Ralgon
| The Holy Ralgon Empire | |||
| |||
| Motto: Strength and Honor | |||
| Anthem: WIP | |||
| 250px|Location of Ralgon|frameless | |||
| Map versions | ??? | ||
| Capital | Ralgon City (legislative capital) Glacier City (executive capital) Dragos (holy city) | ||
| Largest city | Pyrax, Anthrax, Arro, Duro (wip) | ||
| Official language(s) | |||
| Official religion(s) | Draconic (reveres a pantheon consisting of eleven gods) | ||
| Demonym | Ralgon | ||
| - Adjective | Ralgon | ||
| Government | Feudal, Semi-Elective Monarchy | ||
| - King | Nobunag'on Ral IV | ||
| - Crown Prince | Draeg'ar Ral | ||
| - Legislature | Imperial Senate | ||
| Establishment | WIP | ||
| Area | NA | ||
| Population | 124,254,005 | ||
| Active population | n/a | ||
| Currency | WIP ($) | ||
| Calendar | |||
| Time zone(s) | |||
| Mains electricity | |||
| Driving side | |||
| Track gauge | |||
| National website | |||
| National forum | |||
| National animal | hydra | ||
| National food | crocodile meat | ||
| National drink | black wine | ||
| National tree | giant durian tree | ||
| Abbreviation | HRE | ||
The Holy Ralgon Empire, or simply Ralgon is a quasi-feudal empire that has existed for 1,440 solar years, the beginning of which marks both the beginning of recorded history and the calendar (1 CE, or Current Era) for the Ralgons as well as all of the island's peoples. The Ralgon Empire has governed the entire island of Dragos (known to the wider world as "El Dorado") for the last 268 years, their conquest of the island having decisively concluded by the year 1200 CE. Having consolidated political and religious control of the island, the Ralgon Empire has developed scientifically and medically to a point where they are confident of securing their place in the world order. Finding themselves beset with minor overcrowding issues, their current king (Nobunag'an IV) has seen fit in his later reign to begin slowly opening the country to the rest of the world.
Government
The King
The Ralgons did not have a title for a monarch until the first explorers voyaged far enough to find a country that had a proper non-name title for their royalty. Wishing to emulate the world during the burgeoning nation's nascent years, the Ralgons decided to call their monarch a "king," in line with much of what they saw in the wider world. This change began during the reign of Bael'an VI during the year 1032, supposedly in commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the first Ralgon king's adoption of the national religion of Draconic. In reality, this action on part of their royal family firmly cemented both their religious and political power in the rising Ralgon kingdom. Because of this move, the royal family bought enough early prestige for the highly religious Ral clan to consolidate their spreading power over the island. Eventually, the title of King became synonymous with the ruler of all of the large island (now called Dragos after one of their gods) and all of its peoples.
The Ralgon Kings, in the very earliest days of the nation, worshipped an odd pantheon of various gods. This practice persisted unabated until around 600 CE, when the mainstream religion of Draconic took a foothold in Ralgon lands, located on the western mountainous region of the island. Having been founded in a collapsing nearby state being absorbed under Ralite rule, the disorganized religion's clerics got the chance to spread their faith in Ralite territory. The royal family took advantage of the nascent religion spreading, and adopted it early enough to justify their role as the religion's caretakers within the country.
The religion of Draconic was officially taken over in the year 632, when the chieftain Tormund converted to the religion late into his reign. Taking the name of Bael'an in honor of the god of light and valor, he took the role of the head of the religion and used this to seize absolute authority from the nobility. During subsequent years, the country expanded and the chieftains of the Ral Clan were forced to cede authority, covering it in guises of delegation of responsibility, until the monarchs held naught but spiritual authority in the country. This changed by the year 950 when the country fell into a series of bitter wars of conquest that saw most of the nobility destroyed. Much power passed back into the hands of the chieftains, who saw fit to institute a national legislature as a check to the nobility.
Since the year 1172, the Ralgon monarchs have enjoyed a balance of power between themselves and the nobility by using a Senate as proxy for their debates and struggles. In using the Senate as an effective puppet, the ruling classes of the country also effectively maintain a status quo while putting on a republican front to enfranchise wealthy merchants and major cities' political groups.
The Senate
The Nobility
Foreign Relations
History
Culture
Religion
The eleven gods revered by adherents of the Draconic religion represent the dualistic nature of the religion. According to Draconic teachings, there are five virtues from which all others spring, and the observance of which brings one's soul closer to the gods: Honor, Grace, Truth, Wisdom, and Strength. The gods themselves, in addition to being thoroughly virtuous in at least their given trait, also embody part of the fabric of the world, those core elements being Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, and Light. The gods are always worshipped as pairs, with the exception of Thr'on, the god of creation and life, who died to give life and being to the universe, and protect it against the lesser gods who once destroyed the world in a time before time.
Ralgons believe in reincarnation of the soul, as well as in a heaven of sorts. The goal of a Draconic adherent's life is to live a life of virtue and bring themselves closer to the gods, and after death to either become one of them in heaven (the realm of the gods forever separated from the physical universe), or be reborn in a position where they are better equipped to move closer. Those who live a life devoid of virtue are reincarnated into a worse life as punishment. If their lives continue this way, then their souls eventually fade from existence until their metaphysical life force is no more, and they truly cease to exist.
Under current religious doctrine, the King is the single person who is closest to the Gods, and the Kings are one of the few groups of people on Earth who reliably have a connection to the remaining life force of Thr'or, whose being is scattered throughout creation. The King is meant to be a particularly pious individual and uphold all the five virtues and keep the Ralgon lands in harmonious balance between the five elements. If a King lives a pious life, they gain an apotheosis of sorts. They are then revered as having ascended to be one with, yet separate from Thr'or. There are few people apart from the Kings of Ralgon declared by both the King and the Priesthood (who are viewed as different authorities informed by the gods of their sacred will) to be truly virtuous people deserving of reverence.
To date, no known foreigners have achieved any form of apotheosis, although the Draconic faith understands that one does not have to believe in the gods to live a virtuous life and reincarnate as a being who is inherently closer to the gods. It is because of this open and accepting nature that the Draconic religion spread rapidly throughout the island throughout its history. As of the year 1440, the Draconic faith is observed at least passively by about 90% of the population, most of the rest (about 8%) observing traditional tribal faiths or, in much rarer occasions, other obscure beliefs or foreign religions.
| God/Goddess | M/F | Element | Virtue |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thr'or | N/A | All | All |
| Bael'os | M | Light | Honor |
| Rhud'on | M | Wind | Grace |
| Glaur'on | M | Water | Truth |
| Dur'on | M | Earth | Strength |
| Drag'os | M | Fire | Wisdom |
| Gae'as | F | Earth | Grace |
| Fre'as | F | Fire | Honor |
| Mar'na | F | Water | Wisdom |
| Rae'as | F | Light | Truth |
| Lea'na | F | Wind | Strength |
Language
The Ralgon people have an interesting way of naming important figures, gods, and other things throughout their nation. In their early days and contrary even to their surrounding tribes, the Ralgons denote the most important things in their society by using possessive suffixes, and use a hard syllabic stop to denote the importance of what is being mentioned. The -gon suffix is the primary exception, and denotes an absolute possession of something. Therefore, the name "Ralgon" means "Eternally belonging to [the] Ral [Clan]."
Their titles are also suffixes, and carry a peculiar duality within their society: for every title-suffix there are always two forms that may be used in a person's name, and these titles always consist of only two letters: a vowel followed by a consonant. (If a person's name ends with a vowel, the vowel is replaced with the suffix. If it ends in a consonant, the suffix is added as normal.) The mandatory dual nature of their titles makes identifying figures in the kingdom beyond gods, and royalty confusing. For this reason, title-suffixes fell out of actual practice after 800 CE, and stopped being used by non-royal nobility by time the island united c. 1172 CE. In modern times, Ralgon nobles and rulers have few suffixes to denote anything at all beyond their highest classes. Currently, the only suffixes in active use are as follows (listed in order of precedence):
Gods: 'on and 'os (No true equivalent; loosely translated as "god") Goddesses: 'as and 'na (see above)
Kings: 'an and 'ar (No true equivalent; loosely translated as "supreme leader") Queens: 'ai and 'ni (See above)
