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."

Geography

Regions

Geographically the Hesperidan continent has many regions and subregions. These include cultural, economic, and geographic regions. Economic regions included those formed by trade blocs. Linguistically and culturally, the continent could be divided into several additional zones.

List of states and territories

Name	Capital	Population	Area	Head of State	Head of Government	Government type
Aredoa	Vahania	29,856,398	74,755 km2	Maria Ortalez	Alejandro Lopez	Unitary Parliamentary Republic
Bears Armed	Newport	19,000,000	km2			Tribal Confederation
Buckingham	Oxford	38,036,118	313,931 km2		William Johnson	Unitary parliamentary republic
Bjeorg Autonomous Region	Jonestown	4,157,600	26,152 km2	Lucas Brown	Adam Stevenson	Unitary Republic; Semi-autonomous Maximusian territory
Comhar	Greenvale	10,770,000	131,960 km2	Catherine Janeway		Socialist Democracy
Esilie	Valoca	33,000,000	km2	Celeste Elizabete	Xande Inácio	Unitary semi-presidential constitutional republic
Gonhog	Jaken City	56,125,478	385,781 km2	Benjamin Moore		Authoritarian Oligarchy
Greater Acadia	Federation City	86,883,426	km2	Jean Pierreault	Timothy Gargant	Federal Constitutional Parliamentary Republic
Grundhavn	Grundhavn	328,000	km2	Bent Nielsen	Hjalmar Frederiksen	Unitary Parliamentary republic with an executive presidency
Haesan	Hwagang	131,670,000	373,309 km2	Kim I-seul	Sabrina Hwang	Unitary Semi-presidential Commonwealth
Hanafleura	Heiwakyō-to	23,037,000	km2	Athena II	David Wescott	Colonial Governorship
High Fells	Queensgrace	26,147,987	301,336 km2	Marc Thierry	Ryong Sang-chol	Unitary parliamentary Minjian republic
Holokovoy	Vladekovor	17,450,973	km2	Vazyl Ilyahn	Hristofor Hrestuzvyah	Federal presidential Republic
Iustos	San Bartillo		km2	Juan Perez		Military junta
Kerlile	Grapevale	12,240,000	302,459 km2	Rebecca Arnott		Autocratic matriarchal oligarchy
Kvask	Noskv	69,841,923	997,986 km2	N/A		Devolved democratic communist collectives
Laeral	Laeralsford	79,200,000	490,499 km2	Liu Mei-han	Nicolas Martin	Federal Semi-presidential Republic
Lao Sansong	Kanjishima City	20,798,347	km2	Yoshnoubu Abo	Yuji Shakotori	Semi-consiutional monarchy, shougnate
Lauchenoiria	Buttercity	34,219,000	987,253 km2	Emilia Obando	Josephine Alvarez	Federal parliamentary republic
Littoral Marches (Xueyan SAR; Soeyan Province)	N/A	1,552,970	62,801 km2	N/A		Special Administrative Region (of Laeral)
Libertas Omnium Maximus	Litudinem	59,503,000	545,650 km2	Lucas Brown		Federal Presidential Constitutional Republic
Mallacaland	Mallaca City	1,100,000	1,289 km2	Azim Shad	Ibrahim Kamza	Republic
Misumi	Seimei	55,208,000	284,471 km2	Kuroda Yuko		Unitary Parliamentary Republic
Pharitaya	Seriwon	28,309,441	174,270 km2	Mi Nayul	Suchin Chaiwong	Unitary Parliamentary Republic (nominal) One-party Aristocracy (de facto)
Slokais Islands	New Liverpool	40,003,000	86,816 km2	Joseph Chavez	Alexandra Ahmad	Federal semi-presidential republic
Taragai	Bor-Öndör	28,302,000	km2	Jirghogadai Tömörbataar		Unitary one-party autocracy
Thousand Branches		13,000,000	km2	Tulen Levensky
Vulkaria	Vulkar	66,903,000	550523 km2	Farhen Brooks		Federation
Zerphique	New Horadam	18,492,015	km2	Richard Gramittara	Marco Oppenheimer	Federal Semi-presidential Republic
Zhonrey	Xīchéng	103,200,000	km2	Ran Lie	Wang Enman	Unitary One Party Socialist Republic
Zongongia	Sneedville	9,246,000	km2	Osvald IV	Ivan Kristensen	Theocratic constitutional monarchy

Demographics

Economy

Most of the nations on Hesperida are developed countries, and many such as Laeral and Libertas Omnium Maximus have some of the wealthiest economies in the International Democratic Union. While levels of human development are typically high across the Hesperidan continent, the region of southwest Hesperida, including Iustos, Vulkaria, and Zerphique, is less developed.

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 Litudinem 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.