The Castle-State of Nephinal
While the realm of Moorod is littered with the ancient ruins and remains of great civilizations and cites, and the enigmatic Builders, a testament to the brutality and harshness of the small Room, there remains a small section of Moorod, and persistent nation, the smallest of all, yet one that continues to survive, fight, and even thrive against all odds. Small yet mighty, they are a people who face the challenges of rival nations, rabid monsters, the threat of starvations, and the ever loose grip of sanity held within each human, but they persist and prove themselves as one of the greatest nations in all of Moorod, a small settlement built apon bravery, strength, loyalty, and sacrifice. This, is the nation of Nephinal.
Centered around the small and ancient Blue Castle, their only true "city", the Nephinal work tirelessly to survive, and have created one of the greatest nations in all of Moorod. They have expanded and built small "wall-villages", where they mine magite and ore, and have fought endless wars over the Titan Fields against Mig. These wars for resources have led to a great rivalry between the two forces, their last conflict over eighty years ago. Currently, Nephinal has enjoyed an era of peace and relative prosperity, thought they have suffered several internal threats. But now, Mig is once again on the move, and both sides prepare for open conflict, and war looms once within the walls of the Room.
Structure
The nation of Nephinal is rule by a royal family, led by the King of Nephinal and Lord of the Blue Castle. The King wields great power, but is also balanced by the Council of Eagles. This council is formed from seasoned advisors, who represent different aspects of the nation (i.e. military, economy, mining, etc.), and include: The Royal Treasurer and Lord of Economy, the Commander of the Gliders Corp, Supreme Captain of Military, Lord of Harvest and Food, the Royal Ambassador, Governors of the Wall-Villages, High Engineer, Archmage, Minister of Faith and Stability, Lord of State and Maintenance, and the Royal Advisor. The King may elect a few others to seat of the council.
Public Agenda
The main priority of Nephinal is to survive in the small Room, and to best protect and serve its people. They achieve this end through economic dominance and the control of important economic and military strongpoints, and maintain good relations with several of the other nations of Moorod.
Assets
Nephinal lacks several major resources from their own central castle, and so they must seize or control large fields to produce crops and animals, and mine other areas. They do, however, have a modest amount of unique materials, allowing them to build and construct intricate and powerful machines and tools. They also have an excellent trade relationship with other nations, giving them access to vital supplies.
Nephinal also builds several defenses, such as the Titan Wall, which serves as the first defense against Mig, as well as the Blue Castle and the settlements of Stackwood and Corner. With their unique materials, however, and the advanced crafting of their smiths allows for the creations of advanced mechanics and devices, all of which give Nephinal the edge in technology.
Besides their advanced machinery, the Nephinali employ the elite Gliders Corps, which, while consisting of only a few elite warriors, have defended Nephinal for centuries through their expert fighting style.
History
The original history of Nephinal is blurry at best, as is most of the history of Moorod. After the Black Age, nearly one thousand years ago, it was said that some ancient empire nearly wiped out a small group of people living in the Titan Fields. This small race was nearly wiped out, but were led to an ancient ruin, the Blue Castle from which the Nephinali now reside.
According to legend, Nephin the Great arose among his people, guided by a mysterious being known as the Blue Angel, and the one who sparked the creation of a new kingdom. Accordingly, he saved the Nephinali from devastation, fashioned the first pair of wings and created the Gliders Corps, and laid the foundations for the beginning of Nephinal.
However, this legend is likely been changed over time, and the few scholars of Nephinal truly believe that an ancient empire led to the creation of modern Nephinal. The most like origin is that of some collected and diverse group of humans who settled in the Blue Castle (the creation of the castle is unknown, and it predates all known history), and eventually formed the Castle-State of Nephinal. It is so named because it is based off of the Blue Castle, made up of a ring of levels and centers. The history of Nephinal is often seen as a cycle, a very typical one. The Nephinali eventually formed the elite Gliders Corps to defend their nation, and fight regular and endless wars with Mig, their ancient rival, constantly trying to gain more resources merely to survive.
Territories
Nephinal currently controls the main "food basket", the Titan Fields, as well as having established several "wall-villages", a shambled assortment of wooden huts and tight rope all attached to the walls of the Room, home to diverse peoples, and also the one of the main mining sections. The Nephinali currently defend the Titan Fields from Mig, for whoever controls the Titan Fields has access to the only real source of farming and ranching. The wall-villages were settled and built by Nephinali.
Military
In a very compressed world and among a small-populated nation, Nephinal cannot support a full-fledged military. Instead, they rely upon the famous Gliders Corps, famed for their intensive skill and training, fearful dive-bombs, and graceful gliding skills. This elite force has defended and fought for Nephinal since time unknown, stretching back to the earliest era of Nephinal.
The Gliders Corps acts as both the honor guard of the king and important leaders, main line of defence, scouts, tactitions, and often a policing force. However, there are other less extensively trained facets of the Nephinali military, such as the regular guards and defenders of the Blue Castle and the other territories of Nephinal. Depending on the size of both the populous and Gliders, and whether the Corps can afford to spread out, a Glider might act as a police or constable, but typically this task is given to a local and respected member of the community, who patrols and keeps the peace. In times of war (which are very frequent), the young men and women are drafted, given a position suiting their skills and abilities, and placed into the military.
Technological Level
Nephinal has some of the most advanced technologies in all of Moorod, a necessity to survive in the Room. They craft small and intricate machines, expert shields and swords and armor, and most notably, the wing-system incorporated into the Gliders Corps' armor, which uses a combination of magite dusting, lightweight steel-frames, and large sails to glide effortlessly. Their craft has been developed and perfected over the centuries, with the knowledge of elven magic and smith techniques.
Most citizens use normal materials and clothing, just the same as everyone else. Nephinal also employs brilliant architecture and mechanical pulley systems, which connect the lower and upper regions of the nation together, transporting vital supplies and people across vertical and horizontal locations.
Much of this is heavily reliant upon the use of magite and magic, with the elven supplying most of the spellwork to achieve such ends.
Religion
Nephinal is very loose in regard to religion. While many dark and vile cults and religion have sprung from the tortured and twisted mind of those trapped in the Room, and have been outlawed in Nephinal (such as the Red Cult). However, Nephinal does not actively suppress religion, and many follow their own ideology.
Nephinal does, however, have its own ideological belief, a belief in the Cycle. This is a logic-based ideology, following the belief that the entire Room, and in fact all of life, follows several cycles, a part of the great Cycle. Besides this, the Nephinali place great importance on honor, loyalty to state and people, the importance of family, and the absolute determination to keep their nation alive.
Since it is a cultural ideology, there is no clergy or bishops, nor any true preachers of their beliefs. The closest thing are scholars who describe the natural cycles of the Room, and write precious little about the belief itself. However, their ideology is interwoven with their tenacity and will to survive, and places great honor upon sacrifice and service.
Foreign Relations
The kingdom of Nephinal has one of best relations with the other regions and nations of the Room. They have always maintained a strong connection with the sesper of the Uppergrowth, receiving fruits and vital vegetables, as well as gaining the aid of the druids, who enable their crops and livestock to grow faster and healthier. The sesper remain some of Nephinal's greatest friends and allies, though many Nephinali see the sesper as peaceful and naïve tree-dwellers, ignorant of the wars and conflict.
With the elven, it has been more of show, in order to keep the strong power of the elven mages on their side. The elven nobles see themselves, and demand that they be treated as superior and above all other races of the Room, and thus many Nephinali ambassadors give a show of pompous words and flattery, in order to keep the powerful support of the elven and Elvenia.
There remains no open relations with Mig, as these rivals have been in conflict since before recorded history.
Agriculture & Industry
Nephinal is the smallest state in all of Moorod, compared to in land size, holding only a small castle. However, through their numerous wars, they have seized valuable and important economic sights. The Foundation, the great stone pillar upon which the Blue Castle is built upon, contains a great reservoir of water, and small amounts of ore and other small and valuable magite ores and unique rocks, which are found only in Nephinal. Since Nephinal currently controls the Titan Fields, they have been able to reap and sow large amounts of grain and barely, and also mine the great ores sitting on the wall. These raw resources give them are vital to keep Nephinal alive, but their specialty is crafting and forging the most intricate devices and tools, which they export to other nations.
And their wall-villages provide more resources, such as mining for ores on the wall or stone and materials, or providing limited supplies of food and wood.
Trade & Transport
Trade for raw resources is one of the most important aspects of Nephinal, suppling them with the resources they need. The sesper supply them through the use of mechanical pulley-elevators, and they transport other goods to Elvenia through use of portals or transportations, such as balloons.
The sesper give the nation free fruits, as they believe that is their duty to aid the denizens of the Room. In return, the Nephinali provide a few resources or devices that the sesper ask for. With the elven, Nephinal provides certain advancements and military aid, and this is returned in kind, providing a powerful alliance that stands against Mig.
Education
Nephinali children are all educated at a young age by teachers, who teach them basic skills and knowledge and arts, such as reading and writing, history of Nephinal and the Room, etc. Because of this, most of the Nephinali are educated and knowledgable, thought they are more skilled in certain work-forces.
At the primary level, young children between 1-3 are typically taught and reared by their parents. They are then taught daily at one of the schools, where a teacher provides them adequate knowledge on a variety of fields, and once the children are around teenage age, they are sent to learn a craft from their parents. Thus, most citizens have a broad and generally adequate knowledge of Nephinal as a whole, and a more specific talent in their particular field. However, the education is designed so that an individual can change careers and jobs if another ironsmith is needed, or if a lot of the farmers suddenly die, someone can fill in.
Typically, the commanders and leaders have a far vaster knowledge of history and tactics.
Infrastructure
The large Blue Castle is the major establishment, full of several levels of complex streets and packed apartments and stone corridors, dark allys and aqueducts that eject the waste and old water out the deep tunnels of the Foundation. Nephinal also has several bridges and pulley-elevators systems that connect the wall-villages to the Blue Castle. There are also several tunnels within the sides of the walls of the Room, and stone slabs that work as bridges, jutting out of the great stone walls of Moorod.
Besides these, whenever Nephinal is in control of the Titan Fields, they maintain a border wall that guards the edge of the fields from the fortress of Mig, and develop farms and fields.
Mythology & Lore
While their are very few who actually and deeply contemplate and tell of the creation of the Room, a few scholars have debated its origin and creation. Several theories abound, but the most widely accepted, among both scholars and the people, is that the Room is some sort of creation by the Builders, for what purpose, that remains unknown (some suppose as a test for the people, others claim it is a protection from some great evil). Some how, the Builders fell, and their civilization destroyed, and the Nephinal support the idea that they are the descendants of this race, and the next nation to rise and eventually escape from the Room. Few, however, truly care about such mythologies, merely trying to survive another day.
Divine Origins
Supposedly, the great Nephin, who is said to have spoken about the Great Cycle, and how by maintaining it, the nation could thrive in their desolate realm. Whether this is true is unknown, as all things are, but suffice to say that over the course of Nephinal's history, the leaders and thinkers noticed the natural cycles and developed an ideology around it.
Baevoa Sorao
The Lost Remnants
The kingdom of Nephinal is one of the few place which stores old books and texts from before the Black Age, which is the primary basis for much of the technological knowledge the Nephinali have. In addition, and known to only a few, there resides a sealed off section within Nephinal that contains vast ancient relics, many missing, destroyed, or broken, of long-lost civilizations. The Dumenor have spent long periods of time overturning these relics and attempting to understand how they work, with some of the most important parts of Nephinal society emerging from these discoveries. The ancient texts are few and aged, missing many pieces and often barely comprehensible. The Dumenor have had to operate off the missing information of these tomes, which provide only fragments of knowledge about ancient myths, histories, philosophies, magic, and technology. Most of the central ideas of the Nephinali are direct results of reading this texts, including the belief in the Great Cycle, the main spellwork system, and most of the technological information known to the Nephinali.
Type
Geopolitical, City-state
Alternative Names
Kingdom of Nephinal
Formation Type
Training Level
Elite
Veterancy Level
Veteran
Demonym
Nephinali
Government System
Monarchy, Constitutional
Power Structure
Autonomous area
Currency
While coin could be used in for economics, the Nephinali see the use of ore as coin as a waste, and rather rely on a barter and trade system.
Major Exports
Intricate machinery and devices, water, food and other resources (when in possession of the Titan Fields)
Major Imports
Food (fruits and certain herbs and vegetables, and certain animals), wood, refined magite ores, metals, cloth
Legislative Body
The laws and the rules of the Nephinal are created by or proposed by the king, or the Council of Eagles, and then voted upon by the other party. Usually, the king proposes a law or regulation, and then the Council of Eagles votes upon whether that law shall be allowed and implemented into society. The oldest and most venerated of these laws, which are unchangeable, are known as the Sacred Laws, and are inscribe upon stone and paper throughout Nephinal.
Judicial Body
Once a law or degree has been issued, the Council of Eagles sets out on acting on it, each in their respective fields, issuing orders, changing regulations, increasing storages or preparing for war, etc.
Executive Body
The actual acting force of the government are various soldiers and simple commanders who maintain control over the populace of Nephinal.
Official Languages
Controlled Territories
Neighboring Nations
Related Ethnicities
Military Alliance
The elven are notorious for being arrogant pricks, but despite these have a natural ability with wielding magic that the Nephinali do not. Nephinal is heavily reliant upon elven mages creating spells and enabling magical technology to work, which Nephinal desperately needs to continue to support itself. The elven, in return, rely upon Nephinal to keep Mig at bay. Both sides are rather contentious about each other, but have mainained their alliance for centuries.
Mig and Nephinal have been fighting a war for as long as anyone has known. The conflict has always been over the Titan Fields, with the larger and more numerous Miganese often taken the area, before the Glider Corps. manage to push them back and reclaim the Titan Fields with their allies. The rivalry between has remained the focus point of the Room for over a thousand years.
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