Spectralos
Demographic Breakdown
Government Type: Mercantile Satellite State
Head of State: N/A*
Head of Government: Chief Executor Xev Quinok*, Overseer Aldok Gorrano*, Chief Executor Arageelya Oft'Talon*
Governing Body: The Spectrali Council of Free Enterprise*
Political Factions: West Daring Company*, Seaworth Ventures*, Talon Prosperity Solutions*.
Nation's Capital: N/A
Other Municipalities: Midos, Holus, Khava-Zhavaria, Tellüd-Zimaria, Shinecove, Øule-Nwage, Øule-Cielle, Øule-Bois
Population: 780,000**
Racial Composition: 67% Drow**
Religious & Spiritual Beliefs:
Main Exports: Copper, Butterfish, Tropical Fruit, Weapons, Airship parts, Trinkets and Keepsakes.
Currency: Dima, Triva
National Sport: Stilts, Thétaclaque (also called 'Snake Eyes')
Demonym: Spectrali.
Official Language: Ôtrecommun
Motto: "Sink, Swim, or Sell."
*Editor's Note: As the only civic function undertaken by the highly limited Spectrali government is the maintaining of property rights, it may be a misnomer to refer to any of the above as 'government entities'- a descriptor which they themselves refute fervently. -M.G.
**Editor's Note: These data are very approximate, as reliable census data in Spectralos is extraordinarily difficult to come by. -M.G.
Spectrali Slang, Sayings, and Idioms
"Keep your back dry" - Don't trust the wrong people.
"Roll your own dice" - Coined from the age-old dice game Thétaclaque, meaning to 'mind your business' or 'trust oneself', depending on context.
"An evening sea" - Something unreliable, someone untrustworthy.
"Like a skiff on still water" - Something going well; something easy.
"Only when your plate is empty can you see yourself" - Popularized by the Materiste sect of Aspecticism, which, in this context, is taken to mean that only at one's lowest point can one understand themselves. Spectralos is rich in copper production, and their bronze dining ware, quite literally, reflects this.
Cultural Trivia
Spectralos is lightly governed by a council of merchant lords, who represent their respective enterprises' interests when in talks with each other, and on the world stage.
"Traditions are habits, writ large; habits, writ large, are your destiny"
Spectrali, either despite, or precisely due to, near-constant political turmoil at the level of national government, form impressively supportive family structures and communities. They also maintain dozens of peculiar cultural traditions, such as the polishing of bronze dinner plates, a dice game
Company Towns
After the collapse of the Spectrali Provisional Government, and the demonetization of the Ozha as a currency, a wave of civil unrest and wanton violence brought Spectralos to the brink of total collapse. Sensing opportunity, the trading companies based out of the country hired mercenary and recruited desperate locals to form private armies with which to stake out territory. [CONT LATER- bloody civil war, treaty brokered by Materiste sects in exchange for massive concessions, current state is rural folks living in anarchistic communes, urbanites consigned to company service, etc.]
"You know, in Spectralos, they have a saying- roughly translated, it goes:
'What hands weave the fates of mortal beings? Those that swing the sword; that count the coin; that turn the pages of holy books?'
Or is it those on the clockface, stealing life away, second by unfelt second?'"
- Diana Turani