mass casualties and heavy infrastructural damage upon the colonies.

A major point of dispute between Varshan and Ixnay's other nations, particularly colonial powers, has been its programme to develop nuclear armaments.

Economy
Varshan has a that differs radically from the global capitalist model with extensive state ownership and state direction of the economy, the prevalence of slave labour, extremely low social mobility due to politically and religiously entrenched caste hierarchies, and numerous political barriers to foreign trade and investment.

The base of the Varshani economy lies in extractive industries such as agriculture, mining, hydrocarbon drilling, and lumbering, which rely almost exclusively on slave labour and the forced labour/serfdom of non-slave metics and subject peoples. Varshan has massive deposits of oil, natural gas, coal, iron, industrial diamonds, and various other minerals, as well as enormous timber reserves. Almost all agriculture occurs on large estates called okozi, most of which are owned by the Varshani nobility and gentry, the temple system, or the state.

The Varshani real estate market is tightly constrained. Under Varshani law, all land ultimately belongs to the Zûrg on behalf of the gods, and an estimated 35% of the country's land is directly owned by the state. Most productive agricultural land belongs to the landowning noble and gentry classes, with most of the remainder belonging to the temple system. Smallholds and family farms are extremely rare and exist only in the most marginal parts of the country, having been competed out of existence by slave plantations.

In the [Year whatever] Varshan implemented one of the earliest and likely the most expensive programme of import-substitution industriallisation in Ixnay, with the goal of insulating the country against commercial domination by the Old World.

Government
Varshan is an absolute monarchy ruled by the Zûrg, whose person and powers are not subject to any constitution or other law, and who answers only to the gods. There are no elected officials in Varshan, even at the local level. The only representative body is the Guraŋ, a deliberative body whose members are appointed by the Zûrg from among the nobility, priesthood, warrior castes, and prominent free non-warriors involved in economic or technical fields. The Guraŋ is purely advisory body with no lawmaking powers of its own, though it does draft legislation which it recommends to the Zaračok. The Zaračok or "Privy Council" is the country's main executive, legislative, and judicial organ, through which the Zûrg governs the country. Members of the Zaračok are appointed by the Zûrg and serve at his pleasure, being drawn almost entirely from the nobility, military leadership, and priesthood. Its role is to inform and advise the Zûrg, supervise the government bureaucracy on his behalf, and carry out his orders.

The leading members of the Zaračok and the most powerful non-hereditary officials are the Vizier (Sanču) and Warmaster (Šunk Dal). For most of Varshani history, Zûrgs led the military personally and the office of Warmaster was an intermittent position, created only when the Zûrg was unable to oversee the empire's war efforts himself. However, as the borders of Varshan stabilised and the military became more professional, the Warmaster was given a more permanent and prominent role.

Major Cities

 * Anzo
 * Gabagûl
 * Atsaduzi
 * Zenga-Zenga
 * Yungrizi
 * Jiziye
 * Arziye