Country of Rohara, the Wild Plains

Rohara is governed quite literally by its people, in a sense. With a parliment currently sitting at two hundred and seventy seats, every town, city and even village, so long as the population in its urban core is over five hundred people, has a seat. Those whom live in communities smaller than this, or on rural farms and plantations and the like, they still vote, their votes being cast within the political race for the community seat geographically closest to them. This parliament, known as the Council of Voices is elected every 8 years. No one can serve more than once, ever. Switching seats does not work. You get one term. The political landscape of Rohara has seen groups known as enclaves form, eleven of them. These groups, these enclaves, have candidates running for the seats in as many races as they can every eight years. The enclave with the most seats is the one whom gets to form the government, however unless they have 136 seats by themselves (which has only occured once in Rohara's near four hundred year history of running this system, or something not dissimilar to it) they have to form a coalition of some sort to actually form a government. The enclave with the next most seats, second place, forms the leadership core of the 'opposition'. This is where the Council of Voices name comes from. These two enclaves will select one seat from among their representatives, normally and historically the seat of the individual whom won their race by the largest margin, to be the 'voices' of the government and the opposition respectively. Parliment is in session every weekday for six to eight hours and all manner of things will be discussed, debated and deliberated, all manner of bills presented to perhaps form legislation.

Under this system of course, by its nature the first and second place enclaves cannot work together to form a 'government' if a coalition is required as by the very laws of the land the second place enclave is legally bound to take up the roll of the opposition. The concept here is that a government should always be debating and deliberating with itself, and should not make decisions to swiftly or too easily expect in times of dire need. The other concept at play, one the Roharan people value, is tied up in understanding them as a culture. Ride wild, Die free. Those words are tied to this indirectly. Rohara would never and has never been a nation of landlords, lordships, counts or titles. Nobility as most other cultures in Valerick understand it does not fly here. There is of course economic hierarchy and those with wealth and standing, however in the eyes of the societal norms and culture writ large, they do not garner or get any special privilege's or legalities.

The unique aspects of this culture and political system can even be seen in her legislation and legal code. Whilst there are notable similarities to most any other nation on Valerick, what is most interesting is how her tax code and system is utilized when calculating legal punitive damages and fines for breaching laws, contracts or for damages in law suits. Such things are never doled out as an amount of coin, but as a percentage of income after taxes, utilizing the previous year's tax records. This system is a near unique one, shared only with Susma, their southern mercantile neighbors, and one that people from most any other part of Valerick find confusing, and some mistakenly believe is 'unfair' or 'unjust'.

This system has been the subject of two referendums in Rohara's history and both times the vote was overwhelmingly, to the tune of seventy percent or more, in favor of keeping it. Thus it remains in place to this day.

Rohara is an interesting blend of culture, as their words, that bit, Ride wild, Die free, would perhaps suggest a culture in opposition to large social programs, or structures, and certainly law enforcement/governmental oversight. However, that is not quite accurate. Due to the unique rules of their government and its structure, term limits, and the massive voting pool, most Roharans do not see that body as a violation of those words, but rather a tool to insure those words can be honored and achievable. This is because these words more refer to resistance, resistance of outside forces, in particular the empire of Valewyr, and their handful of attempts to subjugate, absorb, or otherwise take control of Rohara in some way. The militant nation that is Rohara's eastern neighbor, though currently at peace, a peace that has lasted nearly six decades, it is well remembered that the Valewyrin Empire had its imperialistic designs set on Rohara, and has more than once in her history.

Furthermore they are a culture whom cares for their own and this shows even at a national level. Though rudimentary in structure, and at current limited mostly to the larger cities and towns, Rohara has, through her tax system, something resembling a taxpayer funded healthcare system, hospitals, hospices, doctors, apothecaries, pharmacists and herbalists all tied into this system, their costs handled via taxpayer coin, instead of ever being the problem of the patient. The rural regions have less ease of access thus far, though they are not entirely without, as part of this system and its budgeting does include traveling doctors and pharmacists whom's sole job is to travel between rural communities, and making themselves available for what help they can, which at the very least can provide folks with medicinal advice, knowledge and perhaps guidance to go and seek treatment in a larger community should it be required, somewhere with proper facilities, oft even coming with a written and documented referral.

Naturally the Grazea, this verdant and wild vast plain, fertile farmland that is well used and harnessed, though still with vast tracts of wild grasslands, are Rohara's largest asset. The nation of Rohara and her agricultural might cannot be understated, as it is estimated that some thirty percent of all grain, maize, root vegetables, and other such crops, all across Valerick, are grown and harvested here. The Emerald Collegiate has a mighty presence here as one might expect, their nature based magicks playing a key role in in the agricultural industry, particularly in foreign trade and insuring harvested crops traveling long distances will maintain good health and still be quite edible for days or even weeks after they arrive at their destination. The risks of such magicks are the same as any magicks and thankfully such spells are simple and less dangerous than most for the Emerald Magisters.

Rohara has a turbulent history, given the militant nature of the Empire of Valewyr, its eastern neighbor, as it came into being as a unified nation from the disparate clans of Skye Elves whom make up the ruling caste of the Empire came together, clashing and being brought under one heel. Though not necessarily the cruelest of regimes, to say the Sun Empress of Valewyr and that nation's regime are not militant would be a lie. They also, early on in their history specifically, but even somewhat to this day, most definitely had imperialistic ambitions. Of the three continents of Valerick, Gavis-Lune has seen the most warfare between nation states, conflicts beyond merely fighting the twisted monsters and nightmarish horrors hiding in the darker corners of a shattered world. Rohara's history with Valewyr has seen four military conflicts. Of these, three of them were relatively short, seasonal affairs, as Rohara and the neighboring regions of Valewyr do experience winter, complete with snow and ice. Its milder and shorter than the continent of Durol for example, only lasting perhaps three months, maybe into a fourth, however for at least two of those most rivers become unpassable by boat and the mountain passes through the Valeyri Shelf become to buried too traverse, as well as the plains of Grazea become more of a directionless snow and ice covered waste, hammered early on in winter for two to three weeks by ice storms and blizzards almost non-stop. This is the harshness of the steppes, for though it is fertile, strangely the Grazea experiences this harshness, despite neighboring a true desert. Of course this weather does not extend that far south, only affecting most of the northern half of the nation, however this is where the best farmland is, as the plains give way to scrubland and savannah further south, less desirable to an empire seeking food production in its expansion.

However those seasonal conflicts were brutal and violent when they were on, two of them only lasting one year, another lasting two. But the last war between the two nations, which only ended six decades ago, and started but sixty-four years ago, nearly set the continent and the world alight. Both had entered into major military and trade alliances and agreements, though Valewyr in its biased fashion, had mostly only set its agreements up for trade, with little military obligation between it and its allies. They had also, some might suggest, come to those tables begrudgingly. Rohara meanwhile had just entered into the NPA, becoming the only nation not on the continent of Durol to be part of that trade and defensive alliance. Valewyr had a change in regime, the old empress passing and a new firebrand and her husband taking the throne.

Immediately it was clear hostilities were intended. Communication and trade with Rohara were cut within weeks, and the Roharan embassy in Valewood, Valewyr's capital, was stormed and its diplomatic staff taken prisoner, being held pending investigation. But one week later, both nations had troops posturing at their shared border and Valewyr officially declared war, with a strike force positioning and laying siege to the border city of Woadvale immediately, quite literally firing the first shots of ballista at the city's walls but an hour after the declaration of war had been delivered to Adra. Within a few weeks it was clear this was not going to be like the other conflicts. The troops laying siege to Woadvale did not offer terms. They surrounded the city, blew the rail lines coming in, torched her docks and hammered it into submission with cannon, magic and ballistas. It was no mere strike force either, the entire 2nd army of the Valewyrian empire was present, near twenty thousand strong.

With this it was on and the war would rage in earnest. After those initial gains, despite the benefits of flatter terrain of the Grazea being opened to them, the Valewyrian advance was not a smooth operation. Add to this that from the onset, volunteering regiments of troops of all sorts from Suranth, Depenwoad and Raechin began funneling into port cities, as did supplies, on Rohara's western coasts, and very swiftly it became clear this was going to be long and drawn out. The Valewyrian troops were superior, but on the open plains they could not travel or move an army that large unseen or unnoticed. Besides this they could be harried, their supply lines were not optimal. Another Valewyrian army swept in from further south, or tried to, however they attempted to pass through sovereign territory of Susma, and the desert nation, mercantile though it was, was also no stranger to a fight. They also were staunch in their neutrality and stood their ground, clashing with the Valewyrian Empire troops and turning them back, three times in those four years. The mercantile 'Nation of Nations' might be made up of squabbling mercantile principalities, however they were not about to let outsiders use their territory to traverse and fight each other, and certainly not without a very steep fine, steeper than the Empire wanted to pay.

After four years of continual seasonal campaigning, sieges, settlements lost and taken and retaken, and easily near four hundred thousand casualties between both sides combined, in just combatants, not counting civilians or those whom would fall victim to the ravages of climate, beast or famine when left homeless, both sides finally were forced to come to the table. The war had become untenable for Valewyr's coffers and the Roharan people needed peace, however more importantly they needed some security guarantees. The nations of Suranth, Waston and Susma acted as mediators for the negotiations, which were very messy and heated. It is said within those three long weeks war nearly kicked off again no less than a dozen times. However in the end, with some reparations paid out, large sums, and lands taken returned to Rohara, the two nations managed to come to some sort of peace and trade agreement, and so Rohara would continue being the breadbasket to the world, Valewyr included.

Rohara's population is deceptively small for its size it would seem, until you realize that her cities are not much larger than the likes of those in places like Suranth, and most of her population live a more rural life, with an impressively large majority involved indirectly or directly in the agricultural industry. With only some 3.6 million people spread over the massive geographic area of the Grazea and the surrounding highlands. Interesting and of note, Rohara also has a uniquely low percentage of homelessness amongst its population, not quite zero of course, but closer than most any other nation. This is because of the agricultural industry, its size and robust nature insures that almost anyone, unless somehow entirely physically or mentally unable to function in society even through basic labor, that there are plenty of jobs. Most including at least shelter and food, as most ranches and farms do have simple lodgings on their property for their farmhands. So even the most transient and destitute are generally not homeless, even if they cant afford their own room, apartment or home. Naturally however some might suggest this creates an illusion, a sort of mirage that implies better economic opportunity than exists in other nations and this is simply incorrect given the exchange rate of the Flaxxen. Rohara is not a nation for those whom wish to be individually wealthy in coin with that sort of power that comes from that. Its a wealthy nation instead in that food is cheap, for they do not ship it in its almost all locally produced, with so much extra that can be exported. Its a wealthy nation in that its citizens do not worry about basic healthcare, the basic needs of food and shelter by and large. However you will also find this means you have less individually exceedingly wealthy individuals as well. Such is the tradeoff Roharans have willingly embraced, seeing land, food, shelter and health as more important than material wealth. Families in Rohara are also oft larger than other nations, Rohara, though only having a population of 3.6 million (again this count does ignore people not of age of majority, though it does NOT ignore homeless and transients, unless they are actively no Roharan citizens), has the fastest growing population of any nation in the NPA, with its birth rate being the highest of any nation in Valerick. Families in Rohara often have an average number of kids resting between 4 to 7, and with a low infant and child mortality rate, this does mean her population is going to explode over the coming generations.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, given the history previously mentioned, those of Valewyrian heritage and in particular Skye Elves, are noticeably the smallest demographic and are generally treated somewhere between cold indifference to very poorly with a deep bias. Culturally, one can hardly be surprised, even whilst perhaps acknowledging it isn't really fair or reasonable to hold regular people accountable for the actions of an empire. The demographic breakdown of Rohara's population as of its last census three years ago is as follows;

Race	Rough % of Population	Count
Dwarf	12.7%	4572000
Gnomes	9%	324000
Halfmen	13.3%	478800
Human (Koltani)	7%	252000
Human (Renarii)	8%	288000
Human (Mogol)	11%	396000
Human (Mixed)	21.2%	763200
Skye Elves	0.8%	28800
Woad Elves	3%	108000
Mixed Elves	0.5%	18000
Tanturs	13.5%	486000

What is also very noteworthy, and likely has a role to play in the nations structure, particularly the ages of military service and the like, Rohara has the longest average life expectancy among its citizens. Based upon what data is available, whereas humans for example, might live to see seventy or so in most other places, in Rohara that number is around eighty, nearly a decade of difference. This is likely mostly due to their much lower infant and childhood mortality rate more than anything else though. Other races, even those longer lived, see similar benefits, though by percentage of their potential lifespan the number of years is far less significant.

The nation of Rohara encompasses all of the Grazea, both on mainland Gavis-Lune and the large islands off her northern coast in the Shimmering Sea. Their claims also include the Kharzinc Mountain range, though notably the island part of that mountain chain is uninhabited and large swathes of the range on the mainland are as of yet unsettled and considered very dangerous wilderness. All told Rohara's sovereign territory encompasses some 1.15 million square kilometers of land and the surrounding coastlines, bays and ocean out to the rather standard distance of roughly thirty kilometers from any coastline.

Rohara, due in large part to the issue with Valewyr as a neighbor, does not have....conventional military in the same way many nation states that have formed on Valerick do since the Sundering. Instead Rohara has an expectation and legislated service of all those of age of majority (adjusted as appropriate for their ancestry/race) for a period of four years. This full time service will be localized, training at a garrison near you or in an appropriate academy and you will be placed based on your own life skills, the first year being basic testing and training. The full time nature of it is a misnomer, only requiring three days a week, allowing you to continue working the family farmstead or otherwise, at least for the first year. The second to fourth years however are full time, living on base, learning to fight, learning military basics for whichever branch you are in, going on patrols and other such exercises, and even engaging in small scale conflicts with bestials and other such localized menaces as required. Once your four years are up, however you are not freed of your obligation. Instead you are simply 'reservist' expected to be part of your local township or regions militia, drill and keep your basic skills sharp at least twice a month, and should it be required of you, be brought back into service in a more full time role. However Rohara does have a small core of professional armed forces, the sort of backbone of this structure, the foundation from which this can operate. Amongst these usual divisions such as a few warmages, medicinal sorts, basic infantry, scouts and cavalry and their ilk, there is of course an intelligence apparatus, and some elite units.   The Crows: This shady body is made up of an unknown number of individuals, and run via the Church of the Traveler, through the Council of Voices as well. They are the Roharan intelligence apparatus, and are impressively good at their job. It is estimated that no less than two hundred agents and operatives are active in various political and highborn circles in Valewyr alone at any given time, a perhaps unsurprising fact given the history between the two neighbors.

Order of the Stars: These individuals are tied more to the Church of the Traveler, however do have some deference to the authority of the nation and its government as well. Like all Templar orders they are competent warriors and dedicated to fighting back some of the darker forces that can manifest or be at play in Valerick, however unlike most other orders they are not a heavy force, operating instead in a more scouting, skirmishing and supportive role on a battlefield. They also, through their faith, seem to possess some small divination like powers.

Roharan Raiders: The elite troops of the Roharan army, this cavalry force numbering some eight thousand or so, are master horsemen, world class duelists with epee, sabre and rapier, however most importantly, are dragoons, masters of skirmish tactics from horseback with bow and bullet. Most of them keep at least a pair of pistols, oft one of them a revolver, as well as a recurve bow and a quiver of finely crafted arrows. They do not travel heavy on armor, preferring to act as a highly mobile quick strike force over a heavily armored shock troop. Breastplates, and some thick padded gambeson, no platemail or chain present. Their Roharan Rastovs, the special breed of horse the Raiders breed and raise themselves, is well known and prized by the unit and those select few lucky enough to ever come into possesion of one, even one who fails the unit's rigorous training standards. They need less food or water than regular horses, are faster and with much higher stamina. It is said they can cover easily two to three hundred kilometers in a day without tiring, and can maintain a strong gallop for an hour or more without ever needing to breath heavy or struggling. They are also surefooted animals and seemingly a little smarter than the average horse.

Squarely early industrialization.

The laws of the land in Rohara are mostly as one would expect, however they do interestingly enough practice a sort of castle doctrine when it comes to self defense. Your homestead and farmland should you be a farmer or rancher, are an extension of yourself and your family and thus under similar rules when it comes to how and with what levels of force you may protect them. Also due to a unique agreement, a treaty forced down the throats of the Valewyrian Empire after the War of Grasses as the last Rohara-Valewyr war is known, Rohara and all four of the nations on Gavis-Lune actually have unique rules and a unique treaty binding them. Due to Rohara's importance as basically the world's grainery, she now enjoys, most notably through this treaty known as the Bread Accords, but also through the NPA in its many clauses and through unique trade agreements with both Mora and Waston, full protective alliances with every nation on Valerick. The terms of this are specific, and also act as rules of engagement should any one nation (cough Valewyr) ever decide they'd like to control the world's grainery once again. Should they ever suffer military action or incursion from monster or nationstate that includes destruction of crops, fields or harvests, through various clauses in these agreements, most every nation state is obligated via those treaties to provide aide in way of supplies, coin and even troops to defend Rohara's sovereignty, and arguably more importantly, the integrity of her agricultural yield that literally every nation in some way and some amount, relies upon.

Domestically, this also means such actions as torching a field, or stealing, poisoning or interfering with livestock or other such agricultural activities come with quite hefty punishments, and are viewed as serious high end felonies.

Rohara is obviously, as noted, an agricultural superpower, the preeminent agricultural superpower on Valerick, with only Depenwood even remotely in the same realm as them for food production. Specifically, grains, herbs and most importantly, hearty root vegetables like carrots, turnips, onions, potatoes and such are the backbone of their strength in this regard. They have combined this very successfully with animal husbandry, being amongst the top in the world for lamb/sheep and pork, as well as poultry, specifically quail, pheasant and turkey. Even beef, though they are actually out performed by Raechin in that regard, they are a notable producer of, though that is their smallest agricultural sector by a notable amount.

Rohara has a massive transit system and communication system tied to their agricultural industry used to ship animals and harvested crops all over the continent of Gavis-Lune and even a notable merchant presence and ports to ship to other continents. They are agriculturally so rich that they only import things like certain fruits, vegetables and seafood and in rather modest amounts for their population size, due to simply not needing them, they are not stables or required, they are merely a bit of variety for her people. They produce enough food to feed their population, and feed them well, and still provide the rest of the world with some 10-20% of all their food, with the most notable being 20% of all grains. Truly an interesting nation mixing rustic frontier living with cities and transit paths of the highest technology.

The Roharan people are actually more well educated than people might first expect, given the reputation Rohara possesses as a rural farming community, just on a national scale. However they do have a school system, though it is uniquely structured, with children only having to attend school three days a week, since its well noted how important family strength and size, and multi-generationalism is to the innumerable farms and ranches within the nation. Schooling in this fashion continues from age 5 to 14 for humans, though other races take part, their starting ages are different due to the comparative lifespans, though the length of the schooling remains the same, only nine years. You learn the basics of math, sciences, geography, some physical and healthy education, particularly focused on food and diet as well as physical self maintenance. You also learn some history, literature, reading and writing as well as the last two years containing some modest, but reasonably in depth, education in regards to Rohara's civics, political structures and systems and laws.

From here after this, you enter into a transitional phase of homesteading with your family for two years, and will likely recieve more education via communal exposure and community networking as well as some skills from your own parents and grandparents. After this (at 16 for humans) your four year commitment to the military begins. Your time in the armed forces will not merely be a soldier, you will recieve more advanced civics and history education as well as survival, health, fitness and as appropriate deeper science, mathematics, cartography/geography or other such education based on the role and branch you will be in service with after your year of basic training.

You will have access to other studies should you wish, voluntary ones tied to things such as cookery, homesteading, the arts or otherwise, however these are voluntary and are your responsibility to balance with your obligations to the armed forces. From there, after the four years are served, you will, at 20 years of age for a human, basically be ready to return home, or pursue a specialized education if you wish. Some even pursue a full time military career, though this is the smallest percentage due to Rohara's unique military system as a whole.

Due to the nature of Roharan structure, it is common for any specialized education one might pursue to actually take considerably less time than others from other countries may need, because unless you decide to jump tracks completely from your education and lessons and courses from your time in the armed forces, you likely will get to skip the introductory semesters of such education, as many as four, depending on the program. This only works if you attend a university or collegiate in Rohara of course, and for something that your cross training from your military service can apply. Some nations more closely allied with Rohara do have special paperwork you can attempt to fill out to seek an exemption acceptance to recieve similar benefits abroad.

All of this only applies of course to regular folks. Anyone who ends up tied to a clergy or templar order, or the Magisterium from a young age will follow a much different path in life.

Rohara is one of the first nations (all of Gavis-Lune and most of Waston now have this, and all three nations on Durol are intending to begin building such infrastructure themselves) to have embraced the communications side of Magnetech. Most every nation now has sky-ports and Magnetech Sky-Ships, whilst magnificent are no different than locomotives. However the magnegraph lines are an even less well shared technology that only is now coming to its fruition. Initially only usefull at very short ranges and only used for aeronautic traffic control and directing for take off and landing, one Artemis Gitwig, Grandmaster Magnetech Engineer, developed a system of resonators and imbued copper and lead alloyed conductor lines to allow magnegraph communications to be sent via larger and larger distances. As of this day now, you can type into a Magnegraph at any communications hub in any city in Rohara and send a message to any other in mere minutes. Now that message will still need an address and name to eventually arrive at the intended recipient but this has cut days and even weeks off communication requirements for at least basic written letters and messages, relegating post to shipping and packages. However despite being the forefront of this amazing revelation, with Artemis Gitwig, though a gnome, having been a Roharan, in the forty-five years since his discovery was made public the world, and even Rohara is still a very very long way off his stated dream with the technological discovery. As he so put it;