Lemobrogia
Magnificent Community of Lemobrogia sar Gəlayəs Muþokuŋ ne ber Rixevin | |
|---|---|
 Flag
 Emblem
| |
| Motto: sar Baskə Darzə ta vol Moþu ne ber Xevi Nothing Without the Hand of Love | |
| Anthem: ber Vin ne sar Faləroyu Ceþ Land of Eternal Spring | |
 Lemobrogia in Tyran | |
| Capital | Gevaõn |
| Largest city | Icqu |
| Official languages | Common Lemobrogic |
| Ethnic groups (2024) | 72% Lemobrogic 24% Lemobrogian 4% Other |
| Religion (2024) | 70% Virocredia 5% Concordianism 5% Hahtta 5% Salvationism 5% Valatrú 5% Zobethos 5% No religion |
| Demonym(s) | Lemobrogian |
| Government | Directorial confederation under a semi-parliamentary consensus democracy |
• Elder Speaker | Kesiþ Mixeŋ |
| Legislature | Assembly of Delegates |
| Minor Council | |
| Major Council | |
| Establishment | |
• Establishment of the First Community | ~ 3100 BCE |
• Establishment of the Second Community | ~ 700 BCE |
• Establishment of the Third Community | 20 April 1333 |
• Establishment of the Fourth Community | 6 June 1968 |
| Area | |
• Total | 729,855 km2 (281,799 sq mi) |
• Water (%) | 12 |
| Population | |
• 2024 census | 43,791,300 |
• Density | 60/km2 (155.4/sq mi) |
| GDP (PPP) | 2024 estimate |
• Total | ₿ 1,025,842,029,200 |
• Per capita | ₿ 23,444 |
| GDP (nominal) | 2024 estimate |
• Total | ₿ 606,419,592,000 |
• Per capita | ₿ 13,840 |
| Gini (2024) | 22.7 low |
| HDI (2024) | 0.764 high |
| Currency | Bracteate (₿) (RVB) |
| Date format | dd-mm-yyyy CE |
| Driving side | left |
| Calling code | +69 |
| ISO 3166 code | RV |
| Internet TLD | .rv |
Lemobrogia (Common Lemobrogic: Rixevin, [ˈɹiʃe̞vin]), officially the Magnificent Community of Lemobrogia (Common Lemobrogic: sar Gəlayəs Muþokuŋ ne ber Rixevin, [säɹ ˈgəlajəs ˈmuθo̞kuŋ ne̞ be̞ɹ ˈɹiʃe̞vin]) is a landlocked country in Tyran's continent of Siduri; it borders Erania to the northeast, Quenmin to the northwest, Tennai to the southwest and Vartaxia to the southeast. It covers 729,855 km² and it is inhabited by 43,791,300 people, for a a population density of 60/km²; today, the nation - a protectorate of Acrea until 1992 - is a decentralized planned economy and a directorial confederation that, having retained close ties to its former suzerain, has taken on the role of de facto mediator between it and the Common Sphere, that Lemobrogia joined in 2015. It has also developed an especially cordial relationship with the culturally and politically adjacent country of Gylias, and is a leading nation in Tyran in the fields of light industry and sustainable agriculture.
Etymology
The country's exonym, Lemobrogia, is a calque (in Latinized Gaulish) of the nation's endonym, Rixevin, that is, "elm country"; the elm tree began to hold religious significance quite early in the history of the country, as elm wood is quite resistant to decay when permanently wet - a characteristic that, in a place whose wet season often coincided with natural disasters, was soon associated with physical and spiritual health. Moreover, elm wood saw a wide variety of secular uses: the water pipes used in drainage and water facilities during the nation's classical era were fashioned out of elm wood, and the practice of using elm trees as support for vines in the nation's vineyards is just as ancient, to such an extent that the elm and vine are still considered a metaphor for and a symbol of marriage. The noun vin, meaning "country" or "state", in its Lowland Lemobrogic or North Lemobrogic variant dvin, was also adapted and adopted by the Gylic peoples as a component of the name of Xevden.
History
Lemobrogia was first settled by Cro-Magnon early modern humans around 56,800 years ago; there, they interacted and interbred with the indigenous Denisovan archaic humans. The abundant natural resources and the mild climate of the region allowed the first inhabitants of Lemobrogia to develop sedentary societies while remaining hunter-gatherers; the resulting food surplus begat social stratification, with a division of society between nobles, commoners and slaves becoming widespread in the region. By 20,000 BCE, a significant percentage of Lemobrogia's inhabitants had headed east to Gylias, driven there by a series of natural disasters; the nobility lost a significant degree of influence, and slavery nearly vanished as a practice. By 4100 BCE, the leadership of these sedentary societies had shifted into the hands of corporate groups that exchanged goods and services with each other, clustering near each other in Lemobrogia's first city-states, developing horticulture, no-till farming and recessional agriculture.
Even as Erani-Eracuran expansion triggered a second exodus to Gylias, Lemobrogia's culture and language survived; since Lemobrogia's city-states were quite prosperous and sophisticated, and Lemobrogia's climate and environment could not support the steppe nomadic way of life of the Erani-Eracuran invaders, a process of cultural assimilation took place, with the Erani-Eracuran peoples adopting the culture of Lemobrogia's inhabitants while introducing certain innovations to the region. The prosperous and sophisticated Bronze Age of Lemobrogia lasted from around 3100 BCE to around 1100 BCE, when the overexploitation of the region's resources caused an ecosystem collapse; Lemobrogia's city-states, that had by then united under the so-called First Community, experienced a cultural and societal decline, marked by constant and endemic warfare, with several of these city-states being entirely abandoned and falling into ruin after another series of natural disasters, aggravated and worsened by said ecosystem collapse, hit the country.
A philosophical school of lesser relevance, founded in 1728 BCE by Ciḱe Leňi, gained a significant degree of influence in the centuries that followed this cultural and societal decline; believing that the collapse of Lemobrogia's Bronze Age civilization had been hypothesized or even prophesied by Ciḱe Leňi herself, the members of her school seized power in those city-states that had survived, establishing the so-called Second Community over the country in around 700 BCE, and turning the animistic and shamanistic folk religion of Lemobrogia into Virocredia, an Earth-centered religion upholding absolute non-violence and consensus decision-making. Those individuals and polities that did not adhere to the edicts and decrees of the Second Community were punished via ritual shunning, a practice that could go as far as denying aid to city-states in need or cures to the sick; violence in self-defence was allowed, even though those who resorted to it were to undergo a process of ritual purification after the act.
A lunar calendar was developed, and religious festivals were created; these religious festivals also served a civil role: each band, clan or tribe had to send 12 envoys to each one so that, if an issue affecting a larger lineage or the country as a whole arose, they could disclose the nature of said issue to the people once back to their place of origin, in order for the people to reach a consensus on how to tackle it - a decision that had to be revealed to their peers over the course of the religious festival succeeding the previous one. This setup solidified band, clan and tribe boundaries into cantons, circles and countries, and band, clan and tribe elders turned into a kind of clergy and nobility that, however, had very little coercive authority, and depended on community consensus for implementing recommendations; indeed, the role of sacred king or sacred queen was itself granted by community consensus, and by community consensus it could be revoked, a decision that often resulted in ritual sacrifice.
Lemobrogia's city-states thus entered their classical era; those cities that had been abandoned and fallen into ruin were rebuilt, often as colonies or dependencies of pre-existing city-states, and those areas that had been subject to ecosystem collapse underwent a process of ecological restoration. The leveling of social classes and the prohibition of internecine warfare, that was replaced by ritual fighting, enforced by the Second Community allowed the city-states to focus on urban planning; by the end of this period, every house had access to drainage and water facilities - an innovation that was driven not just by practical concerns about disease and sanitation, but also an expression of the high regard in which Lemobrogia's inhabitants had begun to hold physical and spiritual purity. However, this concern also resulted in the spread of bigotry and prejudice towards those sectors of the population that were perceived as engaging in unclean or violent activities and trades.
By 246 BCE the Second Community had entered a declining phase and, by 843 CE, it had been fully partitioned between the Rideva in the south and Symmeria in the north; the conquest was facilitated not just by the Second Community's lack of experience in warfare, but also by the invaders' alliance with and cooptation of the sectors of the population detailed above. Even though foreign rule over Lemobrogia ceased between 1305 CE and 1333 CE, largely due to those internal issues that were plaguing the Rideva and Symmeria alike in this era, the collaborators - by now, largely belonging to the Ŋež tribe - tried to keep their hold on power, establishing an authoritarian dictatorship that would go down in history as the first Xevdenite state; with Acrean assistance, the so-called Third Community was able to drive the Xevdenite leaders out of the country and east to Gylias, even though it had to accept a loose Acrean protectorate over Lemobrogia in exchange, that was formalized in 1504 CE.
During this period, several of those Ŋež that had opted to stay in Lemobrogia rather than leave the country began to serve as mercenaries and privateers, often under the Acrean flag; often, they were joined by those individuals belonging to other tribes that had been ostracized by their polities via the practice of ritual shunning. Since those mercenaries and privateers could get quite affluent and wealthy via their trade, the Third Community eventually allowed those that were ostracized to buy back their place in Lemobrogia's society by donating a significant percentage of their profits to the polities they had been shunned by. Over the course of the centuries that followed, Lemobrogia experienced a new period of prosperity; however, the Industrial Revolution heralded a change in the relationship between Acrea and the country - Lemobrogia's economy became dominated by the export of natural resources to its suzerain, the wealth produced by this endeavour often being distributed in an unequal fashion.
By the early 1900s, the Third Community had tried to lessen inequality through the implementation of Georgist measures such as the institution of land value taxes, Pigovian taxes, and a citizen's dividend; however, the industrialists and tycoons that opposed these policies were able to back and finance a political party rooted in the Futurist ideology, led by Duþos Toľun. This party would seize power in 1920 via a fraudulent election, pursuing a policy of breakneck industrialization and intensive agriculture that resulted in the quick urbanization of Lemobrogia and a population explosion, further encouraged by said party's natalist outlook; the demographic and environmental issues that resulted from this course, coupled with the party's support of the Xevdenite state in Gylias, would eventually lead to the revolution of 1968, that would inaugurate the era of the so-called Fourth Community, under the leadership of Ðovu Žuro, aide and husband of princess Nyvi Varnaþ of the Nerveiík Kingdom.
Unlike Gylias' Golden Revolution, the so-called Dancing Revolution of 1968 was largely non-violent in character: due to the corruption and decrepitude of late Futurist institutions, the party's opponents were able to develop parallel institutions that gradually took over the functions and services provided by the Futurist state; the exact nature of the business practices and voter fraud that had propped up Futurist rule for decades was then leaked to the public via collaborators and infiltrators in the state's bureaucracy. The ensuing protests reached their apex during a dance festival in Oraẽs: as the audience began chanting ribald anti-Futurist tunes, the police was called in; the largely Ŋež-staffed forces defected to the revolution's cause once Nyvi Varnaþ (one of those individuals tied to the old clergy and nobility that had joined forces with the anarchist and syndicalist opponents of the Futurists) and her husband took to the stage in the nude, executing a fertility dance that had been banned by the party.
During the first years of Ðovu Žuro's tenure, a constitution was drafted, and trials were held to judge not only those people, directly or indirectly linked to the Futurist party, that had caused the above issues to arise, but also those Xevdenite officials that had abused their authority in Gylias, counting on the Futurist party's support of the Xevdenite state to avoid the consequences of their actions by fleeing to Lemobrogia; those civilian Ŋež that had left Gylias for Lemobrogia in the previous years were however welcomed back to their ancestral homeland and, taking advantage of the constitution's restoration of the pre-1920 clergy and nobility (relegated to an advisory and non-sovereign role), the establishment of a Nerveiík Kingdom government in exile was averted by the result of a popular plebiscite in the Ŋežvin country, that crowned the son of Ðovu Žuro and Nyvi Varnaþ as King of the Ŋež.
The decades that followed saw Lemobrogia turn into a decentralized planned economy focused on sustainable development, a process that was hastened by yet another series of natural disasters in the early 1970s - after which 50% of the country was abandoned and set aside as a natural reserve, due to environmental reasons and due to safety concerns. During this period, Virocredia also experienced a revival, after decades of Futurist repression; also due to this, the country was then described as either the most conservative revolutionary nation, or the most revolutionary conservative nation in Tyran, being one of the most radically democratic countries in the region, but also one governed by a relatively narrow cultural consensus. Lemobrogia was then involved in the neoliberal conspiracy of the late 1980s, through the actions of a Futurist secret society, and its status as an Acrean protectorate ended soon after, in 1992 - with the country applying to join the Common Sphere later in the same year.
Upon joining the Common Sphere and adopting the Hermes Programme in 2015, Lemobrogia - by then a middle power characterized by a low per capita income but high quality of life indicators - has taken on the role of de facto mediator between Acrea, its former suzerain, and the Common Sphere, especially the culturally and politically adjacent country of Gylias; since 2016, the country has been governed by a grand coalition of Georgists and syndicalists, led by Kesiþ Mixeŋ, under whose tenure Lemobrogia has achieved energy independence (largely due to the widespread availability of geothermal power and photovoltaic power in the country) and net zero emissions (largely due to the country's forest cover, that is projected to reach 75% of its surface by the end of the decade). However, the Fourth Community's policies, even as they have been shielding Lemobrogia's populace from the worst consequences of climate change and global warming, have resulted in slow growth and a stagnant economy.
Politics
Lemobrogia has been governed as a directorial confederation, in which the role of head of government and head of state is exercised by a directory of 12 people (one for each of the nation's 12 countries) for as long it has existed as a distinct polity - however, the current constitution, that has turned Lemobrogia into a country governed according to a semi-parliamentary system, only dates back to 1968; under this arrangement, Lemobrogia's legislature is subdivided into an elected upper house whose only role is to appoint or dismiss said executive, and an allotted lower house that is able to introduce, amend and reject legislation. Moreover, in the upper house, only the two parties with the greatest support are represented; in the lower house, one third of the seats are reserved for delegates of the country's electoral districts, another third is reserved for delegates of the country's political parties, and the final third is reserved for delegates of the country's trade unions.
While the executive (the College of Elders) can serve for as long as it is able to preserve the confidence of the upper house, the delegates serving in the upper house (the Minor Council) are re-elected every 3 years, and half of the delegates serving in the lower house (the Major Council) are re-allotted every 6 years, according to the population size of each electoral district, the number of members of each political party, and the percentage of people registered to each trade union; proposals in the executive and in the legislature (the Assembly of Delegates) are developed and decided on through a process based on consensus decision-making, and focused on achieving broad acceptance for each proposal: the Modified Borda Count, that is also used to elect the delegates serving in the upper house, is used if a consensus is not reached, and a vote is therefore necessary. Moreover, through a plebiscite, the populace can recall any delegate to, overturn any decision taken by, and propose bills for the legislature to deliberate and vote on.
The current constitution also revived the House of Peers - the old upper house of Lemobrogia, that had been abolished in 1920: it was re-established as a constitutional and high court, to reward those members of Lemobrogia's clergy and nobility that had backed the revolution of 1968; one third of its seats are allotted, another third of its seats are appointed, while the final third of its seats are elected - every 4 years, one third of each section of the House of Peers is reshuffled, but those serving in it have to belong to Lemobrogia's non-sovereign clergy and nobility. Moreover, those serving in the executive have to be one for each of the nation's 12 countries and to be experienced in their given area of responsibility, while those serving in the legislature are allotted taking the population composition of the country into account. Delegates, regardless of their seat, serve part-time, and have to have a full-time occupation besides being involved in politics; the leaders of all branches, up to and including the Elder Speaker of the College of Elders, are chosen by consensus.
Foreign relations
Lemobrogia retains, to this day, close ties to its former suzerain, Acrea; it has also developed strong ties to culturally or politically adjacent countries, such as Gylias, and with neighbouring countries such as Erania, Quenmin, Tennai and Vartaxia. In fact, since joining the Common Sphere in 1992, Lemobrogia has taken on the role of de facto mediator between Acrea and the Common Sphere, even though the country is one of the Common Sphere members most opposed to the strengthening of the organization. The nation's key trade partners are Erania and Gylias; Erania, as a neighbouring nation with a shared colonial history, Gylias due to its comparable economic and political institutions, as well as due to cultural closeness. Lemobrogia's police and military are staffed by part-time volunteers: in both forces, higher level officers are chosen by consensus by and from the lower level units they serve in, and can be recalled at any time; both are notable for how the Ŋež are statistically overrepresented in their ranks.
Administrative divisions
Lemobrogia has been subdivided into 1728 cantons, 144 circles and 12 countries since around 700 BCE; their boundaries closely correspond to the territory inhabited by the bands, clans and tribes of Lemobrogia since before recorded history and, to this day, they closely reflect major dialect and regional boundaries. The constitution of 1968 declared the cantons to be sovereign in everything but foreign affairs, economic policy and national defense; therefore, each one of said 1728 cantons has its own constitution, courts, executive, legislature and police. However, certain other functions, such as the management and running of natural monopolies and public utilities, were delegated by the cantons to the circles, by the circles to the countries, or by the countries to the nation soon after the era of the Fourth Community was inaugurated, in order for economies of scale to be achieved, and national authorities can still supervise the conduct of local authorities.
Even if a lower level subdivision delegates the greater part of its functions to a higher level subdivision - whenever its small size or sparse population prevents it from fulfilling its usual functions, or whenever a single city covers the area of several cantons or countries - the populace of said lower level subdivision can nonetheless recall any delegate to, overturn any decision taken by, and propose bills for the legislature of the higher level subdivision to deliberate and vote on, if these delegates, decisions or bills are connected with the lower level subdivision they inhabit. Moreover, cantons are invariably governed through direct democracy, with a popular assembly fulfilling the role of legislature; decisions are, as usual for the country, taken by consensus, with the Modified Borda Count being used if a consensus is not reached, and a vote is therefore necessary. The nature of local executive and judicial branches can vary; often, a non-sovereign king or queen, elective or hereditary, leads and guides either or both.
| Map | Country | Capital | Largest city |
|---|---|---|---|
| Buŋivin | Isvul | Uriŋ | |
| Dožcevin | Evoũr | Olþes | |
| Ðaxvin | Salən | Wəya | |
| Kʼirusvin | Umbeĩ | Živun | |
| Lebovin | Doyne | Ervoö | |
| Ľaxkəvin | Məraĩ | Yanžə | |
| Muciþvin | Idus | Uŋkir | |
| Ŋežvin | Enxoþ | Oraẽs | |
| Pʼəndavin | Asbə | Vəzḱa | |
| Siňuvin | Buþir | Icqu | |
| Xemorvin | Ðoleë | Gevaõn | |
| Yəlvin | Kərxa | Maũþə |
Geography
Lemobrogia is a country of 729,855 km² in eastern Siduri; it lies between the 30th parallel north and the Tropic of Cancer. The country has no access to the sea, and it borders Erania to the northeast, Quenmin to the northwest, Tennai to the southwest and Vartaxia to the southeast. Lemobrogia's borders with Tennai and Vartaxia follow the chain that connects Gylias' Salxar range to Tennai's Khastravali range, with the country on the northern side of the drainage divide; its borders with Erania and Quenmin coincide with the drainage basins of those rivers whose source lies on Lemobrogia's side of said chain. Lemobrogia's altitude rarely falls below 1500 metres above sea level, and rarely rises beyond 4000 metres above sea level; due to river erosion and volcanic activity leveling the terrain, it is characterized by a gentle and pleasant landscape of flat uplands and rolling hills. 12% of the country's total area is covered by lakes, rivers and ponds, often of glacial or volcanic origin.
Lemobrogia lies on a continental fault, and several active volcanoes are located in its territory; therefore, the country is prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Avalanches and slides are frequent in the southern third of the country, and near the steep slopes that border Lemobrogia's plateaus and uplands; drought and heavy rain can happen during the dry season and the wet reason, respectively - however, it is because of river erosion and volcanic activity leveling the terrain, that the nation is characterized by a gentle and pleasant landscape of flat uplands and rolling hills. Characterized by mild and pleasant temperatures on one hand, and by unpredictable and violent phenomena on the other hand, Lemobrogia is at once a land of endless abundance and incredible danger. More than 50% of the land has been set aside as a natural reserve, not just due to environmental reasons, but also due to safety concerns; this is not a contiguous area, but several areas connected to each other by wildlife corridors.
Climate
Lemobrogia is part of a belt in eastern Siduri where the tropical savanna climate (Köppen: Aw) is ubiquitous; the far north of the country, where it borders Erania and Quenmin, is part of this belt. However, as the average altitude of Lemobrogia is rather high, the cooler equivalent of the tropical savanna climate, the subtropical highland climate (Köppen: Cwb and Cwc) characterizes the greater part of it. Throughout the year, the average temperature of most of the country rarely falls below −3 °C and rarely rises above 22 °C; the only noticeable seasonal differences concern average rainfall, as fall and winter are quite dry, while spring and summer are quite wet. The far south of the country, where it borders Tennai and Vartaxia, is defined by an alpine climate (Köppen: ET). Due to its peculiar climate, influenced in equal parts by its high altitude and subtropical location, Lemobrogia is often referred to as a land of eternal spring, but climate change and global warming could disrupt this fragile balance in the future.
Ecology
Lemobrogia's land surface can be subdivided into three separate biogeographical units; in the far north, savanna - open country characterized by a continuous grass cover occasionally interrupted by trees and shrubs. It is inhabited by species that subsist on the grass cover, such as the buffalo, and on the trees and shrubs, such as the elephant, as well as by their predators, such as the lion, and by scavengers, such as the hyena. The centre of the country is characterized by a thick cover of broadleaf and conifer trees, gaining their moisture from clouds and fog; in addition to a wide variety of birds and insects, these forests are inhabited by carnivores such as lynxes and wolves, as well as by herbivores such as aurochs and deer. The far south, above the tree line, is alpine tundra whose fauna and flora display striking adaptations to cool, wet conditions and intense sunlight; a cooler counterpart to the savanna of the far south, it is inhabited by species like the bison, the ibex, the saiga and the tarpan.
Economy
Since the late 1960s, Lemobrogia has been a decentralized planned economy focused on sustainable development; private businesses and state enterprises are collectively owned and cooperatively run, and prices are deliberatively and periodically agreed upon by consumers and producers alike. Since private businesses can not employ more than 144 workers, and state enterprises can not employ more than 1728 workers, the backbone of Lemobrogia's industry is made up of federations of cooperatives, through which businesses and enterprises alike coordinate their efforts and pool their resources; these federations of cooperatives are then gathered in general industrial councils, that are then represented in decentralized planning agencies. Even when they are part of the same federation, council or agency, businesses and enterprises can compete with each other, as long as they abide by the guidelines and fulfill the demands set by the higher level federation, council or agency they belong to.
Moreover, since the early 1900s, the populace has received a citizen's dividend on the revenue raised not only via the nation's land value and Pigovian taxes, but also via the nation's natural resources; Lemobrogia can be therefore characterized as a country that, via its adoption of Georgist policies concerning land and taxation on one hand, and of the participatory economics and workplace democracy typical of syndicalism on the other hand, has been able to achieve high material quality of life indicators despite a relatively low average income. Lemobrogia is a leading country in Tyran in the fields of light industry and sustainable agriculture; since, due to their nature, these fields require an intensive use of labour rather than of capital, Lemobrogia employs more people in the primary and secondary sectors of the economy than other developed countries, even though the tertiary sector still contributes the biggest share to the country's GDP, and still employs the majority of the country's labour force.
Lemobrogia joined the Common Sphere and adopted the Hermes Programme in 2015; the country's currency, the Bracteate (sign: ₿) is therefore part of the Common Monetary System, while the nation itself is part of the Common Sphere's common market and trade bloc. This has helped stimulate Lemobrogia's economy; since a significant portion of the country's GDP is spent trying to shield Lemobrogia's populace from the worst consequences of climate change and global warming (Lemobrogia has recently achieved energy independence, largely due to the widespread availability of geothermal power and photovoltaic power in the country, and net zero emissions, largely due to the country's forest cover, that is projected to reach 75% of its surface by the end of the decade), the country is often cited as an example of slow growth and a stagnant economy, despite it being one of the least corrupt and unequal nations in Tyran - issues that have been somewhat alleviated by Lemobrogia's cooperation with Acrea and the Common Sphere alike.
Transport
Lemobrogia's transportation infrastructure is free and funded by land value taxes on the land it occupies, and Pigovian taxes on fuel and vehicles; being a natural monopoly and a public utility, it is handled by canton, circle, country or confederal level enterprises, depending on the length or type of infrastructure. However, the public transport services that use said infrastructure can be run by private businesses - a rare occurrence in the air or on rail, but a widespread practice on the road or in the water. Since public transport services in Lemobrogia are required to run on clean energy, charging stations and solar panels are an essential part of the country's transportation infrastructure. Moreover, the country's forest-flanked highways and high-altitude railways are a popular tourist attraction; due to a cultural and religious aversion to boring tunnels unless absolutely necessary, the nation's rail tracks and road paths closely follow natural features and old passes.
Resources
Lemobrogia's natural resources are considered a common good, especially those natural resources that are inherently limited in supply - such as the country's reserves of industrial minerals and precious metals or the dark, fertile soil (whose origin can be either anthropogenic or natural, depending on the kind of soil) that favoured the birth of arboriculture and horticulture in the nation's prehistory. Possession of such natural resources by private citizens, often as common land that has belonged to the inhabitants of a certain canton, circle or country since time immemorial, or that was returned to them in the 1960s and 1970s as a result of the collectivist and cooperativist policies enacted during that period, is heavily taxed, their efficient use being rewarded with tax cuts, and their inefficient abuse being punished with tax hikes. More than 50% of the land in Lemobrogia has been set aside as a natural reserve, due to environmental reasons as well as due to safety concerns.
Demographics
With a population of 43,791,300 over an area of 729,855 km², Lemobrogia has a population density of 60/km². However, the distribution of the population is very uneven: as 50% of the country was abandoned and set aside as a natural reserve, these areas are very sparsely populated, their density being of around 8/km² - a density first reached by the nation's prehistoric hunter-gatherers, and the highest recorded density of any such society in Tyran. The rest of the population resides in the other half of the country, whose density is of 112/km², and especially in the urban areas of the nation's plateaus and uplands, in which the average temperature rarely falls below −3 °C and rarely rises above 22 °C. The distribution of city sizes in Lemobrogia is often cited as an example of the rank-size rule, according to which the size of a city is inversely proportional to its rank in a country's hierarchy of cities; the size of the 20th largest city in the nation, for example, is 1/20 that of the absolute largest city in Lemobrogia.
Largest cities or towns in Lemobrogia
2023 estimate | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | Territory | Pop. | Rank | Territory | Pop. | ||||
 Icqu  Gevaõn |
1 | Icqu | Siňuvin | 2,985,984 | 11 | Asbə | Ṕəndavin | 271,453 | _DSCF3670.jpg) Vəzḱa  Maũþə |
| 2 | Gevaõn | Xemorvin | 1,492,992 | 12 | Kərxa | Yəlvin | 248,832 | ||
| 3 | Vəzḱa | Ṕəndavin | 995,328 | 13 | Məraĩ | Ľaxkəvin | 229,691 | ||
| 4 | Maũþə | Yəlvin | 746,496 | 14 | Idus | Muciþvin | 213,284 | ||
| 5 | Yanžə | Ľaxkəvin | 597,197 | 15 | Doyne | Lebovin | 199,066 | ||
| 6 | Uŋkir | Muciþvin | 497,664 | 16 | Enxoþ | Ŋežvin | 186,624 | ||
| 7 | Ervoö | Lebovin | 426,569 | 17 | Olþes | Dožcevin | 175,646 | ||
| 8 | Oraẽs | Ŋežvin | 373,248 | 18 | Wəya | Ðaxvin | 165,888 | ||
| 9 | Buþir | Siňuvin | 331,776 | 19 | Uriŋ | Buŋivin | 157,157 | ||
| 10 | Ðoleë | Xemorvin | 298,598 | 20 | Živun | Ḱirusvin | 149,299 | ||
Ethnic groups
About 72% of Lemobrogia's residents are Lemobrogic, that is, ethnically Lemobrogian; since around 700 BCE, the country's inhabitants have been organized into 1728 bands, 144 clans and 12 tribes, headed by an elective or hereditary king or queen - their role in today's country being largely confined to that of advising and counseling local and national public bodies in judicial and religious issues. A further 24% of Lemobrogia's residents consists of the descendants of Acrean, Syaran and Tennaiite colonists; even though they have retained a distinct cultural and linguistic identity, they have been influenced by the country's culture and language to a great degree, and largely identify as an integral part of the Lemobrogian nation. The final 4% of Lemobrogia's residents is made up of foreigners, often exchange students, guest workers and recent immigrants, from neighbouring countries, such as Erania, Quenmin, Tennai and Vartaxia or from culturally adjacent countries, such as Gylias.
Languages
The official language of Lemobrogia is Common Lemobrogic, a koiné language that arose as the result of the contact, mixing and simplification of the languages belonging to the Lemobrogic dialect continuum, and that became the lingua franca of the nation by the early 1500s; even though it is easily comprehensible and largely intelligible by the vast majority of Lemobrogia's inhabitants, most people in the country do not speak it as their first language, and speak either one of the languages belonging to the Lemobrogic dialect continuum (72% of the population) or a language that does not belong to the Lemobrogic dialect continuum, often an Acrean, Syaran or Tennaiite dialect (28% of the population). The status of the Gylic dialect spoken by those Ŋež that left Gylias for Lemobrogia, and their descendants, is a subject of debate: scholars are divided on whether it's a Gylic dialect with a North Lemobrogic substrate, a Lemobrogic dialect with a South Gylic superstrate, or a transitional dialect between North Lemobrogic and South Gylic.
Religion
Lemobrogia has a diverse religious history, having been the birthplace of several philosophical currents and religious faiths, and having been influenced by several other such currents and faiths; 70% of the country's inhabitants, however, adhere to Virocredia: founded by Ciḱe Leňi in 1728 BCE as a philosophical school, by around 700 BCE it had evolved into an Earth-centered religion upholding absolute non-violence and consensus decision-making, that soon diversified into various subgroups tied together by a shared belief in a constantly changing life force pervading the Earth and the universe, for whose flowering and unfolding it is essential to cultivate and nurture the physical and spiritual health of everything in nature. Heavily repressed during the era of Futurist rule, Virocredia has doubled the number of its adherents since then; the rest of the nation's population is evenly subdivided into Concordian, Hahtta, Salvationist, Valatrú and Zobethos practitioners, and the non-religious.
Education
Education in Lemobrogia is free, and mandatory from the age of 6 to the age of 18; it consists of three stages of four years each, roughly equivalent to elementary school, middle school and high school. The country's schools are characterized by how pupils and teachers share in the governance of the educational environment, whose learning style focuses on collaboration, cooperation, imitation and observation, as well as on the widespread use of narrative and storytelling, and on the cultivation of mental and physical fitness - not only an expression of the high regard in which Virocredia holds physical and spiritual purity, but also a legacy of the ashrams and gymnasiums founded by the Rideva and by Symmeria in Lemobrogia; often, older pupils from the higher grades double as teachers for younger pupils from the lower grades. These characteristics have been adopted even by those universities, focused on the sciences, that were inaugurated during the period of Futurist rule.
Health
Lemobrogia runs a universal public healthcare system, funded through the land value and Pigovian tax revenue collected by the central government; even though the life expectancy in Lemobrogia is of 85 years, one of the highest in Tyran, the country's inhabitants carry a large accumulation of genetic damage - a consequence of the pollution and toxicity of Futurist era industry - leading to fewer successful pregnancies and higher infant mortality than in other developed nations with universal healthcare. Lemobrogia's sex ratio of 0.80 is a direct result of these issues, as they increased fetal death in males more than they increased fetal death in females; cancer is another concern related to these issues - as a result, abortion and euthanasia are practiced freely in the country. While the nation's scientific institutions are working on solving and studying this legacy of the Futurist period, their efforts to encourage mental and physical fitness in the population have resulted in a largely hale and healthy public.
Culture
The culture of Lemobrogia is characterized by its insistence on absolute non-violence and consensus decision-making; as the Late Bronze Age collapse in Lemobrogia was accelerated and worsened by a vicious cycle of internecine warfare and resource overexploitation, the philosophy and religion of Virocredia that arose out of the ashes of that era declared it a duty and obligation for people to avoid causing injury to anything living, unless absolutely necessary in order to prevent continued and greater violence. This, coupled with the related belief that people, in order not to forget this duty and obligation, should seek a connection with nature, and realize that they are not separate to it, has turned the country into a place in which naturism and veganism are quite popular, especially as the end of Futurist rule has coincided with a revival of the nation's traditional beliefs and customs, a revival whose precursors can be however be found as far back as the 19th century.
Not unlike other foraging and horticultural societies, the society of Lemobrogia is one in which descent is reckoned via the female line, and kinship is reckoned according to the Crow system; with the exception of the Ŋež, bands, clans and tribes are headed by an elective or hereditary priest-queen. Since a household's residence is often inherited by the youngest daughter of the household, the sons of the household often head out to seek experience, success and wealth; due to this practice, that also birthed the Ŋež tribe (whose gene pool is largely indigenous on the paternal side, but largely allogenous on the maternal side) business and professional earnings are often passed on to the youngest son in the household instead. Historically, men and women had rigidly defined, if balanced and equivalent, roles in the country's daily life and wider society; however, gender identity in the nation has never corresponded entirely to biological sex, with gender and sexual minorities being discussed and mentioned as far back as the Bronze Age.
Since around 700 BCE, land in Lemobrogia has been under the collective management of the inhabitants of a certain canton, circle or country; because of this, the determination of children's paternity has never been an important issue in the nation's culture. This resulted in one's descent being reckoned via the female line and, not unlike other societies with a strong tradition of matrilineal descent, men in Lemobrogia exercise guardianship rights over and take care of their nephews and nieces, rather than their daughters and sons, even if affectionate with and emotionally close to the latter; indeed, men and women live under the roof of their respective extended families even when married. Together with the widespread availability of fungi and plants with accidental abortifacient and contraceptive qualities in the country, these cultural traits have given rise to a society in which the only sexual taboos are related to the risk of genetic disorders or venereal diseases.
Cuisine
Due to Virocredia declaring it a duty and obligation for people to avoid causing injury to anything living, the cuisine of Lemobrogia is largely vegan; even though it goes as far as excluding root and underground vegetables, to prevent injuring even the smallest insect or microorganism, the consumption and use of dairy, eggs and honey is allowed, if it can be proven beyond any reasonable doubt that there is no violence against animals during their production. There is no single staple food in Lemobrogia: crops such as oat and rye, and nuts such as chestnut and hazelnut, are equally popular as a source of flour for bread as well as for noodle and porridge dishes; perennials such as asparagus and caper are also quite popular as ingredients, garnishes and seasonings. The country's grapes and olives have supplied the local cuisine with oil and wine since the Neolithic, while its several native fruits, such as a wide variety of berries and plums, are used in cakes and preserves.
Lunch is by far the main meal of the day, consisting of a cold course or a hot course, depending on whether it is the dry season or the rainy season, served out of a shared bowl or plate; knives, forks and spoons were introduced quite early in Lemobrogia, so that diners could eat out of said shared bowl or plate without the risk of soiling or polluting the common meal in case of disease or sickness. Breakfast and dinner, on the other hand, are light meals, cold in the dry season and hot in the rainy season; barley coffee or herbal tea are usually drunk during breakfast or dinner, while mead or wine are usually drunk during lunch. Meat is usually eaten by children and the elderly, by the sick and by breastfeeding and pregnant women; it is eaten by those not at risk of nutritional deficiencies only during those religious festivals that involve hunting rituals - a practice that, today, is also done for the purpose of ecological conservation against overpopulation and invasive species.
Media
Due to the high costs required to operate and own the infrastructure needed to broadcast audio and video content, audio and video broadcasting in Lemobrogia is treated as a natural monopoly and a public utility, not unlike public transport services; collectively owned and cooperatively run state enterprises handle it at the canton, circle, country or confederal level, depending on the cost or type of said infrastructure. These state enterprises, through a television license fee, run three radio stations and three television channels for each one of the country's confederal subjects, as well as three radio stations and three television channels for the nation as a whole; the former broadcast in the local dialect of the country they serve and have editorial independence from the state, the latter broadcast in Common Lemobrogic and do not have editorial independence from the state. Moreover, content not produced in the area served by these radio stations and television channels can't exceed 25% of the daily air time.
As with public transport services, the radio stations and television channels that use the infrastructure operated and owned by the above state enterprises can be run by private businesses; this is a widespread practice at the canton and circle level, as collectively owned and cooperatively run private businesses can buy a broadcast license, in order to be granted by the relevant state enterprises the right to use a certain radio frequency for broadcasting purposes. The average household in Lemobrogia therefore receives at least three radio stations and at least three television channels for each level of the country's confederal setup, half of which are run by private broadcasters, and half of which are run by public broadcasters; private and public broadcasters alike have to adhere to guidelines that favour the airing of long-form and slow-paced content and the avoidance of sensational and unethical content on one hand, while being otherwise quite light on censorship and control on the other hand.
Music
Music in Lemobrogia is diverse and eclectic, and a wide variety of styles and traditions can be identified in the country; even though clear boundaries can be drawn between art music, folk music and popular music, and between religious and secular music, as far back as the Bronze Age, there has never been, in the nation, a rigid divide between their audiences and musicians. In fact, since dance and music were believed to be divine and holy in their very essence, these divides were gradually established not due to concerns about dignity or decency, but due to concerns about casting spells or invoking spirits by accident; the blurring of these boundaries, and the adoption of foreign genres, eventually birthed the musical landscape of contemporary Lemobrogia, characterized by the widespread pairing of the country's own instrumentation and notation with the conventions and rules typical of foreign genres and styles, and vice versa - the country's artists being especially prone to using heterophonic textures and hexatonic scales.
Sport
Due to the influence of Acrea, Lemobrogia's former suzerain, association football and formula racing are quite popular in Lemobrogia; however, the most popular participation and spectator sports in the country are the dry season, outdoor sports of cricket and rugby on one hand, and the wet season, indoor sports of kabaddi and volleyball on the other hand - with the popularity of kabaddi and rugby being a consequence of their affinity to the ritual fighting practices that replaced internecine warfare in the nation since around 700 BCE, and the popularity of cricket and volleyball being a consequence of their non-contact nature, that attracted children and teachers on one hand, and the devout and pious on the other hand. Together with two individual sports, the national sports of cross country running and freestyle wrestling, these team sports are played in the so-called "Big Six" professional sports leagues of Lemobrogia; other sports are usually played in international or in semi-professional and amateur leagues.
Holidays
Public holidays in Lemobrogia can be secular or religious in character; the former include holidays that are also celebrated in the rest of Tyran, such as Labour Day (that is held on January 20, rather than on May 1, unlike in the rest of Tyran) and holidays specific to the country, such as Reunification Day on April 20 (celebrating the establishment of the Third Community after several centuries of foreign rule under the Rideva and Symmeria); the latter can be subdivided into the 4 oldest holidays, that take place during the equinoxes and solstices and are of prehistoric origin, and the 8 holidays that were added to the calendar since the Bronze Age, 2 each for each period in between an equinox and the solstice following it. The festivals and rituals associated with these holidays are characterized by their emphasis on provoking and maintaining a trance-like mental state of liminal presence in those taking part in them, via a wide array of different techniques.
| Society | | |
|---|---|---|