Agartha

"From earth we come, and from earth we go. Therefore in earth we live, and the earth we sow. Let our hands do naught but plant, our feet naught but travel, and our steel naught but till and create. May the Mothers watch us and know their paid price flows within us still, and may we know this land is their gift, and so shall we appreciate it as such."

-- Common Agarthan Prayer

Agartha is the vast mountainous nation that stands in the center of Edda, geographically as well as socially. It is a place of vast natural resources and vast creations that always stands right on the edge of magic and science alike.
As one of Edda's oldest official nations, it's had a long history to have many ups and downs, but following the latest flames of war it's an Up-Time for all of Edda, especially Agartha, as a new age of technology and international unity spreads among its people, and so too shall the Agarthans partake of its bounty and spread their spoken ideals of generosity and unity.

History

Agartha has existed for a massively long time, so to go over its history beat-by-beat like Magnum Opus would be an equally massive effort. So, as far as this article goes, we are going to keep it a touch briefer, hitting on mostly the big era-defining and/or nation-shaping events.

Pre-History

Pre Modern Era, collapsed for length

Agartha's history as a collective of people dates a few thousand years before the Era System begins, when the Mountain Agarthans, mostly Dwarves, first successfuly made contact with the Field Agarthans, mostly Halflings and Fleetfeet. Historical legends speak of the Dwarven species existing within the World-Mountain itself, while Religious legends makes no such mention, having the various Mortal Forms post-Tower already existing by the time the Mother Dragons gave their lives which created the mountain. Either way, this meeting and mingling of cultural groups lead to the greater development of Agarthan settlements and agriculture, with their own language and writing system following suit afterward.
Before the Era System began, the people of Agartha developed enough to have various bustling cities, defined cultural touchstones and traditions, and enough militaristic training and guile to go toe-to-toe with their neighbors in what is now Boncly as well as "investigative parties' (read: incursions) from Hippolyta and Afallon. After two centuries of various skirmishes, the three developed nations reached an agreement.

Kingdom Era and Beyond

In -3200 EE, the leaders of Afallon, Hippolyta, and Agartha met and decided it would be in their best diplomatic interests to ally with one another and recognize each other as fellow kingdoms. This led to the adoption of the Afallonian calendar and Era System, as well as divided up the other lands of Edda under the Kingdoms claims.
While various skirmishes and battles still persisted for a multitude of reasons, the three kingdoms largely remained at peace as various discoveries and settlements came and went. For Agartha, the founding of Agartha City within the World-Mountain was a major boon, and much development, expansion, and discovery was had while turning it from a cavernous mega-structure into the bustling city that it still exists as to this day.
During the Welcoming Era (-2800 EE to -2600 EE) Agartha took extensive notes from the travellers from the south who would partially settle and mingle with those already living in the now-Kaguyan Federation. They would tell those of Edda what they knew of the other parts of the world, although little communication was had between the various continents and nations.
During the Elemental Era 400 years later, Agartha was an epicenter for elemental rifts, becoming a hub for the planar immigrants who would enter and wish to remain on the Material Plane. Unsurprisingly, Earth Elementals found it most favorable, but any and all found much to love within the mountainous nation.
Another 400 years down the line with the Shattered Era, when the Leylines and the old workings of magic were shattered and weakened by an unknown calamity, Agartha was relatively safe from the fallout. There was certainly a mournful bodycount, especially in the mines, but it wasn't as bad as some of the other nations on account of Agartha using just as many practical and physical devices and defenses as they did magical.
Much later during the Heroic Era (-1200 EE to -1000 EE), Agartha was home to many of the titular heroes as various monsters ranging from the elemental, the beastial, the draconic, and more began to flood all corners of the land. This increase in monsters and monster-slaying in turn also led Agartha to be the primary source of the next Era, the Drachenschreck Era, when hordes of Dragons began to wreak havoc across all of Edda, especially Agartha. Some intelligently planned and strategized, some were no more than rampaging monsters, by Agartha's defensive and offensive technologies were forced to ascend to the point of Dragon-Slaying, which they successfully ennacted to the point of near-extinction for many of Dragon kind.
During the Isolated Era (-400 EE to -200 EE) much like the other nations, Agartha began to enforce greater control over their territory, especially in what is now Boncly and the 'Oki Islands, to preserve their resources for themselves, leading to greater industrialization of the areas and quashing of dissent. While the Agarthans did not get as dogmatic about it as the other Kingdoms, they very much did not want the independent cultures of those regions stretching too far beyond their means, lest they ally themselves with the other Kingdoms instead. This eventually led to exactly that happening, but even nations often meet their fate on the paths to avoid it. This era of paranoid rivalry and expansion reached a head during the Forest Wars, a series of brutal campaigns launched by the Hippolytan government to try and claim as much of Edda as possible under one banner in allegiance and subjugation. Before the Border Wars, it was the most brutal and ecapsulating war in Eddan history. By the end of it, Hippolyta was forced back into it's own corner of the world, and the Three Kingdoms treaty was renewed and edited into the Pan-Eddan Pact.
This also marked the end of the Previous Era's, as we move into the Eternal Era that has persisted since.

Eternal Era

Agartha went through a period of revitalization, reconstruction, and refoundation in the Eternal Era, as their settlements continued to grow and their technology began to improve with the advent of artifice and the early stages of engineering. Eventually, their formerly controlled lands of Boncly and later the 'Oki Islands freed themselves from Agartha's grasp, but still remain tenative allies of their "parent" nation.
Through advents of disease, disaster, and discovery the people of Agartha persisted and remained true to their ideals, sharing their wealth with their fellow nations, continuing to revitalzie and cherish nature, and expanding their horizons.
During the Border Wars, Agartha changed their tune however, as all nations did. While they still wished to remain neutral allies, the assassination at the Pan-Eddan Summit stoked anger and paranoia into the citizenship, and eventually both the political and public outcry was inescapable. At the very least, Agartha remained in the Static Party of the war, wishing the former borders of all nations to remain the same and to keep the balance, but the ends of peace-keeping were met with the means of brutal exterminations, experimentations, chemical warfare, and even covert political assassinations. This heavy force behind stasis is what led to Laputa's ire, as their indpendence was one of the changes they did not wish to make, and thus made them the biggest target for the Laputan Death Squads, flying forces of terror that bombarded the Agarthan countryside with weapons on par with their own, devestating fortress and field alike.
With the Calming of the Masses towards the end of the War, the Pan-Eddan Treaty set forth a system of peace and restitution from all nations to all nations. Laputan chemists have partnered with Agarthans to clean up the damage laid in the fields and vice versa, and Agartha constructed an entirely new department in order to clean the damage to their reputation and their allies lands. It was a tenative peace at first, but as a generation has passed it has become more solidified, even if their attitude towards Laputa is still a bit shaky on the wide-public level.
Agartha, although technically dimished from it's former glory, has returned to being a titan of industry and commerce among the nations, an epicenter of culture and transport, and its people have returned to preaching their ideals of generosity and appreciation as the flames and embers of war fade behind them. While it is impossible for things to remain peaceful forever, many within and around the nation hope that their greatest minds will leave their sights on the future, instead of revisiting the horrors of the past.

Culture

As far as specific cultural groups, Agartha has four that are considered geographically distinct and a fifth that is socially distinct. First you have Mountain Agarthans who occupied the various mountain edges and cliffsides in the center of the nation. Then there are Forest Agarthans who stayed in the usually low-lying forests to the nations north. Field Agarthans are those cultures that grew and lived in the low hills and wide grassplains of the nation, and lastly Island Agarthans are the demographically smallest population that lived on the handful of small islands around the nation. The Mountaineers have come about as a socially distinct group that represents the culture of the massive capital city within the World-Mountain, although some consider them more of the axis point of the aforementioned cultures.
On a national level, Agartha is a nation based on various shared qualities, such as the ideals of generosity, dedication even in the face of hardship, and living within natural means. The nation is also seen as a symbol of history, Eddan pride, and Merchantry although it loses the latter image to Magnum Opus most of the time. People also regard Agarthans as experts on geology, gemstones, and mining. While that's hardly true for the majority of Agarthans, as a nation it is one of their primary industries out of convenience and necessity.

Primary Religion

The core religion of the Agarthan region is The Mother Dragons Faith‌, which has persisted for millenia in largely similar fashions and woven its way into many of the cultural touchstones of Agartha as a whole, even the non-religious. Its core tenents on generosity, sacrifice, and preservation of nature have been essential to Agartha for as long as it's been a nation, recognized or otherwise. Even though other regional religions cropped up from time to time, few survived regional cult status.

Structure

Agarthan society is led by a council of representative of various industries and walks of life. These Speakers are led, managed, and represented in foreign affairs by the Circle Speaker. While the exact makeup of the Speakers isn't set in stone (pun not intended) and change with the peoples needs, they more often than not number Nine members, Circle Speaker not included. As the last Speaker Selection in 1005 EE, the current Speakers are:

1. Circle Speaker Eoghan MacCarrick - Overseeing the entire procession of the Speakers and their jurisdiction
2. Speaker of Faith Azalea Ó Cathasaigh - Overseeing manners relating to the Mother Dragons Faith, any associated Temples, and the faithful
3. People's Speaker Alger Berge - Speaking for the middle and lower class members of society and their interests
4. Gold Speaker Rebekka Paisley - Speaking for the economic center, the national treasury, and budget management for other government departments
5. Gear Speaker Donnchadh Schmitt - Speaking for the industrial sector and the nascent engineering guild, as well as speaking on maintainence and production of city infrastructure
6. Mine Speaker Máiréad O'Brien - Speaking for the mining and mineral refinery sectors, as well as the citizens living on the lowest circles of Agartha City
7. Root Speaker Essence McKenna- Speaking for the agricultural sector as well as on matters of environmental safety and conservation
8. Gentry's Speaker Bébhinn Georgeson - Speaking on matters for the high class and aristocracy of the nation, as well as reaching out for social and historic societies
9. Wild Speaker Banks Junge - Speaking on matters that include not only animal farmers and their concerns, but also wild animal safety and endangered species preservation
10. Law Speaker Adamina Colter - Speaking on matters of law, justice, and criminal punishment throughout the nation

There are still various other people with the 'Speaker' title, usually heads of certain government departments, such as Ocean Speaker for the Department of Aquatic Health, and District Speaker for the Department of City Planning, just to name some examples. But each 10 years, the public elects who among the departments deserve to have greater say and influence by being a part of the Circle Council.
Beneath them, each city and township in Agartha is ran by a mayoral entity titled a Guthair. They mostly just have dominion over their specific township, but Guthair's of larger cities often have some influence over their county as a whole. Agartha City, as the capital of the nation where most of the Speakers, Council or not, reside is goverened by the Circle Speaker.

Assets

Aside from the literal mountains of financial assets under their command, Agartha is littered with defensively constructed cities, forts, and castles. They also have a cutting edge ground military, arcane development division, and a moderately powerful navy. The aforementioned arcane development serves not just military purposes but also civic and civilian uses, especially inventors in the private sector.

Economic Factors

Currency

Like the rest of Edda, Agartha operates on the copper system, with their coins of all kinds being emblazoned with a dragons head on the front and an image of the World-Mountain on the back.

Major Exports

Agartha exports just about everything under the sun, but their quarried stone, precious metals, and gemstones are of chief export and importance. Similarly, items made using those items are sought after across Edda, be they weapons, jewlery, magical artifacts, or appliances. With the advent of engineering and the renaissance of Artifice, this has only redoubled as Mana-Power Grids and runic developments started in Agartha.

Major Imports

Agartha has the fortune, literally and environmentally, to not require many imports from the other nations of Edda. However, they do indulge in many of the other nations specialities. Nothing can beat Hippolytan lumber, Atalanian cuisine, Kaguyan textiles, or Afallonian magic!
Even with nations that were once part of Agartha, there's always some factor that they bring in. Boncly for example offers loads of silver and iron, base metals that do not have specific Cridhe-Cusail within Agartha, for the nation. The 'Oki Islands as well offers luxurious fruits and floral life, as well as well designed ships and vehicles.
Even their distrusted "ally" Laputa has something to give the nation, as their skill in engineering and science has greatly benefited the mountainous nation and the capitals infrastructure, making life even easier and more sustainable for the common man.

Industries and Sectors

The large fields outside of Agartha's mountainous center are prime for farming, both in the agricultural sense as well as animal husbandry, making a vast majority of the nations food supply. The forests to the north contain some sparse orchards as well, but the eastern portion of the nation is full of greenery of all kinds. The western part of the field region also has its fair share of agriculture, but some of the fields that way have been turned into quarries and mining lands with key Cridhe-Cusail veins underneath them.
Agartha has a great many other industries under its purview, but the most successful outside of the aforementioned are centered more in the mountainous region and the capital. Mining and ore refinement is of course chief among them, with engineering and metalurgy coming up right behind it. Artifice and crafting of all kinds is a well-known Agarthan specialty, as well as mundane jewlery making and blacksmithing. Basically, if it has to do with metals and gems then you can count on Agartha to get it done. This has mostly come not only from the nations ample resources for metal and gemstones, along with regular quarried stone, but also their attitude towards preserving and utilizing all of natures resources has resulted in precise and practiced smithing and crafting techniques that either leaves no waste or utilizes said waste well.
Agartha's military complex is also a great resource, with Agarthan training courses and teachers being sought after by ground infantry and guard units all over Edda, even if their militaries otherwise wouldn't want to get involved. Even the Hippolytans swallow their pride when it comes to basic training. They handle everything else, of course.

Trade and Travel

While Magnum Opus has a greater rate of economic gain, Agartha takes the crown in sheer breadth of economic divisons and successes. Whether it's because of it's age as a nation, it's central location, or the sheer range of industries that Agartha has success in, gold passes through many, MANY hands in Agartha. Despite having to deal with a massive mountain and treacherous range, the roads into Agartha City are well made and maintained, so travel in and out of the capital is easy, and travelled roads are popular throughout the entirity of the nation at large. While their naval force in military terms isn't the best in Edda, they have many ports and well-staffed port cities that facilitate international water travel no matter where a prespective traveller or buyer is coming from, and their shipment companies are just as cock-sure.

Demography and Population

Agartha as a nation is primarily Dwarven, Halfling, and Fleetfoot in species, with the Gemborne and Dragonkin sharing second place as far as numbers go. Humans make up a strong portion next, and while many have come to Agartha in the modern day any other numbers are far more minute.
Culturally, aside from the modern social culture of the Mountaineers, Agartha is primarily Mountain Agarthan and Field Agarthan, with Forest and Island Agarthans making up much smaller demographics even in the past. Immigration has also led to many non Agarthan cultures making their way into the nation, but few would get over the 5% mark in the total population.
Agarthans born either Male or Female make up roughly 1/3rd each of the population, while Intersex born and Non-Binary identifying people make up the final third in their various configurations. While monogamy is common and social standard in Agartha, according to a recent survey at least 1 in 400 people are currently in or have been part of a polyamorus unit in the past.
Given the longer lifespans of many of Agartha's prevelant species, the national average age skews older, but to put more overarching groups to the sheer numbers, most of Agartha is in the young-adult to adult age, with a large amount of elders and a decent amount of youth.

Military

Agartha has one of the strongest ground infantry militaries in all of Edda, only matched by the Hippolytans for the lengths to which they have studied the art of war, and the Afallonians who have religious doctrine and harsh environments to be their instructors. Agarthan military is known to be adaptable, presistent, and brutally efficient to famous and infamous degrees.
Their navy is also reliable, although nowhere near as good as Atalanta's. Their greatest asset that isn't total public knowledge is their military science department, which has made breakthroughs medically, magically, and less than ethically. One intense brow-beating that the Agarthans got after the Border Wars was the creation of the Mad Dog Unit, a military force of chemically induced berserkers and violent sociopaths that were loosed not only on enemy soil, but on dissidents locally as well, sometimes under the cover of a mentally ill civillian lashing out.
While attempts have been made by above-board facilities to cure and reform those raised and corrupted by the Mad Dog scientests, full recovery has been mostly unachieved, save for one man who would rather his name stay far, far away from the units reputation.

Government Bodies

Executive Body

The Law Speaker is the main voice of enforcement in Agartha, having jurisdication across the nation and managing all prison complexes, community service programs, and training for the protectors of civilians: The Staran who function on multiple levels as the City guard, road guards, and national soldiers although they are a distinct department from the ground infantry. Unlike some other nations, the Staran also deal with investigation and imprisonment as well, although the ones working the city beat and those conducting the investigations are different groups.

Legislative Body

The The Agarthan Circle Council‌ are the ones who create nation wide laws and pass final judgement on city or county made laws. After their orated judgements, it goes to the aptly named Circle Carvers to record it and make sure it passes all checks and balances of pre-established law and regulations. If there's an issue, it goes back to the Council and either gets edited or the older laws get changed via approval of the Circle Speaker and Law Speaker.
Once a decision is made either way, it passes to the various Circle Speakers and Guthair via the Canary Guild, and is enacted once it has been delivered to each person of interest in Agartha.

Judicial Body

Legal rammifications and criminal cases are brought in front of a series of Quartz Judges of varying ranks, starting from the Clear Quartz Court which handles minor squabbles and harmless misdemeanors all the way up to Blue Quartz Court that handles national and international cases in any domain.

Technological Level

Agartha has always been on the cutting edge of technological achievement, whether that was in terms of smithing, artifice, magical development, or the newly rising field of engineering. While they may not have the indepth recording and analysis of Afallon or the time spent of Hippolyta, they stay just a step behind the new finish line.
Scientifically, they've aided much in the fields of chemistry, geology, medicine, and more than can be stated. Not all of these developments have been done ethically, such as the aforementioned Mad Dog division, but they have been achivements and discoveries that have added new insights and knowledge into the fields nonetheless.

Foreign Relations

As one of the oldest recognized Kingdoms in Edda, Agartha has had a long time to make many allies and enemies throughout the eras. In the modern era post-Border Wars, things are affable enough between all nations. Agartha's greatest relationships are with Afallon and Hippolyta, their eldest allies no matter how much they've fought, and Magnum Opus as fellow titans of commerce.
Their relationships with Atalanta and The Kaguyan Federation are amicable, with much trade and travel/immigration between them, and their relationship with their former territories Boncly and the 'Oki Islands are peaceful enough. While they have a strong economic relationship with Laputa, especially in terms of metal and engineering, socially and politically it is a tense co-existance, as Laputa laid waste to much of Agartha during the Border Wars, a violent enforcement of their independence.

Education

In the past, Agartha's educational system largely revolved around homeschooling in early years followed by apprenticeships in various vocations. Following the Border Wars, the nation was an early adopter of King Diomedes the 3rd of Magnum Opus' Pan-Eddan Educational Reform, with adjustments made in age ranges for various species differentt developmental speeds.
Agartha is still home to a plethora of vocational trainers, academies, and institutions of higher learning in all manners of education, mundane and magical alike.

Infrastructure

Agartha set the mark for infrastructure that would become Pan-Eddan standard such as plumping, sewage, irrigation, and arcane methods of heating and cooling for appliances and homes. The Mana-power Grid was also partially established with minds of the nation working in collaboration with those in Atalanta, an innovation that has spread to various other cities.
In Agartha particularly, the capital within the World-Mountain has the most infrastructural uniqueness, as one can imagine having an entire bustling city within a carved-out mountain might pose challenges that would not be otherwise present.
The two biggest pieces of development that has made mountain life livable are the Agarthan Air System and the Elevation Circles. The former is a series of air pumps, filters, and heating/cooling systems that keeps the air of the Agarthans clean and fresh, free of earthen sediment and pollutants while bringing in all the benefits of fresh outside air. The latter is a plethora of arcane and engineered elevators that connect the various circles of the mountain, allowing for quick and easy access to the different levels of the city for Guards, Merchants, and civilians alike.

"Strike the Steel, Stoke the Forge (Buail an Stàilinn/Cruach, Las an Ceàrdach/Ceárta)

Founding Date

Recognized as a legally distinct Kingdom in 0 EE

Type

Geopolitical, Country

Capital

Agartha City

Alternative Names

World Mountain, Internal Nation, The Pyre

Demonym

Agarthan

Leader

Circle Speaker Eoghan MacCarrick

Ruling Organization

The Agarthan Circle Council

Leader Title

Circle Speaker

Head of State

Circle Speaker Eoghan MacCarrick

Government System

Democracy, Representative

Power Structure

Unitary state

Economic System

Market economy

Official State Religion

The Mother Dragons Faith

Related Traditions

• Charity of Pir
• Moldbreaking

Controlled Territories

• Agartha City
• World-Mountain Agartha

Neighboring Nations

• Boncly

Related Ethnicities

• Field Agarthans
• Forest Agarthans
• Island Agarthan
• Mountain Agarthans
• Mountaineers

Related Historical Events

• 853 EE
  Red Wrath begins to spread en masse
• 723 EE
  Rediscovery of Loncruach
• 489 EE
  The Medraut Islands become uninhabitable