Dzeia

The Third Dze Confederation Dzetsʻał̣u
Flag Tamga of Tsotʻaan Xanaaq̇ut
Status	Independent state
Location	North-east Tselmeg
Capital	Ƚysxḿo'niq
Largest City	Ŋołtʻokeq
Official languages	Old Dze
Recognised national languages	Dzenic languages
Ethnic groups (2010)	Dze (94.5%) Humans (3.5%) Kemonomimi (1.9%) Others (0.1%)
Religion	Tx̣ex̣uq
Demonym(s)	Dzeii, Dzean, Dzeioi
Government	Federal Semi-Constitutional Monarchy
• Tsotʻaan	Łʻysxalx̣
Legislature	Tsodzuńńi
Establishment
• Founding of the 1st confederation	7564 BC
• Founding of the 2nd confederation	3631 BC
• Start of Xanaaq̇ut's War	1887 AD
• Founding of the 3rd confederation	1892 AD
• Fall of the Mannish League	1906 AD
Area
• Land Area	2,987,484 km2 (1,153,474 sq mi) (7th)
• Water (%)	7.26%
Population
• 2010 census	9,980,044
• Density	3.34/km2 (8.7/sq mi)
GDP (PPP)	2010 estimate
• Total	$119.72 Billion
• Per capita	$11,997
GDP (nominal)	2010 estimate
• Total	$63.17 Billion
• Per capita	$6,330
Gini (2010)	34.1 medium
HDI (2010)	0.739increase high
Currency	Serenity Yen (¥) (SEY)
Date format	yyyy.mm.dd
Driving side	right
ISO 3166 code	+42
Internet TLD	.dz

The Dze Confederation (Old Dze: Dzetsʻał̣u ['d͡zet͡sʼaɬʰu]) is a large nation in the continent of Tselmeg, bordered in the west by Atraland and the Iktah Remnants. It covers an area of 2,987,484 square kilometres (1,153,474 square miles), the 7th largest in Kalrania, with a population just below 10 million, with little over 3 people per square kilometre, making it the world's most sparsely populated sovereign state. The Confederation is one of the easternmost nations of the planet, as well as one of six nations controlling lands within the arctic circle and it is also famous for its unique and very diverse wildlife, it is the only nation in all of Kalrania where Haplokariotes and Polykariotes can be found, encompassing nearly the entirety of the zoogeographical zone known as Polykarya.

The territory of the modern Confederation seems to be one of the oldest continuous inhabited places on the planet, having remained isolated from the events that befell the surrounding lands due to its geography and isolated positioning. The lands of the Dze Confederation have archaeological evidence of a distinctive techno-cultural presence since at least 110,000 BC, belonging to the Ŋ́ynƚaq culture industry, a Middle Paleolithic complex, whose makers inhabited the mountainous central regions of the country which seems to have mostly been located in the Eastern Range until about 50,000 BC when they began to expand alongside the hills towards the coast and the west as the culture splintered. Later during the Late Neolithic Dze Collapse the dze dispersed once more and later coalesced into several chalcolithic cultures, culminating in the Flower Stirrup culture which kickstarted the Dze Bronze Age by 10,000 BC. At around 8,000 BC there is archaeological, and later written, evidence for the arrival of four distinct human groups, the Longplow, Broadaxe, Highstone and Red Arrow cultures; after these arrivals it seems the dze quickly began to coalesce into more organized societies during The Invasions, an event happening around 8,000-7,500 BC which triggered the formation of the First Confederation due to the seemingly violent incursions into Dze territory by the former three cultures. The subsequent near 10,000 year long conflicts culminated in the rise of the Third Confederation in the late 19th century AD and the fall of human invaders barely more than a decade later.

Around 96% of the population remains, to this day, semi-nomadic, comprised almost entirely of ethnic groups of Dzeii origin, however a growing population, consisting mostly of Humans and Kemonomimi, are settled in permanent cities. Tx̣ex̣uq and related traditions are also the dominant faith, at around 95.5%, with Kemonosanbi being the second largest at 1.7% and a myriad of native human religions, as well as nonreligious, denominations following. Dzeia is a member of the League of Nations, REK and the Northern Union.

Names and etymology

Main article: Names of Dzeia

The name "Dzeia" means "Land of the Dze" in Ausonian. The word Dze has a native etymology, coming from a Proto-Dzenic root *dz, meaning "to stargaze", and it, and its cognates, is generally used as an endonym by the native species; the word forms part of the native name for the nation, "Dzetsʻał̣u" which means "Pact of the Dze", however the variant term "Nujuntsʻał̣u", meaning "Pact of the Nomads", has begun to gain traction as a vernacular term, as the non-dzeii population grows, however it has not been given any sort of recognition by the government.

History

Main article: History of Dzeia

Prehistory

The archaeological record shows that the mountainous lands near the Inner steppes had been inhabited by an ancestor of the modern dze, Tenacitherium anthropopsius, from around 2,500,000 years ago until evolving into the modern dze, Tenacitherium terrible, around 500,000 years ago. Both a species of paleolithical industry, it is thought that they mostly stayed around the eastern reaches of the Greater southern range, travelling in small bands of nomadic hunter-gatherers. By around 110,000 years ago the archaeological record shows that the first proper material culture arose among the dze during the middle paleolithic, the Ŋ́ynƚaq culture, named after a valley in the near eastern reaches of the greater southern range; this culture's name also comes from the name given by scientists to the arrow and spear tips found, which bear a distinct leaf shape in their shape and cutting technique to them, both for practical purposes of streamlining the flint and with an apparent religious meaning, as burials in places of known ninlaqian industry are known to contain Flint mounds, piles of arrow and spear heads arranged in various shapes; a tradition still carried to this day in certain clans.

It was generally thought that early on this culture absorbed much, if not all, of the dze populations due to their small range of inhabitation during this period due to the lack of findings of other paleolithic industries. This would however be disproven with the discovery of the middle paleolithic Pax̣ŋ́eç culture in the southernmost edges of Polykarya, which put into light the inhabitation of the dze in areas much further than what was originally expected, with some artifacts even being found on the other side the P.E.L. itself; the deepening of genetic studies also showcased that the amount of haplogroups and haplogroup diversity was much broader than previously thought, both in Y-DNA and mntDNA haplogroups, of which most arose during this era and later suffered still un-explained bottlenecks, isolating these until after the neolithic.

The ŋ́ynƚaq culture spread throughout the mountains along river valleys and cliffs where they carved caves into moon-like shapes, these sites nowadays called Tx̣edlał̣, that are still frequented in the present day, some of the oldest being carbon dated to around 110,000-90,000 BR; although it is unknown how a prehistoric people manually re-shaped natural structures to this scale, it seems to have been a seasonal process, where each winter they would inhabit these caves, and shape them, to then leave in summer for warmer places. Other distinguishing factors of this culture are an affinity towards temporarily inhabiting mountainside cliffs rather than caves properly and their hunting method, which is depicted in some paleo-art, which puts more emphasis in persistance hunting in combination with either driving or calling methods as a coordinated maneuver between archers and spearmen rather than the expected scavenging or ambush hunting. This would all allow for them to slowly fill the gaps of deserted lands once inhabited by peoples of the same species. The ŋ́ynƚaq culture managed to mantain a continuity until around 50,000 BR when it began to splinter with the start of the Mesolithic, with a similar transition occuring to the pax̣ŋ́eç culture

Mesolithic age

By 50,000 BR there is evidence for a change in the style and production of stone tools as well as the start of ceramic pottery, distinguished by their simple shapes and square painting patterns made with dark dyes or ocre. It is also around this time when the dze population began to spread into the Central plateau and Coastal range, as evidenced by the surging of several related haplogroups theorized to come from this area, however appearing to mostly remain in the eastern reaches of the land as evidenced by a higher abundance of archaeological remains in those areas compared to the western areas of polykarya as well as the evidence for mass migration towards the oriental fjords. In this era the old paleolithic cultures began to splinter towards epipaleolithic or mesolithic industries, with those who remained in their original range retaining the highest degree of conservatism in their styles and industries. The most commonly found artifacts during the first milennia of the Mesolithic belong to the Ḳyxq́içyw and the Ḳopł̣oq́ cultures, which are part of an eastern set of ninlaqian offshoots, the former inhabiting much of the Oriental steppes and the Eastern Range.

There is also evidence for advancements that could be called Proto-Agriculture, with signs of land clearing and selective placing of several species of flora or the mass culling of species in certain periods, suggesting an artificial increase in populations of game and careful management of populations. These developments support the later cultural and technological advancements that occured during the neolithic and signals the start of the dze's signature lifestyle, transhumanism. Lastly, it is in the late mesolithic when pottery begins to be used, though it's use is restricted to figurines, as pottery vessels dating to before the neolithic have not been found and the development of these is deeply entrenched with the cultures that arose after the mesolithic, rather than those in this time period.

During this age it seems the pax̣ŋ́eç culture both survived and later splintered as well as evidenced by the rise of the Ŋ́eçnuł̣ń culture. The mesolithic also was defined the start of the transition from fully nomadic to a semi-nomadic lifestyle as evidenced by the recent discovery of massive stone circle-shaped structures throughout the steppe regions and later in the western and southern areas, in appearance like prehistorical walls and laden with pottery figurines and material remains, surrounded by ditches near river valleys which are thought to be temporary summer refuges, later abandoned in preference for warmer places in winter like the various mountain hotsprings that dot the eastern range.

At the end of this era however the southern and western industrial complexes dissapear as well as some ninlaqian descendants, that left only the eastern cultures alive. The reasoning for this occurrance the end of the mesolithic and the survival of only the ninlaqian descendants is unknown. One theory suggests early human-dze conflict brought about their end by the late mesolithic in most areas due to pressure as they began to expand beyond the reaches of the P.E.L., where food sources were less nutritious and they were not given enough time to adapt due to heavy competition with early humans, this theory is favoured by many dzeologists given the lack of evidence for intra-dze conflict this far back in time, contrasted with the evidence for human-dze conflict throughout their written history. Enviromental disasters can be factored in, yet the lack of findings of truly catastrophic events provides little substance to any theory that discusses the mesolithic bottleneck.

Neolithic age

Around 35,000 years ago there is evidence for the rise of different stone cutting and polishing techniques, starting the Neolithic period; it is during this era that the Dze populate all of the lands inside continental polykarya and reach their first population peak, with estimates ranging from 5,000,000 to 15,000,000 after having recovered from the mesolithic bottleneck. It is also during the Neolithic that the first concrete evidence for animal husbandry and agriculture arises in the lands of the Confederation, with the evidence of domesticated herds showing in paleo-art, with agriculture being quickly abandoned, or so it seems, in favour of continuing the development of a transhuman lifestyle; reasons for this are unknown, but from skeletal remains we can see that in older, early agricultural settlements the bones show signs of malnutrition and several vitamin deficencies, whilst later nomadic burials have much healthier remains.

It also seems that during this era is when the tradition to build stone pens at permanent locations to signal winter and summer camps for the safekeeping of herds began as evidenced by an abundance of animal remains and coprolites near sites or directly in them. During the middle to late neolithic there is archaeological evidence for the first usage of true pottery vessels, these were few, somewhat porous, made of earthenware and the usage of pottery vessels remained a rare occurance until later eras due to the lack of need for such, though they are helpful in more accurately identifying dzeii cultures and groups.

The archaeological findings of the Neolithic period end abruptly around 20,000 BR with the Late Neolithic Collapse, an event of unknown causes that led to the abandoning or destruction of the stone circles and the spreading of Dze populations westwards. A possible trigger of this event is the evidence for continuous volcanic eruptions in the eastern range around this era that triggered particularly cold years that might have caused the mass death of the game the Dze hunted as well as the deaths of most of their livestock or simply forced an emigration westards, the ending of these winters coinciding with the flooding of several rivers from the accumulated snow and ice, causing the destruction of most stone circles as evidenced by the abundance of polished pebbles in a thin layer of ground sediment dating to this period.

Despite the cultural collapse, populations seem to have more easily recovered from the disaster than the earlier mesolithic populations that vanished before them. By the end of this period the Dze began to undergo surprisingly fast cultural changes at a rate almost 10 times as fast as what had happened in the early stone age, which formed the basis for the Dze Cultural Hibernation hypothesis, and which may have allowed for their survival; though the Neolithic is thought to not have fully ended until 10,000 BR in some areas. In these milennia of archaeological darkness what little has been found, mostly dze remains and occasional pottery shards, show us that the population dispersal allowed for the complete control of polykarya by the dze by the start of the Chalcolithic once these recovered.

Chalcolithic age

After the Late Neolithic Collapse, the archaeological record shows us that after population levels recovered a few thousand years after the collapse there appeared many chalcolithic cultures almost simultaneously, around 15,000 BR, including the Moonblade, Caveshrine and Lowmound cultures, each of which began to participate in localized forms of trade, slowly expanding until the Steppe roads arose, a collection of several trade routes that led from the westermost points of Dze inhabitation all the way to the eastfjords. One evidence of this is the usage of the Dze Hieroglyphic script by the Woodhut culture in the far west by a few hundred years after the script was first developed from the earlier pictographic and logographic forms.

Key developments that occured in this time also include the start of the usage of wheels and carts as depicted in art and evidenced in writings by the Early Moonblade period at 14,500 BR which allowed for the true start of the semi-nomadic lifestyle the Dze prefer nowadays as well as the invention of the stirrup, a localized development that occured in the Moonblade III period around 12,000 BR. By the end of the chalcolithic the Dze managed to spread back to most of their currently owned lands, now also inhabiting the open prairies that define the landscape of their territories. Around 25,000 BR a second collapse occured in where population levels seem to have decreased, though a much more tame event compared to previous catastrophes, evidenced by the partial dissapearance of writing in some areas as communities fled instead of the complete anihilation of peoples and cultures; this one we know was caused by increased volcanic activity that forced the Dze out of many of their traditional homelands for extended periods of time.

Kraterolithic age

By 10,000 BR the remnants of the Moonblade culture seem to have fully recovered from the collapse and evolved into the Flower Stirrup culture, named as such by the shape of the steel footing and the intricate bronze decorational patterns of their stirrups. By 9,000 BR the usage of Bronze alloys had spread to all corners of Dze inhabitation and there is extensive findings of items made with this material, which quickly superseded traditional copper as a tool material; of the alloys used the most common by far was tin bronze, as arsenic bronze was deemed to be weaker and tin bronze to be cleaner and easier to mold, though tin itself was found in high concentrations it was still nontheless rarer than copper. Other alloys were too rare, though we occasionally find items in these rarer combinations, such as the famous Swords of Alx̣tśan, a collection of swords made with aluminium and silicon bronze allows that belong to the rulers of the alx̣tśan clan to this very day that were made during this early age.

The most important developments of this age are the various blacksmith gears that have made the caste so famous with outsiders, with elaborate masks, gloves and equipment that allow for the trade to be as safe as possible, which allows, against most expectations, for blacksmiths and forgers to avoid organ or blood poisoning from metal or fumes. These gears have remained mostly unchanged since this time and they mark one of the most important developments of Dze technology and they are special too in that they are cremated or molten with the blacksmith, as they are deemed to be magic in nature, with scant findings of burials or skeletal remains showing that the health of bones belonging to blacksmiths was much healthier in the kraterolithic than in the chalcolithic.

By this time the Old Liturgicals had evolved into entire families of languages and, starting with the Flower Stirrup people, these began to be written as well, starting a literary revolution and the development of several new scripts to adapt these languages which led to a cultural golden age from about 9,000 to 8,000 BR, from which we have the bulk of liturgical findings of the Dze's early history, both in their old liturgical languages and these new evolving ones that were exquisitely codified, though much of their content remains undeciphered still.

Arrival of humans

Human arrivals to the Dze lands begin to be documented from 8057 BR in the Çunyw Stelai in the far south, which tell of meetings between Dze chieftains and the chieftains of four migrating tribes of Çunyw, "Short Folk", as they are referred to in the carvings which, have been identified with the Longplow, Broadaxe, Highstone and Red Arrow cultures. The arrivals were both of peaceful and agressive nature and texts unearthed in nearby localities and dated to the same time period reveal that by the end of the 9th millennium BR proper Human-Dze conflict arose, specifically with peoples of the Longplow, Broadaxe and Highstone cultures, which led to the slow creeping of humans into the territories of bronze age dze cultures in the south and west as these were unable to keep up with the numbers of arrivals into their territories; the Red Arrow culture however seems to have settled around the north-western shores and the westernmost edges of the eastern range without evidence for conflict during those times.

The Red Arrow culture was a collection of different peoples, thought to be the first proper human arrivals north of the P.E.L., who settled as refugees, rather than migrants or conquerors, due to their noted distaste for the human groups that followed them; a still hunter-gatherer, mesolithic culture, these would adopt metalworking from the dze in the coming centuries, yet some of them would seemingly retain their old lifestyle rather than becoming sedentary or transhuman, though in the modern day most of these have died out.

Initially it seems that humans had the upper hand due to their larger population numbers as they constantly migrated northwards, driving the descendants of the Woodhut and Caveshrine cultures from the western areas of polykarya into the Hammerfall peninsula. These early aggressions began to propel the dze into more organized forms of tribal governance; while the title of Tʿaan had risen up among them as a word for a chieftain or general ruler during the Dze Golden Age, it was during the start of The Invasions that it began to become a universal term for the ruler of a clan, akin to a king. After some generations the Dze clans slowly coalesced into the First Dze Confederation under Tsotʿaan Quƚaq (7274-7231 BR) of the Alx̣tśan clan in 7274 BR, who had spent fifty years uniting the clans through diplomatic means, to avoid the spilling of blood between his people that would have otherwise occured, via duels to first blood and pacts.

The first confederation

Upon rising to power throughout the 73rd century BR, Quƚaq would for the first years consolidate his power through a series of decrees that would end up becoming prevalent or even universal cultural practices for the dze, of these the most famous of which is the forbiding of murder, penalizing the murder of a dze with either mutilation or exile. Although later on inter-dze conflict would occur, for many tribes and, later on, for the entirety of the country, it became one of the pillars of dze societies to almost entirely forbid murder, with direct first-degree murder being viewed as one of the highest sins one could commit. Through this he would unify the dispersed clans, prefering to duel the tʿaan of other tribes to first blood rather than fight to the death or with armies, instilling a code of honor known as the Tśal that would later dominate the martial aspects of many dze cultures.

Under the leadership of Quƚaq the armies of the first confederation would score several victories against the forming human kingdoms during a swift campaign known as the Thunderstride (7271-7270 BR) which culminated in the Battle of Bones in where a coalition of human kingdoms were soundly crushed by Quƚaq, the site of which was then made into a pile with all of the corpses of the defeated, which began the practice of Corpse mounds in dze warfare. After the Thunderstride the rest of Quƚaq's reign was spent warding off human expansion, weakened by the thunderstride, into the central meadows and eastern steppe, resorting to more defensive, guerilla style warfare to deter invaders rather than offensive military campaigns. Succeeded by his daughter, Tsotʿaan Tx̣eńat (7231-7182 BR), the confederation mostly kept to this policy, however during the Jhu'kan Campaigns (7190-7180 BR) they faced off against the forces of the Jhu'kan Empire in the Battle of Alx̣ḳyx in which the Dze managed to defeat the forces of Ka'sun I, dealing a decisive military defeat and securing peace between the dze and the jhu'kan for the following centuries. Both campaigns assured the Dze periods of relative peace, the first one lasting 88 years whilst the later lasted for 278 years, while having minor skirmishes were present, these periods represented unparaleled levels of tranquility that would not be achieved again for over three milennia.

During this time, the peoples descended from the Red Arrow Culture were also victim to the Jhu'kan campaigns, like the people of the Bör Kingdom, which led to an exodus of these peoples who, seeking protection, came to the lands of the Confederation, inhabiting the hammerfall peninsula or the mountainous slopes at the edges of the eastern range.

The confederation and the Jhu'kan empire spent the rest of the 8th millenium at peace amongst eachother however at the start of the 7th millennium BR, tensions began to arise as the Jhu'kan desired a region known as Latuq, meaning "The Lake" in Old Dze, as well the surrounding Lat highlands due to these being less desertic than the warm steppes that characterized the south-central areas of polykarya, which culminated in the devastating Latuq War (6902-6893 BR) in where the lands of the confederation, under the rule of Tsotʿaan Tx̣eł̣eeq, great-great grandson of Tx̣eńat, were invaded and ultimately driven from the central meadows and steppes, resulting in the death of the Tsǫt'aan after a battle in where the dze, outnumbered 7 to 1, fought a last stand and the disbanding of the confederation; the jhu'kan however, weakened by the war, also faced a period of strife in their lands due to the cost of the war, which allowed for the emerging confederations and clans of the dze to be left alone in the aftermath of the latuq war.

The strifes

The term "The Strifes" is a Dze terminology for the period between the first and second confederations, lasting a little over three thousand years from 6983-3281 BR, and it is used to represent both the Dze's inability to unite, being the period where the most notorious intra-dze conflicts occured, and for the constant warfare between human entities among themselves and against the dze, with periods of large scale peace being a rare occurance.

The Strifes are divided into the following periods: The Human Hegemony (6983-6429 BR), The Long Chaos (6429-3407) and The Dze Renaissance (3407-3281), which are defined as the periods in where one or the other race had a dominance over the other politically, with the largest period being the long chaos, in where no group held true dominance over the other, whilst the latter period of dze dominance thought by the dze themselves as a transitional period between the strifes and the start of the second confederation.

Human dominance

For little over 5 centuries after the Latuq War the landscape would be dominated by human polities, the most notable events surrounded the declining jhu'kan empire and the rise of the Kingdom of Gharat, one of the several entities that arose during the aftermath of the war and cultural successor of the Amaghi Kingdom destroyed in the thunderstride, as well as the Zálltá Chiefdoms, a collection of small states nominally subservient to the Jhu'kan that inhabited a region that would later be known as the Mannish frontier.

During the first half of this hegemony the gharati monarchs would slowly expand their influence between the wintry ocean and the western range, being blocked by human polities descended from the Bör to the north and east and the Jhu'kan sphere of influence to the south, however being limited to the inland regions. Through this weak spot would successive gharati rulers expand their territory and reach in the coastlines during the 68th to 66th centuries under the radar of the Jhu'kan who were more focused with rival entities in the sunlands and the southernmost areas of Polykarya such as the Vatan Empire.

During this time the Dze were thought utterly crushed and the eastern frontiers were neglected by human entities. However, during those 5 centuries, some tʿaan began to slowly unify the clans as the Dze recovered from their defeats and by the end of the 66th century BR the Jhu-Gharati War (6507-6472 BR) had started, a massive conflict that burned through the human inhabited lands and weakened both states significantly which would open the opportunity for the Dze to take their revenge on their human enemies. By 6450 it was reported by Gharati scribes that roaming bands of Dze horsemen had begun to return to their old ranges and by 6441 BR a tribal confederation known as the Taaxdze had subdued the kingdom of gharat and entered the Jhu'kan lands, the event later known as the Scouring of the West (6443-6429 BR), this mysterious confederation managed to destroy the Jhu capital of Loran, laying down it's foundations and destroying the Jhu'kan empire. This would end the human hegemony that dominated the earliest stages of the the strifes which would lead to the longest stage of this period, the Long Chaos.

The long chaos

After the fall of the Jhu'kan and the emergence of the Taaxdze, the following milennia were ones of warfare and constant shifting of the balance of powers In this vacuum of power one of the first entities to arise was the Kingdom of Buri which, after supplanting the decaying Kingdom of Gharat as the main power west of the hammerfall peninsula and weakening the Zálltá chiefdoms, managed to carve out a decent territorial expanse in the 64th century BR. During the first centuries of the strifes there occured small dark age in the human inhabited areas, for the exception of the Kingdom of Buri and the northwestern polities, descendants of the Bör, due to the chaos after the scouring that caused the Vatan to collapse due to the mass migration of Jhunic peoples southwards, destabilizing the sunlands.

In the year 6192 BR the Zálltá coalesced into the Mako Tetrarchy and created a more stable balance of power with the Buri in the central regions, later amplified with the surgence of the Kingdom of Lugar in the early 61st century BR in the coasts west of the Buri, descended from the Lûxari City States destroyed in the Jhu'kan campaigns, who managed to successfuly revolt and earn their independence, securing a large portion of the coastal territories west of the hammerfall peninsula.

During the first centuries of this period the balance of powers between the Buri, the Tetrarchy and the Lugar was mantained as the outer human polities in the south and west, such as the Manath Thalassocracy and the Ojore Kingdom, which rose to prominence during the last years of the 7th milennium BR in the vacuum left by the Vatan, were more preoccupied with stabilizing the region after the collapse of the later. The Great winter of 5957 BR, which primarily affected the human regions due to their unfamiliarity with such cold snaps, brought about the end of the Buri Kingdom after the winter caused a famine that left it open to invasion by the Mako Tetrarchy, its lands occupied mostly by the Lugari and the Mako states and it's people driven eastwards. During this time too the Shore War (5921-5916 BR) began between the Kingdom of Rogar and the Tłdze, an amalgamation of coastal tribes that fought for control of the northern shores with the Kingdom of Lugar utterly crushed and it's people driven westwards towards the lands of the Manath, which had also fought in the conflict despite previous animosity towards the Lugari and was left severely weakened as well, which opened the way for the Iematu Kingdom and the Kingdom of Nimsin, the descendants of the Buri, to overtake them as the main powers in the north-west.

In the southern edges of the western range the Kingdom of Yam, using the vaccuum left by the Buri, rose to challenge the Mako Tretrarchy during the Makian Civil War (5932-5907 BR) by pitying the clans against eachother, reducing the Tetrarchy's power significantly and even vassalizing it. At the same time, more waves of human immigration were arriving from the far south and eventually, this allowed humans to invade Dze territory again in the Eastern War (5901-5872 BR), in which the Taaxdze and the Łiqdze, another confederation, defeated the human incursions and even managed to reclaim some of their previous southern holdings near and around the Lat highlands during the latter years of the conflict; this however did not stop human migrations to the south and west in the coming centuries, which helped to de-stabilize the realms there further, but by the 57th century BR the situation had turned into political chaos, resulting in the collapse of the Manath, Ojore and the weakening of several other states, which caused the Long Silence, a period of more than 200 years of almost no written records in the west, caused by the collapse of most human entities due to the increased migrations in their territories; however, various Dze stelai date to this era, specially in the south-east, where attempted migrations by humans were repelled by the Alẋtśan and X̣'onyw clans between the years 5872 and 5808 BR that came from the Ocre Pass.

The next records of large human activity appear in the year 5632 BR with the Mako Tetrarchy, one of the few states to survive the collapse, defeating the neighbouring Ñalçi Kingdom and managing to even beat back the Yamian attempts at conquest, having broke free from their yoke in the Great Makian Revolt (5832-5825 BR) a few centuries prior. Another event of note came with the ascension of the Kingdom of Mvadi in the central coastlines to the west as well as the establishment of the Yegin Empire to the far south near the lands of the old Jhu, which had extended beyond the Biote Limes into regions mostly unknown to the Dze at the time. During this time the Dze-Human conflicts had become rarer, with a tense period of peace arising after the Long Silence due to the focus of the human kingdoms to contain their own invasions and the subsequent collapse of human society, as well as the Dze's focus being shifted to stop the migrations into their own lands. With the brunt of the chaos however being taken by human polities, the power disparity led to small Dze advances in the north in their reconquest of their lands.

The re-emergence of the Mako Tetrarchy brought about a renewed war effort against Dze tribes with the Eastern Incursions during the 56th century BR, which had to be halted afterwards due to several conflicts with the neighbouring states between 5572 and 5487 BR, the resulting century of constant warfare leaving a power vaccuum as the devastation lead to the eventual and final collapse of the Mako in the following centuries, with most states outside the sunlands suffering similar collapses. Descended from the Jhu'kan, the Yegin empire quickly absorbed their once ancient rivals and managed to provide a temporary base of stability in human dominated realms, with the Dze and humans sharing an uneasy truce after the eastern incursions. The Dze themselves would spend centuries preparing until a coalition of confederations, named the Tsǫdze launched a massive invasion into human territory in the Southern Fires, a series of military invasions that devastated human populations nearing their territory and would only be halted at the Battle of Ćǫhŋxalx̣ where the Dze, achieving victory and killing the last Sungi emperor, would then ride back to their homelands, their objective thought complete. Being a war of destruction, it was one of the bloodiest conflicts for humans since the Latqom war and it brought about the end of most human entities, including the destructions of most human entities and the weakening of the Yegin empire and the Mvadi, which however profited from the destruction of several rival powers.

The Yegin empire, under the second and third dynasties, managed to recover from the collapse during the following centuries in what became a surprisingly peaceful period following the Southern Fires, with both Dze not commiting to more wars and the Human polities focused in repairing the damages caused by the last two centuries of war. One notable event was the 1st Mvadi-Yegin War between the years 5273 BR and 5259 BR, caused by the repeated Mvadi incursions into tributaries of the Yegin, such as the Ürol Confederation, and would begin the rivalry between the two dominant human powers of the late 6th and early 5th milenniums BR. The total destruction of the coastal nations during the early 6th milennium BR also brought about a second period of migrations to the far west and central regions of human inhabited lands, upon which rose several kingdoms of peoples related to the Manath.

At the latter years of the milennium, the 2nd Mvadi-Yegin War brought about the temporary defeat of the Yegin as the last emperors of the third dynasty with true authority perished and brought about the Era of Red Soil between the years 5082 BR and 4976 BR which concluded with the transfer of power by the last emperor of the third dynasty, Lhat Yuk, to the first emperor of the fourth dynasty, Gesun Namgi, who then embarked on a war of revenge against the Mvadi, scoring several victories before a peace treaty was signed in 4971 BR. Following that defeat, the Mvadi were then subject to attacks by the Ürol and a newborn Ngatad Thalassocracy during the Hammerfall War, which also involved several eastern peoples who, with support of the coastal Dze tribes, conquered vast swaths of land near the Hammerfall Peninsula, for which the war is named upon. Taking advantage of this, emperor Lhasun Namgi launched a final invasion into the lands of its ancient enemy, at last conquering or vassalizing it in its entirety and becoming the sole great human power.

In the aftermath of the fall of Mvadi, the peoples allied to various Dze tribes commited to further conquests and migrations into the lands west of the Hammerfall peninsula from the north, such as the Marugi conquest of Jhilat, in where the Yegin empire, still recovering from the Mvadi-Yegin wars, was unable to fend off raids or protect those under its vassalage, nor keep its vast tributary system under its yoke as evidenced by the Ürolian War between 4902 and 4896 BR, in where several vassal states of the Yegin in the east broke off after defeating the fourth Namgi emperor; the subsequent era, which lasted over three hundred years, was one of chaos and small conflicts between smaller polities, until the twenty-fifth Namgi emperor, his state fully recovered from the long gone Ürolian War, launched an invasion of the once tributaries of the Yegin and later successfully expelled many Dze of their western territories in the mannish frontier and the lat highlands further into the east. This was also around the same time the Kingdom of Görlos from the southlands launched a series of invasions into Dze lands from the Tx̣etʿe pass, which failed in conquering new lands but succeeding in weakening them further. The turmoils of these wars would lead to a second Yegin golden age, titled the Era of Gilded Thrones.

The base of power of the Yegin remained intact for many centuries, with the Görlos and Ngatad being among the few human nations who dared oppose it. During this time there was also an increased settling of borderlands with the Dze by what the Yegin called the Trun Gryak, commonly translated as akin to Foederati, which were a collection of tributaries settled by migrating peoples from the south, created so as to provide a territorial buffer between the Yegin and the Dze in case they returned. The stability of the fourth dynasty would end with the Era of Gilded Thrones being ended by an invasion by several Dze clans into the territories held by Yegin tributaries, beginning in the year 4105 BR and only ending when the Namgi emperor was killed in battle a few decades later, resulting in a subsequent invasion by the Oradii tribes, leading to the formation of the fifth dynasty in 3982 BR.

In the aftermath of these conflicts the balance of power in the north too would collapse as the Ngatad and neighbouring states faced a string of plague that arrived from the south, leading to the occupation of many lands by tribes friendly to the Dze and Dze peoples proper as the latter recovered from the period of inner conflict and the Yegin were too weakened by the plague to stop them as well. By the year 3802 most of the human populations had recovered from the plague and the ninth Orad emperor decided to expand further upon the Trun Gryak system, inviting several peoples that had previously fled to the south and re-settled much of the borderlands near the hammerfall peninsula and stabilized that area, even vassalizing several peoples between the years that had established themselves in the area after the plague. It was during this time that in the southwestern portions of the land arose the Zhasi Kingdom, first of the great entities in that area, which rose to contend with the Yegin empire as well.

It would be during the 4th millenium BR that the Eternal Peace would be signed between the eleventh Orad emperor and several prominent Dze tribal confederations of the time in 3754 BR after repeated incursions and invasions which forced the Orad emperor to either face further invasions or secure control of his own lands via diplomatic means. In the immediate aftermath of this treaty the Yegin empire, with it's north and east secure, managed to repel several invasions from the south west and the far south, once again stretching beyond the P.E.L. and expanding the Trun Gryak system, standardizing its administration and creating more official demarkations of borders with the Dze, as well as between it and other human states. In the first half of the millenium a period of relative peace, mantained by the hegemony of the Yegin, which drew a wedge between other human powers, and their peace with the Dze, was achieved, although the Görlös would finally collapse at the onset of this era, leaving only the westlands as primary human territories, whilst the deserts in the south-central regions marked a loose border to maintain the peace.

During this time the relations between the Dze and the Yegin would normalize and, by the time of the fourteenth Orad emperor, there were diplomatic treaties regarding trade between Yegin and certain clans, which improved the standing between the two races for a while. The following two centuries marked the most peaceful period for the Dze as the Yegin focused all of their attention towards the south, launching several expeditions which would mostly result in defeats however and by the end of these the Yegin would be forced to sign a peace treaty that limited their influence in the far west. In the south, beyond the P.E.L. the Yegin also suffered numerous setbacks and by the year 3449 BR the Orad Dynasty would be dethroned after further failures in the west.

This would cause a period of chaos in human lands as the hegemony of the Yegin, now broken due to the war, caused the mass splintering of the empire, with all of the foederati seceding and numerous factions now vying for power as the Lhekyi struggle to recover the entirety of the empire. Another effect of this is that, now with the Eternal Peace broken as the upkeeping of the peace by the Orad is no longer feasible, the Dze clans begin to prey on the frontier regions further. The first 12 years of this period would see numerous, small scale wars, that culminated with an invasion by a coalition of Dze clans that sought to vassalize the Yegin, although failing at this specific objective, the invasion proved to be just enough to cause the final collapse of the Yegin thirty years later.

The dze renaissance

The total collapse of their main immediate rival, compounded by the previous centuries of peace, allowed for the Dze to regain their strength and permitted for them to begin retaking their lands at a rate that would make their gains definitive, rather than the back-and-forth experienced in the previous eras; the fall of the Yegin would also bring an era of peace amongst the Dze, who had begun to experience regular internal conflicts at this point, and would allow for a complete renaissance of the species as a whole. This second golden age of the Dze began in 3407 BR with the fall of the Yegin Empire after more than two milennia of continuous existance.

Various Dze confederations and clans would then during the 34th century BR conquer the lat highlands, the mannish frontier and began expanding into the westlands, with only the Zhasi being able to successfully stop them, with it's sphere of influence resisting these continuous migrations. The violet river would then become the definitive border between dze and humans south of the western range due to its width making invasion by either side a hard task and the area of most conflict would then switch to the ocre pass, a prominent spot of human migration attempts from the 5th milennium onwards, and the lands between the hammerfall peninsula, the wintry ocean and the western range where human kingdoms would attempt to regain their lands near the mannish frontier.

Around the year 3379 BR a wave of human migrations arrived from the south towards the sunlands, defeating the Zhasi and pushing them back towards the westernmost edges of Polykarya and founding a multitude of kingdoms, the most powerful of which was the Kingdom of Chalaur that managed to carve out a hold in what previously was yegin and jhu'kan lands and becoming the new holders of the frontier between the humans and dze while also condemning the Zhasi to collapse less than a century later as more migrations, choosing to enter via sea rather than land and face the potential attacks from the dze, began to quickly collapse the weakened mannish realms in the wake of the collapse of the yegin.

During this time, the Mxétʿtsé clan, hailing from the forests south of the cloudspear peninsula, began a process of unifying their neighbouring tribes and clans starting from 3382 BR onwards, with their leader, Qińux̣, being declared tsotʿaan by over thirty tribes at the start of his reign in 3304 BR and subduing the rival Caŋ́xdze confederation by 3281 BR which, at last, birthed the Second Dze Confederation.

The second confederation

Ruling the lands between the violet river and the fjord massif, Qińux̣ would focus the first years of his reign on solidifying the frontiers between himself and his human rivals, as well as subduing any remaining tribal entities to the east, comprised of dzeioi so distant removed from war after the fall of the first confederation that their alliegances would have to be taken by more than word. Seven years after being proclaimed tsotʿaan Qińux̣ would launch an invasion towards the newly established kingdoms in the western meadows and the sunlands, launching several campaigns and imposing on bordering states the responsability of protecting the border, emulating the trun gryak system of the yegin and subjugating several human peoples in the westlands.

By 3265 BR, Qińux̣ achieved total control of the borderlands and a nominal control and authority over the sunlands, however before he could fully establish himself there he sought to march eastwards to subjugate the oriental clans, defeating clans in the fjords and the X̣'onyw clan in the oriental steppes, however he could not subjugate the Alx̣tśan, with its tʿaan even defeating Qińux̣ in a duel to first blood, causing both him to avoid challenging this clan again during his lifetime and revolts in the west after news of his defeat, preventing him from a quick conquest of the east and allowing these clans to prepare for any future conflicts.

Having quelled the revolts in the borderlands by 3258 BR, a second campaign to the east would be launched, aimed towards the Xét Confederation, a massive entity in the lake-dense woodlands of the middle eastern reaches of Polykarya. After initial skirmishes, a campaign from two fronts would be launched by Qińux̣ from the steppe and from the fjords towards the forest, however the first assaults proved unsuccessful in drawing out the main Xét force to direct combat during the first years, however in 3255 BR the two confederations fought at the Battle of a Hundred Lakes, with the tsotʿaan of the Xét challenging Qińux̣ to a duel to the death in the midst of the encounter, with the latter coming on top and forcing the successor tsotʿaan to submit.

After this the rest of the clans in the far east would nominally submit to Qińux̣, however he would die of his wounds less than a week later, succeeded by his third son, Ḿo'ntłiwun, who would not pursue total control of the far east, but would rather focus on consolidating his father's gains, yet his laid back attitude would cause most of the sunlands and the oriental clans to slowly drift from his influence until achieving de facto independence by the end of his reign in 3196 BR.

He would be succeeded by his first nephew, Weł̣qtł̣uŋ, who embarked on a project to retake lost influence in the west by launching a series of invasions throughout the early decades of the 32nd century BR, successfully bringing all human domains inside polykarya to submit to his rule by 3183 BR and, with his later campaigns in the east, bringing back all dze clans east of the fjords into total or nominal submission by 3152 BR, although he would be unable to fuly subdue the Alx̣tśan and Xét, who would constantly undermine his and his descendants' rule in the area. Even with setbacks in the east, eventually culminating in a peace treaty that severely limited the influence of the second confederation in 3097 BR between it and revolting clans, the confederation's hold of the west would remain uncontested for centuries.

The descendants of Weł̣qtł̣uŋ would not pursue conquests in the east until the turn of the 3rd milennium BR, with Tsotʿaan Ḿƚekʿaaḿ engaging in conflicts with the Alx̣tśani and the X̣'onyw between 2861-2843 BR, being able to subdue the latter and temporarily vassalize the former. Under her reign a second truce would be signed with the Xét in 2837 BR, establishing clear, defined border; the treaty however would be broken by her successor, Tṡudlał̣, who would be the one to finally defeat the Xét by besting their tsotʿaan in a duel to first blood in 2799 BR, opening the way for further expansions eastwards. This expansion was halted after a revolt in the west, which would be brutally supressed and result in a depopulation of certain areas of the lii expanse for hundreds of years, causing the economy of the confederation to temporarily collapse.

In the following centuries, the confederation would heal from the first two centuries of active combat in a period known as the Five Generations of Peace, which refers to a line of five tsotʿaaniq who would refrain from offensive military actions, prefering a defensive policy and fully consolidate the gains of their predecesors.

Geography and climate

At 2,735,705 km2 (1,056,262 sq mi), the Confederation stands as the sixth largest country in Sparkalia, being almost equal in size to Choslow. In terms of latitude it's current southern borders coincide with the southern borders of S'Lanter or the northern borders of Kethes, while it's northernmost point lies roughly in accordance to the central-northern regions of Choslow, it's westernmost point is roughly in the same longitude as the central regions of the Golden Domain or Polslava whilst the eastern most point has a similar longitude to Warsky's eastern frontiers. The confederation was famous for not bordering any country, however now sharing border with the Golden Domain, which established a zone of control south of the sunlands in 1612 that it later consolidated.

The geography of the Confederation is very varied, the most broad categorizations are the arid southlands, the mostly oceanic to mediterranean west and the hilly forests and steppes making up much of the north and east; around 55% of the country is forested, a percentage much larger than that of most nations, if not one of the highest overall, and around 10% is dry or desertic in nature with a similar amount is covered permanently in water in the form of lakes and rivers, with the whole of the confederation lying within Polykarya, a region of Sparkalia where strange and seldom seen flora and fauna inhabit almost entirely in isolation from the rest of the world. The highest peak of the country is the Snowcrown peak, located within the Ŋketx̣en massif in the north-centre of the country, at 5,567 metres above sea level, with the average height above sea level in the country laying around 1,300 metres above sea level.

Due to the surpising levels of volcanic and seismic activity in the mountain ranges, it was thought that the lands that the dze inhabit either once were separate from Pythia, drifting southwards as time passed or that the lands inside the Polykarya were always part of the continent and that, in colder periods, the Limes stretched further to the south; the former was proven to be the right, as an analysis of Pythia's tectonic plates showed that the confederation lies almost entirely within what used to be one plate that also contained the nation of Zÿlwahl that was divided into two by a growing oceanic plate, pushing the current lands of the confederation southwards over time and the zÿlwahlr plate to the north. The plate in where Polykarya is located is also home to some of the most ancient Zircon crystals found to date in the Ńṭŋq̇e craton, a region of land in the Central Plateau.

Climate

The lands of the Dze are sometimes referred to as the "Land of ice and fire" (Old Dze: "Ŋq̇et'e'y x̣ƚe", referring to the harsh winters it is subjected to and the active volcanoes in its tall mountain ranges.

Due to the ocean currents and wind cells, the country is known to drop as low as -60ºC during winters on many areas to the north and east, with temperatures in the summer averaging to 18ºC to 21ºC. The country manages to remain relatively warm all around due to temperature inversion caused by the rapid ascension of the land from the coastlines, creating a uniform temperature spectrum across the country during most seasons, while in winter temperature varies from region to region due to the converging high pressure cells of variable intensities, increasing in effect the lower you go in height.

In the winter the whole country comes under the influence of the Bight Anticyclone, with the Cloudspear peninsula, the Oriental fjords and the Leaf lance plateau being the most affected locations. In the western areas however the climate is more temperate overall as the anticyclone effect grows weaker and it is less subject to the conditions set by the wintry bight, one of the most famous of these areas is the mediterranean south, known as the Sunlands. In the sunlands the climate rarely drops from 0°C in the winter, the maximum ever recorded being at 31°C, whilst in the inland deserts, most notably the Dlał̣ŋ́eç desert, the temperature variation can range from -7°C in the night and 37°C in the day during the month of Virdis, being one of the highest variations of temperature known in Sparkalia.

The climate of the nation overall, due to the large mountain ranges and rapid height ascension, is home to several microclimates in its valleys and inland regions, as well as having minor geothermal activity which has caused for warm water springs to appear in the interior; other factors to note include the water currents in the wintry bight, which mix warm and cold waters and create more temperate climates in the coasts in spite of the anticyclone phenomenon; this mixing of currents also aids in bringing large amounts of precipitation inland as massive weather fronts from the north pass over the confederation.

The country also has on average 156 cloudless days, more concentrated in the spring and summer and it's a nation with high atmospheric pressure on average. Precipitation is also more notorious in the north and west, with the southern valleys being classified as a cold desert or cold-arid steppe, the most precipitation occuring in the Cloudspear peninsula at an annual average of 1,630mm and the least happening in the Dlał̣ŋ́eç desert in the south at 187mm of annual precipitation.

Most climates in the coastline are humid continental or oceanic, while the vast array of coastal hill systems create a primary rain shadow effect in all areas except for the westlands where the climate is milder, yet this effect is minor and doesn't prevent the precipitation from reaching most of the country. The mountain ranges however create a secondary, larger, rain shadow effect in the central and southern regions which allows for the creation of steppe, sub-arctic and humid continental climates in the interior between them and the hills, however creating cold, desertic climates in the furthest inland regions due to the massive continentality effects of the pythian landmass; lastly, the mountains themselves are home to widespread tundra climates due to their altitude and position.

The rain shadow effect has created a myriad of deserts in the south below the Eastern and Western mountain ranges. Due to the abundance of creeks and rivers however, as well as glacial lakes, the country is surprisingly well irrigated in most places, despite the rugged geography and the rapid ascension of the topography. This has also allowed for many areas to sustain larger flora concentrations than it normally would from the excess water from the mountains, allowing for greater biodiversity overall.

Data from the Archival Institute of Knowledge recollected during the Voiditen expedition of 1612 revealed that the tectonic plate that Polykarya is part of has begun to split from mainland pythia at a minimum rate of 10 centimetres per year in a northwards direction, which has caused minor surges in geological phenomena in the form of earthquakes, spikes in volcanic activity and the apparition of warm water springs in the southern regions both inside and outside the Polykarya biosphere.

Enviromental issues

Although the dze themselves are not responsible for major enviromental issues, the air pollution from southern countries has caused minor increases in the rates of wildfires as well as increases in respiratory issues in some areas and the overall warming of the planet has also had the effect of minor precipitation deficits every so often, though these issues are still minor they have been noticed by the dze, who are yet to find a proper response to these.

The previous human presence in many areas has also caused certain species to be threatened, with localized deforestation being present in the west, south and even areas of the east. Another fact to consider, although usually prevented by the wind and water paterns, is the occasional radiation pouring from the Golden Domain's irradiated landscape, which causes rare, but very damaging, sharp increases in the amount of radiation in the water, killing many of the aquatic wildlife around the area; these kinds of situations however only occur every fifty or so years at worst. One mitigating factor with this specific issue is the ability of haplokariotic cells and related biota that allows for quicker repair of DNA, however cancer remains a risk during these spikes beyond the ability of the Dze to control.

Wildlife

Main article: Wildlife of the Dze Confederation

The microclimates that characterize the lands of the Confederation have allowed for a great range of wildlife diversity in these enviroments to blossom in almost complete isolation. The wildlife itself is dominated mostly by the synapsid-like Trimetrodontids and the archosaurid-like Saurognathids, with it's sub-clade, the Aveformids, having most airborne creatures and the unrelated Pseriformids dominating the waters of the confederation. The florapsids constitute the plant life of the confederation, the most notable members of this domain being the smooth-barked trees, called Lii, the rough-barked trees, called Xuun, and the seas of different rootgrasses that constitute most of the ground level vegetation.

As noted by Voiditen explorers, all fauna and flora inside the confederation belongs to either Haplokariota or Polykariota, two domains of life found almost nowhere else on the planet, with the evolutionary history of these being unclear, however it is theorized that Haplokariota split off from the rest of the life tree early, evolving a secondary domain, Polykariota, as life became more complex and macrofauna more prevalent. The reasoning behind the existance of Polykarya is unknown, but it is theorized that the lands inside it used to be insular in nature and as it clashed with the main Pythian continent, it created a line of contact that shifted until the geographical barriers divided them enough to give clear cut lines between Polykarya and Eukarya, this theory is the most popular of many regarding this miraculous development due to the fact that in recent years it has been confirmed that polykariotes have been found living in Zÿlwahl and nearby islands, which was previously thought impossible due to the thousands of kilometres of ice separating the confederation and the aberrant islands.

The country has a Forest Landscape Integrity Index of 9.72/10, one of the highest in the world, due to the little need for mass deforestation for raw materials, though in areas predominantly inhabited by humans there are localized instances of large scale deforestation, specially in the south-west.

Demographics

Although the total population of the Confederation is unknown, the most accurate estimates carried out in 1612 by the Tsotʿaan in the Great Meeting estimated the population at 7 million, with a human population acounting for 2.1% of that number, nearly 150,000 people, making it one of the least populous countries in Sparkalia, however with an estimated population growth of 3.19% and a potential fertility rate of 6.1 children per Dze woman and 5.7 per human woman, with the national average at 5.9 per woman; this data, combined with the lack of warfare, predicts a rapid population growth in the coming decades. It is also estimated that around half of the country is younger than 25, though this data is incomplete due to the limitations of any census that may be carried out.

Dze ethnic groups make up 97.1% of the population in the confederation, with the human minority inhabiting the far western and southern reaches of the land and isolated pockets in the Hammerfall peninsula; in ancient times the percentages were much less disparate due to constant human invasions and migrations, but in recent times most of these invaders have been pushed back or driven out, with only human ethnic groups allied to the Dze remaining. Many of these ethnic groups however have been greatly diminished from the conflict and have thus recluded themselves from most affairs. The Confederation is also known for being the most sparsely populated country on Sparkalia, with an estimated population density of 2.56/km2 (6.6/sq mi).

The country is currently benefiting from a massive population growth, estimated at over 3%, which is predicted to peak at over 5% by 1620 and then stabilize around 1% by 1700, which will allow for the country to recover from the mass depopulation of the past decades, however it will present an economic challenge as the percentage of the population under 25 years old increases more and more. This means however that the nation will grow to be around ten million strong in the near future.

Settlements

Although the dze are entirely semi-nomadic, with some human groups adopting a similar lifestyle, the majority of human peoples live in settled communities, most notably in the hammerfall peninsula, the mannish frontier and the sunlands. Most mannish settlements, due to their location, are very hard to access for foreigners and only their rough layouts and sizes are known. Asides those, there are two notable settlements.

Ŋołtʿokeq

Main article: Ŋołtʿokeq

After the arrival of various foreign expeditions, it was decided in the Tsǫdzuń of 1612 that all foreigners would be forced to arrive in one location, with a bay in the central coastlines being chosen for the construction of what in Old Dze is known as Ŋołtʿokeq, literally meaning The Port, with many of the native human groups participating in the construction of a small harbour for ships to dock in as well as living quarters. The Dze would then begin handing out sections of this bay to foreign countries who could pay up the proper annual tribute and abide to the restrictions of the port and the laws of the locals.

The port is designed to harbour cargo ships or freighters of up to 200m in length and 20 in width, with temporary living quarters for the crew and accomodation centres. With it's core being built with traditional mannish architecture and modernized with the arrival of the first foreigners, it is famous for having "quadrants", which are areas of influence where each nation that pays the proper tribute can establish docks and facilities. Due to the lack of currency in these lands, most nations have installed air turbines or solar panels for energy in the summer while exporting natural gas for heating, with costs being discounted or negotiated during the establishment of tribute payments.

The following nations have a presence in Ŋołtʿokeq: S'Lanter, Choslow, Khijovia, Voidkree, Ariseo, Polslava and Prestore.

Ƚysxḿo'niq

Situated in a high mountainous valley and in one of the oldest known archaeological sites in polykarya, Ƚysxḿo'niq is a semi-permanent settlement where shamans and craftsmen are initiated in their rites and where the sages of their guilds and faiths convene to discuss all manner of intellectual matters. The settlement is however closed off to most foreigners and the exceptions that have been made have been sworn to secrecy; even with that, the basic picture of this site can be understood through what little information the Dze are willing to share.

Ethnic Groups

The Confederation is home to 132 dzeii ethno-linguistic groups, denominated "Clans", and 15 human ethnic groups comrpising little under 150,000 people, before the Last Dze-Human War there was a much greater number of human populations, though most of these were entirely driven out of the country by 1612 in mass deportations that followed the fall of the realms opposing the dze. Of the mannish peoples, the Näru are the largest, consisting of around 56,000 people, and the smallest are the Tlaxam, consisting of less than 5,000 people.

Languages

There are more than 100 languages spoken in the Dze Confederation, most of these belonging to the Dzenic Languages and some other smaller families spoken by human groups; another thing to note is the 10 Lingua Francas spoken between people of different groups, of which the most widely used is Old Dze which is also the national language for administration. Most Dze are at the very least bilingual, learning their native tongue, one of the Old Liturgicals and sometimes Old Dze or other languages; most shamans and tʿaaniq are trilingual and further, as they are responsible with interacting with outside peoples the most, the current Tsotʿaan, Xanaaq̇ut, has been reported to know eight languages fluently. This is partially helped due to the Dze's innate ability for language learning, aided by their superb hearing and vocal abilities as well as their natural curiosity.

In these days Dzenic languages, as well as all mannish languages inside the Confederation, are written in scripts derived from the Moonblade script, an alphabet originally made tens of millenia ago for the Old Dze language, or from variations of the Old Jhu script in the case of some mannish languages. During the First Great Meeting of 1612 scripts for commonly used and encountered foreign languages were developed as well. Of these, the most commonly known are Solaren, followed by Ministry Standard, Khijovian, Thestrian and Crystallic, although Solaren remains by far the most prevalent of all in regards for foreign communication, followed closely by Khijovian with both being the main lingua francas in the port of Ŋołtʿokeq.

Religion

Religions in the Dze Confederation

Religion	Population	Share
Religious	7,000,000	100%
Tx̣ex̣uq	6,860,000	98%
Zheduktsu	70,000	1%
Mang Na	42,000	0.6%
Other religions	28,000	0.4%
Total	7,000,000	100.0%

Dze follow a set of religious practices collectively known as Tx̣ex̣uq, called Dze Shamanism or Ngunism by outsiders, which seem to stem from a common ancestral religion of which the descendant traditions have only slightly diverged from. Humans on the other hand follow many different religions, including Tx̣ex̣uq, with the most widely practiced being Zheduktsu, of which around 50% of the human population adhere to, with the Mang Na religion being the second largest minority faith.

Tx̣ex̣uq is famous due to the fact that it is fairly decentralized, however the spiritual leaders, the Shamans, have kept the various traditions of Tx̣ex̣uq alive and almost entirely unchanged since the days of the Chalcolithic when these began to be written down and the religion is widely practiced by all Dze and a small human minority in the hammerfall peninsula. These traditions themselves vary wildly from clan to clan and sometimes even between related tribes, however there is an unanimous agreement regarding the crown deities, the Five Holy Ones, and the main philosophies, with each tradition having their own prioritized secondary deities for worship and their own divergent sets of myths. Due to all of this, contemporary tx̣ex̣uq is known as a family of religions rather than a singular belief system, as the original myths and traditions have diverged since the moonblade era to the point where they are mutually unintelligible in many ways. Shamans and religious figures of all of these traditions of tx̣ex̣uq gather occasionally at the Tx̣edzuń, which are highly secretive and are for discussing matters of faith, however these events are rare, the last one occurring in 1578.

Most humans however follow two religions: Zheduktsu and Mang Na, both practiced in the regions southwest of the hammerfall peninsula as well as the northern reaches of the western range in a region called the Mannish frontier, while minority religions are upheld by newly incorporated human groups in the westlands of which their traditions are poorly documented in outside sources.

Totems

The most sacred objects in tx̣ex̣uq traditions are totems, some of which have been carbon dated to be over 100,000 years old; these are made of various types of stone, cleansed of weeds and with damages being repaired every so often by shamans. Totems serve as travel signs, sites of worship, historical recording objects and as family heirlooms depending on the type that is constructed, rectangular totem stones usually depict the local wildlife and have a warrior embeded into them and serve as boundary stones, indicating the limes of each clan, as well as posts to indicate travel routes, however there are also some that rather than the warrior and wildlife, there's a variant that carries text, known simply as stelai, and these are placed in areas where important events in history took place.

Cilinder, pole totems on the contrary are religious in nature, depicting a local deity or the ancestor of a family who was cremated in that spot, which serves to indicate the place of origin of a particular family lineage. Deity-portraying totems have no particular placement requisites, yet they are frequented oftenly and are usually the ones in the best state, sometimes even ornamented with gold, silver or platinum dust.

Health

Despite being a primitive nation, the Dze and their mannish allies have milennia of medicinal knowledge, mainly transmitted through a carefully maintained line of shamans and their disciples which has allowed for deaths by illness to be massively reduced compared to other tribal societies. The human life expectancy is 65 years and the dzeii life expectancy is 120, however the average ages are 25 and 40 respectively due to the massive losses sustained during the last war by both species.

Child mortality however remains an issue, with 4 in 10 newborns dying before the age of 2 due to the harsh weather and the strifes of war, though this is expected to lower as the nation recovers from these issues. Even still, the fertility rate is at 5 and 6 for humans and dzeii respectively, whilst the average living offspring per woman is 4 in both races.

Government and politics

The Dze rule themselves in a Confederation, with the central figure of the Tsotʿaan, who is elected for life during one of the Great Meetings held annually at the Leaf Lance Valley; these meetings are held by the Tsotʿaan and the 147 tʿaaniq of each dze and human clan and nation. In these meetings most of the things discussed relate to potential land disputes after geographical changes, the management of conflicts, movement of animal herds and so on.

When a Tsotʿaan dies, the Great Meeting elects amongst the most worthy of candidates, usually from the direct family of the last Tsotʿaan, which are valued in their worth by their intelligence, strength and craftsmanship, with whoever excells the most at these three categories being elected, be it man or woman. The current Tsǫt'aan, Xanaaq̇ut, ascended to power by unifying the local confederations between 1590 and 1598 AR during the Last Dze-Human War. The Tsotʿaan however is not a supreme monarch, with most of the governing being done at the local level by the individual tʿaan.

Foreign relations

With the isolationist nature of the Dze and their human allies, very few have traversed into their lands in the past from proper nationstates, the only three so far known have been expeditions by Nova Solarius and Khijovia in 1607, with the former sending a second expedition later again in 1611-1612 and an accidental crash landing in 1612 of a crew from Tepror, all four of were peaceful in nature and two of these even creating more official bilateral relations between the Dze and outsiders.

During late 1612 however the amount of arrivals increased after the return of the second solarian expedition, with expeditions and encounters from Zÿlwahl, Choslow and Voidkree arriving at Dzeia. Still, to this day the Confederation mantains no permanent bilateral diplomatic relations with any other country, however communication between the confederation and outside governments occurs at the port of Ŋołtʿokeq.

Military

The Confederation relies upon the Ł̣eeqŋq̇enyw for territorial defence and incursions into enemy territory, comprised of a semi-permanent base of professional soldiers, and the Q̇tenyw, known as the Shadecloak Rangers, for the more permanent guarding and patrolling of the lands. However, since the end of the Last Dze-Human War there has been active military patrolling of areas not yet fully inhabited by Dze tribes, specially along the southern border where the lowlands offer more gateways for invasion, this force is of around 150,000 men spread around a border of 1,600-1,700km. Besides patrolling the border, there is a permanent military presence around Ŋołtʿokeq to prevent foreigners from roaming too far from the settlement without permission.

Equipment

The core of the army is comprised by what can be described as "mounted infantry", with warriors being taught to be proficient in mounted and foot combat. Typical dze warriors are armed with two war bows, a lance and a melee weapon, either a sabre, a falx, an axe or a mace, as well as a round shield. For armour they use external scaled armour and an internal layer of padded felt and lamellar armour on the chest, shoulder protection, wrist guards and extensions to protect the upper legs. To prevent arrows from causing severe damage warriors are encouraged to use a layer of cloth to wrap around the arrow, preventing serrated or hook arrowheads from penetrating too far into the skin. A basic helmet of a metal cap with padded ear covering and a woolen interior for comfort is also highly encouraged. The dze have become infamous as well for their usage of masks to cover their faces in combat, creating ghoulish images in the mind of the enemy, contributing to their element of psychological warfare that they heavily rely on in most campaigns.

This turns the average dze warrior into a heavy cavalry archer, designed to quickly engage and disengage the enemy while still being able to be proficient at melee combat and have enough protection to survive various wounds. The training of the dze to not be reliant on either foot or mounted combat allows for a dze force to use combined infantry and cavalry attacks to devastating effect. Mannish allies of the dze are more diversed in warrior types and specializations, though most prefer to either engage in skirmishing or heavy infantry, complementing potential weaknesses of the typical dze force.

The Shadecloak Rangers on the other hand are much more lightly armoured, preferring the usage of padded armour and their signature Shadecloak, a poorly understood armour used for camouflage that allows for a near total concealment of the user, which the rangers combine with a constant static infrasonic frequency to further cloak themselves by causing enemies to feel a false sense of security by inducing a feeling of relaxation. They are also equipped with padded boots that allow for near-silent walking, a melee weapon of their choosing as well as throwing weapons and a fast, compound bow with specialized arrows that reduce noise as they are shot by emulating noice-cancelling feathers of fauna in the fletching. These warriors also live outside the normal clans in hidden groves and areas, guarding the frontiers and ensuring that these are respected.

Gunpowder usage

Lastly, the dze have begun experimenting with the usage of gunpowder weapons, first discovered by the year 1542 AR by the shaman Ńṭhuuḿ, he would report of this chemical mix and its properties to the Tx̣edzuń. By the time of Tsotʿaan Xanaaq̇ut, fire lances and fire arrows had begun circulating amongst the dze, though Xanaaq̇ut forbid their usage until enough of them were made for his campaign in 1611-1612 in where they would be used to devastating effects in the second half of the campaign, their development is still ongoing, with the dze experimenting with hand cannons and arquebuses as far as visual reporting of patrols around Ŋołtʿokeq has shown warriors carrying these.

Economy

The economy of the confederation has historically been almost exclusively driven by herding, small-scale mining and manufacturing, with smithing and weavering being the two predominant occupations. Mining is done on a very limited scale and usually just to provide the smiths with the materials necessary for their craft. Other than that, the economy of Dzeia is very much underdeveloped and in pre-industrial capabilities, due to both their technological level and their way of life, as well as facing limited potential for growth unless changed, which is something that the government has so far not been keen to do.

Although no exact way of measure has been able to be established, the economy of the confederation is theorized to at best be currently worth US$2.5 billion at most with a potential value of US$150-300 billion with the current diverse array of unexctracted raw resources, specially minerals. Due to a lack of currency all trade in the confederation is conducted through a barter system, recently standardized in 1603 by Tsotʿaan Xanaaq̇ut and ratified in the Tsodzuń of 1612, which places different items of exchange into categories of equal value internally, the most valuable trading goods as determined by this system of categories are metals and alloys like silver, platinum and steel, gems, which have their own independent value amongst themselves, and certain types of seed and livestock animals.

The country has faced pressure to modernize and industrialize its economy both by minor and major forces, however the dze remain firm in the decision to retain their original lifestyles and have refused offers by foreign powers to aid with such a process, even banning most foreigners from exiting Ŋołtʿokeq under the guise of potential unlawful prospecting by foreign countries.

Mining

Despite mining being done on a very minor scale, mineral resources in the form of ingots and gems represent about 40% of all resources exchanged to foreigners at Ŋołtʿokeq. Of the mineral resources exchanged excluding gems, the vast majority is composed by iron, silver and platinum, with a significant portion made of gold, tin and copper ingots.

In recent times, foreign companies and nations have taken an interest in prospecting for rare minerals, however the Dze have staunchly refused all offers and have banned the presence of foreigners in mineral extraction sites as well as banning most foreigners from even exiting the permited area of Ŋołtʿokeq.

Agriculture

Agriculture in the confederation is extremely limited to subsistance farming done by certain human communities and land maintenance by nomadic communities, with farming settlements consisting of around 1.7% of the population at most, and due to factors such as the average height of the country and a shorter growing season in many areas, most of this farming is done in the western areas of the country where the climate is milder.

The agricultural sector therefore is almost entirely driven by nomadic pastoralism, with animals being raised for meat, dairy and fabrics for textiles, most notably animals like the Lequn, Moxun, Tsoqowx̣n or the Ḿo'nƚtśun. With over 50% of the land being used for pastures, specially in the central regions, this is estimated to represent over 70% of the country's currently predicted GDP, with textiles and pelts being some of the most exchanged commodities at Ŋołtʿokeq.

Industry

The most proliferating industries in the confederation are weaving, smithing, jewlery and carpentry, these are practiced at a local level in the clan or tribe and each one of these has its own tradition, or several depending on the ethnic group, all of these represent about 25% of the estimated GDP.

More than 60% of all exports of the country are in the form of luxury goods such as jewlery items, textiles, musical instruments and manufactured wooden items as well as various bronze and steel alloys which are exchanged at Ŋołtʿokeq and represent some of the most expensive commodities in the settlement. The dze themselves however do not have the capacity to mass produce these items in large quantities, which has prevented them from seriously impacting the economic landscape of the country.

Guilds

The Dze do however have what we could see as an early form of the guilds, with smiths being divided into castes to perfect a certain line of work, these are: jewelsmiths, armourers/weaponsmiths and wrights, the latter being responsible for more generalized works such as chains, stirrups and the like, as well as technological inventions such as the dzeii refractional telescopes. These smith guilds are usually attendants to annual meetings amongst the members from all tribes and clans to discuss matters of their craft, alongside with guilds of weavers and carpenters being present in what could be called annual fairs. Much like shamans, these guild members are all initiated in the semi-permanent settlement of Ƚysxḿo'niq and they are to stay there until the rite of passage, usually after five years of training, is completed and they are allowed to return to their tribe and practice their craft.

Infrastructure

Communications

Although a primitive nation in comparison with most countries, the dze have the ability to use infrasonic speech, called Qiŋul, to communicate over long distances which allows for all tribes, clans and settlements to be aware of their surroundings even with the vast majority of the population practicing transhumanism.

The way the dze use qiŋul can be either through their voice alone or through the use of special metal horns, usually of steel, which can amplify this infrasonic wave to travel with more potency, reaching further away. There's long and short horns, with short horns designed to only extend the reach of the wave, while long, trumpet-like, horns grant the sound an initial burst of speed due to the way that sound propagates through metal, allowing for the infrasound to gain an initial speed advantage as well as it's reach being amplified.

Transportation

Due to the transhuman lifestyle of the dze, roads are almost non-existant, however, simply dirt roads connect Ƚysxḿo'niq to various sites in the mountains and they are also found in Ŋołtʿokeq, where they connect the settlement to areas where tribes move into, yet these disappear quickly and are rarely used. There are also roads in native mannish settlements and areas, however they only serve to connect sedentary settlements and rarely extend into nomadic territory.

More commonly, large heaps of stone or totems mark travel routes in the vast forests and steppes and these occur every few hundred metres; used by wandering shamans, messengers and soldiers to more easily know where they are to be heading.

Culture

The most notable aspect of Dze culture is their semi-nomadic lifestyle, widespread among the entire race and even some human groups allied to them, which has lended itself to unique cultural practices, however this blend entirely present in human groups, as the Dze themselves are predominantly a culturally conservative species who seldom, if ever, adopt practices of foreigners, though their internal cultural diversity is most notorious in aspects like music and cuisine.

Dress

Although a very diverse people, in the confederation there's certain dressing universalities, with most peoples using garments such as kneecap-length over-coats for men and ankle-length dresses for women tied with a sash or belt, though these vary from place to place, with the dze living in desertic regions prefering robes. The area with the most diversity for clothing is with footwear, with most people in the nation using different types of boots or similary outfitted shoes with intricate designs and variants.

Headwear is most common in the southern, warmer areas where they are used to cover the head from the heat and sun, whilst in the steppes and some colder areas they are used most commonly in the winter for cover from the wind. Another piece of headwear commonly used are primitive sunglasses, used mostly by clans in the mountains and desert, which are made of finely weaved cloth or reed to protect the eyes in the harshest summers.

Family structure

The inheritance in a traditional dze family is egalitarian, with each child recieving an equal proportion of their parents' livestock and personal items, however due to the dzeii being nomadic there is little to inherit, whilst in human societies it is common for preference to be given to the eldest child as the inheritor of the household, though this varies from group to group.

Extreme priority is placed in caring for the young, due to a mortality rate of 4 in 10 it is not uncommon for every family to have lost at least one child before the age of two, with most cultures having a taboo of naming a child before the age of four due to this phenomenon. Still, most families on average have four children, which has allowed for the start of a massive population growth in the country as it recovers from the numerous, devastating wars that it has endured.

Visual arts

Visual art has been historically created for religious purposes or for the decoration of tents to mark out the individuality of a Dze. Paintings in Dze culture are most recognizable in the Ḳawaq style, usually done on parchment or animal skins/felt. Of these the most common type and well renowned is the Ḿx̣łquƚ or "traditional style". Although most Dze practice different forms of crafts, it is viewed in a positive light to have knowledge in the making of a Ḿx̣łquƚ, if only for decorative purposes, to mark one's own distinctive identity as a creator of objects. Many dze take delight as well in the decoration of tents with depictions of their ancestors or of daily life and general religious motiffs.

Other forms of visual artistic expression include weaving, totem-making and pottery designing, practiced with widely across different clans.

Architecture

Although the Dze themselves do not build stationary homes, humans within their lands are sometimes sedentary, with unique architecture styles that bear evident influence from Dze tent designs. The most prominent of these is the Gyampi Tsak style of the Mong Lak people, designed to inhabit the rainy hills of Hammerfall peninsula that arose in the early 1st milennium BR.

Dze homes are usually called x̣eeḿt, a word that has a broad meaning but is generally understood to be a type of tent, which are mostly circular with a dome-shaped roof or entirely dome-shaped with a few variants being more conical in shape. The x̣eeḿt is the foundation for all Dze-inspired arquitecture, such as the Khet Tsekh, and are famous for their quick assemblage time, with three Dze being able to place a x̣eeḿt in two hours. The materials for building a x̣eeḿt are usually an outer layer of felt, a few layers of skins, a wooden frame to support the structure and a padded cover between a wooden base floor with a woolen carpet on top, while human homes are usually built out of wood, stone and sometimes brick depending on the location.

Music and dance

The Dze, due to their vocal abilities, have integrated bitonic singing into overtone, creating a tritonic chant of infrasound and two audible pitches. Combining what the Dze call "Qiŋul", silent speech, and audible speech they are able to transmit both a mood in the song and to give it an intended effect in its listeners with the silent speech, being the infrasound component and able to have physical effects in those who hear it. The Dze have several variants of fiddles, made of animal gut and hair, whose use ranges from storytelling to every day music, as well as several varieties of drums and flutes. The most famous instruments are the Cewq drum and the Çǫhiq, Miiq and X̣uhun flutes, used by the Eastern Dzeii peoples, like the Nywan tribes.

The music styles in Dzeia are mostly comprised of ³
₄, ⁴
₄, ⁵
₄ and ⁷
₈ time signatures, with the most prevalent musical styles being the Long Song, Overtone Singing and a style of music similar to a Taximi. These are usually accompanied by dances in an open circle of which the most famous styles are the Ḳnḳał̣uq or "rain dance", practiced by the Ŋǫłiníí people of the cloudspear peninsula, and the "wind dance" practiced by peoples in the greater range and the adjacent valleys.

Cuisine

Dzeii cuisine predominantly consist of meat, dairy and fats with small contributions from wild vegetables and herbs. The most common dish is smoked or salted meats, be it of a land or aquatic animal's meat, thanks to their long spoiling time, however during feasts and events it is much more common to see roasted meats, cooked directly on the spot. Other frequent sights are stews and soups, specially during winter times, which are made as a way to use as little food as possible to feed as many people without exhausting their limited reserves.

The extreme climatic conditions has influenced the cuisine in the lands, specially for the nomadic peoples where access to vegetables is less standard; for these great majority of peoples the vegetables have, due to their wild nature, extremely sophisticated cooking methods to make the most out of them; spices however are a common part of the cuisine of several groups due to the prevalence of the types of plants needed throughout the land as well as the extensive trade networks present in the land. Dzean cuisine is also very noticeable for the prevalence of fruit and herb kibble-type deserts and drinks.

Sports and festivals

The national festival in the confederation is known as The Games, a milennia-old tradition occurring exactly three days after a Tsodzuń in where skilled sportsmen are sent by all tribes to partake in games honouring the main Dze deities and celebrate the continuation of the unity of the clans, the main traditional sports of the festival are foot and horseback archery, wrestling and horse racing, however in later times activities such as bone flicking and rayhawk games became mainstream as well. Although not celebrated for over two thousand years, in 1612 the festivity was re-instituted by Tsotʿaan Xanaaq̇ut after unifying the country.

Other notable festivals practiced in the confederation are the Dze Lunar Year, occuring on the 16th of Umbra, and the Solar New Year, occuring on the 21st of Umbra, with the period between these festivals being called the Birth of the Five Holy Ones, which are a collection of highly revered deities. Asides that, the Sunhawk Festival is celebrated annually on the month of Magnus in the Central plains by a wide array of clans and the Nang, a religious festivity celebrated by the Mong Lak people in honour of the main Mang Na deities.