Ymaryn

The **Ymaryn Empire** is the Player Empire of Paths of Civilization.

* Government Type: Late Classical Parliamentary Monarchy (Elective)
* Economic Policy: Guild Merchantile
* Tech Level: Late Iron/Early Classical
* Social Level: Early Classical
* Age: Approximately 2400 years old
* Population: 10,000,000 plus including Subordinates

## Culture

The Ymaryn culture has developed to be very different from historical civilizations in our timeline, having advanced technology such as an effective smallpox treatment system in the late Neolithic and iron during the bronze age, as well being the only known nation to entirely forbid unfree labor, instead making sure that even criminals are paid for their work.

### Achievements and Medals

The Ymaryn culture is enamored with medals and colorfully extravagant achievement markers. In fact this love is so intense that wearing medals you have not earned is punishable by a beating.

### The International Games

Initially a nationwide sporting game to train warriors, it had evolved into a regional event that also included an Artisan competition and expo component. It is primarily the mean by which the Ymaryn kept in touch with other polities, serving as an embassy, but may also operate as diplomatic meeting ground for other participants.

### Social Classes

The Patricians can be distinguished by their darkness. They also has a tendency to genetically cultivate darker skin because it can mean that one is descended from Khemetri royalty, and there are prejudices against looking too much like nomads.

## Government and Politics

The Ymaryn is the only polity in its area that elected its King, making the monarch's office non-hereditary.

However, Kings were usually very old so their reign tended to be short in comparison to other polities. Sometime, the King and the heir were so old that they could die in rapid succession, causing political instability. When a younger person is elected, it usually signaled that King as a hero. As a matter of convention, all monarchs, regardless of gender, are regarded as King.

Offices were marked with ceremonial items such as a stylus for the clerk chief, mace for the war chief, and a bigger mace for the King, and so forth.

Kings have been known to abdicate early, such as the abdication to
Uvothyn during the Horseman's Plague, although it can also be done unwillingly through low-key assassinations. If a King wants to abdicate voluntarily, he can just fail a competence test.

In **Parliamentary Reforms**, with the completion of the expansion of the Grand Hll into a massive chamber, the power of the King declined as the parliament picked more of the slack.

## Economy

The foundation of the Ymaryn economy is the artificial Ymaryn Forest Biome and its agricultural technology, mainly black soil. Since they weren't an expansionist conquering empire, they had instead mono-focused on infrastructure and building tall, creating an extremely dense core and triggering proto-industralization in the classical era.

It is the only non-slaveholding civilization in the region, even with the abuse and perpetuation of injustice against half-exiles. With **Expensive free labour**, the reform of the half-exile system had internally double the cost of everything, much of the labor shifted to corvee or mandatory pay, and ensuring that sentences don't last too long. It is expected that this reform to pay out major dividends in the long run.

The Ymaryn were able to outproduce any polities in iron as well generally in quality, with Yllython trade partners discovering that it was cheaper to ship iron ores in return for everyday iron goods such as nail and cookware.

### Forestry

The forests, over thousand of years, has adapted to the presence of humans. Trees ditched damaged and sick sections much more aggressively, seeds are heavier so they can be picked up by humans, and trees no longer tries to make each other sick because that will result in burning whole sections. The Ymaryn raked the forests every year and then make the necessary black soil to return nutrient.

Although the forests are importance to the Ymaryn economy, it only generate just enough lumbers and charcoal to meet demand for their own industries, as the goods are hoarded rather than exported to other nations. Large excess of forestry is required, which the Ymaryn do not have.

Around the **Unfortunate Son** update, forests had spread coastward, into Hatvalley, and along the rivers in the steppes. The ratio of orchards to farms increased as well.

By **Swift Riders**, to meaningfully impede nomad invasions, it is required to forest four times to dozen time as much, depending on locations(at that time, 34.5 forests, so 138 to 414 forests needed).

Currency of the Ymaryn empire is known as bwyll, with monbwyl and sunbwyl representing larger value.

## History

"The People" originally chose to settle in a river valley in the mountains. A strong focus on agriculture, including responsible forestry, and organisation, including a form of socialism/communalism, combined with the defensibility of the mountains, led them to develop a very population-dense core.

Throughout this early period, contact with other nations was typically limited. The Ymaryn were usually ignored by settled nations, only having periodic conflicts with nomadic tribes. Whenever possible, the People sought to pacify and even integrate these neighbours, developing a habit of taking in migrants and/or refugees. The only offensive war was a cooperative and largely unsuccessful venture against the Dead Priests in the lowlands. Instead, the People focused on internal challenges such as defeating a widespread forest blight, establishing a cowpox-based vaccination program against smallpox, and resolving the tension between the benefits, costs, and superstitions surrounding metalworking. The early discovery of ironworking brought great military and economic benefits, allowing the People to punch well above their weight class in both fields.

Inevitably, regular contact with other nations would increase over time. To the north, ongoing nomadic conflict resulted in a long-term military outpost becoming almost a separate state and culture, causing friction and a variety of challenges. To the south, relationships with the Highland Kingdom fluctuated, though not typically into outright war. The Thunder Speakers in the east occasionally caused minor trouble, and the Hathatyn in the west reached a point where their borders came into conflict. The People responded to the Hathatyn, in particular, by taking advantage of a period of social instability among them to entice many villages to switch sides, destabilising their nation and leading to its eventual decline and absorption.

In the wake of a devastating climate shift that took a heavy toll on many smaller nations, the People (who had survived the crisis with little damage) entered the regional consciousness in a new way with the election of Phygrif the Conqueror, a former nomad, who led them to wipe out the Xohyssiri and conquer a significant portion of the lowlands. This increase in territory brought them into increased contact with several other polities, and set them up as the major power in the area. This came to a head when they made contact with the Khemetri, another Great Power, and entered a major war over land ownership (sacred to the Ymaryn) and prestige (important to bolster the legitimacy of the god-king Khemetri government). The war ended in a draw, with ongoing friendly contact through the international games established by the People, until later conflicts over the People's opposition to slavery pushed the two great powers apart.

As of the **Justice is Strained** update, the Ymaryn have been forced to deal with multiple fires and crises over the past century. These included the pirate war, the regional liquidity crisis and subsequent implosion of the Trelli, the Second Son crisis, and a religious upheaval. After the Paleblood moonrise update, the most pressing issue was a tremendous plague (first observed in a Ymaryn city bathhouse) that necessitated a total economic halt and full lock down in the cities. Most damage was done instead to rural areas, causing problems with food supply. Most of the surrounding polities also collapsed or pulled back following the plague outbreak. Additionally, foreign contact and interactions near completely ceased as neighboring nations either collapsed or pulled back and blocked themselves off from the world.

Following that period, the Ymaryn began a period of reconstruction and recovering, culminating in the start of construction on the Great Dam. After that, reforms were started on the half-exile system, making everything more expensive as now everyone has to be paid.

See Ymaryn Core Actions History for actions taken on main turns.

## Location

The core is located in what our Earth knows as the nation of Georgia.

Of the river systems in the Core is called Snake River, which language drift had changed it to the Snycruv, the Great River, and Misty River. The Snycruv flows out into the Yllython sea. The Great River flows into Txolla.

Core territory borders Western Wall to the north, Heaven's Hawks to the northeast, Txolla to the east, Highland Kingdom to the south, Gulvalley to the southwest, and the Yllython Mor (Black Sea) to the west.

## Subordinates

**Colonies:**

* Western Wall - Formed as first as a March to protect the western flank of the Ymaryn Kingdom. It became a colony after the nomad king threat was eliminated.
* Greenshore - Formed as a trade post to deal with the Metal Worker. It eventually transitioned into a colony.
* Tinriver - Formed as a trade post to trade with the Tin tribes. It eventually transitioned into a colony.

**Trading Posts:**

* Amber Road - A trading post way up north. It had a library and a temple to study the forests there.

**Free Cities:**

* **Redshore** - Redshore was one of the oldest of the Ymaryn, grouped together with Valleyhome and Lower Valleyhome. It has since then became a center of trade, diplomacy, intrigue, and industry with the International Games and the Grand Dock megaprojects. It is also a level three city with Ironwork Level 3, level 2 housing and aqueduct, with level 3 bath.
* **Redhills** - Known for its iron mine and development of the Ironwork megaproject.
* **Valleyguard**
* **Lower Valleyhome** - It was formed after a tribe fled the violence of the lowland.
* **Sacred Forest** - The religious center of the Ymaryn.

**Vassals:**

* Txolla (Vassal-Colony) - The Txolla was absorbed during the conquest of the lowland.
* Thunder Horse - Conquered after the God Fist incident, and survived its relative, Thunder Speakers, during the Horseman's Plague.
* Forhuch - Became a march-vassal after conquest.

**March:**

* Heaven's Hawk - A march that was formed after Phygrif became king.
* Memory of Spirits - March that was found just as the Forhuch declared war.
* Highlands Cap - A march that was created at the end of war with the highlanders.

**Mercenary Companies:**

* Red Banner - The first mercenary company in PoC, found by a trio of heroes.
* **Dragon Banner** - Formed after the Great Power War.
* **Blood Rain Banner** - Formed during the Myranyan reform.

**Former Subordinates:**

* Gulvalley - Absorbed into the core.
* Hatriver - A March located at the end of the Hathatyn river system, and has since been propagated into Hatvalley.
* Hatvalley - Absorbed into the core and propagated as Gulvalley.
* Stallion Tribes - Absorbed into the core. It was the first March and subordinate found.
* Thunder Speakers - Death via nomad attack during the Horseman's Plague.

## References

1. ↑ AN's on skin colors and cultivation accessed on December 6, 2017.
2. ↑ AN question and answer post in May, 19, 2017 accessed on November 18, 2017.
3. ↑ AN's commentary on abdication accessed on November 6, 2017.
4. ↑ AN commentary on forest evolution and other questions accessed on December 10, 2017.
5. ↑ AN's commentary on forest spread. accessed on November 20, 2017.
6. ↑ AN's commentary on governance and forest deterrence accessed on December 10, 2017.
7. ↑ Abby Normal's Diff and Analysis of *Swift Riders* accessed on December 10, 2017.
8. ↑ Changing Tides update
9. ↑ Veekie talking about Pollution accessed on November 17, 2020.
10. ↑ AN correcting River naming on player made map accessed on November 17, 2020.
11. ↑ Iron Age Eye of the Storm