The Confederation of Diosia

Gold and Faith make for deadly combos

Structure

As much as outsiders may think, Diosia is a land that is hard to unite. Family feuds and other ties and historical movements have made the cities very wary of one another, and are only barely able to agree to a Confederation to handle foriegn threats. Make no mistake that while they proclaim they are united, they regurarly war with one another for territory and financial gain. However the confederation has its benifits, simplifying trade processes between members, and electing a King (currently King Francisco de Avila) to act as the sort of head of the confederation. Under the Confederation Council and the King are the many Dukes, Barons, and Mayors of the cities and villages.

Culture

When one thinks of Diosia, one thinks of honor, elegance, and adventuring spirt. These are all true of course, but there is more to the land than swords and mustaches. The land is a diverse land, as much as its people in that regard, and have long been a land of many ideloegies and beliefs. In recent years such beliefs have begun to shrink in popularity with the rise of the Inquisiton, but that is another matter. The land is united and yet permenently divided by the years of history and culture amongst the cities and kingdoms. However there is great stock put into ones live, speicifcaly the path they follow in life.
These paths, or la calle, are said to be inspired by the paths of the animal folk The Puss in Boots met in life, and have even led to Schools of Dueling and Fencing being inspired by them. All Diosians learn to fence and duel, even if only the fundementals, for it is the most popular and respected past time in the land. The paths are as follows:

• The Cat's Road: Individualism, Luck, and Adventure. In dueling the Cat Style is typically built on adaptability, learning the fundementals and then building on them further to be ready for anything.
• The Sheep's Road: Love, Compassion, and Gentleness. In Dueling the style of the Sheep is primarily based on disarming an opponenet quickly and beautifully, and commonly involves a dueling cape in the offhand.
• The Fox's Road: Cunning, Mischief, Spirituality, and Jokes. In dueling such Fox Styles are built around feints and quick footwork to open an opponenet and strike in precise strikes.
• The Hound's Road: Loyalty, Companionship, Ferocity. In dueling schools such Hound Styles are about going on the offensive often and pushing this advantage. Hound Fencers strike hard and viciously in combat, for to protect what one loves, someone must destory their enemies.
• The Deer's Road: Wisdom, Faith, Piety, and Protection. In dueling circles, Deer Styles are built primarily around defense, parrying their opponenets before launching powerful counterattacks.
• The Rabbit's Road: Rebirth, Swiftness, Fertility, and Prosperity. In dueling circles, Rabbit Styles are all about striking quickly and often, using momentum and movment to doge in and out of attacks before striking several times before the opponenet can react.

As stated above, these paths not only represent real schools of fencing, but also more metaphorical expectations for the many common paths one may take in their life. Was it not the goddess Eris who took upon 6 paths to becoming a god? There is power in following the road of ones ancestors and their deeds, but also in expanding this road with ones own deeds. For this reason honor and reputation are of great concern for the average Diosian. One must not only walk on the road, but talk like the road, and dress like the road. Diosian clothing is meant to be flashy and elegant, and it is said one can tell much from how one dressess. Many Diosians after a hard days work wander around the streets to see what adventure they can get themselves into and what stories and companions they can meet along the way. Even the typical farmer seeks to maintain his reputation as a valued and hardworking soul. Most Diosians are described as honoest and loud people, willing to proclaim their appreciation but also their ire to the world.
Diosia is a land of passion. It is a land where many die to the beasts and wars of the merchants and nobles, and so one seek to live life loudly and proudly. They seek to love with all their hearts, and promise with all their strength to causes, ideals, or people in their life, and it is said loyalty and honesty is everything to Diosians. Granted such honesty tends to take a backseat amongst the noble and merchant courts and their ever corrupt and scheming ways, but for the typical commoner, being faithful and true is all that is needed in life and in friends. This fierce loyalty also leads many Diosians to take up the adventuring path, and also travel the world, a fact thats helped by the nations vast naval power. Some even jokingly call Diosia, "The Nation of Adventuerers", and there is some truth to the amount of adventuers hailing from Diosia. Like the many bulls of this land, Diosians are a stubborn and strong people, and are perhaps some of the bravest peoples in Nilush to many peoples surprise. Unlikely heroes and found brotherhood are the lifeblood of Diosia, and who can say what soul shall suddenly present themselves as a hero, weather at home or abroad as an adventuer or a conquistador.

History

Some lands are born of fire, others of miracles, and some of the sheer willpower of mortals. Diosia is such a land, a holy land formed from the sheer will of mortals and their unceasing drive for more power and status. Diosia is a diverse land of diverse people, and its story is a long and magical one. The land that would be called Diosia is a primarily costal land of great mountains to the west, and fair plains leading to rocky beaches to the east and south. The bones of great deaed gods scatter the mountain side, and it is this land would eventually be settleed by the first tribes to find it. The land of Diosia briefly used to have a land bridge connecting it and Carall, which led to Tajiran nomadic tribes to migrate into the land. Around the same time, tribes from the land of the Vunao (now the Deadlands) would also migrate further south and form their own groups, these tribes being known as the Idosins. This led to the intermittent warfare and eventual intermixxing of these tajiran nomads and the early Idosins.
Such the land would remain, as scatterted fiefdoms and duchys until they were eventually conquered by the Vunao Kingdom in the year 1018EC, and much of their ethnic population were moved to the mainland as slave labor. There they remained, toiling under the oppresive rule of the Vunao until near the end of the VUnao Kingdoms existance, a woman named Eris would emerge from these peoples. She began life as a shepardess, before supposedly recieving visions from the titanic bones of her homeland and the fairy spirits of the land. Then it was she became the prophet, and preached this revelation to the people. Due to the collapsing political nature of the Vunao, it proved relatively easy to gather these enslaved peoples and have them escape and migrate back to Diosia. Here she became the Pilgram, as she led her people to their homeland as the Vunao Kingdom fell in the year 1987EC. Following a year long pilgramage, she would become the Savior, as she found an old ruin of their ancient ancestors and declare they were now home once more. SHe continued to preach of the godly power bestowed upon her until her death shortly after reclaiming the lost land. Here she became the Death, as her body was laid to rest. However, in her death, the powers granted by the bones and faries of the land let her ascend, becoming the Life after death. So it was that the people now reffered to themselves as Diosians, the children of the gods.
However, though they were back home, they were still a fractured people, warring with each other as much as they would raiders and pirates. This would largely continue until the year 1998EC, where the popular folk tale of El Gato con botas, or the Puss (cat) in boots. it is said the tale began when the 3 sons of a miller were mourning the death of their father, who had bequeethed unto them possessions of his. The first son got the mill, the second the goats and sheep, and the third and youngest recieved his fathers cat. At first distraught that all he had was the cat, he would move out and one day come across a shoe maker who, after helping him, gave the boy a pair of boots and then an extra pair just in case. As he went to camp for the evening, the boy was astonished when the cat would put 2 of its legs into the boots, and suddenly stand upright and speak with a burst of fey energies. The cat comforted the young master, and told him that he would help him succedd in this life. So began the adventures and misadventures of the Young Master and El Gato con Botas. While their stories are long and winding, the most important parts are that during their travels they met with several great anaimals: The Multicolored Sheep of Mácia, The 3 Headed Fox of the Forest, The Crimson Hound of Vidoba, the 4 Horned Deer Lord of the Mountains, and the Swift-footed Rabbit of Tevarre. These animals were also bestowed fey like energies and would evnetually become the several examples of animal folk living in Diosia today. Regardless near the end of the tale, the Young Master and El Gato would inadventenly save a town they originally intended on pranking, when they soon discovered and thrwated a cult uprising. Though not their intention, their senses of honor and justice they had learned from the other animals led them to do vanquish the cult and were hailed as heroes. When the village chief came to reward the two however, El Gato pleaded that the young master be rewarded instead of him, as the roads kept calling to him and his master yearned for a new home. So it was that the two parted ways, with the young master marrying the barón daughter and El Gato wandering the lands to this day, for he still has 6 lives left.
After this, it is said that the young master (who the stories now reveal his name to be Fernendo de Segura) would go on to conquer the lands and unite it under one rule. This earned him the title of El Toro, as finally, Diosia was a unified nation in the year of 2000EC. From then the nation would strengthen itself, the Church of Eris rising to prominance as well as the establishment of the first schools of swordplay and the paths. From then on they would expand their naval capacity, becoming drowned in wealth and coin rivaled only by Ardita in mainland Nilush, something that has to this day led to fierce rivarly between the two. However the land would face terrible troubles from the Deadlands to the north, prompoting a great wall to be built to keep the undead tide at bay. This only got worse in the eventual culmination of the Crusade of Light, and its failure. However, Diosia notably is one of the nations that refused to sign the Treaty of Ashes, and to this day fights fierce conflicts on its border and sends out its inquisitors to do battle with the undead scourge. This happens all the while city states vie for power, and vast navies clash with Arditan and Tajiran vessels for control of the southern trade lanes. This is a land where coin can be brought by blood and blade, and where the bravest amongst its people find no end to their journies.

Demography and Population

While humans are a large portion of the population, a massive portion of the Diosia people are also the many types of beast-folk that inhabit the land. These range from the Cat-Folk, to the Rabbits, foxes, hounds, deer, and sheep folk. Many have long since donned humanoid shapes and now talk and walk amongst its people, making for them to be a common sight. In fact, some foreigners refer to Diosia as the "Beast Nation" for this fact, though most are smart enough not to say this outloud. There are also notable populations of Satyrs in the land as well.

Religion

Religion is primarily focused on the massive Church of Eris, which has its fingers in every settlement of Diosia it seems. Eris was the girl who went upon the 6 paths that led the people to Diosia and to found this great nation. In these acts, she would eventually ascend to godhood with the power of fey spirits and the lingering power of the bones of gods in the mountains and the soil. She is often split into 6 aspects, each representing a part of her life and domains of her divinity. These aspects being

• The Shepard: Fertility, love, Home, and Patriotism.
• The Prophet: Divination, Fate, Knowledge, and Duty
• The Pilgram: Curiosity, Companionship, Spirit, and Vitality
• The Savior: Civilization, Honor, Courage, and Peity
• The Death: Inevitability, Acceptance, Gentleness, and Finality.
• The Life: Divinity, Light, Rebirth, and Hope

With these aspects, the church guides the people to follow the paths set by the goddess and her children thereafter. When one goes against these core tenants of the faith, they mark themselves with el diablos mark of chaos and disorder. Such beings are contemptable, and should be resisted by the faithful. This resist mentality has given rise long ago to the still all powerful Inquisiton, a subsect of the church that holds alarming power both in the church and in almost all legal affairs of the kingdom. They use fear of their reputation to keep the populace in line and kill heretics and devil worshipers, and the undead above all. Many have died upon burning pyres or broken upon wheels by the inquisiton, something that makes them not too disimilar to the witch hunters of Ashenfeld and beyond.

Foreign Relations

With the Crypt Kingdoms, there is nothing but war and hate between the two nations. Diosia has vowed to eleiminate the vampiric threat by itself if it has to, and too their credit they are still standing today. However their border conflicts with the Crypt Kingdoms have largely stalemated between the two, as the great wall helps stop incursions, and inquisitors and crusaders ride out from the gates to purge the nearby land. Ardita has always been a longtime rival of Diosia, espically navally, as both seek to compete to be the trade superpowers of the nations of mainland Nilush. Tajir on the other hand, though there is trade conflicts, Diosia primarily maintains a neutral position on Tajir, and the Tajiran influence of the Diosian ancestors can still be seen today in much of its architecture and dress.

Trade & Transport

Due to its primarily costal nature, Diosia is a trade powerhouse, with vast ports and harbors in every major city, and they have long since fortified the nearby waters with their own defences. Trade amongst the city states is helped by the Confederation and the regulations and laws, though there is danger from wandering undead, beasts, Bravi, and other bandits and the like.

"Semper fidelis"

Maps

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  Diosia

Founding Date

2000EC

Type

Geopolitical, Country

Demonym

Diosian

Leader

King Francisco de Avila, King of Diosia

Government System

Monarchy, Elective

Power Structure

Confederation

Official State Religion

The Church of Eris and the Inquisition

Location

Nilush

Official Languages

• Diosian

Neighboring Nations

• The Crypt Kingdoms
• The Fallen Vunao Kingdom

Notable Members

• High Preistess Isabella Giovana Luccelli