Alsaneth Republic

The Alsaneth Republic, also called the Alsaneth Commonwealth (official name The Hexactic Commonwealth of Alsan), was a historic nation occupying the southern half of the island of Besoa. The Republic existed from the overthrow of the old Kingdom of Alsan in 38 ME until the brutal conquest of Besoa by the Hartherans in 1090 ME.

The majority of the nation is upland plateau, with numerous river vallyes and basins which are the main areas for human habitation. There are few true mountains, just long chains of hills running north-south. The main area of population is in the southeast, where a crescent of hills encircles the bowl-like Merel Valley, hinterland of the nation's largest city, Delgeth. The eastern uplands are green-forested, and the Merel Valley is fertile and farmed. The western coast is storm-prone, the province of Derailad being rocky and windswept, dotted by the ruins of settlements destroyed before the Battle of Four Kingdoms. While there are still pockets of greenplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigGreen

The Green Kingdom of flora and fauna includes humans, mammals, birds, whales, greenfish, and most green plants and crops cultivated by humankind. plant life gone wild, much of the region has been colonised by viridplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigVirid

Referring to the Virid Kingdom of flora and fauna, toxic to human life. plants and predators, so the region is feared.

The region has a warm maritime climate with heavy rainfall in winter, and protracted hot dry spells in summer. It's coastline is well protected from storm tides by precipitous cliffs.

The Alsaneth Republic was Hexactic Commonwealth, ruled by a council broadly claiming to represent the interests of the whole nation. The old kingdom was deposed in a brief civil war in 38 ME, three years after the Battle of Four Kingdoms, a period which saw the bloody annexation of what remained of the former Kingdom of Derailad. Alsaneth has thus far been the only Hexactic government not to have a king, and instead a standing committee governs it. Order was maintained by an inner council, who gained a reputation for tyrannical enforcement of the law.

The ancient royal capital was at Delgeth, but the Republic's founders chose the second city of Helmeth, a city of miners and tradespeople which saw the starting place of the Republican revolution. It remained the official seat of government throughout the Republic, though Delgeth continued to be the traditional capital of trade and culture.

The Republic's currency was the Alsaneth Alm, a hexagonal bismuth-bronze coin more commonly called a Hand because of the hand-symbol of the Commonwealth stamped on it.

The Kingdom of Alsan used a system of Years Regnant, which was replaced by Years of the Commonwealth (YHC), 38 ME being Year 1. The calendar was popular at first since it was simpler than the existing system, but it was gradually replaced by the Modern Epoch calendar, which by the fifth century was used universally by traders, merchants and diplomats. Official documents, treaties and contracts were dated in both calendars, though in later centuries even common people mainly used the Modern calendar in everyday speech.

Towards the end of the First Epoch when sea levels were much lower, it formed a much larger region known as Arelia, encompassing Antyok and southern parts of The Spines. Arelia was the southernmost province of the Realm of the Godmen, and some artefacts remain from that distant past, the most notable being the Oracle of Welvér.

Throughout successive epochsplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigWorld History

Helevos has eight thousand years of recorded history, with archeology, artefacts and myth stretching back much further. There are two dominant views of human history: the theological view that the whole world and humanity were created some thousands of years ago in one instant of creation; the second, that all humanity descends from a race of fallen demigods called the viridEmerald EpochBMEgreenBMEAnásthiasAnásthiasBMEAnásthiasfolkloreMiyarrisGodmenBMEMEOrorrHartheraMEviridAnásthi… there were hundreds of smaller city states and petty kingdoms, in which the modern island of Besoa formed the more isolated central uplands.

The Kingdom of Alsan was one of the four ancient kingdoms of Besoa, which fought the Battle of Four Kingdoms. Alsan annexed its ruined neighbour Derailad shortly after in a bitter war, which so discredited the kingdom that a conspiracy of minor nobles, scribes, courtiers, lawyers and administrators assassinated the king and senior officials. There was a brief though lacklustre civil war, in an already war-sick nation, and eventually a Commonwealth was established, based on Hexactic principles developed in Anrel. The Sann'ali kings reacted in hororr to the regicide and attempted to restore order, but their nation also had little appetite for further warfare. Ever since, the two nations lived in uneasy peace, with regular border skirmishes and a covert war of intrigue. In 1092 HMplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigHirèrk Moonscale

The Hirèrk Moonscale [Hee-Rerrk] (HM) is a luni-solar calendar used at least since the time of Miyarris, which measures cycles based on the moons, solar years as well as the millennia-long cycles of global climate change. Today years HM are only seen in historic works and not considered accurate in historical accounts.HMHMepochsepochepochepochepochepochHMepochsME Alsan was invaded and conquered by Harthera.