Ertian Sub-Continent
Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2009 8:25 pm
Location
Ertia is connected to the continent of Kalesten by the Kosony isthmus and isolated by the Ertian plateau and thick forests of the Ardir on the top of the plateau. Even if one were to cross the Ardir, the travel by foot into Ertia is further complicated by four thousand feet of sheer cliff-face down from the top of the plateau. Most trade and travel into Ertia is by sea.
Ertia is a sub-tropical region, mostly savanna and desert with some rain forest in the northeast, near the foot of the plateau. There are several large rivers running through the region which provide fertile farming land, but the water levels can severely fluctuate through the year, some slowing to nearly a trickle in the depths of summer, while turning into raging torrents in the rainy fall and winter and early spring when snow melts from the top of the plateau wash down.
The actual nation of Ertia is covered in savannah, which is nourished year round by moist sea air. Most of the land is arable, and there are many farms spreading out from the coast and along the river Useru, which defines the nation’s borders with the other Ertian countries. The Useru is sourced from plateau and Ardir, then flows down into Ertia where it marks the eastern border between the nation Ertia and Shyon. The river then forks in three directions; the short western fork flows out to the Gulf of Kalesten, marking the border between Ertia and Samdra; the middle fork arcs to the southwest, defining the rest of Samdra’s borders; and the eastern fork flows almost directly south into the ocean, cutting across Shyon. The port of Kelrana is situated at the mouth of eastern fork.
The second major river system is the Najoja which has many forks on the eastern side of the continent. Like the Useru, it is sourced from the top of the plateau to the far east, just south of the small eastern rain forested peninsula. It flows westward for a short distance, before cutting southward and branching outward in the heart of Shyon. The eastern branch of the Najoja arcs northward, breaks in two forks, both of which empty into the Tonult ocean on the eastern coast. The southern branch flows due south, forks into two smaller rivers, one of which travels to the west before arcing south and emptying into the ocean and the other continues due south. The cities of Enthqua, Finepa, Rayese, and Mejoba are all placed around this river where it leaves fertile land.
Environment
Ertia is mostly inhabited by humans who are characteristically dark-skinned. Western Ertians are often lighter skinned, as there is a history of interbreeding with northern travelers for the major port regions, and as you travel further east, the natives are predominantly dark skinned. They can be compared to the Arabic, Persian, and Indian peoples of our world in appearance.
Several different groups of Asath make their home in Ertia, but they keep their distance from humans. There is one distinct race living in the jungles which are marked by having a dark green tail with black diamonds down the back. Another clan lives on the grasslands in the heart of the sub-continent which most humans avoid due to the harsher habitat and fiercer animals. This Asath race is recognized by their brown tails that are marked with white and and black stripes.
There are also a few clans of Ochae’nafod who are bonded to some of the savanna and rain forest native species of the continent. They tend to live in secret, inhabiting the mostly northeastern rain forests that humans rarely venture to, and the heart of the sub-continent. The humans regard the Ochae’nafod as shape-shifters that are generally considered myths. However, many of the Ochae’nafod in this region share the dark features of the native humans, revealing that there has been a good bit of interbreeding over the course of thousands of years.
Inhabitants
Ertia is mostly inhabited by humans who are characteristically dark-skinned. Western Ertians are often lighter skinned, as there is a history of interbreeding with northern travelers for the major port regions, and as you travel further east, the natives are predominantly dark skinned. They can be compared to the Arabic, Persian, and Indian peoples of our world in appearance.
Several different groups of Asath make their home in Ertia, but they keep their distance from humans. There is one distinct race living in the jungles which are marked by having a dark green tail with black diamonds down the back. Another clan lives on the grasslands in the heart of the sub-continent which most humans avoid due to the harsher habitat and fiercer animals. This Asath race is recognized by their brown tails that are marked with white and and black stripes.
There are also a few clans of Ochae'nafod who are bonded to some of the savanna and rain forest native species of the continent. They tend to live in secret, inhabiting the mostly northeastern rain forests that humans rarely venture to, and the heart of the sub-continent. The humans regard the Ochae'nafod as shape-shifters that are generally considered myths. However, many of the Ochae'nafod in this region share the dark features of the native humans, revealing that there has been a good bit of interbreeding over the course of thousands of years.
History
Ertia has seen much political turmoil in the last two centuries. The Ertian people were once divided into several nations, which shared the same male-dominated culture, but the wrath of one woman created an empire.
The name Ertia comes from the ancient Ertian empire. This empire was thousands of years old, and the beginning of human civilization on the sub-continent, and was the oldest human civilization on all of Kalesten. However, eventually the rulers of Ertia became complacent, greedy, and useless, and the people of Ertia overthrew the government. The nation collapsed, but in time, several new nations formed. However, it was the northwestern region that retained the name “Ertia” and remained the most powerful, and most influential, as the port city of Shiz was where Ertia connected to the rest of the world.
The Ertian nations all shared the same culture, which was strongly male dominated--sometimes to extreme degrees. The severe oppression of women in the eastern country of Ghagha led to the Revolt of Enthqua.
Enthqua was born an Ertian noblewoman. The ancient capital region was less oppressive than other nations, so young Enthqua was educated. Rather a tomboy in her youth, she was far more interested in martial skills and the wars waged past and present than in the trivial knowledge most women learned to keep their future husbands entertained. Despite her education, Enthqua’s only purpose in life was to be married off to a high-class husband and bear him heirs.
At the age of fifteen, Enthqua was offered in marriage to the King of Ghagha. While most Ertians practiced monogamy (with the exception of the king and princes, who were allowed harems), polygyny was common in Ghagha, and it was expected of the king especially to have many wives. Enthqua was the third of the young king’s wives. Now, little more than a concubine, she was no longer allowed to read, or know anything of the national politics. Her only purpose now was to sit pretty, pleasure her husband, and bear his children.
At the age of sixteen, Enthqua bore a son, Tunau. The boy brought her some joy, but at the age of five, he was taken from her to begin his life as a prince and military leader. Enthqua saw him rarely, and the older he became, the less he cared for his mother as he had adopted the misogynist views of his father and Ghaghan men. Over the next few years, Enthqua bore the king two more children, both daughters; Asheque and Mejoba. Enthqua was allowed to raise her daughters, but they were not allowed the education of their brother, or the education Enthqua had received as a child in Ertia.
With Enthqua lived her fellow wives Kelrana, the first wife; Finepa, the second wife; and Rayese, the fourth wife who would also come to be known as Enthqua’s lover, as well as all their daughters. Kelrana’s eldest daughter, Samdra, was the first born of the king, and was a passionate young woman. She resented her upbringing, and had proved impossible to marry due to her temper. The privileges Enthqua had enjoyed in Ertia made Samdra yearn for the same knowledge, and so, Enthqua began to teach the wives and their daughters in secret. As they learned more, they craved more freedom, and eventually, with Enthqua’s tactical mind, all the wives and daughters staged an escape.
The women slipped out of the city and into the wilderness, where they found a place to hide. After several months of learning to live on their own with the guidance of Enthqua’s mind, the women set out into the villages and cities, recruiting women one by one. As their group grew, they became nomadic, hiding in the depths of the grassland where the men seeking their missing wives and daughters didn’t consider searching. Then, once Enthqua taught them how to fight and how to kill by hunting the native wildlife for food, they attacked. Village by village, the men were slaughtered and the women and children disappeared. Enthqua’s army grew, and in time, they overcame the male soldiers, stole their weapons and armor, and began an all out war.
Though they still stood little chance against the full armies of Ghagha, they relied on their stealth and guerrilla tactics that would eventually lead them back to the capital where Enthqua herself would lead a raid on the palace and slay her former husband. As the appointed leader of the rebellion, she was unanimously declared Queen. As she took the throne of a nation that was now predominately female, her first act was to control the men. Her now formidable army rounded up every man over the age of thirteen and took each to trial. Wives testified against their husbands and fathers, and many found themselves sympathizing to the new power enough to condemn the men in their lives to death for crimes of violence and rape, while others suffered castration for lesser crimes. Those who were accused of no crimes were allowed to live, intact, and allowed to return to their home village under the supervision of Enthqua’s new soldiers.
Ghagha fell under Enthqua’s total control, and the capital was renamed in her honor, but many friends were lost along the way. In honor of one of their comrades, one of the first women they had rescued from a bad marriage and had fallen in taking the capital, the nation was renamed Shyon.
As the new nation of Shyon solidified, major cities were renamed in honor of the leaders of the rebellion, and new laws were formed that empowered women and oppressed the remaining men. As soon as a new military was prepared, war was declared on the neighboring nations, and within ten years, all of Ertia was united again under one nation, under one queen, and under one law. Women ruled, men were reduced to slaves, bought and sold, married to women without a say in the matter, just as the women had been.
Enthqua’s rule was short lived, and twenty years after the rebellion, she fell victim to illness, contracted from suffering from an old battle wound. Her daughter, Asheque, took the throne of Shyon, thus starting a direct female line of rule. At Enthqua’s funeral, the capital of what was once Ghagha was renamed Enthqua. After her death, every major city in the land bore the name of her comrades. Kelrana, Finepa, Rayese, and Mejoba all had cities named after them as well.
However, as time went on, the vindictiveness within the law began to lose its bite and few voices spoke out against the oppression. Many mothers, who were loathe to sentence their sons to servitude objected to the laws in place. It was one governess, the matriarch who held sway over the heartland of Ertia, who proposed equal rights. Asheque would not approve it though, and the governess of Ertia threatened to secede. After much political bickering, Shyon allowed Ertia to have its independence peacefully. While Ertia instated laws allowing equal rights, while maintaining a matriarchal rule, Shyon’s male-oppressive laws relaxed.
However, Samdra, Asheque’s half-sister, was not pleased. She hated men vehemently, and believed that for all they had suffered, men would have to suffer just as long—that is, for all of recorded history. She opposed the new relaxed laws and pressed for more aggressive laws, but Asheque and her council refused. Eventually, the conflict broke into a physical fight in the council chambers, which led to Asheque taking the same route she had with Ertia. Samdra was given a small portion of the southwestern continent, just below Ertia, to call her own nation. All those who sympathized with her followed her to the new land, which was named after her.
Today, the three nations of Ertia, Shyon, and Samdra occupy the continent. Ertia’s laws allow the equal rights of males and females, though the society is equally female dominated, and seems to be more polarized toward female empowerment. However, men and women are allowed to marry as they chose. Ertia, namely its capital of Shiz, is the hub of commerce for the entire sub-continent, and as a land of equal rights, it is the best face to put forward toward visiting traders from the north. Ertia is governed by a council of matriarchs, all elder women of great influence; the decedents of ancient Ertian noble houses, warriors, and powerful merchants.
Samdra, which lays to the south of Ertia strips men of all rights, and it is wise to avoid for any male travelers. Men are forced into slavery, and often used only for reproduction. There is one major city, Jiva.
Shyon occupies most of the land, and has several major cities along the coastline. Here, men have few rights, some are castrated as teenagers while others are married off young. They are not allowed to hold jobs or positions of power, but they are allowed some education and often encouraged to pursue the arts. Shyon places heavy restrictions on traveling men, but very few men bother leaving Ertia when they visit the sub-continent.
Ertia is connected to the continent of Kalesten by the Kosony isthmus and isolated by the Ertian plateau and thick forests of the Ardir on the top of the plateau. Even if one were to cross the Ardir, the travel by foot into Ertia is further complicated by four thousand feet of sheer cliff-face down from the top of the plateau. Most trade and travel into Ertia is by sea.
Ertia is a sub-tropical region, mostly savanna and desert with some rain forest in the northeast, near the foot of the plateau. There are several large rivers running through the region which provide fertile farming land, but the water levels can severely fluctuate through the year, some slowing to nearly a trickle in the depths of summer, while turning into raging torrents in the rainy fall and winter and early spring when snow melts from the top of the plateau wash down.
The actual nation of Ertia is covered in savannah, which is nourished year round by moist sea air. Most of the land is arable, and there are many farms spreading out from the coast and along the river Useru, which defines the nation’s borders with the other Ertian countries. The Useru is sourced from plateau and Ardir, then flows down into Ertia where it marks the eastern border between the nation Ertia and Shyon. The river then forks in three directions; the short western fork flows out to the Gulf of Kalesten, marking the border between Ertia and Samdra; the middle fork arcs to the southwest, defining the rest of Samdra’s borders; and the eastern fork flows almost directly south into the ocean, cutting across Shyon. The port of Kelrana is situated at the mouth of eastern fork.
The second major river system is the Najoja which has many forks on the eastern side of the continent. Like the Useru, it is sourced from the top of the plateau to the far east, just south of the small eastern rain forested peninsula. It flows westward for a short distance, before cutting southward and branching outward in the heart of Shyon. The eastern branch of the Najoja arcs northward, breaks in two forks, both of which empty into the Tonult ocean on the eastern coast. The southern branch flows due south, forks into two smaller rivers, one of which travels to the west before arcing south and emptying into the ocean and the other continues due south. The cities of Enthqua, Finepa, Rayese, and Mejoba are all placed around this river where it leaves fertile land.
Environment
Ertia is mostly inhabited by humans who are characteristically dark-skinned. Western Ertians are often lighter skinned, as there is a history of interbreeding with northern travelers for the major port regions, and as you travel further east, the natives are predominantly dark skinned. They can be compared to the Arabic, Persian, and Indian peoples of our world in appearance.
Several different groups of Asath make their home in Ertia, but they keep their distance from humans. There is one distinct race living in the jungles which are marked by having a dark green tail with black diamonds down the back. Another clan lives on the grasslands in the heart of the sub-continent which most humans avoid due to the harsher habitat and fiercer animals. This Asath race is recognized by their brown tails that are marked with white and and black stripes.
There are also a few clans of Ochae’nafod who are bonded to some of the savanna and rain forest native species of the continent. They tend to live in secret, inhabiting the mostly northeastern rain forests that humans rarely venture to, and the heart of the sub-continent. The humans regard the Ochae’nafod as shape-shifters that are generally considered myths. However, many of the Ochae’nafod in this region share the dark features of the native humans, revealing that there has been a good bit of interbreeding over the course of thousands of years.
Inhabitants
Ertia is mostly inhabited by humans who are characteristically dark-skinned. Western Ertians are often lighter skinned, as there is a history of interbreeding with northern travelers for the major port regions, and as you travel further east, the natives are predominantly dark skinned. They can be compared to the Arabic, Persian, and Indian peoples of our world in appearance.
Several different groups of Asath make their home in Ertia, but they keep their distance from humans. There is one distinct race living in the jungles which are marked by having a dark green tail with black diamonds down the back. Another clan lives on the grasslands in the heart of the sub-continent which most humans avoid due to the harsher habitat and fiercer animals. This Asath race is recognized by their brown tails that are marked with white and and black stripes.
There are also a few clans of Ochae'nafod who are bonded to some of the savanna and rain forest native species of the continent. They tend to live in secret, inhabiting the mostly northeastern rain forests that humans rarely venture to, and the heart of the sub-continent. The humans regard the Ochae'nafod as shape-shifters that are generally considered myths. However, many of the Ochae'nafod in this region share the dark features of the native humans, revealing that there has been a good bit of interbreeding over the course of thousands of years.
History
Ertia has seen much political turmoil in the last two centuries. The Ertian people were once divided into several nations, which shared the same male-dominated culture, but the wrath of one woman created an empire.
The name Ertia comes from the ancient Ertian empire. This empire was thousands of years old, and the beginning of human civilization on the sub-continent, and was the oldest human civilization on all of Kalesten. However, eventually the rulers of Ertia became complacent, greedy, and useless, and the people of Ertia overthrew the government. The nation collapsed, but in time, several new nations formed. However, it was the northwestern region that retained the name “Ertia” and remained the most powerful, and most influential, as the port city of Shiz was where Ertia connected to the rest of the world.
The Ertian nations all shared the same culture, which was strongly male dominated--sometimes to extreme degrees. The severe oppression of women in the eastern country of Ghagha led to the Revolt of Enthqua.
Enthqua was born an Ertian noblewoman. The ancient capital region was less oppressive than other nations, so young Enthqua was educated. Rather a tomboy in her youth, she was far more interested in martial skills and the wars waged past and present than in the trivial knowledge most women learned to keep their future husbands entertained. Despite her education, Enthqua’s only purpose in life was to be married off to a high-class husband and bear him heirs.
At the age of fifteen, Enthqua was offered in marriage to the King of Ghagha. While most Ertians practiced monogamy (with the exception of the king and princes, who were allowed harems), polygyny was common in Ghagha, and it was expected of the king especially to have many wives. Enthqua was the third of the young king’s wives. Now, little more than a concubine, she was no longer allowed to read, or know anything of the national politics. Her only purpose now was to sit pretty, pleasure her husband, and bear his children.
At the age of sixteen, Enthqua bore a son, Tunau. The boy brought her some joy, but at the age of five, he was taken from her to begin his life as a prince and military leader. Enthqua saw him rarely, and the older he became, the less he cared for his mother as he had adopted the misogynist views of his father and Ghaghan men. Over the next few years, Enthqua bore the king two more children, both daughters; Asheque and Mejoba. Enthqua was allowed to raise her daughters, but they were not allowed the education of their brother, or the education Enthqua had received as a child in Ertia.
With Enthqua lived her fellow wives Kelrana, the first wife; Finepa, the second wife; and Rayese, the fourth wife who would also come to be known as Enthqua’s lover, as well as all their daughters. Kelrana’s eldest daughter, Samdra, was the first born of the king, and was a passionate young woman. She resented her upbringing, and had proved impossible to marry due to her temper. The privileges Enthqua had enjoyed in Ertia made Samdra yearn for the same knowledge, and so, Enthqua began to teach the wives and their daughters in secret. As they learned more, they craved more freedom, and eventually, with Enthqua’s tactical mind, all the wives and daughters staged an escape.
The women slipped out of the city and into the wilderness, where they found a place to hide. After several months of learning to live on their own with the guidance of Enthqua’s mind, the women set out into the villages and cities, recruiting women one by one. As their group grew, they became nomadic, hiding in the depths of the grassland where the men seeking their missing wives and daughters didn’t consider searching. Then, once Enthqua taught them how to fight and how to kill by hunting the native wildlife for food, they attacked. Village by village, the men were slaughtered and the women and children disappeared. Enthqua’s army grew, and in time, they overcame the male soldiers, stole their weapons and armor, and began an all out war.
Though they still stood little chance against the full armies of Ghagha, they relied on their stealth and guerrilla tactics that would eventually lead them back to the capital where Enthqua herself would lead a raid on the palace and slay her former husband. As the appointed leader of the rebellion, she was unanimously declared Queen. As she took the throne of a nation that was now predominately female, her first act was to control the men. Her now formidable army rounded up every man over the age of thirteen and took each to trial. Wives testified against their husbands and fathers, and many found themselves sympathizing to the new power enough to condemn the men in their lives to death for crimes of violence and rape, while others suffered castration for lesser crimes. Those who were accused of no crimes were allowed to live, intact, and allowed to return to their home village under the supervision of Enthqua’s new soldiers.
Ghagha fell under Enthqua’s total control, and the capital was renamed in her honor, but many friends were lost along the way. In honor of one of their comrades, one of the first women they had rescued from a bad marriage and had fallen in taking the capital, the nation was renamed Shyon.
As the new nation of Shyon solidified, major cities were renamed in honor of the leaders of the rebellion, and new laws were formed that empowered women and oppressed the remaining men. As soon as a new military was prepared, war was declared on the neighboring nations, and within ten years, all of Ertia was united again under one nation, under one queen, and under one law. Women ruled, men were reduced to slaves, bought and sold, married to women without a say in the matter, just as the women had been.
Enthqua’s rule was short lived, and twenty years after the rebellion, she fell victim to illness, contracted from suffering from an old battle wound. Her daughter, Asheque, took the throne of Shyon, thus starting a direct female line of rule. At Enthqua’s funeral, the capital of what was once Ghagha was renamed Enthqua. After her death, every major city in the land bore the name of her comrades. Kelrana, Finepa, Rayese, and Mejoba all had cities named after them as well.
However, as time went on, the vindictiveness within the law began to lose its bite and few voices spoke out against the oppression. Many mothers, who were loathe to sentence their sons to servitude objected to the laws in place. It was one governess, the matriarch who held sway over the heartland of Ertia, who proposed equal rights. Asheque would not approve it though, and the governess of Ertia threatened to secede. After much political bickering, Shyon allowed Ertia to have its independence peacefully. While Ertia instated laws allowing equal rights, while maintaining a matriarchal rule, Shyon’s male-oppressive laws relaxed.
However, Samdra, Asheque’s half-sister, was not pleased. She hated men vehemently, and believed that for all they had suffered, men would have to suffer just as long—that is, for all of recorded history. She opposed the new relaxed laws and pressed for more aggressive laws, but Asheque and her council refused. Eventually, the conflict broke into a physical fight in the council chambers, which led to Asheque taking the same route she had with Ertia. Samdra was given a small portion of the southwestern continent, just below Ertia, to call her own nation. All those who sympathized with her followed her to the new land, which was named after her.
Today, the three nations of Ertia, Shyon, and Samdra occupy the continent. Ertia’s laws allow the equal rights of males and females, though the society is equally female dominated, and seems to be more polarized toward female empowerment. However, men and women are allowed to marry as they chose. Ertia, namely its capital of Shiz, is the hub of commerce for the entire sub-continent, and as a land of equal rights, it is the best face to put forward toward visiting traders from the north. Ertia is governed by a council of matriarchs, all elder women of great influence; the decedents of ancient Ertian noble houses, warriors, and powerful merchants.
Samdra, which lays to the south of Ertia strips men of all rights, and it is wise to avoid for any male travelers. Men are forced into slavery, and often used only for reproduction. There is one major city, Jiva.
Shyon occupies most of the land, and has several major cities along the coastline. Here, men have few rights, some are castrated as teenagers while others are married off young. They are not allowed to hold jobs or positions of power, but they are allowed some education and often encouraged to pursue the arts. Shyon places heavy restrictions on traveling men, but very few men bother leaving Ertia when they visit the sub-continent.