The Royal North

**The Royal North**, also known as The North Island, The Safe North, The Kingdom of Vanathummia, or just Vanathummia is an island province in Chuliana that serves as its northernmost and easternmost trenches. The island is known as very rain-drenched, overcast, misty, and having a very oceanic and temperate climate that is slightly similar to Chartequincy's, but a bit warmer and a bit cooler than Namporschia's, it is one of the most rainiest and lush areas of The Olden World. The capital is Vanathummia City which sits 163 km from Anastasia on the main island, and its largest city is Erethusa which sits at the northern, and easternmost point of the island on the Northern Marima Ocean. It sits roughly at the same latitude as Namporschia and Saulta further west but maintains a cooler temperature than both.

## Etymology

The island received the name "The Royal North" due to being a favorite location for the monarchs of the Isle of Chartequincy to vacation in due to its lush, green, and beautiful environment and similarity to the Isle of Chartequincy's weather. The area has also been deemed by the monarchs as "The Safe North" due to an extremely low crime rate and friendly population.

## Culture

The island's culture today is about 93% Chartequincian in origin with Chartequinician performing arts taking the cake compared to traditional Cheskachenican about 2 hours west in Anastasia. Sports like football golfing, and rugby are famous in The Royal North, and ballet is a common skill in The Royal North's female population with about 45% of the female population aged between 14-30 practicing ballet or dance. Much of the buildings are a blend of baroque, neoclassical, and even rococo. This was due to the fact that The Royal North served also as a meeting point for western and eastern monarchies.

## Geography

**Climate:** The island, especially the east, is very wet and has green grass year round with a year-round average temperature of around 19-23 c (sometimes it is known by older Chartequincian-origin locals as Room Temperature Island). Despite most of the island being rain-drenched, pancake-flat, boggy, cloudy and fairly green and lacking snow year round, the northern thin coastline of the Royal North facing Cheskachena is plump full of tall, thin fold mountains with a subarctic climate with cold, snowy winters and mild summers.

**Flora:** The Royal North serves as the bull's-eye or midpoint for the western Olden World and central Tessa and trees and plants from both ends have been rooted in the Royal North's soils (which is also considered among the most fertile in the world). Flowering cherries and plums, callery pears, live oaks, and weeping willows are natives of the island and were believed to actually have been planted by western-origination ancient folk 10,000 years ago. Today, you can spot heaps of ivy, creeping phlox, and primrose clawing through old-growth forests and over 43,000 species of moss, both introduced and native. Maples and bamboos are also very common on the island.

**Fauna:** Red foxes are not natives to the island but were introduced by monarchs to the flat green meadows west of Vanathummia to practice fox hunting and to maintain the rampant native rouge mice population, a rodent native to The Royal North and the east coast of Cheskachena into Naliland. Over 120,000 foxes live on the island, primarily in the old-growth forests at very high densities with over 95% of The Royal North's 2,5 million locals seeing or hearing one once a week. There is about 1 fox for every 200 people on the island. Other animals include birds like very-large puffins, haunting crows, mute swans, sparrows, black swans, peafowl (with 25 % of the feral population being white), eastern slaty woodpeckers, giant-owls, and magpies who all thrive in large numbers in the woods. There is also a large snail, toad, frog, slug, and feral domestic rabbit presence. Moose, moonrats, opossums, raccoons, and deer populations are also growing as well as feral dogs.

## Demographics

### Population Density

Population density is variated across the island. The Vanathummia metro has a population of about a million combined and the area has a population density of about 10 per kilometer. The natural areas west of the cities have a low population density of between 0.1-3 people per kilometer, making the island very spacious and many natural areas untouched and unpopulated. Many people live in houses isolated in the woods.

### Religion

The island is about 60% Christian, 21% a religion other than Christian, and 39% unaffiliated. Kutwhean and Oppi folk religions comprise most of the 21%.

### Ethnic Groups

Chartequincian diaspora make up the majority of the population at 52-53%, Cheskachenican, Nalilandi, and Mynnukan diaspora make up the second largest group at 38-39%, and other races make up about 19% with most being Kutwhean, Makolan, mixed, or Oppi people. Oppi people, though primarily found in northwestern Andruschgreta have a long and complex history in the Royal North with mass migration over 3,900 km across the Olden World and many immigration (about 9% of the Oppi population live in the Royal North - 90% live in Andruschgreta) with The Royal North housing the most after Andruschgreta.