Samora

= The Grand Duchy of Samora =

Samora is a small nation in Southwest Leifmyrr that has constantly fought for its freedom in the face of tyranny, and who's legacy still endures to this day.

Current Government
Samora is a Grand Duchy with a Grand Duke in charge. The Government Consists of a Monthly elected Prime Minister who is second in command to The Grand Duke, a Dietary Council as it's legislative branch, Ministries, and Directorates. The Ideology of Samora follows that of a Democratic Autocracy, with the Grand Duke holding absolute power in the nation and ruling for life, whilst overseeing the Democratic and Governmental Processes.

Prehistory
The island of Manyia has housed many cultures throughout the centuries, dating back to even before the Discovery of Eldham. However, not many traces of these older cultures remain, as time and war destroyed most of their buildings and relics, sparing only a few of the deeper ruins for us to discover and learn from. These ancient people might have been from different cultures, or might have built these structures over a large amount of time, as the various ruins present under the island are quite varied in architecture and symbolism, but all the ruins found so far present some common characteristics between them. People were buried in underground catacombs, in open, or sometimes sealed, tombs dug in the walls of their corridors. There seems to have been a distinction in burial rites between different kinds of people, some having humble tombs, open and unprotected, in packed clusters, and others having not only closed and spacious tombs, but an entire chamber of the complex dedicated to them. It is unclear what might have been the reason behind this division, but it most likely was a result of a class system, or simply a difference in wealth. These people celebrated rituals before the burial, as evidenced by the vast chambers built at the beginning of the catacombs, which resemble modern temples in their structure, and that contain a peculiar stone structure in the center, or on an elevated focal position, which, as it is discernible by the smoother insides, was probably used to hold water. Anything else, such as the language, the religion and the customs of these people, remains a mystery, but The Samoran Ministry of Civility is continuing to study these ruins.

The Founding of Bernardland:
Bernard Land started as a starving ship of 11 Mudrokian people being lost in the newly discovered lands of Eldham, sending one of their crew, Flexis, to find food. Four days later, Flexis returned, not with food, but with a map given to him by a merchant, with drawings that resembled coins and treasures. The ship, hungry for the sweet animals and fruit, and allured by the chance of treasure, set sail towards the marked island. On the journey there, part of the crew begins to plot, their plan being to steal the treasure for themselves. Those six conspirators, however, could not manage to keep their scheming away from the captain’s ears, who gathers the rest of the crew, and prepares them to deal with the traitors upon landing. As the ship finds its way to the forested shores of Manyia, the plotters, who now called themselves the Katari, try to assault the captain’s crew, but face fierce opposition, and are forced to flee through the jungle. Such a victory, however, comes at a heavy cost for the captain’s crew: all but three, a mother, a father and their child, had died during the confrontation with the Katari. The woman, after finding the treasure, founded the Queendom of Bernard Land, naming herself Queen Mae King. The original claims of Bernard Land involved only modern day Manyia, Ethia, Varos and Khuesto, but the Queendom would expand northward and westward, colonizing the entirety of modern Krivonea and southern Eleanor, entering into conflict with the Volontéans in the process. Bernard Land would, however, face hardships in their colonization effort. The natives of the southern regions often engaged in banditry, forcing the first Bernardine settlements to be dug in the ground for better defense, and the Katari had not been fully defeated, and after some years in isolation they returned to Manyia.

The Berish/Bernardine Period:
The Bernardian colonization of the region began with underground settlements, as the southern natives often engaged in banditry, but things had become more stable by the time of their northwestern colonization, allowing for the creation of states to better manage the vast territory. Around this time the Katari had returned back to Manyia, and Queen Mae granted them lands in the island, dividing the island in 2 states: Ojicky, where the loyal citizens lived, and Rosling, where the Katari lived. The other states that composed Bernard Land were Lunarvil, New Pomsk and East Pomsk in southern Eleanor, Treegap, which corresponds to the lands around today’s city of Ellesmere,  Fuskie and Old Sneak in the central-eastern region, and Ablheim in approximately modern day Khuesto and Dorvarosia. This is the moment of greatest prosperity within the Bernardine Period, as the Berish people began the construction of a space project in the island of Manyia, that immensely improved the economy of the nation, through foreign donations and fees to visit the site. However, the internal issues of Bernard Land would soon surface, issues which would lead to a weakened Queendom, and the successive fall of Bernard Land.