Aivintis
The Greater Republic of Aivintis | |
|---|---|
 Flag of Aivintis | |
Motto: Vitam Impendere Vero | |
Anthem: "Mane Honoratum" | |
 Aivintis, in Southeast Gondwana, beside East Cerdani (yellow) and Joralesia (purple) | |
| Capital and largest city | Greater Asluagh |
| Official languages | Staynish Ethalrian |
| Ethnic groups (2018) | 96% Human 0.8% Elf 0.9% Vulpine 0.8% Lupine 0.6% Dwarf 0.5 Aurian 0.4% other |
| Demonym(s) | Aivintian |
| Government | Federal Republic |
| August Byrne | |
| Legislature | Senate |
| Establishment | |
• Imprisonment of Eduard Stoker | 25 June 2023 |
| Population | |
• 2020 census |  86,540,371 |
| GDP (nominal) | 2023 estimate |
• Total | 3.378T |
• Per capita | 39k |
| Gini (2023) | 0.54 low |
| SDI (2023) | 0.865 very high |
| Currency | Crown (ℂ/CRN) |
| Time zone | UTC-5 |
| Date format | DD/MM/YYYY |
| Driving side | the left |
| Calling code | +49 |
| ISO 3166 code | AIV |
| Internet TLD | .aiv |
Aivintis (pronounced [āv-int-is], officially the Greater Republic of Aivintis, is a sovereign nation in southern Gondwana. Aivintis is situated on the coast of the Concord Ocean, bounded by the Spine mountain range to the west and the Nymphs of the Evening to the south; it covers an area of 599.833 square kilometres, with a population of 86,5 million within its five constituent governorates. It borders East Cerdani to the north, Korćetta and Strazsko to the northwest, and Joralesia to the southwest. The nation's capital and largest city is Greater Asluagh. Various Aivintian nations have inhabited the current territory of Aivintis since classical antiquity, with the Lerasian Empire. Following its collapse, Aivintia was regarded as a political and cultural region even before the unification of Aivintis in 1656. That year, King Martin Dale of Teronia began a war of conquest, before establishing the United Kingdom of Aivintis in 1660.
In 1801, the United Kingdom was dissolved when Daniel Dale won the First Aivintian Civil War and declared himself God. The Ascendancy of Aivintis lasted slightly over a decade, in which Daniel, renamed the Aeternus, initiated the Aeternist Inquisition, burning thousands of religious and historical texts in order to revise history according to his purported religious truth. In 1812, the Second Aivintian Civil War began, in the form of the Stuart Rebellion, wherein Royal Cartographer Theodore Stuart, the government official charged with overseeing exploratory expeditions and overseas settlement, overthrew the Aeternus and rewrote the old Aivintian constitution, establishing the Kingdom of Aivintis under his own dynasty. Theodore was assassinated in 1815, replaced by his adopted thirteen year old daughter, Sasha. The Order of Enlightenment, a religion which had grown to replace Aeternism, infiltrated her government, establishing the Free Enlightened Order of the Kingdom of Aivintis as the governing body of Aivintis, usurping power from the monarchy.
The Order of Enlightenment grew throughout the country exponentially, replacing all other religions and political interests with their own, shaping the future of the nation as they pleased, industrialising and expanding their power. Sasha reigned as their puppet Queen alongside their oligarch Magisters until 1908, when her death sparked the Third Aivintian Civil War. Thaddeus refused to follow in his mother’s footsteps, and defied the absolute power of the Order’s fanatic religious leaders. The less religious Order officials supported Thaddeus in his rise to power, unhappy with the direction of the Order, and his status as King allowed him to gain the support of most of the Aivintian counties and high officials. The remaining Order members supported Magister of Foreign Affairs Peter Florence in his attempted seizure of power. The Third Civil War ended with a Stuart victory, abolishing the central power structures of the Order of Enlightenment and establishing the Aivintian Empire in 1911.
The Aivintian Empire was an imperialist military power, surviving for the next hundred and two years. The democratic components of the United Kingdom and the Stuart Monarchy were brought back. Personal and political freedoms were valued in society, and fiercely protected by the Emperor. The government incorporated votes and even a democratic legislature, overseen by the Emperor. The Aivintian Empire was an extensive bureaucracy, and its legal system was unnecessarily complicated. However, it brought with it free education and healthcare. The Empire is responsible for most facets of modern Aivintian politics and society. In 2013, the Emperor was overthrown by his Chief Minister, George Whitcher, who also served as a Justice of the Aivintian High Court. Whitcher established the Kritarchy, which shifted power to the newly created Chief Justice office, and granted the judiciary absolute legislative power. Executive power wasn’t vested solely in them, however, and government departments were still created outside of the Judiciary. The Kritarchy was incredibly corrupt, however, which was its downfall. The Fourth Aivintian Civil War, a violent coup d’etat, dismantled the government from the inside, and the Republic was established.
The new Aivintis is a federation, divided into five major governorates, borders aligning with important geographical and political boundaries. The less economically developed inland region, coalesced into the northwestern governorate of the Weald. The southern region, nationalistic and historically prone to political upheaval, became New Marnacia, named after the historical Kingdom and then Duchy of Marnacia. The coastal region, home to the most industrialised and urbanised cities, was created as the Marble Coast. The former kingdom of Serdemia, culturally and economically distinct from the rest of Aivintis, was established as the Governorate of Serdemia. The capital city and its surrounding territories constitute the Capital Governorate, colloquially known as the Byrne Governorate. These governorates are semi-autonomous, retaining regional powers over certain internal affairs granted by the Constitution and national law. The federal government remains dominant, however, not undermined by regional autonomy, and has the final word on all matters of inter-governorate and foreign affairs. The Republic is built on the core principles of democracy and freedom, and thrives on a spirit of debate.
Aivintis has a large and fast-growing economy, following a system akin to laissez-faire liberalism and mercantilism in some aspects. The average income of an Aivintian citizen is low, with significant income inequality, but the average middle class income has been rising steadily in recent years, a rise supported by the government in federal legislation. Under the Order of Enlightenment in the early 19th century, the nation was quick to industrialise, contributing to its powerful economy. Aivintis maintains reasonable economic, scientific, and diplomatic influence, and is considered a military power. Its citizens are offered significant social benefits. Aivintis has been a member-state of the Union of Commonwealth Alliances since 2013, and is a founding member of both the International Forum and the Council of Gondwana, in the latter of which it serves as the Co-Chair of the Council and its auxiliary Gondwanan Community.
Etymology
The word Aivintis is derived from the name of the Aivintii tribe, one of the original tribal settlers of modern-day Aivintis. The word Aivintis was first used before the Lerasian Empire, referring to the land between the Children of the Spine mountains and the Nymphs of the Evening, on one of the first maps of the territory. According to archaeological evidence, the word Aivintii means “People of the Stars” or “Descendants of the Stars” in an ancient language known only to the Aivintii people. This is the only surviving phrase in this ancient language, which has since been lost. In the years of the Lerasian Empire, the lands of Aivintis and Serdemis became known collectively as Lerasia. This nomenclature remained even after the Empire fell, and the division between Aivintis and Serdemis, later Serdemia, was only returned during the Novoska Crusades, wherein the Children of the Spine mountains remained the mapped boundary.
Geography
The total area of Aivintis is 599.833 square kilometres, bordering the Kaskada nations of Cascadii and Straszka in the west, the Morstaybishlian colony of Joralesia in the south, and East Cerdani to the north. Aivintis is also bordered by the Concord Ocean to the east, ocean access which has defined Aivintian population centres and politics throughout history. In the south, along the Joralesian border, the Nymphs of the Evening mountains mark the cultural and political boundary of Aivintis. The largest mountain range, the Spine, is located to the west, mostly along the East Cerdan and Cascadian borders. The highest point is the mountain Father-of-Griffins, in the Spine to the west of Derrim. The lowest point in Aivintis is the Grandys River Valley, in New Marnacia. The flattest plain in Aivintis is Remington Field, a site of many ancient battles. Other notable topographical features include the Valley of Kings, where Teronian kings were buried. Although not considered a topographical feature, caves are often found in Aivintis around the main mountain ranges, especially near the northern Spine.
The climate of Aivintis is classified mainly as “cold continental” without a dry season and with a hot summer. Average winter temperatures in Aivintis range from 1 to 7 degrees celsius, and average summer temperatures range from 15 to 25 degrees celsius. The people of Aivintis have become accustomed to regular rain, with an average annual rainfall of 55 mm, and cloudy skies, which is the most common weather forecast in Aivintis. This has led to somewhat of a stereotype that all Aivintians are pale. Heavy storms are not entirely out of place, leading to established systems and procedures for dealing with flash floods and lightning-induced fires. In addition, tornadoes are often seen on average once every year. Due to this, the design of storm shelters commonly used for severe thunderstorms often accommodate tornado safety measures. Earthquakes and tsunamis are almost completely unheard of in Aivintis.
Rivers and beaches in Aivintis are the centre of Aivintian civilization. The first and second largest rivers, Nisava and Grandys, respectively, are the site of two major cities by the same names, each a cultural capital in its own right. Most Aivintian cities are ports, such as the capital, Asluagh, which is built around the West Asluagh Bay and East Asluagh Bay. The abundance of river and coastline settlements have made fishing a common practice. Although most major rivers are freshwater, brackish and saltwater rivers are not any less central to the fishing industry or Aivintian settlement. Other notable rivers in Aivintis include the Zmija River in southern Serdemia, which is known for its large snake population, the Morava River, which is the location of the small city of Borloza, an important historical site, and the Casten River, located adjacent to the city of Castenor, which features a prominent role in the city’s founding myth. Lakes are far less common, and mostly very small, with the largest being only 18 square kilometres. There are no swamps.
Forests are even more common in Aivintis than rivers, forming most of the wilderness even in the modern day. Chesterfield Forest is the largest forest in New Marnacia, which had been coveted by the mediaeval nations of New Marnacia for some time, finally being ceded to Westhafen during the Unification of Aivintis. It is the only Boreal Forest in Aivintis, and the southernmost forest in all five governorates. The trees of Chesterfield are mainly spruce and pine, but fir trees are plentiful as well, and other tree species appear in small numbers. The main wildlife in Chesterfield forest is birds - it is home to owls, kingfishers, woodpeckers and passerines, but also moose and small rodents. Logging operations in Chesterfield Forest began in the 15th century by Marnacia and Westhafen during their “cold war” of competition in the realms of shipbuilding and exploration, but was frequently disrupted by skirmishes and full blown battles in the forest. These disruptions, and the passing of the territory back and forth between the two kingdoms, managed to keep a large part of the forest alive long enough to become mostly protected by law.
The Weald is home to the largest forest in all of Aivintis. Frontierwood Forest, mostly undisturbed due to its location in the fringes of Aivintian civilization, has become the main source of lumber in Aivintis, and has been home to a large number of religious communities exiled from the civilised Aivintian world by the Aeternist Inquisition and the Order of Enlightenment in the 19th century. The Aldergrove is also located in the Weald, near its border with the governorate of Serdemia. It is the densest and least explored Aivintian forest, as well as the most prominent in mythology and folklore, due to its supposed sentience. Both forests are classified as temperate broadleaf forests, similarly including pine, maple, ash, fir, and birch trees. Oak is less common, but not as noteworthy. The undergrowth of these forests is vibrant as well, with many woody plants and berry bushes, which is the reason for the hunter-gatherers of the Aivintii to value them as much as they did.
King’s Game Forest is located in the Valley of Kings outside Teronia, and acted as the royal hunting grounds of the Dale royal family since the construction of the Teronian hunting lodge in 1562. Similar in biodiversity to the other temperate broadleaf forests in Aivintis, it notably provided the wood used in the construction of the Palace of Teronia and the royal flagships HES Victoria in 1600 and HES Aivintia in 1760. King’s Game Forest, as the name suggests, is home to a large array of diverse wildlife. As in other forests, there are wolves, foxes, bears, lynxes, fishers, martens, muskrats, raccoons, rats, and woodland birds, but King’s Game Forest has maintained an especially thriving population of hares, deer, turkeys, pheasants, and other game throughout most of recorded history. Poaching, which used to be a major problem in the forest, was practically eradicated during the reign of King Edward II Dale in the late 16th century, with the institution of the death penalty for any who poached in King’s Game Forest. Dogs were often used in hunting by the Teronian and later the Aivintian kings, but hunting in general mostly ended in the forest by the 20th century.
Outside of forests, and especially inland of larger cities such as Castenor, Waerham, and Warris, the geography of Aivintis is characterised by fields and grassland, with hilled regions dotted in between. The flattest region is Remington Field, northwest of Redmondburg, which quickly became the site of large battles in major wars fought over Redmondburg. As such, Remington Field holds cultural value to the Aivintians. The shores of Aivintis are often rocky rather than sandy, with very few beaches serving as tourist locales. The land is cold and often infertile, which only increases the value of the fertile ground around major rivers and in valleys. The Aivintians rely on subsistence farming and the keeping of livestock, mainly cows and sheep, to keep themselves fed. The natural resources of Aivintis include lumber, stone, silver, iron, and gold. The national plant of Aivintis is aconite, curious due to the Aivintian people’s strange natural resistance to its harmful properties. Aconite grows mostly around the capital, additionally making it a symbol of the Aivintian government. In mythology and folklore it is seen as a natural deterrent to the supernatural.
Due to the Order of Enlightenment’s heavy focus on industrialization and urbanisation during the industrial revolution, an attempt to modernise Aivintis and contribute to their dreams of its rise to global power, urban areas in Aivintis are much more concentrated and planned than in other countries. This has contributed to both a steady population growth, the creation of many jobs, but also a great disparity in areas of population density. As such, more of Aivintis is wilderness than not, especially inland, which the Order believed to be useless without ports, and much of the urban and suburban lands of Aivintis are located around major historical cities, all of them ports. The few exceptions to this rule were founded under the Aivintian Empire, most prominently the city of Thaddea. However, this focus on industrialization and urbanisation has also contributed to deforestation and factory development around these population centres, disturbing much of the natural world.
Society
Industry in Aivintis is the centre of its economy, and professions relating to it are the most common, and factory jobs are the most widespread in Aivintis, especially so in larger cities such as Asluagh and Marnacia. Although they do not pay well, they are the easiest jobs to obtain, and often employ poorer individuals who cannot get any other job. Management positions in factories are less common and pay more, but are still not very prestigious. MIning and quarry work employ more people at and around the major mountain ranges of Aivintis, providing stone, metals, and occasionally jewels to Aivintian companies for use or export. In the major forests of Aivintis, lumber yards are common, although less so than in the 18th century, especially in the vicinity of Wolfgard and Thaddea, which are more isolated towns with less industrialization. In big cities, such as Asluagh, sales and advertisement employ a large number of the middle class, with less focus on service industries, such as retail. Large companies, and even monopolies, are not uncommon in Aivintis, often controlling smaller companies that focus on specific sectors of the economy. With these as the prevalent professions, there is a highly industrious mindset that is highly valued by Aivintian society, and the most productive members of society are considered the most Aivintian.
LGBTQIA+ identities have been recorded in Aivintian history since the beginning of recorded history, and all sexual identities have been welcomed in Aivintis, regardless of who rules it. Even before certain orientations were defined, such as asexuality or pansexuality, they have been accepted, and there are many recorded cases of individuals seeking to define or discover their identities in this regard. Moreover, historians believe that certain main historical figures, such as Emperor Lerasi and King Martin Dale, may bisexual or gay based on certain archaeological evidence, and the Journals of Sasha Stuart, one of the main primary sources for politics in the Enlightenment era, suggests several key government officials were openly gay, including Theodore Stuart, her father. Even in the modern day, the expression of sexual and gender identity is an important aspect of society, and plays a major role in one’s Aivintian identity.
Family values became prominent in society around the Industrial Age, when an increase in population was necessary to grow the military and economy. Adoption was encouraged in families that couldn’t have children, so that they could be raised with the values of work and nationalism, whereas families that could have children were encouraged to have many. This initiative led to a slight increase in population, but was ultimately abandoned in the early 20th century. All members of the family are expected to join the workforce, and always have been, in order to contribute to the economic prosperity of the nation. This is often enforced by propaganda, especially in times when the economy is struggling.
The freedoms of speech and the press, formerly denied or heavily regulated by past regimes, is one of the founding principles of the Republic of Aivintis. The history of these freedoms is a long and difficult path to securing them, often with setbacks and resets imposed by oppressive regimes. The freedoms of assembly and petition are less controversial, and often allowed, but ignored, by the oppressive regimes of the past. Freedom of religion is the most historically debated. Faith plays a central role in societal identity, and as such the Aeternists of the early 19th century and the Order of Enlightenment that follow attempted to control Aivintis by forcing religious “truths” onto their citizens. The Aeternus declared himself a god-king, and his reign led to book burnings and revisionist history in order to support such a claim. The fierce Aeternist Inquisition was responsible for many deaths and even torture, forcing those who would not convert to flee or face death. The Order of Enlightenment was not so overt, but still denied freedom of religion, preferring to syncretize religions in Aivintis under the Order’s religious scripture, which the nature of the Order’s beliefs allowed for. Although more subtle, this was still a violation of religious freedoms, and when Thaddeus Stuart overthrew the Order of Enlightenment, religious freedom was never violated again, even under the dictators of the Chief Ministry and Supreme Court from 2013-2023. The Aivintian identity is defined by struggle for religious freedoms, even more so than the others.
Crime in Aivintis is fairly common, but is mainly found in cities with a higher lower class population, especially in Derrim and Asluagh. Petty crime is most often dealt with, and high profile cases of serial killing and similar, more serious crimes are considered out of the ordinary. Despite this, organised crime surfaced in Aivintis in the 20th century, and the Aivintian Mafia still operates in port cities and Derrim in the modern day. Crime is heavily linked to wealth disparity, and as such most find themselves unable to afford lawyers, which in Aivintis mostly find work in major companies or defending major clients, such as Mafia bosses. As a result, there are many prisons in Aivintis, and sentences are often harsh. With the revolution and the formation of the Republic, compassion for the incarcerated has become popular. Volunteer lawyers for those who cannot afford to pay are becoming more common, and legislation to improve conditions in prison and create fairer trials are among the highest priorities of the Grand Senate. Notably, the death penalty was eliminated in 2021, two years before the formation of the Republic, as a result of the efforts of August Byrne and his allies in the Supreme Court.
Healthcare
The Aivintian healthcare system, although present in a highly capitalist society, is universal and free, organised and managed by the Ministry of Health and Welfare. The right to healthcare protections is defined as a constitutional right, and public health is founded on principles of equity and solidarity.
Within the bounds of certain laws, the Ministry of Health and Welfare determines all healthcare policy and adopts standards for the work of the healthcare service. Additionally, the Ministry supervises health inspection, food codes, and sanitation, which it maintains through various committees and departments.
The most organised of these departments is the Infectious Disease Prevention Corps (IDPC), which is responsible for Aivintian responses to epidemics and pandemics. It coordinates a dense network of municipal and governorate centres. The IDPC oversees vaccine research, as well, and the distribution of vaccines to the general public lies under their jurisdiction.
Although Aivintis has one of the oldest universal healthcare systems of any capitalist country, there has been significant opposition, with some political parties advocating for wholly private health insurance and practices. While criticised in almost every election, matters of public health don’t change significantly as a result of government policy.
Education
Education has been valued in Aivintis even before public education was invented, and even so Aivintis was one of the first nations of the world to adopt public school systems. Although education has grown more widespread, and in the modern day the vast majority of Aivintian citizens have completed their education, a lot of private schools, remnants of a more elitist age, remain in business. In order to make these prestigious educations available for poorer, but bright, students, the Aivintian government has historically funded scholarships and more accessible universities, with some of the main educational institutions in Aivintis being public.
Despite the fight against elitism in higher education, access to lower education is widespread and free. Every child in Aivintis has the option to attend school, but the poorer families often choose instead to prepare their child to enter the workplace, and allow their children to learn only the minimum requirements. There is a competitive culture surrounding higher education that arose from the elitism of the past, which only serves to strengthen the pursuit of knowledge. Those who pursue academic fields are some of the most respected members of Aivintian society, and have been since the 19th century, when accessibility to such education became readily available for upper and middle classes.
The most prestigious universities of Aivintis include Lerasi College, the University of Castenor, and Grand Asluagh University. Lerasi College is a private organisation run by the Danesti Foundation, located below the Great Library of Lerasi, but both the University of Castenor and Grand Asluagh University are public institutions. The most common degrees in Aivintian colleges include political science, world literature, and economics, although foreign languages are often pursued by students for academic and social purposes.
Politics have affected education since the government first implemented public education in 1860, as the ruling party often alters curriculums to fit within their political goals. Education was used as a tool by the Order of Enlightenment, for example, to paint its regime in a more positive light and emphasise its values of religious assimilation and industrial progress, whereas the Aivintian Kritarchy altered history textbooks to give themselves more legitimacy. Emphasis on humanities over sciences has always been a major goal of the Aivintian government, as a demonstration of cultural values, leading to political movements advocating for a more STEM-oriented curriculum in public schools.
Diet
The Aivintian diet in the lower four governorates and the capitol is mainly based around meat. Factory farms have replaced traditional livestock rearing, mainly consisting of sheep and goat, although cows and pigs do show up as minorities. Beef and pork is more rare in these areas, and thus more expensive locally. Dairy is still common however, imported from the Serdemic governorate and even outside Aivintis, but goat cheese and milk has grown almost to rival those from cows. Goat meat isn’t very popular with the middle and upper class, who have more choice in their diet, and is usually passed up. Serdemia, however, is in the inverse. There’s no goats at all, and very few sheep, but cows are more common. As a result, steaks are less expensive and there’s almost no goat products. However, meat is often served in small quantities, with more fruits and vegetables taking up the typical Serdemic diet. The remaining meat is exported, mainly to other parts of Aivintis.
Chickens are almost never seen in Aivintis. They are only kept in small family farms or households, and thus eggs are among the most imported food items. Turkey meat is even rarer, always imported, which makes it a delicacy, featured only in large holiday dinners and lavish events. Fishing is a major industry in Aivintis, making seafood important components of the economy. Despite this, fishing is only done for economic reasons, not dietary ones. Seafood is widely disliked by most Aivintians, in fact, which has prompted a long-running stereotype that is joked about in the international community. Fish are one of the main exports of Aivintis, instead. Overfishing has become a major issue, but most Aivintians disagree, and the majority of the government would rather support the corporate interests in such an affair, in order to pick more important battles in other sectors of government policy.
Agriculture is not as prominent as the keeping of livestock, mainly due to the unfit climate and geography of the majority of the nation, but thrives in the fertile parts of Serdemia, which mainly centre around the many rivers of the governorate. The Marble Coast, the Weald, and New Marnacia have some subsistence farms to supplement imported fruits and vegetables, but these only really serve to supply rural Aivintians with jobs, and mainly just grow potatoes. The largest farming community in these three governorates is Aberstead, a historical farmstead in former Teronia, currently located in the Marble Coast. Serdemia, on the contrary, is much more agriculturally inclined. It mainly grows grains - chiefly wheat, barley, and oats. It is completely self-sufficient in the food sector of the economy, additionally growing vegetables and some fruits in order to keep the populace healthy. Vineyards, too, can be found in areas of Serdemia, almost all of which are owned by international corporations, especially the Pledonia-based company Druekollektivet, through its subsidiary Haha Grapes.
Demographics
The Aivintoserdemic native species make up a total of 57% of the population, including 30 million Humans and 27 million Ailurines. The majority of these species belong to the native Aivintian or Serdemic culture, and can trace their lineage back at least six generations. Many, however, can trace their lineage back to some of the original founders of the Aivintian civilization, or at least the first waves of immigrants before even the independent kingdoms. Such migrations built the core population of Aivintis, which created the foundations of Aivintian society. These bispecies foundations contributed to the Aivintian societal acceptance of other species and ethnicities. This protected it from the rampant racism that could have otherwise seized the nation as it did others.
Elves would have been a small minority if it weren’t for the conquest of Banteay. The economic exchange between Banteay and Aivintis led to a massive population exchange, and elves became one of the largest minority species in the country. The elven population totals 12 million, although people of Banteayan descent are 11% of the population. Unlike Aivintian natives, which are considered any individual with over three generations of citizenship, regardless of species, all Banto-Aivintians are either elves or half-elves, of which there are 7 million, and most migrated for job opportunities or higher education. Most Aivintians treat Banteayans as equals, especially following its independence, but some, mainly those supporting the Imperialist party, treat them as inferior.
Aurians and Lutrynes number four and five million in Aivintis, respectfully, although, contrary to the Elven and Half-Elven population, do not number so high because of a specific protectorate or colony, but rather because of normal population displacement and immigration combined with the localised evolutionary origin of these species. Tieflings, Orcs, and Vulpines are the next three most common species, being the only remaining ones with populations over a hundred thousand. The reason for this may be freedom from discrimination, but as that would apply to every other species, it is unlikely, and the reason for this is continually studied by academics. The two lowest species populations in Aivintis are Symphs and Tiefling-Orc hybrids. Like many other nations, there are zero Symphs in Aivinits, but there are three Tiefling-Orc hybrids - two of which are siblings.
Regional species variation in Aivintis is a lot more unique than many other nations, with certain biologists even promoting the idea of Aivintian subspecies, although most agree the variations aren’t prominent or numerous enough for formal subspecies to be listed, even disregarding the resistance in the academic community to the very idea of subspecies. Felines in Aivintis tend to have longer fur in order to keep in the heat, either due to evolution or selective migration, and more often than not are colored light grey with some black spots, closely resembling their evolutionary cousin the Lynx. Almost all Aivintian Ursines have black fur, or a dark shade of brown, and Vulpines, although usually red, often have white fur. Uniquely, melanism in Vulpine fur is more common in Aivintis than elsewhere. Tieflings have mainly deep red skin, although there is a notable minority of light red skin, almost pink in coloration. Tiefling horns typically curve upwards and even inwards at times, depending on length and certain genetic factors, although ram horns are second in commonality, a statistic which owes itself to the immigrant population.
Aivintians of Ethalrian descent are the second largest majority in Aivintis and the largest in New Marnacia, not beholden to any specific species. Ethalrian settlers first landed in southern Aivintis in 1599, with the institution of protectorate status in the Kingdom of Westport by Ethalria, but these transfers of population were compounded by the establishment of the Colony of Westport, and the deposing of the Westportian king in 1663. Despite Westhafen’s conquest in 1918 by the Aivintian Empire, Ethalrian culture remained in Westhafen, and spread into the Duchy of Marnacia quickly. In the modern day, 10% of the population can directly trace their lineage to Ethalrian settlers, but Ethalrian culture has been partially adopted by native Aivintians.
Due to its proximity to the Morstaybishlian colony of Joralesia, around 4% of the Aivintian population is related to Joralesian immigrants, making it a significant minority. Similarly, Aivintis’s proximity to New Leganes, specifically Shoneria, has created a 3% Leganien minority. Mostly thanks to immigration following the collapse of the Straszka government, 2% of the population is of Straszka descent. 2% of the population is additionally classified as possessing “Other” racial heritage, including Cascadyjski, East Cerdan, and Tavari peoples.
Aivintis prides itself on its multiculturalism. Immigrants are accepted with open arms, and government programs are in place to regulate immigration and ease immigrants into citizenship. Dual citizenship programs and non-residency citizenship are core components of the citizenship process. New ideas are readily accepted by Aivintis, and other cultures are often honoured in certain holidays. Laws and executive orders are in place in order to protect the rights of immigrants, who are often employed in factories and other low paying jobs. As such, visas are commonly issued by the Ministry of Immigration. With a multicultural society comes multilingualism, which is promoted in education. Common foreign languages spoken in Aivintis include Ethalrian, Banteayan, Asendavian, Cukish, Impelantan, and Tavari. Over 75% of the population speaks more than one language, with over twenty percent speaking three or more.
Ever since the Industrial Age, under the leadership and strict guidance of the ruling Order of Enlightenment, urbanisation has been one of the main economic priorities of the government, and urban development has been highly encouraged in government policy and propaganda by every regime since. This has been highly successful, building the historic city-states of Aivintis into thriving centres of population and wealth. Industrialization is especially encouraged within these major cities, making them huge contributors to the Aivintian economy. Notably, most of these cities are found exclusively on the coast, chosen for their ability to facilitate maritime trade, but historically powerful for the same strategic positioning. Most of the population is found in urban areas.
Although the Aivintian economy is highly successful, poverty remains a problem, especially in cities like Derrim. Factory and service workers on the lowest level are the backbone of the socioeconomic stability of Aivintis, but are often underpaid for their work. Labour laws are not strict, with most past regimes favouring powerful corporations over the workers, and as such, even with a more sympathetic government, workers often remain poor and destitute. Derrim, one of the largest cities in Aivintis, is infamous for having the largest impoverished population in Aivintis, which has led to an increase in crime, especially involving the Aivintian Mafia.
According to the most recent demographic statistics, the life expectancy for an average Aivintian is 79. The general trend of the past decade is a decline, which was often cited in politics as the failings of the Kritarchal government. Mostly, the reasoning for this is attributed to the rise in crime, which directly correlates with a rise in deaths by murder and manslaughter. Murders are divided among premeditated murder, crimes of passion, and failed robberies, all of which grew in number since the Kritarchy took power. Even under the new Republic, these murders remain common, and are a contentious political issue. Other major causes of death include heart attacks, which have been the leading cause for decades, even despite the rise in murder, and natural causes. Disease is not uncommon, either, and cancer is another leading cause of death. Suicide is not as common as in other nations, but is still present in Aivintis.
Languages
The native Aivintian language fell out of style soon after Staynish became readily understandable by a majority of the population. As a language of trade and diplomacy, it quickly spread through the upper classes, becoming a language of academics, philosophy, and eventually politics. Aivintian declined, becoming only a language of the lower class and the residents of the farthest corners of Aivintis. By the Order of Enlightenment, Staynish supplanted Aivintian as the majority language of Aivintis across the social hierarchy. Aivintian continued to become more and more obscured, and in the modern day only a select few historians, linguists, and absolute fucking nerds. On the other hand, the Serdemic language survived through sheer perseverance, as the Serdemic people resisted the authoritarianism of Aivintian rule by protecting their culture through the years. In Serdemia, the vast majority of citizens fluently speak and write both Staynish and Serdemic, which was recognized in 1918 as a regional language and in 2015 as an official language.
Aivintian nouns are characterised by gender, including neuter, and declined by number, as in singular and plural forms, as well as case - nominative/accusative, dative/genitive and vocative. The articles, as well as most adjectives and pronouns, agree in gender, number and case with the noun they modify. In Aivintian, definite articles are enclitic - attached to the end of the noun instead of in front. Aivintian verbs are highly inflected for person, number, tense, mood, and voice. The usual word order in sentences is subject–verb–object, which is notably similar to Staynish, making it much easier to use. Aivintian has four verbal conjugations which are further split into ten conjugation patterns. Verbs can be put in five moods that are inflected for the person (indicative, conditional or optative, imperative, subjunctive, and presumptive) and four impersonal moods (infinitive, gerund, supine, and participle). Aivintian has seven vowels and twenty-two consonants, and does not have many borrowed words, due to the swift adoption of Staynish. Aivintian was heavily influenced by surrounding languages such as Serdemic and Strazska, as well as the Ancient Aivintian language, which has been lost to history.
Serdemic nouns are classified into three declensional types, denoted largely by their nominative case endings as "-a" type, "-i" and "-e" type. Into each of these declensional types may fall nouns of any of three genders, which are the same as in Aivintian. Each noun may be inflected to represent the noun's grammatical case, of which Serdemic has seven - nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, vocative, instrumental, and locative. Nouns are further inflected to represent the noun's number, singular or plural. Pronouns, when used, are inflected along the same case and number morphology as nouns. Serdemic is a pro-drop language, meaning that pronouns may be omitted from a sentence when their meaning is easily inferred from the text. In cases where pronouns may be dropped, they may also be used to add emphasis. Adjectives in the Serdemic language may be placed before or after the noun they modify, but must agree in number, gender and case with the modified noun. Verbs are conjugated in four past forms - perfect, aorist, imperfect, and pluperfect - of which the last two have a very limited use, considered archaic by most speakers, one future tense, and one present tense. These are the tenses of the indicative mood. Apart from the indicative mood, there is also the imperative mood. The conditional mood has two more tenses - the first conditional and the second conditional. Serdemic has both active and passive voice. As for the non-finite verb forms, Serdemic has one infinitive, two adjectival participles, and two adverbial participles.
Both the Aivintian and Serdemic language were originally written in the Aivinto-Serdemic alphabet, which has since been mostly lost to history as a result of the Aeternist Inquisition as well as expected historical factors, but records indicate that the Staynish alphabet replaced this as soon as it was introduced to Aivintis, as it was much easier to understand and write. It is suspected that this writing system evolved from a pictorial script and served as a combined alphabetic and logographic text making use of possibly over two hundred complex symbols. Few samples survive to the modern day. The prevalence and ease of the Staynish alphabet have made it so that foreign languages are most often represented in that script rather than their native one.
Due to the Ethalrian protectorate and eventually colony in Westhafen, the Ethalrian language steadily grew in the region starting in the 17th century. By the early 19th, almost the entire population spoke Ethalrian, and both Staynish and Aivintian had fallen out of style. Even the southern parts of the newly unified Aivintis became a centre of cultural exchange, bringing Ethalrian to the United Kingdom. In the modern day, most residents of New Marnacia speak Ethalrian as a second or first language, rather than Serdemic, which is more popular in the capital and Serdemia. In other parts of Aivintis, Ethalrian is spoken by very few.
The Banteayan minority in Aivintis imported a large population of Banteayan and often Impelantan speaking citizens. Due to the Banteayan education system instituted by the Aivintian government and assimilation efforts for Banteayan immigrants in Aivintis, these individuals also speak Staynish. Notably, immigrants of other nationalities, especially of Peragien origin, have also brought Impelantan to Aivintis. Outside of these immigrants, there are a number of people who study Impelantan or Banteayan for practical purposes as well as for hobbies.
Other languages are in vast minorities, and mainly confined to immigrants, although many Aivintians often learn foreign languages as hobbies in order to better understand a culture, or in order to alleviate boredom. In the latter case, online programs and courses are used, rather than traditional education. The top three languages apart from those above are Asendavian, Cukish, and Tavari, due to religion, proximity to New Leganes, and close diplomatic relationships, respectively. Additionally, there are specific diplomatic schools, which specialise in teaching tact and negotiation, but also focus on important diplomatic languages, including languages spoken by UCA nations.
The multiculturalism of Aivintis and the linguistic divisions even within the country have cultivated a society that respects and values multilingualism. Almost the entire population speaks two or even three languages, and there are many counts of Aivintian citizens who speak more than five languages. This has encouraged travel, cultural education, and widespread communication and understanding, within the Aivintian people abroad. Linguistics has also become a major academic field of study for Aivintians.
Culture
The culture of Aivintis has been shaped by its varied historical regimes and internal division. It is considered a land of thinkers and writers, due to the major role they played in the development of the nation’s culture and society. These factors have also led to cultural division - internal variation between governorates.
In New Marnacia, Ethalrian customs and traditions have blended in with Aivintian ones, creating a new culture. In the Weald, remnants of Aivintian tribal culture have led to less diluted traditions, and in the capital and along the Marble Coast, Aivintian culture is influenced by foreign exchange and globalism.
Throughout Aivintian history, various symbols have represented Aivintis. Since the Order of Enlightenment, flags have been black and white to represent the philosophical tradition of morality and choice which the Order encouraged in society. The square and compass, which also originated under the Order, represents guidance and power as a symbol of the Aivintian government.
The national animal, the wolf, represents loyalty and superiority, which served as a symbol of the monarchy under the Dale and Stuart dynasties. Although it was removed from the flag of the Aivintian Empire, it remained the national animal into the modern day. The national plant, aconite, represents the danger of attacking the Aivintian people and their values, serving as a symbol of revolution during the Fourth Civil War.
The national anthem of Aivintis, Vigilance and Honour, has no lyrics, and is based on a tune composed by an Aivintian soldier for a contest in 2014. Prior to this contest, there was no single song representing Aivintian identity, but rather multiple pieces from the 17th and 18th centuries in the height of classical music.
New Marnacia has a rocky history with Aivintian identity, as has Serdemia. Following the war of Aivintian unification, the kingdom of Westhafen remained under Ethalrian control, evolving a different culture and identity which led to it being considered Ethalrian rather than Aivintian. Marnacia itself was the breeding ground for the Florentine Rebellion and the Third Civil War, which has led to a reputation of untrustworthiness and anti-Aivintian sentiments, although these have mostly no merit.
Novoska and Serdemia, on the other hand, weren’t even considered Aivintian kingdoms before unification. Although Westhafen received foreign influence, the historical Serdemic territory was considered entirely foreign. Its only connection to the Aivintian identity was its part as a Lerasian province before the middle ages. Its geographic separation didn’t help, and maintained the cultural divide to the modern day.
While there are stereotypes and rivalries within the country, there are also some without. Abroad, Aivintians are stereotyped as extremely decadent and shallow, partially as a result of the late 19th and early 20th century, when only rich Aivintian nobles would visit other countries, and partially as a result of a strong middle class consumer culture within Aivintis that took off in the late 20th century.
Religious holidays in Aivintis aren’t very common due to its history of religious strife and modern areligious governmental stance. That said, major religious holidays such as Ademarmas, the Equinox Festivals, and Saint Martin’s Day, are enshrined in law solely because of their historical implications.
Ademarmas is celebrated to appease the growing Ademarist population in Aivintis. Unlike in many countries, Aivintis only gives the week of 25 December off of work and school for this holiday, in order to maintain the economy. As a result, the New Year is often not celebrated. The ancient figure of Grandfather Frost has been declining in popularity, however, as the winter holiday season adopts secular meaning.
The Equinox Festivals, specifically hosted on 21 March and 22 September so as to maintain consistency across the calendar, are an old Weald tradition, coming from their practice of lighting bonfires to ward off demons and giving small, handmade gifts for good luck.
Saint Martin’s Day is celebrated on 11 November, his birthday, and is mainly about celebrating Aivintian history and Martin’s ideals of unity and freedom. In addition to celebrating the famous king, 4 June is Unification Day, celebrating the end of the War of Aivintian Unification with the signing of the Treaty of Norwich and Adelslin. 12 February, similarly, is Lerasi Day, corresponding roughly to the date Lerasi is said to have established his ancient Empire.
Three new holidays were instituted by the Republic upon foundation. 25 June, the founding of the Republic, was enshrined as Republic Day. 1 May was made Labour Day, to celebrate workers and their rights. Finally, 20 November is Children’s Day, an international holiday adopted as a gesture directed to the International Forum.
Wedding customs are rather lacking in Aivintian culture. Often, they are small ceremonies including only loved ones, without much elaborate or lavish decoration. Music and food is traditionally included, as well as formal wear. In the past, royal weddings included the royal court and their immediate families, but rarely foreign dignitaries or any minor nobles. Weddings are private affairs.
Marriage itself is viewed as a sacred, binding institution supported by the government, and is not taken lightly. Often, partners wait years to marry. Marriage doesn’t offer much legal or monetary benefits - inheritance and property laws account for committed romantic relationships, and taxes are not lessened by marriage. As such, marriage is an entirely social affair, and designed as a vow of commitment and love rather than of legal binding.
Funerals in Aivintis are much more elaborate than weddings. Funerals in Aivintian culture are an opportunity to celebrate the life of the departed. They are often large gatherings of individuals sharing stories of the deceased’s life and honouring their memory. In such gatherings, there are often more religious proceedings than in weddings, and it is customary to serve the deceased’s favourite meal for their loved ones to enjoy.
Although admittedly sombre, funerals are more about love and memory than about grief or mourning, the latter of which is private. Cemeteries are typically very large, with mausoleums for the rich and long rows of gravestones for the poor.
Architecture
In Aivintis, architecture is functional and industrial, and not often artistic. In Aivintian suburbs and small towns, houses are typically uniform in design with slight variation in wallpaper and furnishing. Urban apartment buildings are typically cheap and unadorned.
Modernist styles are soundly rejected by Aivintians in most situations, but in the commercial districts of larger cities, concrete and glass are the most common building materials. For old noble estates and modern upper class houses, Georgian architecture is the preferred style.
Georgian architecture is characterised by its proportion and balance; simple mathematical ratios are used to determine the height of a window in relation to its width or the shape of a room as a double cube. Regularity, as with uniformly cut stonework, was strongly approved, imbuing symmetry and adherence to classical rules. External decoration is restrained, with extensive ornamentation of the interior.
Mainly due to Ethalrian influence, Gothic architecture is preferred in New Marnacian historical buildings such as churches, castles, and noble estates. In the Weald, wooden cabins and lodges are not uncommon features of the rural settlements. Decoration is typically minimal in this governorate.
Serdemia is home to the most well preserved mediaeval fortifications in the country, visible in older buildings, heritage sites, and landmarks. Castles are a common feature, especially near population centres and historically contested territories.
Philosophy
Aivintian philosophy is intrinsically linked to its people’s historical attitudes towards authority and hope. Resistance in the face of authoritarianism and its frequent success in the historical cycle of oppression and freedom has inspired a philosophy of taking action to improve one’s own life and fighting for their beliefs.
However, the existence of this very cycle has fueled a philosophy based on the idea of balance - good and bad deeds and acts balancing out, cycling through periods of prosperity and hardship. This cyclical belief is much more prevalent than pure nihilism, but elements of nihilistic philosophy are present.
Academically, Aivintis has a very essayist culture, with a strong spirit of debate and discussion that has fueled philosophical discourse throughout the years. Written arguments, which were often collected into anthology books, have provided a record of Aivintian thought throughout the years. It also displays a rooted rationalism that encourages new ways of thinking.
Literature
Aivintian literature is a pioneer in dark fantasy and horror. Authors such as Howard Augustus Smith, Percy Wheeler, and Tobias Hedley Varmo contributed to this rise beginning in the 19th century, following the Stuart Rebellion, which ended the Dale Dynasty of Kings.
Smith is often attributed by scholars as the father of modern anthology horror, with his ‘’Tales of Another Aivintis’’ describing an alternate world where unfathomable monsters - dubbed Nightmares - terrorised the nation of Aivintis.
Wheeler, on the other hand, grounded his dark fantasy stories in mortal experiences. ‘’The Count of Gyldenheim’’ was his most successful work, set in a mythical island county off the coast of Aivintis, where the Count turned to dark gods to win a civil war.
Varmo finishes the trinity by merging the two ideas with his sole work ‘’The Vampire’’, describing a human Prince who gradually transforms into a Zzor Vampire of legend, succumbing to his dark desires to feed, and becoming a monster.
The most prevalent theme in Aivintian literature, regardless of genre, is tragedy. It is typical of Aivintian literature for beloved characters to die at the end of the story, a theme in line with its poetry, which covers topics of illness, death, and longing and is typically in memorial to lost loved ones.
Serdemia is an example of this, although its literature remains a subversion of darker stories. Romance and war stories, especially longform epics, are the leading genres, often with tragic twists and tones.
Art
Aivintian art typically follows the romantic style, emphasising emotion and individualism. Idealisation of nature as an art movement has historically been a part of this style, but is often excluded, creating a subgenre of romanticism. Feelings of fear and awe are highlighted in this style
The symbolist movement is another prominent theme used by Aivintian artists, which was focused on the use of allegory to present absolute truth. For this purpose, symbols and figures from mythology and various religions are utilised. Mythological scenes such as Lerasi losing his spear feature prominently in Aivintian art.
More than anything, Aivintian art changes very slowly, with older styles appreciated much more than newer ones. Modernism is widely rejected by Aivintian society, and artistic innovation is frowned upon by many professionals.
Some of the main pieces of Aivintian art include The Course of Empire, The Voyage of Life, and Wanderer above the Sea of Fog, which have become emblematic of Aivintian culture. The Course of Empire, in parts, displayed the development of a beautiful scene of nature transformed into a thriving empire, which then falls, and is reclaimed by nature. The Voyage of Life is also a series of multiple paintings, itself depicting a man going through life under the watch of a guardian angel. Wanderer above the Sea of Fog is more simplistic, and self-described, but has been praised for its representation of loneliness.
Ancient Aivintian peoples, especially in the Weald Governorate and the Governorate of Serdemia, painted murals, mosaics, and frescos as common forms of expression and recorded history. In Serdemia, specifically, painted pottery was a major form of artistic expression. The Ethalrian influence in New Marnacia, however, has favoured realism. Comic books are a growing industry, especially in the northern regions, as visual narrative becomes more respected in literary canon.
Entertainment and Music
Aivintian entertainment is based primarily in radio and television. Sports are generally uncommon, with the only one holding any national standing being football. Audiences for this, however, are never very large and there’s not much investment from the public.
The popularity of audio dramas following the creation of the radio never really died down, and fiction podcasts are common, as somewhat of a combination of literature and television. Its subject matter is typically more aligned with literature than television.
In television itself, the main genres outside of book adaptations are urban fantasy, period dramas, and mystery. Urban fantasy typically encompasses various mythological retellings adapted to the modern day, period dramas are typically set in times of great strife, and mystery plots are often linked to grand conspiracies stretching over multiple seasons.
Film is unpopular due to the longform investment and profit television can bring with easier advertisement and accessibility, with shows’ monetization coming from related products such as brand clothing and commercial breaks within the viewing. Limited series, typically a season or less, have replaced movies in many ways, providing more time for plot and development than a regular movie without having to stretch the story into multiple seasons.
Aivintian music is historically orchestral, with a strong tradition in classical music lasting into the modern day. In New Marnacia, opera is appreciated, with female contralto singers imitating Ethalrian culture. However, the prevalence of classical music isn’t absolute - Aivintian Urthvision entries in recent years have reflected the greater public’s growing, newer appreciation of the pop rock genre.
Folklore
Mythology and folklore in Aivintis is a central part of the Aivintian cultural identity, appearing in the early days of civilization, but evolving and expanding as time went on. Scepticism grew as well, however, and more and more legends were abandoned. In the modern day, few believe the stories of the supernatural, and most who do are considered conspiracy theorists and often discredited or ignored. Even so, folklore is historically prevalent, and most Aivintians acknowledge the cultural value of folkloric traditions. The study of such historical beliefs is a respected field in the academic community for this reason, with many research papers and university degrees.
In the ancient Lerasian Empire, the heroism of ancient Aivintians was exemplified in oral tradition, and recorded in statuary and art. The legendary founders of major city-states, such as Warris, were honoured in such tradition, and the practice of aggrandizing historical figures in folklore became an important cultural tradition. Lerasi, the Emperor of Lerasia, was one of the most prominent instances of this, being mythologized even during life as the Son of Arkyr and the divine God-King of the Aivintii people. The fall of the Lerasian Empire put an end to most of this, but the Aeternus of the early 1800s revived the practice, partially, taking it to an extreme by declaring himself God. The tyranny of the Aeternus led the population to understand the dangers of ionising living figures, and such legends remain in the past.
Legendary creatures who were previously prominent in Lerasian mythology often survived in folklore and fairy tales even after its fall. Tales of dragons, much like Karo Vadas, who conquered Serdemia for Lerasi, became much more popular in the Middle Ages, mainly as chivalry and ideals of honour and glory became exemplified by the emerging warrior society. Gryphons appeared in folk tales as magical guides for heroes, too, and tales of ghosts became common. Although ghost stories became widespread throughout all of Aivintis, and even Serdemia, in the south they are much more powerful and malicious.
Mainly in Aivintis, though, darker folk tales were more commonplace. Demons, or Nightmares, as they were more often called, were otherworldly beings associated with evil and terror, playing an antagonistic role in certain ancient religions, and featured prominently in works of literature, such as the horror novels of Howard Augustus Smith. There is no theogony or other origin myth for the Nightmares, nor is there a consensus in the academic community for the real origin of the legend. Most folkloric stories involve either demonic possession or summoning. Demonic possession occurs when the Nightmare controls the body of a mortal and channels their power through it. Often, the hosts of Nightmares are damaged or killed. For demonic summoning, ceremonial magicians, usually those who abuse the power of Witch-touched objects, consult detailed instructions for the conjuring and control of Nightmares, called grimoires. As time went on, Nightmares evolved in literature and legend to become unfathomable monsters with varied and often horrific appearances that feed on fear. Occasionally, there are legendary weaknesses for these Nightmares, but this is less common.
Zzor Vampires are the Aivintoserdemic variation on the widespread vampire myths. Zzor in particular are monsters depicted as pale humans with haggard expressions and unnaturally long teeth. When exposed to candlelight, however, they appear much more feral and animalistic, to a horrifying extreme. They have well documented weaknesses which vary from story to story, such as wooden stakes, sunlight, wild garlic, salt, silver, and occasionally holy icons. Otherwise, they are immortal, unaging, and highly resistant to conventional weaponry. At night they are depicted as having heightened strength, speed, reflexes, senses, and regeneration, making them powerful beings in folklore. There are additional powers Zzoric characters display, including the power to compel or even control the actions of mortals. There are varied explanations for the origin of Zzor, but generally the mythological belief is that they are made through unholy blood pacts with existing Zzor, making use of rare ingredients and sacrifices, leading back to the first vampire, Sanguis Zzor.
The importance of nature is stressed by early folklore surrounding Lerasian mythology, as an extension of Arkyr’s domain. This became less prominent as religion and folklore in Aivintis developed, but some remnants of it remain in the legend of the Aldergrove, a haunted forest that some believe to be sentient. The old mythology additionally introduced the Little Spirits, small creatures with the bodies of humans but the heads of woodland creatures. The stories of Lerasian myth label them as spirits of the forest, who can be benevolent or malicious at a whim. More than the Aldergrove, the stories of the Little Spirits survive in modern Aivintian folklore. Werewolves are similar examples of this, monstrous spirits of the hunt that are associated with nature and the cycle of life.
Magic features in some old stories, too, mainly in the Serdemic region, with the Vedmak, Witches, playing major roles in fables and myths. According to legend, they had the ability to enchant any inanimate object with any power they saw fit, which led to creative artefacts and magical plots. In a couple tales, they had the power to see the future, and delivered prophecies for gold. Curses were major sources of conflict in legend as well. Witches of Serdemia either wandered alone or lived in covens of thirteen witches - a number linked with magic. Historically, many kings and nobles offered vast wealth in exchange for magical services, and when they were sorely disappointed often tended to lean towards executions. A common excuse for the failure of magic remedies, curses, or enchantments was the fickleness of wild magic, which rarely convinced anyone.