Difference between revisions of "Cotiego"

Revision as of 23:37, 6 April 2006

Original creator is Divinegon2130. Current government type is a gerontocracy (council formed strictly of the elderly). Official religion is the worship of Kalyca (worship of Stacey is also common). Currency is the guilder. Predominant resident race is human, followed closely by wereraven and werewolf.

General Information

The area where the nation of Cotiego resides, north of the Shuman Mountains and just west of the Redwaters, is not one of the most hospitable locations. Nevertheless, several groups of werecreatures call this place home, as do some humans. Non-humans other than werecreatures are rare in this often icy area; elves and scaly creatures, for example, are practically nonexistent in Cotiego.

Government

The government of the nation as a whole is a council of ten of the most senior members of each of the three dominant races: human, wereraven, and werewolf. The members from each race are chosen based on their knowledge and experience, particularly of the lands outside Cotiego. Governments of individual cities and towns are generally tribal in nature.

Religion

For the most part, the people of Cotiego worship Kalyca, the goddess of the moon and stars. There are a couple of unique rites expressed strictly by Kalyca's following. A blue moon at night is seen as a sign of Kalyca's sadness, while any form of lunar eclipse is seen as a sign of Kalyca's disfavor. In both cases there are special rites (which are too complex to describe here) intended to cheer up or calm Kalyca. A solar eclipse is perceived as a harbinger of doom; more specifically, solar eclipses are believed to be Kalyca showing anger. The rationale behind this is a belief that Kalyca, if not worshipped sufficiently or properly, is willing to go so far as to block out the sun to demand worship. This belief doesn't have truth behind it, but it works rather well as discouragement against atheism.

In the north regions of Cotiego, however, the dominant religion is that of Stacey, the goddess of fluffiness. Rather than try to stop the worship of Stacey, the leading council has accepted this practice, though insisting it not be commonplace. And indeed it's not common. Wereravens do not worship Stacey at all, nor do most humans; it's mainly the werewolves that worship Stacey this far north. One of the rituals known to exist among this group is that a direct prayer to Stacey is done by a werewolf who has just gone through their first transformation; this prayer, followed by a test of survival ability, marks the beginning of adulthood. If a werewolf is sufficiently unruly before then, it is deemed acceptable to make them hold off on their prayer and thus delay their adulthood. Sometimes it goes so far that a werewolf is prevented from this prayer altogether. Such werewolves are banished. While on that note, werewolves see banishment as a punishment worse than death.

Due to the proximity to werecreatures, a couple of superstitions have come about among the humans of Cotiego. Seeing a raven near the site of a recent birth is a sign of good fortune, while seeing a wolf nearby is a sign of misfortune. Also, for all three races, the lunar phase under which someone was born very often is tied into their general attitude - most of this is actually coincidence, but there are some that believe that the moon dictates personality to some extent. Birth under the new moon often leads to a light-hearted prankster and performer. Those born under the crescent moon tend to be book-savvy and studious. Those that are impartial - often leaders, but sometimes those involved in keeping order - are usually born under a half moon. The gibbous moon is the moon phase many priests are born under, while the full moon is often known as the 'warrior moon' because many great warriors were born under a full moon.

Also, due to some past events, Cotiegans are, for the most part, absolutely FEARFUL of demons. The mere sight of one will make most Cotiegans run for their lives. Any of the ones that don't run will try to strike down any demons that come. Only the members of the leading council are calm enough to let a demon so much as talk to them.

A bizarre tradition among the werewolves in Cotiego has developed. The heroes among Cotiegan werewolves are sometimes given long silver knives with runes carved on them. These knives, called "klaives", are a sign of ferocity and bravery. In an attempt to keep these ideals flowing through a bloodline, a klaive will sometimes be passed down from generation to generation. To lose a klaive is an act of dishonor that can only be remedied by recovering the knife and punishing those who took it. Many a werewolf has died trying to recover their family's klaive. The reason these knives are made of silver is because of a long-standing belief among these werewolves that silver is Kalyca's favorite metal.

Laws

Cotiego's laws are like those of most nations, though punishments sometimes differ between the races. Two famous examples of this latter principle are the laws on stealing and the laws on animating the dead.

If a human steals and is caught, they are imprisoned. If a werewolf steals and is caught, one of their fingers is cut off before imprisonment. If a wereraven is caught stealing, a special branding iron is put to their hands before they are imprisoned.

If a human is caught animating the dead, they are imprisoned for life. If a werewolf is caught animating the dead, they are banished permanently from Cotiego. If a wereraven is caught animating the dead, they are executed by a squad of archers with silver arrows.

Special Racial Customs

Wereravens in Cotiego keep watch over human families, particularly their children. One will visit the sites of recent births in raven form and make regular appearances outside the residence of a prospective child over the course of about five years. Then they bring their findings about the child and the child's family to their tribe and consult with its elders. If the elders like the child, then in the next year, the wereraven that watched will try to find a time when the child is alone and land on their shoulder in raven form. They will then wait for any opportunity to bite the child's finger or arm, upon which they fly away. The bite will eventually turn the child into a wereraven. This is the more common method of wereraven infection by far, and Cotiegan human parents often feel they have been 'blessed' when they discover that their child was 'chosen' by the wereravens. Not all of the infected think this is so, however.

The only other way to convince a Cotiegan wereraven to 'convert' a human into one of their own kind is for the human in question to complete a great task for an entire wereraven tribe, or become renowned for their efforts in keeping Cotiegan residents safe. The person is then seen as a hero and given the 'honor' of becoming a wereraven. The human and the wereravens he helped participate in a ceremony. The ceremony's culmination involves a bite on the arm from an older wereraven in hybrid form, during which the human must trace the outline of the wereraven's beak with a knife. It is considered a phenomenal honor to bear this marking.

Cotiegan werewolves do not usually inflict their 'curse' upon others unless by accident. The vast majority of Cotiegan werewolves are natural-born, and they often don't know they are werewolves until they reach puberty, when they start to suffer nightmares about it. The first transformation usually occurs around the werewolf's seventeenth or eighteenth birthday. If the young werewolf is approaching the age of nineteen and the transformation still hasn't happened, the youngest werewolves in the community who have gone through the first transformation are sent to bully and pester the untransformed werewolf until the first transformation does happen.

Economy and Culture

The landscape of Cotiego is rather barren. Due mainly to the bitter temperatures, farming is nearly impossible in most areas. Instead, the Cotiegans have mostly relied on hunting and on domesticated animals for their needs. In the far southern reaches of Cotiego, however, small amounts of farming are possible in scattered areas. The claims that many of the farmers in the southern areas of Cotiego hire the help of mages to maintain their fields are not far from the truth.

A good number of houses in Cotiego are built of stones that were mined from the areas near the towns of Zumifu and Gefore, the areas with the best quarries in the nation. Thusly, the number of these houses is greatest in the southern areas of Cotiego, while there are fewer and fewer stone houses to the north, since transportation of the stone is difficult and costs a lot. The stones that make up the houses to the north are more often the product of a group of five or so earth mages working together (it usually takes the group of them a week or so to summon enough stones for a single house) than the work of the stone miners to the south.

Cotiego is most known for its prized artwork and writing. Many books and art pieces from Cotiego have some tie to the moon, for it dominates their culture.

The currency of Cotiego is the guilder, an oval coin (of what metal depends on the value) marked with a phase of the moon or an animal of some sort.

Cotiego is very isolated from the majority of nations, so trade is not possible most of the time; Evringshal is close enough to be trade-worthy, but Cotiegans have not made many attempts to trade with them. However, the Cotiegans do have a sort of postal system relying on a group of wereravens--usually teens and young adults--chosen by the council to fly around various locations in Igala to deliver/accept news.

Diplomatic Ties

Cotiego is diplomatically isolated from most nations, though they are known to some degree. Cotiego's attempted many times to establish true diplomatic ties, but due to the distance away, many nations have simply passed them up. Cotiego has fairly good ties with Evringshal diplomatically, however.

Cotiego has trouble with diplomatically is Inustan, due to a deep-seated hatred that stems from the beginnings of the nation. Cotiegans are also very suspicious of the Gre'par'thans.

History

Before the unification of Inustan began, there were a couple of werewolf tribes in the area that was to become Inustan. These werewolves were self-sufficient, like the inujin tribes around them. However, when Rastafa took over their regions in 589, the werewolves were not about to take his authority. Rather than put up with him, they exiled themselves, becoming wanderers for many years.

Finally, in the year 625, they came across an area in the northern reaches of Gaera that was home to many humans and another breed of lycanthrope known as the wereraven. Wanting their influence to spread, the werewolves set to taking over this area, and in 634, their efforts resulted in the unification of a single nation, which came to be called Cotiego.

The three races formed close ties with each other in the beginnings of their nation, relying on a council to decide their course. When the first debate about who should be in the council came up, the ultimate decision was to make the wisest and oldest members of each race the leaders. The system has not changed since.

The only major problem Cotiego has had during its history was during the years between 977 and 982, the years all Cotiegans know simply as the Tides of Darkness. During those years, a group of about sixty demons ravaged many of Cotiego's cities and took over the nation. They ran the nation like dictators, slaughtering many residents, until a group consisting mostly of werewolves, but also including some wereravens and a few brave human priests of Kalyca, managed to destroy all of the demons after setting a trap for them. The site of where this trap was set has since become the nation's capital, Alunze, its name a sort of tribute to the leader of the resistance, who fell during the final fight with the demons. The remains of all those who fought the demons have been buried beneath the city with their possessions in hopes that their souls will guard the city from ever being intruded by dark forces."

-- Divinegon2130