Holy State of Ayneva (Aye-Nev-Vuh)

Ayneva is the Eastern march of Ayshanism, a wall of sacred soldiers standing against the hordes of heathenous Aretans and Halikvar. It is led by the legendary solar cleric Graceful-Worship and her vanguard of elite solar clerics; this is her social project to transform the "backwater of the East" into a sleek, modern society. A land once known for its quirky local ritual (often mocked and feared by foreigners) is now known as an urban, disciplined, and rather mean-spirited land of soldiers and craftsmen. 
This is the burning brand of the sun, the transformative army of reason and liberty. All those who would surrender their idols to the flame and embrace the light of true reason are welcome here; those who would cling to tyranny and superstition may find no peace. 
Generally speaking, this is a realm in the middle of transformation. Only a few decades ago, the last religious revolt and war ended here, and the population is still adjusting to their new role in the world. Ayneva was already a very culturally diverse land before the Ayshans came, but now it is also divided between competing ideas of what the country is supposed to be and what people are supposed to act like. This tension and chaos is captured by the state and funneled into holy fury against outsiders - many wonder if this culture war wouldn't be resolved by an Ayshan invasion of neighboring states.

Structure

Ayneva is a government of exceptional individuals ruling a grand bureaucracy. At the top is the ancient and powerful Solar cleric Graceful-Worship, Aysha's attack-dog and one of the two most powerful mortal clerics alive (the other being the exile, Perfection). Graceful-Worship is currently preparing their heir, Pure-Sky, for rule over Ayneva as the next long-lived solar overlord. Powerful solars blessed by Aysha hold many positions of power here as well, and walk the realm as nigh-demigods. 
The state bureaucracy is essentially the army and the church intertwined. The Grand Marshal and the Solar Master rule beneath the Overlord. Local governors and clerks work below the chief clerics and generals. 
While there is certainly no democracy or local power here, most of the government are actually local Aynevans. Those who do well in school tend to be chosen; aristocratic bloodline means little. Breeding and wealth can help grease palms, but that corruption is technically illegal.

Culture

The War of Old and New

Aynevan culture is divided sharply between the new Ayshan culture and the old traditional culture. The new culture is seen as young, urban, foreign-minded, individualistic, and rationalist; the old culture as communal, rural, traditionalist, and local. Old Aynevan culture is certainly not well-loved in the broader international imaginary - it is stereotyped, abroad and by the urban culture, as being xenophobic, superstitious, close-minded, cruel, hierarchical, and despairing. An old Shenek saying is "With a cousin to the left and liquor to the right, the Aynevan cuts himself in half" - basically, that Aynevans act incomprehensibly because they are stupid, incestuous alcoholics. Not the best reputation, and one that certainly helped justify the serfdom that foreign elites imposed on Aynevans for nearly half a millennium. The new urban culture is desperate to rebrand itself as modern, sleek, individualistic, and rational. The Aynevan youth mock displays of emotion or superstitious, and idolize cultural heroes who use clever tricks to dupe gullible fools. Individuality is tied with individual achievement and a sharp work ethic; those seen as lazy are derided. Rural people, with their agricultural calendars and seasons of rest, must prove themselves as hard-working, modern, and punctual. Excessive family care is seen as a sign of individual failings. There is a constant need to prove one's self as an individual. 
The old culture is not actually the vile culture of backwards peasants; it is a loose culture of social relationships, loose scheduling, and community-driven life. Old life was loosely organized but revolved around people, with extended families being incredibly important to personal and communal life. Those who obeyed the social order were seen as having a right to social inclusion and relationships - loneliness was seen as close to death, and exile was the death of the soul. A certain laissez-faire attitude towards village traditions also means that, despite accusations of xenophobia, traditional culture can actually be very permissive of new rituals and accepting of eccentric outsiders. This is a give-and-take attitude: if you accept local traditions, the local traditions likely accept yours.
It is worth going beyond the simple paradigm flip of "new culture bad, old culture good" though. The traditional culture was and is one of limited social mobility, where family status mattered a great deal and where individual autonomy didn't really exist. The more lax attitudes towards performed work ethic and punctuality certainly doesn't mean that people aren't pushed hard by the community (especially during harvests, sowing, etc). Arranged marriages are common in these spaces, and public punishment and humiliation of those who deviate from norms is common. And the local open-mindedness can be extremely arbitrary sometimes; rival villages will often have their traditions demonized, and back luck or bad actors can easily stigmatize new outside people or ideas. A lot of the positives and negatives here are context-dependent; times of crisis, particularly mean-spirited local elites, or other circumstances can turn traditionalism quite toxic, but the same can be said for the new urban culture. 
It is worth mentioning that religion is a big part of this. Ayshanism is everything to the new culture, while the traditionalists tend to fit Ayshanism into older models of religious belief and are more wary of priests. Traditions tied to other organized religions, such as public displays of faith and teeth blackening, are now considered superstitious and taboo. Lastly, the urban-rural divide here is imperfect; some villages are into new culture, some cities have traditionalists, and plenty of people sit in between these two cultural ideals. There is a perceived gap between the two norms, but plenty of people switch between them according to convenience. 

Everyday Life

The aforementioned cultural divide casts a long shadow over everyday life, as the new push for individualism has impacted many pillars of society. For example, the extended family, once the foundation for Aynevan life, is being questioned and undermined by elites at every turn. This heavily impacts courtship and romance. Arranged marriage is now illegal, and matchmakers as a trade were mass arrested and cut off from training new replacements. Matchmakers were not used for every marriage (especially among the poor), and were typically more popular in Halikvar communities, but they used to play a vital role in coordinating youth exchanges between villages. Local replacements have emerged, even illegal ones (arranged marriage is not dead), but they are more chaotic and unstable now. This has intensified a sense of social confusion and village rivalry that tends to orbit romance; no one really knows what to do, and it is a source of constant friction. Sending kids to cities to find socially acceptable matches is common, though the cities have constantly shifting romantic norms and expectations that have been the source of many a feud and tavern brawl. How acceptable are casual hookups? How long do people date before marriage? What rituals demonstrate interest, and which demonstrate disinterest? The answer changes decade to decade, even year to year depending on your social class and city. Romance drama as a genre has really taken the press by storm, and rising literacy rates have seen a deluge in romance novels reaching the public. Fashion and art are similarly unstable, producing immense variety in what is sophisticated or fashionable. 
This isn't to say that people are out there fighting in the streets; only that there is a lot of social rivalry towards other generations and other towns that are "doing it wrong" at whatever they are doing. The military is the great mediator here; military culture is consistent, military veterans are given more wiggle room to incorrectly perform cultural norms, and those who fall through the cracks of society are pushed into military service as a reform tool. 
Food, for what it is worth, remains a common cultural unifier. Aynevans fancy small breakfasts and large lunches; stuffed zucchini or stuffed eggplant are a universal dish no matter where you go. Kosi, a kind of lamb-rice-yoghurt-egg casserole, is a favorite among meat-eaters here. Boza, a millet malt alcohol, and wine are greatly beloved here (Ayneva has a fierce drinking culture, especially during winter months). Jalebi/jilapi, thinly rolled fried maida dough glazed pretzels, are beloved desserts.

History

Early History (0 ME to 700)

Ayneva's recorded history began in the hills to the West, where prismholds first began adopting written language as they grew over the late Divine and early Modern era. The lowland settlements were fairly small but had a dense farming population, and were led by mobile human tribes of a similar culture to the horsemen of Eastern Shenerem. The rise of powerful markets in Shenerem benefitted the prisms most of all, who were led by paladins of a new celestial presence - the Lunar God of Knowledge Emesh. Ayneva's name comes from its early moniker as the Land of the Prisms of the Moon; but this age of Emesh was brief. Humans and dryads slowly built their own cities to model the prism ones starting in the early 200s. In the 300s ME, a new wave of prisms were coming in with their own order: the Kima Cities. Some of the Emeshites joined these new Kima, while others were driven from the region and scattered farther afield. The Kima prisms rose sharply and then decline from infighting and unsustainable practices, and the wealth and power of the land drifted into human hands - which were much more effective at working Western markets after they began converting to Pratasam in the 300s. 
In the 410s, one human city-state, Shimmar, conquered the rest under the leadership of the Latoja tribe. Shimmar went on to conquer much of the rest of the region by 460. In 503, their power spread even further Northwest, into Keshet - and in 600 ME, they stood as one of the new continental powers. But their power was precarious, and their government was prone to civil wars. 

In 615, a failed war with Shenerem (a part of the Lunar Crisis of the day) led to a horrific civil war that tore the Shimmaran empire apart. After decades of instability, the region of Keshet rebelled in 638 - and won its independence the next year. The Empire would stumble along for another half a century, torn between Lunar cults (notably Jade and Emesh) and political factions. In 695, it collapsed into many fragmented pieces, and many of the surrounding tribes moved in to conquer the crumbling provincial governments. 

The Enserfingof Ayneva (700 to 1700)

Lunar cult stuck around in Ayneva long after it did in other places - the tribes returned the Cult of Emesh to dominance, and Emesh encouraged a broad diversity in governments and religion. Pratasam remained the dominant religion, but it was becoming increasingly localized. As it was becoming more difficult for any immortal to extract resources from this cultural mess of local variants, Ayneva was basically left alone as useless territory. Local kings rose and fell, but no empires or great faiths emerged. Ayneva was back to being the backwater of Eastern Samvara. The cultural unification that the Shimmaran empire championed completely dissolved; "Ayneva" went from being a name for all of the Eastern Samvaran coast North of Shenerem to being just the Southern half of that coast (the North became known as Voshonem, or spear-point-clan-lands). In the 900s, a peacekeeping mission arrived from the Empire of Shirpatra in the form of solar healers and political mediators. An age of peace and prosperity began, and a cult of Aysha appeared in many of the local Pratasa variants. 
In the 1100s, collapse of Shenerem opened Ayneva up to Halikvar invasions. Religious war spread to Ayneva as Eastern Pratasa and Halikvar forces clashed. Largely, the Halikvar won. From 1247 to 1300, Halikvar princes from the far East ruled Ayneva and marched further North to spread their faith - but in the late 1200s and early 1300s, the Halikvar were driven back by the Ayshans in the far North. The returning Aretan forces finally completed dislodged the Halikvari occupiers in 1390 - but the morale among them was low, and they were also seen as occupiers by many locals. 
The instability of the wars and the new occupying regimes of the 1400s saw many common Aynevans tied to the land in ways they hadn't been back in the 1000s. Serfdom became the new order of the day. Local Aynevans were exploited in the rising Kima Cities, in the Aynevan cities, and in the countryside - not in uniquely horrible ways, though a fair amount worse than in other feudalisms in Samvara. It is also during this time that Ayneva became famed for its lead and its leaded glassware - made in Aynevan lands, but with the coin held entirely by foreign aristocrats. Local religious variants were seen as rural, uncivilized, and pagan, a sign of the inferiority of Aynevan culture. Whether a kingdom was Halikvar or Aretan, great distance emerged between the commonfolk and the elites. And yet, this status quo only continued and intensified over the next few centuries. From 1400 to 1700, Ayneva was considered worthless, backwater territory worthy only to wring resources from. Of course, there were still many different local governments that varied wildly in quality of life - it was still an era of plurality, even if it was also one of underdevelopment.

Faith and Flame (1700 to 1863)

In 1702, the rising Third Empire of Shenerem led to a religious revival in the Temple of Areto. Priests and missionaries flooded into Ayneva - at first to consolidate Aretan rule, but then to revolutionize the countryside. It was no longer acceptable for Aretan lords to trample on their communities - in the new era of Areto, Aretan lords who so abused their communities would be condemned and liable for annexation by the Shenek Empire. Of course, lords also needed to correct the local's beliefs as well - and so, lords who wanted to continue their extractions needed to justify themselves by find faults in their subjects and 'correcting' them. It was a century of consolidation in all things. 28 kingdoms became 6. Many temples folded into just one. For many, life improved as infrastructure was built, nobles were held accountable, and consistent social services were established. And yet, the unusually strict serfdom of the earlier centuries remained. There were attempts by some clerics to reform this, but they were shut down in the 1740s - many worried that excessive freedoms would allow the Halikvar subjects to begin evangelizing. 
In 1801, a new force entered the land: the Ayshans, led by the legendary cleric known as Graceful-Worship. Having taken the Northern lands back from the Aretans over the last century, Graceful-Worship moved with extreme force in 1801. The Aretan temple, divided and distracted by other wars, fell like a house of cards. And the radical reforms that the Aretans promised but never delivered were given by the Ayshans instead. Not that all was cheery under Graceful-Worship; for her reforms attacked the foundational community structures that many in Ayneva relied upon. The temples were dissolved, either made into Ayshan ones or completely sold off for state funds. All temple treasures and icons were melted down for coins or sold off for war funds, replaced with austere and humble decorations. Mystics and monks were chased off. The communities of Ayneva felt vulnerable to spiritual attack, and social upheaval soon followed. The Ayshans supported many young people in overthrowing their elders, seizing lands from village elites, and otherwise turning society upside down. The world was scrambled, and zealous Ayshan converts were placed in charge. 
The violence of the Ayshan invasion did not end until 1820, after many local revolts and Aretan counter-attacks. The wars of religion didn't end even then - they just radiated out of Aynevan land. These lasted until 1863, when the Aretans and Halikvar finally settled into lasting peace. The transformation of Ayneva's culture dragged into the 1900s, and really only settled in 1970. 

The Ayshan Order (1863 to 1950)

The end of Graceful-Worship's initial wars of religion in 1863 also came with Aysha asserting more directly control over the peace process. Graceful Worship was pushed out of governing in Voshonem and Keshet, which were considered safe territories. In 1865, Aysha conducted a referendum in Voshonem to try and create a precedent for democratic self governance, and she enforced the results of that referendum (which were confused and localist at best) on the Northern half of Graceful-Worship's empire in 1875. Worship did retain control over Ayneva, though, which was to be Aysha's wall against foreign temples and religions.

Graceful-Worship had been expecting her Goddess to disband parts of her empire, and pivoted entirely to claiming new territory for her new state. To do this, she would need to militarize Ayneva's society and transform its culture in one that will be Ayshan forever (she was extremely annoyed that parts of the Northern lands that she lost had reverted to Aretan religion). All of society needed to be restructured around the nigh-immortal solar; the guilds, village life, the army. The clans were disbanded, and many fortunes changed rapidly as Worship redistributed land and wealth. 
The obvious chief victors of this were the schools, the Ayshan temples, and the Ayshan-aligned factions. There were others, though, including supportive selkie fleets and a number of local crime bosses. Those criminal minds who learned how to manipulate Worship's systems of redistribution were known as the Martens - a shadowy group that was tolerated as long as they helped sell out local religious dissidents. 

Modern History

The last anti-Ayshan rebellion was in 1970, and ended with a whimper. Two centuries of Ayshan reform overseen by a cleric of immense power had seen the willpower sapped from the local populace. Generations of growing Ayshan faith saw many in the cities and towns (which grew wildly in the 1900s) leading Worship's anti-foreign crusade. And local rituals were reasonably tolerated as long as they were "secularized", which many villages accepted. The reign of terror against other religions also created a sense of religious protection - the nasty heretics and witches were slain, and the spiritual power of the Ayshan state was proven by fire and sword. By 1900, the last fires of purging had burnt out - now was a time for peace and prosperity.
The ambitions of Graceful-Worship were not fully realized; parts of the country remain underserved by the infrastructure and bureaucracy, and some old institutions of control have re-emerged under new names. The Martens have grown in power in the city, and spread even beyond Ayneva - making crime a new problem to deal with. Increasingly, the rhetoric has turned xenophobic - it is the Halikvar and the Aretan heathens who undermine this land with their superstitions, witchcraft, and corruption. Many sense that war is brewing. The Empire of Shenerem seems like a likely target, unless they withdraw their soldiers from neighboring Ashavaht (a Shenek client state). The army has been reformed, the bureaucracy working well, and Ayneva's engines of power are whirring to life - the small country seems ready to hit well above its weight.

Demography and Population

Around 11 million people live in Ayneva. 40% are Human, 30% are Dryad , 25% are Prism , and 5% are Other.

Territories

Ayneva is 375 miles long North-South, and 222 miles long West-East. It is largely divided into two major valleys: the Dakalem valley in the South, which is the heart of the administration, and the Sologed Valley (along the Sologed river) in the North.
The climate is semi-arid, with lots of small trees and shrubs with patches of grassland. Small forests abound, especially along the coasts. To the West, Ayneva becomes steadily more mountainous, culiminating in the unclaimed Waraska mountains.

Military

Ayneva's military is bureaucratic, meritocratic, and focused on standing armies supported by mercenaries. The Aynevan military ideology is one of education - violence is a taught art, not intrinsic to a person or hereditary but entirely a craft that is best learned in an educational setting. People who demonstrate interest and aptitude for cavalry or officer positions can be transformed by schools and rigid boot camps. Training camps and military schools are tied into the government, teaching clerks and lawyers as well as siege engineers and officers. The civilian government is a side organ of the military apparatus, giving the military immense power to appropriate tax money and personnel if need be. 
This model has, largely, produced a disciplined and capable standing army of unusual size. The military is used for other tasks than violence during peacetime - construction, courier duty, policing - and is glorified and honored by the public (even as poorer veterans are discarded callously in some instances). The idea that anyone can rise in society through military service has created a romantic image of the peasant-into-aristocrat, the sophisticated savant from humble roots. Violence is always religious as well; policing targets religious minorities, military preparation is against the heathenous idolaters and their vile misleading spirits. These disciplined blocks focus on spears, crossbows, and some gunpowder - much is made of new handgunnes, the weapon of the future. Cavalry is present and significant, but tends to favor major landholders and therefore has some political tensions with the other forces. Currently, the cavalry is 'out of power' politically, but that could change.
The Aynevan forces are bolstered by Shirpatran forces - the Liberators (more disciplined and capable cavalry and crossbows) and the Idolbreakers (infantry known for their zealotry). Other auxiliaries from Keshet and other Ayshan lands gravitate here as well during times of religious tension.

Religion

Ayneva is aggressively Ayshan; evangelism and public worship for any other organized religion is banned. Halikvar and Aretan communities exist, but are completely cut off from their foreign religious structures, are barred from formally organizing, and face constant pressure to convert. Nonetheless, these religious minorities persist, have organized around family alliances to replace their priests, and are mostly tolerated. The foreign religion of Sumoxa, however, is completely illegal and is very strictly banned in any form, as it is seen as possibly appealing to local traditionalists.
Local religion in Ayneva is incredibly diverse and quirky, as local tradition has long been prioritized over organized religion. While the last few centuries have seen multiple organized religions attacking these rituals and cutting down on local mystery cults, that hasn't spelled the end of local religion - it has only "secularized" it, with local villagers recategorizing their spirituality as cultural in order to preserve it. Each local tradition has been pitted against one another, though, and now villages decry their rival settlements as being religious cultists while calling their own rituals "cultural heritage". 
Some villages may harbor alternative beliefs or minority religions, but the cities are hotbeds of radical Ayshanism. The merchant's ports are more religiously mixed, but these outside beliefs are contained in specific districts. Many foreign Idolbreakers settle in these cities, and many local Idolbreakers are recruited there. 

Shimmaran Religion

As the cities of Ayneva have been artificially grown by the Ayshan regime, urban religious dialects have grown in recognition and are expanding out of the cities and into the countryside. The largest growing religious variant is that of the capital city, Shimmar. Shimmar's rituals have always revolved around games, contests, and festivals, making them particularly easy sells as "secular cultural heritage". Shimmaran religion adores funeral games in particular, and there is an association between revelry and the space between life and death. Shimmar is known for its 'Hinthials', or family graves - large death mausoleums or grave-houses that represent the gravestone and resting place for all honorable members of the family. A large hinthial well-remembered and well-stocked means an easy journey to the afterlife and fewer hostile ghosts. On the Ash Revelry, in mid-winter, families tend to their hinthials and dance together in the streets to pacify the spirits of the dead, while drinking and feasting. Notable families often imitate Ash Revelry in their funerals, which can go on for nine days and include public feasts that act as shows of that family's power. 
Shimmar also has the Sunspring Games every spring, which fall on the holy day of Dwalen - Lily of Red's day of ascension, celebrated in Areto, Halikvar, and Pratasam. The Sunspring Games were founded as funerary games for the Gods themselves when this land was Aretan, but now remain as a 'secular' ritualized day of wrestling, horse racing, and other entertaining contests of skill and strength. The Ayshan regime is not a fan of all of them - particularly the Contest of Fools, where socially dishonorable people (beggars, exiles, sometimes sex workers, anyone the urban commonfolk don't like at the time) are dressed up like mocking mirrors of sporting champions and paid to engage in mock sports for public entertainment (stuff like dog charioteering, sprint races with legs tied together, gladiator fights with comedic fake weapons). It is worth noting that some particularly skilled and socially dishonored entertainers have essentially monopolized this event in exchange for higher pay, making this... less unethical? It is less coerced now, which is good, but the refinement of this race has allowed for it to be exported to other cities and has started professionalizing the public mockery of minority groups and certain downtrodden populations, which isn't good.
The more ominous Shimmaran regional specifics are Sanctuary Stones and blood feeding. Sanctuary Stones are large boulders painted with a tree with growing eyes. The Sanctuary Stones are said to represent the judgment tree, who curses any who does violence under its gaze. Sanctuary stones are placed as markers of sacred ground (graveyards, temples, some palaces), and are often covered with sheets during battles or certain executions. Blood feeding, meanwhile, is a banned practice where someone gives their blood as sacrifice to feed the dead during funerals, Ash Revelry, or when asking for something. It is no longer publicly done, but some families persist. 

Other Traditions

Other than Shimmar, local traditions include:

• The Citrine Brawl, originating in the coastal city of Onshana, where the middle, lower, and upper classes send their children into class-based teams to basically play dodgeball with fruit in the public square. Winning social class gets to elect a festival monarch for the year, who conducts rituals and leads the city in minor sacrifice.
• All Baker's Festival, which originates in the inland town of Sajikal, where everyone constructs public ovens and bakes bread together to be shared by the community. Some bread is then ritually burnt in sacrifice and the ash is mixed with salt by the someone blessed by the town's elites (it used to be that this ritual was led by a town mystic) to become Blessed Ash - a sacred material stored in an urn that is used to consecrate the fields.
• The Midnight Arrival, where people give one another gifts under the cover of night while dressed wearing a mask of the Nightgiant - a massive faerie shapeshifter said to descend from the Moon (or the swamps) to punish the wicked and reward the good. Bad children (but sometimes socially disliked people in general) are given small wooden carvings shaped vaguely like leaves (typically more rhombuses) that are omens of impending punishment. The Nightgiant is often said to carry a horsehair whip to punish wicked children, and during times of social upheaval townsfolk have reportedly whipped local troublemakers or hated landlords during this night while dressed as the Nightgiant.
• Candlemass, where people congregate with candles, gathering their neighbors and singing old songs. Ritual co-adoption of children takes place and the children are sent to hide and play games in consecrated basements while most of the adults gather into great formations (forming lines like runways, or drawing pictures only visible from the sky with their bodies) with candles and invite visitors from the stars to ride their chariots of night into the town for communion. There are some reports that people have become possessed by 'Visitors' or have witnessed omens during this event, though no investigation has ever confirmed or denied this.

For many, rituals are most appropriate when Emesh is dominant on the moon.

Foreign Relations

Ayneva is an aggressive state with numerous enemies. The Empire of Shenerem to the West is Ayneva's primary rival, but their relationship with the Kingdom of Siashi to the South is strained and hostile as well.

The small states that surround Ayneva are also not very friendly. Many small states in the region of Voshonem to the North are perpetually anxious about Aynevan influence and imperial claims. Many states to Parashi to the West are anxious about potential Aynevan expansion as well as Aynevan interference in their Kima Cities or local serfdom arrangements.
Despite this foul reputation for aggression, Ayneva's leaders have a focused pragmatism that has led to diplomatic success. Siashi, despite being ideologically hostile to Ayneva, is generally supportive of Ayneva's efforts against Shenerem. Shenerem, in turn, has been trying to nudge Ayneva against Siashi, a manuever that Ayneva has been manipulating to its best ability. The small kingdoms of Voshonem, Parashi, and Zarpali, meanwhile, have supported Ayneva at times from a combination of intimidation and Aynevan diplomatic skill. 
Even if the world turns against Ayneva, the state still has support from its firm Ayshan allies. The Empire of Shirpatra and Kingdom of Keshet stand by the Holy State, and supply it with troops and economic support - in exchange, they are given a buffer state as well as very generous trade arrangements. 
Currently, Ayneva's main goal seems to be to exert some influence over the Kingdom of Ashavat, to the South. Whether it will use force of arms in this endeavor is yet to be seen.

Agriculture & Industry

Ayneva is mostly agrarian, but has a growing manufacturing center based out of the port cities (particularly the capital city of Shimmar). The countryside grows wheat, maize, grapes, olives, sugar beets, potatoes, tobacco, figs, and tomatoes. There is some mining in the Western hills, and there is substantial salt mining along the coast. Raw resources are directed towards larger cities for manufacturing, sometimes at the cost of local village industries - cities are given special guild privileges that make it difficult for village artisans to prosper without relocating to towns or cities. Young aspiring craftspeople are drawn into urban centers, and villages are pressured into engaging with the cash economy in order to get necessary goods. 
Ayneva's glassblowing is famous throughout the continent, and is the most recognizable export of the state. While the technology of leaded glass has spread beyond this region, it is usually only produced in small amounts in other kingdoms (a product of guild secrecy and traditionalism in Samvara). Ayneva's glass, meanwhile, has been produced in significant amounts for centuries, and has a reputation that other leaded glass can't compete with. Fine Aynevan crystal is a symbol of luxury, it just isn't the same if it is Shenek! The new Ayshan regime has worked to increase the glass produced as well by founding a large glassworking academy. 
Another industry that the government has supported is the sugar industry, which uses experimental sugar-beet processing to create sugar without sugarcane. This industry is big in Shirpatra and has only just started here - but the leaders have high hopes for it.

Trade & Transport

Local guilds and merchants do most of the trading and trade organizing. Many of the prominent merchants are tied to the Martens - organized crime families. Tariffs against the Empire of Shenerem have made inland merchants seek out Marten protection and smuggling services, and have pushed others towards ocean trading.

Education

A robust but still-developing school system has been built in Ayneva, especially in the towns and cities. Urban academies are beloved by the Ayshan elites, and so academies have popped up for any specialized skill to drink in government funding and produce legions of middling-class specialists. Military academies are some of the most prestigious, and getting a legal or medical education usually means going there. Basic education in reading, writing, mathematics, and natural philosophy is mandatory and free in cities. 
The countryside is less developed and is wildly inconsistent in educational availability. Local village temple schools were secularized but struggle to teach more than basic literacy. Anything more advanced requires going to an urban center - a "brain drain" of rural youth has ensued, where bright or ambitious young people are siphoned from villages, and those who remain often have a sense of immobility and despair.

"Lies Beget Tyrants"

Founding Date

1875

Type

Geopolitical, Theocracy

Demonym

Aynevan

Power Structure

Unitary state

Currency

Ekedian Gold Suns, Silver Moons, and Copper Bats

Major Exports

Glass, iron, wine, salt

Major Imports

Spices, luxury goods

Official State Religion

Ayshanism

Location

Samvara

Neighboring Nations

• Aquatic Domhulin
• Empire of Shenerem
• Kingdom of Ashavat