Ashijan (AHsh-ih-shAHN)

High Houses

The five High Houses of Ashijan consist of House Nitale, House Yvrey, House Elkas, House Kysona, and House Gethra, each with long lineages and histories tying back to Ashijan's founding. House Nitale holds the Crown of Ashijan and has for many generations, becoming the de facto royal family, though neither they nor their sister houses will directly call it as such due to political tensions between houses both High and Low. Their influence and wealth often goes towards maintaining the status quo, though House Yvrey deviated prior to The Cataclysm, while House Gethra did so after.

Low Houses

The Low Houses consist of numerous other noble houses that are either new, dying out, or have been carefully managed by the High Houses to stop them from gaining enough momentum to justify rising to the High Houses or making a bid for the Crown. Most Low Houses are simply wealthy families with estates, or military heroes who were made nobility as a formality. A small few however, such as House Widows, have shown aggressive political, social, and economic ambitions and are considered potential threats against the Crown and the High Houses.

Guilds

Prior to The Cataclysm, most guilds held little to no political influence in Ashijan, though the Infernal Eye Network began to change that—allegedly through the newly-risen House Widows. The Arcane Academy of Physiology also begun establishing a degree of political influence as one of its Ashijani alumni, Sakalli Cilith, with funding from House Yvrey, published her Trifecta theory, earning immense acclaim at home and worldwide.

Outsiders

In the years since The Cataclysm tore apart Chardovil West and wiped most of its major political powers off the map, including all members of Houses Nitale, House Elkas, and most of Yvrey, the Empire of Altraxia swooped in and offered the remnants of Ashijani leadership assistance with rebuilding in exchange for ultimately submitting to Altraxian rule. However, House Widows has remained resistant to Altraxian involvement.

Ashijan's diplomatic presence both at home and abroad has been fluid over the years, especially after The Cataclysm functionally destroyed the nation and most of its public officials, rulers, and embassies across Chardovil West.

Historically, however, Ashijan and Vochal have remained bitter enemies, teetering on the brink of war Pre-Cataclysm and only holding it at bay due to Altraxian ordering that the two remain peaceful. As for their neighbors to the south, Albyn and Ashijan engaged in and continue to engage in a scientific arms race, each scrambling to pluck fresh graduates from the Arcane Academy of Physiology and the like to serve their nation rather than their rivals. While nothing has been confirmed, Ashijan has accused Albyn of kidnapping or assassinating some of its top scientists. Albyn denies these claims. Unbeknownst to either party, prior to the Cataclysm, Vochal orchestrated several such attacks against Ashijan, knowing Albyn would take the blame.

Pre-Cataclysm

Prior to the Cataclysm, Ashijan waged a decades-long intellectual and scientific war against Albyn, with each nation competing to be the most "intellectually enlightened" in Chardovil West, though they marketed it to their citizens as their path to global dominion, though neither party knew of the tiny city-state of Upazar dwarfing them during this time.

Ashijan remained fairly isolationist throughout this time, largely communicating solely with Obonjon as it sought to, eventually bring the province until its control. Part of this plan to control Obonjon was not only to cut off Albyn's supply of promising scientists originating from the province, but also to use the technological advances those scientists developed to ultimately wage war against their largest military threat: Vochal. The two remained in a tense standoff until both were nearly wiped out by The Cataclysm.

Post-Cataclysm

Following the devastation of the Cataclysm, the Empire of Altraxia functionally took over Ashijan, along with its neighbors Vochal, Albyn, and Obonjon . While each state remains mostly autonomous, Altraxia placed Obonjon under Vochalian rule, much to the chagrin of all other parties involved, including Obonjon.

Ashijan and Vochal still remain quiet enemies, though neither risks breaking their truce lest they incur the wrath of Altraxian officials. Behind closed doors, Altraxia's thinly-veiled threats to eliminate both still-recovering nations in the event the truce is broken has the ruling classes living in fear, while lower officials remain skeptical.

Meanwhile, Ashijan, along with and Albyn and Altraxia struck treaties with Upazar to encourage the free trade of ideas and discoveries, while Altraxia also offered military protection.

Ashijan divides responsibility for drafting and executing public policy between the Crown and the remaining four High Houses. The Crown handles immigration policy, foreign policy, and the regulation of both magic and technology, while the High Houses largely manage the rest, though some distribute some responsibility between local provinces and Low Houses that fall under their control. The primary policies that all four High Houses draft and execute relate to taxes; funding for technology, magic, and innovation; any regulation not managed by the Crown; the establishment and maintenance of social safety nets; and emergency subsidies.

Some High Houses and their members take a more involved role in this process than others, such as Caeda Yvrey managing affairs near major cities, while her brother, Mavi Yvrey, is in charge of rural affairs. However, Mavi Yvrey often allows small towns and villages to manage their own affairs, occasionally passing through to collect taxes due and check that the residents are happy.