Republic of Rauhir

The sun is burning there, casting everything into a golden brightness. Red cloth droops to cover the streets in shade, stretched from one sandstone building to across the street. People rush through to the market, a busy cluttering of stands and stalls, overhangs and banners shadowing where the shoppers browse. Merchants hawk their goods and the crowds are filled with ankle-length tunics and traditional head coverings. It’s a profusion of colors that seem like the desert itself, or like the fire that burns brightly on the tip of a candle.

The deserts are endless, the winds whistling through the high plateaus and blowing the sand into dunes. Cities sprawl, caravans crawl, and along the coasts, ships prowl. Greenery is rare, water is rarer. This is the way of life on the strait of Rauhir.

Structure

Each semi-autonomous region sends a Representative to the Parliament. The five hundred and twenty seven Representatives all belong to various parties, but to elect a leader of the Parliament 2/3 of them have to vote for one person.

The Parliament votes on various laws regarding the country, but they mostly just provide a center for political debate and supposedly are a "show of union". Each semi-autonomous region is governed slightly differently, with a more meritocratic system in one and a more feudal system in another.

Public Agenda

The Republic is generally portrayed as a peaceful force that keeps peace and allows for cheap trade. Few merchants remember the days when it would cost exorbitant prices just to cross from the Gulf of Dijal to the Western Sea, but they are all taught how bad it used to be for the market. Some complaints have arisen in the great diversity of the Republic that the Parliament supresses minorities, but the majority of different ethnic groups feel safe within their semi-autonomous regions with their Parliamentary Representatives.

Assets

The Republic of Rauhir is extremely wealthy. Or at least it was, until the Aelgari Empire invaded. The Republic has spent huge amounts of the money (which it collected from taxes and political donations) to try and keep the Aelgari from getting past the Baiga Mountain range and to stop the relentless hordes of the Aelgari Empire. However with their poor military techniques and their slow decision-making process, it seems to be a losing battle for the Republic.

The army is mostly militia. Expensive weapons are bought with the highest care and stored in the capital, but often are not delivered to the border where they are needed. Basic fortifications exist on the high plateau by the Baiga Mountains, but the Republic is not well-suited to war.

History

The Republic first formed as a tariff free zone of separate countries under one constitution. This was for economic reasons, but also because the Aelgari Empire had recently conquered and assimilated the Northern Aelgari states. Such a major feat struck fear into the small, mostly mercantile states of the straits of Rauhir. And, as the states were dominated by merchants, it was extremely beneficial to cut down on the exorbitant costs of travel

After seven years, the first constitution expired, leaving the nations independent once again. The large mercantile class was unwilling to return to the tariffs and separate taxes, so they lobbied to review the old constitution and form a new one. After protests in nearly all the regions of the Republic and suspiciously generous donations to influential individuals, an assembly was called with representatives of each region.

After scandals, tiresome bureaucracy and overt racism, a new constitution was formed and the temporary assembly became the first Parliament. The Republic, with its prime geographic location and its union, became a trading powerhouse. The prices of nearly every foreign good dropped dramatically. Then it slowly began to rise as the Republic realized what its power in occupying the land that connects the Aelgari Continent, the Eastern states, the South Aelgar Sea, the Norther Tribelands, and the Gulf of Dijal. Until the Aelgari Empire attacked, the Republic was one of the most prosperous, diverse, and advanced (and corrupt) countries in all of the discovered world.

Demography and Population

The Southeastern regions of Rauhir have larger, more profitable farms with large workforces & large family-style communities. Some Rauhiri cities are found in this area. The further west you go from there, the farther apart the farms are, the smaller the families get and the more it becomes sustenance farming instead of cash crops. In the far west, where the high plateau is, the farms are so far apart it takes maybe a week to get from one to the next.

In Central and Northern Rauhir, there are more tribe-like organizations with a mostly nomadic lifestyle. Here is where the most distinctively "Rauhiri" traits and behaviors are. Most Rauhiri cities fall into this region. They are usually used as a stopping place to sell or buy goods and to rest between legs of caravans' journeys.

Territories

The land of the Rauhiri strait is held by the people who lived here ancestrally. The ancient tribes now form mercantile caravans, and the ancient Empires now form the Southern farmlands. The huge amount of diversity in each region makes it seem as though it is a dozen different countries rather than just one. Over time, many cultures have been lost to the wealthy Rauhi-speaking Southerners, but much of the individual tribal cultures still remain in the Northern caravans and the Southwestern family farms.

Military

Their military is a mess. No one wants to fight and die for an amalgamation of countries when they can make money. However, since the Aelgari invasion, the militia has swelled in ranks. The official military of Rauhir is mostly naval if anything, because it is in Rauhir's interest to keep the seas protected from pirates. However, most of the time, their military makes deals with pirates rather than fights pirates. Half of the inhabitants of Scoundrel's Safehaven are probably Rauhiri privateers, even if they have no loyalty to the Republic.

Technological Level

Rauhir imports its technological advances from other countries. While it has more advanced cannons than say, the Aelgari Empire, it cannot manufacture such weapons itself. Novelties are often sold to rich Rauhiri merchants and find their way to general life, but Rauhir often only uses ancient traditional instruments for practical purposes.

Religion

The Republic is extremely diverse in ethnicity as well as in religion. The main religion (about one out of every three people) is Rauism, a monotheistic religion that believes in the omnipotent omniscient god Rau. Rauism has a huge conversion rate and has temples in most cities. They also purport to have Saints blessed with Rau's power. However, most of these Saints seem to be mountebanks using the temples as a way of power.

Another common religion (maybe 20%) is Spiritism. This is a belief that living thinking spirits inhabit every inch of the Haela. Unlike Rauism, it has no centralized places of worship. Spiritist worship is a private individual thing, or simple blessings in every day life. Certain wise Spiritists claim that they can speak with the spirits, and are labelled as Saints, like the Rauists.

Foreign Relations

Many countries rely heavily on Rauhiri imports and exports. The Republic is the main moving force of global trade and economy. However, this sparks quite a bit of antagonism and many countries envy the Republic's wealth and power. Rauhiri merchants often sell goods with huge profits and buy goods extremely cheaply, angering those who have to pay the fees or those who wish to make a profit.

Agriculture & Industry

The Southeastern farms produce huge amounts of grains, spices and cotton. The farms on the high plateau generally are barely surviving, but they practice animal husbandry in the high desert. The central deserts are another hot spot for animal husbandry. Throughout Rauhir, but mostly in the less Southern regions, trading is the main source of income, rather than agriculture or industry.

Trade & Transport

There are no tariffs between regions, the first and one of the very few written laws in the Rauhiri constitution. Caravans generally take similar routes through the desert, stopping at the way points that developed into cities, taking the same slow paths up to the plateaus. However, each family, each mercantile empire, has their own secret paths that supposedly are much faster than everyone else's. Roads are futile in the desert, so each caravan is skilled at navigation by stars. Maps are redrawn each year, paths closed and opened, towns pop up near the new routes and die by the old ones. However, there are certain cities that never fade, despite their remote locations, because of the huge bazaars and well-reputed evaluators.

Education

Those in the Southwest are usually poorly educated in anything other than farming. However, the oral history is extremely rich, as each child is taught the ways of life by their older siblings or parents. The rich in the Southeast are usually over educated at private academies, the poor barely literate. In Central and Northern Rauhir, most people speak at least three languages and are extremely good at accounting and navigation, but are unlikely to be well acquainted with literature or science.

Unity in Prosperity

Founding Date

1307

Type

Geopolitical, Republic

Capital

Mahmougafi

Alternative Names

The Republic, Rauhir

Demonym

Rauhiri

Head of Government

Parliament Leader Patkilsarans Amnortanisa

Government System

Democracy, Representative

Power Structure

Federation

Economic System

Market economy

Currency

Sausi (a small circular coin, usually held on a string)

Major Exports

Nearly nothing is exported from Rauhir. Goods are simply transported through.

Major Imports

Nearly everyone wears clothes made from Southeastern cotton and eats Southeastern food. However, with such a big mercantile power, nearly every meal is supplemented with Eastern spices, Northern charms and Western delicacies. Rauhir is based on trade. Without its connection to the outside world, it would wither away.

Legislative Body

Each semi-autonomous region has their own legislative body. The central government doesn't have a huge amount of power over the local governments, but the Parliament can technically write laws.

Judicial Body

Again, the local governments carry out day-to-day functions, like court systems and judgement. A citizen can apply to the Parliamentary court system if they feel that they are unfairly persecuted by their region.

Official Languages