Jernoah

JERNOAH
INFORMATION
Status:	Foreign Lands
Capital:	Bridlespear
Government:	Religious Oligarchy
Head of State:	Master Regent (informal title) Stalsi (formal title)
Demonym:	Jernoan
Population:	Approx. 15,000
Currency:	Arkhat
Religion:	Pursuit of the Nameless

Jernoah is a foreign land far beyond the west coast of the Amasynian Peninsula, separated from it by a great ocean. Jernoah is bordered by other countries to the north, south, and west, though the details of them are considerably sparse. Its capital of Bridlespear is Jernoah's only prosperous city, from which most of its governmental authority and religious creeds are dispensed. Otherwise, Jernoah is a desert country comprised of small outlying villages, and while most trade is conducted domestically, a countless number of coastal townships allow for occasional overseas expeditions.

History

Jernoah's history is scarred by mediocrity, at least according to its advancements in technology and culture. For the past several hundred years, it has been a cultural hub rich with artistic and literary contributions, but due to its minimal military power, thousands of square miles of barren desert land, and its irregular contact with bordering countries, few marked advancements have contributed to anything but a general stagnation. In his book A Brief and Likely Misleading History of the Jerno and His Jernoah, Myrken scholar and historiographer Crisken de Lanz writes, "It is assumed that what we now know as Jernoah was once a Country comprised entirely of Wandering Tribes and Misfits. Over the past Several Hundred Years, however, they banded together to form Villages, and Cities, and they founded a rather Suitably Savage Religion, and they have saturated the World with such good Poetry and Art that One might think they were not so primitive a race."

Government

Leadership: Stalsi, Stahls, and the Festival

A religious oligarchy rules over all of Jernoah, binding various towns and villages under the edicts presented from the capitol. In Bridlespear, a stalsi (or, translated, Master Regent) presides over a small senate comprised of seven stahls, all representatives appointed on merit of wealth, influence, or religious sanctity, one from each of Jernoah's more notable settlements.

The stalsi and his underling stahls are revered with great respect across Jernoah, often lavished with what little riches can be afforded them. Elected officials are appointed for six-year terms. The conclusion of these terms that makes them most memorable, however. Jerno philosopher and historian Sol Paulis wrote of the event in one of his journals:

"Brothers and Sisters of the Nameless are brought in from reputable jerethedrals throughout the Great Country. For one week in Bridlespear every six years, the Festival of the Ascension takes all our attentions away from our minor purposes and labors. We dance. We drink expensive wines. We smoke the leaves of the spine-barrel cactus. We lose ourselves in merriment and plays meant to honor the previous six years, and on the sunset of the final day, it happens: the stahls are dressed in their finest vestments, they are brought before the capitol crowds, and by an ordained Brother or Sister, they sacrifice their lives to the Nameless for the next six years of prosperity. The blood is left to stain the streets. Finally, the stalsi is all that is left, and he too is slaughtered in the eye of the Nameless. We revel in their deaths, write songs of them, and praise them. For to choose a life of politics, in Jernoah, is to choose death, but it is a proud death, and we all dream that we too could be regents one day, and die that very same way."

After the Festival, the Brothers and Sisters who made the sacrifices appoint -- by way of prayer and prophetic guidance -- a new stalsi from one of many (often heavily faithful) candidates. Usually, this candidate is of some religious and authoritative position in Bridlespear itself.

With the deaths of the stahls, Jernoah is often overwhelmed with temporary chaos. While more diplomatic townships elect new representatives through complex honor or vote systems, others rely on contents of strength, violence, or even games of wealth to designate a new regent. Only when the new government system is set into place and the chosen stahls are escorted to the senate at Bridlespear is peace often renewed by way of law modification and periods of exemplary capital punishment. Peace, if not restored naturally, is often restored through force.