The Region of Avalon

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Chakurano
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The Region of Avalon

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MC Username: Chakurano

Region Name: Avalon

Demonym: Avalonian

Country Equivalent: Great Britain

Demographics: A large region with multiple dense cities and a (relatively) small amount of farmland.

Official Language: Alban. For OOC info, it's similar to Old English, and the antecedent for the Unovan now commonly spoken today. It's rarely seen outside of Avalon, as it's hard to find somebody willing to teach a foreigner.

Capital City: Albion

Religion: Arceism

Geography:
Avalon is an island surrounded by ocean. The island consists mostly of rolling hills and plains, with a rocky north and a south consisting mostly of plains. They have the world’s largest natural harbor, the Harbor of Lancaster, located in the south-west of the island. Although the land possesses no great amount of natural resources, it does have fertile farmland and wildlife.
On the mainland is the Avalonian Coast, a long strip of land consisting mostly of treacherous mountains. Originally taken from Orre, the Port of Colton allows ships to land there, while the roads of trade routes have been created with careful use of Pixelmon.
((((Map here))

History:
Avalon is one of the older countries in the world, their civilization starting back when a land bridge connected their island to the rest of the continent. The tribes flourished, forming into multiple small cultures of Avall. The Avall people began to unite under attacks from invading tribes from Éire and Scheiferwald. The Avalon of today came into existence around the year 230 when the Avall and the invading tribes were absorbed together, resulting in the creation of the Avalonian people, so-named after the Avall.
In the mid 300s, Avalon had become a bustling nation. The problem being, the island could no longer produce enough food for their population. To remedy this, Avalon began an invasion in order to take over and absorb Éire into itself. The war was on two levels, one to physically own the smaller island and another to spread Arceism to the pagan beliefs of the time. The war lasted only six short years, and ended with the conquest of Éire by the Avalonians. Over the next century, the smaller island was controlled and manipulated to the point where it was given a new name - the Isles of Avalon.
In the years to come, Avalon capitalized on its success by improving its military and navy to become a powerful region. Enticed by the easy targets that some of its neighbors made, Avalon began a campaign into the peninsula of Alkir to conquer it and take its resources for itself. Being far more organized and large than the Alkiri tribes, Avalon quickly took the lands west of the mighty Lei’Al River that split the region down the middle. Avalon began to experience difficulty from the natives, as the Alkiri tribes united against the invaders and held their forces at the banks of the Lei’Al. At the same time, Avalonian forces began to test the borders of Orre, seeking to secure the coast for themselves. Under the leadership of General David Colton, the Avalonian forces were able to take a long strip of coast that would be known as the Port of Colton. For the next few decades, Avalon used this land as a foothold for its navy to send forces in its imperial phase.
For the following decades, little progress was made by the various skirmishes and few battles between Avalon and the Alkiri Alliances. This changed when the various Alliances, having fused into one force, managed to secure help from Orre (who were still upset by the loss of their land). With both Orre and Alkir working together, the Avalonian military was driven out of the region.
Although Avalon had lost its military presence and ownership of West Alkir, many merchants remained in the region to sell their goods and promote their culture. In addition, the Avalonian priests traveled through the region to spread their religion - Arceism. Satisfied with their efforts and the flow of goods they received from Alkir, Avalon turned to its other neighbor as well. Holova was conquered in the early 600s, almost a footnote in Avalon’s history compared to the other events of the time. In 610, Avalon found the land that they would call “Anavon” - their largest colony yet under the leadership of Charles Anavon. The settlers spread out, conquering some of the native people with relative ease while soothing over others with diplomacy. Anavon sent a great deal of goods back to Avalon, while they received more and more people who wished to live there. Anavon began to grow uneasy in 732, and the rebel forces under Henry Rutherford declared their intent to split off and become their own region. The resulting war lasted until 753, when Avalon officially made peace and allowed Anavon to become its own region. The new region renamed itself “Unova”, and from there has its own story.
Avalon’s culture began to significantly change after the independence of Unova was declared, with many of the poorer elements of society traveling to the land of opportunity and the richer elements returning to the island and setting down strong roots. The language became more flowery even as the Unovans began creating a simpler form that would later be adapted as the most popular language used for trade. With a lack of any conflict, battles were moved to the social level. Children were raised and married off as bargaining chips like before, now used to gain control of companies and fortunes rather than land and titles. Political games controlled the island’s government, the Avalonian king nothing more than a figurehead for the rich and powerful. Corruption could be found in the cracks of society, even as the shield/mask against outsiders hardened and became even stronger.
One significant change that occurred as the political games escalated was the increasing isolation of Galar - one of the three principalities. Prince Cyneric, third-born son of King Malcolm, grew tired of the games he was forced to play to keep his people safe from the greed of the nobles, and begin to work in secret with his brothers to increase Galar's self-sufficiency. In 793, Cyneric officially claimed Galar as a self-governing Avalonian Crown dependency with the blessing of his father - who was well aware of his status as a figurehead, and used Galar as a location to send low-class talent that would never reach their potential within Avalon proper. Galar developed its own culture over time, but has powerful bonds to its core with Avalon in relation to both trade and culture.
In 847, Avalon regained interest in Alkir as they were contacted by rebel forces who sought to overthrow the monarchy. Seeing as Avalon had been in historic conflict with Alkir’s monarchy, they contributed heavily to the rebels. They supplied mainly their strategists, as well as a moderate amount of ships to control the coast. When the rebellion succeeded, Avalon took advantage of the time of chaos to spread their merchants and goods where they could, securing their supply of Alkiri goods. Despite the fact that Alkir didn’t replace the king, Avalon’s relations with Alkir improved marginally.
In 954, Avalon found itself in an odd position. It was under attack by others. Scheiferwald sought to expand into the Port of Colton, which had been somewhat changed into a trading port after centuries of relative peace. Despite their quickly-formed alliance with Orre, Avalon struggled to hold their mainland territory. The strength of the port proved to be their weakness, the area being hard to defend with many of the defenses rusty and difficult to hold for the inexperienced soldiers under attack by trained fascist forces. Joining forces with Alkir and Unova, the four regions took the nickname of The Accord. Working together to drive off Scheiferwald, Avalon quickly began work to prepare for war. Factories that made luxuries soon began the production of war tools, from tanks to ship armor to guns. The Port of Colton was restored to full strength, with several outposts added to their border to support it.
Avalon fought for the entire five decades in which the Great War took place. Their navy was unmatched on the sea, with only Scheiferwald coming close to their power. However, Avalon suffered greatly during the war. They took heavy damage to their population, wealth, and sheer power. They fought directly against Scheiferwald, clashing their respective navies against each other to lock the two out. By the end of the war in the year 1000, most Avalonians were relieved. They were ready for peace.
In 1023, the government of Avalon began to recognize the small nation of Toro as a possible trading partner. Although no overtures were made, Prime Minister James Richmond sent agents to investigate the region. As of yet, they have not made any other moves.

Culture:
Avalon’s culture is a strange mix of two contrasting styles. The “peasant’s style”, the main culture of Avalon and the one spread during the days of imperialism, is a more conservative culture mainly focused around serving their country and rising to work with the royal court (and later government). An emphasis is held on being well-rounded, with a grounding in science and literature alike. The people of Avalon take pride in their heritage, knowing their region is one of the more important in the world. The people are rather conservative, with a dislike of open displays of affection.
After the independence of Unova, the “rich man’s culture” of Avalon went through an odd change. Political and social games began to rise in popularity, with the rich spending much of their time engaged in a game of one-upping the other and trying to gain power. While the poor remain mostly unaware of these games, many children of the rich spend their whole childhood as pawns in these schemes. They’re used as chips for marriage to take over estates and businesses, raised to be as stiflingly formal and posh as their parents. The traditional belief in Avalonian superiority is taken to the extreme, dealing with foreigners with a slight sneer to the face and open insults about savages behind their backs. For these families where producing a successor is one of the most important things, anything that could prevent a legitimate heir is openly hated - from sex outside of marriage to alternative sexualities (anything outside of "just enough of a sex drive to produce one heir"). Most of the Avalonians who are a part of this culture are the old families, who can trace their roots and their money back to the days before Éire.

Economy: Avalon’s economy is based heavily in trade. Although there are many factories on the island, they lack the natural resources to make full use of them. Instead, many raw goods flow through Avalon, where they’re made into proper commodities or resold to other bidders. The nation gets much of its food from the Isles, importing small amounts of food from multiple countries to avoid dependence. They have a great deal of fishing that the poorer members of the region depend on to make a living. The gap between the poor and rich is huge, with a single member of the rich likely to gamble away more money in a night than an entire poor family will make in a year. That isn't to say that the poor live in complete poverty, but rather that the rich have generations of wealth built up that cannot be matched easily.

Major Cities:
Albion, the capital city, is a place of extremes. The upper-class families play games with generations-worth of money and capital, reshaping pieces of the economy in order to “win” favors from their peers. Many children of the rich spend their whole childhood as pawns in these schemes. They’re used as chips for marriage to take over estates and businesses, raised to be as stiflingly formal and posh as their parents. The traditional belief in Avalonian superiority is taken to the extreme, dealing with foreigners with a slight sneer to the face and open insults about savages behind their backs. Lineage is extremely important to the old money families, who can trace their roots and their money back to the days before Éire was even conquered. Because of that, non-heterosexuality is openly hated - it removes the ability (or at least willingness) to produce heirs for the family.
Directly opposing the old money faction are the new money families, CEOs and self-made politicians aiming to make their mark on history by cracking open the historically-unbreakable shell around their rivals. Mixing the vast wealth of Avalon’s upper class with a willingness to work with other regions is a combination that’s made many a millionaire - and many more penniless. While they scoff at the social games played by the old families, gambling capital on high-risk high-reward investments is something else entirely, and many a fortune has exchanged hands due to a lucky - or unlucky - night of deals.
In the background of these visible factions, the white-collar offices of the capital are flooded every day with enormous amounts of paperwork - information on each region, their own included. The Department for Taxes and Revenue is a powerful force, designed originally as a countermeasure to the nobility’s games. Over the years, it’s expanded its reach and now manages a vast network of resources both liquid and not, with hidden feelers reaching deeply into the stock market and many international corporations.

Coltan and Lancaster are both port cities, with Lancaster being the region's largest port and trade hub while Coltan acts as the main Avalonian port city on the Avalonian Coast portion of Cicense. The two are heavily linked, with the majority of goods traveling from one port to another to enter/leave the region legally. People from either of Coltan and Lancaster tend to be more experienced with the cultures of other regions than the more insular upper-classes from other cities, due to exposure to sailors / merchants / travelers. Those from Coltan, particularly the wealthy, may have a chip on their shoulder if accused of not being "proper" Avalonians and being continentals instead, while those from Coltan have great pride in their knowledge of the sea and ability to judge and evaluate people quickly.

Carnford originated as a home-away-from-home for the nobility overseeing farmwork along the southeast region of Avalon, but grew into a prosperous city that's indirectly responsible for an enormous portion of Avalon's culinary and medical culture as the forests and farmlands provided a rich bounty of rare herbs and fresh ingredients of all kinds. Those from Carnford are rightfully proud of their ancestors' work, and most have at least one or ten secret family recipes they guard zealously as they sell and use said recipe's results. These range from delicious dishes to herbal concoctions to a method to properly age rye whiskey.

Esslin, meanwhile, started out as a military camp in the mid 300s, located close enough to Albion to transport individuals between them quickly while closer to the Avalonian's first conquest target: the Isles (then Éire). After the war was complete, many training officers chose to stay in the town alongside their families, and helped to transition the camp into a full-on town that eventually grew into a major city. Troops still train there to this day, using the Great Lake Soms to practice naval drills. Most high-ranking officers can boast of having training in Esslin. On the civilian side of things, the citizens of Esslin have a thriving tradition of weaving and sewing, an evolution of the families of officers repairing and customizing uniforms. It's said that any new Avalonian fashion trend must succeed twice before it's accepted - first in Esslin's extremely competitive Design Competition, and then once more with Albion's nobility.


Notable Figures(if any): Current Prime Minister, Sir Ambrose Capell

Other: Talk to me (Discord is “chakurano#0001”) if you want to discuss anything not on here!
Would you like to be this region’s DM? (y/n): Y
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