History
Formation
Urushee was formed in 342 as a small collection of forest dwelling Elven clans that resided in lower half of what is now known as North Urushee. Originally brought together as a co-operative effort to organise and distribute limited resources among each other more efficiently and promote cultural exchange between the groups, their influence and numbers would slowly grow over the years, expanding their territory until they encompassed the size of a small independant nation by 501.
Council of Sages
As Urushee's population nearly quintupled its original size by 477, the reliance upon a lack of proper authority structure within the collective became unsustainable, necessitating the formation of a governing body that could oversee the populace's operations and expansion. The
Urusheen Council of Sages was formed as a result of this consisting of respected elders from the various settlements and clans, particularly those proficient with Magic, that could be trusted to guide the new nation into the future.
Conflicts with Dragons
Due to Urushee's proximity to various mountain ranges, as well as Dracsax, the nation would frequently fall under harassment or attack by aggressive members of draconic species - Either for food or valuable commodities that had been stored, or due to perceived invasion of territory. While the training of Magi in Urushee had progressed significantly from the earlier days of the country, it would still prove ineffective against dragon threats, and it would take the wider scale adoption of Faith based arcana and magics to secure their settlements from further attacks. This would begin the perceived rise of the nation's dependence upon the Magical Flow in its lifestyle and culture, as well as greatly accelerate the dissemination of religious material and belief in deities. (See Also:
Religion in Erra )
Conflicts with Enphune
The Enphunian Empire that exists to the North of Urushee would come into conflict with the nation several times throughout the 5th, 6th, and 7th centuries. Employing a doctrine of dominion over large sections of Erra, the Empire initially started with an aggressive expansion of their eastern land, over the natural landmass connecting them to The Never-Ending Waste, before a series of confrontations in 563 would push the unprepared forces of Urushee back past the mountain ranges until they would settle on the borders recognised by the time of The Collapse. Below are a series of diagrams indicating this annexation;
561
566
Modern border with Enphune
As shown, the Enphunian Empire made rapid advancements on Urusheen territory over the course of a few short years before a proper defense could be performed at the mountainous ranges north of where the nation's border lies today. For several decades Urushee's defense forces were able to stall and limit the progress of the Empire's invasion forces by using the mountain ranges as a bottleneck, forcing efforts to either pass through heavily disadvantageous terrain or to attempt to cross the mountains where they could easily be ambushed, while forces could be sent from the mainland to perform diversionary attacks to the east of Enphune's borders by the Never-Ending Wastes by boat.
While these tactics were effective in stalling the imperial force for some time, it would come to a head in 602 when Emperor Jean Estiefort II would concoct a plan to destroy massive amounts of the land on this eastern border. Known now as Estiefort's Legacy, the vast majority of Enphune's eastern front was annihilated by a series of magic focused operations and demolitions seen un an unprecedented level, reducing the very earth to rubble that would be washed away with the tides. This proved to be a show of force to Urushee and heavily demoralized their troops under fear that their homeland could meet a similar fate, allowing the Empire to seize the opportunity and make farther gains in land until they reached the modern borders of today by 611.
Since then, however, the naturally defensible terrain of Urushee would make any invasion efforts an ultimately futile measure, with Enphune's winter climate trained soldiers unable to hold any captured land for extended periods of time. Border conflicts would cool and ignite again many times over the next two and half centuries with few gains on either side of the wars, until The Collapse finally saw the Empire collapse from within.
Adoption of Arcane Machina
With the start of the seventh century,
Arcane Machina, a technology developed in Urushee, would see widespread gains in popularity as the nation began to accelerate their development and modernize societies and settlements to better suit it. Entirely new cities would be constructed as opposed to the majority of woodland settlements that had been spread across Urushee previously, such as Marlton and
Srenluna despite significant objection from older generations.
Formation of Ionin
In Kir-721, the Nation State of
Ionin was formed by
Dremon Bryrel and influential bodies within Urushee in order to further the development of Arcane Machina technologies and the science behind it, as well as attempt to gain a greater understanding of "the inner workings of the Magic that permeates our world". Primarily created to house its large Research Institute, Ionin would receive full support and funding of the Urushee Council of Sages up until it was destroyed in
The Collapse.
The Collapse
With the advent of The Collapse in 874, Urushee would suffer greatly as all of the advancements and redevelopment made in response to the discovery of Arcane Machina would either be destroyed or fall to ruin after the Magic that powered it disappeared. Many of its prominent mages would be killed in the immediate aftermath, while the ensuing panic in its major population centers would result in the death of many more as the nation was starved of the necessary resources it was being sustained by before. The Council of Sages would be forced to disband due to the deaths of its faculty, and settlements that were distant due to the heavy usage of Teleportation magic for travel would become isolated and unable to receive aid from other locations in a timely fashion, which only further exacerbated the logistics issues in restoring order after the event.
In the decades that followed, the settlements that survived would learn to become self-sufficient and would naturally isolate from each other. With no overarching leadership for Urushee, a nation that was originally built on a co-operative effort became a fractured collective of individualists. Only in recent decades with the movement to fix the
Grand Urusheen Railway has travelling to the remote regions of Urushee become feasible, with some distant settlements such as Aramer Watch still proving difficult to trek to for most.
Geography
Urushee presides upon a collection of plains, hills, and massive forest terrains, extending far to the south along the coastal border of its landmass. To the north it is separated from the colder tundra environments by a long mountain range, beyond which lies the former imperialist nation of Enphune. Urushee itself is a vibrant country supporting large amounts of natural life due to plentiful resources and a thriving ecosystem through its dense forests, allowing smaller settlements to establish themselves independently from others with relative ease.
Geographically, many locations within North Urushee are separated from each other over great distances due to the heavy usage of Teleportation Magics at the time of their construction, allowing individuals to travel between them at a moment's notice. As such, the placement of these settlements focused more upon their nearby resources and potential growth without consideration of manual travel to others - A choice that would prove costly during The Collapse until the restoration of the Grand Urusheen Railway reconnected the country once again.
Culture
For a time, the official motto of Urushee, translated to "Walk with Nature", was very much the way of life for its denizens. The country was resistant to conventional technologies far longer than other nations until the advent of
Arcane Machina, lacking even particularly large settlements in the plains, preferring to stay camoflagued in the shades of its dense forests.
The introduction of Arcane Machina led to a boom in the modernization of Urushee's culture, however, as they raced to the forefront of its production and usage. Much criticism would fall upon this adoption, effectively leading to two seperate Urushees in the decades leading to The Collapse - Those that chose to stay with the traditional ways of the past and live among Nature, and those that opted to open up to the world.
Post-Collapse, the divide between these two societies only widened due to the losses experienced by both of them, and in particular disagreements on the treatment of
Arcana Species and refugees from other nations.
To briefly surmise the attitudes towards the two groups, the developed settlement dwelling members of Urushee typically view Arcana Species with xenophobic reservations, due in no part to initial incidents that occurred surrounding some members of the Minor Arcana species. Those that live in the forests sympathise more with the species and their circumstances, but resent the assistance other settlements of Urushee continue to offer to refugee individuals outside of its own borders.
Nowadays, the cultures and societies of Urushee are heavily fragmented due to the collapse of its power structure. While general sentiments are shared among its primary populaces, individuals can experience radically different societies when travelling from settlement to settlement.
Structure
Before
The Collapse, Urushee was primarily ruled over by its council of Sages at
Urushorn Watch - Elves of considerable influence and power that oversaw the many facets of the nation's autonomy, from large to small. Among these, a Head Sage would be elected by themselves at the start of each decade, who would hold the final word over any council decisions. For more details, read the article here:
Urusheen Council of Sages
Following The Collapse, all but two of the council's Sages had perished from the event. With the majority of power structures in Erra falling apart, and their colleagues ceasing to exist, the Council had no choice but to quietly dissolve. To this day, Urushee does not possess a singular ruling power or organisation, with most settlements governing themselves independently.
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