Hlenderia

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The Hlenderian Commonwealth of Mūnim, Kwarim, and Vrotrim
Flag
Motto: Hlenderia's people are all alike in dignity.
National emblem:
(1) On Hayaneste (2) Ethnic map Yellow: Vrotrim Blue: Kwarim Gray: Mūnim
Capital	Pelachis
Largest city	Norrith
Official languages	Hlenderian
Ethnic groups (2018)	98.6% Human 0.8% Elf 0.6% other
Religion (2018)	86.1% Hlenderian religion ("La-Dereik") 8.5% Thaerism 2.3% Paxism 0.8% Other 2.3% No answer
Demonym(s)	Hlenderian, Mūni, Kwari, Vrotri
Peoples of Hlenderia	Mūnim Kwarim Vrotrim
Government	Multiethnic, Constitutional elective monarchy
• King	Yendrin Kwarrōth
• President of the Grand Council	Marsilamat Indari
Legislature	Grand Council (unicameral)
Establishment
• Unification of the Three Peoples	1687
• Formation of the Grand Council	1692
• Binational Agreement	1908
Area
• Total	461,300 km2 (178,100 sq mi)
Population
• 2018 census	26,090,300
• Density	56.3/km2 (145.8/sq mi)
GDP (nominal)	2022 estimate
• Total	$494.3 billion
• Per capita	$18,945
Gini (2022)	0.53 low
SDI (2018)	0.725 high
Currency	Hlenderian dina (Đ/HLD)
Time zone	UTC -5, -6
Date format	mm/dd/yyyy
Driving side	the right
ISO 3166 code	HLE
Internet TLD	.hl

The Commonwealth of Hlenderia, officially the Hlenderian Commonwealth of Mūnim, Kwarim, and Vrotrim, is a country that occupies most of the island of Hayaneste, Gondwana, except for the most northwesternmost portion occupied by Joralesia. Hlenderia is a multiethnic state divided between the Mūni, Kwari, and Vrotri peoples. The majority of Hlenderia has a subarctic climate, dominated by boreal forest and wetland. The extreme southeast of the island, allocated to the Mūni people, is dominated by tundra. The western coast, mostly Vrotri ancestral land, has a milder oceanic climate. The capital, Pelachis, is located in the northwest of the country, near the border with Joralesia, along the Pela River. Hlenderia's largest city, Norrith, is located on the northern coast in ethnic Kwari land.

Archaeological evidence indicates that Hayaneste was settled at least four thousand years ago, but the first written records describing the Mūni, Kwari, and Vrotri peoples dates to the 6th century BCE. These ethnic groups would unite in the face of foreign threats, but would also often fight among themselves over farming and grazing rights, religious differences, or trade disputes. The modern state of Hlenderia was formed in the late 17th century, when tribal leaders from the three ethnic groups of the area united following settlement attempts by Auravas, Ethalria, and others. This first constitution of Hlenderia established political traditions that remain to this day, including its elective monarchy and legislature constructed and apportioned along ethnic lines.

Hlenderia is sparsely populated, and a large proportion of its people live in a few large cities along the coast. Hayaneste's interior is mostly taiga with cold, harsh winters and a short growing season. The Hlenderians that live away from the coast, mostly Mūni and Kwari, follow traditional ways of life and customary law. The Oramin Mountains, in the southwest interior of Hlenderia, are held as holy in the local folk religion and are designated a National Religious Preserve, one of the largest such preserves in the world. The Oramin preserve is off-limits to foreigners except on certain occasions scheduled by the Bureau of Culture.

The island's harsh climate, traditional way of life and secretive religion of the Mūni, Kwari, and Vrotri, as well as the historic hostility of Hlenderia to foreign colonization, have led to the country having an international reputation for isolationism and xenophobia. One political scientist observed in 2009 that "the Hlenderian government does little to dispel this notion, and indeed one could infer that it is a reputation they would like to cultivate". However, recent reform efforts by the national government and development intended to spur foreign investment has contributed to economic growth in the past decade.

Hlenderia is a middle-income country with a developing economy. The capital of Pelachis and large port city of Norrith are the largest contributors to the national economy, which remains focused on its fisheries, lumber industry, and manufacturing. In the extreme southeast of the country, the local Mūni people engage in small-scale subsistence whaling, but recent attempts to prepare whale products for foreign sale have resulted in controversy at home and abroad.

Etymology

The name "Hlenderia" is a Staynish derivation of the native term "Hlendertu", meaning "three people". The term was invented at the time of unification in the 17th century; before this, there was no single name for the land or the people inhabiting it, and the Vrotri, Kwari, and Mūni peoples merely conceived of themselves as three separate groups inhabiting the same space. When Ethalria began visiting and mapping the area, they named the island Hayaneste. This name is usually avoided by native Hlenderians, who consider it a colonialist term, but it remains the common term for the island in the Staynish language.

Other names used at various times for Hlenderia are "Chemara", meaning "Chem's Land", referring to the creator deity of the native Hlenderian religion, "Nagertū", meaning "People's Island", and "Āra-sire", meaning "Great Forest".

History

Pre-contact Hlenderia

The Vrotrim, Kwarim, and Mūnim are the three peoples indigenous to Hlenderia and are considered a distinct Gondwanan branch of humanity. Early migration to Hayaneste began 40,000 to 50,000 years ago and the island was widely inhabited by 35,000 years ago. A rock shelter named Balmassalū, located on the northwestern coast near the border with Joralesia, is recognized as the oldest evidence of human habitation on Hayaneste and has been dated to be at least 42,000 years old. The oldest surviving human remains are skull fragments found preserved in an ice cave in southeastern Hlenderia; these date back 25,000 years. The bog body named "Erva", a corpse of a Kwari woman found in peatland outside Hamrith on the eastern coast, is an important archeological artifact dated back to 8000 BCE.

Hlenderian culture resembling that which is practiced today began to emerge in the mid-Bronze Age, though it is believed that the native religion preserves more ancient oral traditions in some form. By 4,000 years ago, the Vrotrim and Kwarim had developed complex urban and agricultural societies as a result of widespread Gondwanan trade networks. The Mūnim, native to the central and southeastern portions of Hayaneste, practiced a mixture of pastoral nomadism and temporary settlements with subsistence agriculture.

Developed trade networks allowed the three Hlenderian peoples to receive foreign technological advances to some degree, though the island lagged behind the more developed nations on Aurora and elsewhere until modernity. Iron working, water mills, irrigation, and even medieval advancements made their way to Hlenderia, either through trade, intermarriage with foreign visitors, or the occasional violent conflict with interlopers.

The three groups inhabiting Hayaneste also would fight among themselves over grazing rights, religious differences, or affronts in the island's strict culture of honor. An informal code governed many of these internecine conflicts, regulating the use of revenge and feuds to solve problems. This code, known as "la-Dinu", was first written down in the 6th century BCE and remains the earliest record naming each of Hlenderia's three peoples.

Auroran exploration and colonization

The first Auroran sighting of Hayaneste is attributed to Ethalrian explorer Waltraud Vogel, who sighted land in the northwest of the island in 1499 and eventually landed in what is now Ewising, Joralesia later that year. Early encounters between the Auroran colonists and the Vrotrim and Kwarim living in northwest Hayaneste were often violent, with both groups often putting aside their ancient differences to coordinate on raids of Ethalrian settlements. These conflicts, driven by the scarcity of arable land in the cold environment of Hlenderia, led to resentment on both sides and acts of revenge undertaken by Ethalrian settlers.

Early Ethalrian settlements were eventually combined into a colony hugging the northwestern coast of Hayaneste called Tornaland. This colony, integral to the Ethalrian trading network in southern Gondwana, had fluid borders in its early years, but by the mid 17th century these were fixed aside from occasional cross-border raids by Vrotri and Kwari parties. The rising power of Ethalrian settlers, and their ability to intercept and destroy raiding parties, would be part of the impetus for the the Kwarim, Vrotrim, and Mūnim to unite under one leader in the late 17th century.

Formation of the Commonwealth

From the mid-17th century, chiefs and sages of the Kwari, Vrotri, and Mūni people, exposed to new foreign ideas of nationalism, began to articulate desires for a union or federation of the three peoples to resist further Auroran colonization and improve Hlenderian society. This movement would gain traction among the common people, especially in the north of Hayaneste where foreign interference was most obvious and most resented. A 1687 meeting involving the chiefs of each people, located in the large central city of Pelachis would eventually be dubbed the Unification of the Three Peoples, though this historiography is today seen as informed by Hlenderian nationalist myth as much as reality. At this meeting, little was agreed upon beyond a general desire by the attendees to see Hlenderians combine their military forces, secure the northwestern border, and prevent the expansion of Tornaland.

Further meetings in 1689, 1690, and 1692 would eventually lead to the promulgation of Hlenderia's first Constitution. This founding document would unite the Mūnim, Kwarim, and Vrotrim in one nation named "Hlenderia" and provided for an elective monarchy, based on the models common across the island where chiefs and clan leaders were elected for lifelong terms. Furthermore, this monarch would command the combined military forces of Hlenderia. A legislative branch called the Grand Council, containing reserved and elected seats apportioned by population, was also established. Detractors accused this new legislature of imitating foreign parliamentarianism, but it survived this early criticism and remains a coequal branch of government to this day.

Politics

Hlenderia is a semi-constitutional monarchy, which has been called anocratic or a hybrid regime. External observers have been divided on the exact nature of the regime, which gives the King substantial political influence but does place some restrictions on his power. An elected legislature, the Grand Council of Hlenderia, chooses the King, who rules for life. In reality, the Binational Agreement signed between Kwari and Vrotri parties in 1908 has ensured that the monarch has belonged to one of these two ethnic groups since then.

The elective aspect of Hlenderia's monarchy dates to the country's formation and first constitution. Traditionally, bands of each ethnic group of Hlenderia elected their chiefs, who would hold their position until death. The first Grand Council opted to continue this system when drafting the country's constitution. Powers reserved to the monarch include a veto power over bills, which the Grand Council can only override with a supermajority, the right to appoint chiefs of the Bureaus that serve as the government bureaucracy, the right to appoint judges and magistrates, and a number of other "emergency powers" that are rarely exercised in the modern era.

The current King, Yendrin Kwarrōth, was elected in 1991. Before his accession, Yendrin was an influential member of the right-wing party Traditionalist Kwarim, but since taking the throne he has moved to the center of the political spectrum and focused on modernizing efforts. His only child, Yendrina Kwarrōth, is a member of the centrist Kwari People's Party and sits in the Grand Council. Yendrin's wife, Mera Kwarrōth, died in 1986 and he never remarried. Most political observers believe Yendrina is the most likely successor to the throne.

The King of Hlenderia:
Yendrin Kwarrōth
since
December 20 1990

The President of the Grand Council of Hlenderia:
Marsilamat Indari
since
August 3 2020

Councillor and King Yendrin's daughter:
Yendrina Kwarrōth

Legislature

The Grand Council of Hlenderia is elected at-large every five years, or earlier if the legislature is dissolved or votes to hold an early election. The King is given the power to suspend and dissolve the Council, but must call a new election within two months. The Council elects a President from among its members, whose position is analogous to that of a Prime Minister or Chancellor in other nations. The current President is Marsilamat Indari, an ethnic Kwari. The President works closely with the King to set public policy and enact legislature.

The Grand Council has 187 seats. Of these, 144 are reserved seats divided between the Kwari, Vrotri, and Mūni people according to proportion of population. This arrangement, present since Hlenderia's founding, can cause census years to be times of heightened ethnic tensions. The census, which occurs every eight years, last occured in 2016 and is scheduled to occur again in 2024.

The remaining 43 seats are open to all candidates, and primarily represent districts in cities along the coast and the largest interior settlements. These seats are often key swing votes in major issues, and constitute an informal "upper house" in the unicameral Council.

Elections proceed according to party-list proportional representation. Seven parties are represented in the Grand Council. Five of these parties are "ethnic" parties, officially representing the issues of their ethnic groups, and two are officially "pan-national".

Party name	Political position	Seats
United Vrotrim	Center-left to center-right	51
Kwari People's Party	Center-right	35
Traditionalist Kwarim	Center-right to right-wing	25
Mūni People's Front	Right-wing	20
United Southeastern Mūni Bands	Right-wing to far-right	11
Liberal Party	Centrist to left-wing	31
Hlenderian Workers Party	Left-wing to far-left	14

The current ruling coalition is comprised of the United Vrotrim, Kwari People's Party, and Traditionalist Kwarim. The United Opposition is compromised of the Liberal Party and Hlenderian Workers Party. The two Mūni parties vote together on most issues.

Law

The unicameral Grand Council is responsible for the enactment of law, and executive power is placed in the hands of the monarch. Government policy is guided by the President of the Grand Council in collaboration with the monarch. The President or their deputies are primarily delegated the power to introduce bills, which are voted on by the legislature at large. The most senior member of each party is also given the power to introduce bills. Any act passed by the Grand Council requires royal assent before becoming law.

The Constitution of Hlenderia is the supreme law of the land. Magistrates are appointed by the monarch, but in the modern era this power is delegated to the powerful Legal Bureau. The Interpretative Court, a first-level division of the Legal Bureau, rules on questions of legal interpretation when a law's constitutionality is questioned. Usually, the Chief of the Legal Bureau serves simultaneously as the Chair of the Interpretative Court.

The Hlenderian government's authority is strongest in the coastal cities and environs, and in the communities situated along Highway One. In the country's undeveloped interior, and especially in the far southeast, communities live according to customary religious law with little government interference. When the government does intervene in customary disputes, it is usually in cases of high crimes such as murder.

Military

The Hlenderian Armed Forces are the military organization responsible for the country's defense. The Hlenderian Army is the largest branch, followed by the Navy. The Air Force is the third, smallest branch of the military. The primary objective of the country's armed forces is maintaining its defense. Foreign observers have noted that the armed forces have little capability for outward power projection. Recent investments by the Armed Forces and the government aimed at increasing this capability have resulted in increased arms purchases and the construction of a new drydock outside the large port city of Norrith.

The Traditionalist Kwarim and Hlenderian Workers Party each maintain their own paramilitary wing, filled largely with veterans. The two Mūni parties share a paramilitary wing, the Mūni Defense Force. Diversion of arms and armor from the military towards these paramilitary wings have remained a consistent issue. In the interior, these paramilitary wings often serve as enforcers of local justice, and have been known to engage in tribal feuding.

Crime and human rights

Human rights in Hlenderia have been the subject of criticism. Of particular interest to foreign observers are the government's treatment of the minority Mūnim and its treatment of resident aliens. In government, the Binational Agreement between Vrotri and Kwari parties have resulted in the two Mūni parties being consistently excluded from government and disenfranchised. Infrastructure investments in Mūni territory, though having increased over the past 20 years, remain far below what is deemed necessary by foreign economists to promote development. At the time of Hlenderia's founding, the Mūnim were considered the wealthiest and most populous of the island's three ethnic groups. Political observers note that this comparatively recent disenfranchisement has led to the growth of militancy and far-right, reactionary ideologies among the two Mūni parties.

The status of foreigners and immigrants in Hlenderia has also been questioned. Hlenderia is ranked among the most difficult nations to successfully claim asylum in, and residency visas are frequently denied except for professional, in-demand careers such as medicine and engineering. Foreigners, even those who achieve legal residency, are denied access to certain areas of the country considered holy, including the entire Oramin Religious Preserve. Administrative deportation is very common for even minor offenses, and the country's mistreatment of foreign tourists and workers has resulted in diplomatic crises in the past.

Corruption among high-ranking government officials is also considered a problem. In much of the country, where legislative seats are reserved for the local majority ethnic group, political machines control access to government services and restrict political freedom further.

Geography and climate

The western slopes of the Oramin Mountains in the autumn.

Hlenderia comprises the majority of the island of Hayaneste in southern Gondwana, except for the neighboring country of Joralesia in the northwest. Most of Hlenderia is sparsely populated. The most populous region is the western coast, followed by the northern region around the city of Norrith, near the Joralesian border.

The western coast region has a relatively warm, oceanic climate with fertile soils watered by storm systems that are fed by sea winds. In the southwest, deciduous and mixed-leaf temperate forest predominates. In the northwest - the most populous region in Hlenderia - much of this primeval forest has been cleared to make way for agriculture. This northwestern region, called the "breadbasket of Hlenderia", feeds much of the country and produces food for export to Joralesia and mainland Gondwana.

The interior of Hlenderia is marked by conifer forests and taiga, with the rain shadow to the east of the Oramin Mountains dominated by bogs, muskeg, and fens. This taiga, known as the "Great Woods" locally, is mostly pine, fir, and spruce. Each of these species are economically important, but Hlenderia's pine forests are especially highly logged for use in inexpensive furniture. The growing season in the interior is short each year, but agriculture is performed on a subsistence basis by Kwari and Mūni bands in the northern taiga.

A bog located in the eastern shadow of the Oramin Mountains, typical of the region.

The southeastern part of the country - the closest land mass to Sempiterna - consists of tundra. This portion of Hlenderia, which consists entirely of Mūni territory, is the least developed. Of particular concern in modern times is the melting of permafrost here by climate change, which results in the release of trapped carbon and affects the traditional lifestyle of the Hlenderians residing here.

The Oramin Mountains are the source of over 850 rivers in Hlenderia, the longest and widest being the River Pela that runs east and passes through the nation's capital of Pelachis. Nearly 35,000 ponds and lakes, many of them unnamed in the vast interior, also provide fresh water. This range, considered holy in the local Hlenderian religion, run north to south along the western half of the island, with the smaller "Little Oramin" or "Oramin's Highway" range branching off and stretching eastward through central Hayaneste. This range also provides a natural border between the western Vrotrim people and the Kwarim and Mūnim east of it. A few passes allow travel through the mountains, and Hlenderian Highway One is the most traveled paved corridor through the region.

Tundra in southeastern Hlenderia, with abandoned Mūni hunting shacks.

In central-western Hlenderia, the Oramin Mountains Religious Preserve is set aside for local religious use and forbidden to logging or development. The forest here is a fine example of old-growth taiga, and on the middle slopes drunken forest predominates, the result of permafrost now melted by climate change.

Flora and fauna

In the western part of the country, deciduous broadleaf and mixed forests consisting of maple, oak, pine, and cedar predominate. Moving eastward over the Oramin Mountains, taiga consisting primarily of pine, spruce, and fir makes up the interior and eastern coast. In the far southeast, tundra with a short growing season provides a home to highly specialized plants and animals.

Along the coast, bird life such as gulls and albatrosses, cormorants, herons, and penguins are commonly seen. In the interior, birds of prey such as owls, falcons, and eagles have long been seen as sacred by the Kwarim and Mūnim. The fen-grouse, a large ground bird and Hlenderia's national animal, lives in the fens, bogs, and forests of the interior and is a common sight. In its breeding season, male fen-grouse can be highly aggressive. Passerines are also common throughout the island. In the southeastern tundra, penguins and terns comprise the majority of avian life.

The large land wildlife includes deer, moose, muskox in the southeast, caribou and bears. The large Hayaneste brown bear is sacred in the Hlenderian religion. The medium-sized land wildlife includes foxes, wolves, jackals, etc. The small animals seen most commonly include squirrels, hare, groundhogs, raccoons, chipmunks, and beavers.

Culture

Language

The Hlenderian language is related to other indigenous languages of southern Gondwana. Hlenderian is diglossic, with Standard Hlenderian being used for literature, the written word, and government documents. The Kwari, Vrotri, and Mūni dialects are the spoken variant of Hlenderian. Hlenderian is a fusional language with grammatical case. It uses a system of consonantal roots, which can make accurate transliteration from the Hlenderian script difficult for non-native speakers. Written Hlenderian uses a native ablaut script.

Religion

Main article: Hlenderian religion

The Hlenderian religion is an animist indigenous faith that prioritizes ancestor veneration. Each Hlenderian ethnic group has individual and unique aspects to their local faith-cults, with the Mūni expression believed to be the most "traditional" in content. Despite these differences, scholars have identified key pillars linking them, including the worship of a monotheistic creator deity known as Chém/Ḥém, the veneration of ancestors, and the belief in an afterlife associated spiritually with the Oramin Mountains of western Hayaneste. The Oramin Mountain Preserve, one of the largest religious preserves in the world, forbids mountaineering, commercial or residential construction, and tourism within its borders. Except for government-guided tours twice each summer, the Preserve is off-limits to foreign nationals or non-native-born citizens.

It is common among Hlenderians to maintain a home shrine to deceased family members and important community leaders. Funerals are the most famous aspect of the Hlenderian faith, and involve the cremation of the deceased and a solemn remembrance of their life. Bone fragments that survive cremation are commonly kept as relics or fashioned into talismans by the immediate family. Certain national heroes are venerated as saints, but there is no central authority to declare sainthood, and these folk traditions can very from place to place. The stories of some of the most famous Hlenderian heroes are compiled into the book Acts of the Saints, first translated into Staynish in 1835.

Recent census results indicate that 86% of Hlenderians express belief in their native religion, which in Hlenderian is known as "la-Dereik", or "Our Path". Ademarism maintains a foothold in the largest coastal cities, along with other foreign faith traditions.

National character

Travels into the Southern Land, an anonymous travelogue published in 1790, established for foreign readers what would prove to be an enduring conception of Hlenderia:

Hlenderians distrust outsiders, and are themselves distrusted by outsiders. Only once on my journey onto that island was I offered a bed to stay the night - and in the morning it became clear that the family expected payment. Quary, Vrotry, or Moony [sic] - each of these people are clannish, insular, proud, and disdainful of each other, and especially of foreigners, whom they call 'cross-straiters', or more commonly simply 'thieves'. This latter designation comes from the Hlenderian resentment of our colonies, which have brought civilization to that cold, dark region.

When these people cannot fight the 'cross-straiters', they fight each other. A Quary [sic] man warned me on my seventh day on the island to stay off the road, because once crossing into Moony land those savages would beat and rob me. When the next day I entered the Moony environs, a man there told me he was surprised the Quary did not decapitate me. A week later, as I headed north to catch a ferry across the strait and off Hayaneste, I was nearly set upon by a Vrotry who mistook me for a Quary that he believed had stolen his muskox. These are a very belligerent people!

It is all the more tragic that they are such, as I was taught by a rare friendly Moony which plants to make into a paste to keep away flies. Clearly this is also an industrious, cunning people. It is surely their distrustful nature that keeps these savages living so.

The Teachings of Saint Marsil is often included in the prologue of published versions of the Hlenderian religious text Acts of the Saints. This catechism, about a 17th-century national hero who walked the country as an itinerant preacher, portrays Hlenderian culture as seen by the Hlenderians themselves:

Your ancestors have gone to live with Chém in His Manor.
Honor them, and your parents - for they are the heirs of those who have gone before you.

When you kill an animal, be it bear, ox, moose, or elk, honor its spirit, and the life that it gave to nourish you.
Do not allow a mother bird to see you steal her eggs. It would be a gratuitous display of your comparative power.
[...] If you pledge yourself to another, through marriage or retainer, this lasts until mutual dissolution or death. Do not commit adultery. Disloyalty to your lord is itself adulterous.
Be on guard against evil. Your enemies may attack from behind.
If one of you should go and kill another, you bring their revenge-blood upon yourself. Do not hide from the family seeking justice. Do not offer weregild, as foreigners do.
[...] Rejoice in the good times that you are given.

Whether you are Kwari, Mūni, or Vrotri, you are an inhabitant of this Isle of Trees. Unite against foreign thieves.

Traditional clothing

A traditional male gulenu (left), and female gulenu with chirimu (right).

Clothing worn by Hlenderians vary from area to area. In the most populous Vrotri cities of the western coast, traditional dress is rarely seen except on special occasions. When traditional dress is worn during daily life, it is usually seen on the elderly. Among the Kwari and Mūni of the interior, however, traditional dress is still commonly worn by all ages and at all times. Men and women both wear a light jacket, known as a gulenu, over a linen blouse. Typically, the gulenu is dyed a bright color - often blue, red, or green - and features contrasting piping around the collar, down the sleeves, and at the cuffs. Inside this piping is embroidery. Among the Kwari, this embroidery signifies family heritage and is added by the matriarch of the household. Simple trousers and traditional leather shoes or boots complete this base layer. During the harsh winters, a thick fur coat known as a banbiru provides extra warmth. This coat is usually made from the skins of local animals; for the Kwarim of central and northern Hlenderia, this is usually bear, and for the Mūni of the southern tundra, muskox.

Both Kwari and Mūni women wear what is known as a chirimu, which is a tasseled shawl. This is worn over the 'gulenu' and below the 'banbiru', and the length of the tassels can indicate formality or wealth. On the head, fur hats are worn during the winter by both men and women. During the spring and summer, men wear linen hoods or brimmed hats, and women wear traditional headscarves.

Music

The music of Hlenderia contains a wide range of styles. Traditional Hlenderian music, still popular, is marked by a native tuning system known as arudubu, a type of 12-tone tuning in which the frequency ratios of all intervals are based on the ratio 3:2. Contemporary Hlenderian popular music incorporates many foreign styles and is commonly performed in equal temperament. Native musical instruments include the zani, a five-stringed instrument similar to a zither, which is played with open tuning. The zani's distinctive curved head lends its name to the local vegetable dish made from immature fern-fronds known as zani-heads. Drums and pipes are also popular Hlenderian instruments, with a large kettle drum known as a balangu being a popular instrument to accompany voices at funerals.

Handbells, especially in conjunction with female voices, are a regular sight at Hlenderian religious ceremonies. These bells are usually cast from metal, but the smallest such bells may be made from fine ceramic or porcelain. At funerals, professional mourners are hired by the family of the deceased to sing dirges and laments. This occupation, considered highly honorable in Hlenderian culture, is usually filled by retired women and important grandmothers in the community.

Cuisine

Freshly picked zani-heads, a popular Hlenderian vegetable.

Hlenderia has a long culinary history based on local produce and agriculture. Each ethnic group of Hlenderia also has its own cuisine based on its traditional culture and what is locally available. In coastal regions, fish, lobster, and crab are vital parts of the local economy and gastronomic palate. Inland, hardy cattle, goat, and chicken are raised where possible, with these meats being supplemented by hunted bear, moose, elk, and muskox. In the far south, muskox are a vital part of the Mūni diet, along with cold water fish and, in the southeast, whale.

Fish and meat is supplemented with local produce. Potatoes, which grow well in Hlenderia's north and central regions, are a staple crop. In the more temperate western coastal regions, wheat harvests feed a vibrant Vrotri baking tradition. A type of broad, flat noodle known as arku-sudū, popular in western Hlenderia, is often eaten with sauce. In the far northwest, the warmest part of the country, a cottage industry of bell pepper farmers supplies the nation with a type of paprika-flavored condiment known as rakwuti. Foraged produce, including mushrooms and berries, are a seasonally available addition to the Hlenderian table. Particularly prized are zani-heads, a young fern frond that must be boiled to eliminate dirt and natural toxins. Zani-heads are typically eaten with a sour vinegar sauce, or lemon when available.

See also

• Hlenderian religion
• Kwarim
• Mūnim
• Vrotrim