The Sun Realm of Funanori (foo-nan-NOR-ee)

Isolated from the rest of the world, Funanori has thrived for millennia as a refuge from the political, religious, and societal turmoil of Argea. The realm can be misunderstood by outsiders. Depending on which rumors people hear, they may consider this island realm to be haughty, backward, or sacred. Its people may be insular, but once you’re welcomed into the culture, most find the people there to be warm, charitable, and industrious.
Despite all this, Funanori is well known for its culture, food, and reverence for the gods. It’s a place of contradictions. Most of the small, tight-knit communities have rigid hierarchies based on family history, while the cities provide much more opportunity for growth and change.
The realm’s southern capital, Yosai, is a diverse, metropolitan port famous for its stunning architecture and highly efficient dockworkers. It is home to more than 75,000 people, most of them elves. The city is temperate in climate, with warm summers and freezing winters. It’s not unknown for the city to hire wizards and laborers to keep the port free of ice from Winter’s Dawn to Thaw.
Legend has it that a young family of elves founded Funanori after fleeing religious persecution in Alandr shortly after the Emergence. Alone on the southern island of Shinhoro, they named their fledgling colony after their youngest daughter: Yosai. After a few thousand years, the colony had swollen to gigantic proportions. Immigrants of all ancestries were arriving in droves, seeking a home away from the religious and political turmoil of Alteria and Narum. The founders, pleased with the growth of their realm, began to collect titles and honorifics. By the time the Divine Crusades began, Funanori boasted a population of several million citizens, all loyal and deferential to the omnipotent, immortal, Star King Funan Zakai.
Funanori is comprised of two mountain-dominated islands: Kukhorin in the north, and Shinhoro in the south. Kukhorin’s Arinai Massif and Shinhoro’s Shinko Mountains belong to the same ancient range of pillar-like stone. Their sheer faces tower high over well-tended rice fields, cherry orchards, and patchwork fields. Shinhoro has a warmer, more welcoming climate than Kukhorin, but not by much.
While Funanori isn’t known for its agriculture (crops only cover about 10% of Funanese land), rice, rye, potatoes, oats, and vegetables are popular crops throughout the territory. The cherry tree, sacred to the Funanese, is protected by law. While they’re more common in Shinhoro than Kukhorin, they grow on both islands. Apples are another popular fruit in Funanori. It is common to find at least one apple tree on each plot of land, as apple seeds are given to new landowners by the Star King’s government as a token of goodwill.
Livestock and other industries are more common on the islands than agriculture. The Funanese raise horses, cattle, pigs, reindeer, and other important farm animals.

Type

Geopolitical, Kingdom