Levantia

Levantia is a continent in the northern hemisphere of Otarsis. Levantia is bound by the Kilikas Sea to the northwest, the Sea of Nordska to the northeast, by the Levantine Ocean to the east, by the Odoneru Ocean to the west, and by the Sea of Canete to the south. Kiro-Borealis lies to its immediate north and distant northwest and Sarpedon to its south.

Levantia was first settled prior to the, and was subsequently the home of many migrations as well as the rise and fall of many pre-historical cultures. By approximately 2000 BC, Gaelic people occupied a territory approximately coterminous with the modern Levantine Union and were the largest group on the continent, though their population density was relatively low. Also on the continent in ancient times were Gothic people and Orenstian people, though these group occupied small, densely populated areas to the west and east of the continent, respectively. Istroyan people settled small cities on the southeastern coast of the continent but evidently did not scout or explore much of the continent. The arrival of Latinic people in the millennium BC inaugurated Levantia into the Occident and dramatically changed the landscape of the continent, as a population explosion of Latins into Levantia lead to the creation of Great Levantia and laid the foundations for much of Catholic Levantia as understood today. Some of Great Levantia was overrun by Gothic people from the 3rd to 6th centuries AD, creating many of the modern cultural boundaries that presently exist in Levantia.

Geographic Extent
In addition to mainland Levantia and its outlying islands, the greater Levantine region is sometimes defined as including the Great Kirav and parts of Borealis even though it is a geologically separate continent called Kiro-Borealis. Kiravians typically distinguish between their own island continent and the Levantine mainland, and the terms Levantiax ("Levantine") and Levantiem("Levantines") refer specifically to the mainland, while Ambrélevantiax and Bâvnélevantiax ("Greater Levantine" and "Wider Levantine") can include Great Kirav.

Topography and Climate
Levantia runs the gamut from a tropical equatorial climate in the southern tip of Urcea to an arctic climate in the northern portions of Caergwynn. Northern Levantia is known for its infamous Kilikas Storm Belt, which encompasses the northern regions of Fiannria, Faneria, Caergwynn, Hendalarsk, Yytuskia-Helvana, and Prevalia, characterized by frequent and powerful temperate cyclones, thunderstorms, and blizzards that have historically made marine navigation extremely dangerous in the area.

The Vandarch is a key topographical feature of Levantia. It is the world's largest inland sea and is connected to the oceans by the Grand Vandarch Canal to the north and by the Carolina Grand Canal to the south. The Vandarch has major effects on the climate of Levantia and has been described as a "thoroughfare of cold, Boreal air" which has the effect of cooling much of the southern part of the continent.

Human Geography


Levantia is home to a number of diverse cultural groups.

Northern Levantia
Known historically by residents of Catholic Levantia as the far north and as part of the greater concept of Ultmar, Northern Levantia typically encompasses the lands of the countries of Fiannria, Faneria, and Caergwynn among others.

Western Levantia
Known by the residents of so-called "Catholic Levantia" as Gothica since the time of the Ancient Goths and considered part of the greater concept of Ultmar, Western Levantia is typically understood to mean the territory west of the Deric States, north of Urcea and south of the Vandarch. Gothica was historically relatively isolated from the Holy Levantine Empire, both by a series of mountain ranges between the Vandarch and the Odoneru Ocean and by the native Gothic peoples' stubborn military resistance to Levantine-Catholic encroachment. This stalemate was only broken in the fifteenth century, as a crusade saw Joanus de Martigueux installed as the ruler of the new state of Yonderre. Yonderre has served as a bridge between the Catholic Levantine sphere and the Gothic world to this day, while its southern neighbour Carna - likewise a fusion of Gothic and foreign cultures, although in this case Ænglish and Gaelic rather than Yonderre's East Gothic and Burgoignesc - has often acted more as a barrier against Urcean expansion westwards.

Beyond the hybridised states of the borderlands, Gothica remains thoroughly Gothic. The southern Vandarch states of Hendalarsk and Eldmora-Regulus were never conquered by Latins, and evolved in their own ways. Hendalarsk is home to a heavily syncretic version of Christianity, known as the Hendalarskara Catholic Church, the legacy of an incomplete Christianisation by Latin Catholic missionaries, while its native Gothic language has undergone far more influence from Khunyer and the autochthonous Nünsyi language than any Latin tongue.

The Vandarch Gothic states have largely kept their distance from the wider Urcean sphere through the centuries, although in recent decades this has begun to change. This process was accelerated by the opening of the Carolina-Grand Canal in the nineteenth century and the Grand Vandarch Canal in the twentieth and an attendant integration of the entire Vandarch littoral into the international system of trade. Yonderre has latterly become the first state outside the bounds of the Holy Levantine Empire to join the Levantine Union. The Odoneru Gothic states had undergone this process of integration long before, a consequence of their easy access to the great sea lanes between Kiroborea and Sarpedon. Carna forged a continental empire in Crona, eventually birthing the nation of Arcerion, while Carnish troops even fought alongside Urcea in a brief rapprochement during the Second Great War, although this thaw was thoroughly reversed by the subsequent Carnish Revolution.

Eastern Levantia
The roughly peninsular shaped region east of the Levantine Union is known as the homeland of the Orenstian peoples and is known as Orenstia.

Orenstians
Orenstians are by far the largest non-Occidental group in Levantia, characterised by their distinctive languages. Orenstian culture is predominantly centred in north-eastern Levantia, with the significant exception of the Khunyer, a group whose long migration westwards across Levantia led them to settle in what is now western Hendalarsk in the early medieval period. Although the Khunyer are a minority in Hendalarsk, they have held equal cultural status in the country since the aftermath of the Hendalarskara Civil War, and their language is a co-official national language in the country. The region of Khunyeria, where most Khunyer live, bears their name, and in recent decades a Khunyer diaspora has sprung up through migration across Levantia, both in the Orenstian heartlands and elsewhere.

Orenstians also form part of the cultural fabric of Lutsana, a former Deric State settled as a marcher realm during the time of Great Levantia. Although still formally part of the Levantine world through its membership of the Levantine Union, Lutsana is very much a mixed society, and the Orenstian language and heritage of much of its population shapes the state down to the present day, just as the Levantine sphere has shaped those Orenstian societies which border it to this day.

Southern Levantia
Often referred to as Catholic Levantia, Southern Levantia typically encompasses the lands of the countries of Burgundie, southern Fiannria, the Deric States, and Urcea.

Bergendii
The Bergendii are a unique culture, but are phenotyped as primarily Latinic. They have mixed more thoroughly with the Istroyans and the of southern Levantia. They have adopted the hard-nosed, stoic, and industrious dispositions. While the Bergendii reside primarily in Burgundie, there are approximately 4-6 million Bergendii who live in other countries.

Other Ethnicities
Other ethnocultural groups in Levantia include the Kirhavite Aboriginal tribes, and the Coscivian peoples who migrated from distant Novērda to become the majority in Great Kirav and Uruvun.

Religion
Levantine Catholicism is the predominant religion on the continent, accounting for absolute majorities in all mainland Levantine states and a sizeable, rapidly growing minority in Great Kirav, where a majority of the population belong to related apostolic Christian churches. Catholic shrines and other holy sites abound and rates of religious practice remain consistently high across the continent, which houses the Papal State in Urceopolis, seat of the and center of the Catholic world.

Prehistory and pre-classic Levantia
In the prehistoric period, Levantia was home to an extremely diverse array of. It is thought that the number of ancient peoples and societies on the continent were kept separate due to the prevalence of mountainous topography as well as the Vandarch, which bisects the northern part of the continent, though it may have been significantly smaller in the past due to sea level rises. Out of these material cultures emerged the Paleo-Levantine peoples during the ; these peoples, who are not related in substantial, significant ways, formed the earliest civilizations on the continent approximately 2 millennia BC. The majority of these peoples did not have written records and are only recorded in the archaeological record or passing references in later Celtic legends; the only major surviving group are the Orenstian people who occupy the eastern peninsula of Levantia. In approximately 1500 BC, Celtic people - who lived in a strip of land approximately along the eastern shore of the Vandarch - began a massive expansion throughout the eastern half continent. Their expansion - both through war and non-violent means - created an expansive Celtic civilization in Levantia which encompassed most of modern Catholic Levantia. To their west, the Paleo-Levantine peoples also faced the expansion of the Gothic people in the region now known as Gothica. By 1000 BC, the vast majority of the Levantine landmass was occupied by Gothic or Celtic people, with small Paleo-Levantine pockets existing throughout the continent. The expansion of these groups was thought by historians in the past to have meant the genocide of the Paleo-Levantine peoples; however, most Celtic and Gothic-descent people in Ultmar and Fiannria today can trace a genetic descent from an ancient Paleo-Levantine group, proving that most of these peoples were integrated into these societies.

The period between approximately 1000 BC and 500 BC is referred to as "pre-classic Levantia", and during this time Ancient Istroyan and Adonerii colonies began being established in modern Urcea and Burgundie in small numbers, including Urceopolis. During this period, the dominant Celtic culture interacted extensively with the Istroyans and Latins, and the cultural exchange began to create unique cultural cornerstones and technological developments for both sides. Few native Celtic cities existed prior to the arrival of the people from Sarpedon and Urlazio, with the majority being expansive hillforts in what is today northwestern Dericania and southern Fiannria. Following interactions with the Istroyans and Adonerii, however, many previously semi-nomadic Celtic tribes which employed seasonal farming techniques began to form advanced cities patterned especially after the Istroyan model, including Corcra.

Economy
Levantia is the world's most prosperous continent. It is home to the Levantine Union, the world's most powerful joint economy including Urcea, which has the world's highest as well as several other high-income developed nations. Most countries in Levantia - and especially in the southern portion of the continent - are considered highly developed, with strong tertiary and quaternary sectors and high standards of living. Levantine economic strength has been bolstered by continental and regional integration under Levantine Union trade agreements and the KATI free trade zone.

Arms manufacturing and other defense-related industries are a major component of the Levantine economy, meeting a strong demand for weapons systems fueled by the active foreign policies of its members. Numerous major arms firms with an global presence base their corporate and manufacturing operations in Levantia, including Kiro-Fiannrian Armenwerke, Royal Sealift Company, Lansing-Mitchell Weaponeering and Royal Hunting and Munitions Company. A massive domestic, non-governmental arms market exists due to high rates of gun ownership in Urcea and elsewhere, and a strong firearms and sporting tradition across much of the continent.

Political Situation
After the turmoil of the early twentieth century drew to a close, Levantia has been a comparatively stable area. The continent is largely governed by centre-right to right-wing governments, particularly within the sphere of the Levantine Union, although Carna is notable as the continent's only one-party socialist state, while Hendalarsk's relative distance from the Union and caution in foreign affairs has allowed it to preserve a broadly democratic-socialist government from the end of its civil war down to the present day.

Sovereign States

 * Alba Concordia
 * Allaria
 * Anglei
 * Burgundie
 * Caergwynn
 * Carna
 * Corcra
 * Faneria
 * Fiannria
 * Hendalarsk
 * Hollona and Diorisia
 * Kronenia
 * Loresia
 * Lutsana
 * Orclenia
 * Urcea
 * Verecundia
 * Vinesia
 * Vorenia
 * Yonderre

Dependent Territories

 * Halfway (Urcea)
 * Bicarian Islands (Urcea)
 * Insee Fey (Fiannria)
 * Levantx (Burgundie)
 * New Ardmore (Kiravia)
 * Uruvun (Kiravia)
 * Wintergen (Burgundie)
 * Suderavia (Kiravia)
 * Scapa (Kiravia)
 * International Canal Zone
 * Alba Concordia

Policing
Levantine policing is known for being centralized, state-run, and overt. It is the original civilian, publicly-funded policing model but newer more localized and egalitarian have taken hold in Crona and Sarpedon, known as. Thus, by exclusion, the older, more centralized model has coined the neologism "Levantine policing".

The word "police" was borrowed from the Latin word politia, meaning an agent of the state or civil administration. It was first used in the modern sense in the mid 17th century in Urcea, but soon spread throughout Levantia. It was often associated with political and religious policing but was also used in other sundry functions of government administration, depending on the country. The word has modernized to police in the many modern languages through its adoption in the 18th and 19th centuries. However, outside of Levantia, the word, and the concept of police itself, was disliked as a symbol of foreign oppression.