The Magocracy of Volenia
After passing laws in the year 4597, the country of Dorath criminalized the use of any non-divine magic. Over the next decade everyone seen practicing or known to have practiced such magic was either imprisoned or killed. The imprisoned were taken off shore from Dorath to the island of Volenia where they were put to work in mines, extracting valuable materials for their captors whist extensive anti-magic fields suppressed their abilities.
This practice continued until the year 4609 where a band of thirteen people learnt of the atrocities being committed by Dorath on the island and hatched a plan to stop the slavery operation. One of them infiltrated the mines, finding an area unaffected by the anti-magic fields and slowly sealing it off to the point where nobody would notice. Once the room was sealed off, eight of the thirteen were teleported in and under the cover of night, set up and performed a custom made ritual to dispel all magical effects on the island, including the anti-magic fields. Meanwhile the other 5 were in the air, and once receiving the word that the ritual was complete they flew over the island on airships, by their own magic and one of them even on dragon-back as they showered the island with thousands of common spell components and pages from spellbooks. The captives quickly awoke to the roar of the dragon, rushing outside to see their air-dropped supplies and immediately chaos ensued. All of the Dorathian presence on the island was either dead or had surrendered by morning.
Over the next 3 months all the mages of the island came together, claiming it as their own and forming their own government by splitting the northern island into 13 sections, one for each of the party of liberators that freed the people of Volenia that day.
Structure
Volenia's government is consisted entirely of researchers and scholars with affinity for arcane casting. Thirteen casters, one from each of the districts of the northern isle of Volenia make up the high council. The representatives of these positions are chosen by their predecessors and typically serve till their death, a tradition dating back to the founding of Volenia. Each of the high council is in charge of running their own district of the northern island. Typically these duties are off loaded to their juniors or apprentices so they can continue with studies of the arcane.
The head of Volenia's government is known as the Archmage. The Archmage is chosen by the high council, typically said to be the most powerful and knowledgeable mage in Volenia. No current or previous members of the high council are eligible to be elected as the Archmage, more as a way to avoid the inevitable stalemate of all of the high council voting for themselves than anything else. The Archmage is responsible for overseeing the island to the south of Volenia, a mostly uninhabited and magic scarred area which is used for larger scale and destructive experiments. The current Archmage has served since the magocracy's inception, and very few know their actual identity.
Public Agenda
Volenia's primary concern since it's inception has been developing the art of arcane magic as much as possible. They don't care much for other countries and try to take part in as few trade deals as possible, mainly trading for building supplies and rare spell components.
Assets
The entirety of the northern island is built like a giant city, with laboratories, oddly shaped towers and buildings made of seemingly impossible shapes littering the skyline, causing the city to look very messy. The whole island is protected by a large magical barrier, sustained by many pylons around the coast, constantly channeling energy into it.
The city is also a host to many schools teaching the arcane. Casters from around the world apply to learn from the best in Volenia, including a lot of nobles and people of importance.
Demography and Population
Volenia is mostly comprised of races with affinity for arcane casting, including Gnomes, Elves and a healthy population of Drow. It is not uncommon to see races that are extremely rarely seen throughout the rest of Aladris, including quite a few outsiders. Very little racism occurs in Volenia as the population mainly values spell casting ability above all else and discrimination mainly occurs towards the less powerful, divine casters or non-caster residents of the country.
The population of Volenia is about 650,000 which is very evenly spread across the northern island.
Territories
Volenia consists of 2 islands, commonly just referred to as the northern and southern island. The northern island is split up into thirteen individual districts each being governed by a different member of the high council while the southern island is a magic scarred and uninhabited testing ground overseen by Volenia's Archmage.
Magic on the southern island is very volatile as a result of the hundreds and hundreds of years of constant experimentation. Wild magical effects are known to plague the region, this directly resulting in the deaths of some researchers. As a result the Archmage oversees the entire island, placing magical wards around the places deemed too dangerous to go, or that just are simply unfit for experimentation. Rumors circulate through the researchers of Volenia of mythical beings that inhabit the island, causing the magical storms, or that a long since terminated experiment caused tears in reality, letting an unknown power seep into the world. Truly only a select few know why the island is that way, as any public records were long since removed and forcibly forgotten.
Military
Volenia has a very small official military consisting mostly of the non magically adept residents of the country. In a state of war, the many many mages of the country usually join in the war effort, whether it be out of patriotism or to provide a good testing ground for new spells, abilities or rituals. The few countries that have attacked Volenia in the past (and the even fewer who have lived to tell the tale.) retell the encounter as a storm of chaos, projectiles of every element imaginable raining from the sky with no discernible pattern while the weather seemed to be at the mages command, lightning effortlessly swatting airships from the sky and ferocious waves crushing ships beneath them.
Religion
The most widely worshiped deity on the island is Nethys. Laboratories and libraries dedicated to him can be commonly found across the northern island. He is so wisely worshiped that clerics of Nethys are often held in a much higher regard than any other divine caster, automatically demanding a place of respect in Volenian society.
More rarely worshiped deities include Brigh, Thoth, Qi Zhong, Isis, Yuelral and a rather healthy following of the demon lord Abraxas.
Foreign Relations
Volenia is openly hostile to Dorath, making an effort to hinder them in any way they can such as allowing some of the mages have 'target practice' with ships passing nearby that are trading goods to and from Dorath. They don't care too much for other countries, generally only worrying about themselves. With no need for Volenia to expand, especially considering some districts of the country have large areas based in demiplanes and do all experimentation internally, other countries tend to turn a blind eye to Volenia and let them go about their business.
As a result of the seeming neutrality Volenia shows towards most countries, quite a few nobles from countries across the world come to Volenia to learn the arts of the arcane from some of the most accomplished mages, some of the high council themselves taking these students on as apprentices if they show sufficient skill.
Recently there has been a large upsurge of citizens of Volenia wishing revenge on Dorath for the enslavement and death of their ancestors, making tensions start to run high as whispers of a potential war are starting to circulate.
Education
Many schools specialising in arcane magic exist across the northern island, most focusing on a certain school of magic or type of casting. The large majority of residents of the country attend one of these schools at one point of their life, people born in Volenia and outsiders that show exceptional magical ability receiving extensive scholarships which often completely cover the cost of their study.
The largest school in the country is the Greater Volenian School of Magic. The school covers every school of magic and makes an effort to teach every type of arcane magic, going so far as to have special building dedicated to martial classes for Bloodragers and Magi and having non magical teachers for said classes. The school is often considered to be the best arcane school in the world having nobles and dignitaries from nearly every country come to Volenia to study a variety of arcane arts.
Founding Date
4609
Type
Geopolitical, Magocracy
Alternative Names
Volenia
Demonym
Volenian
Head of State
The Archmage of Volenia
Government System
Magocracy
Power Structure
Federation
Legislative Body
The High Council of Volenia
Judicial Body
The Volenian Courts