Halennor

Physical Map of Halennor

Halennor is a country in the north of Tirónar. It is run by the Grump Council.

## 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

Halennor was the first country to rise up against Waldren. After centuries of watching Waldren ship the fruits of their labor to some distant land that they'd never seen nor particularly cared about, the newest generation of Halennorians decided they wanted what their neighbors in the south had; independence. Inspired by how Haneul and the Island League had successfully fended off the Waldren invaders, in 1445, these young rebels attempted to rise up against Waldren on their own. This took the form of a strike, where the rebels refused to produce or hand over the goods they produced to the Waldren ships that arrived to pick them up and sell them elsewhere. In response, Waldren forcefully took the goods themselves, threatening worse punishment if things were not back to normal when they next returned. Soon afterward, the Halennorian rebels requested aid directly from their southern neighbors, Haneul and the Island League. Despite its inability to defeat Haneul and the League in the past, Waldren spent several years depleting its ships and manpower in Lantraeth to the west and Duilintinn to the south in an attempt to quell this rebellion. Eventually, in 1453, Waldren was forced to admit defeat and retreat to its southern holdings.

Halennor's successful rebellion against Waldren had several side-effects. First, 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.

### Modern Era

The concept of the "Grump Council" was stumbled upon soon after the region’s secession from Waldren. This council of fledgling leaders would often argue back and forth between each other as they navigated the ins and outs of running a country, earning them this nickname from the citizen population. The council, now finding their stride and realizing that healthy (if intense) debate is actually a *great* way to run a country, embraced this reputation and officially naming themselves “The Grump Council.”

## Government

### Politics

Halennor is ruled by a council of leaders known as “The Grump Council” or just “The Grumps.” This council makes policy by debating all of the possible courses of action, agrees upon one, and then reconvenes to discuss the efficacy of this plan and whether it needs to be changed. Once a plan is agreed upon, a single chosen member of the council will coordinate the actual implementation of the policy among local governments. This prevents any differences of opinion within the council from undermining the efficacy of the policy itself. Once chosen, each policy must be given a fair chance at success; otherwise, this would be an incredibly dysfunctional government. This administrative style does have a catch; once implemented, local governments can and will adapt these policies to better fit their specific circumstances… which can be both good and bad, depending on the situation.

### Military

There is very little military regulations or organization in Halennor. Local militias are organized at a grassroots level in case of an emergency, but Halennor faces very few threats beyond the old magic and mother nature herself.

## Geography

### Major Regions

The entire country is a single semi-forested region, with thick clusters of trees growing between patches of rocky mountain soil. The lack of fertile land initially prompted settlers to cut down wide swaths of these forests to expose the better soil within for agriculture, but without the tree roots holding the land in place, erosion ruined those fields as well. The logs were carefully preserved by Waldren for future building projects that never happened and are now exported for other necessary goods. The remaining forests are mostly left alone. The cold waters of the Harrowing Sea to the north are teeming with fish and aquaculture. Amidst the rocky slopes of the Winged Peaks, ancient ruins and relics lay exposed after centuries of erosion.

### Climate

Temperate maritime climate, with consistent precipitation throughout the year, mild summers, and dark, cold winters. Comparable to the climate of the Netherlands or the northern United Kingdom.

## Economy

Halennor exports lumber, whale oil, and various minerals.

### Agriculture

Aquaculture, imports from other nations, and hunting/scavenging if necessary are all food sources in Halennor. This is not good land for agriculture.

### 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, Halennor doesn't sport any unique naval advancements.

### Transportation

Like Lantraeth, Halennor is very open-border. There's simply too much coastline to monitor it all. That being said, travel to both of these nations beyond trade, business, or immigration is rare.

## Demography

### Education

The education is fairly unregulated for the administrative reasons listed above, but teaching understanding, respect, and wariness towards the old magic is almost universal. It's almost as if you could hurt yourself if you didn't understand the ancient relic you were messing around with.

### Sentient Species

While Stone Walkers can be encountered in nearly any mountainous region, they can only tread on exposed rock, and are rarely seen in the lower elevation areas where civilization can be found. However, Halennor suffers from so much erosion, the rocky soil of the mountains actually extends far enough for local stone walkers to visit and even live among the southern portions of the population.

## Culture

Very focused on the remains of the past and their origins. The region is an archaeologist’s dream come true, with constant erosion uncovering new ruins and relics each day. These relics are treated with… well, not exactly reverence, but some level of respect. The people attempt to reincorporate these items into their culture and daily lives, with mixed results. Some will adapt surprisingly well, despite their age. Others are completely inscrutable, or worse, break entirely. Most catastrophic of all, some will cause outright damage to persons or property in its vicinity. For some reason, this seems to be the most entertaining outcome for the people of Halennor, who never turn down at an opportunity to argue or complain loudly and dramatically at problems of their own creation. The entire culture revolves around these relics and the questions “what if,” “why not,” and “what’s the worst that could happen.” To be honest, no one really understands how the entire region hasn’t self-destructed yet.

### Perspective on Magic

Halennor's perspective on magic is very similar to its perspective on the relics described above. Many of these relics are enchanted or carry magical properties in some way. These magical effects are dubbed “the old magic,” because not only are they ancient, but many of them defy the known laws of magic in ways we don’t entirely understand. Thankfully, the age of these relics makes their spell effects very weak; most discharge a single spell when first touched that uses all of the magic within and then function as any other non-magical relic. Since the people of Halennor don’t treat the old magic differently than mundane relics in any way… well, things get interesting from time to time. Ordinary spell-based magic is viewed in a similar manner, with magical education often consisting of the phrase, “hold my beer,” uttered by both student and teacher alike. Complete with mandatory complaining and arguing about the effects afterward.

## Foreign Relations

### Known Allies

Halennor is allied with Duilintinn, Haneul, and Leyfel.

### Public Opinion

Historically, the public has a generally mixed, leaning towards positive opinion on Halennor, though some criticize the council’s inability to uphold all of the policies they’ve enacted over the years, and multiple scandals have taken place surrounding individual members of the Council, some of which were severe enough to result in that member’s exile from the country.