Yrkenvale
Morbid, Cosmopolitan, Scholarly. Yrkenvale conjures images of towering necropoli and looming black stupas, ringed by weeping, crow-winged angels in the mind of natives and foreigners alike. They are the dark and proud capital in the valleys of the setting sun.
Structure
Practically, Yrkenvale is a large state to the northwest of Dis that surrounds the Shale throne. It is a parliamentary republic ruled by Mansions, academic institutions with diverse schools of thought.
Even bereft of a God-Empress and the throne upon which she sat, Yrkenvale's government still bears all the trappings of a bureaucratic theocracy. Yrkenvale's government is controlled by the four Mansions of philosophy, scientific, and ethical thought, one of which is elected by popular vote to serve as the "Mansion Regnant", and appointing a Lord-Protector to serve as chief executive. Representatives from the four Mansions draft legislation in parliament, which may be vetoed by the Mansion Regnant, which can then be overturned by a parliamentary supermajority (which is to say, 2/3).
As the Mansions are neither geographically consolidated nor equally balanced in power (though all express an affinity towards it), political power is largely exerted through favor-trading, conversion, and rhetoric. Regional and local magistrates are appointed by the Mansion Regnant, or have the appointment delegated to a subordinate Academy. Popular referendums are not required by law, but are commonly conducted to find the right Human for the job. Nonhumans are not expressly forbidden from holding office, but are vanishingly rare, even moreso since the Catharate came to town.
Yrkenvale's structure relates to its' history as a theocratic republic of the Shale Throne. As a national identity formed after the arrival of the Zucians who would become Graften, a process redoubled by an increasingly cosmopolitan society, Yrken Academies consolidated into a national council, and through a series of favor-trading, backstabbing, and several seiges, established a system of individual election wherein.
Near the end of the Age of Thrones, a brief civil war culminated in a stalemate which necessitated the drafting of a constitution, lest the Academies' own armies turn against their leadership. This constitution mandated the election of a dominant Mansion, a Mansion Regnant, which would hold chief executive power over "matters temporal" for a term of 5 years. This rather pointed restriction of the Mansion Regnant's powers permitted theocratic infighting within the halls of power, prevented de jure persecution of specific religious and ritual practice, but ceded administrative authority to a single body, enabling (relatively) stable policymaking and governance on a national scale.
After the fall of the Shale Throne, this position has solidified significantly into its' present recognizable form.
Technological Level
Yrkenvale is head-and-shoulders above the rest of Arstadt's provinces in both tech, innovation, and adoption of new ideas. Yrken academia holds a vocal and boistrous rivalry with their southern neighbors in the Ingenious region of Maridia in the fields of medicine and alchemy. As both a point of pride and a very real pursuit of the public good in a degenerating world, this fevered tete-a-tete has begat alchemic horrors whispered of in darkened pubs, and possessed of cruel purpose and practice that would even make a Demiurge blanch.
Religion
Historically, the Yrken people venerated their patron, Viscerimine, the Shale Demiurge, goddess of death and entropy. This rather morbid choice of patron puts a somber pall over Yrken philosophy, but gave rise to magnificent funerary complexes, advanced medicine and healthcare, elaborate treatises on philosophy, and social safety nets. All of which intent on expressing the central ethos that defines the Yrken as a people: "Be Ye Not As Gods": everybody dies but nobody should be murdered. Thus, the Yrken people view neglect as a cardinal sin, and are famously hospitable, even chipper people and when they fight to protect, they fight tooth and claw. Even in her absence, Individua,l Yrken "street" morality continues much as if she never left: morbid, fatalistic, cuddly.
Cathar influence is marked in Yrkenvale through their substantial leverage on all four Academies, but is notoriously fickle and subtle as express and forceful control of ritualism and philosophical practice is unconstitutional. This doesn't stop the Catharate from taking what they want, if they truly want it, but Cathar control is generally more overt in regions where veneration of the Grand Martyr is more prevalent, offering Cathars the same constitutional protections as everyone else to enforce their tenets. Numerous popular revolts have sprung up in The Mandible and Rhaga peninsula.
Foreign Relations
Given the relative development and cosmopolitan nature of Yrkenvale, it's easy to forget it's bordered on three sides by significantly less stable regions. the Vykken coast was coveted for centuries by the Yrken who sought to remove the native Culminan, only to find their hopes dashed by the arrival of a wholly different demography, and one significantly more organized.
To the east, Yrkenvale presently holds de jure claim over The Mandible, though the Mansion of Just Prosperity is the only entity that seems to pay any heed to it, and then only to maintain trade roads that avoid the troubled Rowan plateau.
To the south, Yrkenvale has their perennial peers, the Ingenious Isles, historically both their closest ally and greatest threat both ideologically and materially. Despite this, the Ingenious Isles, especially Maridia, are the longest-standing and most complex diplomatic relations Yrkenvale has with anyone.
Yrkenvale is divided as to what to do about the Catharate, with uneven and rocky relations. However, the current Mansion Regnant, the Mansion of Many Chambers, maintains friendly contact and accepts Cathar protection against Fiends, at least on a national level.
"Be Ye Not As Gods"
Maps
-
Wichiweld
Type
Geopolitical, State
Capital
Demonym
Yrken
Head of State
Government System
Democracy, Parliamentary
Power Structure
Unitary state
Economic System
Traditional
Currency
Arstadtim Crown
Official State Religion
Subsidiary Organizations
Deities
Location
Official Languages
Controlled Territories
Neighboring Nations
Related Ethnicities
