Azurien

Azurien Motto: We do not serve!
Capital:	Tel Aldnium
Religion: Other Religions:	Azuran Mammon Aurelianity Sotiran
Demonym:	Azurian
Ethnic Groups:	Azurian Lonian Silvetian Schoner
Currency:	Azurian Dinar

Azurien [azuʀiɪn], also called the Land of Dusk and Dawn, is a decentralized unitary state with a parliamentary monarchy in eastern Hasperia. Its capital is Tel Aldnium and its official religion is Azuran.

History

See History of Azurien
Azurien was found in 880 AIC after the slave rebellion that took place in the slavers cities of Whitegold and Izalith.

Geography

Azurien reaches from the peak of Mount Heightlimit in the south to the great wilderness in the north and from the isle of Whitegold in the east to the city of Lönefisk at the border to Lonien in the west.
It is divided into the 10 provinces:

Provinces of Azurien

Isle of Whitegold

Province	Location	Translation
Tel Aldnium	The capital, in the centre of the heartlands	"Tower of the highest God"
Eshmora	In the south	"High forest"
Stonehall	In the southwest
The autonomous city of Lönefisk	In the west
Nebos	North of Tel Aldnium	"Never green"
Falmora	In the northwest	"White forest"
Dunbal	In the north	"Dark rock"
Redharbor	In the east
Maormora	In the northeast	"Sea forest"
Whitegold	The island in the east across the sea

Climate

The climate of Azurien is predominantly temperate, but varies greatly from the mountain ranges to the coastal areas. The regions west of the Stormy Mountains belong to the humid continental climate. They are characterized by long cold winters and cool summers. Precipitation is not great.
The azurian heartland has a generally mild climate thanks to the foehn wind phenomenon, but winters give heavy snowfall in the more highly situated areas.
The coastal areas are in a warm-temperate oceanic climate. A current from the east brings warm sea breeze.

Natural Hazards

Heavy snowfall often comes with heavy snowstorms, making the mountain passes to Lonien or Schonen impassable. It is not uncommon that Izalith is cut off during the snowfalls in the winter. Melting of the snow in the spring often results in landslides.
The coastal regoins are occasionally hit by windstorms and related floods.

Politics

Political system of Azurien

The free people of Azurien elect a council of wise men and women that rule for a minimal period of 3 years. The council has its place in Tel Aldnium in the Hall of the People. Every member is elected individually and everyone is part of the council until new candidates are up for their seat. Nominations and elections are often influenced by powerful families and houses.
The council, as the government, also nominates the ressorts, such as the ministry of trade or the department of the navy. Judges are suggested by the council and have to be approved by the people and the high priest. The military, usually organized by the ministry of defense and the department of the Azurian Navy, is not bound by an oath to the state or the government, but pledges allegiance to Azura. The high priest is chosen among the other priests by Azura and he chooses who becomes a priest. The high priest has also one seat at the council, he has no vote, but is a counsellor. The autonomous city of Lönefisk benefits from more freedom in trade and treasury regulation.
There are currently 77 seats in the council and every province gets a number of seats according to their relative population and one seat for the high priest for a total of 78 seats. The distribution is as follows:

Province	Number of Seats
Tel Aldnium	18
Eshmora	4
Stonehall	2
The autonomous city of Lönefisk	4
Nebos	8
Falmora	8
Dunbal	2
Redharbor	10
Maormora	5
Whitegold	16

Demographics

A majority of the people living in Azurien consider themselves as azurian. In the capital Tel Aldnium lives a small community of lonians in a townpart called Little Vineta. The autonomous city of Lönefisk is inhabited almost half by azurians and lonians. Other groups are from Schonen and lately refugees from the Silvetian civil war.

Azurians are a generally tall people with an average height of men at 1,85m and women of 1,75m. Life expactancy with 45 years is due to the hard work in the agriculture and the mining industry.

Official state religion is Azuran. Over 80% of the people visit the temples or wayshrines on a regular bases. Other religions are tolerated and mostly conducted by foreigners.

Economy

The economy of Azurien is dominated by the extraction of ressources and trade of commodities. In addition to that Azurien is known for livestock production and the production of alcoholic beverages. Notable ressources are gemstones and rare metals, that are extracted from the deeps of the southern mountain ranges in the province of Eshmora. Azurian lapidaries then create jewellery and ornaments for the temples or foreign customers. In the northeastern lands south of the great wilderness in the province of Maormora is the wood industry. The dense forests provide excellent materials and are usually floated to the other provinces. The heartlands are home to wine press houses, mead producers and a donkey breeder. Goods are transported to the harbor of Redharbor to ship them to foreign lands. At the province of Redharbor are also the great saltfields where one of azurians most important good is extracted. Important trade partners include: Lonien, from which manufactured good are imported; Greifenhausen, to import beer; Montebianco, as tradeagreement; Neogaranid Empire, to exchange salt for spices and dyes.

National Distribution of Goods

Due to different production focus and raw material supply it is necessary to distribute certain goods within Azurien. Most of this distribution is nationalized. Individual farmer and entrepeneurs that produce certain products, mostly food, raw materials and some tools are visited by officials from local warehouses and obliged to sell a certain amount of these goods to them for a fix price. The warehouses then allocate the goods within Azurien according as needed. The people then can buy those goods from the warehouses at a lower price than the market price. The system was developed to encourage specialization of crucial parts of the economy.