The Krassin Empire is an empire with a long and rich history, but it only united a century ago into a single nation. The people living in the empire are accustomed to the cold weather that controls most of their country. Since forever they have lived in such harsh conditions, and their culture grew around the half year seasons and bitter coldness where not much grows. They learnt to build and live underground, and their massive below earth fortresses are the proofs of their hard working nature and engineering provess. They are not warmongering, enjoying their newfound peace, but they have a long history of warring and they don't spare punches. They are very territorical, and take any intrusions into their country an act of agression. They also consider themselves the true and only owners of the northern regions, with a bitter friendship between them and the Kilroni due to the shared living place.
GeographyThe Geography of the Krassin Empire is one that is very beautiful, but harsh at the same time. Rolling hills with grasslands and snow peaked mountains and glacier lakes form it's territory, most of the seemingly untouched by humans.
Most of the beaches are wet steppes with rich grasslands, though vegeatation gets sparser as you go northwards in these lands. Above Hell's Maw is the Lowlands, a humongous area of grasslands and a few minor forests. The terrain here is quite smooth, and there aren't any hills over 400 meters above sea level. This is the primary population and agricultural center of the Empire, housing one third of the nation's population. This is also the only part of the country that can grow any kind of fruits. Horses, Buffalos and the large Piros lives here in large herds, and cultivated by the local farmers.
Heading more to the North, the grasslands soon disappear, and the large mountain barrier of the north appears. Just south of the large Bolsha lake, a massive continental drop takes place, requiring a steep climb on a sheer thousand meter mountain wall to reach the Highlands. As soon as you scale the mountain, a vastly different sight will wait you. Massive Spruce forests until the eye can see, hiding between large mountain ranges and valleys. This is the place where most of the Empire's wood comes from, and is a popular place for hunters to go as the area is filled with many rodents, but also big games like bears and sabertooth tigers. Here, the population is more split up than in the Lowlands, and most settlements are in protected basins or hillaide fortress villages that can only be approached via tunnels or the highways that run across the valleys to provide logistics for the people. This area is vastly larger than the grasslands, and goes all the way towards West till the border of the Empire's territory. Almost all of the people who don't live near the capital reside in this area, in one of the many industrail and trading setllements that dot the southern part of the landscape.
Going even further north, the mountains become harsher, the taiga slowly turns into the desolate and dangerous tundra and the villages slowly start to disappear. Only small portions of of the population live here, sunken houses, farming in underground pits to avoid the wind. The natural geysers that dot the area provide the means of survival for larger groups of people, and the biggest settlements are located around them. The people who live here will hunt for deers or collect herbs to make medicine that can be sold empire wide. However, these lands also contain some of the largest deposits of gold and silver, and the Empire mints its coins from the metals mined here.
Going further north is almost impossible. Sheer glaciers stand in the way, surely making their way towards the ocean in millions of years. Where the terrain is esaely climbable, one can dare to risk their lies going north, but there is not much there. The polar wastes are desolate of almost any form of life, apart from the Wanderer's Relief, the plant that can grow in ice and sink its roots deep into the glacier. It is not cultivatable in any way, but it provides a moral for any explorer that passes by, and sees that life can even thrive here. However this relief is not long lasted. Soon the ice forms a flat that goes for hundreds of miles, and it contains the North Pole too. Krassins have travelled to, and beyond the North Pole before in search of new lands, but ultimately ended up in their own country, or rarely in their neighbour's.
Flora of the krassin Empire is primary composed of Spruce trees and various grasses. There are, however, species that thrive in this cold enviroment that cannot be found anywhere else. The Wanderer's relief grows in sheer ice, feeding off the water like it's easy. The Devilgrass is a type of poisonous grass type that can be hardly differentiated from the common species, but it can kill a grown many with its toxin. The Giant's Groove is an unnatural mutation of spruce trees that form sections of teh forest with absolutely no bushes or grass, and the roots of the trees interlock, forming a single entity. These trees tend to grow much larger than others, and provide excellent places for building shelters. The arctic Swampsheet is a type of lilipad that can grow to really impressive size, and it thrives on the geothermic feysers in the northernmost areas. The roots of this plant also go deep underwater, and are really sturdy, making it really hard to completely remove.
Fauna wise the Krassin Empire can only offer so much variety. The Piro is the biggest mammal in the Empire, and is close to a wooly mammoth both in size, shape and characteristics, but it has horns on its head instead of large teeth. It is normally very calm, and easely domesticated, but if it sense any danger it will try to trample the attacker. The wool is very sturdy and is vowen into a hardy textile that is used to make many different things. Most importantly it is used to make the clothes that the Krassin people wear as it has extraordinary heat retention abilities. It also has a delicious milk that is a culinary experience. In the highlands live some pretty vile predators, but most importantly the magnificent Sabertooth Tiger. These bigcats are the biggest danger to settlements as they can easely overpower a dozen man alone. Eagles of large size are not just some folk tale. Turul birds are very dangerous to smaller livestock like sheep and can even lift up humans with their razor sharp talons. They live in the mountains hunting local wildlife, and they only rarely go near humans. One of the less vile beasts that is uniqe to the country is the Rainbow Tortoise. The shells of this tortoise can come in many colors,and are very valuable as they glitters intensely, but they can also be grinded down into paint respective to the color of the animal's shell.
The Weather is harsh in most parts of the country. In Summer the highest the temperature gets in the southern parts is around 10-12 Centigrades, and the further you go north it gets even colder. The Highlands are especially cold, with the highest temperatures being below freezing point in the hottest parts of the year. The wind just adds to the effect, and it sweeps from Southwest towards East, bringing large monsoons every few year from the equatorial regions.
HistoryOriginally the Krass lived not as one nation, but many smaller tribes. Their origin is actually mostly Lyria, and only some of the tribes lived in the northernmost continent. The grasslands and forests were spectators to frequent battling between tribes and if a larger nation appeared the other made sure to take them down, only to fight each other again. The people were divided, but not because of race or ethnics, but only because of the stubborness of them all. From the leaders to even small kids, they all hated each other for no reason, waging endless war for seemingly no reason. As Shakespeare would put it: "From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, where civil blood makes civil hands unclean." .
However. due to influence from the South, the tribes had to push up more to the north, and after many travelling, finally settled in this Arctic enviroment which they themselves call Therva. Due to these events many tribes banded together, and formed larger nations. Soon only two distinctive tribes could be distinguished: The Rass who lived in the Lowlands and tended to animals, and the Krem who lived in the Highlands, hunting and foraging most of the year. These two tribes fought each other for a long time, both wanting the resources of the others.
During this particularly bloody era that lasted for almost a 1000 years the Rass developed their distinctive trademarks: Notably their darker skin and dull hair and eye colors. To avoid being detected from the Krem forces they built their cities under teh ground. Dug deep below ground level they are massive upside down pyramids with each floor providing plenty of space for buildings to be constructed upon. At first these were no more than smaller villages, but larger cities developed with the fear of the ever incresing Krem attacks, and city sized settlements began construction. By this time the Rass gained so much population that they needed to have more space, so most settlements adopted southern ideas on making structures above ground. Thought the stubborn people didn't like it at first, they soon got acquanted with this idea. This led to the downfall of the underground cities which were created for almost 800 years, and changed the Rass forever.
On the other hand the Krem didn't make cities underground. With plenty of wood and stone to go around, they built massive fortifications and castles that ran among the mountain lines protecting expansive villages. They never ahd the same fear as the Rass as their walls protected against the hit and run tactics of the Rass in the early part of this era, and their military constantly kept the Rass under fear. The Piro is actually antive to these woodlands, and the Krem greatly enjoyed the warm clothes which they made stuffed clothes and armor from. This tradition remains to this day, the military culture being predominantly Krem.
Around 200 years ago the weather started to get colder, and most of the Piro flocks travelled South where the Rass started farming them as well. They began trading with lyria in exhange of metals to fuel their growing military needs. They were notably the first in Therva to start the usage of advanced farming tools, such as massive windmills and water wheels to better make grain, and full iron hoes to be pulled by animals. They also established most trade realtions with Lyria, since the krem were virtually blocked off from outer contact.
This trading was what piqued the interest of the wanna-be Wilhelm von Grav, the illicit child of a low ranking noble. He was never accepted as a child, but his father amde sure to get him eductaed in case he might be of use. He learned a lot about the most modern ideas, and he formed a knack for Impresialism which he thought was teh supreme idea. In fact his dream was to become an Empreor ever since he was small. And in the Krass he saw that chance. Their old and rusty nobility held all pover, but were very limited by ancient ideas that most of them followed.
Wilhelm travelled to the Krem, after carefully considering the strenght of both nations. Ke knew that they were more liberal than their Southern brothers, and he used this trait to disguise himself as a monk who went there to spread his belief. His glorious tales of those who followed his god fooled the Krem, and within a year most of the nobility followed this religion. He outsmarted them by making it sound that his god was in fact one of theirs, not violating the existing gods the Krem beleived in. And with the power of religion in his hand he started reforming the nobility. First he introduced Imperialistic ideas about ruling, uniting the different leading houses of the Krem under a single banner, which amde up the council who controlled the country. Those who didn't follow were assassinated by other religious nobles.
After forming unity amongst them he made sure to extend upon his reloigion, posin as a prophet who can talk to the gods, and who wants the best for their country. His beliefs sweeped across the Krem people, and turning almost every one of them to the new religion. And then when he had the full support he proposed the idea of a single ruler. Before the Krem had the leading houses controlling territories, and after his reforms they controlled together via a council. But now he wished to becoemt eh supreme leader, and the gullible nature of the Krem that came from isolation won him his victory. Little over a hundred years from now, Wilhelm von Grav was crowned as the Emperor of the Krem, the Holy Prophet of the northern folk.
What ensued was chaos. He spread his religion by force with the military, running larger and larger skirmishes into Rass territory. They burned vilages and collapsed underground shelters, planting the banner of their new Empire everywhere they went. After they made their point by burning a few dozen villages they started offering the Rass people a chance: join them and follow their religion or be obliterated. Village after VIllage joined the Krem Empire, hindering the Rass. They unlike the Krem, the Rass had a single leader seeing over the country, but the speed of the Krem advance left the young leader in a tight spot. Within a few months the Rass fell to the hordes of attacking Krem.
Wilhelm was overjoyed by this victory, and offred the Rass a last chance: Convert and join them so they may untite their war torn nation. Without any option left, the Rass joined, and Wilhelm became the Emperor of the new Krass Empire, a name which was agreed upon by both parties. For the last 100 years they have been modernizing at incredible speed, their hierarchy reforming and the social standings of individuals greatly changing. Krassian Empire is now the land of oppurtinity, a country where progress is the only goal, and a country where Lyrian ideas are mixed with Thervan ideas.
CultureOh boy. Here we go.
The Krass culture is very weird, but the last century brought many reforms to normalize it, and make it more like Southern cultures.
First of all the Krass use a language made of hieroglyph style letters.
They are very versatile, and the language is spoken almost exactly as it is written. It is not hard to write down Krass words, but learning how to further use them is incredibly hard. Adjectives takes years to learn, and often the Krass go without pronouncing them, jsut because it is so complicated. This is the reason that their literature is very hard to read, but it is incredibly detailed and well made.
The people of the Empire can be divided into two main sub-Krass races. First are the Rass, the inhabitants of the lowlands. They are usually quite short, the high people reaching around 170-180 centimeters. They speak the language more fluently and clearly, and most of the literature is from Rass people. They are exceptional builders and have vast knowledge of many advanced methods of construction and engineering. Usually they are described as vary at first, but easy to talk to after you get to know them. They are stubborn as a rock, and if they decided something they will never change their mind.
The Rass live in large cities scattered across the Lowlands, and there aren't many who dare live in smaller settlements. In fact, there are less than two dozen small villages in total in the Lowlands. In the cities, the people usually live in in the underground areas, those made by their ancestors. These cottages are usually quite small, consisting of only two rooms, and rarely more than that. The first room is always the Totem room, the room which is first shown to any visitors. It is adored with many carpets, vases, and sometimes paintings. In the middle of the room is the family totem, a large carved piece of wood is further decoarted by every generation. This resembles the deeds of the family, and they usually represent the occupations of the people. This is sacred item, stealing it is an upmost sin, as is carving onto it to show off. The people who do are treated below others, and they won't get any jobs in any areas.
The second room is the combined kitchen and living area. In every house there is a large furnace embed into the wall, and it servers as heating, light source and oven. To prevent losing too much heat, there is no door between the two rooms, only a colored blanket. Unlike the first room however, this room lacks many decorations, and it is tightly packed. Futons are placed along the furnace and walls, and they are often the only furniture in the room. The Rass always eat together, sitting on their own futons. The closer you are to the furnace, the higher your rank is in the family, the family elder sitting right next ot it.
The Rass food is made of very simple materials, and it is very easy to make. It consists mostly of soups and stews of various kinds, and meat can be found in almost every meal. It is very rich in calories and fat, making it heavy on the stomach. Thought there is not many seasoning avaible, pepper is the predominant spice to eb used in their food, and onions are often used to give spiciness to stews.
Personal hygene is quite important with the Rass, and they make sure to never enter a house without being properly cleaned. The tight spaces of their lving areas make any infections spread fast, and they have learned to awlays wash hands and clean themselves. Most of the Rass underground cities have fountains each every few levels so people can get water and wash themselves and their clothes.
The middles and upper class of the Rass often live above ground, and when they do go below ground, tehy have large luxurious manors on the very top floors of the cities. They also have a totem room, and this one is usually far bigger and more adored than that of the poor people. However, the rest of the house is of moure Southern style. There are many different rooms for different activities, and there is a bathroom for msot of the richer people. The kitchens are usually bigger than that of the poor, but it shares many resemblances.
Clothing is probably something which connects every Rass. Most of the Rass prefer to wear colorless clothes, usually white or grey, like the wool of the animal it was made of. A long coat is the very minimum to go around, without that a Rass often feels like a part of them is missing. Below this is a simple vest made of leather and linen, and a large belt that is usually engraved similarly to their family totem. Shoes of the krass are something of an oddity, and they are made of dried grass whilst the interior is stuffed with wool. They can be made by anyone with some basic skills, and it is really easy to repair.
The dead of the Rass are honored with gifts. When a rass dies they are wrapped up in cloths, and adored with carved wooden tablets that usually say the good deeds of the dead. Then they are carried into the grasslands surrounding the city and then burn the body and let it's ash scatter in the unending horizon.
The Krem are quite different from the Rass, but still fundamentally teh same. They speak the same language: but their accent is very sluggish, and they focus more on the ending of the words. This makes them harder to understand, but their writing is no different than that of the Rass.
The Krem people are just as stubborn as the Rass, but they will actually listen to others who try to convince them. If they see that there is enough logic in it, they will slightly change their mind, but then settle at that. They are also very solitary, unlike the Rass. They prefer to live alone in their houses, and only let their families share the same living place. Even then, they prefer to be alone.
The Krem live scattered about in the Highlands. There are many small villages hidden in valleys and forest clearings. However small they are, they are still connected with the Krem mountain roadway. This large network of rock paved roads connects every single settlement in the Highlands, no matter it's location. This is also the main road of every village and city, connecting it to the rest of the world. In the last century this road has been expanded to connect to some of the Rass cities, like the capital and the major ports.
Krem live in cotatges made of wood and stone. They can be varying sizes, and it is up to the man who is building it to decide it's size. Most Krem prefer smaller houses because they are easier to heat in the cold winter, but there are some larger houses thata re usually utilized by traders and other rich people, usually to store goods or impress the visitors. The richer can afford pre-built houses in the fort cities however. Here they are protected from attacks and wildlife, but have to pay for the land their houses are built on, and they pay much higher taxes. Of course, most of the manufacturies and guilds are located here, and this is where they produce most of the goods.
The krem are no interior designers, and they prefer bland furniture sets unlike the Rass. Most things are made of wood, and serve simple purposes. Undoubtedly they have more furnitue than their southern borthers, msotly because of the abundance of wood. Carpets are only for the rich, most of the common people use animal hides if they can to cover to floor, or nothing at all. Because of how many hunters there are, a lot of the houses are decorated with skulls and stuffed figurines. The Krem use large wooden beds, often twice the size that they would need to be. It is for no particular reason, but it seems to give them a sense that when they are alone, they have so much space, further powering their need for loneliness.
Krem food is different from the Rass's. They don't have too many veggies of fruits avaible, so they use the msot common thing that can grow in the north: potatoes. their diet is mostly potatoes made in different ways and the meat of different animals that they hunt in the woods. Thought the meat of carnivores is not as good as that of herbivores, the Krem find way to make them see the most delicious things for even the peckish people.
Hygene is not something that the Krem concer themselves about, usually taking a bath or wash once every week or two. They live alone, so it doesn't make any difference to the others if tehy smell abd or not.
Clothing wise the Krem are absolutely messy. There is no uniformal piece of clothing, and each guild sews different clothes. The krem will buy whatever they like, and they only rarely make their own clothes.
consumer economy at it's best. The rich can afford fancy and colorful clothes, whilst the poor can only get protection against the cold, and nothing more.
The Krem are very religious. After Wilhelm von Grav started spreadin his religious movement, the Krem became extremely god fearing and superstitious very fast. Most of them carry a small wooden triangle, the symbol of their belief. Even tho their houses also differ, there is a shrine to their three gods, the god of creation, god of destruction, and god of time. Krem without exception beleive and worship all three gods, however some will prefer one over the others. There are two different churches because of this: the ones that worship all three equally, and those that worship one god above the others. Generally the god of creation is the one who is loved the most.
When a krem dies, they are buried in spacious coffins and fileld with riches to help the dead cope witht eh difficulties in the other world. They will usually put food and extra clothing into the coffin too, and put a gold coin under their tounge to symbolize riches that are out of this world. They they are buried in the cemetaries connected to each church.
MilitaryKrassin Military is generaly nomadic in origin, and unlike their southern neighbours, they don't utilize knights as heavely. For many centuries the country was divided into two warring clans, and the grasslands proved effective for horseriding, but the mountains called for more infantry oriented tactics. On top of that, in order to modernize the country needed massive reforms, and the way the army used to be they couldn't have possibly hoped to win any wars.
After the unification, the both armies were disassembled, and a primarily economocial approach was taken. The military became the home of those who didn't have jobs or lands to tend to. Only small amounts of actual soldiers are inside, and they form the officer ranks. Farmers also join the military every winter when they don't have anything to tend to. The military is centralized, commanded from the capitol under the command of the generals. But it's primary purpose is not military goals, but rather helping out the economy. Soldiers will transport goods, help in constructions and defend lumberjacks from beasts. In summer they help tend to the fields owned by the ruler, essentially rendering the seasonal farmhands useless, and forcing them to move into the military. The labourers teach the officers on how to help different tasks, and the seasoned veterans of fighting train the farmhands and other workers on the art of war.
Most of the army works for food, clothing and a place to see sleep at, but they get pay on a semi annual basis. This makes the military an offical workforce of the country, paid with only necessities. This saves a lot of money for the state, some of which it uses to expand the military even more, and equip them with equipment neede to fight a war. Even though these people are soldiers, almost only every second soldier has a weapon, as it takes a lot of weapons and armor to equip such an immense army.
The basic soldiers have all the same equipment, going to battle with a very thick fur coat and a halberd/pike combos that can reach far. They generally hold them two handed, leaving them without a shield. Those who show they can shoot with a bow are given a shortbow in addition to the basic equipment, and are sent in the same way like the others. That is, rushing at the enemy like furious maniacs.
The Krassin military doctorine relies on overwhelming numbers of very poorly trained troops, who rush into battle without fear. At least in theory. Most soldiers paint their faces before going to battle, and every 30th soldier is equipped with a large flag that they carry on their back to battle. In large numbers, these shouting, painted and burly looking soldiers running at the enemy with halberds can be a real force to be reckoned with, jsut because of the psychological stress they put on enemy soldiers.
They Krass also utilize cavalry. Thought not many in numbers, the more fearsome they are. Piro's are equipped with large armor panels to deflect arrows and blows on the animal, and on both sides of the animal there are pylons crafted from wood and metal where archers can fire from above the soldiers head. There is a singular rider on top of the animal, seated in a large saddle, not istting but kneeling on the back of the animal.
EconomyThe Krassin Empire is rich in woodlands, and one of it's main export is high quality spruce wood. It is an important material for shipbuilding and sturdy buildings which fetch high prices in Lyria, where Spruces can only be rarely found. Textiles also play a big part in the export, as the Piro's wool can be easely woven into clothes and other related products. Lastly medicines used for treating the wounded and ill are exported in small numbers, but they fetch really high prices even is smaller quantities.
For these products, the Empire trades the essential for living: food and seed that do not grow in the cold areas, salt and other seasoning that can help preserve food, and high quality iron which is hard to extraxt from their own mountains.
The internal economy of the country is split into 2 parts: The agriculture and animal products that are produced in the Lowlands. The Capital is alos located here, which is the main center of commerce. This is where all the products get sent to, and then distributed country wise. Most of the food and clothes goes northwards into the mountains, whilst the excess is sent southwards into the ports to be shipped across the sea for selling. The Highlands produces about 90% of all the wood that the Empire uses up, and as such is a busy industrial area. Especially the towns near the borderline towards the grasslands, the majority of sawmills and manufacturies are located here. Furthermore, metals that are extracted from the mountains, such as copper, tin, iron and lead are brought to these cities for smelting and alloying. The steel used in making weapons and armor is created in these cities. These are also the same cities where the imperial coins are minted. Generally speaking, the industry of the country is only setting up because of the trading with other nations, and the center of this industrialization is the southern parts of the Highlands.
The Tundras are the main treasury of the Empire, and the heart of business. Thanks to a seemingly endless supply of gold and silver, the empire can support it's industrial expansion in many regions, including the most desolate places. These mines are well protected, and are connected to the larger logistical hubs of the Highlands via the highways that run through the mountain ranges. The geysers in the are also provide the people living here with resources needed for farming. The geothermal wells also come with many nutrients that are neede to properly grow crops, and as such these areas don't need any food to be transported across the country. However, masses of textiles and tools are sent here each year, to provide the miners and their families with equipment to survive.
As the military helps in most tasks around the whole Empire, taxes can be kept low as possible, which is a large boost for trading. Merchants only need to pay small fees which makes more and more people turn to trading. These people then help improve foregin trade relations, and bring in even more money from the taxes. The merchant's guild is very rich in the Krassin Empire, and has a lot of political power when it comes to the matters of economics.
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