The Alaran Empire

The Alaran Empire, also known as Alaran, is a nation in The Free Isles and where Thrilling Intent begins. The storyline arcs The Adventure Begins, the beginning of The Adventure Began, Incorpageddon and Netherworld Series take place here.
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== History ==
Alaran is known as the trade powerhouse of The Free Isles. The nation formerly owned several colonies, including the former nation of Grius, now known as the Shrouded Isles. However, it has been stated that infighting between the corporations has turned their eyes inwards.
Little else is currently known about the history of Alaran, however it is presumed that it may be ruled by an Emperor/Empress as the nation's title suggests. 
More recently, during the events of BIG WAR, a group of Alarani stole the staff of life from Xin. They would make a trade deal with the Kuravians to trade the staff, resulting in the creation of the Tax Haven bank. Things would quickly go south as the two factions would turn against each other and the bank itself would be destroyed dramatically. 
== Culture ==
The Alaranni are known for having a penchant for money and bureaucracy. In spite of their industrial and prosperous image, a vast majority of the nation is in fact barren and relatively desolate. Alaran is a strictly human country and its inhabitants, particularly those in charge, are known to be quite intolerant of non-humans. They also frequently seem to regulate the power they give to their citizens and hold a general dislike of anyone with a rebellious spirit and means to overthrow the high-ranking members of the Alaran society. Their holidays are known to be generally unpleasant; for example, on Tax Day - on the 25th of December, creatures known as Tax Goats come and take money from citizens, allegedly also killing 10% of the Alaranni population. On the 31st of Tenthmonth, Alarn celebrates Costume Day, where one dresses up as another person from Alaran and commits henous deeds under their name. Thog claims every holiday is "a day when you stay inside and cower in fear."
Silver, specifically silver jewelry, is a sign of stature in Alaranni culture and is one way the Alaranni like to flaunt their wealth.
Somewhere in Alaran there is a giant stone pyramid that sells fishing supplies.
They are currently attempting to improve their nation's image by taking a hard no-drug and no-alcohol stance on life.
At least some guards and workers are equipped with anti-union alarm bells, that are to be pressed in the emergency of someone either trying to start a union or mentioning being unionized.
The armor of the plentiful Alarani guards are actually made of recolored wood and cardboard.
While the main language of the Free Isles is Free, there is another language primarily found in Alaran known as Premium. One must pay in order to have access to it, and pay microtransactions, referred to as macrotransactions for the prestige, to have access to the highest quality slurs.
Similar to our world, Alaran uses stored reference objects to preserve different units of measurement. In our world, an example would be a stored object designated to represent a pound across time, however Alaran drives that to the extreme. In the Tax Haven bank, small replicas of an ideal Alarani life are preserved here as a reference point over time. The ideal life involves a small plot of land with a small house and a tiny plot of crops. The ideal retirement is considered to be a compost heap.Some cities in Alaran include Midtown, Ocean Valley, and Steel City. Steel City in particular is well known for its baseball prowess through its team, The The Devils.
In the surrounding area of Steel City is an area once called Burgeoning Meadows, that was renamed to Poor Mountain due to conflicts with the Steel City beuaucracy, and on the other side of said mountain a settlement known as Famine Valley. Another settlement known as Sickly City once existed but was wiped out by a typhoon after surviving a plague.
== Baseball ==
Baseball is a massive part of Alarani life, to the point that in playing baseball one is allowed some exceptions to the generally ridgid rules of society. Starting less than fifty years ago, the winning team of the World Series gets to use demon summoning magic to summon their team mascot from 'beyond the veil' to roam around the mortal world for a year. It is primarily associated with demons, though any extraplanar entity is eligible. The winning team also gains some level of political prestige and a full pardon. Some known Alarani Baseball teams are The Grubs, the West Wormwoods, and "The Steel City The Devils", The Spankies, The Unknowables, and The Skybrood, and The Midtown Bottomliners. Some notable players are pitcher Thomas Habernathy, batter Chubsy McGoo, outfielder Dick Ballerson, Bull Steverson, Chunk Stuffinthetrunk, Pissy Cryboy, Steve Moneymove, Sicknar Francis, Baseball Johnson, Charles "The Kid" Grownman, "Dirty" Deelo Brown, outfielder "Tricky" Tilly McGunderson, Milf Hunter, Grand Slam Gehrman, runner "Makeup Game" Micolash, and the late Barry Clubs. Some prisoners are sent into forced labor as baseball players on a team, and some people even have bounties placed on their heads to threaten them into playing. One entity that has been summoned multiple times in the past include The The Devil, by The Steel City The Devils. 
The amount of players per team is determined by the amount of players a team is willing to put a down payment for, though additional payments can be made for more players, equipment or even stadiums. This gives a natural advantage to wealthy areas. The first rule of baseball is no dogs, though items such as iron maidens and cages are allowed for use in the game, as well as balls of various materials. This wealth manifests in the form of Baseball Bucks, the currency used for all things baseball. Winning against a team in the ladder as one progresses in the World Series is how one can acquire more Baseball Bucks to improve one's team and is the primary driver of progression in the World Series. Qualification into the series requires a team to have matching merchandise, which is acquired by poorer teams through picking off others in their bracket until they acquire sufficient Baseball Bucks. Raiding and sabotage is a common occurrence during the season. Mascots can be summoned in a game as a last ditch play, being able to sway the tides of the basebattle tremendously. Due to their power, they must be used sparingly in order to preserve the element of surprise.
Midtown is the home of the Bottomliners, with their patron being some form of well demon, an entity that emerges from wells and pulls in children and strangles people. The pact itself would result in the death of the Bottomliners in the case of their loss and tragedy upon all of Alaran in the case of their victory before the contract was altered by Markus Velafi. They would end up knocked out of the season early after being attacked by the Sky Brood, with the playing field being detonated by dozens of landmines.
The Ocean Valley Sky Brood is one of the more well known teams in Alaran. Their strategy involves intense levels of sabotage, reigning down chaos from their flying airship that is held together by their mascot. They tend to prey on weaker teams. Their captain is "The Sky Broad" Sigma Zamboni, who is a massive deal in the baseball world. They formerly kept a lot of chickens on their airship until they were released by the Nine Shrines team. 
Steel City is the home city of The Steel City The Devils baseball team. Notable members of The Steel City The Devils throughout history include Pissy Cryboy and Sicknar Francis. The current team is comprised of Grandma Destroyer, Beef Sunday, Money Bloodman, Two Dollars, and The Circumstance. 
== Characters From Alaran ==
* Thog
* Moren
* Karen
* The Copyrider
* Xavin Skalbern the Second
*Doctor Acula
*Thog's Grandma
Category:Nations
Category:Locations