Lantraeth

Physical Map of Lantraeth

Lantraeth is a country on the west coast of Tirónar. It is ruled by the Princes Dan and Phil.

## Name Origin

Lantraeth’s name actually has a bit of meaning behind it, but like Halennor, Tandeli, and Leyfel, it was mostly just a product of desperate keysmashing.

According to Wikipedia, -traeth is a suffix used in the UK that means “beach,” so I tacked it onto the end of Princes Dan and Phil’s kingdom’s name. After all, there is a beach, and it is a pretty sandy region overall…

In universe, before Lantraeth was the name of a country, it was the name of a forest.

I’ve briefly mentioned in other posts that Lantraeth is home to a unique forest ecosystem of spruce trees with dark wood that have adapted to the rough soil conditions of the mountains and coast.
This forest plays a significant role in several moments of Lantraeth’s national history. In this case, when the two final city-states of the region agreed to unite together, they choose the name Lantraeth in symbolic recognition of the forest that had always connected them

## History

### Ancient Era

The ancient cultures of Lantraeth and Halennor were completely decimated by the Dragon War, to the point that, to this day, we know next to nothing about them. Scholarly theories propose that, while the people of these cold, northern regions may have built defenses similar to those in Haneul, these fortresses would have been rendered useless when the war caused unprecedented fires throughout both heavily forested regions. As a result, these peoples would have been trapped between a frozen coast and burning pines that hadn't been cleared by a forest fire for centuries. Regardless of how exactly the end came, the northern coasts of Halennor and Lantraeth were only sparsely populated by explorers, loggers, and travelers from the south when the Waldren Occupation began.

### Waldren Occupation

Waldren first landed in Leyfel around 1000, where they immediately established its first of many colonies. From there, the imperialists traveled north, where they quickly and easily took over the forested regions of Lantraeth and the rocky coast of Halennor, both of which were almost completely empty and practically defenseless after the Dragon War. With a source of lumber, mining opportunities, and tropical produce, Waldren was drunk on success and decided to seek more profit further inland.

### Interim Years

When Halennor revolted against Waldren in 1445, Waldren's attempts to retain control in the region forced it to prioritize its use of ships, manpower, and resources. As a result, Duilintinn and Lantraeth were largely ignored except as launching points for Waldren's ships towards Halennor. This began a period of salutary neglect in both countries. After losing so badly to the combined forces of Haneul, Halennor, and The Island League, Waldren was stretched thin and had no choice but to continue leaving these two regions to their own devices.

By 1480, Lantraeth had been under salutary neglect for several decades and began to develop its own factional governments. After a few decades of relatively minor conflict, these factions eventually coalesced into two distinct city-states. This government system would remain in place until the two city-states merged to form modern-day Lantraeth around 1540, ending Lantraeth's Interim Years.

### Modern Era

Lantraeth has been relatively successful and stable since its founding in 1540. The two regions have retained some of their differences while adopting a united identity as a kingdom, with support growing for both princes as a unit as well as two separate entities. Among other nations in Tirónar, Lantraeth immediately established itself as a place of peace, fair trade, and prosperity, soon making a name for itself with international trade and diplomats.

In the early 1600s, Duilntinn entered into a trade deal with Lantraeth for significant amounts of lumber. In Duilintinn’s three years of preparation between the Watch’s founding and official implementation, ten locations had to undergo various amounts of renovation in order to become garrisons and outposts of The Watch. That amount of construction required a lot of resources, and while Duilitinn has quite a few sources of metal and stone, the same cannot be said for wood. In an effort to limit the cost of importing the significant amounts of lumber necessary to complete these projects, Duilintinn struck a trade deal with the lumber industry of Lantraeth, allowing Duilintinn to import the wood at a reduced price, on the condition that all of the wood they use for the Watch projects would be bought from that specific nation. This gave the other nation a consistent and significant source of revenue for three years, while Duilintinn benefited from the discount.

In 1613, Prince Dan began to retreat from the public eye, much to the dismay of both those who considered the princes a unit and those who primarily saw Prince Dan as their representative. Over the next year, he would occasionally be present in the background of Prince Phil’s public appearances, but otherwise remained silent, with the exception of a major public statement in the Summer of 1614. In Fall 1615, he announced he was working on developing a mental health resource in conjunction with experts within the kingdom. In early 1616, he officially appeared with Prince Phil to explain his disappearance, describing how he not only needed the time to evaluate his own identity and desires outside of his leadership role, but also used the time to help Prince Phil plan for some infrastructure updates within the kingdom. These handful of appearances have largely appeased those who were upset by his disappearance, and most citizens of Lantraeth seem settled into the new balance of appearances between the two leaders.

## Government

### Politics

This kingdom was originally two separate city-states, but their two leaders decided to unite and rule the entire region as co-rulers. Rather than taking the title of “king,” the new monarchs decided to call each other “Prince” to emphasize the equality and brotherhood between them. The population is generally split between three political groups: one that prefers Prince Phil as a leader, one that prefers Prince Dan as a leader, and one that prefers when the two work together. The former two groups mostly consist of citizens who remember or are descendants of those who remember the time when Prince Phil and Prince Dan ruled two separate nations, though this isn’t always the case. Just like American political parties, there is no designated region where each group lives, but they tend to cluster in similar areas regardless. Supporters of Prince Dan only are more often found in the north, while supporters of Prince Phil only are more often found in the south. Unsurprisingly, this corresponds with the regions where the two independent nations ruled prior to joining together. These groups will generally coexist in harmony, though conflict can arise when one group or another doesn’t feel like their chosen leader is living up to their duty as their “representative.” Both leaders handle regional matters in their former separate lands on their own and come together for ruling the kingdom as a whole.

### Military

Similar to Halennor, Lantraeth faces few threats and doesn’t require a large army. There are a small navy and some local militias, but that’s about it.

## Geography

### Major Regions

The kingdom is fairly homogeneous geographically, with slight variations in regional climate between the north and south. The region is a sandy, coastal zone that only lends itself to sand-tolerant plantlife. Sparse, open forests of live oaks (a particularly tough and adaptable deciduous tree, often found close to the coast) cover almost the entire kingdom, but most other plant-life struggles to grow in Lantraeth’s sandy soil.

To the north, the Harrowing Sea crashes upon the kingdom’s wide coastline. To the south, the Winged Peaks separate Lantraeth’s damp climate from the drier plains of Borrike to the south.

### Climate

The climate of Lantraeth is comparable to real-world Western France. The winters of this region will hover just above freezing and the summer months very mild. Obviously, the further north you go, the colder it gets.Rain falls for about two-thirds of the year.  Consistent grey skies and light precipitation hang over the north. Intermittent periods of heavy rain are broken up by bright, rainbow-filled skies and mild humidity to the south.

## Economy

Lantraeth exports candles and other miscellaneous hand-crafted goods, Diplomats (arbitrators from Lantraeth are often called upon to mediate disputes across the continent), and, most importantly, salt and *LUMBER,* the latter of which is HEAVILY imported from Lantreath by Duilintinn.

### Agriculture

Aquaculture, hunting, semi-fertile farmland. The sandy soil isn’t the best for farming, so Lantraeth imports what they cannot grow themselves.

Lantraeth isn’t naturally very fertile, but the people are determined to work around that limitation.

I imagine that the soil in Lantraeth isn’t actually very fertile, being mostly a mixture of sand from the coast and/or rocks from the mountains. With the exception of the native dark spruce, which adapted specifically to that ecosystem, most plants struggle to grow in Lantraeth’s soil.

For a long time, the region relied heavily on aquaculture in the cold, coastal waters, using profits from the lumber trade to import other foods to supplement their lack of agriculture. However, in recent years, that has started to change. Princes Dan and Phil have put great effort into researching new agricultural techniques that might allow more plants to grow in an unfamiliar environment such as Lantraeth.

While there have been many failed attempts along the way, their efforts have slowly begun to yield fruit (pun intended). While Lantraeth is unlikely to ever have a booming agricultural system, its people no longer have to rely entirely upon aquaculture and foreign imports as their sole source of food.

### Science and Technology

We are at a relatively high level of ship tech due to the nature of the Eastern Sea. Namely, the fact that it's full of islands and weird storms and stuff. The reason that Tirónar went undiscovered for so long is that that's how long it took for other continents to figure out how to make boats that were maneuverable enough to navigate that part of the ocean! Since then, the ship tech that Waldren brought to Tirónar has been expanded upon enormously and, in some cases, adapted to fit other pre-existing ship tech in places like the Island League. This has allowed for trade between the nations of Tirónar to thrive, especially since it's incredibly difficult to cross between the mountains that form their inland borders (and even more difficult when you've got a lot of goods in the back of the cart!). Beyond that universal level of seafaring tech, however, Lantraeth doesn't sport any unique naval advancements.

### Transportation

Like Halennor, Lantraeth is very open-border. Too much coastline to monitor it all. That being said, travel to or from either of these nations beyond trade business or immigration is rare.

## Demography

### Language

The common language is spoken in Lantraeth.

Unfortunately, we don't know what language the people of Lantraeth spoke prior to the Waldren Occupation. Lantraeth is one of the places whose ancient cultures were completely lost in the wake of the Dragon War. As a result, while a smattering of languages from the south also made their way into the region, the vast majority of Lantraeth's population trace their ancestry back to settlers from Waldren. If any of the original language (or languages) survived the dragon war, it was almost immediately wiped out by the Common Tongue.

### Education

Well organized, with consistent educational curriculums throughout the kingdom that make sure to cover topics such as self-awareness and mental/emotional health along with the standard academic topics.

## Culture

### Values and Attitudes

This is a kingdom you could absolutely describe with the phrase “opposites attract.” Prior to the unification of this region, Prince Dan in the north and Prince Phil in the south were allies, with similar cultural landscapes that preached emotional openness, with a slight remnant of the counter culture that defined the regions' separation from Waldren's control. As time went on, emotional openness remained a major theme, but presented itself in different ways.

Prince Dan’s kingdom emphasized more openness and conversation about hard, troubling emotions, while Prince Phil’s kingdom was unabashedly enthusiastic and wore their hearts on their sleeves. This development took place over a long period of time, and at some point during this process, the two kingdoms were united by Prince Dan and Prince Phil. The two parallel cultures continue to influence each other and evolve in tandem to this day. Just like politics, you’ll find some citizens of Lantraeth who display more cultural traits of one or the other, but the overarching theme of emotional awareness and openness is what connects the kingdom as a whole.

### Perspectives on Magic

Relatively chill. Encourages understanding and awareness of your abilities and what you wish to do with them. Their understanding of how magic works is about on-par with the knowledge of Duilintinn’s scholars.

## Foreign Relations

### Known Allies

Lantraeth is officially allied with Tandeli, but is on good terms with and engages in trade with the majority of Tirónar in some capacity.

### Public Opinion

Generally positive, though Prince Dan’s recent and ongoing break from the public eye has raised some ire from some among his supporters who feel unrepresented in the kingdom’s government.

## Trivia

* I’m pretty sure there’s no spruce wood irl that’s naturally a dark brown color. However, this is my world, so I say that there’s a special variety of spruce in northern Tirónar that has a color similar to walnut wood