The Voran Empire
Demographic Breakdown
Government Type: Stratocratic Unitary State
Head of State: Vorac'nath'al, The Eternal Ember, Matriarch of the Dragonkin
Head of Government: N/A
Governing Body: The Legionate
Political Factions: N/A
Nation's Capital: Objidi Majeir
Population: ~965, 000
Racial Composition: 79% Dragonkin, 7% Orc, 6% Human, 4% Giant, 3% Other.
Religious & Spiritual Beliefs: Voracism
Demonym: Voranite
Main Exports: Soil, Fruits & Vegetables, Coal, Rare Metals, Poultry.
Currency: Dracari
National Sports: Kav Mol Bregga & Pyretrek
Official Language: Vorani (Draconic)
Motto: "An Open Hand is a Hand Well-Met."
Voranite Slang, Sayings, and Idioms
"Smoker", "Smoke-mouth" (n.) - One with nothing substantial to say.
"Dreg" (n.) - Pejorative used for a member of a lower caste than the speaker (usually Avail, Labour, or Repenter)
"Slag" (n.) - Pejorative meaning 'lazy worker'. Also used as a verb to describe lazy behaviour.
"Mint" (verb) - To promote someone one caste level.
"Born under a red sun" - The person being referred to is hot-tempered, or sexually 'forward'.
Vorac'nath'al, The Elder Dragon, here depicted as described during chronicles of The Elder Wars by Halixian scholars.
The Voranite Caste System
The Caste Levels
0 - Repenter Caste (High Risk Industrial Labour, Deckhanding, Arcanic Experimentation, etc.)
I - Labour Caste (Manufacturing, Mining, Household Assistance, Hunting, Ranging Expeditions, Farming Labour, etc.)
II - Avail Caste (Military Service, Skilled Labour, Clerical Work, Service Industries, etc.)
III - Citizen Caste (Right to oversee/employ members of the Labour & Repenter castes, Right to earn wages as a state-approved contractor, Access to domestic markets.)
IV - Patrician Caste (Right to oversee/employ members of the Avail caste and lower, Right to operate a private enterprise (with an automatic 50% ownership stake going to The Voran State), Access to international markets.)
The Voranite Caste system serves as a mandatory path to citizenship, via caste level promotions, for those living within its territory. Each promotion requires a minimum contribution of 50,000 working hours accrued at one's current caste assignment. At 12-hour work days, assuming no disruptions, this equates roughly 12 years of indentured service per pre-Citizen caste level. Once promoted to sovereign citizen (3rd Caste), a Voranite is awarded a residence of the state's choosing, as well as granted provisions to begin their new life. Should a Voranite be settled in a city for instance, they would typically receive a stipend of Legion dracarii along with a set of scribing supplies, the potential applications of which would cover most career paths available to them in an urban setting. Should they be moved into the countryside, they'll likely be granted a farmstead for tending to livestock, growing crops, or both.
Excepting dragonkin, whose family structure differs greatly from other Destrean races, children who are born to Labour, Avail, or Citizen caste-parents start in the Labour caste. Patricians' children, as well as those afflicted with conditions precluding them from Labour assignments, will start in the Avail caste. However, they must complete 100,000 hours at the Avail level before being promoted.
Should a family member be killed while in service of the Legion (most often during tenure in Labour/Avail caste), their work scrips are credited to their children.
The lowest caste, Repenter, is reserved for Labour-caste Voranites who violate one of the 13 Draconic Edicts (laws established in The Founding Era which are occasionally 're-interpreted' by the Legionate). Captured enemy combatants with little-to-no value as prisoners may also be assigned into the Repenter caste.
There but for the Grace of the Elder Dragon...
In all municipalities under the Voranite caste system, living arrangements for each caste are set deliberately so that their commute to and from their work assignments takes place within sight of the living area of the caste below them. For instance, in the formerly-occupied Anclevan City (then-Aeros Majeir), those in the Avail caste who took the Overway into Old Town would pass the Manufactory district; while Labourers bound for the manufactories would be made to pass through The Stench (the dwellings of Aeros Majeir's Repenter caste).
Major Cities & Towns
Objidi Majeir
"The Great Mother"
Luma Majeir
"The Great Light"
Seffira Orni
"Resplendent Sapphire"
Kera'daxx
Serpent's Bane -
Xholo'daxx
Prowler's Bane -
Tor Objidix
Mother's Gaze -
Built to Last
Voranite architecture may not be seen as being particularly refined or elegant; in fact, many would characterize their sensibilities as rather brutalist, but there's something to be said for the century-spanning durability of their works, particularly due to the harsh environmental conditions of much of their territory. This is thanks to their particular method of mixing concrete, known as Voran Bedrock. Made from a concoction of volcanic ash, lime, and seawater, mixed together with volcanic rocks and spread into wooden moulds which are then immersed in more sea water, Voranite Bedrock actually becomes more durable over the course of its lifespan. This is accomplished by allowing seawater to crash through the material, slowly crystallizing and binding its innards over time.
It Takes a Village
The common two-parent family unit structure, characteristic of most nations on the continent, does not manifest in the same fashion within Voranite society. Rather, the most fertile of the female dragonkin population are given the venerated position of Denmother, which exempts them from the stratified tiers of the Voranite caste system. Their responsibility is to select from eligible suitors to produce dragonkin young. As a litter of dragonkin can number in the dozens, the duty of child rearing is only the charge of a Denmother until their offspring's third year, whereupon they are fostered by either a union of two Citizens, or more rarely, sired by a member of the Patrician caste. All male dragonkin keep the family name of their Denmother under law, but a Denmother may choose to include an apostrophe between her own and that of a familial line whose last Denmother bore no female to carry it on.
Though the practice is outlawed at time of writing, members of the Patrician caste have lobbied extensively for the right to present gifts, or monetary compensation, in exchange for partial naming rights of a given child or litter, but thus far, The Legionate has refused their request.
The Collegia of Voran
The Grounds
Certain areas of the Isle of Aetheron have been levelled and reconstructed to suit the needs of the Academa Yunda (the school's Battle Tactics, Medicine, and Battle Magic sections). Here are challenges of strength, cunning, and stamina doled out to the doggedly competitive students, each aspiring to become officers in Voran's elite Legions. War games, deadly trap courses, monster arenas, and other dangerous tests await those who venture here, beyond the safety of the other wings of the Collegia.
The Duomo
A large atrium where guest lecturers are invited to present to the students of the Collegia, (with Legionate approval). It can seat nearly 10,000 attendees, making it an excellent venue for those studying in the Academa Rykana (the school's Art, Performance, and Rhetoric sections).
The Tanks
Nearly half of the Collegia campus actually resides underwater, where the sunken ruins of past civilizations can be examined firsthand by students of the Academa Halixia (the school's History, Arcana, and Governance sections). These sections are made accessible from the surface via steam-powered diving gondolas, which connect to a labyrinthine network of glass tunnels and large antechambers, which are rated for such depths.
Military Structure
