Lore / Feet Republic

(A reminder that Meorenell Decade is equal to 8 years, Century to 64 years, and Millennium to 512)

• General History

“Serve Her Feet!”

The youngest of the Four Great Nations, but well deserving of its status still.

The history of this land is… complicated. Most of the early facts have been lost due to internal cultural conflicts among the Feets, and only splinters of truths can be studied in the haystack of myths. Yet, through all history, the Feets have proven themselves to be exceptionally adaptable to all kinds of changes they face.

It all starts in the Primal Age of Crumbling, when culturally antagonistic tribes, sistren accused of the Envy, various outcasts wanting their own place, or simply wandering vagabonds, tried to sought a land where they could discard themselves and start a new life. Many moved north, but they were driven even further and further over time, until no place left to go but beyond the Plaguelands of the Crus, to Her Feet, where no other had yet settled – a homeside that would be mythically known as Feetland to the rest of Meority.

The traversal of our sistren awakened The Brood of the Crus from its slumber – parasites who were brought into the ancient wound with the cosmic saliva, awaiting for orders from their creator still dead. The Infernal Malady begun to spread and eventually blocked all save passages from the Feet Region to the rest of Her Gorgeousness.

Over few generations, the Feets forgot about the world outside and why we exist. For the next few millennia they were assuming themselves to be the only ones, on this small land surrounded by an endless ocean, knowing only brutality of existence – both towards each other and from the Brood. They believed the land was divided into two world: World of Evil on the west, where the Infernal Malady and Umbral Horrors created by the Evil Gods from below, a wasteland no worth of exploring, and the World of Life on the east, where the creations of Heavenly Deities were sent from above. Both worlds exist as a contest to determine whose creations will evolve to the perfection, and therefore – who will rule after the end of the universe. Perhaps a handful of settlements located along the safest passages through the Crus would encounter strangers from the outside world once a decade, but as not every tribe was present in Feetland, their violent culture saw many outsiders as the creations of the Evil Gods which should be eradicated.

Nevertheless, The Feets’ ideas about the world were very close to reality. The Evil Gods they believed in, were the representations of The Eternal Serpent; Jealous Beastiary were regarded as the evil spirits, while the Envious and Hellgrafted creatures – are those who were possessed by such spirits; the Gift of Creation is deemed a blessing of reincarnation, earned after achieving incredible feats in previous lives… but the knowledge about Meora has been fragmented into multiple Heavenly Deities.

Our mainland ancestors at least knew of Feetland‘s existence, although they never attempted to reach it, believing that it was already teeming with Jealous Beastiary.

Albeit many Feets were farmers, hunters and craftsmen, they would honor only one law – of strength and violence… sometimes too much to cultivate the Envy within their clans. People banded together into barbarian villages, fighting over scares arable land and resources, or gather into bands of raiders, showing only weak signs of a coherent culture. Feets fought among themselves so much that numerous Envious cults and villages sprang up across the region, fighting each other as vigorously as they did with anyone else. In their desperate survival, the Feets ate fish, but the most horizonless would even feed on carcasses of Umbral Horrors after they had dried out of poisonous Malady.

This isolation lasted until around twenty-second century UAA, when several explorer ships of Yagodus Kingdom headed straight north and never returned. Presumably, most ships were attacked and sunk, by either Monstrous Sea Creatures or warsome locals. However, two of them landed too close to a village of a decidedly canny all-female clan of Ronir, known as the Yamazons. Both crews were captured and interrogated. Knowledge was taken: of the shipbuilding, of seafaring, of the true world outside, and of riches beyond.

The Yamazons attempted to cross the Sea – and they succeeded, bringing home spoils and loot of plunder, and, of course a full ship of hot, innocent futales of unknown tribes, to endlessly own and breed them until their pelvises are shattered.

***

While the Yamazons continued to raid in secrecy from other clans, rumors eventually spread. Feets begun seafaring, pillaging and trading. Although their vessels were mere a parody of Yagodus expeditionary fleet, they made rapid progress, and those Feets who participated in such voyages were called Vagyaru.

Most Vagyaru organized raids as a way to provide themselves with the entertainment rather than to loot unique goods (which was just a nice bonus), which is not surprising given the tribes they were made up of: these were mostly Kuror, Oulfar, Yangee and Feral Tofar. Only a few, like, Purscesses or Hemi, were interested in non-violent trading… when it was less annoying to them. These raider were known for their flashy armor painted in vibrant colors and leopard patterns, bright blonde, pink or lime plumes of their helmets, and heavy, wild war makeup – a fashion of death, because whether Vagyaru is killing or killed, they wanted the Heavenly Deities to find them on the battlefield and witness their fearless heroic deeds.

For all this time, the Leviathan of the Crus cared little for the Feets, or more likely saw them as a trophy and a mockery of the Allmother, allowing our lost sistren to breed so that its own children could then feast on something tasty while gathering strength for the main dish. When the Pestilential Cellulite of the Northern Continent came, and the people of Thigh Region abandoned their lands, the Vagyaru took the opportunity to conquer some Thighlands for themselves, but a couple centuries later they were driven back by, the still-noble, legions of the Hegemony, who began the reconquest of the lost lands.

Albeit the Vagyaru were a small faction of Feets, their historical impact made over most of the Northern Continent during the last fifteen centuries of the Age of Crumbling, remembered as the Vagyaru Era, overshadowed only by the Hegemony itself, and despite all its might, even the Hegemony failed to achieve any substantial progress in the conquering of Feetland.

Later, when news of the Grievous Strife reached Feetic clans, a new great raid was gathered. Yet, just as suddenly as they had arrived to pillage, as suddenly they left, hearing the words of the Aspects Begotten and accepting the approach of a new Age. And when the First Angel of Candor fought the Leviathan of the Crus, many of the Envious Vagyaru clans also perished, and with the pressure and need for violence lessened, a more civilized culture started to rise in Feetland.

The sixth century AA was the pivotal moment: for a long time the Ralamians had been concerned about the food sustainability of the entire tribe, questioning if they should eventually limit their birthrates, but with the rediscovery of Feetalnd and its subsequent taming by Meority, a new kingdom was established by the Queen Eriza-Ren. She found the local soil to be ideal for farming certain silica-rich plants. By making alliances and trading with the less aggressive Feetic clans, she was able to contain the others who were not keen on friendship with outsiders, or any peace in general. Most of the valuable provinces submitted their crowns to the will of Eriza-Ren before other influential sovereign were able to react and arrange their own alliances. In less than a decade, most of Feetland was united under the rule of one Queen as the Great Feetraia. The already prevalent Matriarchy was used to implement the class system as a way to maintain civilized order, and most of Feetland gradually turned into a rural agrarian-aquacultural society, united together by the cultural bond of past and present Matriarchal customs.

***

Great Feetraia became a new point of interest for other tribes, adding to the already growing migration of those who hoped to shape a new nation, away from the old norms. Eventually, in thirteenth century, along with industrialization, radical changes were brewing in Feetland society. A new movement has begun demanding for the abolition of the Monarchy and a re-imagining of the old class system. In the early fourteenth century, after a quick civil war and the fall of the old crown, the country was reborn as the Feet Republic, and the first fair election to the House of Representative were held in the capital. It took additional four decades of careful transition for society to rise from a rural life and embrace technology, build new cities on shallow lakes and lagoons, and put roads connecting every province. Relaxed scientific and economic laws attracted many bright minds and opportunists to the country, giving the Republic a foot in technological race against other nations, including already established and powerful Three Great Nations. For continuous decades, The Republic had demonstrated fastest economic growth.

As a nation on the edge of Her Gorgeousness, in a world where the economy was already driven by a maritime trade, the Feet Republic focused on building fast and efficient ships to be part of that economy. Though it didn't bring them much profit at first, save for a few local beverage brands, they were fearless enough to trade with other remote nations, which were as inaccessible and ignored by most of the Meority as the Republic, helping them develop and then, many decades latter, reap the benefits.

After numerous Envasion threatened to disrupt the stability of trade routes even further than they already did, the Republic decided to developed technologies to construct a strong navy and refine their tactics to efficiently monitor and prevent the terror of Jealous Beastiary in the waters they sail. As such, Feets were the first to start producing concrete ships, while other nation still relied on wood, then later they were the first to build steel ships, and now they employ the biggest navy constructed from polymer-based materials.

In due course, the Feet Republic Navy became the most powerful naval force in all the seas and oceans. With such might they were able to not only effectively fight the Serpent’s shoals, but also establish a near-monopoly on shipbuilding, maritime trade and travel. It was then, when the Three Great Nation were united to build the Fortress Cities of Taranel and Ratanel on the island of the same name, that the Feet Republic displayed its technological development and cultural values to the rest of Meority, and by the end of the sixteenth century, it was officially recognized as the Fourth Great Nation.

But who was behind all the successes of the Republic? Foot’s Ussa Company (FUC) – became globally-spanning trade empire the Meority had ever seen, first established before industrialization as a small enterprise in a small town. It brought an enormous wealth to the Feet Republic, but also an even greater influence to its owners, so much so that the Feetic Nation could no longer survive, let alone prosper, without FUC. In the early seventeenth centuries, at the peak of its supremacy, Foot’s Ussa Company was nationalized. The military arm of FUC became the official navy force of the Republic, still known as the Fleet of Feet, while the trading and transportation branch was re-branded into the World Economic Transportation (WET).

The Naval Ministry of Legislative and Executive Authority became, as its name suggests, the central executive body of the Republic, with Admiralty Board at the head of the state. Rapid militarization was enforced and fortifications were added on shores and borders of Feetland, after all, this country is not surrounded by allies – to the west are the Plaguelands of the Crus, where the Warped still breed, and any other direction leads to the oceans overrun by hungry Nightmares of Envy.

This day, some historians suspect that it was the Foot’s Ussa Company that first financially supported and propagated political unrest with the aim of overthrowing the residing Monarchy, then exerted economic pressure and influence on the new leadership, and then, several generations later, directly took control of the government under the guise of its own nationalization.

Still, this was not the final political shift in Feetland, hence why it is possible to write the previous paragraph with no fear of penalty. In the year one thousand ninety-two, during a supply recession and economical unrest caused by corporate mishandling, corrupt bureaucracy, military degradation and… other decade-long suspicious activities, the already famed Admiral Vulga Sugrifa, with the absolute support of the people of the Republic, the assistance of the Motherland Armies and the Fleet of Feet forces, and, above all, with the endorsement of the Fourth Angel of Hope, overthrew the old Admiralty Board and sent its members to the permanent penal servitude in the poorest vineyard, to work as toe-suckers for wine-treaders of the lowest quality wines.

Vulga Sugrifa was proclaimed Chancellor and Lord High Admiral of the Feet Republic. Most of the nation’s agencies and departments were ameliorated to their perfection, to oil the mighty machine that is the Feet Republic today. Only the Naval Ministry of Legislative and Executive Authority and its Admiralty Board were reorganized and relegated into a simple Admiralty in charge of the Fleet of Feet, and the House of Representative regained its lost powers. Since then, there has not been a single bribe, no sistren has gone starving, no child has been left homeless, and no futale has been maidenless. All Feets have found their purpose, moving the body of the nation forward, towards an era of prosperity. As the left and right legs – each Grazhdanin became equally important to each other and to the Great Nation as a whole… it is just that some are more equally important than others...

• General Geography and Economy

Being located at the highest altitude among of all the civilized nations of Meority, the inhabitants of the Feet Region experience dramatic changes in daylight hours from one season to the next. One might also expect to see drastic differences in temperature between seasons, but Warm Ocean Currents keep the local climate wonderfully temperate in most of Feetland, bringing only cold rains and fog instead of snow most of the time, but the downside is the high frequency of the storms, heavy rains and flooding in the southern provinces. Only a few northwestern provinces behind mountains witness icy waters in winter and sun-scorched grass in summer. Another pleasant factor is the absence of a Ring Shadow, even during winter it barely extends beyond the southern coast.

Much of Feetland is wetland, dotted in hundreds of thousands of shallow lakes, swamps and marshes rich in peat. It is therefore common for Feetic towns to be constructed on groups of small hills and islands in shoal waters, where boulevard and houses are separated by dozens of canals and connected by hundreds of bridges.

Yet, the soil quality in the Feet Region is too sterile by itself, making it difficult to grow many common crops efficiently, but perfect for specific silica-rich plants, harvested on the scale without which the Ralamians can’t sustain their current population. Only the regular winds coming from the Rusted Archipelago feed the plants: they carry dust rich with natural elements and minerals across the Northern Ocean to Feetland, where millions of tonnes of this Rusted Dust falling with the rains throughout a year, providing local plants with sought ought nutrients. But because the rains are too regular, these newly arrived nutrients are getting washed out too quickly from the soil, and as a consequence the native flora is highly competitive. The trees have adapted in many ways: they promptly absorb all the nutrients as soon as the rain comes, or kill rivals and turn them into additional compost, or feed directly off of them, or grow massive heavy and wide crowns to catch additional rainwater, and there are even walking trees that can move across swamps by a dozen meters a day. The most prominent are the Succulent Trees, the largest of which can spread their roots for several kilometers, greedily absorbing all the water before other plants do, and store it inside their leaves, where all the nutrients are quietly ingested; and when rains are plenty, these leaves engorge like balloons. Both Hallow Trees in this region are similarly Succulent, and you can only imagine the size of their leaves – water stored in them is so pure that it is recognized as the source of the cleanest natural drinking water on Meorenell. Which cannot be said about any flora on the border with the plaguelands of the Crus: perfectly in limbo between becoming Tarfested and staying natural, these plants produce corrosive acids, which are crucial in the production process of many factories, and play a key role in the modern armament of the Feetic armed forces.

Safe crops that evolved to grow quickly, spread their seeds, and die just as fast, rather than competing, became common in farming, such as bambooed grains. Fruits, berries and seeds are used to produce wines, vegetable oil, beverage and tea that are now popular in other parts of Meority. Local mushrooms are harvested to make mycelium leather for water-proof clothing, but at this moment this is not so viable. Instead, today Feets use polymer textile or silk from the Giant Mosquito larvae, for which the Republic is the largest exporter of footwear and stockings.

The local fauna consist mainly of small cowardly creatures, and very few dangerous predators, but people are wary of them anyway; like, elephant crabs, giant centipedes, swamp bears. But the scariest of them all are the Draconic Insects. If you see one, just run, never try to slap it, because it is big enough to slap you back.

What really flourished and fed the people of Feetland was Aquaculture. Even more so now – massive underwater farms cultivate Feetic kelp and algae to produce biofuels and polymers on a scale impossible to other nations. The Republic is already a major exporter of plastics, but it also buys up unused byproducts of agriculture and food production from the Empire of Hips and Thighs to turn that into additional bioplastic or use as fertilizer. In general, much of The Republic’s international trade involves buying basic material and turning them into complex products to sell back, like packaged medicine or silicone microchips. Recently, the most valuable products include synthetic minerals, like diamonds or sapphires. Although the Republic has the technology to produce many types of electronics, and the quality and speed of production of general goods is beyond the reach for other countries, there are complex key components that Feetic factories are not yet able to manufacture.

Among Feetland’s other unique exports are mercury, gallium, chlorine, and alkali metals, extracted from the mountains in the northern provinces and from brines.

WET (World Economic Transportation) remains the biggest freight and trade conglomerate thanks to its fast cargo fleets, but it is not without its problems. Due to the understandable mistrust between the Four Great Nations, WET is not allowed to operate in many other nations beyond of seaports – the delivery of cargo throughout the country is the job of national supply chain management organizations, and only a few ports allow WET to manage logistics on its own. But beside that, WET helps smaller nations export their products to the rest of Meority, which are mostly exotic foods, spices, fresh fruits, cured meat or rare minerals.