Tchepec

Infusions: pewter (cold), secondarily feather/bird (penguins!)
A frost-covered peninsula sticking into the Nidari Reach , Tchepec was an unnamed region of nondescript Giteri land until it was settled by travellers from Caracar who brought their pewter infusion with them.

questions:

• Are the Tchep big into acronyms?
• what was the prophet's name? Ec?

Demographics

The majority of the population of Tchepec remain members of the Tchep ethnicity, mostly living a nomadic or pastoral lifestyle to survive off the fairly harsh land - though they are very tolerant of the cold.
Has slave ownership, mostly owned by the state. also has indentured servitude.
Population Breakdown:

• 99% Tchep
• 0.5% Giterikin
• 0.25% Nidari
• 0.25% other

Religion

the ethnic religion of the Tchep is part of what has tied them together for so long. It speaks of the Tchep as descendants of fallen stars, which are eternal and burning-cold, exiled to the ground for the sins of their ancestors. when they die, they are allowed to return to the sky as new stars if they live a redemptive life; otherwise, they are reborn into one of their ancestors.
The religion encourages three main facets of a redemptive life: right place, right people, and right behaviour.

• Right Place: ascension is only possible from Tchepec, identified by astrology and the words of the Prophet as being cosmically aligned in some way.
• Right people: as you may be reborn as any of your ancestors, interbreeding with non-Tchep is strongly discouraged
• Right behaviour: this has varied greatly over time, but currently means obeying the instructions of the stars, not attempting to rise above one's station and defending the homeland as required.

Government

The ruling royal family of Tchepec engages in a lot of patricide, fratricide, and other associated activities.
The state is fairly decentralised in terms of population, who are difficult to tax. Though the land is in theory owned entirely by the Monarch, the majority of the population uses it as it wishes, with the exception of valued locations (mines, forests etc). In return, they may be called up by the Monarch to form an army for defence (or more rarely, attack).
The ruling family personally controls most of the industry, in particular the Tchepec Mercantile Concern, which acts as the main base of their personal wealth. Shares and dividends in this business are given as rewards to underlings, though they revert to the Monarch upon death.

Defences

The Monarchy tolerates the laxness and freedom of their peripatetic subjects as long as they come when called up to fight. there is a small proportion of the population that serves permanently as trained guards and scouts to keep order and patrol the borders; then there is a larger pool of reserves that are called up in a rotating basis to form a semi-standing army; then finally, there is the call for every able-bodied man that arises during an invasion or other major military action.

Industry & Trade

Tchepec is a fairly self-sufficient land, though it will sometimes bring in food if it has a particularly tough year for livestock, as well as bringing in many luxury items.
the Tchepec Mercantile Concern (TMC) is a powerful shipping company with a virtual monopoly on refrigerated shipping across the Nidari Reach. this is achieved using pewter mesh in the holds of the ship which is set into ice and replenished every few months or years at Tchep ports. Only 60 or so of these large ships operate all in all, but they are the only way to move perishable products - especially Felletoum produce and various meat products - to distant locations, and as such can command a high price both loading and unloading. the money produced this way is the basis for the wealth of the Tchep Monarchy, whose taxation funds are limited. The Concern also has trade interests - though typically non-refrigerated - including offices in Elritund.
Whilst longer journeys are made by a smaller number of large ships, there is also more local distribution network for produce. This is done by the distinctive "front-heavy" fore-and-aft rigged barges of the TMC, optimised for hopping along the coast and heading upriver with heavy cargos. They are a common site in the major sea and river ports of the reach, their wooden flanks beaded with condensation or painted with frost.
Imports:

• grain, fruit, and other foodstuffs
• cloth and luxury items

Exports:

• ice (luxury item)
• Pewter (for refrigeration)

Infrastructure

Navigation internally in achieved mostly by sled, musk-ox caravans, and rivers and streams (both iced-over and clear).
while relatively sparse in permanent settlements, there are many trading-posts that expand regularly into trader's markets (though as these places are monitored by the Monarch's tax agents, a fair amount of discreet grey-market trading also takes place). There are also permanent settlements besides resource-rich locations (mines, lakes, fords and forks, forests etc) that are likewise locations of government oversight.

History

The future founders of Tchepec were driven out of Tchep, their original homeland, by a combination of political change and essence flow. Caracar's corpse lay in their region, and its forest-and-insect essence displaced and overlay the native pewter, spawning a dense jungle infested with the deadly chitinous Husks. Whilst some tribes adapted, merging with the Caracaran remnant state, others lost territory and were pushed out. Led at first by a new messiah, the pewter-infused people wandered for centuries, bringing premature winter wherever they went until they arrived on The Giteri shore.
though the current royal family claim to be able to trace their ancestry to the rulers of this time - the descendants of the prophet - in truth it was a gaggle of disorganised itinerants pursuing a ludicrous and half-remembered religious ideology. When calculations and descriptions said they had found the true place, they essentially squatted, forcing out or slaughtering the existing Giterikin population. after decades of conflict, they were at last granted land in a peace settlement with the ancient Giterikin tribal confederations and Alzig monarchy that allied against them.
In the millennia that followed, many periods of different rulers, internal fractures, and other events to fill the annals of history occurred as the Tchep secured and populated the peninsula. throughout it all, they remained to a greater or lesser degree culturally distinct - separated by religion, climate, lifestyle and culture from their neighbours.

Geography

the peninsula is permanently sub-zero, with frequent snowfall and frozen oceans year-round.
Regions:

• The Rime: the permanently-frozen swathe of icy sea around. gradually breaks up into pack ice over a distance of around 60 miles from the coast. this permanent ice is quite heavily settled with nomadic fishermen and penguin-herders. teams of ice-breakers work to maintain access to the ports, although some cargo is offloaded at the ice's edge and carried to shore by sled.
• the Tundra: the main inhabited sections of land, these are mostly snowy and icy grasslands. Musk-ox are grazed pastorally across the landscape.
• the peaks: metallic peaks of pewter form the spine of Tchepec.

Specific locations:

• Vudatch Peshtra: the capital, is built around and atop a frozen lake that stands near the coast, along a major river. the main port of Tchepec stands at the mouth of the same river, and holds the TMC headquarters.
• Senekt Tchep: the landing-site of the first Tchep travellers, now the location of a temple and observatory.

Natural Resources

• pewter - can be used for refrigeration, though it is unstable and breaks down in foreign areas.
• ice
• Musk-ox - used for pelts and meat.
• fish
• penguins - which are herded

Type

State

Population

150,000

Inhabitant Demonym

Tchep

Location under

The Giteri

Related Historical Events

• 2050 LF
  Migration and Settling of Tchepec