Vestria

Vestria acts as an absolute monarchy, with the Tsar at its head. The Tsar collects taxes, leads the military, and creates laws and acts. Below the Tsar are many nobles, who are responsible for collecting taxes from serfs and citizens, then paying a portion of that to the Tsar.

The Tsar is responsible for calling a Vestrian Summit, a meeting of all of the Major Houses to advise him on policy decisions, and they often work as a way to negotiate. However, Tsars are known for vetoing suggestions, and any negotiations are more in the Tsars favor than not.

In 430, Tsar Grigorii II created a number of bureaus that served to collect taxes and enforce the Volšbánálog, an act requiring all volškrepostnoy to serve a tour of duty in the Vestrian army. These are often led by nobles from the Vestrian Heartlands, but reach across the whole empire, and are especially enforced in the south.

Vestria has a culture of divine right, and being chosen from birth to fulfill a role. Even the republican sentiment present in some parts of Vestria often centered around those born with sorcery or other traits given at birth, in some kind of proto-eugenics.

Vestria's formation marked the year 0, when it was formed by the possibly mythical Alexander Vestrius. Alexander began as a prince of the region surrounding Darelia, and led a campaign to conquer most of the peninsula.

In the year 144, Vestria fell to the Sothnian empire, and was renamed to the province of Solen. During this time it was used to supply urban centers in Sothnia with it's large food surplus, and was called the "breadbasket of Sothnia."

More than a hundred years later, in 267, the Sothnian Empire collapsed into a number of independent princedoms, including one claiming to be descended from the Vestrian line. Whether or not this was true, they were able to amass popular support and unify most of the peninsula by 286.

In 312, Vestria fought a harsh war with a coalition of Sothnian kingdoms, in which they acquired their territories in the south, as well as numerous colonies on the Sothnian coast.

This new Vestrian Empire was more of a loose confederation, and a number of internal disputes divided the "Empire" into a strict north/south divide. In 436, Tsar Grigori IIs centralization policies caused these divides to break into a civil war known as the Ten Years.

Vestria is starkly divided into two main ethnic groups: Vestrians in the north and Sothnians in the South-Southwest. Because the land occupied by the Sothnians is often harder to grow crops on, the region is poorer. This divide results in Sothnians feeling more connected to Sothnia, the region south of Vestria, which was one of the causes of the Ten Years and the rise of the Solenians.

Vestria occupies numerous coastal cities in Sothnia which were taken in the Sothnian War. Most of these cities act somewhat independently, but trade within them is heavily taxed by the Vestrian Government. They are also used as military bases to control trade in the South Seas.

Vestria has a close relationship with Kentria, and diplomatic communication between the two nations is frequent and cordial. It has a strained but functional relationship with Lanthia, and members of House Ixi are often recruited to carry out diplomacy with Lanthia.

Vestria's primary export is flax, mostly produced in its agricultural heartland, and used as food or turned into linen textiles, but in the south, furs are also a strong industry because the climate only allows for a short growing season.

Vestria exports large amounts of food and textiles to Sothnia and Lanthia in exchange for silver and furs. Most of this trade is done by foreign merchants or those funded by House Ixi, but Vestria still manages to make money by enforcing heavy tariffs and controlling Sothnian trade ports.

The Vestrian Crown is the primary currency of Vestria. A standard crown contains one ounce of silver and is stamped with the icon of the star and sword on one side, and the current monarch on the other. There also exist smaller denominations which include the demicrown, often shortened to the demi and worth half of a crown; the decicrown, shortened to the deci and worth a tenth of a crown, and the centicrown, worth a hundredth of a crown.

Around 100,000 Crowns worth of currency are minted each year, and at any given time Vestrias Personal coffers hold about 300,000. Most are minted from Lanthian silver, funded by the prosperous agricultural industry in the Vestrian heartlands.

During the Ten Years, Vestria took out large loans from Kentria and House Ixi, leaving it with almost 2,000,000 Crowns worth of debt, most of which was spent on the military.

Most citizens aren't educated beyond a primary school level, although many bureaucrats and nobles either attend university or hire a private tutor. Here, they are tought mathematics, literature and other skills related to leadership, administration, and the arts.

Sorcerors, however, often recieve an education either from the military or the Vestrian Church, and tend to be educated not just in magic, but also in other skills necessary to operate among Vestrian nobility. Volskrepostnoy often are taught Vestrian culture and language as well.