The Lottish Empire

The Lottish Empire, also known as Lot, was founded in the year 241 AM, after seceeding from Raynland. It is known for its strong military, factory production, and barren weather. It is the geographically largest country in the world, however, only a small portion of the actual country in habitable to the general population.

## History

### Early history

Following the anarchy wars, Lot was hit heavily with radiation, which resulted in it becoming a near uninhabitable wasteland of ice and constant storms. While a few small groups continued to live there, it was mostly empty, and it became difficult for plants or animals to grow there. During Ecoute's growth of Raynland, the land was incorporated into the country, and a few more people moved to the Southern, warmer areas of Lot. Several other small countries lined the border between Raynland and Lot, and some of their inhabitants also moved into the Raynish portion of the land.

In the year of her death, 241 AM, Ecoute granted land and sacred texts of Madelinism to both of her sons, Lot and Udhin Gould. Lot, with whom Ecoute had a strained relationship, was given the land that would become Lot, and the Bible passage relating to the sins of humanity, as Ecoute was worried her son would follow such a path. Feeling slighted and betrayed, Lot swore revenge on his mother's legacy and cut ties with his brother, Udhin.

Lot took a small group of followers with him to the wasteland and got to know the small groups of native Lottish people. After learning that many of them faced danger from the mutated beasts that lived in the area, he assembled a small army of his followers and drove the beasts from the land, keeping a few to be bred for meat and milk. His followers and the native Lottish people were impressed with his leadership and allowed him to become King of what would become their new country. As a king, King Lot I was feared and powerful, quickly proving himself an adept leader, but also a cold hearted and manipulative man who would achieve his goals at any cost.

Once he had a kingdom to stand behind him, King Lot I publicly denounced his mother and Madelinism, and was excommunicated, becoming the second and final Wretched Sacred One. As King Udhin Gould would go on to establish his kingdom as a pacifistic one, with peace treaties with multiple other nations and people, King Lot would refuse to meet diplomatically with his brother. After the denouncement, a group of Raynish people and other wanderers who had not supported Ecoute's views, joined Lot.

King Lot I continued to strengthen the country's military and sent any who could not fight on scouting missions, to brave the radiation and explore the land. Eventually, natural resources in the form of gemstones were found and Lot came into a large amount of sudden wealth. With this money, King Lot I began a huge project, which would extend past his death. He commissioned architects from around the world to build a palace in the frozen land of Middle Lot, an entire city indoors, where the royal family and nobles of the country could live. During the construction of the palace, Lot met a young wanderer who had left her group to join Lot. He fell in love with her and made her queen of the land. She became pregnant with a new heir to the throne, Prince Lot II.

After hearing that his brother was soon to become a father, and hearing word of his new project, King Udhin Gould made one final attempt to reach him. Lot accepted his offer to visit Dhabbab, which surprised his brother. However, he only attended with a plan in mind. He hid a dagger under his clothes, covered with a deadly, radioactive poison, with which he would kill his brother and then seek to take over Dhabbab with his army.

However, on the day of the planned assassination, Lot met with Udhin, and the two brothers spoke. Udhin begged his brother not to separate himself from his people in the palace, and to instead invest his money in finding a way to clear the radiation, but Lot refused. In anger, Udhin's bodyguard and lover tackled the King and he was accidentally grazed with his own poison dagger. Udhin attempted to hold his brother in his arms as he died, but the King shoved him away and managed to get to the front door of the palace, before collapsing and dying.

### Development into the Empire

King Lot I's son, the prince, would grow into King Lot II, and continue his father's legacy of a strong military and the Palace project. In the final years of his life, the palace would finally be finished, and the royal family, nobility, and highest ranking military members would all move into it. The regular people of Lot were left behind to protect themselves from the radiation, which caused numerous health issues and mutations. This worked as an incentive to join the military, as it allowed people to live in radiation-free barracks and travel the world with a fairly comfortable lifestyle. Those were unable were forced to seek education and become local doctors, shoshas, or other careers, or work in the factories, which woudl become Lot's biggest income.

Lot II did not have any sons, and instead had a daughter, Queen Lot III. She was even more bloodthirsty than her father and grandfather before her and she formally cut ties with Dhabbab and Raynland, disallowing any travel between the two and beginning the invasion and colonization of multiple countries between Raynland and Lot. Her son would follow in her method and eventually grow Lot into fully bordering Raynland.

### The Lottish-Raynish Conflict

In 500 AM, Lot's king at the time, King Lot VII, died. Despite his very old age, he had refusde to give up the throne because he feared his son's destructive strategies and lack of care for his people. King Lot VIII rose to the throne and immediately began to invade the Northern portion of Raynland, which bordered the Lottish Empire. King Lot VIII was aware that his army could easily overpower Raynland, which had no military at the time, and that because of Lot's military power, it was unlikely other countries would intervene immediately.

Surprisingly, Lot VIII followed his father's outline, rather than his own plan, and decided to take the conquered people as prisoners of war, rather than simply kill them. He offered them the chance to turn themselves in as indentured servants and be spared from fighting altogether. However, if a town refused his offer, he would not hesitate to kill them. Only a small portion of Raynish people agreed, and millions were slaughtered by Lottish armies.

The Raynish King, Rayn Birue, led a new army created specifically to drive Lot out of the North. This army put a surprising amount of resistance, but still failed to prevent the majority of the invasion. Enraged by the attempt, anyway, King Lot VIII hired multiple assassins to kill Rayn Birue, but all failed. After realizing that the army would fall without his leadership, he realized he had no choice but to kill Rayn at any cost.

In 505 AM, he used spies to discover which town Rayn's family was hiding in and stormed it, taking his young son, Jadoe Birue captive. There was an attempt for multiple days to torture Jadoe for information, but after discovering he knew essentially nothing of his father's plans, and did not even live with him, King Lot VIII had to create an alternate plan. In an attempt to humiliate Rayn and lower morale of Raynland, the King posted Jadoe as a full time servant to his son, Prince Lot IX.

Expanding on his plan to gain access to Rayn, King Lot VIII offered him an ultimatum. In five years time, 510 AM, he would let Jadoe go free, but only if Rayn offered his own captivity in exchange. It was assumed Rayn would agree, but when the time came, he refused to offer his own life in exchange for his son's. King Lot VIII arranged to have Jadoe executed, but his son jumped in front of the blade, saving Jadoe's life, but being critically injured. After a year of medical treatments, the Prince was revealed to have fully recovered, however he became a controversial figure to the nobility, because of his willingness to save an enemy's life. The regular people, however, found it to be a promising sign of a nearing end to the conflict.

As of 516 AM, only the major cities and Southern border of Raynland are truly safe and fully free of Lottish occupation, and the conflict is still ongoing.

## Culture

### Military

Military is extremely important to Lottish culture. Other than those who are medically exempt, all Lottish citizens undergo minor military training as children and teens, including the royal family and nobility. The vast majority of the population goes into the military, at least for a portion of their life, and high ranking military members make up a lot of the nobility. It is more common for men to pursue the military as a career option, but women are also required to receive military training.

Military uniforms are given to all people who join the military, no matter for how little time. These uniforms are extremely warm and well made and will often be the most expensive piece of clothing a person will ever known. High ranking members wear more ornate and impractical uniforms in their daily life.

Outside of the public military, there is also the option to pursue private employment through the military. Many other countries and nobility will rent trained fighters or assassins to protect themselves. Many private guards across the globe are originally Lottish. Those who cannot pursue public or private military employment have four options: architecture, education, becoming a Shosha, or factory work. A small portion of highly talented math and art students are chosen each year to serve as architects, to continue the growth and maintenance of the palace, as well as work on building apartments and mining equipment to serve Lot. If someone is able to pursue education, they may become a member of the small handful of Lottish people who pursue careers in medicine, radiation research, or other fields. Spots in Lottish colleges are extremely limited, so one must be an exceptional student with an impressive resume at a young age to be able to apply. The majority of those not in the military will become factory workers, which is what 70% of the Lottish population does, or ends up in after retiring from the military. Factory workers live with their families in weather-proofed and radiation-free apartments and ride circulators across Lot each morning to various mines or factories to work.

### Weather

Lot's weather is so extreme that even before the conflict, it was an extremely uncommon place to visit, out of safety. Staying outside of the Palace can easily result in death for those unused to the barren and cold landscape, and even though who prepare for the cold often fall victim to the radiation sickness.

Regular Lottish people, who live outside of the Palace, almost always wear very warm clothes and surround themselves with heating lamps and fire. A large percentage of Lottish babies die very early in childhood because of the weather, so many families will have a lot of children. Palace guests and the royal family are more protected from radiation and winds in the Palace, but it is still biting cold, so they will typically wear warm fabrics like velvet and fleece, as well as many furs and blankets.

Throughout the Palace are hot baths, large sunken pools full of permanently heated water. They are some of the only rooms in the Palace with windows to the outside, and are a place for socialization, thinking, and relaxation and recuperation. Hot baths also exist in the outside of Lot, and are frequented by all sorts of people, with some Circulators even stopping at them at the end of the day. They have become an important and integral part of Lottish culture.

### Circulators, Shoshas, and Northern Explorers

Three things which exist in Lot specifically because of its weather are Circulators, Shoshas, and Northern explorers.

Circulators are bus-like trains which follow set tracks around areas of Lot, and are heated and insulated from the outside world. While they don't function during the worst of storms, they are known for being a safe place during terrible weather because of their warmth and solidity. Circulator accidents are rare, but are often devastating when they do happen, killing dozens of people in seconds.

Shoshas exist throughout the world, but are especially prevalent in both Lot and Raynland, and are a special class of people who have permission to travel between warring countries. Shoshas collect items, goods, and information from the various places they visit, and then sell or exchange it in other areas. In Lot, they are often used by the royal family, as they can get foods, animals, and goods that are unavailable in Lot's climate, and bring them to the palace. They also work as mediums between Northern explorers and the rest of the world, being middlemen to transport and sell their goods in exchange for a cut of the profit.

In the far north of Lot is an area simply referred to as the North. The North is so cold that humans cannot survive outside for more than a few minutes, and almost no living creatures are able to live there. A few small, scattered towns exist there, but little is known about them or how they've managed to survive. Unlike the rest of Lot, they aren't required to do military training or enlist, so they rarely, if ever, interact with other Lottish people. Northern explorers are brave souls who dedicate their lives to traversing the North to communicate with these towns, and find what still remains from before the Anarchy Wars. Explorers must wear full body suits which are self powering and heat their bodies and protect them from radiation. These suits are fragile and uncomfortable and must be monitored carefully by their wearer. These explorers are accompanied by cats, the national animal of Lot. These cats travel with them and are trained to sense and point out certain landmarks and items to assist their explorers.

## Related characters

Prince Lot IX is the crown prince of Lot.

Jadoe Birue lived in Lot for many years as an indentured servant.

Bichou Birue was taken as a prisoner of war and also lived in the Palace as a servant for many years.

Contempt chose to live in Lot after his escape from the Ouest.