Salovia

Climate and Geology:
Located in the southern hemisphere, the mainland of Salovia is a continent roughly the size of Australia. The capital city, Leohari, is surrounded by rolling hills and steep mountains with a dormant volcano dominating the skyline. This geology is very defensible and prevents all but the most determined from attacking from anywhere except the ocean. Attackers won’t have much luck there either since Salovia has the largest and most well developed navy in all of Amaranthia. The temperature mainly stays in the 60s and 70s all year long except in the winters. Winters in Salovia are some of the harshest in Amaranthia and the temperatures drop below freezing often. The fairly moderate summers help even things out and draw tourists from some of Amaranthia’s more scalding hot regions. The southernmost reaches of Salovia are frozen year-round with those cities’ main export being ice.

While life on the mainland is great for land dwellers, most Salovians are mer-creatures who can only spend short durations of time above the water, if any. Because of this, half of Salovia’s 20 cities are located underwater and scattered all across Amaranthia. Salovia is in charge of of the majority of the world’s oceans. This is where the most of Salovia’s 175 million residents live (almost 75%). These underwater cities are very focused on entertainment. Both land and underwater cities are fairly technologically advanced due to Salovia’s strong alliance with Cindrellia.

Life in Salovia:
The people of Salovia are well educated and polite. They are often employed in some sort of trade: fishing, ice carving, [think of more]. They are often exceptional healers. People from all over Amaranthia travel to Salovia (mainly Sirona) seeking medical attention. These people are happy and healthy, and as such, are very productive. The mainland population of Salovia has not grown in the past few decades, it has remained stable and sustainable. Salovians are a proud, but relatively objective people. They prefer to stay neutral in world politics until they have all the facts. As such, it was a big surprise to Amaranthia that they even entered the war, let alone that they fought so fiercely. Many attribute this to the Queen, Stellaluna Stardust, who was emotionally compromised due to the death of her husband and disappearance of her daughter, Noel Stardust. She now rules over Salovia with honesty and kindness. Because of the recent devastation, however, Stella has been a bit scatter-brained and her advisors have become more central in decision making. Stella also visits her sister, Kera Moondust, more often now since she is the only family Stella has left.

Because of the surplus of Vorcas in the region, most people sport white fur coats and boots in the winter month (or year round in the southernmost part of the continent). During the rest of the year you can find most Salovians in soft animal hide and cotton. The underwater citizens have scale decorations. Females wear decorative bras and, in most cases, the males go for a more natural look.

During the harsh winters, firewood is burned in obsidian hearths in every home. Many of the houses are built with pine wood and bricks made with pebbles, sand and volcanic ash. The houses are mainly tudor style with steep roofs that sometimes reach the ground in order to prevent collapse from heavy snowfall. Most families have houses with plenty of south facing windows in order to absorb the heat from the sun during the winter. Then, they get a nice sea-breeze during the warmer months. Most of the homes have a stain-glass window in the peak of the roof which displays their family crest.

Trade:
The kingdom’s biggest exports are ice, fish, pearls, and a rare mineral used to make gunpowder more explosive (found in the hills around the kingdom). The economy is slowly recovering from the war. Salovian jewelry is world-renowned due to the inclusion of rare obsidian and sapphire. A Salovian jeweler hasn’t operated in the kingdom in many generations. Most of their creations are owned by the royal family (Stardust), but a few are still floating around. As these pieces are few and far between, they are highly sought after. Poorly rendered example of the Stardust family jewel:

Currency:
In the early days, Salovians bartered with one another as most young societies do. Later, the traded with precious items like pearls, rare shells, and amber. This evolved into the currency that present day Salovians use: stamped metal encased in a resinous material to prevent corrosion from salt water. The metal sheets are the thickness of cardstock and the resin around them doesn't make them much thicker, but it makes the money solid and durable. Since Salovians are practical craftsmen and fishermen, they appreciate the practical physical monetary equivalent (though most Salovians participate in electronic banking now). The average, middle class Salovian uses their hands for work and their pockets for tools of their trade - no room for a fancy purse or wallet. This is why their currency has a rectangular cutout in it - it's perfect to slide a leather strap through. The more valuable pieces are called "chips" while the small change is refers to as "bits" (because they are made from the left-over bits). There are five different chips: copper<silver<gold<platinum<sky iron, and three different bits: copper<silver<gold.

The Salovians subscribe to representative economics; so every copper chip is backed by one ounce of copper, every silver chip is backed by one ounce of silver, so on and so forth. Ten copper chips are equivalent to one silver chip; ten silver chips are worth one gold chip, etc, etc. This makes one sky iron chip worth 10,000 copper chips (not a lot of Salovians carry those around, they’re mostly used by nobles, royalty and banks). It takes 20xcopper bits to make one copper chip, 10xsilver bits to make one copper chip, and 4xgold bits to make one copper chip. If the copper chip is the dollar, copper bits are nickels, silver bits are dimes and gold bits are quarters. Since every bit and chip is based on its relative value to the copper chip, the symbol for Salovian currency is two C's stacked on top of each other. The stamped metal picture in the chips depict things Salovians take pride in: their natural forests, their relationship with the sea, their snow capped mountains, their royal family (symbolize by the nautical star), and their culture (symbolized by the ‘S’ made of inlaid diamond dust).

Endemic Life
Salovian Animal and Plant life.

Trivia:
- Salovia is the second largest country with a population of 150 million people.