Jump to content

[Factbook] The Gryphonian Alliance


Recommended Posts

uyyyy.jpg.29b473a3c42b9bc1a5110da00f178aa1.jpg

THE GRYPHONIAN ALLIANCE

"Si habes fiduciam in proprio creaturae."

Overview

The Gryphonian Alliance (abbreviated GA) is a small country on the continent of Aura to the west of Saint Mark. Its capital city is Plasmadius Prime (population ------ ). 

Population: -----

Land Area: 94,942 mi^2/245,804 km^2

Gross Domestic Product: ----

Currency: the crius, symbol χ

725108409_ScreenShot2021-03-19at11_59_55AM.png.c32d5b8e213d1608da2cb0b966180de0.png

Geography and Climate

The coastal region of the Gryphonian Alliance enjoys a hot, humid, tropical climate, with frequent rainstorms and summer hurricanes coming up from the Yatasail Sea. Going further inland, the country is dominated by a more temperate region of grassy plains.

The country contains three islands in the Sea of Serenity, named Suytu Seimya, Luchang, and Samhade, in order from largest to smallest. There is one major lake in the country's interior, Contirme Lake, which sits just above the Basag'n Peninsula jutting out into the sea. Taking a deeper look at the country's geography, it is known that there are two major tectonic plates that shuffle past each other under the seas just off the coast of Samhade and continue along the southern border of GA waters, spawning occasional earthquakes and tsunamis that can cause problems for the coastal population. [1]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Economy

The Gryphonian Alliance is an upper-middle income country with a mixed economy. It has a fairly low unemployment rate of 4%. 

The main sector of the Gryphonic economy is its silicon industry, involving mining quartzite from deposits found in the north, refining it into pure silicon, and manufacturing computer chips for worldwide export. The largest local companies in the Gryphonian Alliance, including Margaretto, Simons, and SP~TW, are based around this supply chain. The GA's silicon-related exports have risen substantially in the past decade. Other major exports include petroleum, textiles, and electronics. The port of Mismon on the island of Samhade is a critical entrepôt for ships passing through the Sea of Serenity.

The Gryphonian Alliance produces 80% of its electricity consumption, which is mostly derived from oil shale mined at the higher latitudes, with geothermal plants making up another significant source of power for many southern coastal cities.

The government employs a progressive tax system for both people and corporations, though it has faced some controversy in recent years as many believe it is unfairly high for the poor.

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Government

98678294_ScreenShot2019-10-20at5_02_03PM.png.49459d22ec5ece38953f3f0885f8e751.png

The National Convention

The main governmental body is the National Convention, which consists of 50 members. Parties, usually called "groups" in common parlance, are founded by individual politicians and traditionally break up after the founder retires from political office or steps down. Every year, groups place "bids" on each of the fifty seats in the National Convention. The bids are then decided upon by popular vote; each seat has its own mini-election of sorts, with the group garnering the most votes on that seat gaining control of it, at least for the next year. Seating arrangements are usually decided upon or at least discussed by the major groups before the formal elections, something that is very apparent looking at the National Convention's current layout. Currently, the Jasette-Hendrix Alliance controls 25 seats, followed by the Celebratory Group at 13, and the Doy Gillmer Group at 9. The purple dots on the above chart represent minor groups that could not gain more than one seat for themselves.

The National Convention holds powers entitled to it by the Total Passage, a set of laws similar to the U.S. Constitution that set up the basis of the national government. While the creation and management of city and town governments are left up to the decisions of the residents, the NC holds ultimate power over the governance of the country. Any member of the National Convention can bring up a bill to be decided upon, and 2/3 of the Convention must vote on a legislation in order for it to become law. 

The Oversight Group

Every four years, elections are held for the Oversight Group, a cabinet of ten officials separate from the National Convention, though members can hold office in both simultaneously. The election process kicks off with each member of the National Convention selecting 10 individuals whom he/she wants to submit to the election. The twenty candidates with the most endorsements are then announced, and general voters then chose which candidates they prefer most. The top 5 from there then become members of the Oversight Group.

The Oversight Group has the power to overturn any legislation passed by the National Convention with a 9/10 vote. Members usually act as figureheads of the government and manage relations with other countries, and it is generally assumed that a member of the Oversight Group must be the one to bring up a declaration of war against a foreign power. The cabinet members can introduce bills to the national convention for a vote, but cannot vote themselves (unless it passes, upon which they can try to overturn it.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

The Gryphonian Initiative for Space Exploration (GrISE)

1526956989_ScreenShot2019-10-07at5_38_49AM.png.352102a21e3bf699e00442837bb15eea.png

GrISE's main focus over the last decade has been the construction of its asteroid mining platform in conjunction with private companies. Thanks to the equatorial location of the Gryphonian Alliance, any rockets launched from the five different launch sites located in the country gain the full boost of Earth's rotational speed, which is greatest at the equator. 

GrISE successfully launched its rockets up to orbit for Project Volcano Monkey in the past, and still plays a primary role in carrying instrumental array satellites up to orbit using its Negative Womb rocket series for the nation's research and communication purposes.

In the future, GrISE intends to move its completed asteroid mining platform, which currently stays under construction in Earth orbit, to asteroid 2010 TKfor extraction of minerals like nickel and iridium that spectral data indicates the small body contains.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

History

TL;DR: The Varia people were the first to live in the area. Eventually, a kingdom called Ynduerst sprung up from the Varian region. Finally, after several centuries, the Gryphonian Alliance arose as the new government to replace it.

The Varia

It is believed that the earliest settlers of what would become the Gryphonian Alliance were members of the Varia ethnic group, which migrated to the coastal region from the islands to the GA's south around 5000 BF. Evidence pointing further back to the origin of the Varia has yet to be uncovered. The Varia were a collection of ocean-dependent tribes that mostly ignored one another, at least until a major drought in the 2900s BF drove the Varia inland. With a new need to survive without a constant source of easily available food like what the ocean once provided for them, the Varia turned to hunting aurochs (which, unusually, they didn't try to domesticate) and cultivating wild plants as crops like peas and burdock. With the establishment of farming, the Varia adopted a more sedentary lifestyle, eventually leading to the rise of communities.

The first written records from the Varia date back to 1200 BF- one of the earliest Varian documents is a complaint about a poor summer crop turnout. The first historical documents date not long after, with records of various kings ruling over the city-states in the region. Documents dating back to 900 BF credit Queen Daiabon as the first ruler of the city of Ynduerst, which was located on the east coast of Contirme Lake. The first major civilization in the Gryphonic region, Ynduerst is believed to have come into close contact with many other kingdoms throughout Aura. A trade network connecting together much of southern Aura carried culture, weaponry, and innovation into the city-state, which then quickly expanded over the southern half of the land that is now part of the Gryphonian Alliance. This era of rapid development allowed the Ynduerstis to enjoy massive irrigation networks for crops, multistory buildings, and a well-maintained road network. Ynduerst enjoyed major cultural influences from the Southern Coast Tribes to their east, especially in the areas of food and music.

In 700 BF, the Vizenon tribe came into existence in the plains to Ynduerst's north. Their origins are unknown and much of what we do know about them comes from a book written by a Ynduersti explorer who toured the plains region in 205 BF. Apparently, they relied on large herds of auroch that they traveled with for food and clothing. The nomadic lifestyle of the Vizenon would continue for many hundreds of years.

Bradshaw_rock_paintings.thumb.jpeg.3897ec38a0ccc3d738b021891dbdb222.jpeg

Vizenon rock painting. Dated roughly 600 BF.

Rise and Fall of the Bailaras

Right around that same time, the Bailaras kingdom controlled the three islands to Ynduerst's south. All records of their civilization were destroyed in the Great Purge, so all knowledge of their existence comes from a handful of Ynduersti historical texts and the Bailarasis' own own epic poetry, which would continue to spread by word-of-mouth throughout the region long after the kingdom's fall.

While Ynduerst was able to take over much of the southern Gryphonic region with ease, it ran into severe resistance from the Bailaras civilization, as attested to in the Chronicle Meira, an epic poem now attributed to the Bailaras themselves. While King Heisin of Ynduerst led the kingdom into war with the Vizenon in 536 BF, a brutal conflict that would continue for over fifty years, his brother Mogou rallied the other half of the king's troops to fight with Bailaras to the south. Mogou's clever war tactics allowed the Ynduerstis to defeat the Bailaras in just four years of fighting; however, Mogou was reportedly assassinated by Bailarasi soldiers not long after the war ended. Furious, King Heisin ordered the Ynduersti army to burn Bailaras to the ground.The Great Purge demolished Bailaras on an incredibly thorough level, to the point where not one Bailarasi building, cart, or tool has yet been found. The population presumably assimilated into the Ynduersti population that migrated into the southern islands that Bailaras once controlled, and all knowledge of Bailaras's existence was heavily restricted by King Heisin.

Gryphonic historians only managed to figure out the story of the Great Purge and the fall of the Bailarasi people in the 1390s. Archaeologist Brin Thoston disclosed the discovery of secret Ynduersti scrolls from Heisin's reign that detailed what had occurred during the war. It didn't take long for Gryphonic historians to notice a connection between the Heisin scrolls and the Chronicle Meira, an old Gryphonic folktale that described a similar series of events involving an ancient kingdom. Historians had been searching for the real-life basis for the Chronicle Meira for many years, so with the discovery of the scrolls, the Chronicle Meira was finally confirmed to have been rooted in true historical events.

Death_of_Alaric.jpeg.d3a872a1498ae568c514b8291466495c.jpeg

Fall of the Bailaras kingdom, woodcut print by Ainlo Swinton, 1401 AF.

Fall of the Vizenon and Ynduerst Kingdoms

Meanwhile, the Vizenon-Ynduerst war raged on. The Vizenons' guerilla tactics and effective cohesion allowed them to hold their own against the larger Ynduersti army. After Heisin died, his son did not see fit to end the bloody campaign, and neither did his granddaughter. It wasn't until 479 BF that Heisin's great-granddaughter Kibizzo II decided to end the fighting and came to a peace settlement with the Vizenon. However, this would not end the tension between the two groups. In 470 BF a deadly plague known as Cinderbent spread among the Vizenon. While the leader of the Vizenon, Senior Basilyec, convinced the nation that the upcoming spring rains would wash away the disease, that was not to be the case. With full confidence in their leadership lost, thousands of Vizenon fled to Ynduerst in the hopes of escaping the invisible enemy- but this only brought Cinderbent to Ynduerst. Fear among the Ynduersti towards the Vizenon potentially carrying the disease resulted in anti-immigrant violence and general chaos.

Discontent with the government's lack of effective action led to a rebellion called the Gryphon Revolution, spearheaded by General Duen Iaites, that overthrew the monarch and placed her son, Saklone, on the throne as a puppet. On January 13, 475 BF, his new government was branded the Kingdom of Gryphonian. While Saklone gave the new government legitimacy, Iaites and his successors, known as the Shadow Rulers, would do most of the decision-making behind the scenes.

The Shadow Rulers would not be overthrown until 15 AF.

**Work in progress**

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 months later...

National Currency: The Crius

The Gryphonian Alliance crius (symbol χ, code: GAC, also colloquially referred to as the cross) is the official currency of the Gryphonian Alliance. The crius was introduced in ____ by the Currency Act, which authorized the minting of coins and banknotes denominated in criuses and decils. GA banknotes are commonly referred to as "crius bills" or just "bills."

The monetary policy of the GA is conducted by the Central Bank of the Gryphonian Alliance.

Banknotes come in denominations of χ1, χ5, χ10, χ50, and χ100. 

The current version of the Gryphonian χ1 bill depicts Ain Robin Felton, a former member of the Oversight Group who is widely regarded as the founder of the modern GA.

23621965_ScreenShot2021-06-23at8_11_07PM.png.bda54487c90ff39f6186a18bacb75da4.png

The χ5 denomination bill features Queen Ethorio III, the last Gryphonian monarch.

 889403839_ScreenShot2021-06-23at8_21_25PM.png.e5007b3925721b7b5afe3e3516628152.png

The χ10 banknote has General Duen Iaites, the revolutionary leader of the movement that founded the Gryphonian Alliance.

389900224_ScreenShot2021-06-23at8_30_33PM.png.8e0fa075feb2e5bc172ce98095673df9.png

The χ50 note features Allh Paula Cadatti, a prominent civil rights activist who fought for the rights of women and persecuted groups in the GA.

598347403_ScreenShot2021-06-23at8_36_06PM.png.db24274af574b6403b87ad1005caa2f9.png

Finally, the χ100 banknote depicts a session of the Sundown Summit, the historic meeting of the National Convention at which the Total Passage was written.

2093535324_ScreenShot2021-06-23at8_45_30PM.thumb.png.2c37e5fa6a7a542500c13b5db3e5629b.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...