Iilmaraa

**Iilmaraa** is an isola in the world of *Disco Elysium*.

## History

Iilmaraa, then known as Ile Marat, was one of the many isolas that established contact with Mundi following the discovery of the Insulinde.

Insulinde and Graad both experienced significant Iilmaraan migrations. In Graad, this led to Funk music, an agressive and guitar-oriented resurgence of The New-era Disco. In Insulinde, migrant Iilmaraan workers were brought to build the city of Revachol, 380 years before the Current Century. Semenine is inhabited mostly by people of Areopagite descent, with some speculating that ancient Iilmaraans came to the islands over 4.000 years ago.

After being discovered, Iilmaraa was rapidly colonized, largely by Mesque. Revachol later acquired a colony in Tioumoutiri, focused on tobacco production. The Iilmaraan natives had their land stolen, as well as many of their historical artifacts, which were relocated to museums in Revachol, Gottwald, and Sur-la-Clef. Despite the extensive colonization, however, Iilmaraa is still an industrial powerhouse.

## Ecology

Songbirds inhabit the Ea mountain range, producing sounds that are outside the range of human hearing. The Col Do Ma Ma Daqua may be one of them.

Epidemics of tzaraath are said to infest slums in Iilmaraa. However, this could just be a rumour.

## Culture

The kofia hat is typically associated with Iilmaraans. The mascot of cigarette brand "Tioumoutiri", visible on the boxart, is a tobacco picker boy wearing one.

The Cursed Die is a traditional Iilmaraan cleromancy device. The spherical die contains a cavity that displays one of a number of phrases when rolled.

Some Iilmaraan cultures would undergo rigid training regimens over the course of years in order to be able to climb and invade the huts of their enemies.

'Kipt' was once a very common first name among Iilmaraans and Semenese, until the term became a racial slur for Areopagites.

Himeans are an Iilmaraan ethnic group that inhabits the desert. They may have a shamanistic culture, and were oppressed by the colonizers.

The people of Sahrava, Bashir and Yeesut are known to wield scimitars. They may also keep Himi servants.

Some Iilmaraan cultures are known for fasting.

## Geography

A significant part of the isola is covered in deserts and dunes. The Uamrao canyon, located east of the Erg desert, is part of the world's largest canyon system, composed of dried up riverbeds. The Ea mountain range is also present on the isola.

The Red Plateau is a vast expanse in Gurdi, inhabited by nomadic tribes, who abide to a code of selflessness. Coal extraction in the immense mines of the Plateau resulted in the discovery of the ultra-rare mineral phasium, which is sold to jewellers and used in the manufacture of pleochroic lights.

The isola has significant reserves of mercury. The Mauer-Koshlai Mercury Group is a joint Gottwaldian-Iilmaraan mercury extraction company that has grown significantly due to the discovery of rödfärg mercury, used in the production of Rehm radiocomputers.

### Gurdi

**Gurdi** or Provincia Gurdi is a geopolitical entity on the **Iimaraan isola**. Located within it is the Red Plateau, on which nomadic tribes traverse. It has an immense network of coal mines.

Notable people:

* Samir Loisir, a billionaire

### Yeesut

**Yeesut** is a country on the Iilmaraan isola. In '36 there was a famine. It is a conflict corridor where proxy wars are fought with a reputation of not reporting atrocities that take place on it's soil.

## References

1. ↑ SUZERAINTY: THE BOARD GAME - From the Empire of Safre: orange apricot tokens. From Ile Marat (the ancestral name of Iilmaraa): gray marble block tokens. From the Semenine Islands: white sacks of sugar tokens. And from Supramundi and Saramiriza: magenta tokens for unprocessed cocaine leaves.
2. ↑ ENCYCLOPEDIA - Funk is an aggressive resurgence of \*The New\* aesthetic of the Revacholian Thirties, but this time originating in Graad. It's brought there by the Iilmaraan diaspora. Funk is more masculine and guitar-oriented than disco. Even more \*dangerous\*.
3. ↑ JOYCE MESSIER - "The nations of the Occident. Or migrant workers from Semenine and Iilmaraa, depending on your creed."
4. ↑ JOYCE MESSIER - "In the Dolorian century, 380 years ago."
5. ↑ MEASUREHEAD- "THE SOUTH ISLAND RACE, HAPLOGROUP A4A. WE ARE THE RIGHTFUL MASTERS OF THE INSULINDIAN ARCHIPELAGO. WE DESCEND FROM THE AREOPAGITES OF ANCIENT PERIKARNASSIS AND ARRIVED HERE 4000 YEARS AGO. MILLENNIA BEFORE YOU."
6. ↑ ENCYCLOPEDIA - Called Iilmaraa. And it didn't. Even after the Mesque colonized it seven ways from Sunday it's an industrial power house.
7. ↑ ENCYCLOPEDIA - Tioumoutiri was a Revacholian colony on Iilmaraa. The suzerainty's population was mostly Iilmaraan Areopagites -- up to 97%. The region was known for its tobacco export. Hence the name.
8. ↑ ENCYCLOPEDIA - Interestingly, this is more or less what happened in real life as well. To this day, if Iilmaraans want to see their nation's priceless treasures they have to visit Revachol or Gottwald or Sur-la-Clef.
9. ↑ ENCYCLOPEDIA - Called Iilmaraa. And it didn't. Even after the Mesque colonized it seven ways from Sunday it's an industrial power house.
10. ↑ KLAASJE (MISS ORANJE DISCO DANCER) - "It turned out to be a tzaraath-infested third-world slum."
11. ↑ ENCYCLOPEDIA - Oh, you do! The butts you saw had a silhouette of a boy wearing a kofia hat -- a tobacco picker. This boy is the Tioumoutiri brand logo. Contemporary Revacholians prefer Drouin (a local blend from the southern islands) or Astra, a legendary cigarette from Graad. Tioumoutiri is favoured by older men who like its old fashioned paper filter tips, insane amount of tar and the sweet smells of colonialism and halva.
12. ↑ NOVELTY DICEMAKER - "It's a sphere \*pretending\* to be a six-sided die -- each roll will end with one of the phrases facing up. The die originates in Iilmaraa, where it was used for cleromancy..."
13. ↑ TRANT HEIDELSTAM - "No-no," he says, immediately backing off, "I'm just speculating \*theoretically\* here... Of course, there's also the method ancient Iilmaraans used to get into the huts of their enemies."
14. ↑ ENCYCLOPEDIA- \*Kipt\* is a pejorative term used to describe people of South Semenese or Areopagite descent. It used to be a common first name among the Areopagites of Iilmaraa -- not so much anymore.
15. ↑ PLAISANCE - "Oh, this?" She holds the pendant in her palm. Its ochre heart glistens under the lights. "No. It's a special \*Himean amulet\* blessed by desert pygmy shamans with a \*spell of compulsion\*. It's to compel people to buy books..."
16. ↑ MEASUREHEAD - "YOU DOMINATED LESSER CULTURES -- LIKE THE DEFORMED HIMEANS AND THE INEXPLICABLY POTATO-OBSESSED KOJKOS -- BUT NOW YOUR ASCENT TO THE GENETIC SUMMIT HAS HALTED. YOU ARE OBSESSED WITH SADNESS AND WITH FRIVOLOUS POP CULTURE."
17. ↑ MEASUREHEAD - "NO, THOSE WERE SCIMITAR WIELDING RACE LOSERS OF SAHRAVA, YEESUT AND BASHIR, WITH THEIR HIMI SERVANTS. \*BIG DIFFERENCE\*. THE AREOPAGITES WERE FASTING AND CONQUERING WHILE THIS HAPPENED -- YOU NEVER PENETRATED THE WESTERN DUNES."
18. ↑ MEASUREHEAD - "NO, THOSE WERE SCIMITAR WIELDING RACE LOSERS OF SAHRAVA, YEESUT AND BASHIR, WITH THEIR HIMI SERVANTS. \*BIG DIFFERENCE\*. THE AREOPAGITES WERE FASTING AND CONQUERING WHILE THIS HAPPENED -- YOU NEVER PENETRATED THE WESTERN DUNES."
19. ↑ LENA, THE CRYPTOZOOLOGIST'S WIFE - "The world's largest canyon system, sweetie. It's a barren waste east of the Erg desert -- an ancient riverbed, completely dried up."
20. ↑ LENA, THE CRYPTOZOOLOGIST'S WIFE - "Plenty. It's the evidence that led to its discovery. In the Twenties, a group of Areopagite ornithologists -- that is, scientists who study birds -- were trying out a new recording technology for capturing sounds outside the range of human hearing."
LENA, THE CRYPTOZOOLOGIST'S WIFE - "When playing back recordings they had made in the foothills of the Ea mountain range, they noticed... certain anomalies -- patterns that seemed random at first, but, on closer examination, were consistent with the waveforms of song birds..."
21. ↑ AUTHORITY - Selflessness forms the basis for the warrior code. An ageless code, as fit for nomadic Iilmaraan tribes traversing the vast Red Plateau in Provincia Gurdi as it is for your neighbourhood postman.
22. ↑ ENCYCLOPEDIA - Samir Loisir was a Gurdi businessman who made his first millions selling kilograms of the ultra-rare mineral phasium to luxury jeweller Zachaël et Cie. He made the rest of his many millions through wise investments and the invention of pleochroic lights.
23. ↑ MEGA RICH LIGHT-BENDING GUY - "It's a Gottwaldian-Iilmaraan company that specialises in extracting mercury. It's seen massive growth lately due to the discovery of rödfärg mercury."
MEGA RICH LIGHT-BENDING GUY - "Have you heard about it? At the moment, it's trading at more than 1.5x the price of gold. That's because it's an essential component in the next generation of radiocomputers..."
24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 AUTHORITY - Selflessness forms the basis for the warrior code. An ageless code, as fit for nomadic Iilmaraan tribes traversing the vast Red Plateau in Provincis Gurdi as it is for your neighbourhood postman.
25. ↑ SAVOIR FAIRE - Oh, it can. But first you need to \*enter\* the market. Right now, you're as good as Samir Loisir eating dirt in Gurdi's immense network of mines.
26. ↑ SAVOIR FAIRE - Did Ilona Wihuri-Vilakone blame ghosts? How about Admiral Gustav Lestock? Samir Loisir grew up in the coal mines of Gurdi eating dirt, and he still managed to make FIFTY-FIVE BILLION REÁL in his lifetime. So stop with the excuses.
27. ↑ YOU: "The Iilmaraan people did not invent alcohol. It's existed since the neolithic."

MEASUREHEAD: "THIS IS A FABRICATION THE AL-CHEMISTS OF YEESUT AND BASHIR AND THEIR GOLEM, AL GUL, HAVE FED YOUR PEOPLE. GO ON BELIEVING IN IT \*RACE LOSER\*."
28. ↑ YOU: "Weren't the Iilmaraans pillaged by \*my people\* and then Al Gul happened and all that?"

MEASUREHEAD: "NO, THOSE WERE THE SCIMITAR WIELDING RACE LOSERS OF SAHRAVA, YEESUT AND BASHIR, WITH THEIR HIMI SERVANTS. \*BIG DIFFERENCE\*. THE AREOPAGITES WERE FASTING AND CONQUERING WHILE THIS HAPPENED -- YOU NEVER PENETRATED THE WESTERN DUNES."
29. ↑ KLAASJE (MISS ORANJE DISCO DANCER): "He was like the Semenese conflict, the Co Hoi massacre, and the '36 famine in Yeesut all rolled into one person, then encased in Oranjese ceramic armour. Which he wore in bed \*and\* in the shower..."
30. ↑ EVRART CLAIRE: "I'm talking \*beats\*, hardened killers from proxy wars in Yeesut, Semenine, Saramiriza -- you name it, they've done it. Raping, killing, burning villages -- killing little children for the Señorita Pineapple company, Harry..."
31. ↑ JOYCE MESSIER: "Yes. All the good conflict corridors: Supramundi, Yeesut, the Semenese islands. Countries that don't have a good record reporting \*atrocious\* military conduct on their soil."