Periclean world
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The Periclean world, also commonly referred to as the Periclean fringe or the Periclean basin, is an academic name for the shared history, culture, maritime economy, and religio-social ideas that characterize countries on all sides of the Periclean Sea at the nexus of Belisaria, Ochran, and Scipia. The term is fairly recent, coming into usage in the 1970s after the steep decline in intrastate war in Belisaria and the end of the West Scipian Wars with the Yarden Accords in 1973. However, scholars as far back as the late antiquity in the Latin Empire have used the term 'Periclean' to describe phenomena on both sides of the Periclean Sea basin.
Geography
The idea of the trans-Periclean world is pluricontinental: to its north, it includes a large swath of southern Belisaria, from Latium in the west to Garima and Lihnidos in the center to Belisarian Thraysia to the east. Southerly, the Periclean culture goes from Sydalon and Yisrael in western North Scipia across the coastal fringe to Vardana, Aretias, and Thraysia proper in the east.
Regional culture
Influence of hegemonic empires
The Periclean is the birthplace of the major Abrahamic religions, including Judaism and Christianity, both of which emerged in western Scipia, which serves as well as the spiritual homeland for the third Abrahamic monotheist faith, Azdarin. The latter two faiths, both universalizing, spread in late antiquity (Christianity) and the early medieval period (Azdarin) across North Scipia and South Belisaria (later Christianizing nearly the whole continent). Most of the Periclean fringe adopted one of these faiths by the Middle Ages.
In early antiquity and written history, a significant portion of the Periclean basin, particularly the western and middle areas, were colonized by the Hellenic civilization. Later, the Hellenic city-states were supplanted by the rising Latin Empire, during which most of the modern Periclean world fell under its direct or indirect control and influence. Consequently, these centuries of dominant rule by Latium imparted Latinic influences throughout the region, vestiges of which can be found in legal codes, place-names, ancient ruins, and the genetic makeup of far-flung Periclean populations.
In the Middle Ages, the rise of Azdarin, especially in Scipia, competed with the Christianization of the trans-Periclean, leading to a religious split between north and south. In the 13th and 14th centuries, the the Bayarid invasion of the eastern Periclean briefly introduced a pagan, East Ochrani cultural shift, especially in parts of modern-day Vardana and Thraysia. The Bayarid leaders, being nomadic and interested in empire-building, influenced local culture less-than-expected, often respecting local norms as long as tribute was paid. Their rule and influence proved fairly short-lived, however, as within a couple centuries, Christian reconquest re-established political control by elites of the native Periclean culture.
During the late medievel and early modern period, the Periclean, particularly its eastern half, fell under the hegemonic influence of the Hellenic powers of Lihnidos, Vardana, and Thraysia, which engendered a distinctive religious, political, and cultural outlook, encouraging autocracy and strong monarchic rule, conservative and traditional Christian religious norms, and a more local, family-oriented social focus. This was also a feature of the traditional Fabrian Catholic and Jewish west of the Periclean, including Latium, Sydalon, Ascalzar, and Yisrael.
Traditionalism and modernity
The western and eastern ends of the Periclean are anchored in deeply conservative and religious societies where change is slow and/or oft-times resisted. Many countries in these areas have a society where family, religion, nationalism, and local industry predominant; however, several powers grew into regional economic heavyweights, including Latium, Lihnidos, Garima, and Yisrael. The Industrial Revolution and advent of modern ideologies was felt throughout the Periclean, though individual countries differed in their reaction. Some, such as Thraysia, Gran Aligonia, or Garza, resisted head-long change and fought to keep things generally as they were. Some, such as Garima, Talahara, and others, fought to modernize quickly. Many, such as Latium and Yisrael, took a middling path between rapid reform and complete reactionary opposition.
Inevitably, every country modernized and industrialized to a large degree between the 18th and 21st centuries. However, there are significant subregions through the Periclean that have been economically stagnant or left behind (sometimes shockingly reminiscent of the late 19th or early 20th centuries), while others have seen rapid development and steady growth of the preceding decades, bringing their countries in line with other global powers. It remains a characteristic of the Periclean that there is embedded general cultural conservatism, particularly in regard to economic development.
Centers of liberalism and divergence
No entity is monolithic, given the breath of the Periclean basin, some countries diverge from the norm. Garima and southeast Belisaria was the home of the Protestant Reformation, and developed an emerging classically liberal, Protestant ethic that saw strong economic growth married with liberalizing attitudes and strong technological development. These countries modernized quicker as well as secularized sooner in the 20th century, in a somewhat contrast to much of the rest of the Periclean world.
Rubric Coast
In marked contrast to the so-called "poles" of traditional monarchy in the eastern and western ends of the Periclean Basin, the political cultures of Talahara and Tyreseia on the north-central coast of Scipia have been dominated by socialism and industrial unionism for most of the modern period. Prior to the advent of syndicalism, the Rubric Coast region had been dominated by the clans of Talahara and the city-states of modern-day Tyreseia, the latter of which continuing a tradition of maritime trade dating back to early Antiquity. This consistent contact with the outside world via large populations of sailors going abroad brought numerous global cultural influences to the Periclean Sea over the centuries. Both states' modern governments have as a cornerstone industrial democracy through syndicalism, with elements of other left-wing ideologies and civic democracy present to varying degrees. Owing to their geographical, ideological, and cultural proximity, the two nations share close political bonds institutionalized in the supranational body known as the Rubric Coast Consortium. High levels of industrialization, economic participation, and status as global trade hotspots have made both Talahara and Tyreseia into states with highly-advanced economies and some of the highest standards of living in the world. Combined, the integrated economies of the Consortium would count as the 10th-largest national economy in the world. The Rubric Coast states' pursuit of left-wing ideals in foreign policy have frequently brought them into conflict with the monarchies of the Periclean, notably Latium and Yisrael. This ideological tension has reinforced a sense of distance from other Periclean residents in the minds of many Tyreseians and Talaharans, engendering a culture that, in many cases, welcomes left-wing acolytes from around the region and around the globe. In particular, the National University of Tyreseia, given its location and longstanding reputation for outspoken political student groups, has attracted numerous prospective activists and thinkers from states otherwise hostile to such ideas. Controversially, some figures involved in the Liberal Democratic Front of Yisrael and the International Democratic Revolution have been accused by many in the Yisraeli government of being radicalized at the University. Such groups are viewed with more sympathy in Tyreseia, exemplifying the significant ideological gulf that exists between the Rubric Coast and the numerous monarchies of the Periclean Sea Basin.
Maritime economy
The Periclean region has a robust maritime and mercantile economy based on millennia of trade and sea-based economic ties. As early as the Hellenic period in antiquity, merchants and traders transversed much of the Periclean basin, exchanging new foods and information among insular communities. In 97 C.E., Latin historian Atticus noted that "in a matter of weeks, a captain and his crew can sail from Pola to Hion in Ligeneia [...] the ship can bring fresh fruits, grains, as well as news of impending events - as well as plague, in unfortunate times..."