Ra'skiva

High atop the eastern Broadcrag Mountains is a state above the clouds, where the air is no longer breathable, and tiny folk exist in a state of peace and allegiance, progressing ever higher technologically and in height. The gnomes of Ra'skiva live within cities surrounded by glass, or their own personal bubbles if they live far enough away from a settlement. Large steel pipes run down the mountain side, transporting air up into the glass confines of the gnomish homeland. Large airlocks mark any exits, and large steel cages reinforce the outside to ward off natural destruction. Though, little fauna can be found among the clouds in skies this high.
Each sphere has it's own regulated climate, with some dedicated to agriculture and the cultivation of livestock, others for living, others storage, and so on. The Ra'skivan gnomes are incredibly organized by nature, and their homes follow suit. As you would travel further down the mountain, you'll find hybrids of these bubble homes. Natives to Ra'skiva often find the air of the surface still hardly breathable, seeing as any air transported up to the cities is filtered and cleaned heavily.
Ra'skiva is an democracy, with political parties running in elections for local and national governments. With quadrennial elections, things manage to stay modern and up to date. The most pressing debates among the gnomish people when it comes to political lines, at least in recent years, is the taxation of air and climate control. Lower income bubbles often suffer from yearly chill and thinner air due to the lack of tax revenue that streams out of the areas. These spheres are often the ones dedicated to manual labor or food service, with most cities residential districts being separated by tax bracket.

by Alexandr Melentiev

Culture

The people of Ra'skiva are incredibly happy being simple consumers, living their lives in enclosed bubbles with over saturated entertainment and the same few genres of music. They've had little experience with the exotic, and don't mind keeping it that way. The majority of Ra'skivans live their lives in their bubble, and never leave it. Those on either side of the spectrum don't see it the same, though. With the lower income, oppressed, and cast aside Ra'skivans causing trouble, protesting, and calling for anarchy, the upper class take their exotic tastes to capitalistic extremes. Eating meals worth the homes of those protesting with dinnerware worth five times as much. They actively progress on, learning new ways to make their lives easier, while only sharing when it's profitable to them. To outsiders it's easy to see, but to the Ra'skivans, many are blinded by how they were raised to see the problems.
Ra'skivans are taught in a public school system up until the age of maturity, where schooling becomes privatized. Children are taught at a young age that the surface is dirty, and that the gnomes of Ra'skiva are generous and kind for allowing you to live in their utopian bubble of clean are and year long summer. Though some grow out of this, or simply can't believe it due to living conditions, the vast majority of middle class, the voting majority, either don't see it as a problem, or don't see it as their problem.

History

With history dating back to the original emperors of Dalrum, the gnomes have always chosen to live higher in the mountains, with many even saying the small folk are distantly related to primitive dwarves. As the world grew more dangerous, the small folk had to move higher, being forced to use their natural magic to innovate. They could only live so high, until Harna introduced the secrets of Coraar's underwater travel, and that gave them an idea.
Pilgrams of their time, the first gnomes in leather suits and glass helmets ventured to climb higher, and construct a home of glass. The next steps were to get the steel to transport the air into these bubbles, and with the help of the dwarves that would come to be known as the Burkan, this task wasn't as impossible as many skeptics would have thought. In time, nearly every gnome had abandoned surface life and made their way upwards, to a world cleaner than before, and a home without fear.

Demography and Population

The population of Ra'skiva is almost entirely gnomish, with little exceptions. The people of the bubble nation are incredibly xenophobic and nationalist, and the presence of an outsider always draws the most awful kinds of attention.

Foreign Relations

With the exception of the dwarven state of Burkan, the gnomes of Ra'skiva have little contact with other nations. They're high up enough that many nations even pretend they don't exist, moving their lands uncontested and not bothering to scour the skies for their homes. The gnomes of Ra'skiva don't care, and frankly, wouldn't have it any other way.

"Progress is upwards!"

Type

Geopolitical, Country

Capital

Ino

Alternative Names

The Bubble Nation, Kingdom of the Clouds

Demonym

Ra'skivan

Head of State

President Oila

Government System

Democracy, Presidential

Currency

The Ra'skivan Cap (Symbol: Ç) Worth approximately .05 standard gold piece.

Location

Sedden

Official Languages

• Dalran

Neighboring Nations

• Avem
• Fyoreland
• Harna

Housing Mechanics

Demand: Low
Land Quality: Squalid - Aristocratic
Possible Docks: Planar
Special Rules: Structures built in Ra'skivan wilderness do not have breathable air available to them.