Empire of Shenerem

Shenerem is the bastion of the Church of Areto, the guardians of the central Samvaran heartlands, and the keepers of the sacred flames of Halcyon. They are a thriving empire known for their high standard of living, vast bureaucracy, intense community identity, and fierce military. They hold the wealthy center of Samvara, the bountiful heartlands that divide the great religious factions of the Ayshans, Pratasa, Halikvar, and Sumoxans. They are well aware that they are surrounded by potential foes, and their religious militarism reflects that; but at the moment, they are content with slowly isolating their enemies from one another with diplomacy and soft power. 
Foreign merchants are welcome here, as are tourists and pilgrims. The empire may be the great champion of Areto, but the emperor is the impartial keeper of the peace who tolerates all loyal and peaceful newcomers. Refugees from religious wars and merchants exiled from their home states often seek out Shenerem as a refuge - and some find it to be a welcoming haven willing to accommodate with a smile. This experience is not universal, though: the empire's legalistic benevolence can quickly turn to a militaristic conformity that buries those it targets with debt and isolation. While foreign propaganda may hone in on that negative experience, it is currently not common enough to be the majority of visitor's or immigrant's experiences - just an ugly possibility better left out of mind. Just a reminder that the bounties of Shenerem depend on the emperor's good nature and love for you - and that such love is finite and better left untested.

Structure

Shenerem is an absolute theocratic monarchy centered around the Emperor, supported by a vast military and civilian bureaucracy. The emperor is seen as the ultimate authority, above all others but the Aretan Church.
Below the emperor and the imperial family is the Imperial council, the bloated heart of the imperial bureaucracy that does most of the actual governing. Answering to the council are the the great ministries: the Ministry of War (led by the four High Generals), the Ministry of Food (which manages land, road, and water issues, and is led by the two Earthly Prefects), the Ministry of Coin (which manages trade and taxation, and is led by the Grand Treasurer), and the Ministry of Will (which enacts the Emperor's direct will - managing the court system and education system). The land is managed in a semi-feudal manner, with major landlord families acting as aristocrats but relying on the bureaucracy and emperor to renew their titles. 
The current Shenek Emperor is young dryad Kuvhan I. Kuvhan, at the tender age of 21, is practically a celebrity. Not only does he carry the legacy of his beloved grandmother and former empress Nashava II, but he was marketed as a young savant years before he took the throne. For the most part, he has lived up to the hype: he is a tireless worker, charismatic and friendly, and is incredibly well educated in matters of budgeting, strategy, theology, and policy. He has even proved himself to be a competent druid! Beneath the veneer of the model emperor, there has been some slippage though; according to some rumors, he sometimes disappears from his post for days or even weeks at a time. What he does in this time - whether it be partying it up, riding through the countryside in disguise, or carrying on some illicit affair - is unknown, but the fact that he seems to flout traditional imperial protocol to do it has raised some eyebrows. For some, it adds to his legend and makes him seem exciting; for others, it is a worrying and dangerous habit.
Two Kima Cities and a number of vassal tribes operate autonomously under Shenerem's name in the Northern mountains.

Culture

Community and Life

Behavior in Shenerem is largely divided into two main spheres: public-facing, and community-facing. Public-facing spaces are things like city squares, joint-village festivals, or bureaucratic offices. Generally, any space that involves interacting with a significant number of people outside your church group is classified as a public space. 
Public spaces demand humility, manners, and a respect for privacy, and are generally semi-formal by default. If someone offers tea or food, you are to reject it politely and the person is then to insist, upon which you can accept it. Education, knowledge, and curiosity, are considered important traits and it is rude to assume ignorance or a lack of education even if the person is below your station. Beginning a conversation with a stranger in public is considered rude if you don't begin with introductions. Boasting of one's accomplishments in public is considered deeply rude and somewhat taboo. Derogatory humor in public spaces is deeply frowned upon, and is an invitation for soft public reprisals or even mild retaliatory hazing. If someone is doing something weird, but not dangerous or rude, privacy is to be respected for that person.
Community spaces, meanwhile, are extremely different. They are far more informal and less bound by strict etiquette, but they also offer no privacy at all. You must share your life openly and honestly with your community to avoid being rude. People are constantly in one another's business, and everything from mean-spirited jokes to boasting is moderated by community norms rather than greater social norms. 
Moving between public and community spaces offers a sliver of personal space and individual identity. Semi-public spaces allow individuals to move with privacy and freedom, and can be spaces of social confusion. They also tend to be attractive dating spaces for outgoing Shenek. Courtship in Shenerem is divided into two very different categories: Dalliances, or casual relationships common among the young and energetic that are informal, and Loving Communions, or serious long-term relationships to be respected by the community. In theory, the two are kept far apart; in reality, there is a third category that could be called "Dalliances...Unless?", where people scout potential Communion partners through dalliances. Having a child from a non-communion relationship is considered taboo in many communities. As for communion relationships, they tend to be very community-involved: the community is to present the potential lovers to one another in a community space (though both parties typically know each other and chose each other prior to this presentation), where they then act as if they are meeting for the first time and navigate ritualized public courtship.
One must also mention the food here. Scorching rice into crunchy cakes mixed with potatoes or vegetables is extremely common. Flatbreads used as wraps or dipped in stews are common, and fluffier breads are typically sweetbreads of some sort. Meat and/or grilled vegetables are famously grilled and eaten on kebabs (or small wooden skewers). Desserts include fruit, sweet rice pudding, samanu (germinated sweet wheat paste), and, for the wealthiest, Heaven's Hair: thin, delicate noodles marinated and frozen in sweetened rose water, that melt in one's mouth like sherbet. 
As a final note regarding general culture, Imperial patriotism is a big deal here. Even outsiders are expected to respect the imperial heraldry and art while in Shenerem, and someone disrespecting the imperial symbols is basically synonymous with immortality in Shenek media. 

Class and Species

Species relations can be hard to discuss in Shenerem. No laws officially target or favor any particular species, though society as a whole seems to be largely made for humans and dryads. Selkies are treated fine, though there aren't very many of them here to receive much awareness at all. The bigger issue by far are prisms, who tend to be treated with relative distrust and whom the state tends to neglect. Prism food is less prioritized and stocked than dryad or human foods; prism-majority communities tend to be treated with distrust, and may be forcibly broken up if they attract enough attention. Prisms are not barred from any institution or position, but successful prisms tend to avoid majority-prism communities and be hyper-patriotic and zealously Aretan. This also tends to effect poor prisms more than wealthy prisms, as poor prisms who are isolated from prism communities are more likely to struggle with an alien system of food acquisition and medicine than wealthy ones.
Class is its own tricky topic here. Divisions between class lines are blurrier in Shenerem than in most Samvaran states: the nobility is weak and flexibly defined, and social norms tend to be less stratified. Social mobility is high, and the rich are expected to earn their continued status by helping run social programs to encourage that mobility. On paper, Shenerem is less classicist than most states at this time, and all are made equal and prosperous under the emperor's good will. But that last bit is important: the empire doesn't frame social and class equality as a universal ideal, but as a gift of the emperor's goodwill and virtue that can be selectively taken away from the undeserving. And the empire does use that power against those it feels are undermining its authority, and the "disloyal" are very specifically marginalized and fashioned into poor labor by the state. Greater Shenek society actually rejoices at this, going so far as to call it "justice", and those in targeted communities are stigmatized and pressured to convert to some other group. As long as the option to culturally and religiously assimilate into some other community is theoretically possible, greater Shenek culture considers such targeted economic oppression just and right.
Marginalization in Areto is subtle and largely works through the state denying social services to certain communities. Shenerem has robust social services: food, education, opportunities for social mobility, medical care, and shelter for the poor, available to all loyal and faithful subjects. But those whose loyalty are "in question" tend to be excluded from these services (as they "have not earned it" and "would be stealing common wealth"). This can refer to Shenek Aretan communities who have been found guilty of sedition, but it is more commonly used against prism communities accused of Akadism and foreign religious communities accused of sedition. Denial of social services is a tool of control and a threat, and the communities affected by it are useful in the short-term as cheap labor.

History

The First Empire (Pre 306 ME)

From the very earliest histories, Shenerem has always been a uniquely populous and connected land: while cut off from the ocean, its large freshwater rivers and lakes, its temperate climate, its and fertile grasslands have historically made it a center of trade, hunting, and agriculture. When druidism arrived in the early Divine Era, the peoples of this land welcomed it with open arms and quickly adapted elements of proto-Pratasam to their existing religious traditions. The Shenek tribes gathered together to train as many druids as possible, and by the late Divine Era Shenerem was the largest center of druidism outside of the Samvaran heartlands. The appearance of Alchemy in the land of Shekota to the South in the late Divine Era provided a sudden surge of trade through Shenerem, bringing even more technologies, peoples, and ideas to the great lake.
As more wealth and power was concentrated in Shenerem, the warriors of the land began squabbling for power more and more. In 29 ME, one tribe (the Tajiva) was able to unite all of the others in either alliance or conquest. The Tajiva set to work forging the many subcultures and identities into one lasting collective, and in 30 ME called together the druids and warriors of Shenerem to create the Eastern Circle of Pratasam and the Imperial Army of Shenerem - institutions that could govern the land with emphasis on loyalty and competence over local ties or bloodlines. The temporary rule of the Tajiva was transformed into the semi-mythical First Empire, which was roughly modeled on the concepts and ideas of the ancient empires and states of the Samvaran heartlands but with new ideas and technologies to implement them over a larger scale. 
From 30 to 240 ME, the First Empire conquered outwards in a grand march. Newly conquered peoples were granted autonomy, as long as they paid taxes and provided their specialists for further developing the Shenek heartlands. This strategy proved incredibly successful, and the First Empire moved like a stormcloud towards the traditional heartlands of Samvara: Empria, Terminar, Pritinam, and Marsham, all of which were squabbling in their own never-ending wars. The arrival of First Empire set off a massive war between all of the rising great powers of Samvara, who fought for the chance to be the grand masters of the West. This became known as the War of the Five Deserts, and it dragged on for decades. In 300 ME, the War of the Five Deserts was finally brought to a close by the first Selkie Empire of the Khilaia, which quickly subdued the Western kingdoms and was able to capture the Emperor of Shenerem in an ambush in 300. 
The selkies had a momentary advantage - they had the emperor and empress captive, they had the Shenek army disorganized and on the run, and they had the combined resources of the Western Samvaran states. But the selkies also knew that these were temporary advantages, and that they had little to no knowledge of how to conduct a land-based occupation. So, they used their advantage to press Shenerem into a similar kind of servitude that the Shenek themselves had imposed: great autonomy, as long as hey answered to a selkie satrap as their leader. The First Empire ended this way, and a selkie rose to the throne - but not for long. In 302, the selkie empire entered into a succession crisis and civil war, and the newly-conquered Shenek rose in rebellion. The satrap was exiled, and the tribes fought for who would take control of the Empire. 

The Second Empire (306 - 881 ME)

In 306, the Voshiva tribe won their battle and their crown, and was able to cow the other tribes into following their rule. Thus began the Second Empire of Shenerem, which was quite similar to the first in many ways. The Second Empire was slightly less tolerant of local political and cultural differences than the first, and less bent towards conquest. Many parts of the First Empire were lost during the Selkie takeover and civil war, and simply remained independent for much of the Second Empire. This inward focus was partially a reaction to new technologies and trends. The arrival of foreign warhorses and horse-riding technologies allowed for the plains hunters on the periphery of the empire to become more independent and dangerous; meanwhile, the arrival of foreign Akadists, with their own mining technologies and architectural traditions, meant that the prisms of the mountains were constructing grand (and dangerous) Kima Cities. The inward pivot was also a reflection of a new cultural attitude, one that saw Shenerem as the rightful ruler of the East rather than a reflection or part of the West. 
From 306 to 490 the Voshiva focused largely on building up and consolidating the central plains and forests, and only really conquered outwards to secure coastal access in the West and East. There fringe conquests were kept as autonomous vassal states, in the tradition of the First Empire, and helped provide a buffer zone for Shenek stability. Unfortunately, this arrangement was not enough to keep Shenerem neutral against the will of the Gods: in 490, the Lunar Crisis spilled into Shenerem. The Lunar Crisis was a war between the spirits of the Lunar Pantheon, who fought through mortal proxies for control of Samvara. Neutrality was impossible, and Shenerem was plunged into the middle of a continent-wide war dictated by distant divine whims. 
The Lunar Crisis saw Halikvar invaders surge in the East, great battles with the ancient kingdoms in the West, and constant God-driven intrigue in the imperial bureaucracy. An exceptionally powerful druid by the name of Vetka the Liberator rose to guide Shenerem through the tumult of the 500s, and he purged Shenerem of its subversive divine influences, crushed the invaders, and brought the prisms of the Northern mountains to heel. Under Vetka's guidance, the Second Empire finally achieved its long-running dream of religious, divine, and political independence from greater Samvara and the Lunar Pantheon. When the Lunar Crisis finally ended in 730 ME, the empire was unquestionably the great power of the Samvaran center. 
For 70 years, Shenerem thrived. But the early 800s brought a series of critical missteps by the new emperors, which undermined that prosperity. Several old systems that ensured stability were discarded for short-term gain: imperial bureaucrat's requirements that they abandon their family names and titles were loosened and eventually discarded, and the treaty with the great plains clans (known as the Compact of the Five Houses) was not renewed. Garrisons against Halikvar invaders in the East (many of whom did not recognize the end of the Lunar Crisis) were moved elsewhere or disbanded. When things took a sudden turn for the worse in the early 850s, the empire was primed for crisis. 
The sparkpoint were the Kima Cities: for decades, Shenerem had been dismantling them and forcing them into captive settlements (often as forced labor for infrastructure projects). In 850 ME, the largest remaining Kima City North of Shenerem, Rinaswa, led the rest of the mountains in rebellion. The disturbance drew troops from the borders and vassal states, and Halikvar holy warriors from the far Eastern Kingdom of Siashi invaded the Eastern coast. The Western coastal vassal kingdom was promptly invaded by the kingdom of Maruva as well; Shenerem's trade route from the Western sea to the Eastern ocean was now fully shut down. With the economy crashing, corruption soaring in the bureaucracy, and a nasty rebellion spreading through the North, the plains tribes finally gathered together and confronted the empire with their demands: a return of a (revised) version of the Compact of the Five Houses, or they would secede from the empire. This was refused; the plains tribes invaded; the empire, under pressure from all sides, entered a civil war. In 881, it finally completely collapsed. Shenerem was divided into seven kingdoms (five nomadic, two imperial vestiges). The imperial era, which had begun over eight hundred years ago was over.

The Divided States Period

Shenek culture was in crisis. For almost a millennia the Shenek people had been comfortable in their role as a continental power, safe from invasion, wealthy, and united. Now, everything was up for grabs and everything that had seemed eternal was put into question. Halikvar surged in the East, both as Siashan tribes conquered swaths of land and as Shenek lands converted seeking stability. Kima Cities and mountain peoples fought over the future of the mountains; plains tribes fought agriculturalists and one another for the grasslands. Western Pratasa missionaries and imperial claimants arrived from the West to bring stability, but they were soon distracted by their own looming crisis (the conquests of the second Selkie empire  from 900 to 931 ME). Through the 900s, it seemed that the eventual winner was obviously the Halikvar, who were steamrolling across Shenerem. Those Shenek who remained committed to the old ways began to rally themselves in the early 1000s, though their calls for aid were still ignored. The Pratasa, and the West generally, were distracted with their own internal feuds and threats - it was becoming clear that the Shenek were on their own.
Much of the 1000s saw two great coalitions smashing into each other: the Imperial League in the West, which represented those who followed the old ways, and the Red Shenek in the East, who followed Halikvar. By 1100, things had ground to a halt, as the Red Shenek were cut off from support from the East (which was more focused on its own issues and ambitions) and both sides were about evenly matched. In 1103, the Red Shenek entered their own civil war and the Imperial League sent their final calls for aid West - which were answered not with support, but with impotent demands that they submit to the Western archdruid's control. Only the allied lands of Shekota, Bilgaza, Ayneva, and South Kemet answered the call, those lands who had traditionally followed the Archdruids of the Second Empire. In 1105, the Imperial League and their allies gathered together under the Eastern Archdruid for the Equinox Synod, where they reaffirmed their religious alliances and officially withdrew from Pratasam. The united religious forces of the Imperial League charged Eastward, into the divided Red Shenek lands, and drove the Halikvar from Shenerem in a series of brutal religious wars. In 1120, the last grand army of the Red Shenek gathered to try and drive the Imperial League back, but they lost terribly at the Battle of Elkrisk. The remaining Halikvar forces were divided and confused, and were driven out of Shenerem in a series of small (but still nasty) wars through he 1100s. From the ashes of the Red Shenek, the Aretan Church was born. 
In the 1200s and early 1300s, the Aretan states took the offensive against Halikvar and Ayshan occupiers. Shenerem was at the heart of this effort, exporting soldiers and goods at a tremendous rate. While united religiously, Shenerem was still divided into six kingdoms. Rather than squabble for the imperial throne, the church encouraged peace and cooperation between these kingdoms. The population and infrastructure of Shenerem began to recover to imperial standards, and the valley flourished. The crusading spirit that drove the 1200s and early 1300s petered out in the 1400s and was replaced by isolationist cynicism. By this point, the Halikvar of Shenerem had converted, the Kima Cities were either wiped out or kept in check, and the great enemies of the faith were pushed back enough that Shenerem was no longer threatened. Peace seemed possible, even. The church pivoted from warmongering to keeping the peace between the six kingdoms.
In 1550, a new religious threat emerged in the South: Sumoxa. Sumoxa tore through the Aretan Southern kingdoms with ease and the broader power of the Aretan church deflated. In 1594, Shenerem itself was invaded by Sumoxans, who overran the Southern plains and hills. The Shenek kingdoms banded together once more to drive them out, in a quick but incredibly brutal war. In 1600, the Sumoxans were driven out but the Shenek kingdoms were reduced from six to four. 

Rise of the Third Empire

The Sumoxan invasion deeply shook the Shenek people. The Church's allies in the South had been conquered, and the enemies of Shenerem seemed to circle in all directions. A sense of zealous militarism rose across the four kingdoms, who banded together in a grand alliance from 1600 to 1680. This alliance grew stronger over time, and the military elites of all four kingdoms became hopeless intermingled. Some became worried that this entangled cross-state military was becoming more powerful than the kingdoms they swore to serve. In 1680, the local elites of two kingdoms attempted to revoke funding for the alliance military, sparking a civil war that spread across the alliance. This ended with the united alliance imprisoning their supposed monarchs in 1685, and they instituted their own military government in 1686. This unstable military regime shuttered through the 1690s, before one particularly pious general, Nariana Araniva, seized control in 1697 and began a series of massive reforms. High General Nariana broke down the barriers between the kingdoms and took inspiration from the old Empires for a new bureaucracy. She began a media campaign of religious and cultural unity around herself and her regime, and she rallied the people into a kind of revolutionary movement that she used against local powerholders. In 1700 ME, Nariana was crowned Empress of the Third Empire by the Archdruid of Areto, thus beginning the current empire.
The 1700s were a good time for the Third Empire, a century of innovation, reorganization, and prosperity. The Empire strengthened their connections to the neighboring psuedo-Aretan kingdom of Maruva, further built up their infrastructure and bureaucracy, and began projecting influence into their traditional ally (though now Sumoxan), the region of Shekota. The return of Shenerem to the international stage did attract a fair amount of unwelcome attention, however. In 1800 ME, an Ayshan radical by the name of Graceful-Worship arrived in the Northeast with an army at her back, to conquer Shenerem and their neighboring Aretan kingdoms of Ayneva. East Shenerem and South Ayneva were transformed into a free-for-all between Ayshan invaders, Aretan defenders, and an army of Halikvar opportunists. When the dust finally settled in 1820, the Halikvar were soundly defeated and the Ayshans were contained in South Ayneva.
The Aynevan wars set off a series of minor religious wars that raged across the East through the 1800s - Kima Cities, Ayshans, Halikvar, and Aretans constantly feuding, with conflicts always threatening to expand into massive religious wars again. Graceful-Worship, the Kingdom of Siashi, and the Aretan Archdruid finally agreed to peace in 1863, but tensions remain to this day across the East. The wars also ended the direct line of Nariana, forcing a cadet branch to assume the throne in 1861. Since the 1863 peace, Shenerem has remained cautious and pragmatic. The tenuous ceasefire has brought trade and properity to the land, and the population has again soared.

Demography and Population

Between 65 to 70 million humanoids live in Shenerem. 40% are Human, 30% are Dryad, 25% are Prism, and 5% are Other.

Territories

Shenerem is an enormous valley 950 miles long and 750 miles across. At its heart is the massive Lake Samariv, which is 224 miles long and 117 miles across - a veritable inland sea in itself. The great rivers Dagya and Tamaka feed into Lake Samariv from the South and East. Shenerem's Northern border is defined by the Warsakan mountains, and the Southern border is defined by the Voshkivar mountains. Smaller mountains serve as the Western and Eastern borders.
The areas around Lake Samariv and the rivers are temperate forest, which fade into open plains.

Military

Shenerem's military is large, bureaucratically powerful, and ready to mobilize at a moment's notice. Its core is a large standing army, known as the Eternal Guard, which is supported during times of war by regional levies. The Eternal guard is fairly disciplined, and is an even mixture of crossbow-archers, spearmen, swordsmen, and cavalry. The Shenek military is unusually meritocratic: while most Shenek officers and horsemen are upper-class merchants or landlords, the Eternal Guard offers annual tourneys that allow the common recruits to try their hand at riding. Successful riders (often poorfolk with experience riding at a farm or ranch) are integrated into the cavalry with their equipment paid for by the Guard. These tourneys also include mock-combats where low-born officer candidates can prove their worth and acquire promotions typically reserved for highborns. All of this makes for a strong, flexible, motivated military force. The cavalry in particular is greatly feared among Samvarans - the empire's light cavalry, cavalry archers, and heavy lancers are all superb "hammers" to the disciplined "anvil" of the spear-sword-and-crossbow line. Add to the mix the Empire's robust mounted war-druid division, and you have a well-balanced and flexible military machine.
During times of religious war (which would be most wars), the Eternal Guard is also joined by the Laantir (which means "red hats" in old Shenek), an Aretan religious order known for their expert cavalry and mysticism. The Laantir are the remnants of the plains cultures that emerged during the Second Empire - while most of the nomads have since been reabsorbed into greater Shenerem, the Laantir keep the peripheral offshoots alive in the form of military cult. The Laantir are fairly autonomous and are given a fair amount of leeway grazing and living off of semi-public lands to try and live in the old ways, and disenfranchised romantic youth from across Shenerem can sign up to throw their old lives away and "be reborn" as a Laantir at any time. In exchange, the Laantir agree to hunt any nearby bandits and to fight the church's enemies - which they are all too happy to do. The Laantir generally bite at the bit for opportunities to raid, loot, and pillage religious enemies, and unleashing them on enemy lands is a threat the Empire always quietly holds.

Religion

The Empire of Shenerem is the heartlands of the Church of Areto, and is unsurprisingly majority Areto. The Church holds great sway over the government, the laws, and the courts - but they don't actually do the governing or the judging. The Emperor is considered master and mediator of all faiths, and all registered and legal religious groups are to be judged impartially by the emperor's representatives. 
Any non-Aretan religious community seeking legal status must gather together as a "captive church": a carefully regulated religious community that is allowed to practice their religion within their own districts and empire-provided spaces. Captive churches must be loyal to the emperor over their own religious hierarchy, though, and many foreign religious officials tend to chafe at this requirement - and many have been detained for illegal cult. Those non-Aretan priests who wish to avoid being scrutinized or potentially put under legal pressure typically make shows out of their loyalty and patriotism. 
Worship of the empire and emperors as guardians of morality and agents of heaven is not uncommon in Shenerem. Emperors are never gods per say, but mixing imperial heraldry and symbolism with religious symbolism is extremely common. Statues and artwork of Halcyon, Vetka, Lily of Red, and Empress Nariana (founder of the current empire) together adorns public spaces. Captive churches hoping to appear as loyal as possible mix their own symbolism with imperial heraldry and propaganda: a mural of Lily of Red pouring her sap into a chalice to be consumed by Nariana (thereby making her an honorary member of her bloodline) adorns one of the largest Halikvar temples in the capital. 
The Aretan morality does also shape the tax code of Shenerem, in that the rich are taxed more than the poor in order to fund public works or community charities.

Foreign Relations

Shenerem tends to have very religiously-tinted foreign policy. Other Aretan states are allies; enemies of the church are enemies of the empire. That said, Shenek diplomacy isn't just zeal: the empire picks its enemies carefully, and tries to project soft power to prevent it from being ganged up on. 
For example, Shenerem's greatest ally is only Aretan in name (and tithing) only - the Kingdom of Maruva, to the West, serves as a close trading partner and military ally despite being ambiguously Pratasa theologically. To the South, Shenerem has a contentious trading relationship and half-alliance with the Kingdom of Shekota, a Sumoxan power with a large Aretan religious minority that Shenerem is closely connected to. 
Shenerem's current rivals are the Ayshan powers of Ayneva and Nadram, to the Northwest and Northeast respectively. The empire has a shaky peace with the Halikvar to the Southeast: the Kingdom of Siashi is a traditional enemy that has since become a neutral trading partner, and the Kingdom of Kokaal (homeland of the heretical non-mainline Halikvar) across the Eastern mountains is a traditional ally that has since become neutral. Shenerem maintains garrisons and buffer states with both Halikvar countries, and there is a keen awareness that this neutrality could change at any time. 
The religious foreign policy of Shenerem provides one major boon: the allegiance of small Aretan states that depend on Shenek backing to remaining Aretan and independent. These small states serve as psuedo-tributaries, who provide favorable trade deals and military support to Shenerem in exchange for political and military protection. The largest of these tributaries is Ashavat, a growing Aretan kingdom in the Southeast that serves as Shenerem's de-facto Eastern trading port. Ashavat is a buffer state with Siashi that has taken on a life of its own since it was freed from Halikvar and Ayshan occupation in the 1850s, and is rising as a trade power and has even established the first undersea Aretan kingdom known as the Domhuln Sovereignty.

Agriculture & Industry

Shenerem is majority agricultural. Wheat is the most commonly grown crop, followed by maize and wet rice. Cotton, hops, tobacco, and apples are also commonly grown. Ranching of cows, horses, goats, and sheep is common in the less-fertile regions of the plains. Fire Termites, introduced by the Khilaia in the 1700s ME, are also carefully ranched (with the majority of the oil sold to the Khilaia in a semi-exclusive trade deal). Mining and foresting in the mountains is common, and Moonstone is particularly common in the Northern mountains.
The urban centers, which are clustered around the rivers and lake, primarily produce textiles, carpentry, and forged metal goods. Big non-guild industry is fairly rare.

Trade & Transport

Trade tends to flow though the channels made by the Church of Areto, and is organized by guilds and merchant companies that have deals with the church.

Education

Education is managed by community temples, and schools are cherished by their local communities. Temples considered loyal are likely to receive imperial charity money as well, allowing for more robust education in theology, arithmetic, writing, and tradecrafts.
After several years of primary community schooling, teens or young adults can pursue a second layer of education in a town or city. Most towns contain "second schools", which are somewhere between libraries, community colleges, and high schools - they aren't quite universities, but they aren't just schools. Second schools are essentially small communes, as many students from rural communities live in the school full time and rely on it for employment. Second schools encourage their teachers and students to teach one another trades as a way to become independent from patronage, but also serve their own function in a community: recording events and paperwork, and making copies of necessary texts. Prior to the recent arrival of the printing press, second schools were essential for local merchants or priests to make and store copies of essential documents. Now that the press has arrived second-schools are adapting to become press-houses, though many debate what the long-term future of this institution should be.
Students who thrive in their second schools can choose to specialize even further and go to an imperial college. With a second-school recommendation, students in these big-city colleges can study and be licensed in medicine, theology, law, engineering, alchemy, or magic. 
That all of this system relies on a functioning primary school system is not an accident - the system is built to marginalize those who belong to less-loyal captive churches.

Defenders of the Sacred Flame

Founding Date

1861

Type

Geopolitical, Empire

Alternative Names

The Third Empire

Demonym

Shenek

Government System

Monarchy, Theocratic

Power Structure

Feudal state

Currency

Ekedian Gold Suns, Silver Moons, and Copper Bats

Major Exports

Lumber, stone, iron, food, horses, Fire termite oil, Moonstone

Major Imports

Spices, luxuries, medicine, coinage

Official State Religion

Areto

Location

Samvara

Official Languages

• Shenek Language

Controlled Territories

• Tajia

Neighboring Nations

• Holy State of Ayneva
• Kingdom of Ashakahd
• Kingdom of Ashavat
• Kingdom of Maruva
• Kingdom of Shekota