Staynes
Staynes | |
|---|---|
 Flag | |
| Location | Map |
| Capital and largest city | Sani Bursil |
| Official languages | Staynish |
| Recognised regional languages | Axdelian Kaltareg Rombewek |
| Ethnic groups (2024) | 81% Human 10% Elf 4% Cava 5% other |
| Religion (2024) |
|
| Demonym(s) | Staynish · Staynic |
| Government | Part of a constitutional monarchy, direct government exercised by the government of Great Morstaybishlia |
• Monarch | Lambertus VII |
| Legislature | Parliament of Great Morstaybishlia |
| Establishment | |
• Founded by Impelanza as Estenes de la Aurora | c. 70 BCE |
• Staynish Revolution from Impelanza | 12th December 513 |
• Treaty of the River Kuthern | 27th April 684 |
• Rombar and northern Toranslic assimilation | by 18th May 972 |
• Complete Toranslic assimilation | by 6th October 1256 |
| 29th August 1515 | |
| Area | |
• Total | 1,834,160 km2 (708,170 sq mi) |
| Population | |
• 2024 census | 155,770,860 |
• Density | 84.93/km2 (220.0/sq mi) |
| Currency | Kirib (♅/KRB) |
| Date format | DD/MM/YYYY |
| Driving side | the left |
| ISO 3166 code | STA |
| Internet TLD | .mbe |
Staynes is a country in Northeastern Aurora, making up one of the four constituent countries of Great Morstaybishlia, two of which, Valeria and Kaltariezh, it borders to the south and east respectively. It also shares a border with Drakaland to the southeast. Often regarded as the Cradle of Aurora due to its central location between the Molvian Corridor and the Horn of Kaltariezh, the capital Sani Bursil is the largest, most diverse and prosperous city in the world, with over fifty million residents. It is also the seat of the Morstaybishlian Parliament and the monarchy. The city sits on the west banks of Morsa Lake, the second largest freshwater lake in the world, draining into the Morstaybishlian Sea to the north via the River Rombar. A tiny part of the lower Zycannes are in the south, seperated from the Bolvinian Plateau by Bishop's Pass, the main migratory corridor to the continental south. The largest river, the Kuthern, flows from the Zycannes through mainly flat country, draining into the Western Sea. At the rivermouth sits Redrugus, the second largest city with over five million residents, named after the national heroine Rugus the Red whom led the defence of the early Estenes settlements of Impelanza against the Kingdom of Dumnowes. The majority of the north coast is uninhabited because of the Malderva Rainforest. Climates are layered horizontally, some larger than others, with a strip of tropical rainforest on the north coast, then tropical savanna, a transitional strip of hot semi-arid leading onto humid subtropical, which makes up the majority of the country; and humid continental straddling the mountainous interior.
The area has been inhabited by sentient, anatomically modern cava for possibly as much as a million years, though records begin suggesting that early civilisation was made up of cava and elf as far back as the early Bronze Age. Although humans were present in Eastern Aurora, they were first introduced in the northwest of Staynes by the Impelanzan Empire around the 1st century BCE to mine tin. This land, Estenes de la Aurora, literally 'Tinlands of the Sunrise' is where Staynes derived its name after half a millennia of semantic shift. Native cultures were establishing their own civilisations at this time, namely Dumnowes, Toransla and Rombarow, which spoke forms of the Malterva language family alongside Kaltareg in Kaltariezh. After the Toré eruption destroyed Impelanza and plunged the world into global volcanic winter in 512 CE, the Staynish Revolution overthrew the ruling Impelanzan elite the following year, installing Alzar I as the first King of the Staynish, who worked with the Thaerist branch of Tunseism in supporting one another into power. King Fredmund I began the Staynish conquest of Toransla in 664, lasting 20 years and concluding with Fredmund II signing the Treaty of the River Kuthern, vastly expanding the Staynish realm south. Toransla was nearly completely assimilated save a mountanous holdout in the Zycannes by the 9th century, and Rombarow fell in 972 following a lengthy siege of Sanned Bursil. The Staynish Empire began looking to the seas by the mid 15th century, claiming the Necraties and Eskomia and establishing trading outposts in Arcturia. In 1501, King Lambertus III, later the Great would take sides in the Kaltariz Civil War by marrying Azenor Cadoret, a contested claimant to the Kaltariezh throne, and winning the war against her uncle Kirus Cadoret by slaying him in single combat at the Battle of Rouekador in 1505. Lambertus and Azenor's son, Lambertus IV, would inherit rule of the Staynish-Kaltariz Empire and unified them politically in 1515, forming Morstaybishlia.
Staynish administrative divisions were established for the first time properly in 1919 after the signing of the Great Charter of the Liberties and transition from absolutism to constitutionalism two years prior. This saw the dissolution of the Dukedoms and establishment of the Shires and Territories, the first level of elected administration below Parliament itself. As of the 2024 census, Staynes had a population of 155.8 million, 32.5% of the overall Morstaybishlian population. It has a total area of 1,834,160 km² (708,173 sq mi). 81% of the population comprises humans, whilst 10% are elf, 4% are cava and 5% is split between a plethora of other species. Thaerism is the dominant religion, though the nation is shifting towards secularism.