Encyclopaedia of Aquila: Tolstaag-Jotenburg

*Encyclopaedia of Aquila*

*Volume II: National Union of Tolstaag-Jotenburg*

*For scholarly purposes, Othello di Valentine*

*Valencia, State Syndicate of Historical and Anthropological Publications*

*Highharveste, 11th dusk, 4852*

*"Knowledge for Knowledge"*

*presented by the*

*South Aquilan Anthropological Society & affiliates*

*with thanks to*

*the Archivist, et al*

**National Union of Tolstaag-Jotenburg (Tolstaag-Jotenburg)**

**founded 4816 after desynchronization**

### Introduction

Sivistys has long been a continent of intrigue and skulduggery. As a vassal of the Aquilan Empire, it was governed by a triumvirate of native Sivesians who swore undying fealty to the Mad King in exchange for immortality and practically unlimited wealth through the god’s legendary alchemical powers. They cared little for their subjects, who were kept in line by a garrison of Nightmare Legionnaires. In the 3000s when the Mad King entered his long period of dormancy, however, the Legion withdrew to Kilran and the triumvirate were left to fend for themselves, forming three independent kingdoms to partition the continent – still nominally a vassal of the Empire, but functionally autonomous. These countries were Tolstaag, Jotenburg, and Siluria, named after their respective founders. Each king formed Houses in their names as well so as to preserve their bloodline, all of which remain to this day.

In the 3800s, after centuries of devastating conflict between the three houses, the prophet Haakon surfaced, claiming to be the manifestation of Sol Soloth (the Sivisean aspect of Makrozoia, whom they believed to be dead) due to his distinctive white streak through his jet black hair, identical to depictions of the young emperor. The houses saw wisdom in rallying behind this so-called Haakon Soloth, recognizing him as their god-king but continuing their intrigue behind the scenes. Thus, Sivistys was unified under the Soloth, with the three kingdoms begrudgingly hanging up the axe and bending the knee all the while conspiring against each other at every step. So it remained for nearly 1,000 years until the obliteration of New Detroit at the hands of what the Siviseans perceived to be the dark aspect of Makrozoia, Kel Kelath.

With New Detroit, the capital of Tolstaag destroyed, the other houses seized the opportunity to establish political dominance, and a temporary alliance was formed between the kingdoms of Jotenburg and Siluria. With the sitting Soloth murdered in the attack, there were no external powers to restrain the houses and thus the concordat of Jotenburg and Siluria declared war on the humiliated Tolstaag. The war stagnated for decades, amounting to little more than sporadic skirmishes until the Aether War in which much of Siluria was assimilated by the Ancient Fear. The Midnight War was postponed by the event, allowing Tolstaag to play one last hand: They claimed to have produced the next Soloth, a young girl named Kathryn. Jotenburg, sensing a turning of the tides, immediately allied with Tolstaag, forming a “permanent alliance” with the National Union. The House of Siluria were outraged, accusing Tolstaag of simply dying the girl’s hair, but it quickly became clear they were now the pariah kingdom and retreated to the walls of their fortress in Caer Lyon to lick their wounds. In the War of the Sunflower, the National Union were nearly overwhelmed by the ruthless Khotanese who slaughtered thousands of Siviseans in the trenches of Olexia. Worse still, the bitter Siluria forged an alliance with the Eternal Empire and prepared to march upon Mount Augusta, the Union’s capital. The war ended just before the capital could be taken, splitting the city in two and drawing the current political boundaries of the continent.

In the years since, Tolstaag-Jotenburg has bided its time, preparing for the inevitable final war with an emboldened Siluria.

### Geography

Tolstaag-Jotenburg controls all of southwestern Sivistys, giving it supremacy over large portions of both the Astral and Keiro seas. The region is notorious for its long, bitter winters and mild summers. Much of the north is shrouded in permafrost, but the southern coast, where the Union’s major cities are located, is quite temperate and suitable for both permanent settlement and modest yields of potato and beet. Its northern border is the treacherous mountain range of Dagon, just over which lies the wastes of Olexia, and its eastern border with Siluria is demarcated by a straight line through the middle of Mount Augusta.

### People and Society

The National Union has an estimated population of just over 3 million, placing it on the lower end of Aquila’s nationstates in terms of manpower. They are described as a hard-working, objective-focused people, not devoting much time to artistic pursuits and always carrying with them a sense of somewhat dry and pessimistic humor. Though this has led them to carry a reputation as the “empire of brutes” among the southern countries, they wear their industriousness proudly upon their sleeves and care little for politics.

The vast majority of Siviseans still speak their native tongue of Old Olexian, but rates of fluency with Aquilan standard are rising, especially in the growing population centers of Oberon, Detroit, and the contested Mount Augusta, where the rise of international trade has put the pressure on native merchants to adapt to the new world.

Sivistys is the world capital of the Church of the Risen, a faith largely separate from the rest of Aquila due to its entirely different divine pantheon from the standard Notch-Herobrine dichotomy. They worship a collection of deities, the Risen, former mortals who ascended to immortality through glorious conquest and acts of charity – the most recent and important of which being Sol Soloth, the late emperor of Aquila whom most other cultures vilify as the Mad King, a child of Moros. However, the popularity of the Church is on the decline due to the devastation of the Aether War, with many feeling that a just Sol Soloth would have intervened to save Aquila.

Government Tolstaag-Jotenburg is a constitutional monarchy formally led by the child emperor, Kathryn Soloth, but it is functionally led by the oligarchic Court of National Magistrates comprised of wealthy elders from the houses of Tolstaag and Jotenburg. Scars of past animosity still remain, but the houses more or less cooperate to maintain stability over the union, recognizing the Silurians as the greater threat. The most powerful magistrate by might of superior political maneuvering is the Lord Protector, a position currently held by the cousin of the Soloth, Erik de Augusta, son of Erikson. The two houses autonomously govern their historical countries through what is essentially feudalism, with the Sivisean countryside far behind the rest of Aquila in terms of technological development. The cities of Oberon, Detroit, and Mount Augusta are governed directly by the United Sivistys Military.

### Economy

Much of Sivistys’ relatively formidable wealth derives, strangely enough, from the countless glaciers and icebergs buried deep underground or just off the coast. It was discovered centuries ago that many of these frozen features stored within them generations of immense wealth, producing vast quantities of perfect gold, emeralds, and even diamonds when thawed. Control over the glaciers has been the primary goal of every political entity on the continent since, and tales of unimaginable wealth in the obsidian trenches below Sivistys have long attracted explorers and foreign powers itching to secure some of the treasure for themselves. For now, Tolstaag-Jotenburg maintains tight control over their precious ice, making them highly desirable trade partners for empires as distant as the Commonwealth.

Otherwise, the National Union are quite securely the top exporters of charcoal in Aquila, owing to their vast taigas and massive furnace houses also used to thaw the glaciers. The region has a relatively high concentration of cows and snow rabbits, though these are rarely exported as Sivisean harvests are notoriously fickle, necessitating the long-term storing of foodstuffs in case of famine.

### Technology

Tolstaag-Jotenburg and Sivistys as a whole have been among the last to reap the benefits of post-Aether miracle technology, even behind Kazimir, due to their lack of reliable redstone deposits. In the past, they could have relied upon the trade syndicates of Audax just across the Keiro, but their massive stockpile of redstone fuel has been kept under tight lock and key by the radicals in control of the Republic. Thus, the Siviseans have been forced to rely upon ancient methods of thermal energy harnessed by huge magma chambers, whose molten rock is used to provide cheap and efficient fuel for the massive furnaces which power the Union economy. Due to the necessity of pure redstone to power new devices such as enhanced crossbows, speedrails, and chemical synthesizers, the Court have sent several teams of prospectors to cross over the Dagon mountains and search Olexia for signs of redstone caves, with limited success as of 4852.

### Military and Security

The United Sivistys Military is the standing army of the National Union, mostly comprised of conscripted peasants with simple leather uniforms armed with their own farming implements such as hoes and axes. The lack of an established arms manufacturing sector in the region has obviously forced the Union to go to desperate measures to maintain a military large enough to secure the borders of its relatively vast territorial claims. Increasing globalization has left the Court optimistic, however, with shipments of expensive weapons routinely coming in from Mandate galleons.

### Foreign and Domestic issues

Though they have been decidedly cooperative thus far, there is clearly still a mutual resentment between the ruling houses of Tolstaag and Jotenburg which is unlikely to be resolved anytime soon, sparking concerns over a potential civil war in the future. For now, the presence of the practically imprisoned Kathryn Soloth within her royal chambers has kept the elders in line, allowing them to govern the union at least somewhat coherently. To the east, however, the bitter and heavily armed Silurians have been making bolder and bolder expeditions into National territory, testing the war-readiness of the two houses.

#### Trade alliances

* Nova Aquila
* Dreiton
* Bobyrujsk
* Karisha
* Occa

#### Hostile

* Siluria
* Khotan