Granhan
Overview
Granhan is the southernmost province of Grouce and is home to the highest density of Orcs anywhere in the country. The province has been terraformed to align with the Orcs' culture and militant lifestyle. Areas that had once been covered in lush forest have been largely clear cut and replanted to maximize layout and space efficiency. The province has a seasonally warmer climate and experiences mild winters and long springs and summers. Spring in the province is marked by heavy precipitation and a history of flooding. Levies and channels have been constructed to limit flooding and provide water to the cities of the province.
Grouse was given to the Orcish tribes in exchange for their help during the War of Unification after the Orcs made Blood Pact 1 with the Amer generals. The various tribes that had largely been nomadic came together upon receiving the land and were quick to industrialize. The alignment of the tribes propelled the area into being on the forefront of infrastructure and social services. The province has adopted a strong cultural identity and over the past three hundred years has become one of the most powerful provinces in the nation. This prominence is in part due to a concentration of Grouce's milliatary might. All citizens of Granhan are expected to serve a term in the military and manpower is one of the area's largest exports.
A culture of might has ingrained itself in the people. The people of Granhan are deeply religious, nearly all following Providence , which aligns with many of the other cultural beliefs. All people are expected to work and help in Granhan and all jobs are treated with the same respect. People are encouraged to settle down and have families, to help their neighbors, and to take little. The citizens don’t have an issue with how the province is run and the quality of life is almost entirely uniform from the capital of Drogbar to the smallest villages.
Granhan is known outside of its border for accepting people of any race or creed. The expectation is that anyone who plans to live in the area is expected to pull the same weight as all others. The province is governed through a democracy of all citizens. The only barrier for political participation is that the citizen must be able to write their name. While many outside the region have questioned this practice, Granhan defends it claiming that all citizens are strictly educated and that by the time a citizen can write his or her name they should be informed enough of the politics in the province that they can make a proper choice. The rigid social expectations often lead to many immigrants new to the area leaving for Sherpmel after finding the expectations of Granhan too strict.
History
Pre War
Before the War of Unification the orcs were a scattered and disorganized race. 37 different tribes of orcs lived roaming the south and west of Grouce. These tribes frequently came blows with the permenant residents of Sherpmel, Romborn, Sherpburg, and with each other. The orcs had originally come from a small archipelago across the Effinigan Ocean sometime around the 7th century BU. However, generations of fighting and nomadic life styles left the tribes with no unified identity. Their perceived violent nature and frequent skirmishes made most people distrustful of the orcs.
War of Unification
During the War of Unification Amersham found themselves at a disadvantage, fighting a two front war with Sherpmel and Vinmur. Amersham saw the orcish tribes as a potentially valuable ally, as they were battle hardened and, between all the tribes, numbered nearly one hundred thousand strong. Amersham sent delegates who approached the various tribal chiefs and offered them a deal. If the tribes united and fought with Amersham they would be given a large piece of land to call their own after the war, a place where they would be free to live in peace and call home. Amersham also agreed to help the orcs improve their relations with the other peoples of Grouce, claiming that after the war the orcs would be seen as heroes who would be praised and honored among all peoples.
The 37 chiefs discussed the opportunity amongst themselves and their councils. They saw the opportunity for their lives to become better but they were hesitant to trust Amersham. They feared Amersham betraying them and leaving them once the war was over. As the tribes discussed what to do they found solace in one another. Grudges and issues held between the tribes faded as mutual respect and understanding formed. So the tribes started to unify together and become a cohesive body. The tribes, while still not fully trusting one one another, decided to make an oath with eachother to unify, as an agreement to make their decision of Amersham and the war as one people. The Blood Oath of the Orcs was an oath every orc in all of the tribes took to work as one tribe. Any orc who did not take the oath was removed from their tribe, so that any orc found with one of the 37 marks was associated with the new orcish nation.
After making the pact within themselves and becoming one people, the orcs went to Amersham with their deal. They made Blood Pact 1 with Amersham, agreeing to help Amersham unify Grouce. In return Amersham would show respect to the orcs and give them a home and the kindness they deserved. With the backing of the orcs and the eventual backing of Sherpburg and Romborn, Amersham was able to complete their conquest of the region. In accordance with their deal, Amersham gave the unified orc tribe, known as Granhan, a tract of land that used to belong to Sherpmel so that they may make their own home land.
Post war Unification
After moving to their homeland the orcs set about organizing themselves. They set about clearing the land and organizing themselves and the land to use it most effectively. While they had several missteps at first, the orcs were quick to learn from the other provinces and improve. Their willingness to start again and lack of background left them with no biases to hold them back. Even the topic of religion was famously sorted out in less then an hour with the formation of Providence. The formation of Providence was signified by Blood Pact 2, in which the orcs of the tribes preformed a mass exodus of their previous religions and unified under one shared faith.
As time has gone on, the orcs have only grown in cohesion and strength. The orcs were the first outside of Amersham to adopt the national education requirements of Grouce and the most willing to meet its military service obligation. Granhan has occasional spoken out against Amersham and their methods. When a small rebellion formed in Shermpel after the War of Unification it was the orcs who were most vocal of their disapproval of the methods used to quell the rebellion. Even with occasional disapproval, the orcs are still a close ally and supporter of Amersham and one of their most important assets.
The orcs have recently started a new military campaign south into Cijera . In order to expand their territory, the orcs have been launching a relentless attack on the myconids trying to push South and gain a foothold in the region. Progress has been slow however, as the myconids are incredibly resistant to the orcish forces and their tactics. The endeavor, even if slow going, is supported by Amersham as it keeps the orcs in good fighting order, while providing safety, as in the entire sixty year conflict there have been no casualties on either side of the battle.
Geography
Granhan covers an area of approximately 34,000 square miles. Granhan is the third largest province of Grouce. Located in the Southwest of Grouce, the province covers approximately half of the Southern border of Grouce and is a lush plain. The province holds several large rivers as its main source of water, as there is no direct access to the Effinigan Ocean. The Northern border of the province is marked by the Karishy River, while the Eastern border is determined by the woods of Sherpburg and the Western border by the end of the coastal plains of Veircourt.
Adjacent Provinces and Countries
Climate
The climate is warm, with long wet summers and brief winters. The mild winters and hospitable climate have afforded the province relatively little issue . Areas that had once been covered in lush forest have been largely clear cut and replanted to maximize layout and space efficiency. Spring in the province is marked by heavy precipitation and a history of flooding, due to tropical storms coming from the ocean and the lack of original foliage weakening the ground soil.
Major Cities
The orcs of Granhan, in their pursuit of efficiency, have created three major population centers. The capital, Drogbar, is the largest of the province's cities. However, the province also has a city towards the border of Cijera named Cijort and a city to the Northeast of the province named Tyrmond . Since the terraforming of the land and restructuring, the orcs favor evenly placed small towns to best support movement and to ensure a timely response if an issue were to occur in the province. The grid like pattern of villages is connected by well maintained roads which makes the Granhan one of the easiest areas in Grouce to travel. The roads are so praised that many travelers coming from Veircourt chose to come South to Granhan when traveling East instead of going through Sherpmel.
Drogbar is the largest city in the province. The city stands as the economic, cultural, and political capital of the region. The city is located in the exact geographic center of the province. Following the orcish tendencies for order, the city is built on a strict grid system. Since the city has reached the maximum approved size, as determined by the orcs, they have taken to continuing to build the city vertically instead of horizontally. The city is almost entirely made of stone and concrete buildings designed to allow for the city to be resistant to attacks and natural disasters. The cities grid is laid out with the largest roads and most commonly trafficked buildings going through the center, with smaller and more obscure buildings and roads each level removed from the center that a traveler goes.
The second largest city in Granhan is the militarized city of Cijort. The city sits on the border of Grouce and Cijera and is the location from which the orcs continue their offensive South. The city acts as a front line hub as the orcs continue to try and push into the myconid swamp. The city is equipped to home and mobilize three corps of orcish troops so that they may continue the campaign against the fungal people.
The final population center in Granhan is the northern city of Tyrmond. The city was created to act as a welcoming city for the province along the Road of Gold. The city also acts as the major interprovincial trade hub for Granhan. The city sits only a half a day from Granhan's Border with Romborn and is where a majority of the province's trade with the Amersham, Romborn, Sherpburg, and Vinmur comes through. While the city has a large economic throughput, it keeps relatively little of its wealth it is almost entirely warehousing. The majority of people use the city as a rest point before heading deeper into Granhan for trade and interaction with the orcs.
Demographics
Granhan is the second most racially uniform province in Grouce. The population is over eighty percent full blooded orc, with approximately five percent human and less then fifteen percent half-orcish peoples. This however is not to say that other races are not welcomed in the province. However, most people who are not of orcish blood struggle to keep up with the societal expectations of the province. The vast majority of non-full blooded orcs are found in Drogbar and Tyrmond with non-orcs being incredibly rare to find in the Southern half of the region.
Administration
Granhan has no official governing body. The province is run entirely on a total democratic voting system. Each week, all citizens are expected to report to a voting center to vote on all internal and external problems that the province faces. The criteria for voting in the weekly elections is that someone must be a citizen of the province and must be able to write their name. While many criticize the system, Granhan maintains that the standards they put on their population ensure that their citizens are properly educated in political reasoning by the time they can read and write.
Granhan's infrastructure and social services are a ubiquitous in the province. They have the highest literacy rate of any province in Grouce. While the majority of the taxes collected from the citizens go to maintaining the social programs and infrastructure, the citizens claim they are happy to pay it, knowing that the land they live in is safe and well maintained.
Economy
Granhan's economy is the simplest of all provinces in Grouce. The province's only imports are extra food from Romborn and the occasional tool or luxury good. The province does not rely on Sherpburg for adventuring help, instead using their elite troops to deal with any problem that arises. The areas main exports include man power and construction materials. Many powerful organizations outside of Granhan hire the orcs to work as security and a private force if they need trained warriors. Granhan also has the lowest wealth disparity of any region. All jobs that the citizens perform are seen as important, for if a job does not hold value you wouldn't perform it. Since all jobs are valuable they deserve to be payed a fair wage. This government approach coupled with the mentality of Providence encouraging people to not hoard wealth leads many to donate excess money to work towards community well being.
Culture
The culture of Granhan is deeply tied to Providence. Since over 99 percent of the population worship Providence, the religion's beliefs have become ingrained in the society. The citizens of Granhan are considered to be very practical, as such their art and foods has followed a similar trajectory. The people of Granhan believe in using every resource as effectively as possible; their meals utilize every part of an animal in order to ensure that any creature that is killed for food is not wasted. They generally enjoy performance art and paintings in the region. Granhan is not considered by many to be a place of cultural advancement, and the touch stones of orc culture are not commonly seen outside of the province.
Literature and Myth
The Orcs of Granhan do not have much literature that they are particularly tied to. Instead the majority of stories are passed along via spoken word. While the orcs have unified to homogenous culture, the last remnant of the original 37 tribes is the heroic myths they worship. These myths have been passed between the tribes but the people still value the stories of their forebearers. The stories often revolve around an orcish hero defeating a great enemy and leading his people in a great conflict. The stories nearly universally follow a certain structure. A hero discovers his or her purpose, trains to fulfill their purpose, suffers a loss on their way to completing their goal, completes what they were destined to, and dies upon completion of their goal. The stories usually have a epilogue of the people the hero helped celebrating the hero's life and vowing to celebrate their memory.
Food
Orcish cooking is known for hearty meals that fully utilize the ingredients. The meals are often meant to be mobile and can be enjoyed while moving. The meals are also designed to be preservable so that anything that is not enjoyed during the meal can be eaten later. The cooking of the orcs heralds back to their time as nomads, when meals were eaten a little at a time while the tribes moved and food was not a guarantee day to day, and therefore had to last for upwards of a week. While the food is meant to last for a long time and be tough, it is impossible to say that it is bland. Orcish food is notorious for its heavy use of spices. As the orcs traveled, they would forage spices and herbs for use in their cooking, a habit which has continued.
Music/ Visual Art
The people of Granhan tend toward performance art that incorporates the physical skill of the performer. These art forms are considered ethereal but long lasting in the peoples memory. The people of Granhan also tend toward painting and weaving as it is seen as a valuable use of the resources used in the craft. However the people of Granhan tend to dislike sculpture and ornamentation in tools as they see it as a waste of resources that could be used to further a societal project. While fabric and paints can not be used to create other tools, the metals used for ornamentation can be used elsewhere to make more tools. The music of the orcs is heavy in percussion. The people of Granhan tend towards bells and drums for their durability and ease of creation. The orcs also use vocal performance, turning the legends of their people into spoken word music and plays.
Sports
The people of Granhan are passionate about the sports they partake in. They often see the physical exercise associated with many of their sports as valuable training and a way to keep themselves in physical shape. The people of Granhan commonly use their physical might in gladiatorial combat blending their atheleticism with their proclivity for spoken word performance. The largest gladiatorial group has even grown to the point of touring other provinces, along with Granhan. Many of the villages of Granhan have traveling Brick Ball teams that the entire village will support and watch.
Religion
The worship of Providence is the largest cultural touchstone of Granhan. The worship of Vremya is all but universal and is tied deeply into the province's choices and structure. After each weeks voting session, the worshipers of Providence will gather for their religious ceremony where they discuss the status of their lives. While not required, those who do not worship Providence often find it difficult to fit in with the people of Granhan and often end up converting or leaving the region.
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