Aldhir

General

Aldhir is a Dragonborn country in the Volker Desert with a large amount of High Elves living there as well. Most of the High Elves living here have some form of Draconic connection and are well respected among all High Elves. It’s neighboring countries are Eprus to the east, Kevarim to the south, Aelerium to the west and Mervidel to the north.
The country is old and already existed during the time of the Avaronian Empire. Some historians belief that Aldhir’s capital, Adroon is even one of the oldest cities on the continent that is not in ruins. In the deep desert however there are many ancient ruins beloninging to this period, some of which are even older than Adroon. According to legend these ruins were once large cities of the first civilizations that were destroyed by a large catastrophe. Adroon was the only city to escape this fate due to it being build mostly within the northern side of a mountain. In the legend this disaster started from the current Visar Volcanoes and later created the Volker Desert.
Currently the country mainly focuses on knowledge preservation and arcane studies. The best example of this is the library of Adroon which is the largest in all of Farlis. The Keepers originated from this library and can be found in almost all countries in Farlis.

Government

Aldhir is a republic led by a council of representatives elected by everyone in comparison to nearby Kevarim where the wealthy families determine the leaders. Due to the division of the Dragonborn into clans this unit form the basis of any election. Each clan puts forth a representative that they choose themselves. Their representative has to be a member of the Keepers or be at least a scholar or scientist. The representatives of the clans then form the basis of the government, the Council. After the first round the higher government official are chosen. Any clan member however can't vote on their own clan's representative in this round. In the end the 30 representatives with the highest votes form the actual government. Every two years the government choses two representatives to be Adrin, the highest position. A representative can't be Adrin for more than three terms. The Adrin rule in combination with the 5 ancient dragons that are chosen among the dragons living in Aldhir. A dragon has to be at least 800 years old to be able to be elected.
Other races are actually somewhat neglected in the government of Aldhir. They do get positions in the Council but are often not chosen to be in the higher government. To this day there has also never been an Adrin that was not Dragonborn.

Demography and Population

Most of the population in Aldhir is Dragonborn but some High Elves are living in the country as well making them the second largest group. Most of these High Elves are sorcerers with a draconic connection. Aldhir is also the main region where all kinds of dragons like to live. They are however not very high in number. 
The Dragonborn population is divided into clans. Each clan can be seen as a very large family sharing some distant ancestor. Some of these clans even have a dragon ancestor still alive today who functions as the head of the clan if this is the case.

Territories

In contrast to Kevarim no major rivers can be found in this part of the Volker Desert. However due to aquifers and underground rivers it is possible to find oases and settlements of which Adroon is the largest. Most of the country is desert but some of the edges of the desert also belong to Aldhir. The only large river in the territory of Aldhir is along the west side where most of the farming territory of the country is located. Smaller rivers are located along the southern coast line where some plantations are found but less than along the western border. 

Cities

There are not a lot of settlements in Aldhir due to the lack of fertile land. The largest city Adroon is placed along a very large oasis and is home to a lot of plantations and farms. Another settlement in the desert itself is Pargon which is also located near a large oasis. Most of the other settlements are along to more temperate coastal regions or the edges of the desert.
The largest coastal city is Devin and is located near a small river providing it the necessary water. Along the western border and river the largest settlement is Smargdae. Smargdae is actually the largest city of Aldhir since Adroon can't sustain the same amount of people.  At the north eastern border the largest settlement is Lafhir. Since it along a major road for trade between the south and Mervidel it has become a large trade hub.

Technological Level

Aldhir doesn't really use a lot of modern technology unless it deems it necessary. It however does maintain knowledge about all inventions it can get it's hand on in it's library. Although Aldhir knows how to create steam engines it more often likes to rely on magic. If a technology is better than the magic counterpart it is used however. But due to lack of resources magitech is more often used instead of regular technology.

Religion

The religion in Aldhir is a bit different in comparison to nearby countries. Most religions in Farlis worship at least one of the gods or multiple gods. In Aldhir the Dragonborn worship the oldest dragon living in the country, Vemandrir. Vermandrir is a gold dragon that is 1700 years old and has already a great wyrm. The great wyrm Vermandrir does hold a lot of power and is one of beings in the material realms that possesses vast amounts of magic. The priesthood is mostly in hands of his own descendants.

Foreign Relations

Aldhir has good connections with Kevarim which is it's main trading partner. It used to be allies with the Magi Covenant but that relationship has soured since 897 AE when it stayed neutral in the war between Aelerium and Mervidel. Since then Aldhir left the Magi Covenant. 
In recent history war was being waged between the Magi Covenant and the Eastern Alliance. After that Kevarim was attacked Aldhir joined forces with the Eastern Alliance.

Education

Education is solely in hands of the Keepers in Aldhir. It is at the great library of Adroon that the group was founded and it's linked university. Education in Aldhir is therefore really important. The most prestigious jobs are all related to scholary pursuits and getting into government even requires at least some years working as a scholar. Access to the large library of Adroon also helps the average inhabitant of Aldhir to get educated to at least some degree. Basic education is at mandatory and the population also has access to many places of the Adroon Library. 
Many people from abroad come to study at the Keepers university here making it the largest universtiy on the continent. The university is mostly specialized in traditional studies like history, arcana, biology, etc... More modern sciences like physics and engineering are given here but are not as up to date as in the Human universities.

Type

Geopolitical, Republic

Government System

Democracy, Representative

Power Structure

Unitary state

Economic System

Mixed economy

Currency

Aldhir is a rather strange country since it uses two types of currency depending on the size of the transaction. For larger transactions they prefer to use gold, silver or copper bars and at times even iron or steel ingots. Many of the transactions with it's neighbours are in this fashion. In the country itself most transactions are done with copper, silver and gold coins. One Alira is a silver coin and worth 100 copper coins called Alir.

Neighboring Nations

• Eprus
• Kevarim
• Mervidel