Bisezonne

**Bisezonne**, officially the **Duchy of Bisezonne**, referred to as **Dukoté de Bisezonne** in Sevan, is a Syltörian country which was founded very recently on 4/07/21 by players new to the server, with the city itself being positioned predominantly on a promontory which projects outward into a northwestern bay area on the Sea of Hyun. Its notable neighbors would be the Bardonian Vassal State of Andorn to its north, the nation of Savrasia to its east, and the Aurlûnor Velande bordering its south.

There is no exact state religion in Bisezonne, rather there is complete freedom of religion and all religious sites in the Duchy are secular in their service to anyone's beliefs. However the demographic stands to be that most in the city believe in the faith of Bitheism.

Bisezonnians speak a heavily modified dialect of the Sevan language, taking significant basis from Proto-Bisezonnian and direct influence from the Fornoian dialect. Culture and architecture are supremely based on high-renaissance Italy, and Bisezonnians take reverence in the qualities of wit, tolerance, unselfishness, the ability to overcome adversity, and common sense.

## History

In the shady meadows southbound to the fortified walls of Areska, touching the salty shores of the Sea of Hyun, lived a tribe belonging to the race of men that spoke a distinct dialect of the Sevan tongue. They had been a part of the migration in antiquity that uprooted the native inhabitants of the region. During which most of the migrators continued their trek eastward, those who did would go on to pursue and found the feudal state of Fornois; but a few remained, separated from their brethren. For many years they inhabited their land in complete obscurity, establishing a tiny backwater community known to them as Bisezonne. However, following the death of Yeetus Christ IV, a significant amount of Fornoians that were emigrating from their subjugated county, desiring a new place to call home, encountered the residents of Bisezonne and their unpretentious village. The primitive, although tenacious Bisezonnians were to the consternation of their non-tribal, strange-speaking relatives; but the Fornoians were able to impress them with the prowess of their technological knowledge and its potential. The two Sevan peoples were more akin and open to one another than some living within the same city-state, and this was only triumphed by their eagerness to work in collective cooperation. Thus began a near-flawless integration and mixing of modern civilized Fornois ideals into the tough survivalist culture of the once tribal Bisezonnians. Less than two decades succeeding the annexation of Fornois, the city of Bisezonne has rapidly progressed into a growing society with currently five different flourishing districts and with an expanding population of 31 citizens.

The Sevan migration that had colonized the area and would eventually branch out into two distinct groups, developed into both the Fornoian culture and the early tribal Proto-Bisezonnians that are known to be the classical descendants of modern Bisezonnians and their greatest contributors of language and traditions. It is not exactly known where this ancient migration originated from and accounts are limited to the dubious scholars of old Fornois, of whom suggested they may have come from the Kingdom of Reyllea in central Rathnir; but such a hypothesis has remained unproven. The Proto-Bisezonnians rose to prominence sometime around the same occurrence of the Elven-Human Conflicts, also in Syltör, and while King Maxion of Almador was fighting the Battle of Yushen - the first Sevan pioneers would begin settling their region on the Sea of Hyun. Congregating into sedentary settlements, they grazed their open land with freedom of any molestation or interference from local powers and the few that did try to impose control upon them would learn at their own bewilderment the swiftness of the tribal people's ability to hide themselves into the many wooded areas surrounding their environment and to leave no trace of their homes as if they had never been there. An nation of antiquity that may have left a lasting mark on the Proto-Bisezonnians could have been the Duchy of Belka as they had considerable territory in the region and maybe even impacted the Proto-Bisezonnians to a certain extent through cultural diffusion. The Proto-Bisezonnians were mostly animistic in their religious beliefs, and worshipped no god - completely dissimilar to the Bitheist worshippers in Fornois.

There was a large deal of Proto-Bisezonnian towns and villages, Vanitas, Coibia, Fernezia, etc; but it was in fact much later on did the actual place of Bisezonne become inhabited by the peoples that succeeded its name. There is no specific date of it's founding, but Bisezonne as an legitimate settlement is speculated to have been established just before the erection of the Second Republic in Bardonia, its name perhaps being an ancient corruption of 'Bisao-Zioni' meaning 'Farer's Haven'. Suggesting at the village's purpose to being a trading post to where foreign travelers and merchants could commerce goods with the Proto-Bisezonnians, such would mean that the isolationist nature that they had held bound in their culture for so long was beginning to be loosened by a willingness to introduce outside influences. Hence the founding of Bisezonne is often used as a point to determine the start of the rapid change in their civilization and its complete transformation.

The world of the Proto-Bisezonnians would slowly but evidently be altered with the bringing of Fornoian migrants who would act as a catalyst to the already intensifying metamorphosis that was occurring in their society. Although coming in relatively small numbers at the beginning of their immigration, these serf pilgrims stemming from the lush-green hills of Montbégny made tremendous cultural impacts on the Proto-Bisezonnian communities that welcomed them with trustful fondness. Fornoians often had a plethora of reasons to how they ended up within foreign nations, most of them being peasant escapees from their feudal lords who might have impeded on their rights - others may have been exiles who could have been considered belligerents of the Bitheisian church or perhaps radical reformists toward the feudalist government. But in the eyes of the Proto-Bisezonnians, they were accepted as invaluable members of their society who vastly improved their way of living. By integrating foreign Fornoians the Proto-Bisezonnians became introduced to advanced metallurgy, new ways of irrigation, written language, Secularist ideals, government, architecture, mathematics, and the basic sciences. Such speedy developments in this mixed civilization gave way to increasingly burgeoning urban populations, eventually every settlement would grow so large that they would form the practice of abandoning their original home which could not be sustained, in the place of bigger towns to accommodate their vast populaces. It is to the likelihood of Bisezonne already whilst having abundance of foreigner residents at that time, due to its locality of being a place of trade, did it eventually become the great site of exodus for all in the region. Accordingly by the time that the largest wave of Fornoian immigrants fleeing from the imperial authority of the Sun Dragon Empire did reach the gates of Bisezonne, it was already a bustling melting-pot of culture that seemed to have no end to its perpetual growth.

In the later chapter of their history, did the Bisezonnians truly begin to resemble their modern counterparts, subsequently many of the key components of Bisezonnian civilization that we see today also found their origination during that time of the fall of Fornois. The five districts that make up the city are run by houses and each house has an elected representative that has a seat in a council that legislate the vast amount of decisions and laws in Bisezonne, these were believed to be founded by the first influential families of the city, which were: Doodledorf, Grad, Beldred, Montanblanc, and Rathinn; of whom these districts were named after.

## Government

The top-authoritarian figure is the matriarchal Duchess of Bisezonne, but her role has devolved over time to become if anything a but meager symbol of power that the conflicting houses fight politically to win over - her inception into government is believed to be rooted deep in tribal history where women held greater powers. Elections occur the last Sunday of every month, where there is always a celebratory party at the Grad Banquet-Hall before the announcement of elected winners. The Duchy of Bisezonne maintains itself not by taxing the people directly but rather the burden falls upon the District Heads that oversee the different districts and who must act within a certain tax quota - failing to do so they are ousted out of their position.