Dzeia
The Third Dze Confederation Dzetsʻał̣u | |
|---|---|
 Flag
 Tamga of Tsotʻaan Xanaaq̇ut
| |
 | |
| Status | Independent state |
| Location | North-east Tselmeg |
| Capital | Łʻysxḿoˮniq |
| Largest City | Ŋołtʻokeq |
| Official languages | Khunul |
| Recognised national languages | Dzenic languages |
| Ethnic groups (2022) | Dze (90.3%) Humans (4.2%) Kemonomimi (1.7%) Others (3.8%) |
| Religion | Tx̣ex̣uq |
| Demonym(s) | Dzean, Dzeii, Dzeoi |
| Government | Federal Semi-Constitutional Monarchy |
• Tsotʻaan | Łʻysxalx̣ |
| Legislature | Tsodzuńńi |
| Establishment | |
• Founding of the 1st confederation | 2864 AC |
• Founding of the 2nd confederation | 1089 AC |
• Start of Xanaaq̇ut's War | 1887 AE |
• Founding of the 3rd confederation | 1892 AE |
• Fall of the Mannish League | 1906 AE |
| Area | |
• Land Area | 2,988,641 km2 (1,153,921 sq mi) (12th) |
• Water (%) | 7.26% |
| Population | |
• 2022 census | 8,548,222 |
• Density | 2.86/km2 (7.4/sq mi) |
| GDP (PPP) | 2022 estimate |
• Total | $84.84 Billion |
• Per capita | $9,925 |
| GDP (nominal) | 2022 estimate |
• Total | $72.70 Billion |
• Per capita | $8,505 |
| Gini (2022) |  32.1medium |
| HDI (2022) |  0.738high |
| Currency | Dzeii Moł̣uł (₼) (DZM) |
| Date format | yyyy.mm.dd |
| Calling code | +43 |
| Internet TLD | .dz |
Dzeia, known natively as The Dze Confederation (Old Dze: Dzetsʻał̣u ['d͡zet͡sʼaɬʰu]), is a large nation in the continent of Tselmeg, bordered in the west by Ikthia and Khali'tur. It covers an area of 2,988,641 square kilometres (1,153,915 square miles), the 12th largest in Kalrania, with a population just above 8 and a half million, with little over 2.8 people per square kilometre, making it the world's second 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 Ŋ́ynłʻaq 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. 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 ended up triggering the formation of the First Confederation. 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 85% 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 92.1%. Dzeia is a member of the League of Nations, ARC and the Northern Commonwealth.
Names and etymology
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.
As far as denonyms go, for the nationaity it is custom to use the Common declension "Dzean", while the Ausonian "Dzeii" is used for the autochtonous species. In any case the Danaean declension, Dzeoi, is used for the plural of both denonyms.
History
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. By around 100,000 years ago the archaeological record shows that the first proper material cultures arose among the dze during the middle paleolithic, the Ŋ́ynłʻaq culture and the Pax̣ŋ́eç culture. By 17,000 BC there is 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. However it would be 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, probably due to much of the Confederation's lands being unsuited for agriculture at that time.
Archaeological findings of the Neolithic period end abruptly around 11,000 BC with the Late Neolithic Collapse, an event of unknown causes that led to a genetic bottleneck, as well as the spreading of the population after a short, but rapid decline. Despite the cultural collapse, populations seem to have recovered from the disaster relatively quickly as, after the collapse, the archaeological record shows us that after population levels recovered a few thousand years afterwards and that there appeared many chalcolithic cultures almost simultaneously, around 9,000 BC, including the Moonblade, Caveshrine and Lowmound cultures. Key developments that occured in this time also include the start of the usage of wheels and carts as depicted in art by the Early Moonblade period at 9,500 BC which allowed for the true start of the semi-nomadic lifestyle the Dze prefer nowadays.
Older Era
Human arrivals to the Dze lands begin to be documented from around 8,000 BC in the Çunyw Stelai in the far west, having been identified with the Longplow, Broadaxe, Highstone and Red Arrow cultures. The arrivals were both of mixed nature and stelai unearthed in nearby localities and dated to the same time period reveal that by the end of the 9th millennium BC proper Human-Dze conflict arose, which led to the slow creeping of humans into the territories of chalcolithic dze cultures in the south and west. These early aggressions caused the final development of dzeii state organization; while the title of Tʻaan had risen up among them as a word for a chieftain or general ruler during the time of invasions, it would be after the arrival of humans that it began to become a universal term for the ruler of a clan, akin to a king and after some generations the Dze clans slowly coalesced into the First Dze Confederation under Tsotʻaan Qułʻaq of the Alx̣tsʻan clan in 2864 BC who, spending thirty years uniting the clans, would create the Tsʻal, a code of conduct in social life and between states that would then dominate later dzeii cultures, as well as beginning the introduction of bronze to replace copper.
Under the leadership of Qułʻaq the armies of the dze would ravage human domains, stopping their expansion into polykarya for a time. However, as he was succeeded by his daughter, Tx̣eńat, the confederation would have to contend against the forces of the Jhu'kan Empire in the Battle of Alx̣kyx in which the Dze managed to defeat the forces of Ka'sun I. The aftermath of the battle would lead to 278 years of peace between humans and dze, an unparaleled amount that would not be achieved again for over three milennia.
The confederation and the Jhu'kan empire spent most of the middle years of the 3rd milennium at peace amongst eachother until the Latuq War in where the lands of the confederation, under the rule of Tx̣eł̣eeq, great-great grandson of Tx̣eńat, were invaded en masse, and they were ultimately driven from the central meadows and steppes, resulting in the death of the Tsotʻaan after a betrayal and last stand.
Middle Era
For little over 5 centuries after the Latuq War the landscape would be dominated by human polities, like the Jhu'kan, Ghutan, the Zállta Chiefdoms and the Vatan. By 1931 BC however, a people known as the Taaxdze had subdued Ghutan and entered the Jhu'kan lands, utterly destroying the empire, the event later known as the Scouring of the West; the following centuries were ones of warfare and constant shifting of the balance of powers until the ascension of the Sungi Empire, descended from the Jhu'kan, which had extended beyond the Polykaryan Limes into regions mostly unknown to the Dze at the time.
The growth of the Mvadi during the era of the Third Dynasty at the middle of the 2nd millennium BC would lead to repeated conflicts that led to the ascension of the Fourth Dynasty, which would destroy their rivals by the end of the 15th century BC. The base of power of the Namgi remained intact for many centuries thanks increased settling of borderlands with the Dze by what the Yegin called the Trun Gryak, commonly translated as Foederati. The stability of the fourth dynasty would end with a combination of revolts from its vassals, invasions by dzeii tribes and natural disasters at the tail end of the 2nd millennium BC, with the fifth, sixth and seventh dynasties having to contend with other human realms as the dze once again began to re-appear throughout the same time period.
Various dzeii clans would conquer the lat highlands during the 12nd century BC; the violet reed 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 unfeasible. During this time, the Mxétsʻé clan, hailing from the forests in the pelagic wolds, began a process of unifying their neighbouring tribes and clans starting from 1372 BC onwards, with their leader, Qińux̣, being declared tsotʻaan by over thirty tribes, however he and his descendants would not be able to fully unite the Dze until 1089 BC under the command of Tṡutlał̣.
The Second Confederation would rule the dze uncontested for over 200 years, fighting wars in and even outside of polykarya against several human entities, finally crusing the seventh dynasty in the early 10th century BC and driving much of the human presence west, even vassalizing some Iktah realms near the Whintran Fjord. It's control over the Aurora Archipelago, however, was minimal and, after a succession crisis, both clans from the islands and renewed human efforts would lead to the gradual weakening of the Confederation, until the last Tsotʻaan from the Mxétsʻé, Muqtoxkʻo, would be killed in battle against the Nawan Kingdom in 833 BC.
With new momentum, human entities would begin to creep back into polykarya as the dze clans fought amongst eachother to fill the void left by the fall of the Second Confederation. After a coalition of clans mounted a successful counter-war against various human and iktah entities encroaching in the Lat Highlands in 797 BC, the outside pressures would diminish as much of the continent was ravaged by a volcanic winter, which then led to both species fighting amongst themselves, rather than eachother as the natural disaster began to leave power vaccuums in their respective domains.
The coalition would be reformed in the year 782 BC under the nominal leadership of Weł̣ułʻpʻuł̣un of the Alx̣tsʻan, and it would launch a great invasion of the lands beyond Polykarya, known as the Sundering of the West, reaching as far as the steppes of Torimia, which lasted for nearly 20 years. With any immediate threat to the dze vanquished or subdued, the dze would attempt to form a third confederation, however no clan would be able to bring all others to bend their knee.
Younger Era
The following period of strife between the dze would not last long, as, despite human populations across eastern and central Tselmeg having been ravaged by the sundering, their recovery in the western areas of Tselmeg would be fast. A brief period of Iktah migration, mostly by Autumnals and Springalians, into polykarya would occur in the 7th century BC, however they would be driven out by the dze rather quickly; around the same time, human migrations westwards from modern-day Atraland would begin, coinciding with a period of summers during the 6th century BC and reaching the outer edges of Polykarya by the late 4th century BC. This era would also see the arrival of the Dwarfes who, under the leadership of High-King Tharkûn I, would settle in the Silver Mountains in the year 534 BC as they had been slowly driven eastwards by arrivals of humans from Ardentia after the sundering.
Geography and climate
At 2,988,641 km2 (1,153,915 sq mi), the Confederation stands as the twelfth largest nation in Kalrania being almost equal in size to Schweiz. In terms of latitude it's current southern borders coincide with the southern borders of Vorstheim, while being the third northernmost nation; it's westernmost point is roughly in the same longitude as the eastern frontiers of Il-Saakan whilst the eastern most point has a similar longitude to Distan's eastern frontiers. The confederation shares a border with Atraland and the various Iktah Remnants, such as the Khali'tur Enclave to its west.
The geography of the Confederation is very varied, the most broad categorizations are the arid south-west, the mostly oceanic to mediterranean south, known as the Sunlands and the hilly forests and steppes making up much of the north and east, the great island of Nuulan being almost entirely forested; around 55% of the total area 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 Kalrania 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.
Climate
The lands of the Dze are sometimes referred to as the "Land of ice and fire" (Old Dze: "Ŋq̇etʻe qʻun x̣łʻe", 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 Tselmeg Anticyclone. 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. 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 Tlał̣ŋ́eç desert, the temperature variation can range from -7°C in the night and 37°C in the day during the month of December, being one of the highest variations of temperature known in Kalrania.
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 Tlał̣ŋ́eç desert in the south-west at 39mm of annual precipitation. 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.
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 continentality of Tselmeg; lastly, the mountains themselves are home to widespread tundra climates due to their altitude and position.
Enviromental issues
In recent years, the confederation has been made aware of enviromental issues within its lands, such as pollution from nearby nations, and from the factories established in recent years, while deforestation in formerly mannish dominated lands has caused minor soil degradation and desertification. The nation however has some of the strongest enviromental protection laws of Kalrania and has diverted resources to prevent further damage of its ecological order, these efforts have, however, been hampered by the nation's small economy being unable to provide large funds to this task.
Wildlife
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 IDAR, 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, definetly from Archaea, evolving a secondary domain, Polykariota, as life became more complex and macrofauna more prevalent. The reasoning behind the existance of Polykarya is unknown. 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
The total population of Dzeia has been stated in the 2022 partial-census to be 8,548,222 people, one of the smalest in the world, with a growth rate of around 1.3% per annum. About 49% of the population is below the age of 25, with around 29% below the age of 18. This young and growing population has placed strains to Dzeia's economy as it is yet to reach a fully deveolped state. Census numbers do not count Night Sprites, a small species of moth-like beings, which have been given a separate census, their population curently stated to be 1,049,469 and concentrated exclusively in the holdings of the Dukes of Ontes and in the port of Ŋołtʻokeq. The nation also has one of the highest fertility rates in all of Kalrania, currently sitting at an average of 3.2 across all sapient species, the highest being native humans at 3.9 and the lowest being foreign nationals at just 2.1, with values expected to universally move to 2.3-2.6 and stabilize around those figures by 2025.
The nation is a host to a diverse array, at least nine different sapient species, with the Dze forming the majority at 90.3% of the population, followed by humans at 4.2% and then by kemonomimi with 1.7%, with ryu, iktah, dwarfes, elves and tori forming the bulk of the remaining population. Much of these populations have been newcomers, arriving as early as the 1940's, with foreign human nationals in Ŋołtʻokeq starting to supplant native mannish groups as the majority within the species in the census by 1992, now being almost 50% larger in number as migration keeps growing. The diversity of sapient species of the confederation is due to either the antiquity of these or the product of the confederation's policy on migration, specially towards the bustling port of Ŋołtʻokeq.
In the case of the Ryu, there is a documented population of Longinids migrating from the mainland from around 9,000 a.C, who turned to Pastoralism as they encountered Chalcolithic dzeii cultures; while Kemonomimi are much later arrivals to the continent, from the 3rd Millenium a.C, who would slowly coalesce close to the borders of Polykarya and be fully integrated by the Confederation by the early 21st century a.E. The last species to arrive in large numbers, the Naacali, would arrive as refugees during the forceful removal from their native islands by the nation of Otyken in the year 2020, settling in small numbers in Ŋołtʻokeq, but primarily being settled in the port of Ŋiikʻtṡi, built in the southern edges of the Confederation on a climate more suited for the tropical species.
Languages
There are more than 150 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 Lingua Francas spoken between people of different groups, of which the most widely used is Khunul 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 Khunul or other languages; most shamans and tʻaaniq are trilingual and further, as they are responsible with interacting with outside peoples the most, the first Tsotʻaan of the modern confederation, Xanaaq̇ut, was reported to know eight languages fluently. This is due to the Dze's innate ability for language learning, aided by their superb hearing and vocal abilities as well as their natural curiosity.
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 ten millenia ago for the Khunul language, or from variations of the Old Jhu script in the case of some mannish languages.
Religion
| 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. 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 some of 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 Tx̣edzuńńi, which are highly secretive and are for discussing matters of faith, however these events are rare, the last one occurring in 1898.
Most humans however follow two religions: Zheduktsu and Mang Na, both practiced in the cental and south-western regions of the country 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.
Government and politics
The Dze rule themselves in a Semi-executive Constitutional Monarchy, with the central figure of the Tsotʻaan, who is elected for life during one of the Great Meetings held annually at the Leaf Lance Valley; these meetings are held by the tsotʻaan and the 153 tʻaaniq of each clan. When a tsotʻaan dies, the Great Meeting elects amongst the most worthy of candidates, usually from the direct family of the last tsotʻaan, 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 tsotʻaan, Łʻysxalx̣, was chosen after the passing of his mother, Ł̣utʻtońat, in 1998 through the right of heritage and duel to first blood.
Since the year 1998, the Tsotʻaan also has the power to name the Seven Overseers, which function in the same manner as a cabinet and who remain in power until resigning or replacing. Of these the most relevant are Foreign Affairs, Economy, Justice and Defense.
Foreign relations
Once a reclusive and isolationist nation, during the late 1950's the confederation began to open up to the world, joining REK in 1961 up until it was dissolved in 2010, to then join the NC the same year, as well as partaking in a number of economic endeavours with many countries, being one of the founding members of the KLoN. The nation's main diplomatic focus has been to maintain as many stable trade relations as possible to propel its economy, while being able to remain relatively free of diplomatic entanglement. The nation also holds individual mutual defense alliances with the nations of Il-Saakan and Owlet.
Military
Enjoying a period of relative peace for 50 years after unification, the Confederation would find itself partaking in many wars to defend its allies, both in and outside of REK, such as the Iktah War, the 4th Outer Union Civil War, the Khaganate Wars, or the War of Heavenly Reclamation, while also using it's peacekeeping forces to send relief to civilian populations in conflicts such as the Baltocarpathian Civil War, as well as assist in the post-war rebuilding efforts in the Il-Saakan Kingdom and in the Xing Dynasty.
Legal system
The Judiciary of Dzeia is made of a three-tiered, court system, with each tribe having it's own first instance court to judge via a Lawseer, an apellate court in the provincial level and the court of last resort in Łʻysxḿoˮniq at the Supreme Court of Dzeia. Matters of Law and proposed changes to it are discussed in the anually held Great Meetings, with the Overseer of Law, appointed by the Tsotʻaan, acting as the representative of the Council of Laws, which nominates judges and approves the changes proposed at the Great Meetings.
Administrative divisions
The Confederation is divided into 152 Xuŋxł, meaning clan, and subdivided into over 400 Sʻaaq, meaning arrow. Each clan represents a distinct ethnic group within the confederation, the last change to the system being in 2007 with the addition of the Tori clan, however most of these have stopped being ethnically homogenous, as the borders have been mostly unchanged since 1906 and, as such, the populations have slowly begun to drift away from the borders. Each sʻaaq used to represent a tribe within the clan, though in modern times the district is more of a guide on where certain nomadic families may be found, rather than an indication of tribal alliegance proper.
Major cities
Around 5-8% of the nation lives in permanent settlements, most notably from the human, kemonomimi, iktah and dwarven species, as well as all of the nation's sprites being settled, though those are not counted in the census.
Largest settlements in Dzeia
2010 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | Clan | Pop. | Rank | Clan | Pop. | ||||
 Ŋołtʻokeq |
1 | Ŋołtʻokeq | Ŋołtʻokeq | 194,964 | 11 | Tugoka | Näru | 17,936 | |
| 2 | Łʻysxḿoˮniq | Łʻysxḿoˮniq | 73,820 | 12 | Ngyur Drak | Mön | 17,301 | ||
| 3 | Träkyo | Näru | 62,428 | 13 | Lo leu | Nyen | 16,774 | ||
| 4 | Myön Drak | Mön | 61,936 | 14 | Ṭahhawad | Ṭerum | 15,623 | ||
| 5 | Adḥurza | Ṭerum | 61,310 | 15 | Nakashi | Shinkokyo | 13,027 | ||
| 6 | Darθuzðe | Aġarrθuz | 57,534 | 16 | Ul-fawa | Ṭerum | 12,891 | ||
| 7 | Gwalagh | Garuch | 48,621 | 17 | Thorai | Rhotoi | 12,553 | ||
| 8 | Skarios | Rhotoi | 39,426 | 18 | Gauros | Garuch | 11,820 | ||
| 9 | Gamilnâlan | Zigiltarâg | 28,592 | 19 | Parangdai | Bagawa | 9,735 | ||
| 10 | Seetan | Bagawa | 23,173 | 20 | Iisperitʼqʼe | Shinkokyo | 6,372 | ||
Economy
Economic activity in the Dze Confederation has long been based on herding and agriculture, although mining and luxury goods have begun to emerge as the main drivers of industrial production. Once a producer of raw materials, ever since 1989 the nation has quickly began to transition to an industrial economy, with nearly a half of its GDP being from the beverage, jewlery, furniture and, specially, textile industries, with a quarter originating from the mining sector.
Dzeia is ranked as a lower-middle-income economy, with around 7.4% of people living on less than 3.20₼ a day, which is qualified as "extreme poverty", and around 29.3% lives with less than 7.25₼ a day, which is below the national poverty line. Despite this, the nation has been able to pull out up to 6 million people out of this line since 1989 and aims to lower these figures to 0% and 10% by 2020, respectively.
After 1989, a mass of foreign investment, the development of native industries and the railway boom, there was sustained double-digit growth for a decade between 1995 and 2005, stabilizing around 4-8% by 2006 and expected to remain there until 2020, with the nation passing several economic reforms that are aimed to sustain the levels of growth and prevent it from imploding or contracting as investment is overtaken by production. The nation has begun to struggle in the past years with reducing inflation below 4.5%, a goal it aimed to do by 2007, and has been forced to underspend during many years to allow for a budget surplus to serve as monetary reserves due to the nation's small economy. The Łʻysxḿoˮniq and Ŋołtʻokeq Stock Exchanges are some of the smallest in the world by market capitalisation, with a combined 536 companies listed in 2010.
The economy would suffer a major recession in 2011, having experienced previous hardships between 2006 and 2009, followed by a period of stagnation and slow rebuilding; since 2014, the nation has been able to sustain a 2% annual growth rate and is expected to fully recover by 2020.
Mining
Minerals represent about 40% of Dzeia's exports monetarily, down from 97% in 1989, while having increased by 15% in tonnes exported. Fiscal revenues from mining represent 14% of the government's annual income, with around 1,000 licenses awarded to native companies. The industry has seen a massive rise as the nation's vast deposits of Platinum, Tin, Copper, Iron and Rare Earth Metals have caught the interest of many nations worldwide; one obstacle however has been the nation's refusal to employ surface mining due to its enviromental protection laws, however it has gone for a two step process in where small scale pit mining of a deposit takes place, to then be taken over by underground mining with the usage of machinery such as insectoid drones from Distan.
Artisanal mining is also widely practiced, with many deposits seeing the extraction by locals throughout the confederation, with state subsidies to provide tools and refining equipment to artisanal miners, who generally work seasonally while also partaking in agriculture or husbandry. It is estimated that there are over 200,000 artisanal miners across the nation, most of whom have banded under the Kʻatłʻonoq to increase profits and provide a method to compete with the larger companies.
Agriculture
Agriculture in Dzeia constitutes around 20% of the nation's gross domestic product and employs slightly over half of the workforce. However, the high-altitude of much of the nation, the mountainous terrain, long winters and high fluctuation in temperature have hindered the development of agriculture, with 85% of the sector's net worth being in Animal Husbandry. With around 70% of the nation being employed as pasture grounds and only 1.5% of the population employed in cropping, the sector is mostly focused around providing the raw materials, such as wool and hides, to the industrial sector. Around 0.5% of the population is also employed in fishing, though it is mostly for local consumption.
Industry
A rising sector in the Dzeian economy, the most prominent export industry in the country are, by far, the luxury goods industries, such as fine textiles, liquor and jewlery, whilst the most prominent industries for internal consumption are regular textiles, furniture, raw good processing and dairy, all of which account for over 65% of the nation's gross domestic product, however employing around a third of the workforce. The industry of the nation, despite being quite old, was not expanded upon until the 1980's, until reforms made during the latter years of Tsotʻaan Ł̣utʻtońat's reign and the massive pouring of international investment led to the Boom of 95-05, in where the industrial sector specially grew massively in output and scale.
Infrastructure
Communications
Telecommunications in Dzeia face unique challenges. As both one of the most sparsely populated nation on the planet, and the one with the highest concentration of nomads, it has been difficult for many traditional ITC companies to take root in the nation, with the dze themselves mostly clinging to silent speech for long-distance communication, either with just their voice or the help of amplifying horns. Nevertheless, landline technologies do follow railway lines into the nation's settlements, mostly concentrated in Ŋołtʻokeq, while wireless technologies have proliferated amongst nomads as part of the nation's "Words in the Air" programme; postal services are provided by state-owned DzePost and 17 other licensed operators.
Energy
The nation's electricity consumption in 2010 was 7.71 TWh, whilst the energy production of the nation was estimated at 6.52 TWh, mostly provided by nuclear and wind power, though natural gas, which is exclusively imported, also forms an important block in the energy sector, specially for heating in the nation's cities. The nation has long aimed to achieve energy independence and has set plans in motion to achieve such by 2025, while also looking for ways to become fully renewable around the same year.
Transportation
The nation is famous worldwide for its refusal to use asphalt roads, relying exclusively on railways for inland transportation; dotted with several conventional, as well as a few HSR, lines, spanning over 10,000km worth of rail tracks, the nation has stations in every settlement, of which there are relatively few, as well as links to most of the nation's mining areas to facilitate transport. Nevertheless, there are minor stone roads connecting the villages of Shinkokyo and settlements in the human clans.
Despite the nation's historical dislike for airplanes, plans for airports at Łʻysxḿoˮniq and Ŋołtʻokeq, to be finished by 2025, have been drafted in order to allow for the quick transport of people, specially diplomats and academics should they want it. The nation does, however, have several Starskiff Ports dotted around the nation, most of them being in the mountainous regions of the country, which operate Starskiffs bought from Da Xing, with DTA Airlines being the national operator of much of these machines. Due to the nation's ban on cars and trucks, all transport inside the cities is either by foot or through public transport, mostly in the forms of trams, metros, buses and taxis. There's also a small ferry transport business that operates in some of the larger bodies of water of the confederation, being exclusively traditional wooden watercraft used mostly for the transport of light goods.
Education
After the unification of the country by Tsotʻaan Xanaaq̇ut in 1906, a nationwide program to teach kids how to write was established in cooperation with the nation's shamans and scholars, which led to illiteracy being virtually eliminated by the end of his reign in 1964. Asides that, however, little was done to create systems of primary and secondary education, with guilds and initiation into roles such as that of shaman being the only way to acquire knowledge outside what was strictly necessary for the tribe and clan.
In 1960, at the tail end of his reign, Xanaaq̇ut would initiate the creation of an eight-year primary education system, however it would be one of the reforms stopped by his daughter, Ł̣utʻtońat, until 1980, where it would be changed to a ten-year program and, finally, a twelve-year program by 1990. Secondary education was strictly restricted to the IDAR, located in Ŋołtʻokeq, until 1980 when proper universities were created out of the Guild Initiation Rites that the nation possessed, some for over two milennia, in Łʻysxḿoˮniq, as well as the UoN being finished in 1983.
As of 2010, universities across the nation enroll over 5,000 students yearly, with over three in five dzeian youths choosing to pursue higher education. Since 2003 the nation has instituted a program to teach Common in all schools in grades 11-12 as an optative course for those wishing to work in fields such as International Relations, Engineering, Mining or the Military; such an effort is due to the nationwide reluctance to teach foreigners their local languages, leading to the Confederation choosing to learn Common instead.
Health
Modern Dzeia has inherited a rich array of traditional medicinal practices, as well as developed a solid modern health infrastructure with the aid of many nations during the 80's and 90's, being noted to have "strong health indicators, in spite of low per capita incomes and thanks, in part, to the nation's commitment on matters of healthcare and a national culture leaning towards good health", with infant mortality and life expectancy being on average quite high compared to nations of similar GDP per capita.
Problems remain, however, with the ease of acquisition of medicine for many nomadic families, many of whom don't live near settlements. A solution to this has been the creation of mobile hospitals with the aid of shamans to work in cooperation with medics, which would reduce the distance and time constraints that nomads have with access to healthcare nationwide.
Culture
The most notable aspect of Dze culture is their semi-nomadic lifestyle, with their internal cultural diversity being 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 the nation's previously quite high infant mortality, 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 three children, down from twenty years ago being four.
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 Ḿx̣łqułʻ 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 Ḿx̣łqułʻ, 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 x̣eḿt, 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 x̣eḿt 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 x̣eḿt in two hours. The materials for building a x̣eḿt 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 Great Meeting 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 nationwide for over two thousand years, in 1906 the festivity was re-instituted by Tsotʻaan Xanaaq̇ut after unifying the country. The nation has also now famously hosted the 2009 Eclipse Games in the cities of Łʻysxḿoˮniq and Ŋołtʻokeq, and has been a participant of the KFA World Cup since its inception in 1982, being a member of the organization since 1981.
Other notable festivals practiced in the confederation are the Dze Lunar Year, occuring on the 16th of February, and the Solar New Year, occuring on the 21st of February, 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.
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