Rulcaria

Location of Rulcaria

### Religion

Primarily Natrakhsanian, with large Muslim minority and a smaller Christian minority, small Azra U'Makian community from remnants of Urilian population

Rulcaria is a country within the Nesarian Empire. Its head of state is the President, but the old King remains ceremonially important and retains some influence. Its national animal is the Crowned Horse.

The name Rulcaria is the Elvicised form of Rulkhar, which literally translates as "northern horse".

The Rulcarians are generally recognised as the same people as the Asmocarians, belonging to the same ethno-linguistic group, but they are geographically separated and have undergone significant cultural divergence.

The coastal regions of Rulcaria are warm and humid, particularly the east, but the interior consists of dry steppeland. Prior to the dissipation of the Great Storm, the difference between these two climates was less extreme, and the steppe was cooler and wetter. It is thought that it is on this steppe that the entire Asmo-Rulcarian ethno-linguistic group was founded, amongst an unknown tribe (known to the Asmocarians and Rulcarians as the "Batshurul", lit. "progenitors") which rose to dominance across the steppelands of eastern Inecuria. The debate over where exactly in Rulcaria this tribe originated from is heated and ongoing.

With a population of 48,907,628, Rulcaria is the seventh most populous country of the Empire. Most of this population lies along the cities of the coast; comparatively very few of them live on the dry steppe.

## Aukan

Aukan is a historic region of Rulcaria on the far eastern shore which is almost exclusively populated by Aukani Orcs, and which is almost exclusively Muslim.

Historically, prior to the conquests of Emperor Athdus the Great, Aukan was an independent entity, governed by the *Dagron Aukani*, which is translated either as Aukani Confederacy or Confederacy of Aukan. This Confederacy consisted of a political union between the five Counts of Aukan, who ruled together as legal equals - though in times of war they would typically elect from amongst themselves a leader to command the nation. The Confederacy was very ancient, preceding written records, but it is known to have broken apart several times before being reformed, with gaps between unification ranging from just a few months to around 39 years (from approx. 604 to 565 BC).

The Aukani Confederacy became a tributary of the Nesarian Empire under Emperor Athdus, but was not incorporated into the Empire until Empress Rixa and the Counts signed the Treaty of Ekzan in 141. The Confederacy was integrated into the Empire essentially as-is until the Time of Troubles, when Rulcarian state forces marched into Aukan in 944 and effectively conquered it, absorbing the Confederacy into Rulcaria. Aukan still politically remains part of Rulcaria to this day, but did not achieve anything close to its former autonomy until 1852, in the wake of the Rulcarian Jihad, when the Emirate of Aukan (or *Amrat Aukani*) was established as an "autonomous vassal state".

The Emirate of Aukan is a *de facto* Orcish ethnostate, ruled over by a council of the hereditary Counts of Aukan, presided over by the Emir (or *Ammer*), which since the inception of the Emirate has hailed from the Agranor dynasty. The Emirate governs according to the fullest extent of Islamic *Sharia* law that the Imperial state will allow.

## Religion

Rulcaria predominantly adheres to Natrakhsan, the tradition religion of the Asmo-Rulcarian people. However, Rulcaria also contains a significant Christian population, following the Elvic Rite (obviously translated into Rulkhareg) - but it contains an even larger Muslim population, as the Rulcarians proved to be the most receptive to Islam out of any other Imperial people. 17.12 million Rulcarians identify as Muslim, approximately 35% of country, meaning that both in proportional and absolute terms, Rulcaria holds the largest Muslim community out of any other country in Inecuria; both the northern coast and Aukan are overwhelmingly (i.e. over 90%) Muslim, and much of the eastern coast is approximately 40-50% Muslim. Over 99% of these Muslims belong to the Sunni sect, and approximately 80% of them adhere to the Maliki school of thought (*madhhab*).

Many scholars, however, say that the Rulcarian Muslims *de facto* adhere to an informal school that they label Rulkhari, which differs from the Maliki school in the level of emphasis it places on *Urf* - that is, local traditions and customs which do not violate the principles of *sharia*. This chiefly manifests itself in art; Rulcarian Muslims consider music to be permissible as long as what the music is *about* is permissible, and they only object to images when they depict the Prophet Mohammad or God, or if those images are sinful in nature. In practice, most Rulcarian Muslims also pray in Rulkhareg and read a Rulkhareg translation of the Quran; it is only those with an especially strong devotion who learn Arabic to read the Quran in the original language. The Aukanis do the same but obviously they have it in Aukani, not Rulkhareg.

Those areas which are overwhelmingly Muslim gained the right to autonomous self-governance based on *sharia* law as a result of their rebellion during the Civil War. The one area where they are forbidden from practicing the full extent of *sharia* is the application of the death penalty. Under Imperial law, the death penalty is required for rape and is permitted for murder and sacrilegious acts; it is prohibited for any other offence. This means, for example, that the use of the death penalty as a punishment for apostasy would be illegal and is considered to be murder under Imperial law.

## Ancient Populations

Much like with Asmocaria, the ancient demographics of Rulcaria differ significantly from the modern state of affairs. Although virtually nothing is known about them, it is known that the majority of Rulcaria used to be from a different linguistic group than the Asmo-Rulcarians. Some historians have theorised, based on the phenotypical resemblance of far northern Rulcarians to far nothern Calsunarians, that these two populations may have originally been the same, but there is little evidence for this beyond the physical resemblance.

As well as ancient Rulcaria having more diversity amongst Humans, it also had a higher presence of non-Human races. Archaeological findings have shown that the Aukani Orcs, who occupy a small section of the eastern coast, once spread out across the entire eastern portion of Rulcaria, and some may have lived as nomads on the interior steppe. The reason why they disappeared is unknown, but it can be assumed that Human migration drove their population eastward to become concentrated in what now constitutes Aukan.

Rulcaria also used to be home to a large population of Urilians. Prior to Human expansion across the country, the Urilians lived across most of the western coast, but much like the Orcs their populations were driven to concentrate in a single area, the far south-west, which became Urili. The Urilian population is now very small as a result of the Urilian Deportation, housing approximately 40,000 of the 50,000 Urilians which remain in Inecuria.

## Flag

The flag of Rulcaria is a white rearing horse on an emerald-green background. Unlike most of the flags of the other Imperial countries, the Rulcarian flag is square, not rectangular.

* The horse is the national symbol of Rulcaria, much like with Asmocaria. They are believed to be strongly imbued with Natrakh (the Great Spirit).
* There is no particular symbolic meaning to the stance of the horse, it is simply aesthetic, but some have suggested a reverse-engineered meaning of the rearing horse signifying the readiness of Rulcaria to fight or work together at a moment's notice.
* In the Asmo-Rulcarian tradition, white represents either peace or prosperity, often both. The white colour of the horse therefore signifies the peace and prosperity that Rulcarians seek to achieve.
* The emerald-green colour of the background is strongly associated with Rulcaria in particular, strongly featuring in various banners and fabrics in all manner of archaeological sites. This comes from the emerald-green colour of the eyes of the Crowned Horse and the Titan named Kuhankhar.

### Aukan

Aukan is generally considered to have two flags; the modern flag of the Emirate of Aukan (named the "Green Confession") and the ancient flag of the historic Aukani Confederacy, which is used to represent Aukan alongside the Green Confession.

#### Green Confession

* The green background of the Green Confession represents the Orcish race. This shade of green does not actually appear amongst Aukani Orcs, but was chosen because the actual skin colours of Aukanis would not look particularly aesthetically pleasing on a flag.
* The Arabic calligraphy depicts the *Shahada*, the Islamic confession of faith, hence the "Confession" part of Green Confession.
* The *Shahada* is written in black as this is the traditional Orcish colour of war, shared also with the Mortians/Mortogis, Ruawis and Drazakis.