Tanoor

## General Overview of the Country of Tanoor

#### --Climate of Tanoor and its Subsidaries~~

* The majority of the Tanoor is made up of temperate savannas in the north and warm continental temperatures in the southern half. Though that's not to exclude the groves of temperate trees that have taken root in the area up north. There are a few mountain ranges in the northern and southern regions, which reach up into the subarctic levels of cold. Notably the smaller attached island to the main island where the TMC, Tanoor Marine Corps, has established itself the MCRD (Marine Corps Recruit Depot) is similarly ravishingly cold and due to the harsh nature of the landmass’s climate the Marine Corps uses such a climate to increase the difficulty of training to further cast out the chaff from the wheat.
* The island of Helang is significantly warmer, with hot mediterranean summers being sported on the lower half of the island, a smattering of humid monsoon subtropic areas on the furthest west and east points of the island, and the north and south being separated by a large mountain that begins to rise up from the center running up in altitude enough to be considered to be in the subarctic levels of cold due and bordered on the northern end of the island by warm continental temperatures.
* Lillium, the Brinsdee Isles and the Spratley Islands all would be considered to be tropical monsoon in their climates due to bordering deep water cold currents and surface level warm water currents that cycle through the area bringing heavy rains, storms, and unpredictable weather to the regions of each of the islands and their respective chains.
* The North Mutavu Islands would be seated comfortably in the Humid Monsoon Subtropic region, bordering a desert on the mainland, though being removed enough to be cooled and have a stable climate maintained by the sea around it.
* Avon would be a tropical monsoon region, as it also straddles warm and cold water oceanic currents bringing unpredictable and rather rainy weather, with shifting temperatures with the different seasons despite the stability offered to climates by oceanic waters.
* The Rohen Formation and Northern Isles would likely be classified as subarctic, with the cold not enough in the former to create ice sheets or ice flows like nearer the Northern isles who would require icebreakers to operate in or around most likely.

#### --Flora and Fauna of Tanoor and its Subsidaries~~

* The Tanoor home island is home to a wealth of deciduous trees and evergreens, along with summer, spring, and fall flowering plants. In spring, the majority of the plants begin their flowering seasons. Notable species of flowering plants include Honeydew, the Winter Lily, and Wolfsbane, and even the incredibly valuable plant Saffron! The main island however, is known to have a wide variety of poisonous plants to ward off determined foragers and herbivores including but not limited to, Foxglove, a subspecies of Hydrangea with far higher concentrated amounts of cyanide, Deadly Nightshade, Larkspur, Oleander, the Rosary Pea, Angel’s Trumpet, The Glory Lily, and Chokeberry. Most are flowering plants, as due to the non continental nature of the main island, it is subject to storms of varying magnitude during most of these plants’ flowering seasons which is when the poisons in most of the plants begin to develop in increased potency. However, a fair few hold their potency year round.
* Non-poisonous plants include lemon grasses, spider plants of varying sizes from small, to rising to half the height of an adult human in the largest species, Coleus, Wild Strawberries, Blueberries, and wild Blackberries. For trees species include, but are not limited to, Japanese Maples, Big leaf maples, Hedge Maples, Paperbark Maples, Sugar and Sycamore Maples, White Oak, some saltwater tolerant Cypresses, Dogwoods, Willow groves, White Pine, Eastern Hemlock, Ironwood, and more!
* These plants extend outwards to the other islands in the region, aside from the Rohen Formation and the Northern Isles thanks to the lofting of pollen and seeds high into the air thanks to the flowering and pollination seasons of most every plant lining up with the storm seasons that scatters the plant’s propagation into the lower atmosphere and allows for wide distribution of seeding.
* For the fauna, small mammals ranging from rats to hopping mice, groundhogs, coyotes, population of cats, and other varied species populate some of the lower echelons of the food pyramid. Smaller reptiles from Racer snakes to Tuataras, and even Galapagos Iguanas also make up the smaller non-warm blooded species of the region. There are a few notable venomous snakes in the region as well. Shoebills inhabit the Spratley Islands, Helang, and the Tanoor home island. The home island and Helang both hold populations of Caracals as well. Bird populations include the Red Breasted Robin, Starling, Storks and Cranes. Ground birds include Cassowaries, Roadrunners, Kiwis, and other species!
* Nobody cares about insects so I won’t include those.

##### --Quick Lore Overview of Tanoor~~

1. The modern-day inhabitants of Tanoor originate as a seafaring people who inhabited the northwestern corner of Kijana (modern-day Biajithemaarri and Jamaika) prior to the 7th Century. They were called the Mendorong peoples. In the 600s, population movements resulted in their slow diaspora to the northwest, following the archipelago chain north of Trinidir. It is speculated that the Motunuian peoples probably preceded them along this same path, being driven out and further westward by the Mendorong. The Mendorong had (and still have) a reputation as excellent sailors and very aggressive (even pushy) traders. Sometime around the 9th Century C.E., the Mendorong reached the major island of Pulau Kepulauan (the Home Islands), drove out the natives, and established themselves in princedoms in this region. Trade continued to the east, and expanded somewhat further to the west. In the east, the Mendorong traded goods with Granadine (which brought them goods from further down the west coast of Kijana). In the west, they traded with the Motunuian peoples. An island north of Trinidir, called Helang or occasionally Tanah Timur, was also likely discovered by Mendorong traders or fishermen, and colonized by various groups sometime between the 8th and 9th centuries. Draken records from the 11th century attest to "a people living in the islands beyond the western gates of Kijana" and their existence was documented in **The Great Sphere Map** (1377).
2. [The Mendorong peoples colonizing the Pulau Kepulauan formed a large number of local kingdoms, led by rajas. During the 1500s, the legendary Raja Iskander briefly united all of the Mendorong kingdoms on Kepulauan, calling it Tanoor (the Great Kingdom) and naming himself Maharaja. At about this time, the Mendorong independently invented gunpowder, which they slowly started to use in war. Iskander's kingdom did not long survive his death in 1578, and slowly divided again along traditional lines; however, precedent had been set. In the late 1600s, foreign explorers from Velravin and Zamoroziet began arriving in Kepulauan, seeking new trading partners and areas to conquer. The small number of foreign traders manipulated simmering conflicts between the Mendorong kingdoms, sparking internal wars which culminated in Raja Idris's 1699 military campaign to unite the Mendorong kingdoms under himself, reforming the Tanoor. Idris successfully leveraged both the internal wars and the external threats to bind the major kingdoms of Kepulauan into a lasting political union. Once proclaimed, the new Tanoor began to fervently emulate the foreign ways of war, and use of technological innovations. Helang also saw foreign interference around this period, and at various times was claimed as a colony by Arkadyetsiya, Celtica, Draken princedoms, Ostrony, and others. However, none of these imperialist powers ever truly controlled the island, even though small local princedoms on Helang sometimes paid fealty to foreign powers. Celtica and the Bolish princedoms traditionally held the most power in these temporary relationships.
3. In 1740, during the height of the Forty Years War in Zamoroziet, an aged Raja Idris declared the Perikatan (Alliance) with several local princedoms in Helang. With Celtica and the Bolish kingdoms of Arkadyetsiya locked in a brutal generational war on the continent, Idris set the stage for Tanoor's conquest of Helang. While visiting Helang in 1741, however, the seventy-year old Idris was assassinated by order of a local prince, an act attributed to prompting by Celtican or Arkadyetsiyan traders, both of whom sought to gain supremacy over the island. (Some records, however, conclude that the aging Idris was instead assassinated by his eldest son Saiful.) Outraged by these events, Idris's son Saiful brought a large fleet and army to Helang. Saiful's military leadership, exceptional sense of political timing, and outstanding diplomatic manipulation allowed him to take control of Helang in its entirity, despite significant technological shortcomings against both some of its native princes and small colonial expeditionary forces. Both the Celticans and Arkadyetsiyans believed Saiful was their secret ally, and allowed him to take control of the island while they concentrated in their war on the mainland.
4. Tanoor also sent out tendrils to the west, moving into the Motunuian Archipelago. Saiful relegated these campaigns to the back-burner during his expansion to Helang. A confederation of Motunuian chieftains defeated Tanoor at the Battle of Mangatuna in 1765. Political unease prevented Saiful from avenging the defeat. By the 1770s, Tanoor faced interference from Liotain, Firocco, and Antargentina, all arriving from far further west and approaching the Motunuian Archipelago from the other side of the globe. During the mid to late 1800s, Tanoor fought and lost a series of small wars for control of the Motunuian Archipelago, which was incorporated into the colonial empires of Liotain and Fusou. These minor conflicts still cast a noteable chill between these nations. Through the 1800s, Tanoor lagged behind the technological developments elsewhere in the world, although they fervently attempted to maintain their military capability, particularly their naval prowess. Their civil industry lags the developed nations of Velravin by approximately ten to twenty years.
5. **Rulers of Tanoor** Raja Idris (b.1669, d.1740): reigned 1699-1740 Maharaja Saiful (b.1698, d.1770): reigned 1740-1770 Maharaja Bob (b.1721, d.1782): reigned 1770-1782 Maharaja Chris (b. 1743, d.1801): reigned 1782-1801 Maharaja George (b.1764, d.1803): reigned 1801-1803 Maharaja Andrew (b.1785, d.1845): reigned 1803-1845 Maharaja Bob II (b.1802, d. 1868): reigned 1848-1868) Maharaja Idris II (b.1824, d. 1876): reigned 1868-1876 Maharaja Saiful II (b.1839, d. 1899): reigned 1876-1899 Maharaja Bob III (b.1863, living): reigns 1899 to present