Palovina

Palovina is a town situated in the Southwestern end of Rathnir. Founded on 9/26/2020 by Keechoo, Palovina appears to be fairly isolated in comparison to the towns of the East.

Palovina, despite the similar name and same founder, is not historically related to Rovina in the server, due to Keechoo's belief in a full clean slate where no towns or nations are brought over to Rathnir without reason.

History
Palovina first saw development on the founding day of the server, 9/25/2020. Keechoo had plans to found Palovina soon after the release of the server, upon his findings of a unique swamplands with a village just by it. However, the increased town price (£2500) caused this to be delayed. Only upon the realization of a Mesa biome far North did Keechoo earn enough money to found the city.

Later on, Palovina soon interested two people in uniting as a nation. One was the leader of Sanctuary, though the other was nationless. Keechoo gave them the funds to found their own town, which they created and named Truthless, before disbanding it 2 minutes later and asking to join Keechoo's town. After being told they would consider it, any trace of Truthless or their founder was swept away.

Sanctuary did follow through in joining Palovina though, as they went on to found Paloro. Soon enough, after several diplomatic talks between the towns of the West, Paloro became The Empire of Uldarash, growing mightily and uniting with their Western neighbors.

It was upon the founding of Uldarash, in which Palovina quickly lost its political capital status. Keechoo, the sole resident, took no offense to this, though Palovina soon receded into a further obscure part of the empire. Due to the strength of the empire, however, trade would finally find itself flourishing. As of now, however, Palovina's growth remains stagnant on the world stage, a still presence defined by the nation it founded within a day. At most, all that is seen in Palovina's ambitions is a desire to grow its own culture and identity unique from any other civilizations in the entirety of Rathnir. Through this desire, there has been a significant increase in nationalism, but not to the degree that Palovina would dare attack The Empire of Uldarash for independence.

On 10/27/2020, Palovina was promoted into a duchy, with Keechoo as the duke. The people of The Stone Cult have a town named Felsonsvhon that is under the duchy, but they consider themselves citizens of Palovina.

Culture
Palovinan culture is not well developed. Finding themselves surrounded by swamps, and in a now desolate village, Palovina has suffered from many aspects of their surroundings. Lilypads are treasured, given their importance in navigating the marshes, and despite being the founding point for Palovina, the majority of swampland directly near Palovina has been cleared a fair amount. The swamp is now seen mostly as a nuisance, especially with the rise of writing in Rathnir causing an excess need for squids, which do not live naturally in the swamps Palovina is surrounded by.

Military Tradition
Combat over the land is not exactly preferred unless Palovinan soldiers possess a higher ground for fire. This typically results in a war strategy in which soldiers will rapidly place lilypads to give chase, or use boats and arrows to lay fire when invading. Overall though, Palovina's military tradition, alongside the majority of Earth's nations, can be seen in the outfits of the players. The outfit is made in mind of the swamp waters, in hopes of better hiding troops upon invasion of their home land. Due to the lack of any war in Haven, there will probably be no way to know for sure of it's success.

Religion
Palovina is a largely religiously free nation, with no one following any specific religion whatsoever. The exact reasons for this are completely unknown, and Palovina as a result of it seems to be a very free society regarding behavior. Having close ties to Sanctuary, however, may eventually result in the spread of their religion throughout Haven, especially as Haven's Nether Highway will likely grow later in the future. To what degree, may simply be unknown.

Geography
Palovina is made up of a natural village, next to a swamp that turns to plains. Palovina is surrounded by two rivers, the nearest surrounding a mountain while the other drains into the swamp. Overviewing the entire land claimed by Palovina, however, brings far more diversity to the Palovinan landscape. Made up of 3 different major areas, Palovina's claims hold over mountains, swamps, and plains. The largest area, Palovina, occupies both plains and swamplands, which appear to be nearly clear cut, entirely naturally. Kesola, the second largest area, is considered an island that cuts off Haven's Heart. Though not exactly an island, as it is still connected to land, there have been publicly announced plans to construct a canal through Kesola to make it entirely an island, though not entirely true by those means. As for the smallest area within Palovina's claims, lies Verdania. A simple mountain, it is typically used for mining and not much else. It is separated from the rest of Palovina entirely from a river, but this hasn't proven itself to be a problem for any future plans regarding the mountain and Palovina as a whole. It can be noted that a hefty amount of Palovina is full of water. There have been no attempts to change this whatsoever, and Palovina proper has instead been cleared of its swamps, allowing for far more water to flow throughout the area. It could be supposed that such a small territory would easily result in this sort of behavior, given Palovina is not exactly losing any land through clearing out any part of the swamps and turning them effectively into lakes.

The Lilypad
The Lilypad of Palovina is a peculiar, naturally generated lilypad that situates itself on top of a dirt path instead of water. It is and will be, indefinitely, the most interesting thing about Palovina. Even if a mansion is erected in a day on top of the entire village, this lilypad is a wonder of nature, and has easily earned its spot as a natural world wonder.

In Palovina, it is illegal to touch the lilypad. Walking on it is allowed, but breaking any of the blocks near it is simply not allowed whatsoever. A fine of £15000 will be issued if anyone breaks the lilypad.

Structures
Palovina is home to few structures, due to its small size. The majority of structures are the essentials to towns, such as farms and animal pens. It is likely that most structures will be held either underground or far taller than they are wide, solely to prevent any bit of architecture from being griefed by barbarians and raiders taking advantage of unclaimed land.

Lilypad Fountain
Also referred to as "Haven's Heart", "The Heart of Palovina", and "The Compass", the Lilypad Fountain is the largest structure in Palovina. Stretching 13 blocks tall, it serves to show as a compass for passerby and signal the center of Palovina. It was erected on 10/22/2020. Originally, no water was flowing out of the fountain, though this was solely due to a plugin that prevented water from flowing whenever there was a lot of lag in the server.

The Forced Tower
Beginning construction on 10/24/2020, The Forced Tower was going to be an extremely tall fortress made to protect from invaders from the South. However, due to TheRealJay vs Cantheallmighty Incident, the tower was quickly rushed to completion, standing far shorter than it would have otherwise. A waste of resources, it is now simply maintained to greet other Uldarashi citizens visiting the town.

Slime Colossal
The Slime Colossal is a statue of a large slime spirit named Calmore, possessing two human legs, and a smaller shrine to the universal God of Uldarash, Ashuntash resting atop the colossal. Calmore is seen walking towards the Forced Tower, with a small creek under him. Believed to carry Ashuntash inside of him, the colossal is a tribute to the two spirits' unity, and hope of the same unity throughout the empire.

Shops
Palovina has a set "Public Market" under the center of town, where they sell official Palovinan banners, lilypads, slimeballs, leather, and more. There are plans already established to create a bar directly under the market, for anyone in the continent of Haven to enjoy. These shops have seen a good amount of success, due to their cheap prices and unique items. Most people come to the shops to buy slimeballs, but will typically find they are already sold out by the time the shops are restocked.