Hollow Sand

Hollow Sand is a country in Africa that was split off from Bananarama, and their capital is near the Nile.

Compared to the now ruined Bananarama, they were much weaker. (Although they did grow to become more populous than their predecessor.)

Hollow Sand is mostly known for the one to find the cure for the plague, their love for trading, their pacifism, and being generally the worst out of all the countries in terms of power and scientific advancements.

They are a nation in the Golden League, the Plague Busters, and they are also a nation in the Semetica Union.

## **History of Hollow Sand**

Hollow Sand began as a group that split off of Bananarama because they were tired of the constant warfare happening in the country. 17 people directly left the country, 51 other people decided to come support the cause. Bananarama found out about that and forced them to swear loyalty to them or else they'd be a target for their military.

As a result of splitting off of Bananarama, they had the same technology, and used that to build the small town of Hollow Dust. They settled near the Nile in Seuz, Egypt, which was near Phoenicia (which they later became friends with and eventually formed a federation with.)

The people who directly left Bananarama were all traders who liked wealth and gaining new technology, so Hollow Sand became a country generally focused on trade.

Hollow Sand's second action was to trade with the people nearby, which were the Phoenicians. The expedition went perfectly, and formed a bond of trust between the two nations. In exchange for their knowledge of writing, the Phoenicians gave them their knowledge of currency.

Later Hollow Sand was experimenting with wood and noticed it floated when placed on the surface of water. They tied some planks of wood together into a raft. This made aquatic travel a bit easier, and the nation would continue to upgrade the quality of their aquatic vehicles for a while.

Using the raft, Hollow Sand traveled to an island nation which the Phoenicians spoke about during their trade expedition. Surprisingly, they sailed quite far as they passed through the Mediterranean Sea and entered the Atlantic Ocean, and landed on the English Channel, and it was the exact island they were looking for. The expedition crew looked around and scouted a seemingly empty town. The guards around the town weren't accepting any visitors, and in fact, they said the crew were risking their very lives by just trying to go here. They were fearing that something would spread. Hollow Sand later learned that the very nation they found was Britannia, a country that was in danger from a disease, and coming closer to annihilation from that disease as the days passed.

When the crew came back home, one of the members caught the disease. This greatly worried Hollow Sand as they realized what Britannia was talking about. Strangely, when he drank some soup, his conditions greatly improved. This sparked some hope into the nation as they were discussing a possible cure to the disease.

Hollow Sand began researching the cure and found the ingredients. They made a large batch of it and tested it on various things like mold, ticks, and feces. After a while, the ticks died, the mold stopped spreading, and the feces appeared to be unaffected. A special mixture of herbs and stocks had a toxic effects on the pests, which could even cure infections. This was not only beneficial for the village, but also was nearly perfect for curing the disease Britannia was suffering from.

After making a batch large enough to export it to Britannia, they sailed back there to give it to them. This decision was disapproved by Bananarama and in fact, they tried to stop Hollow Sand from sending the cure to the disease-ridden country. Ultimately, Hollow Sand chose the right path and it was worth it at the end. The guards tried chasing them away once they had come back, but once the expedition crew told them about the cure, they let them in. The cure worked well, and as a parting gift, Britannia sent them a lot of food, knowledge of ironsmithing, and the furnaces required to do the ironsmithing. Because of the population increase Hollow Sand could now build a new village. They were also visited by the Hellenes, who were only there for resting, but it was a good encounter that improved their relations.

Hollow Sand decided it was time to expand to a new area of land. The new village was called Currency and it housed many people, as well as increasing Hollow Sand's political power.

The next actions that the HollowSandians made after having two villages was to visit the Mongols and visit the meteor crash site. The Mongols were a bit chilly at them at first but when they traded, their relations improved. The meteor search crew didn't find anything of worth when they were digging through the crater. They were also visited by Kugelland, and they told the country about Bananarama because the visiting country didn't have time to trade.

Later, they tried to trade with the Mongols again, and they gladly accepted the offer. They shared their knowledge of agriculture for Mongolia's domestic horses. The visit went extremely well as it improved the relations between the countries greatly. Another expedition team was sent, but this time to Kugelland. They were intruigued by Kugelland's division of labor, so they tried to offer their furnaces for Kugelland's knowledge. The trade was accepted, and relation increased.

If that wasn't enough, Hollow Sand was now qualified to become an official civilization.

*more information coming soon...*

## **Government**

Before, Hollow Sand was a monarchy, similar to Phoenicia's government where the monarch had absolute control over the country, but later Hollow Sand's government changed.

As of round 63, Hollow Sand's government is a republic, which is when people can choose their leaders and are represented in that way. This proved useful, as the people trusted their leaders more as they got to chose who their representatives were. This also meant better research decisions, which meant better technology and a better understanding of the world, things that Hollow Sand desires.

Hollow Sand's government seemed to have merged a bit with Phoenicia's after forming a federation with them.

## **Technology**

As of round 63, Hollow Sand's technology has been shared with Phoenicia's, which benefitted them a lot in terms of technology.

Their tools are bronze age tier, they have cargo vessels, wheels, gunpowder, the hot air balloon, and masonry.

For their structures, they have mud huts, farms, hospitals, temples, prisons, work shops, and dirt roads.

Their domesticated animals are the goats and horses.

Their science advancements are: mathematics, basic physics, standard chemistry, biology, and basic astronomy.

For their other stuff, they have fishing, agriculture, pottery, religion, medicine, division of labor, currency, furnaces, iron, a republic, knowledge of riding, cheese, writing, and purple dye.

## **Culture**

Hollow Sand's culture is rather pacifist, because of their belief that conflict is better resolved through discussion and diplomacy rather than warfare or battles, because war brings death and loss for all belligerents, and never really beneficial for anyone. This belief is reflected in Hollow Sand's religion, called Pumpkinism, which teaches that violence should only become a last resort.

The main god of Pumpkinism is derived from Kugelland's and Mongolia's gods, as well as Banarama's. The Pumpkin is a large being which takes the form of a jack-o-lantern, with tilted half circle eyes, a wicked smile, and fire burning from the inside of its head. The rest of its body is shrouded in darkness, and it has the ability to manipulate plant life. Hollow Sandians think whenever the Nile suddenly becomes fertile it is the Pumpkin's work and it is rewarding them for being kind and avoiding violence.