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Vomethnda

“…A nation of industry, of might, and of the gods. When you really look at it, Vomethnda is a true depiction of the underdog story. Usually everyone roots for them, encourages them to go on to greater things. Unfortunately, the story of my homeland is not fictional, and our deeds have no one rooting for us…”
— A Wandering Trader

Structure

The national government of Vomethnda is made up of every jarl from each city and town from the nation. The jarl from the capital city, Utdanning, acts as the de facto head of the nation. They hold the responsibility of not only to their city, but Vomethnda as a whole. The jarls work together to set standard laws that are followed in each city. These kinds of laws include national tax rates to maintain roads and rail lines between the cities and for military funding, basic protections and rights that apply to every karl, and lastly laws regarding foreign relations and trade. The jarls are also capable of declaring war against other nations. Although, declaration of war requires that a supermajority of jarls agrees to entering a conflict with another nation. Despite their responsibilities, the jarls cannot create or abolish the laws of the land, that responsibility goes to the All-Thing.

The All-Thing is a collection of every able bodied karl from each city and town in Vomethnda. This governmental body comes together in the capital once every decade to discuss the laws of the land. Discussions on national law can lead to the creation of new laws, addendum to an existing law, or abolishment of a law. These discussions are liable to last at least one month, but All-Things have gone on for as long as a year and a half. The All-Thing takes as long as it does mainly due to the way voting takes place. Votes decided by the difference in volume the All-Thing yells about a choice presented to them. For example, a decision to make a bill a law. The crowd that yelled yay was measured at a sound level of 115 decibels, while the nay crowd were measured at 125 decibels. Due to this the bill is not passed. What makes this a long process is that the measurements are often called into question, which means they need to cast the vote again. This process can occur as many times as it takes for absolutely no one to call the result into question anymore.

Culture

Since its founding Vomethnda has always been seen as a backwater nation. To nations like Ezlekh their interests in technological development rather than the arcane is akin to banging rocks together just to see what happens. This has given the people of Vomethnda a sour attitude of outsiders which led to the formation of two castes: karls and thralls. The karls are the nationalized citizens of the country. Typically, karls are second generation citizens or greater since the easiest way to become a karl is being born within the borders of the country. The only other method of becoming a karl is by a jarl rewarding the title. Thralls are seen as second-class citizens at best and prisoners at worst. They make up most of the poor in the nation and often have “less desirable” trades in areas such as construction and public services.

Sports and competitions are a huge part of the culture of Vomethnda. Competitions of strength are just as revered as competitions of the mind. The city of Utdanning encompasses this mindset the best. The Prumani Arena is a grand structure that is best known for its glíma tournaments, a kind of wrestling, but it can also host tournaments of a chess like game called hnefatafl. Each city has a favored sport or activity, but glíma and hnefatafl are by far the most popular.

The people of Vomethnda are a suborn bunch. Their adherence to tradition has held the nation back as much as it has propelled it forward. The nation’s stubbornness is best seen in the development of mystek. Mystek is an arcane technique derived from runic arts. When the scholarly warrior Skal Kappi first revealed the technology, many thought of it as an extension of runic arts. It wasn’t until Vomethnda was able to establish a permanent base in The Hollow using mystek that other nations began to take it seriously. Today mystek can be found everywhere in Vomethnda and in most surrounding nations.

Religion holds a key importance in the nation of Vomethnda. Each city and town, other than Heilagur, is said to be guided by a patron deity. The major patron deities of Vomethnda are Bardagi, Eilifur, and Küvüagaar. Although, the popularity of Froúda has been rising in the city of Jordmässig which threatens to replace Elifur as a major patron deity. Each major city has at minimum a shrine dedicated to each god of the pantheon, but only the city’s or town’s patron deity is guaranteed to have a whole temple dedicated to them. The karls Vomethnda use their patron deities to guide their role in life, and the role of the city to Vomethnda. The patron deity of Kavios is the forge god Bardagi, which led the karls of Kavios to develop the city as a mining town like no other.

History

Vomethnda is a relatively new nation compared to its peers. The culture of Vomethnda have existed since the mid-700s. The exact date that the culture came to be is unknown, but the earliest record of a Vomethndan clan goes as far back as 722 AE. During this time roaming clans traveled throughout the land. During this era, the Vomethndans found themselves under the rule of several powers with Ezlekh, Promaticous, and Krasavishchee. It was not until 1127 that the Vomethndan peoples were united.

During the fall of Promaticous, an eager Jarl from a frigid village in the far north traveled around the country attempting to unite the clans. Vígthur Brukare was a priest in a small town known as Heilagur, who had a vision of his people’s fate. Believing this to be the work of the god Visku, he left his village to ensure the vision would become truth. His travels took place for nearly fifty years, taking him to nearly every corner of Malnova to find every clan. Brukare managed to convince seven clans to join him in the north. Upon Brukare’s return to Heilagur in the winter of 1127, the clans were all made one under a new name: Vomethnda.

Even as a fledgling nation, Vomethndans had a thirst for expansion beyond the frozen wastes surrounding Heilagur. Using the opportunity to strike against the weakened Promaticous, the early Vomethndans went on a campaign of conquest to the south. Their conquest took them as far south as the Frida River where Jordmässig stands today. Their expansion was halted by Ezlekh, an expanding nation to the south also taking advantage of Promaticous’ crumbling empire. Vomethnda stood little chance against its new neighbor with their new form of magic known as geomancy. A treaty was signed in 1212 between Ezlekh and Vomethnda that stated that Vomethnda was not to expand south of the Frida River or else be subject to invasion by Ezlekh. Thus, the first era of Vomethndan expansion was halted in its tracks.

Over the next two hundred years Vomethdna struggled to maintain its boarders during several conflicts withs its northern neighbor Krasavishchee. Runic arts, the primary form of magic used by Vomethndans, was quickly becoming outclassed by geomancy which made it increasingly difficult for the nation to defend itself. Despite this master rune smiths in Heilagur attempted to innovate ancient art, with little success. The greatest discovery in this time was the formation of a new rune for gravity (ᛉ) and lighting (ᛚ), both of which are drastically simplified and provide the same result as older rune scrips. The discovery of the simplified lightning rune proved to be a great boon. Savy craftsmen used small objects carved with lightning runes to power simple devices. These devices were like the mystek of today, but much more primitive. Despite this, these devices gave the country enough of an edge to fend off the encroaching Krasavishian forces.

During the Ezlekhi Great Civil War, the nation of Vomethnda saw an opportunity to break their treaty and capture the lands to the south. Capitalizing on this opportunity, Vomethnda began its conquest south of the Frida River in the year 1447, starting the First Ezlekhi-Vomethndan War. For three years they rampaged across the northern territories of Ezlekh, and even territories south of the Feramonto Mountains such as Bambai and Khuurmag. Ezlekh responded to the conquest in 1450 by hiring three legions of Promatican mercenaries both to bolster their forces against the rebels and fight back against the encroaching Vomethndans. This divided the Vomethndan forces into two fronts, a southern and an eastern front. Due to Promatican involvement, Vomethnda attempted to invade Promaticous as well, with little success. For the remaining years of the wars, the boarders of Vomethnda were pushed back to the Matena River to the east and the Feramonto Mountains to the south. By the spring of 1525, the Ezlekhi Great Civil War was resolved causing Ezlekh’s contract with Promaticous to end and thus ending the wars.

The warrior scholar Skald Kappi was a soldier on the front lines of the Vomethndan-Promatican Contract War from 1502 to 1510. Kappi saw how inept his countrymen were at fighting against another militarized force, even one without magic. After he returned from the war, he began studying runic arts in Heilagur. By this time, the ancient practice was thought of as completely obsolete compared to geomancy, but Kappi saw a hidden power within the art. Kappi experimented with a newfound material known as fantasma crystal. They were discovered by accident when a silver miner digging in the Teinefni Mines found a vein of the crystal. The arcane energy radiating off every fantasma crystal fascinated him, and he needed to unlock their secrets. So, he started to experiment with etching runes onto the crystals. Using a rune etched fantasma crystals to function as a source of power and control, Kappi designed an automatic dumbwaiter system in his home. Thus, the technology of mystek was born. With the belief in the technology’s immense potential, Skal Kappi founded the Kappi Research Institute in a small village called Utdanning in the year 1515. That village would rapidly grow thanks to Kappi’s influence and even became the capital of Vomethnda in the year 1523. Unfortunately, Kappi’s mystek would not develop fast enough to influence the First Ezlekhi-Vomethndan war.

By the year 1562 the Teinefni Mines, the only fantasma crystal mine in Vomethnda, were starting to run dry, leading the miners to dig deeper and deeper with each passing day. This led to a group of miners accidentally drilling into The Hollow, a realm of Aekko once thought to be a legend. Deposits of fantasma crystals were as far as the eye could see, even floating in midair. Other rare materials such as attilum and raakatite were common in The Hollow as well. The discovery led to a surge in public interest to build infrastructure to access The Hollow and bring its resources to the surface. In 1577 the first operational outpost and entrance to The Hollow became operational. The Helvetti Operations Center, owned by Heimskul Industries, was constructed in an area of The Hollow directly under the mining town of Kavios. This brought a flood of people to the town who were all eager to reach the bottom of the world. Heimskul Industries would hire any willing, able bodied karl that strolled through their doors. The mining of The Hollow became a wild west of drills, explosions, and rocks. The noise the miners were making caused frequent monster attacks, causing Heimskul Industries to hire security teams which included ex-military personnel and mercenaries. While the security team could protect the miners from monsters, they were not able to protect them from themselves. The unregulated mining of The Hollow caused instability in the land directly below Kavios. On a fateful day in the summer of 1625, the ground below the city gave way, causing the city to fall into The Hollow.

Just short of a year after the near total destruction of Kavios, Vomethnda once again invaded northern Ezlekh intending to capture more land. The havoc caused by Heimskul Industries left the country dangerously low on raw resources, with raakatite and fantasma crystal reserves completely depleted. The invasion of Ezlekh was intended to restock their supplies and gain access to the Feramonto Mountains for further mining. The later years of the war were brutal for both Ezlekh and Vomethnda. A recent technology known as arcsthetics, a type of enchanted prosthetics, had been developed near simultaneously by both countries wreaked havoc across both sides of the battlefield. A single soldier equipped with the right arcsthetics could decimate an entire company of enemy combatants. In Vomethnda, arcsthetics were first developed in 1629 by the Kappi Research Institute in Utdanning as a solution to get many wounded soldiers back onto the battlefield. As the war drug on, the arcsthetics developed at both the Kappi Institute and Skola Arcsthesis in Kavios became increasingly weaponized. In 1664, after thirty-five years of fighting, a tentative truce was declared. Vomethnda would hold the northern half of the Feramonto Mountains on a line drawn up by Ezlekhi and Vomethndan officials alike.

Demography and Population

There are 32 million people living in the country of Vomethnda, 70% of that population are nationalized citizens known as karls while the rest are second class citizens known as thralls. The karls of Vomethnda are made up of 27% goliath, 18% leonin, 10% dwarf, 8% duergar. The remaining 37% of karls are made up of a mix of all other races. The population of thralls are made up of 24% human, 22% tabaxi, 12% halfling, and 9% drow. The remaining population of thralls are made up of a mix of all other races. For visual representation, see the charts in the side bar.

Territories

The nation of Vomethnda occupies the northern realm of Malnova. Their southern border is defined by the Feramonto Mountains which doubles as a natural wall between them and Ezlekh. Their eastern border is defined by the Matena River separating Vomethnda from Promaticous. Treaties have determined the nation’s western border. Krasavishchee and Astraganto have built set markers, which double as wards, along the border between their own country and Vomethnda.

Military

Military power is essential to the nation of Vomethnda. Its many campaigns of conquest have created a well-trained and highly capable military. From mystek war machines to voluntary warforged soldiers, the military of Vomethnda is a force to be trifled with. There are three distinct divisions of the military: the Official Division, Mechanized Division, and Infantry Division. The Official Division manages the movements, equipment, and procurement that the rest of the military relies on. From their headquarters in Utdanning they can strategize troop movements across all fields of battle simultaneously. This is accomplished by using a person loaded with arcsthetics to function as a living computer. Their body hooked into a mystek machine that allows the user to see battlefields hundreds of miles away as if they were there themselves. An entire platoon of scientists works constantly to develop new weapons of war. From terrifying new armored vehicles to deadly arcsthetics, R&D is always thinking of ways to get an advantage over their neighbors. Most of these scientists are part of the institute of Vomethnda such as the Kappi Research Institute and Skola Arcsthesis. The procurement center is the most mundane, but the most important. They are responsible for taking supply requests and delivering those supplies to the front lines. An entire fleet of armored vehicles and short-range aircraft ensure that their soldiers get the supplies they need when they need them.

The Mechanized Division is made up of the vehicle and aircraft operators and maintainers. They have a wide variety of war machines, from armored personnel carriers to heavy weapons platforms. The Mechanized Division is usually the first military branch deployed to a region to “shock and awe” their adversaries. Often if a vehicle cannot travel through terrain the Mechanized Division will send in their air power. The aircraft are not as impressive as their vehicles, but they are still able to put pressure on an opponent.

Acting as the boots on the ground, and often the last resort in battle, the Infantry division is the acting army of Vomethnda. Soldiers in the Infantry division are required to have arcsthetic modification to serve. This is due to the relative lack of arcane power the country wields with runic arts, so they must look to mystek and arcsthetics to empower their forces. A substantial portion of soldiers from the Infantry Division are known to suffer bouts of arcsthetic madness after service has ended. Unfortunately, this issue is not taken seriously by the military or general public due to the belief that heavy augmentation is the only reason the army stands a chance.

Technological Level

The nation of Vomethnda has come to their level of technology purely by brute force and a little bit of luck. Before the discovery of mystek by Skald Kappi the country still primarily used the ancient arcane technique of runic arts. Skald Kappi used runic arts to form the basis of mystek, making the technology directly derived from the ancient art much like geomancy. Mystek has elevated the nation to technological heights that might not have been possible without it. High speed rasktogs, or monorails, connect each major city allowing for high-speed transportation. City infrastructure has been completely overhauled with flameless lighting in the streets, water can be sourced from nothing, and waste can be destroyed. Tools, weapons, and arcsthetics are all enhanced using mystek. Such as a powered saw built straight into an axe, or a device that can restart the heart if it stops. The largest downfall of mystek is its reliance on fantasma crystals, a gemstone that radiates arcane energy. The dependency on this material has driven Vomethnda to war on at least one occasion.

Religion

Religion has been paramount in the formation, and action of Vomethnda. The nation’s founding is believed to be the will of Visku themself. Each city and town have a patron deity associated with them which acts as a guiding force for the city. For example, the patron deity of Jordmässig is Froúda which has guided their efforts in farming and raising livestock. However, a city’s patron deity is subject to change. If the city is straying from the path of one deity, the jarl of Heilagur will visit to correct the course of the deviating city or bless the city with a new patron.

The city of Heilagur is the religious center of the country. It holds reverence to the three most worshiped deities across the country, those currently being Bardagi, Eilifur, and Küvüagaar. Although, the rapidly increasing popularity of Froúda in Jordmässig is threatening to change that. The jarl of Heilagur is chosen for the role by the gods themselves to act as their mouthpiece and to represent their interests. They are also responsible for keeping track of the popularity of each god through an intense regiment of divination rituals. If a deity falls becomes less popular than another for more than a year, it is liable to be replaced in as a major deity.JordmässigjarlHeilagur

Foreign Relations

The relations that Vomethnda has fostered with its neighbors has been tense since its inception. Its many wars of conquest have made its neighbors expecting another attack from the savages of Vomethnda. This uneasy relationship has affected its ability to trade with other nations.

No other nation despises Vomethnda more the Ezlekh. Ever since the founding of the nation, Vomethnda has been a thorn in the side of Ezlekh. There have been two wars fought between Vomethnda and Ezlekh, both of which Ezlekh had lost territory. The most recent war had even caused the collapse of a great Ezlekhi territory, the Amidrakh. Tensions between the two nations have never been higher. As the resources of Vomethnda continue to run dry, the more likely an invasion into Ezlekh territory will happen.

Laws

National laws in Vomethnda are made to apply to any town or city. Due to this each law cannot be specific enough that it contradicts a law from any city or town. These laws mostly include taxes, where government money is spent, and laws to keep the few trade agreements they have. The Vomethndan government also recognizes that karls do have rights granted to them by the gods, that no government law can restrict. These include a karls ability to participate in a Thing or All-Thing, the ability to own a weapon, and the ability to openly practice magic.

Trade & Transport

There are various kinds of personal transportation found within the country. Roaming clans are often seen riding enhjuls, a motorcycle-like vehicle, or vörubíll, a type of three wheeled truck, across the vast Vomethndan fields and forests. Rail lines connect cities through the vast expanses between them, carrying goods and people alike. There are even ways to take flight, such as the rutschaflyga in Jordmässig. All these means of transportation are just as important for transporting people as they are transporting goods between cities and towns.

Most trade that occurs in Vomethnda does not leave its borders. Each city in the country relies on, and is relied upon, every other city and town in the country. Utdanning, for example, does not grow its own food. Rather, it relies on Jordmässigand other small towns to provide it with all the produce it needs to keep its population fed. There are a few commodities that Vomethnda does trade to its neighbors. These include attilum, raakatite, navigational tools, mystek devices, potions and arcsthetics. Most of the money made from the nation’s exports is used to import commodities from other nations. Some examples of popular imports include gold speckled pike mushrooms, fantasma crystals, and gold.

Education

Vomethndans are expected to complete a basic education at least once in their life. Typically, most Vomethndans will attend their basic education during childhood, but it is not too unusual for an adult to start their education well into their life. The national government sets educational standards for basic education. However, each city has its own standards as well. Even with these standards, there are no public schools. Instead, private institutions that range from traditional schools to tutor centers are the primary means of education in the nation. This method of education has proven effective as the literacy rate of the nation has gone from 23% to 76% in as little as one generation.

Higher education is seen as a path to greatness, for those who can afford it. Academies and institutions such as the Kappi Research Institute and Skola Arcsthesis offer higher education to anyone who is willing to pay. The fields of study that are offered for higher education are typically in very specialized fields such as teknomancy, mystek engineering, and runic arts. Due to the high cost and rigidity of the higher education in Vomethnda, many citizens choose not to pursue any form of it.
Founding Date
1127
Type
Geopolitical, Country
Capital
Demonym
Vomethndan
Government System
Electocracy
Power Structure
Federation
Economic System
Mixed economy
Currency
Sceat
Controlled Territories
Neighboring Nations
Related Ethnicities

Articles under Vomethnda


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