Pureacea
From Shahara
Contents |
Overview: History of an Empire
Pureacea is considered, by far, one of the least pleasant places to live in the world. They are a rigid and inflexible people, ruled by an iron-fisted despot, and fanatical in their devotion to their country, their Gods, and their leaders. It is often considered a pity, considering that it is easily one of the most beautiful lands in the world, hence the name of the country. The landscape is positively breathtaking to behold, truly a marvelous wonder.. Aside from the militarized zones, of course. Centuries ago, Pureacea was a land crying out for help, it was a land torn by civil war on a grand scale. Dozens of kingdoms, city-states, and tribal boundaries kept the land in a constant state of war. In the early days, with magic fully suppressed, and 'technology' slowly on the rise, one kingdom in Pureacea developed a new type of weapon. They called it a gun, it fired a metal bullet using black powder. Armed with a deadly, powerful new weapon that beat bows hands-down (well, non magical bows at least), this kingdom expanded its borders slowly but surely. Fifty years later there were but five kingdoms left, as gun technology had been stolen and developed enough for the world to witness Pureacea's version of the great Trench War. The land was drenched in blood and screams, until one kingdom had finally slain or suppressed all opposition. With their civil wars finally over, Emperor Dahnadu used his charisma to unite the disparate factions and beleaugered, suffering people. He gave them what they had never before had- unity. He had given them a whole country to call their own, and they have remained loyal since. After he united the people under his banner, he looked over his new empire and saw that it was going to require a great deal of effort to make it beautiful again. So his entire lifetime was spent improving and rebuilding, as was the life of his son, and his son after him. After decades of burning, burying, replanting, irrigation, and reconstruction, Pureacea became a beautiful place again. The fourth Emperor, having seen the completed work of his ancestors, began various public works projects to further improve upon the beauty. The Imperial Palace in the central city of Azira, as well as the ancestral homes of the two largest noble families (one of which is made up of Oreius' descendants) features hanging gardens similar to that of Babylon. The architecture of Pureacea is a mixture of Gothic and, as noted before, Babylonian. It looks peculiar to outsiders, and unless you know the streets it is quite easy to get lost, but it cannot be denied that it's an amazing sight, especially from the air. The Imperial lineages of the Dahnadu Dynasty have been composed mainly of mildly psychotic, iron-fisted despots. Life is harsh but relatively fair, the current Empresses' hate is almost always directed at enemies of the country, as opposed to upon her people. The Upheaval hit Pureacea hard. Many horrifying beasts came tearing out of the jungle, along with countless dead rising from ancient battlefields. They took some fairly harsh losses during the conflict, until emissaries from Sharaha arrived to aid them in their suppression of this magical uprising. The Empress is curious about magic, and though she has not put forth vast governmental resources to study it as others have, her Court has, mostly of their own volition, begun expending their own resources into acquiring items, people, and places of magical power. Several arcane and divine schools of magic have already popped up after only a few short years.
Political Structure
A modern monarchy, Pureacea keeps a tight stranglehold on things such as the media, the economy, and of course, the private lives of its citizenry. Morality laws are strictly upheld and punishment is so severe so as to have a very low crime rate. However, modern psychology has proven that sometimes criminals really can't help themselves, and (to the surprise of the outside world) these people are granted a stay of execution in favor of being locked away in asylums, or if they can be made into model citizens through medication, they are appointed a sort of 'probation officer'- a social worker who checks up on them regularly to ensure that they are taking their pills. Though Pureacea favors worship of war and war-like Gods, blatantly evil ones are disfavored due to their chaotic or destabilizing natures. As long as it took them to finally achieve unity, they would never permit something so simple as religion to tear them apart. There are occasional problems between two religious factions, but the Monarchy is very strict about ensuring that these problems are resolved in such a way so as not to damage the pride of either. Pride is one of the cornerstones of their society, to insult a Pureacean's pride is like prodding a rabid wolf in the nose with your fingertip. If it doesn't bite your entire hand off, that's only because it's already dead. Because of their pride, it is easy for the Monarchy to keep the people in control- they regularly have parades, marches, and speeches with the Empress standing in very conservative regalia (Think Adolf Hitler, only without the wholesale genocide thing). This tends to annoy the rest of the world, but it is integral to maintaining the pride of Pureacea's people, which inspires them to work hard for their beloved homeland.
Economy
Pureacea's industry revolves around agriculture. They have the largest expanses of farmland in the world, something they capitalize on. Combined with clever harvesting of fruits from the Northern Jungles, they export the largest amount of foodstuffs in the world. However, due to their hatred of numerous other countries, most of these products only get anywhere due to the efforts of Sharaha and their Peace. Aside from their agriculture, Pureacea also builds the better part of the world's most impressive airships. Most of these, they sell off to other nations, corporations, and individuals with the money on hand.
Military
As to be expected of such a prideful nation, Pureacea's military force is arguably the strongest in the world. Most soldiers are volunteer, but a draft is available in times of war. Their military budget is huge, so when one is at war with Pureacea one can expect to be up against well trained soldiers with the some of the best available armaments. They maintain a large complement of tanks, jets, and choppers, but recently have expanded and begun using new models of airships to further add to their military might. Lately, the Empress has been building up reserves of her special Imperial Dynasty Legions- terror troops of the highest caliber. Usually, all of them are Kobolds from the noble house of Oreius, but lately humans and other races have been being drafted into this Legion's service. They are conditioned to absolute loyalty, armed with absolute best weapons and outfitted in the absolute best armors. Their armor is made specially for each individual soldier, and designed to give them all the same fearsome appearance. Their near-Spartan ferocity and loyalty allows them many benefits not available to the common citizenry.
