Vascova

The Kingdom of Vascova or Vascova is a member nation of the Azerath Nations. Vascova is one of the Azerath Nations that was founded by a God-King, Parmethious the Lustful.

Vascova's history is rich with controversy, being known as the nation that started Elven slavery. Also, much of Vascova's massive wealth came at the expense of Vasovan citizens.

Vascova is split into three districts and is located south of Jiarengrad and north of the King's Forest. She is the second largest nation in the Azerath Nations and the wealthiest nation in the Azerath Nations. Vascova also has the second largest population density in the Azerath Nations.

The Tribal Era
The land that Vascova occupies today was once home to the Hudi and Mulluud tribes. These tribes were the biggest tribes in the Azerath region, occupying all the land that Vascova is on and the King's Forest. These tribes were also considered the leading "peaceful tribes", which were a group of tribes with a strong alliance to one another.

The Barbarian War was led by the Hudi and Mulluud tribes which recruited from all over the Azerath region and this put Parmethious in an awkward spot. As his brothers were training up and leading soldiers from tribes in their territories, showing their leadership and gaining trust of the people, Parmethious was pushed to the wayside as the Chiefs of the tribes took control. This sent a grim message to Parmethious who now realized that the Chiefs of the tribes were not going to give up their power easily and he may not have the support of the people anyway if he did secure power.

Parmethious decided to tackle this issue by leading raiding parties during the war and securing as much loot as possible. Parmethious knew that the citizens of the Hudi and Mulluud tribes were jewel miners with a strong taste for wealth. In draining the Barbarian Tribes dry of their jewels and money and funneling all that into the citizens pockets, Parmethious hoped to gain influence with powerful individuals who may accept Parmethious as their king in the future.

When the peaceful tribes won the Barbarian War, Parmethious had gained the influence he was hoping for. However, he was still struggling with getting the people to accept him as their leader. When Draemor the Brave established Vulharenjiard and Vulkenrad the Conqueror developed Jiarengrad, Parmethious was beginning to face hostilities from the two Chiefs. They began to fear Parmethious' intentions and actively tried to tarnish his reputation before he used it to take over the tribes.

Parmethious was facing the collapse of his plans to unify the region under his command. However, the slanderous propaganda being pushed by the tribal Chiefs gave Parmethious the idea to fight fire with fire. He enlisted the help of Draemor the Brave and Vulkenrad the Conqueror to begin pushing pro-monarchy and pro-unification propaganda into the tribes. For months the citizens of the Hudi and Mulluud tribes were bombarded with propaganda from the new established kingdoms, with the tribes being paid visits by the citizens of the new kingdoms.

After over a year of pushing, the propaganda had worked and Parmethious was as popular as ever. When one of the tribal Chiefs died of old age, Parmethious decided to take the opportunity to officially establish the Kingdom of Vascova. With this, Parmethious was given his title, Parmethious the Lustful.

The Great Slave Roundup
It was no secret to the citizens of Vascova that their king was radically anti-Elven. Since the first contact with the Morthanians, Parmethious the Lustful had hostilities toward them. It is unknown what brought on the king's blatant racism but it would eventually lead to the greatest decimation of a race in history.

Although Parmethious the Lustful hated the Elven race, he originally never intended to invade Morthania and only simply wanted to bar Morthanians from living in Vascova. This changed when Vascova's mining industry experienced a boom. Mining companies needed to hire more workers but there weren't enough applications to satisfy the numbers needed. So mining companies began using slave labor to fill the numbers. The kingdoms in the Azerath region already had a system of slave labor in place at the time but it was not forced. Most slaves at the time were citizens who gave a portion of their lives to slavery in exchange for not serving in prison, forgiving debts or serving someone through gratitude.

Although companies used slave labor, there still were not enough slaves to fill the numbers needed. This is sited as the moment Parmethious the Lustful decided to invade Morthania and enslave its inhabitants.

Parmethious the Lustful knew he couldn't invade Morthania alone. At the time, Morthania was the most advanced and powerful kingdom in the Mortal World. To stand a chance, Parmethious the Lustful needed the help from all of the kingdoms. So he began pushing anti-Elven propaganda throughout the Azerath region. Generally these propaganda messages were tailored to each kingdom's specific troubles, such as work production in Vulharenjiard being lowered because of lazy Elves and such. Also, with the kings being worshiped more as God-Kings by their citizens, an idea endorsed by the God-Kings was generally accepted by the public.

Public opinion throughout the Azerath region on Elves soon turned and a plan was made for the invasion of Morthania and the Great Slave Roundup began.

In total surprise from both the Morthanians and Azerath nations, the Great Slave Roundup was successful and thousands of Elven slaves were brought into the Azerath nations.

The Dynasty Treaty
During the late Predynasty Era, Vascova was the richest kingdom in the Azerath region. Due to this, Parmethious the Lustful was very hesitant to signing the Dynasty Treaty. Parmethious the Lustful was not hesitant due to the obvious benefits Jiarengrad would get from the treaty, he was hesitant due to the fact that the tax the treaty would put forward was based on the kingdom's GDP. Due to Vascova's GDP being the highest, they would pay the most taxes.

Although hesitant, Parmethious the Lustful did not want Vulharenjiard to collapse. Due to their financial situation, exports to the Vulharenjiard stagnated and this hurt Vascova's economy. However, if Parmethious the Lustful did not sign the treaty the only other solution would be for Vascova alone to give financial aid to Vulharenjiard. This was plausible due to Vascova's massive wealth but this was unsustainable since Vascova would be doing this aid at a loss. So Parmethious the Lustful signed the treaty.

Modern Era
Today, Vascova remains the richest nation in the Azerath Nations. This is due to Vascova's massive jewel mines that are still full of jewels to this day.

Although Vascova remains the richest nation, this was not always the case and much of Vascova's past was riddled with corruption following Parmethious the Lustful's death. During the late Third Dynasty Era, mass government spending and corruption led Vascova's king, King O'Harlem, to sell the Dynasty to Devinshire for 20,000 Gold Blocks in order to help get the nation's economy out of a depression.

Name
Vascova comes from the tribal word for emerald. Parmethious the Lustful decided to name his kingdom Vascova to reflect the kingdom's emerald mining business and many of the kingdom's landmarks are based off of emeralds, such as: Emerald Crown Palace, the king's crown is made of emeralds and the Vascovan banner is green to represent emeralds.

Government
The Kingdom of Vascova is ruled by an absolute monarchy, with the king being a direct descendant of Parmethious the Lustful.

Vascova has one of the most restrictive systems in the Azerath Nations for suffrage. Unlike most of the other Azerath Nations, Vascova only gives its citizens the right to vote on bills that are going up to the Dynasty and any political affairs within the monarchy are dealt with by government elected officials. This has caused animosity with some citizens and many Vascovan citizens have chosen to become citizens of neighboring kingdoms. Due to this, Vascova is primarily inhabited by foreigners who work for the mining companies.

Military
Vascova only has an army named the Royal Vascovan Army (RVA). This army is primarily equipped for defense and is the second smallest army in the Azerath Nations. The RVA is outnumbered by the mining companies guards who often serve as the kingdom's unofficial police force.

Service in the RVA is voluntary for male citizens over the age of 18. The army is split between enlisted and officers, with the enlisted being the workforce and the officers being leaders. Officers in the RVA are primarily wealthy citizens who are using their service to build their resume. Most enlisted members of the RVA are from families who were also enlisted. This is because enlisting in the army presents no benefits for enlisted personnel.

Foreign Relations
Vascova has a massive trading network with many outside nations. This has led to Vascova's massive economical wealth and has caused Vascova to have a major foothold in international trade.

Although Vascova is one of the most open nations in the Azerath Nations when it comes to foreign relations, the kingdom rarely engages in warfare today. This was not always the case throughout Vascova's history as the kingdom had a history of warding off invaders and decimating foreign nations that did not pay their dues. Specifically during the 3rd and 4th Dynasty Eras, Vascova became a hostile kingdom due to many foreign nations taking advantage of the kingdom's massive wealth. In order to combat being taken advantage of, Vascova built up its army to the largest it has ever been and implemented an invasion policy to any nation that could not pay its debts. This worked out well for Vascova and all debts from foreign nations began to get paid. However, this policy did not last long for the support of the army and its invasions began to become expensive and most of the debts foreign nations began paying off had to be funneled into the army and not the economy.

Near the middle of the 4th Dynasty Era, the Vascovan monarchy abolished the invasion policy and began to reduce the army. Today, Vascova handles debts through diplomacy.

Banner
Vascova's banner is green with a lime green cross, a lime green diagonal cross and a red sphere in the middle. The green background represents the grassy landscape while the lime green cross and diagonal cross represents the Emerald mining industry. The red sphere represents Parmethious the Lustful.

The banner was introduced shortly before the Great Slave Roundup in order for each kingdom to identify each other in battle.

Law Enforcement
Vascova's justice system is similar to the other nations of the Azerath Nations.

See Azerath Nations Law Enforcement

Ethnic Groups
Vascova is home to the second highest Human population density and second least diverse ethnic population behind Devinshire. This is due to Vascova being the leader of the Great Slave Roundup and being the forefront to racism against Elves. Vascova was the last nation in the Azerath Nations to abolish slavery and is criticized today for their treatment of Elves.

Although Superior Elves can become citizens of Vascova today, the systematic oppression against them is very high thus many Elves decide to live in other nations. Non-Superior Elves are not allowed citizenship within Vascova.

Language
The language spoken within Vascova is strictly Azrathian, as the language has its roots in the Vascovan region.

Before the Great Slave Roundup, other tribal and Elvan languages existed but following the Great Slave Roundup, all languages other than Azrathian were banned. The banishment of languages was implemented as a precaution to keep Elvan slaves from speaking foreign languages that they could use to plan escapes and mutinies. Since the abolition of slavery in Vascova, the banishment of other languages was lifted but no language has taken off in the kingdom and Azrathian remains the only spoken language.

Religion
The dominant religion in Vascova is God-King Worship, with a minority of Devin worshipers. Unlike Vulharenjiard, Jiarengrad and Devinshire, Vascova never had a law barring other religions from being practiced so the Devin religion is present in the kingdom.

Geography
Vascova inhabits the Vascovan Grasslands and part of the Morthanian Forest.

Climate
Vascova's climate is generally warm with a colder winter. Parts of Vascova's landscape reaches altitudes as high as Vulharenjiard, such as the mountain the Emerald Crown Palace sits atop, so these regions get more snow than the rest of Vascova.