The Dotharan Alliance
The Dotharan Alliance is the largest and most developed of the Feloran Successor States. Its capital, Til Formen’ya, was the leading trading port for the Empire and continues to serve as the main gateway between Felora and Galisea. It grew out of several smaller alliances and treaties between individual cities and their territories. The need for mutual defense and protection against both vengeful former colonies and desperate imperial holdouts drove human settler and elven native to work together. A string of 8 semi-autonomous cities and their surrounding lands make up the alliance, which was formally founded 198 years ago.
The collapse of the Empire opened much of the continent to settlement by non-elves, and many humans, mostly from Qua'adar, settled in small trading/fishing villages in the spaces between the remaining Elven communities. The initial seeds for the Dotharan Alliance were planted in 107 PE, when the respective leaders of the human settlement of Kayim and the elven port of Til Formen'ya pledged each other's ships for aid and service. Over time, the scope of these agreements widened and multiple seperate treaties between the settlements were supplanted by a single unified document.
The regions part of the Alliance were not notably powerful during the Empire. Til Formen’ya and the surrounding Formen settlements had for untold centuries lived secluded lives in the rainforests that descend from the Dotharan Mountains to the shore, until being subsumed into the Empire in the 1st campaign of Expansion almost 7,000 years ago, making it the first non-Sorenian Elven peoples to be conquered by the Empire.
History
The groundwork modern Dotharan society was laid as part of the local democratic reforms as part of the Abolishment of Slavery & the Je'thor Reformations. Among other things, the reforms gave the Formen the ability to govern their communities without being subject to the Sovereign Steward's appointed governors. With newfound political power, the "Dol Formen" (the Rulers of the Rainforest) sought to regain some of their ancient privilege, coming into conflict with the Je'thor Councils of Dothara.
Demography and Population
The Dotharan Alliance is the most populous Feloran Sucessor State, with nearly 8,000,000 permanent and semi-permanent residents across it's 8 members. One of two successor states with a reliable census, the Alliance last tracked 483,145 people living in the capital region (296,000 in Til Formen'ya itself 160,032 people living in the next largest city, Andriyya, and between 30,000-8,000 living in each of the other member capitals. Most of the populations are concentrated to the southwest and coastline, northern and inland regions are sparesly populated, mostly by Elven communities that never migrated to the coast.
The population consists of mostly half-elves, a rarity in the known world, and that population permeates all levels of Dotharan society. Following them are humans, mostly ethnic Qua'adarans, and the original inhabitants, the Felorans. Thanks to mass migration from Galisea, and encouraged by the cosmopolitan culture of the Alliance, the Dotharan coast is experiencing a population boom unlike any other in Felora and perhaps even Galisea. Native Felorans, however, are still declining, though at a slower rate than elsewhere.
Territories
Dotharan members are primarily along the Dotharan Coast. The capital, Til Formen'ya is at the mouth of the Banban River, the northern terminus of the Grand Feloran Canal. This is also the western end of Alliance territory – lands to the west are dense, gnarly rainforest under nominal control of various, at times unified, orc tribes. Heading north, the human-founded city of Kayīm is first along the Dotharan coast and first in the alliance, through it's Treaty of Friendship with Til Formen'ya. Across the bay from Kayīm is the Port of Bèlësh, which had at first resisted the human settlement across their ancient fishing port, on several occasions through arms. The land north of the Bay of Bèlësh region is sparsely populated, however the Founder's Canal keeps the region protected and in the Alliance.
Along the Founder's Canal are middling members of the Alliance, dominated by half-elves. The cities of Chèu̯dah, Drindaì̯trèu̯, and Sae'adar were founded shortly before the formal creation of the Alliance by younger generations having grown up completely after the collapse of the Empire. The final two members to join the Alliance – the city of Andriyya and the Dotharic Orc Polity – joined 132 and 59 years ago respectively. Andriyya is the product of the final mass migration from Qua'adar before the Yūbaddid Succession War, while the Polity grew out of an organisation of clanless orcs and half-orcs, and is the furthest inland of the members. Canals dominate most alliance territory near the densely settled and colonised coast, however the territorial claims of the Alliance extend hundreds of kilometers inland, most of it being the ancestral homeland of the Formen people, though today it is largely unpopulated.
Military
Military prowess comes from the massive navy fielded by the Dotharan Alliance. It is the basis of the Alliance's power, and the Dotharans live or die by their power on the open oceans. The Til Formen’yans only inherited a small garrison and flotilla of Imperial tallships, however through the requirements of membership in the Alliance, anti-piracy patrols evolved into the largest navy in Felora at nearly 600 ships, some of which protect the Northern Coast as well as patrolling the common shipping lanes between Qua’adar and Til Formen’ya. Building on the traditional Feloran military structure, the Dotharans have expanded the naval Mörn Dolïn into an independent military branch, with its own internal divisions for anti-piracy, canal security, and naval warfare. There is a small standing Fèlmörn of 2,000, spread throughout the Alliance conducting border patrols and assisting with safety on the canals and roads. Dothar is the first of the Feloran Successor States to adopt firearms, and as such it's Oyemörn fields the most experienced musketeers on the continent. During peacetime, the Oyemörn are primarily stationed in Til Formen'ya or in other major Dotharan cities, ready to be mobilised in the event of war.
Technological Level
Dothara ranks among the most highly developed nations in Felora and Galisea, with a large class of merchants and traders, and due to rights unheard of in most of the world, a socially mobile and civically engaged working class. As the chief trading hub for commerce to Galisea, Dothara has been both a massive importer and exporter of technological advances. The Alliance is home to the University of Melnor, one of the most prestigious universities in the world. Dothara is the first Feloran state to widely adopt gunpowder weaponry, and is the only successor state to have actually expanded and refined it's canal network beyond that of the Imperial legacy. Local farming is still common, continuing the Imperial cultivation of rice paddies in farming communities linked by minor canals. Quality of life is close to that of the cities, and even rural communities in the Alliance have plumbing systems. Most well travelled canals are lit in a fashion similar to streets.
Religion
There is no official religion in the Alliance, however the majority of the population practices a varying mixture of Ëlhyaea, the official religion of the Feloran Empire; and worship of the Qua'dhis, a pantheon of deities originating in Qua'adar with potential links to the Pandroi faith. Festivals devoted to the various deities of the Qua'dhis are held throughout the year, while shrines to spirits in the Ëlhyaean faith are visited and mantained. The Ekoran Conclave does not appoint Shrine Custodians in Dothara, but human Dotharans on spiritual journeys have made their way to the Temple City.
The second most practiced belief is concentrated in the Dotharic Orc Polity, who's orcish populations believe the Tragedy of Thröm, a religious text significant to Orcs in the Feloran continent, with historical and cultural connections to the Ëlhyaean faith and the Feloran Empire. A smattering of other religions and faiths are practiced by the traders and merchants who come to settle in the Alliance for business reasons. The Dotharan Membership Charter prohibits restrictions on the open practice of any faith, however religious belief's from the farthest reaches of the world are viewed with bemusement, scorn, and skepticism.
Foreign Relations
The Alliance strives for cordial, stable business relationships with all those interested, and as such has remarkably stronger ties to Galisean nations comparative to the rest of the Feloran Successor States. Aside from the Qua'adaran Kingdom, a similarly minded merchant polity in Galisea, the Dotharan Alliance has strong trading relationships with Aeillan states such as Artenos, Spathos, and Nikea, although it only has formal relations with Artenos. Dotharan foreign policy is best characterised as "giddy opportunism" and "ruthless pragmatism".
The Alliance would like to stay out of "continental affairs" of the other successor states, and continually positions itself not as just a successor but a supplanter of the Feloran Empire, and tries to conduct relations with the other successor states as any other foreign entity. However, the political goals of the other states don't always allow for this desire, and the Alliance considers itself a rival of the Sorenian Soveriegnty, which has from inception made clear it's goal of Feloran reunification. Conversely, the Dotharan Alliance has no such apprehensions about involving itself in the affairs of other seafaring societies, notably imposing it's will in several independent island settlements near Dotharan trading routes or territory. Most controversially, the Alliance has adopted an increasingly antagonistic posture towards the Northwestern Orc Tribes, sworn enemies of the Feloran Empire who make no distinction with it's successors. An impetus for the Alliance Charter, the Dotharans have faced accusations by the Orc Polity and several Northeastern Orc Tribes for it's brutal methods and tactics as it tries to permanently break their ability to raid Dotharan ships and settlements.
Relations with the other sucessor states are caught in the legacy of provinicial relations within the Empire, with a known history not much longer than Imperial history. Til Formen'ya has maintained its customary role as the main port for Felora, the northern terminus of the Great Canal System, and of the Illebel highway; tethering the Sarendian and Ekoran economies together and making them mutually dependent. Ekora supplies much of the former Empire's food supply, and Sarendia is a resource-rich industrial hub, both of which rely on the Alliance for the transport and supply of their goods and industries.
Laws
The Dotharic Orc Polity has by far the most libertine of Alliance Charters, with the shortest residency requirement of any member.
Agriculture & Industry
The Alliance is a highly developed industrialised society, the outcome of it's trade prowess. Fisheries dot the Alliance, sustaining small villages who are able to process their catch on site with industrialised processes. Inland, the canal's water is harnessed to power the processing of immense amounts of Ekoran cash crops & livestock. Much of Dothara's mechanical industry is water-powered, and the Dotharans have modernised much of the ancient Feloran canals and aqueducts. This industrial boom however has resulted in Dotharan cities being dirtier on average than other Feloran states, though still comparatively clean compared to many Galisean cities.
Rural areas are dedicated to mostly agrarian pursuits where there are canals and forestry where there aren't. Many new inland rural towns are being settled (or in some cases, old abandoned towns resettled), their residents channeling the industrious spirit of the coast in searches for precious resources beneath the ground and in the thick forests of the mountains. The cities are dedicated to the trans-Tealastrian trade and their position at the intersection between it and the continental Feloran routes. Dotharans also have the largest shipbuilding industry in Felora, centered around Bay of Bèlësh.
Trade & Transport
Til Formen’ya remains the most popular gateway between the Feloran interior, with its canal access to Soren and Sarendia, and the well-travelled if inconsistently maintained road through the Dotharan mountains; and the ports of Qua’dar and Spathos. The city exports to the North much of the products of the rest of the continent, including staple crops such as wheat from Soren, Sarendian artisanal products made from prized Feloran wood, and Ekoran tinctures and delicacies. The city’s market, one of the biggest in the world and the biggest in Felora, contains an ever-changing assortment of merchants and artisans selling and buying products and services from across the world.
The Dotharan Alliance is largely thalassocratic and relies heavily on water transportation for ease of travel and communication. The system of canals in the Dotharan Alliance have been the best maintained in the former Empire, and within the Alliance the network has been expanded; both local networks within many cities and towns, and longer canals linking the capitals of the 8 member republics. The system within the Alliance is maintained through a partial volunteer civilian force on Formen Gondolas and well-kept supply depots. As a defense, portions of the canals can be drained, rendering them unusable in the event of an invasion by water. Roads are less extensive, though most main roads are used generally for travel to the parts of the continent unreachable by boat and are of inconsistent quality.
Education
The Alliance is the only successor state with a universal education system. All member states are required to enroll children no younger than 8 in a six-year curriculum that teaches basic mathmatics, science, law, and history. A non-mandatory extension program that teaches a few advanced concepts in each of the previous subjects, and additionally provides an intro to the five forms of magic and Ëlhyaea is also offered.
Infrastructure
Dotharan members consist of a variety of Feloran, Hadar, and hybridised architectural styles. Like all Feloran Successor States, most settlements have access to clean, potable running water, thanks to the highly centralised and maintained aqueduct system that helps support the canal network. Said system has been expanded as the Alliance has grown. It's canals, the most modern in Felora, are the backbone of an efficient transportation network that includes paved roads connecting all major settlements and outposts. One can also expect streetlighting (or "canal"lighting when fitting), and only on the outskirts along the Feloran wilds do well-travelled networks degrade.
Founding Date
229 PE
Type
Geopolitical, Republic
Capital
Alternative Names
Dothara, the Alliance, Dotharic, Dothar
Demonym
Dotharan
Leader
Leader Title
Head of Government
Government System
Democracy, Representative
Power Structure
Federation
Economic System
Market economy
Currency
Dotharan Rëmilas; Milas
Qua'adaran Gold; Silver, Copper
Qua'adaran Gold; Silver, Copper
Legislative Body
Alliance Council (Feloran: Oyelèu Dotharic)
Subsidiary Organizations
Location
Official Languages
Related Ranks & Titles
Related Professions
Controlled Territories
Neighboring Nations
Notable Members
Related Ethnicities
Related Plots
Diplomatic Recognition & Permanent Trade Mission
The Ekoran Conclave is friendly towards the Alliance, through shared religion and history, although Alliance members assign their own Shrine Custodians. The Dotharan Alliance is friendly towards the Conclave, with frequent trade contacts with the Jolli Steppes.
Trade Agreement
Diplomatic Recognition & Permanent Trade Mission
The Dotharan Alliance is neutral toward the Sarendian Trust, and continues to manage a majority of Trust exports to Galisea. The Trust increasingly wants more autonomy in pursuing it's economic interests, and relations are deterioriating.
Declared Rivalry & Trade Mission
Despite the declared rivalry, the Sorenian Soveriegnty continues it's trade relationship with the Dotharan Alliance, allowing Dotharan use of the canal through it's territory at exorbitant rates. The two are competitors for influence however, and tensions have been steadily rising.
