The Conclave of the Sands
Geography:
|Geographical Location of Country:| East of Zengrav.
|Country Size:| 437,072 square km.
|Cities:| Whilst most of the land in the Conclave is desert, there are a few important settlements. The most important is the capital- Salaghen, built over one of the few major sources of water in the country, as an artificial island. More than 23% of the total population lives in Salaghen, and it's the home to the Conclave itself, as well as the wealthiest of all the cities. It is one of the few places that agriculture can be carried out, and is near the Hazhen mountain range, providing it with valuable resources to mine. The city itself is a curious sight to behold, what with the fact that it is essentially located atop a river, its towers and buildings seemingly jutting out of the water itself.
Another important city is the floating city of Dalahem. Located in the clouds, and entirely held aloft by Helium, it's a vital trade city, with balloons to get up from the ground, and is the hub of Conclave air forces. It's much easier, after all, to get aircraft into the air when they start there. Whilst all kinds of trade goods flow through Dalahem, until recently oil was strictly banned. The changing from hydrogen to helium has prevented this, and now flammable materials too, can be traded in Dalahem's gently bobbing streets. Not that most foreigners get to go there, of course.
Finally, there is the border city of Yisslam. Yisslam is a fairly 'open' city, as far as the Conclave are open, what with the fact that it's the only city where Zengravi and Conclave people mix on a daily basis. That being said, there's still extreme levels of suspicion and prejudice, not helped by Zengrav insisting that they have claims to Conclave land.
|Natural Resources:| Mostly oil, along with a few rare spices, and metals like aluminium, titanium, gold, silver and more. Unfortunately, apart from oil, spices, and a minority of the precious metals (along with aluminium, which is used instead of steel throughout the Conclave,) very little is properly exploited.
People & Culture:
|Population:| 22 million people.
|Demographics:| 99% of those living in Conclave are Conclave natives, known as the
Dinnen- Chosen People. However there are three distinct ethnic groups. These are the darker skinned
Yavshin who are a mostly mountain-dwelling folk, and have lived in the Hazhen mountain range historically. Now, they mostly populate the capital and the surrounding area, numbering around 8 million.
Secondly, are the slightly lighter skinned
Bahgrevin peoples, the most numerous. Numbering 10 million, they are found throughout the entire country, and make up the majority of the ground forces of the Conclave. This is purely coincidental, although it is a curious little fact.
Finally, numbering 4 million, are the
Alhavin peoples. The majority in Dalahem, they're a generally taller and thinner breed when compared to the Yavshin and Bahgrevin. One thing that all the ethnicities tend to have dark hair, and tanned skins. Blue and brown eyes are common, but grey is also quite often to see. Men normally have stubble, or shaven faces, which is both due to ethnicity (as as a whole, the Dinnin do not grow large amounts of facial hair,) and cultural reasons.
|Government:| The Conclave, is, shockingly, run by the Conclave. A collection of figures that are in charge of the country, they elect from themselves, a leader of the country every five years, or when the old one dies or is incompetent. Whilst the leader- known as the
Mirza, is in charge of the country and makes all major decisions, it is the Conclave responsible for the majority of daily governance, and as such is the most important force in the land. The Conclave is also the religious body of the country, and within the Conclave, there is little distinction between religion and politics.
|Ruler:| Whilst the Conclave is made up of 231 hereditary roles, the current Mirza, and the one that has been in power for the past nineteen years, is Mirza Hamaen Faghiri the IInd, blessed be unto him.
|Volksgeist:| To the Dinnin people, they are an end to themselves. The Zengrav who occupied their country, and found themselves bled dry, they learnt this. To the outsiders that find themselves looking at stony-faced people, mouths hidden behind loose-fitted cloth, know this. Invaders who find themselves rapidly occupied with rifle fire from seemingly nowhere, their troops being blown to cinders from above, and their opponents slinking into the sand, know this.
Within the Conclave itself, people are conservative. The ways of the past are tried and tested, and to foolishly discard all of them in order to move for high-minded ideas like
democracy and
fascism is foolish. With no love lost for either the democratic nations, and very little respect for what they see as the Zengravi-lead Iron Pact, they prefer to strike out, charting their own course, all by themselves.
Within the Conclave, one can find men and women working on their own. Traditionally, tribe leadership and preisthood were roles for women, and as such, they hold high political and religious respect within the country, but this is tempered by the fact that men are still the economic and military powerhouses.
|Religion:| The majority religion in the Conclave, and, indeed, the only official religion is that of the
Hazzan. The
Hazzan is a single deity that appears in multiple different forms, with the Hazzan itself being the most important of all of them. Following any other religion inside the Conclave, unless one is a foreigner, is heresy, and is punishable by execution in the most extreme of cases. Whilst traditionally this was done via hanging, now it is normally done via firing squad.
Within
Hazzan, there is only one appropriate burial- that of the sands. Families, or at least those with any major wealth, will have burial grounds deep into the desert, where family members will be interred in order to naturally be mummified. Alternatively, cremation has been gaining popularity within the Conclave, especially with soldiers, since it means remains can be returned home far more easily.
|History:|
Give me something meaty to work with here.
|Armed Forces:|
The Dinnin way of war is an odd one. Air superiority is their most precious tactic, but when it comes to ground combat, they are very much not slouches. Despite being less developed with their infantry weapons, their knowledge of their own country, and resilience to the harsh climes means that those attempting to invade the Conclave can expect to be met with a stiff fight.
Arms within the Conclave are still out of date when compared to a lot of the modern world. Curious features include imported Corax semi-automatic pistols, valgaron submachineguns that were intended to be sent to Zengrav, but were intercepted, and Conclave-made rifles and shotguns.
Most ground troops in the Conclave are formed into
Tawsilad groups- which translates into 'long hunters,' literally, but is really more appropriately translated as 'skirmishers.' Armed with the traditional, four-shot, long-barrelled bolt action rifle, named after an old
Mirza- The Najaat Rifle. The Najaat has an extremely long effective range, but fires slowly, and each shot must be reloaded individually. The Najaat comes with a wooden stock, and a loose-fitting canvas cover for the barrel. Additionally, many Najaats come with the Al-Hiram x7 optical scope, which, once again, comes with its own cover.
However, the true strength of the Conclave lies not with its skirmishers on the ground, but instead with its airforce.
Be prepared to write a lot. I’m leaving this fairly open to what you guys want to do, but I want at LEAST infantry arms, premiere vehicles, navy/airforce details, military uniforms, organisational structure, etc, etc, etc. This is an RP heavily based around combat, after all.
|People of Interest:|
POV characters. A short description as well. Feel free to update this as you want to.
