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Whinns; Warrior's Country: Politics and Other Information
Topic Started: Dec 17 2013, 04:42 PM (183 Views)
Gefühl Greystone
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Whinns

A somewhat medium-sized island to the southeast of New Saddle, a ways into Eternity's Crossing and slightly southwest of Scoltland, Whinns is a nation that many would consider to be a barbaric nation by Equestria's standards. While plans are in the works to change that, the nation is currently less a 'nation' united and more of an amalgam of the territories of various Feudal Lords, with alliances being forged and broken as the Lords bicker over their land and various other sorts of issues. Needless to say, war is a very common occurrence in Whinns and is considered almost something of sport. Stallions and mares alike (though stallions more so) fight on the frontlines of battle, eager to prove themselves. Whinns do not fear death in battle, due to their beliefs (More on that later).

Society

Whinnish society is fairly equal as far as gender roles go, though some patriarchal tendencies exist. Typically, a Lord's House is under the eldest male in the family with the title passed down to the eldest son (though in cases of twins, the two share the title, if both are male). There are a few exceptions to this, though (again, more on that later). Most foals learn weapon skill starting at a fairly young age (colt and filly alike, though unicorn fillies often learn a type of self-defense magic and go into magic practice instead). Most villages and larger towns live in the territories of the Feudal Lords, and usually pay tribute to the Lord whose territory in which they live; this sustains the Lord, their family, and the Knights that live in their castle, who in turn patrol around the territory to protect villages from attacks from bandits, attacks from other warring Lords, and the various malicious creatures that would attack them.

Whinnish society doesn't make much of a deal about race or heritage; that matters very little to the vast majority of the country. What matters most in Whinns is your strength, which means that they're usually pretty open to refugees.

Culture

Whinnish culture is, contrary to what many outsiders would think of it, rather deep. There are poets and artists that live in Whinns, though they often notate the land's history through their works, as opposed to being aesthetic artists. Artisans make various goods such as breads or pottery, and a mixed barter system is typically practiced; money is circulated but it's only half of the system, and is usually used by the Lords and their families. Of the artisans, the metallurgists are often the most in-demand, due to the high demand for weapons and armor due to the oft-warring Lords, though they also make various tools of metal for farmers and other types of artisans; some Houses (such as House Greystone) have a skilled metallurgist family living in their castle for such purpose.

Religion

The Whinns, unlike the Zebra, have a rather simple religion, with two deities that they worship. The first is the 'Social/Societal' diety, called Sanctiadd Bywydtad in their tongue, or 'The Holy Allfather' in Ponish; he is the one they pray to for most peacetime-related occurrences, for family, for harvest, for birth and death of family members, for hope and for wisdom. His wife, Pwerus Rhyfelmam, or 'The Mighty Warmother', is the diety they pray to for fortune in battle, for strength and willpower, most general war-related occurrences, and for justice and the punishment of criminals. After great battles, duels against foes deemed worthy, and for cases where innocents were killed (which has happened), a Whinn will light a stick of incense near the bodies and utter a prayer to the Allfather that they find peace in the afterlife. Conversely, when one deemed corrupt, a criminal, or dishonorable is dead, they will instead drip their own blood, mixed with mud, on the corpse and often utter a prayer that the Warmother tramples their soul beneath her hooves. Both are worshipped together by the vast majority of Whinns, and they have temples strewn across the country; all the Lords have a small shrine to them in their castles.

Topography

Whinns itself is not very varied in terms of elevations and landscape; it has rolling hills in a lot of places and a lot of flat plains, though there are a few more mountainous areas. The land is quite fertile, which is good for crops, and the waters all around the island are good for fishing. There are a few lakes and rivers around the place, but they're not very common. The weather is uncontrolled and uncontrollable, though pegasi that are sensitive to it are capable of predicting what will happen soon; it's very much like the Everfree Forest. Some areas are very mineral and metal-rich, which the Lords owning that area use to their advantage.

Residency and Local Creatures

Whinns has a fairly diverse population, about 55/45 ration between stallions and mares, fairly equal mixture of all three pony species, and also has other species such as Griffons and Diamond Dogs living in it (some of which are refugees from other nations).

In the more heavily-wooded areas, creatures such as Manticores make their homes, though Hydra can't really sustain themselves very well in Whinns. They're not usually a problem to most of the residents, but sometimes the Feudal Lords' Knights are needed to deal with issues. Lycans lurk in the forests as well; there are two kinds in Whinns: 'Natural' Lycans and 'Infected' Lycans. The former are wolves mutated by a magical infection of their blood. They can create the latter by biting them, and that makes them behave much like a mindless beast, the magical influence too great to control. It is possible to remove the infection either via careful bleeding, special potions, or draining or sealing the magic from their blood, but it is a risky process that has a chance of killing the victim. Some less-savory individuals deliberately infected themselves to abuse the power (by using a different potion to keep themselves under control and aware), and those are often killed with silver weaponry.

The Houses

There are eight Houses, run by a Feudal Lord which own territory in Whinns; this list will list them all from those with the most territory to the least, with a description of the House Head and notable information about the House.

House Greystone: Symbolized by a rose and lead by Vito Greystone, this House was the most recent one started, with Vito as the first Feudal Lord of the House. Coeur and Gefühl are joint heirs to this House, which has the largest amount of territory due to Vito's strength in war and the fact that his territory is very metal/mineral rich and good for farming. It is quite centrally-located and is close to a decently-sized river. House Greystone's best asset is its metallurgists, as Vito, his family, and his Knights often have the best-quality weapons and armor available in Whinns.

House Skydancer: Lead by an older stallion named Gale Skydancer and currently lacking an heir, House Skydancer is very pegasus-heavy in its territory, with part of the castle in the clouds that Gale and his family were able to coalesce into staying in one area. Their symbol is the lightning bolt, and they and House Greystone are often allied.

House Stoneheft:Symbolized by a pick, in the mountains, and lead by Geos Stoneheft, a large earth pony, this House is the most war-mongering of the lot; Geos and Vito have fought more times than either can really count. Geos is one of the two biggest opponents to a unified Whinns under one ruler...

House Arcanus: ...And the other is Aesir Arcanus, of the scale-symbolized House Arcanus. Aesir's whole family is well-versed in magic of various forms; both he and his wife... and his seven foals... as well as the grand majority of his Knights, have magic skill for combat. Aesir may be one of the oldest Feudal Lords, but his physical weakness is offset by his tremendous magical power.

House Crescent: Artemisia Crescent is the only mare Feudal Lord, but she earned every bit of her territory through her sheer strength and cunning; she has two daughters and one son; her eldest daughter is next in line for the House. Her territory runs under a more matriarchal society and the vast majority of her Knights are mares. She has three daughters, two of which are archers like her with the third as a skilled healing mage. The crescent moon is her House's symbol. Her House is based on the northwestern coast of Whinns, and she does not take kindly to intruders. How so? When the Diamond Dog fleet was invading New Saddle, several ships were going to invade a part of her territory to use as a forward base for the assault on Equestria. Two ships sunken by water mages and one more lit ablaze by flaming arrows later, the would-be invaders wised up and left them alone.

House Justicar: Their symbol is a gavel, and their Lord is the youngest of the lot; Fleethoof Justicar has a comparatively small amount of territory, but it is very well-defended and fairly self-sufficient. Fleethoof also has an effective justice system in place in his territory that he would like to expand to all of Whinns.

House Alternus: This house is the second-most-recently established, by a griffon refugee who took on the alias of 'Alternus' shortly after arriving. Alternus' son took on the name as well, and he now rules, with his fledgling son again going to take on the name. This House is one of the two (Justicar being the other) that lives closely to the wooded area of Whinns. Alternus' symbol is the claw, representing the non-equine species that makes up the vast majority of the territory's residents.

House Ffyddlon: The only house that is not directly named after its Lord, Ffyddlon is run by an older unicorn by the name of Faithful Spirit. He and his territory are devout worshippers of the Whinnish deities, and they only have a force for self-defense; they are the smallest House because they don't actively seek more land. Their territory is one of farmers and artisans living simple, devout lives.

It is worth noting, though, that while the history of Whinns is fairly bloody, it hasn't been settled for that long compared to Equestria. Equestria was settled around a thousand years ago, at the least, while Whinns was first settled around 250 years ago.

Foreign Policy

There isn't a whole lot to say about Whinns in this department as of right now. As it's not unified, there's no one foreign stance. House Greystone sometimes indulges in foreign trade, and Vito's two sons are allies of Equestria, but for the most part, the country keeps to itself. That doesn't mean it won't fight back if attacked; as stated before, House Crescent did not like when their territory was invaded by a foreign force, but they do not actively seek war with other nations.
Edited by Gefühl Greystone, Dec 17 2013, 04:53 PM.
"Wha'sthe matter with ya? Yer borin' me to death here, dammit!"
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