Jaarjiadia

The Kingdom of Jaarjiadia or Jaarjiadia is a desert kingdom that is a member of the Azerath Nations. Jaarjiadia is one of the later additions to the Azerath Nations after the Dynasty Treaty was formed. Jaarjiadia is the most unique nation in the Azerath Nations, for it is located at the end of the Horizon Road and the culture is completely different than the other Azerath Nations members.

Early history
Due to the lack of written history, much of Jaarjiadia's history is shrouded in mystery and much of Jaarjiadia's history is passed down through oral stories. Although some of Jaarjiadia's oral history is believed to be true by historians, a lot of history seems to be legends and myths.

According to legend, Jaarjiadia was founded by nomadic travelers, some sources say they were banished prisoners of the ancient Empire of Jiaadou, named Theo and Leon, who got stranded in the desert. They walked for days feasting on dead bushes and drinking from cacti until they hit the Elheimendel Lake. They decided to camp by the lake until they were ready to move on.

A couple of days later, as Theo was scrounging for food, he happened to spot natives who were traveling to the lake to get water. Theo ran back to Leon who was in the lake washing himself and told him to run and hide. Leon had trouble understanding Theo and shortly later they were discovered by the natives.

To Theo and Leon's surprise, the natives thought they were gods. The tribe the natives were from was dying and a prophesy told by the tribe shaman stated that the return of their two gods would occur at any moment and where they are found is where the tribe will move. Thus the tribe moved to the edge of the lake and Theo and Leon were worshiped as gods.

Over time, Theo and Leon helped the tribe grow as other migrating tribes and stranded people began to become citizens of the tribe. Theo and Leon soon got into a disagreement over a decision to close the tribe from outsiders or not. Theo wanted to continue the tribe's growth and turn the tribe into a nation while Leon wanted to keep the tribe the way it was. This disagreement led to a fight and Theo ended up killing Leon in an act of self defense (although the legend states this was probably a lie). After the death of Leon, Theo moved the tribe farther down the lake and established Theowaithrian.

Theo actively spent the rest of his life expanding and growing his nation. When Theo died, the number of citizens of Theowaithrian was around 1000.

When Theo died, control of the nation went to a council of shaman called the Coiathe. The Coiathe had all of the government power and one member of the Coiathe would be voted as the Anatuk Coiathe, who was considered the "head shaman". The Anatuk Coiathe however had very little power and the position was mostly created to interact with the people.

A temple was built where Theo and Leon first camped on the lake and the temple is also used to filtrate the lake's water.

Middle Period
In the era where Theowaithrian experienced isolation and the kingdom began to grow exponentially is referred to as the Middle Period by the Jaarjiadians.

Theowaithrian was completely isolated from the outside world thus a very unique culture was established. The Middle Period is when many of the buildings within Jaarjiadia today were built.

In the Middle Period, Theowaithrian experienced exponential population growth as peace and abundance of food led citizens to have plenty of children.

The Kingdom Period
Around the time of the Great Slave Roundup, human settlers from the Azerath region began to settle a small savanna near Theowaithrian. The village that grew out of this settlement was named Melyndor and its existence would change Theowaithrian forever. Melyndor was independent for a couple of years until they could not sustain their population without outside help. They requested an alliance with Baasvonclad which not only saw new Baasvonclad citizens begin to migrate into the desert but also saw Baasvoncladian influence grow in the area.

Although the country was closed off to the rest of the world, Theowaithrian still experienced the influence Baavonclad had on the area. A man named Gaiath Alwairathe was a merchant who often ventured outside of Theowaithrian's walls. He was openly a monarchist and wanted to dispose of Theowaithrian's government. Due to the average Theowaithrian's ignorance on monarch governments, they easily accepted Alwaurathe's rhetoric and soon a revolution was beginning. Alwairathe staged a coup to overthrow the Coiathe and succeeded with minimal casualties. It is well known that the Coiathe sensed the atmosphere of the people and decided to step down. Alwairathe crowned himself king, calling himself a Coiathe. In PD -042, Theowaithrian became a kingdom.

The Reformation Period
Coiathe Alwairathe was a strict reformist and spent the remainder of his life aligning Theowaithrian culture with Azerath culture. He abolished the teaching of the Jiaardian language, abolished the Peslian religion for God-King Worship and changed the name of the kingdom to Jaarjiadia. This is also the time when the Baastheoleon Desert officially got its name, roughly translating to "Land of Theo and Leon".

This culture shift was heavily resisted by the conservative faction, however, since they held no power, they could not stop it. The Reformation Period lasted until PD -023.

The Dark Period
The Dark Period lasted a short time after the collapse of the Jaarjiadian economy. After the death of Coiathe Alwairathe, his son, Alman Alwairathe took over the throne. Shortly after ascending the throne, Jaarjiadian miners struck a massive gold deposit. This turned Jaarjiadia into one of the richest nations in the Mortal World and their population skyrocketed. To hinder the influx of foreign gold miners and to keep his citizens in the lower class, Coiathe Alman heavily taxed the gold miners. With this new wealth, Coiathe Alman constructed Alman Palace (at this time, Alman Palace only consisted of the great hall). This severely angered Jaarjiadian civilians, whom were living in poverty while the Coiathe was spending tax money on his palace.

Coiathe Alman's actions also alienated his monarchist allies, one being Meil Abranam. In 1D 001, Meil Abranam and an army of monarchist revolutionaries disposed of Coiathe Alman and Abranam ascended the throne. A majority of citizens were against the monarchy, so in order to win the people over, Abranam reversed almost all the reformations of the late Coiathe Alwairathe. For the first time in nearly 100 years, Jaarjiadia was allowed to practice its culture. Abranam also severely decreased taxes and used the reserve money in the national vault to rebuild the crumbling ancient homes of Jaarjiadia.

Abranam decided to keep Jaarjiadia as the kingdom's official name to ease confusion.

The Modern Period and joining the Azerath Nations
After Coiathe Abranam reversed Jaarjiadia's cultural reforms, the kingdom's economy improved. However, now that the Azerath Nations became a major superpower, Jaarjiadia was beginning to increase its trade with the union. Due to Jaarjiadia's distance and taxes, imports and exports were expensive and living within Jaarjiadia was expensive. In the hopes of eliminating the import and export tax and also to engage more in Azerath Nations politics to benefit Jaarjiadia, Coiathe Alaram decided to put in an application to join the Azerath Nations in 1D 205. After Devinshire joined the Azerath Nations and access to the Horizon Road became free, the Dynasty approved Jaarjiadia to become part of the Azerath Nations, a couple of centuries after the application was put in.

Name
The name Jaarjiadia is a mix of the name of the ancient empire the two founders of Theowaithrian came from, Jiaadou, and the Fraenish word for "king" Jiaren. The name Jaarjiadia was made the official name of the kingdom during the Reformation Era, to better align the kingdom's culture with the Azerath Nations. Despite having a Fraenish sounding name, it doesn't make any sense in Fraenish.

Government
Jaarjiadia is an absolute monarchy, with the Coiathe holding all of the executive, legislative and judicial power. The citizens have very little say in the government and have no voting power.

Jaarjiadia rarely puts forward bills in the monthly Dynasty meeting however, when they do, it's historically unknown to the people.

Military
The Jaarjiadian Ground Army (JGA) is the only military branch in the kingdom. The JGA is considered small, however, Jaarjiadian soldiers are known as some of the best trained soldiers in the Azerath Nations.

Due to Jaarjiadia's isolation, the JGA is rarely deployed and is primarily used for defense. The most notable conflict the JGA was involved in was the Blood River War, where the JGA posed a great threat toward the Presmotopian Army.

Service within the JGA is voluntary and volunteers are put through an intense screening process.

Foreign relations
Jaarjiadia is considered the second most isolated nation within the Azerath Nations behind Devinshire. For this, Jaarjiadia rarely meddles in other country's affairs and rarely engages in commerce with countries outside of the Azerath Nations.

Banner
Jaarjiadia's banner is white with a red cross and a orange sun with a yellow ring in the middle.

The white represent's the nation's color. Before becoming an Azerath Nation, the banner was yellow, however, it changed to white when they joined the Azerath Nations.

The red cross is the Cross of the Coiathe, which was once used to symbolize the old Coiathe council, although that cross was black. When Gaiath Alwairathe overthrew the council and became the Coiathe, he changed the cross to red.

The orange sun represents the monarchy and the yellow ring represents the monarch in power.

Ethnic groups
Jaarjiadia is primarily inhabited by Humans with very little population diversity. This is a result of Jaarjiadia's years of isolation and strict immigration policies. Jaarjidia's non-human population are primarily farmers.

Language
The primary language spoken within Jaarjiadia is Jiaardian. Jiaardian was developed in the ancient desert empire of Jiaadou and was the language spoken by Theo and Leon.

Religion
Jaarjiadians practice Peslian, an ancient polytheistic religion. The Peslian religion is ancient, being founded in the Jiaadou Empire and was once the dominant religion in the Baastheoleon Desert. After the Jiaadou Empire fell, the popularity of the Peslian religion also fell and Jaarjiadia became the last nation to practice the religion.

Approximately 76% of Jaarjiadians practice Peslian while the remaining 24% practice God-King Worship. The Peslian religion lost followers during the Reformation Period, however, in the Modern Period, Peslian worshipers are beginning to make a comeback.

Geography
Jaarjiadia is located within the Baastheoleon Desert, one of the most vast deserts in the Mortal World. During the time of Theo and Leon, Jaarjiadia was located no where near suitable farmland, with a small patch of grassland surrounding the lake, and citizens had to rely on a diet of meat and plants that grew in the desert.

When Jaarjiadia's population grew, a massive effort was taken to divert water from the Elheimendel Lake in order to create more grassland for farming. Over the centuries, Elheimendel Lake decreased in size exponentially, however, a large landmass of grassland was created. This grassland, named Haillamum (meaning farmland in Jaardian), has its own unique climate and due to this, most of Jaarjidia's farmed goods and water comes from Haillamum. The creation of Haillamum is considered one of the greatest man made achievements in the Mortal World and is considered the reason why Jaarjiadia still exists today.

Climate
Jaarjiadian citizens live in one of the most extreme climates in the Mortal World. Jaarjiadia experiences extremely hot days, cold nights and variable weather. Jaarjiadia is also experiences extreme dust storms that can last days, Jaarjiadians developed special clothing in order to live in this climate.