Talk:Faneria
Geography and Climate
Main Article: Geography of Faneria
Vandarch Sea and the Ninerivers
For much of its early history, the Kingdom of the Fhainn was bound to the northern coast of the Vandarch Sea, with the conquest of lands reaching the Kilikas being a major turning point in the country's history and accelerating its expansion significantly. The Vandarch is incredibly culturally important to Faneria, and the northern Vandarch Basin forms what is colloquially termed the Ninerivers for its nine major waterways. The Ninerivers forms the geopolitical core of Faneria, with the most dense population centers, economic hubs, and infrastructure concentrated there and branching inland and out to the west coast. It varies from a somewhat cool to a temperate climate, with occasional harsh winters and heated summers. The eastern Ninerivers is the largest agricultural region in Faneria, and the Ninerivers as a whole is a breadbasket for rye and barley crops as well as temperate crops. The Vandarch Sea itself is a major source of food and has a warming effect combined with southerly winds from Dericania.
Deamhainns and Interior
The center of Faneria's metropolitan area is dominated by several massive mountain ranges. Of these, the Deamhain and Croilaen Mountains divide Faneria's northwest and southwest, while Conn's Mountains and the Giath Mountains saddle the border between Faneria and Caergwynn in the east. The Deamhains and Croilaens have a number of gorges, passes, divides, lake valleys, and nooks which allow for seasonal passage through the mountains, though underground trains and plane travel have since overcome the physical limitations imposed on travel. The effect of these natural boundaries on social development between the north and south are crucial to Faneria's history, and divides the nation into largely geography-bound local subcultures.
In the east, the Giath and Hadraeon Mountains sit on either side of the Turlanns, a flat basin draining out through the Torr River into northern Fiannria. The Turlanns are much drier and cooler than coastal Fiannria or southern Faneria due to being shielded by numerous mountain ranges, and vary seasonally between frigid, sparse winters and cool, wet summers, with cool air travelling overland and bearing oceanic moisture. The area is prone to dry thunderstorms, and agriculture in the area is dominated by potatoes and other hardy vegetable crops.
Kilikas Coast
The northern coast of metropolitan Faneria consists of two major regions - the West Coast and the North Coast. The West Coast is a relatively highly developed region that continues to be of increasing significance nationally, whereas the North Coast is notably cooler, prone to being struck by storms, and less populated as well as being physically separated from the South by large mountain ranges.
Nordska Coast
Formerly connected to metropolitan Faneria by land, the overseas province of Sorhaithe sits on the bitterly cold Nordska Sea. Sorhaithe is distinct from both Faneria proper and the bordering nations in terms of culture, geography (with the exception of neighboring parts of Fiannria), and climate (as it rests on the transition between subarctic and continental climes), and consists of dense coastal isles and inlets which often freeze over in wintertime.
Transisthmus
The Transisthmus region is a geographically distinct region of Faneria spanning the Ereglasian Isthmus into the northern Gothic Ultmar. Its climate is temperate, with brief warm seasons and longer, mild cold seasons; the region is exposes to oceanic storms on the exceedingly rare occasion that a storm swerves through the Isthmus overland to dissipate in the extreme west of the Vandarch.
History
Antiquity and Cassical Era
The first settled people of Faneria were the Fenni, a pre-Levantosarpedonic people with admixture with both proto-Finnic peoples and Ĥeiran Coscivian peoples living along the western coast of Levantia as early as the Neolithic period, displacing sparse migratory tribes in the region. The Fenni had a somewhat advanced copper-using culture with permanent settlements around the Vandarch Sea, but were largely wiped out by the arrival of bronze-making celtic peoples beginning in the 1900s BC and roughly ending in the 1400s BC. The exception was the northern Fenni, who were subjugated by a celtic tribe known as the Oestrynetes. The Oestrynetes mixed with the Fenni, with the celtic languages presumably erasing the Fenni tongue in common use. Over time, the Oestrynetes intermarried with their subjects, forming a unified Fheadhainn culture. Both names meant 'The first people' in the celtic tongues spoken by the Oestrynetes in what is believed to have been an attempt to co-opt the history and mythology of the Fenni, though in practice the culture was primarily a celtic-speaking yet ethnically indigenous population. However, early Latin exploratory records which described them as Feinii recorded them as a group of related gallic tribes, which historically and to the present day has resulted in the Fhainnin people being considered gaelic outside of anthropological circles, aided by centuries of mixture with Gothic, other Gaelic, and Romance peoples thoroughly altering the physical traits of the average Fhainnin person. By the time of Latin exploration, early Fhainnin civilization had a thriving trade economy stimulated by pelt-hunting in the north levantine mountains, a robust fishing and rye farming economy, and cross-Vandarch sailing in simple boats using the many islands and the shallowness and relative calm of the inland sea to trade with gothic peoples in southern Ultmar.
During early Latin imperial expansion, Fhainnin peoples fought a number of low-intensity conflicts against Latin settlers, ejecting several colonies along the northern Vandarch coast. This culminated in the Gallian Wars, where a confederation of tribes in the northeastern Vandarch fought against and lost to Great Levantine legions. The Vandarch remained difficult to conquer in spite of the Imperial presence due to both distance from the centers of power in the south and constant raids and occasional invasions, though the Imperial Province of Vandar Orientalis would eventually be overrun not by Gaelic liberators or the repeated local rebellions, but by Gothic tribes in the Xth Century BC under Odar II. The Odarian gothic kingdom similarly struggled to integrate the local population, and would be destroyed by the Seventh Great Confederation under the warlord Eleglass of Cranwyrth, who effectively ruled the northeastern Vandarch basin until his death, after which the Confederation disintegrated.
Middle Ages
During the early middle ages, Christian missionaries to Ultmar found fertile grounds in the Ninerivers, with many tribes accepting Christian teachings, albeit only as another god in the local pantheons. This would change as a majority of the region began to include Christ in their rituals, as preachers emphasized worshipping God first as a primary, then a sole deity. While many nominally Christian people retained family or minor local deities in a variety of syncretic traditions, such practices insulated the Christian community from expulsion by pagan majorities as their faith filtered further into Fhainnin culture.
Unlike southern Levantia, the later systems of feudalism struggled to grow in the region's trade and crafts-based economy, which enabled a great deal of social mobility among Fhainnin classes relative to the era. The later introduction of the Great Plague destabilized this state, coming on the heels of centuries of bloated naming conventions, complex inheritance chains resulting from the surnaming conventions of the culture, and the first crusade launched against pagan peoples in the interior of modern Faneria in 1324, which deeply damaged the existing trust between faiths and cemented the divide between pagan and Christian communities which had been tolerated for over seven centuries prior. The Great Plague shattered Fhainnin society, and while peasantry remained free and paid for their labor, local lords came about in the Romantic fashion through the hiring of the many resulting bandits and mercenary groups as private armies. Such warlords, the largest of which claimed the title of Prince similarly to the elected leaders of local city-state confederations, fought and in many cases conquered city-states, creating a mix of republican and democratic cities intermingled with autocratic statelets which fought over access to trade routes and tried, in the case of the warlords, to bind the lower classes to the land, usually resulting in peasants' rebellions.
Kingdom of Fhainnlannachaeran
The Kingdom of the Fhainn came about in the aftermath of the Great Plague, with the ambitious Ruaridh Màrtainn taking several inheritances from blood relations through assassination and subterfuge. His son, Rethys Màrtainn, proclaimed himself 'King of the Fhainn' and created the title from whole cloth in 1398. Immediately upon coronating himself, he waged several wars across the central Nineriver Basin to put down the Confederation of Cranwyrth and the Principality of the Rydheas, the two largest states in the region. In doing so, he defeated the only states capable of outright defeating his army, which heavily incorporated mercenary cavalry units which had seen combat in southern Ultmar, and established the Màrtainn dynasty in the central Ninerivers.
Princes' Wars
1519-1545: First Princes' War
1571-1583: Second Princes' War
Northern Expansion
1676-1712: Tundra Wars
1712-1715: Sutharine Succession Crisis/1st Kin War
other Kin Wars up to 1880s on and off
Late Monarchy and the Industrial Era
Civil War and Fhainnin Popular Republic
Civil War 1906-1909
Great War
Postwar Faneria
Lean Years
Vandarch Canal crisis: 1991-1992
Modern Faneria
Culture and Demographics
Main Article: Fhainnin Culture
Settlements and Population
The bulk of Faneria's population is settled in the Ninerivers Basin, along the coast of the Vandarch and in the lands leading up to the Deamhain Mountains. The major secondary population centers sit in the eastern interior, along the West Coast, and in the Transisthmus.
The country's largest city by population is Teindùn, a conglomeration of several cities north of the capital, Oirthidùn, both of which lie along the _____ branch of the Rhydwel River. Its second largest city is Sethsport, with Rihsport third, Oirthidùn itself fourth, and Leighlinbridge fifth. Sethsport, Rihsport, Carthaigh, Caileansdùn, Cionhaen, Comghallport, Mwynsdùn, Torrcirit, Mullcirit, and Leighlinbridge are the country's major commercial ports, with Rihsport and Mullcirit being the largest located outside the Vandarch.
Ethnicities and Language
Main Article: Gaelic people, Fhasen
Gaelic peoples make up the vast majority of Faneria's population, with local minorities of Aenglish and Derian immigrants and Coscivian colonists in the eastern Vandarch and western coast, respectively. A large number of Gothic peoples additionally live in the Transisthmus and eastern Ninerivers. Of the Gaelic peoples in the country, the Fhainn are the most prominent branch, with the related Sheafhainn, Cascufhainn, and Parvefhainn making up most of the others. Some Caenwynin live in parts of the northern coast and mountain highlands as well as Faeskt concentrated in parts of the east. Normally, these other Gaelic groups are generally able to communicate, as Fhasen is distinct but related to Faeskt and Caeric Gaelic, although communication is not particularly reliable without some translation. The groups within the country, conversely, generally speak fluent Fhasen due to centuries of forced integration, although the Cascufhainnin dialect remains distinct from Ninerivers Fhasen.
Of Faneria's major cities, all except Sethsport are majority Fhainnin or a Fhainnin subgroup. Rihsport has a large minority of Sheafhainn, though these are the closest related group to Ninerivers Fhainn; Mullcirit and New Kurikila have large Coscivian minorities.
Ethnic tensions are relatively lax in Faneria, excepting the clash between fringes of the Cascufhainn community and the state over greater autonomy or even independence, as the Cascufhainn have a history of rebelling against southern Fhainnin rule. The culture is accepting of immigration, although it pushes for naturalization strongly, as evidences by the large Aenglish and Derian communities around and in Sethsport and the aforementioned Coscivian and mixed-race groups in the west. The largest source of tension is the Gothic minority, who historically faced severe discrimination under Fhainnin rule as well as forced migration and occasional deportation; Gothic communities, especially those in the Transisthmus, have launched several relatively recent separatist movements in the 19th and early 20th Centuries.
Religion
Selected Religious Affiliation (2025 National Census)
Main Article:Religion in Faneria
The pagan Fhainnin pantheon, like most indigenous Gaelic faiths, revolved around a large myriad of local gods, especially nature, water, sun, and storm spirits. By the 5th Century AD, religion in the Ninerivers had resolved into a pantheon of several dozen deities with distinct roles, though many local alternative legends and names for the same deities existed. The general theme of Fhainnin faith held that the star god, Braess, had been killed by another deity, and his death created the Vandarch sea, with freshwater being his blood and his fall throwing arable land onto the world. The Fire, Storm, and Death gods repeatedly try to destroy the world (in the Death god's case, he is attempting to bury Braess to fulfil his duty, making the world end in the process, while the others are simply vengeful), while a few major deities ensure that the sun rises and sets every day and the Fire and Storm gods inadvertently foil each other's attempts. A host of minor patron gods also overlook aspects of human life and the natural world, although some are occasionally malicious, such as nature gods, who are fickle. Old custom holds that redheads are 'blessed' by the gods, a tradition that carried over into Christian Faneria. As a result, red hair, particularly natural-looking red hair, is often associated with fertility and wealth in Faneria. Long, loose red hair is associated with naturalist movements, while styled red hair is a commonly-desired beauty standard.
When Christianity was first introduced to the Fhainn, Jesus Christ was adopted readily as the minor god Hesus, a patron god of forests and woodworking. The god Benelus, Braess' steward and the Sun God, was gradually combined with the concept of God the Father, and worship of Hesus eventually absorbed the roles of healing god and, after several sectarian wars within the local principalities, freshwater as well. The subversion of the freshwater concept of the polytheistic lore was the turning point for Christianization in Faneria, with churches being raised and locally-trained priests teaching the Roman Catholic tradition. Most polities in the Ninerivers permitted this for a while or converted, with Christianity being the dominant faith in the Vandarch Basin by the time of the foundation of the Kingdom of the Fhainn in 1398. Religious tolerance was forced by most Kings of the Fhainn, although religion was commonly used as a casus belli in campaigns in mountain regions against local clans throughout Faneria's history. The largest and most notable Crusade in Faneria took place in the Sixteenth Century against a Protestant sect based in Kurikila, on the West Coast. The Kurikilan Crusade effectively broke the Protestant movement in Faneria even though the King only a decade before had been a Protestant; in later centuries, Protestant factions would come under heavy attack, leading to frequent uprisings in the north in particular until religious toleration was enshrined as a state policy in the late Seventeenth Century.
Pagan faiths are still fairly common in Faneria, as Protestant rebellion after the Reformation was always a greater threat to the country, and even the more pious kings throughout the centuries had to keep pagan peasantry in most areas pleased. After the advent of irreligiosity in Faneria during the Republican era, Christianity is the majority religion by plurality only, with agnosts and pagans being the next largest groups. Fhainnin Christianity retains some elements of old pagan tradition, such as emphasizing the relation of Christ to water rather than light. The Northern Rite, a form of mass somewhat distinct from the traditional Catholic Rite in process, has become increasingly popular since the 1950s.
Health, Wealth, and Education
Faneria sits at around the average in terms of quality of life among developed countries. The average life expectancy in the country is xx, and the country retains a public health system in parallel to private healthcare. There is a somewhat large degree of income inequality, with the average income at just under 50,000 Talers per annum (xxxx barra). Roughly xx% of the country lives below the poverty line, and the country has an ongoing issue with its deep mountainous interior being much poorer than the Vandarch coastal regions. Public services are also less accessible on the North Coast.
On average, a Fanerian resident will be expected to attend xx years of schooling. The country has a 98% technical literacy rate and a 92% functional literacy rate among otherwise capable adults.
Holidays and Practices
Faneria officially observes some Christian holidays, namely Easter Sunday and Christ's Mass, despite not having an official religion; the largest national holiday is Revolution Day (February 15th), the anniversary of the beginning of the Fhainnin Civil War. Other national holidays include most League of Nations-sanctioned holidays, as well as National Veterans' Day, Unity Day, Summer and Winter Heights (a modernization of pagan Solstice celebrations), Keg Day, and others.
Major holidays are typically marked as days of national rest, while minor holidays are optional for employers to give off, though it is customary to shutter business for them for many businesses. Minor religious holidays are widely observed but not officially marked as holidays.
Justice and Law Enforcement
Law Enforcement in Faneria is handled at the county and national level, with the Revolutionary Guard, a gendarme organization, filling a counterterror, cross-jurisdictional and conventionally armed role, while each county has a local sheriff's office which functions similarly to a municipal department in other Levantine nations to handle mundane operations. The Guard is additionally responsible for border patrol and some minimal coast guard roles in conjunction with military forces, and is one options available in lieu of the military draft.
The judicial system is handled by county general courts, specialized Provincial courts, and finally a ring of High Courts, all of which are coordinated and vetted under the auspices of the Office of the Courts. Sentencing generally breaks crimes down into three primary categories sentences along a matrix of factors and modifiers, with multipliers based on aggravating or mitigating factors applied to sentences with little direct judicial interference beyond court procedure or extraordinary intervention, which has increasingly become a route for leniency towards crimes considered 'justified', to much public debate. Faneria routinely practices the death penalty for and rarely provides parole for violent offenders, but practices a significant tradition of steadily increasing fines for repeat nonviolent offenses in the private sector.
A large part of the judicial theory of Faneria lies in the concept of bureaucratic sacrosanctity, and performative punishments of officials found guilty of corruption have remained a staple of the popular sovereignty program pursued by the government since the 1940s. These have ranged from political show trials in the more corrupt 1960s to planned news spectacles during and after the Feawyr Directorate, and remain a source of both pride and contention from various viewpoints on the legitimacy or brutality of individual prosecutions.
Crime in Faneria is more heavily centered around white-collar activities, with tarriff evasion, financial crime, and cybercrime being some of the more prominent areas in the public consciousness. Faneria's organized crime rings have been known to traffic persons, goods and substances, as well as all manner of other crimes, but are generally unable to exert hard power even in many inner cities. Gendarme-on-gang violence is typically overlooked, while many crime rings are believed to at least have come to a status quo with the Fhainnin government after the brutal counter-trafficking operations of the 1970s which killed thousands, after which human trafficking and daylight killings were markedly reduced. The primary crime families in Faneria are mainly of non-Aenglish Gothic or Coscivian extent, with Coscivian gangs tending to operate in import fraud and racketeering while Gothic crime rings control the majority of the drug trade.
Economy
Faneria's economy is highly diversified, with the highlights of modern industry laying in chemical manufacturing, medical devices, electronics and software, and industrial machinery. It also has a strong mining and timber industry along with woodworking industries, a fishing sector spanning three seas, and a comparatively small but productive military export market. In the last several decades, the banking and financial management sectors have expanded considerably along with export products including high-end train systems, commercial vessels including icebreakers and small submersibles, airliners, and electronics-intensive home appliances and industrial parts. Many of these sectors exist despite comparative disadvantages, which are countered by tax breaks from the government aimed at a semi-protectionist 'home economy'. This provides a safety net for several at-risk industries - namely consumer goods manufacturing, which is being artificially pushed to make the automation of manufacturing preferable to companies moving operations to the second and third world - and encourages technological development for both economic growth and in some cases to satisfy the ideological puritanism of many political blocs.
Faneria net imports a number of key resources such as some rare earth minerals, glass, tropical fruits and other foodstuffs, clothing and other cloth products, chemical precursors, electricity (in select cases), and oil for personal vehicles. Faneria produces oil of its own but the production lines are state-owned and limited in volume enough to be restricted for military use.
The economy is considered mixed, with the government owning several companies that produce some military hardware and goods used by state functions, such as paper mills, office computers, and other goods. These companies subsidize supportive policies for the private economy by selling surplus, and the government maintains a shortlist of 'key companies' which are vetted and used to fill gaps in military procurement, infrastructure construction, and other state needs. Such key companies are also the subject of considerable government support, though since the 1970s this informal system has been reworked to minimize further consolidation into a fully oligarchic economy as part of economic initiatives, which have been a source of endless political contention and bureaucratic scrutiny for decades.