Bleingro

The island was mostly highly mountainous, with about 50 km of lowlands bordering the coast on each side. On the mountains, people would grow and harvest the cereal grain Snorg, which was well suited to being grown in sloped areas. They had special boots which would dig into the mountains to help them navigate them better.

Usually, Grengs (lords) would manage about 20-30 farms each. They would allocate land, negotiate with other Grengs and oversee or appoint people to oversee the harvests. Then, Grengs would be overlooked by SwarGrengs, which would clear up conflicts, negotiate with other SwarGrengs and have a variety of other duties. While there was no unitary, king-like authority for the island as a whole, there was a spiritual authority, the Narn. While the Grengs and SwarGrengs didn't have to obey him, they nearly always would in practice, as he was highly respected, seen to be the representative of the Gods on Earth.

It was first settled about 12,000 years ago, by Aleuts, through the Lesser Gackswon Islands, which were a great deal larger then then they are now. It discovered farming in about 1000 BC. Owing to its isolated location, the island managed to evade outside discovery until 1940, when it was discovered by some people in the Japanese navy. Immediately a brutal war was fought between the Japanese and Americans about the island. Eventually the Americans won. The war, along with new diseases, caused half of the population to die-the population went from roughly 10 million to 5 million. The country then became a colony of the US. However, the native people there weren't very happy about that, so, in 1946, after the war ended, they demanded they gain independence. After two years of protest, they succeeded and in 1948 the Bleinish Republic of Bleingro became a member of the United Nations. Straight away, it faced many problems-it was a nation which was a mix, in many ways, between Ancient Greece and Feudal Europe, when some parts of the world had television, and, more pressingly, it had been devastated by war. However, the country, led by the great President Gornwing Sworstem, persuaded the US to give the country lots of aid money. This entirely repaired the damages created by the war, but could do more, as well, seeing as the population of the island was so greatly reduced. It had nearly brought the country into the modern world. With Sworstem's excellent governance, the country soon became relatively prosperous and well-off. Sworstem is the national hero of the country. He is venerated almost religiously be some people, as a saint. Today, it has a population of 20.2 million.

Traditionally, religion was presided over by the Narn, an especially holy man. He gave people advice on how to "live right" and obey the Gods rules and requests. Generally, there was held to be a kind of mysterious, immaterial substance which could be manipulated by magic, and a pantheon of Gods with a head God presiding over them, detailed in the Risbalt Scripture, a collection of mythology and philosophical/religious writings organized into one book. Some places or regions had additional variations in their religious beliefs as well, which were not condemmed, and there have always been a few localized versions of the RS. The country doesn't collect official religious data, although studies have shown that most people profess to follow the RS (with around 5% considering themselves Christian- 4% Protestant and nearly 1% Orthodox.) Traditional beliefs are also common. The RS is divided into three parts: Before, Present and After. The Before part details the events of a mythological before-time, simply called the Before (or the Tengshaus), when the world had just been formed and people could still talk to Gods. The Present details a number of tales from this Age, and the After is made up of prophecy about events which will happen, after another Great Turning happens and we are in a new Age. Through these stories and the experiences of their protagonists, lessons are learnt, and great principles are revealed. Perhaps the central message of the book is a valuation of moderation and balance, as well as of slowness and adaptability-as in, different things and traits are good for different situations, as well as the view that life, while it may seem hard, is a precious gift, for it is one we can learn and grow in.

1921.