Tsaeloma

The Province of Tsaeloma (Traveler's Tongue: Shaloma) is an established entity in the southeastern part of Rathnir and the northeastern portion of Cymru. Having persisted for hundreds of years, the province now resides inside the Autokratoria Sirradra. Stretching north from lake Blackwaters and the Adytum border to south in the Valroni Swamplands, its rich and storied culture and history makes it one of the great provinces today.

Pre-Tsaeloma
After the dissolution of the V.I.R (Valdreach Imperial Republic) under Princess Regnant Noodles, the remaining supporters of the Republic were persecuted and ostracized throughout Cymru. In an attempt to hide from the persecution, Republic Supporters decided to hide underground until returning to the surface was safe enough. This underground Basis, later named De Sloog, would become the first city and capital of Tsaeloma, as well as Tsaeloma's debut on the world stage.

As time passed, the repercussions of the V.I.R's dissolution and the tales of war and persecution instilled fear into the young tsaelomakii. As leaders came and went, leading the pseudo-nation state in the bowels of the Tsaeloman Caverns, a sentiment of isolationism began to spread, halting the cultural exchange with the surface. This would create a divide between the rapidly developing Cymru above and De Sloog below.

Tsaeloman Culture
As Hanzeizh culture developed in Cymru a unique culture developed underground. Minerals and rock formations were often attributed some significance, developing a unique culture of symbolism and even religious significance. Among the broad symbolic culture of the slaekii, some examples include redstone, which came to symbolize by the sun, and granite, which many illustrated as representing growth and fertility. With lake Black Waters just above the caves, it's moisture caused vegetation and space to become plentiful in the caverns. The lack of sunlight, combined with their limited eating and vegetation habits, led to the tsaelomakii  developing a unique style such as albino hair, stunted growth, and better sight in the darkness.

Tsaeloma as a Nation
Under the rule of King Richard Amphed, Tsaeloma gained international recognition on the 14th of February of 2021. This officially transformed it from the city state of Aund Ron De Sloog, which had existed since 25th of December 2020, with their acceptance onto the maps as the Republic of Tsaeloma. The young nation was composed of 10+ citizens at the time, with its highest numbers reaching 30+.

Annexation of Tsaeloma
On the 16th of Febuary of 2021, Tsaeloma and Viodoxa made contact for the first time. Valen McSpiegel contacted King Richard Amphed to have a meeting in the city of De Sloog. The King thought of the meeting would be a simple one on one conversation, but to his surprise Archon Loic dem Spheniscidae and Valen brought 12 troops to the meeting, intimidating the king and the citizens of the capital.

On the other hand, the right hand man, and the Archon where quite surprised to see the city, and the clear sight of Tsaeloman culture; Heads. Valen McSpiegel had told King Richard a while after the encounter "We thought you where head hunters because of all the heads, we were actually scared.".

The meeting ended in an agreement from the king and the provisional council of Tsaeloma to join the government and the Archonate of Viodoxa. Even though they agreed, Tsaeloma had been coerced, a fact which the they would not take lightly. This led to a disdain among the tsaeloman populace towards Adytum. The Tsaeloma-Adytum rivalry was further agitated when a group of tsaelomakii killed all the chickens of the neighboring province, which were used as currency there at the time. The group also stole various objects of Valentum, after which the De Sloog government agreed to build a wall to protect itself from the people of Valentum and Adytum.

First Purple Insurrection
The first purple insurrection was led by Loic and King Richard Amphed, after Adytum tried to annex the whole province of Tsaeloma without the king's approval. King Richard Amphed asked Tortuga for help in the revolution, in exchange of the Tsaeloman kingdom becoming a Tortugan province. The situation escalated into a full civil war, with the Kingdom of Tsaeloma joining the TVA led by Loic and Tortuga. (More information about the conflict in "Viodoxa")

Downfall
After the first purple insurrection, the provinces of the old Viodoxan Archonate were free once again. The Tsaeloman people however were seen as traitors, and diplomatic efforts where not getting through the other old provinces. The kingdom was left alone for some time, until the TVA and the old provinces agreed to unite under the second Archonate of Viodoxa.

In this new Archonate, the kingdom saw its new golden age under the new royal family the Spheniscidaes. The city of Blackwater became one of the most populated in the archonate and started to regain the province's historic vitality. This was put to an end during the reformist society civil war, which caused large amounts of destruction in Blackwaters and De Sloog at the same time. These left the cities in ruins until the J horde, a minority ethnicity at the time, took over, causing the Kingdom of Tsaeloma to be lost to this new rising power.

Assimilation into Adytum
Upon the growing threat to the kingdom and the death of King Richard dem Spheniscidae, it was decided that the province would be absorbed into the province of Adytum. Tsaeloma would be divided as two separate counties, marking the final execution of the hantseakii plan, ending the first kingdom and setting a stage for what was to come.

Second Tsaeloman Kingdom
During the arduous campaign leading to the second battle of Viodoxa City (Second Siege of Viodoxa City), Tsaeloma, under the leadership of its new Tsaelerin Oliver Lluvia Dem Spheniscidae, declared independence. Breaking free from Adytish (Adytum) rule, the province would be able to regain its former glory. After the end of the war and the liberation of Cymru, a new generation of tsaelomans began to repopulate the province.

Gaining Legitimacy
Under the rule of Oliver, the new Tsaeloma solidified its borders by allying with the other nations on the continent. Hávi Asagrim and Flavius Justinianus supported Oliver as he proposed to declare war on the also newly liberated J Horde, who had broken away from the Archonate far before Tsaeloma. Seeing a rightful claim to its lands, and justified by the Imperial Archonal Union, the kingdom was prepared to go to war with the J-Horde. However, the novel ideologies of Viodoxa would lead to a change in plans.

End of Independence
In the latter half of the Age of Isolation (See here: Chronicles of Rathnir), a new rising ideology called Loicism ( Def: Locism is a term used in Tsaeloma to describe those who sided with Loic after the civil war.) was rapidly populating throughout the continent. It was the idea that Viodoxa had the right to be unify Cymru under its rule. The increasing pressures of Loicism would end up folding Tsaeloma into the Union willingly. The inevitable c onflict with J-Horde was put on hold while the kingdom was absorbed.

Era of Reconstruction
With Tsaeloma brought under the control of Archon Cube and Regent Archon Hiiro, the province began efforts of repopulation and reconstruction. While not directly affected by the war, the land had been abandoned for some time and needed renovation. In the east and south, J-Horde had been undealt with and allowed to fester. With the help of Hiiro, Oliver managed to integrate J-Horde by threat of war. After 5 days of long conversations, the Wordesh Settlement was put into effect, with terms that were favorable and unfavorable to both sides. Tensions surrounding this settlement would only bring Tsaeloma closer to war.

Shortly after the integration, Rican was named as the Capital of the province. Moving it from De Sloog, Oliver built up a newly urbanized and modernized city. In the south, the ascension of the Silvish Industrial Revolution had brought on a new age to Tsaeloma. Keen people such as Hávi Asagrim had helped with exporting the revolution to Tsaeloma, causing the evolution of Tsaeloma into a modern and urbanized state, leading the pack with Tovarisha and Silvay.

Galadonni Exodus
After the success of the Tsaeloma-Jhorde war, Cassiath Bakura was promoted to the position of Duke and the province resumed a dramatic upward development. Under his leadership, the city of wordesh began a dramatic rise in population and became one of the most populous cities in the world. The governmental structure was expanded, and multiple institutions were created to support the state. This included things such as a local militia headed by Cassiath, a newspaper, and even a postal system.

This leadership shown by Cassiath would gain him many loyal followers in Wordesh, which would start to become a problem. Cass began to be frustrated with the national and provincial leadership, and his high levels of recruitment were revealed to be due to stealing members from other areas of the nation. He began to be seen as unmanageable and difficult to work with, and tensions grew between him and Oliver. This led to an impending revolution, which was stopped when Cass declared his intentions to Oliver, causing him to be immediately ousted from the province ant the nation.

This would not go over well, however, with many of Cass's recruits proving more loyal to him than Tsaeloma in the end. This caused more than two thirds of the tsaeloman population to exit, leaving a permanent scar on the province. The caravan would eventually land in Aldovir, founding the nation of Galadonn. Galadonni are still widely despised in Tsaeloma, and were banned from the province entirely after numerous raids which they conducted.

Tsaeloman Economy & Industry
Tsaeloma during the Silvish Industrial Revolution had revolutionized its province by maintaining and funding a vast Mercantile Fleet. Utilizing its Firming system and Shipwrights Firms Tsaeloma has a numerous amount of Mercantile ships across the world bringing Tsaeloman Trade to every corner of Rathnir.

Tsaeloman conflicts
Tsaeloma has been involved in many conflicts, most of them where mostly unknown and short-lived


 * Dormirsia - Tsaeloman war
 * Blackwater - De Sloog conflict
 * Emerald conflict (Valentum siege)
 * Entropy battle
 * Tsaeloma & TVA - IAV (also known as First Purple insurrection)
 * 3rd Coalition War (Under Viodoxa)
 * Tsaeloman-JHorde Conflict
 * 1st Istanboulder war (under Sirradra)
 * 2nd Istanboulder war (under Sirradra)

Culture
Tsaeloma's culture is referred to as Tsaelomakii (Travelers tongue: Children of Tsaeloma) it has two subcultures. The Slaekii (Travelers tongue: Children of Sloog) and Hantseakii (Travelers tongue: Children of Hanzeizh). Slaekii are the native people of the zone, related to tee old VIR and the Valdreacher people.

On the other hand, Hantseakii are the creole mixture of Hanzeian and Slaekii ethnicities. The creole culture ended up being the most prominent and most advanced in the area, turning Slaekii into a minority ethnic group.

Customs
Tsaelomans have very unique customs. The most famous one is the well known Tsaeloman Spar

Another custom is hockey, locally known as tsonsaev, or "stone stick". It was imported into tsaeloma from the ports of Rican. While its origins are nebulous, it is commonly thought to have been brought over by immigrants from Ejznlandt. After its introduction, it quickly gained popularity in both slaeg and hanzhiezh circles and there are now rinks in nearly every tsaeloman city.

Food
Tsaeloman food is rich on proteins, specially on protein D and B. It usually very spicy, since the only available spices in the underground where paprika, and salt. Other spices where usually very rare, and considered exotic. Most crops in Tsaeloma grow massive ammounts in the summer time, so the summer is the perfect time to have big feasts.

Usual ingredients:
The most common ingredients in Tsaeloma are: Red and Brown mushrooms, Beans, Peas, glow berries, glow berry leaf, salt, potato, tomato

Unusual ingredients:
Lamb (Meat in general)

Prohibited food:
Any type of pig related dishes.

Yellow heart soup
Ingredients: Red and brown mushrooms, dandelions, water, glow berry sauce, paprika, salt, lamb (very rarely)

Dandelion Tea
Dandelion tea is a very sour tea made in de sloog caverns. It is said to have roots on the old VIR, which took the recipee from the Bardonian republic.

Ingredients: Dandelions, boiling water. (Sometimes, Tsaeloman kids add slaeg ant honey to make the tea easier to drink.)

Glow berry tea
Glow berry tea is a very sweet tea that's often eaten alongside paprika. It has a thick texture, almost honey-like. Some say that the glow berry tea makes children grow up to have better eyesight, but it has never been properly studied.

Ingredients: Glow berry leafs and vines, Glow berry juice, paprika.

Language
Tsaeloma's languages are nearly entirely consistent of Slaetsoneg and Hanzeizh.

Slaetsoneg
The native language of the region, slaetsoneg evolved from Old Valdreach, the primary language of the VIR. It's mostly spoken by the slaekii people, and is only a majority in the same areas that the slaekii are.

Hanzeizh
Hanzeizh is spoken by the majority of people in Tsaeloma, having been imported from Viodoxa which got it from Bardonia. It's also the language of government, and is commonly seen as a more refined language.

Clothing
Tsaeloman cothing is usually quite victorian in style, often made of wool or cotton, and is often accompanied by heavy coats in areas such as the cold mountains of Wordesh. There also exists traditional clothing primarily worn by the subterranean citizens, which is made mostly of things such as dried vines or spider silk. It is often quite lightweight due to the warm temperatures, and decorative clothing is often dyed by glowberry juice or glow squid ink to produce a luminous effect.

Art
Art in tsaeloman culture is split upon the cultural boundaries which exist within the region.

Slaeg Art
Slaeg art commonly emphasize elaborate stone carving and metalworking skills. Tsaeloman death masks are one object of interest, with elaborate busts being traditionally made of the deceased and being placed inside their tombs. For the significantly rich, this can even escalate to full statues. Other prominent art forms include mosaics and pottery as well.

Other Art
Non-Slaeg art in Tsaeloma is quite varied, with the ports of Rican being a large point of ingress for various styles. Some of those which have risen to the most prominence, however, are oil painting, woodcutting, and statuary.

Architecture
Tsaeloman architecture is largely varied, and can often change from city to city on the surface. The most unique architecture is seen in the province's characteristic underground cities, such as that of Saerturat and De Sloog. These areas exhibit very little wooden construction, as such material is scarce in subterranean conditions, and thus it is most common to see buildings almost entirely made of various types of stone. This in turn causes formations typical of masonry, such as arches and pillars, to hold an exaggerated prominence.