Hesperida

Hesperida
Hesperida
Area	6,587,518 km² (2,543,455 mi²)
Population	1,224,947,091
Density	185.95/km² (481.61/mi²)
Countries	33 nations 3 dependencies
Largest cities	Suyang, Laeralsford, Anfa, Vahania, New Liverpool

Hesperida is a continent located in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres of Earth. The vast continent is bounded by the bustling Olympic Ocean to the west, the Tenebric Ocean to the east, and the extensive Northern Ocean to the north. A string of waterways, including the Elkjop Bay, Salliut Bay, and Galinios Sea separate the continent from Caxcana to the south. Politically, the continent is divided into about 33 nations, of which Haesan, located on the east coast of Hesperida, is the most populous.

Etymology

The continent name, "Hesperida," is possibly derived from from the Greek word "hesperos" or the Latin cognate, "hesper," meaning "evening star." In classical tradition, the evening star is associated with three minor deities, the "Hesperides," or "daughters of the evening."

History

Archaeological evidence suggests humans existed on the continent at least as early as the late paleolithic era, initially as hunter-gathers, sometimes dwelling in caves. Over time, many of these peoples formed permanent subsistence-level agricultural settlements, some of which were highly hierarchical, while others were more communal in leadership. Crops cultivated often included cereal grains like wheat, millet, and rice. Other peoples, such as the Taragaian Khans and Rén (until about 800 BC), remained nomadic pastoralists, moving with their grazing herds. One of the earliest civilizations in Hesperida was that of Danxing, which engaged in conquest of Rén settlements in modern Laeral as early as 1200 BC, but were gradually assimilated. By 800 BC, a number of fishing villages in modern Haesan formed a rudimentary trade network, using pearls as the chief medium of exchange. Many early states formed between 750 and 250 BC, taking a range of forms from tribal confederations to city states and early empires. Along the east coast of Hesperida, developments in seafaring facilitated cross-cultural exchanges, such as the emigration of the Makan people to the modern Slokais Islands and the development of a maritime trade network by the Coastal Tae people. The dawn of the first millennium AD saw the proliferation of empire in Hesperida, witnessing the rise and fall of the Liu and subsequent Jin Dynasties in Laeral, the apex of Deventian culture in Vulkaria, and the Amphai Dynasty in Pharitaya. In other regions, loose alliances formed to unite many scores of settlements under one banner, though, such as in the case of the Hanyeong Compact, these agreements often proved fleeting. In AD 93, the Taragaian nomadic tribes coalesced behind the Great Khagan, running roughshod over much of central Hesperida. Taragai raids remained a perennial source of danger for states in north-eastern Hesperida for the next 1500 years.

Christianity and the Minjian Faith were both introduced to Hesperida in the third and fourth centuries AD. The Christian faith seems to have been introduced to Hesperida first through Vulkaria around AD 300, though it was initially slow to spread, seeing early adoption only in pockets of the southeast. The Minjian Faith, however, was endemic to Hesperidia, specifically, originating in Peichen during the Jin Dynasty around AD 260. The faith quickly spread throughout eastern Hesperida over the next centuries, taking root across Laeral, the Slokais Islands, and many regions of the budding Gao Empire. By the 8th century, Minjian spread to the Kiso river valley, where it was widely adopted, but came into conflict with the Arikata faith. Celestialism, a polythiestic religion native to Haesan, can trace its origins much earlier, but spread extensively across eastern Hesperida during roughly the same time frame.

Powerful centralized imperial governments formed in Haesan and Laeral in the 13th and 16th centuries, respectively. Under Han dynastic rule, Pharitaya was brought into the Haesantite hegemonic fold and an alliance with Tsuyo clan leaders halted the expansionist ambitions of the Danketsu. In Laeral, the Sun dynasty threw off the yolk of Gao control in 1528, eventually resulting in the collapse of the Gao state, and stabilized the realm. The Sun dynasts later vassalized Zhonrey. While the Sun and Han dynasties flourished, the early second millennium AD marked a period of civilizational decline for many states across the continent, from the fall of Vargoya (1130) and Vulkar (1169) to a generation-spanning conflict between the Pindai and Ambonar kingdoms in the Slokais Islands (1207-1222). In central Hesperida, the conquests of the Taragaian Khanates began to wind down by the 16th and 17th centuries. On the west coast, the Kingdom of Costeno rapidly expanded its borders in the early 15th century, occupying a vast swath of modern Lauchenoiria and Zongongia and absorbing the smaller Fleura and Yervia states.

By the 18th century, much of coastal Hesperida was closely engaged with colonial powers of the day. Many historians consider Serrielian trade outposts established in the 14th century in modern Mallancaland to be the oldest extracontinental settlements in Hesperida. Over the next two centuries, a number of Valahandian expeditions established coastal settlements on both sides of the continent, colonizing parts of the Albarine maritime islands, Iustitia, and Ulinaria. The Dutch established a number of trading posts across the Albarine seaboard in the 17th century. French colonists settled throughout eastern Hesperida, establishing a colony spanning portions of the modern nations of High Fells, Laeral, and Haesan after overthrowing the native Sun regime in 1703.

List of states and territories

Name	Capital	Population	Area (km2)	Head of State	Head of Government	Government type
Aredoa	Vahania	29,856,398	74,755	Maria Ortalez	Alejandro Lopez	Unitary Parliamentary Republic
Bears Armed	Newport	19,000,000				Tribal Confederation
Buckingham	Oxford	38,036,118	313,931		William Johnson	Unitary parliamentary republic
Bjeorg Autonomous Region	Jonestown	4,157,600	26,152	Lucas Brown	Adam Stevenson	Unitary Republic; Semi-autonomous Maximusian territory
Comhar	Greenvale	10,770,000	131,960	Catherine Janeway		Socialist Democracy
Esilie	Valoca	33,000,000		Celeste Elizabete	Xande Inácio	Unitary semi-presidential constitutional republic
Gonhog	Jaken City	56,125,478		Benjamin Moore		Authoritarian Oligarchy
Greater Acadia	Federation City	86,883,426		Jean Pierreault	Timothy Gargant	Federal Constitutional Parliamentary Republic
Grundhavn	Grundhavn	328,000		Bent Nielsen	Hjalmar Frederiksen	Unitary Parliamentary republic with an executive presidency
Haesan	Hwagang	131,670,000	373,309	Kim I-seul	Sabrina Hwang	Unitary Semi-presidential Commonwealth
Hanafleura	Heiwakyō-to	23,037,000		Athena II	David Wescott	Colonial Governorship
High Fells	Queensgrace	26,147,987	301,336	Marc Thierry	Ryong Sang-chol	Unitary parliamentary Minjian republic
Holokovoy	Vladekovor	17,450,973		Vazyl Ilyahn	Hristofor Hrestuzvyah	Federal presidential Republic
Iustos	San Bartillo			Juan Perez		Military junta
Kerlile	Grapevale	12,240,000	302,459	Rebecca Arnott		Autocratic matriarchal oligarchy
Kvask	Noskv	69,841,923	997,986	N/A		Devolved democratic communist collectives
Laeral	Laeralsford	79,200,000	490,499	Liu Mei-han	Nicolas Martin	Federal Semi-presidential Republic
Lao Sansong	Kanjishima City	20,798,347		Yoshnoubu Abo	Yuji Shakotori	Semi-consiutional monarchy, shougnate
Lauchenoiria	Buttercity	34,219,000	987,253	Emilia Obando	Josephine Alvarez	Federal parliamentary republic
Littoral Marches (Xueyan SAR; Soeyan Province)	N/A	1,552,970	62,801	N/A		Special Administrative Region (of Laeral)
Libertas Omnium Maximus	Litudinem	59,503,000	545,650	Lucas Brown		Federal Presidential Constitutional Republic
Mallacaland	Mallaca City	1,100,000	1,289	Azim Shad	Ibrahim Kamza	Republic
Misumi	Seimei	55,208,000	284,471	Kuroda Yuko		Unitary Parliamentary Republic
Pharitaya	Seriwon	28,309,441	174,270	Mi Nayul	Suchin Chaiwong	Unitary Parliamentary Republic (nominal) One-party Aristocracy (de facto)
Slokais Islands	New Liverpool	65,950,587	86,816	Joseph Chavez	Alexandra Ahmad	Federal semi-presidential republic
Taragai	Bor-Öndör	28,302,000		Jirghogadai Tömörbataar		Unitary one-party autocracy
Thousand Branches		13,000,000		Tulen Levensky
Vulkaria	Vulkar	66,903,000	550,523	Farhen Brooks		Federation
Zerphique	New Horadam	18,492,015		Richard Gramittara	Marco Oppenheimer	Federal Semi-presidential Republic
Zhonrey	Xīchéng	103,200,000		Ran Lie	Wang Enman	Unitary One Party Socialist Republic
Zongongia	Sneedville	9,246,000		Osvald IV	Ivan Kristensen	Theocratic constitutional monarchy

Economy

Economic success in Hesperida is often dependent on access to ports and, in recent years, foreign investment. Western Hesperidan nations like Lauchenoiria and Greater Acadia are have developed typically Liberalian style service economies, as their Olympic Ocean connections have connected them to traditional trade routes, including the critical Tearvan Straits. The vast interior of the continent is often rugged and undeveloped, either due to remoteness or inhospitability, leading nations like Taragai and High Fells to be reliant on mining or subsistence agriculture and amongst the poorer nations on the continent. Eastern Hesperida has long been a center for international trade, and its many navigable ports have made export-oriented manufacturing a common economic basis in the region. Many Eastern Hesperidan nations have experienced significant economic growth in recent years due to an influx of foreign investment, notably Haesan, Slokais Islands, and Pharitaya. Eastern Hesperida is also home to established economic powers like Libertas Omnium Maximus and Laeral, which maintain legacy manufacturing sectors but are transitioning into diversified service economies.

Demographics

Languages

English is the most common language in Hesperida, driven by Opthelian interventionism and trade across the continent. Western Hesperida was most directly affected due to its proximity, but Haesanite marketplaces became another early vector for its spread. It is now the primary commercial language in nearly every nation, even in those like Taragai and Lao Sansong which are relatively isolated from international markets. Spanish is a national language of many countries on the continent as a result of the influence of the Costenan Empire, notably Lauchenoiria, Aredoa, and Slokais. Haean, despite historical efforts to restrict the language's use in both Haesan and High Fells, is spoken by over 100 million people. Rén is the most commonly spoken language in Laeral, although it often classified as Francophone, along with Acadia, and much of northern Haesan.

Religions

Hesperida is a religiously diverse continent, in large part driven by the strength of its home grown religions, particularly in the eastern portion of the continent. Minjian is one of the most widely practiced religions on the continent, with large populations of practitioners in Laeral, High Fells, and the Slokais Islands. Celestialism is also widely practiced amongst Haesanites, in Misumi, amongst the Pharitayan elite, and more broadly amongst the Haean diaspora. Western Hesperida is home to naturalistic religions like Lurianism and Zongongism, although they never established extensive missionary networks like their eastern counterparts and remained highly geographically localized.

However, most on the continent practice some form of religion that came from abroad, most commonly Christianity. Catholicism is the most dominant form of Christianity due largely to the influence of the French, who colonized Laeral, Greater Acadia, and parts of Haesan. Sanctarian interventions in Slokais and missionary efforts elsewhere, particularly in former colonies of the Costenan Empire have led a large contingent of Hesperidan Catholics practicing the more reform Sanctarian Catholicism, but Catholics are about split between Sanctus and Rome. Protestantism has been more widely effective in recent years, with its homebase in former Valahandian colonies like Libertas Omnium Maximus. Protestantism has recently found support amongst immigrant communities in countries like Haesan and has long had a foothold in nations like Zongongia and Greater Acadia. Islam reached the Slokasian Island chain from Nerian travelers over a millennia ago, and continues to have many devout followers in eastern Hesperida, particularly in Mallacaland, Pharitaya, and Kajian Island in Slokais.

Atheism and agnosticism have been on the rise across the continent, particularly amongst urban youth. This has been a nearly universal trend, affecting locales as diverse as Annatown, Hanshui, and Vahania, and shows no sign of slowing down.

Populace

Hesperida is a land of great ethnic, socioeconomic, and cultural diversity. While portions of western Hesperida like Greater Acadia, Lauchenoiria, and Kerlile have large distances between their urban hubs and have some of the lowest population densities in the IDU, the eastern portion of the country is highly urbanized and densely populated. Suyang, Seimei, Laeralsford, and Puri Rimbawan all are sprawling megacities, while New Liverpool and Iustitia City are smaller in absolute numbers but are at the core of dense urban agglomerations which comprise a significant proportion of their nations' population. In eastern Hesperida, it is not uncommon to have four in five residents in a nation living in an urban area; this is most stark in Misumi, where over 90% of residents live in a city. In the western portions of the continent, excepting the city-state of Grundhavn, this level of density is unheard of.

Hesperidans typically have longer than average lifespans, driven by rapid growth in many of the continent's poorest nations since the 1980s. Hesperidans are usually a bit healthier than the average IDUvian, either due for a penchant for the outdoors like in many western nations, notably Lauchenoiria, or as a result of diet and constitution as in the case in many eastern countries like Haesan. However, due to social stigma and other societal pressures, many eastern Hesperidan countries have high rates of stress and anxiety, much of which goes undiagnosed. Other illnesses, like eating disorders, are also disproportionately common in those nations.