Gethel

Gethel is a nation of the domain of Urloch in Vlastach, notable for its wood products, its skilled sailors and navigators, and its renowned entertainers. Situated on the south shore of the Grammer Sea, Gethel plies the sea's waters and harvests its riches. Ruled by an eclectic oligarchy of diverse titles and images, Gethel has a reputation as a happy place of industrious but cheerful people.

Geography

Gethel is a long, narrow nation, much larger east to west than north to south, squeezed between the Grammer Sea and the Thayan Mountains. Most of the nation is heavily forested, with a ribbon of temperate rainforest along the northern coast shading to broadleaf forest near the mountains. A number of rivers run north through the forests, most originating at the Thayan Mountains and flowing into the Grammer Sea. Gethel also lays claim to much of the northern part of the Thayan Mountains and their foothills, but has done little to develop or settle them or try to exploit any mineral riches they may contain, and for all practical purposes they remain ungoverned wilderness. A large part of Gethel's failure to make use of this territory can probably be ascribed to the gulangas and other dangerous beings that are found there.

Culture

Aside from its sailing and its lumber, if there's one thing Gethel is known for it's the cheerful attitude of its people. Like most generalizations, this isn't altogether true; certainly Gethel has its share of cullions and crapehangers. Still, something in the national character does seem to encourage light-heartedness, and the stereotype isn't without foundation. Aside from their general gaiety, Gethelians are much given to music and merriment. Gethelian holiday festivals can be truly elaborate affairs, and even in day-to-day life a Gethelian is likely to break out into song with little provocation.

So well known is Gethel for cheery entertainment that it has come to make up a fair amount of the nation's business. Gethelian entertainers are known worldwide, and coveted at social events, to the extent that many entertainers of other nationalities falsely claim to be Gethelian for the extra credibility it gives them. Musicians, storytellers, jugglers, acrobats, and other entertainers of Gethelian origin amuse customers and eventgoers in all parts of the world. Entrepreneurs have drawn on this reputation to attract travelers, as well; Gethel contains several perpetual fairs specifically designed as locations devoted to entertaining visitors (who, naturally, have to pay an entrance fee). The largest of these fairs, the City of Delight, covers almost two square kilometers.

Government

At various points in Gethel's past, many different groups and individuals vied for rulership, and long after each group and dynasty fell from power its descendants would maintain their claim. The situation was stablized four centuries ago by High Lord Mortiman Tael, who compromised by giving each major party involved (including himself) an equal seat on a ruling council. Despite some challenges and attempted coups since, this situation has held, and today Gethel continues to be led by this council, each member of the council having an equal vote and the council as a whole having (in principle) absolute power.

What makes this system all but incomprehensible to outsiders, however, is that, their equality in power notwithstanding, each of the twenty-three members of the National Council has a completely different title and a completely different means of being chosen—some are elected, some are hereditary, some are selected by other means entirely. Even most Gethelians don't know the titles or means of succession of most of the council members—they generally are familiar with those who they have some direct chance of swaying (such as elected members they can vote for), but not necessarily others.

Below the National Council, the government is a little less outré. Gethel is divided into forty provinces, each governed by an official simply called a provincial authority. In principle, the Authorities are appointed directly by the council; in practice, the council allow the people to elect whom they want for the position, and then appoint the people's selection. The Authorities have no officially set term of office, but rule until their deaths or until they step down or the council removes them from their position. Again, however, in practice things are slightly different. The Council allows the people a "review" every few years (the precise term varying by province), to decide whether to keep the current Authority or elect a new one. Semantics notwithstanding, this essentially amounts to a new election, with challengers to the authoritative position against the incumbent.

Economy

As has been mentioned, Gethel's most famous and lucrative export is wood, along with objects made of wood, especially ships; Gethelian ships are in use in nations in the far end of the world, being magically translocated even to other seas that can't be reached directly from the Grammer. Gethelian landworkers and dedicants watch that its verdant forests are not depleted by overharvesting, and speed the growth of new trees to replenish those that are taken. The nation also exports various crops and herbs; it is the world's largest importer of barley, apples, fennel, and horseradish, and also exports significant quantities of wheat, grapes, cane sugar, and rutabagas. It also exports a good deal of seafood and other marine goods, its skills in sailing and navigation proving useful for harvesting the seas as well as for trade.

A Grower nation, Gethel needs to export little in regard to food, its farms sufficient to provide for the nation's needs. It does, however, import some exotic foods and spices, especially those grown in more tropical climes. Other common imports include metals and metallic goods, glass and glassware, and various talismans, especially those made with elemental magic.

Although Gethel sails all the seas of Vlastach, it doesn't make as much money in trade as it could. Presumably, Gethel could, if it devoted itself to the pursuit, make a good deal of profit simply buying goods from one nation and shipping them elsewhere to sell at a profit. A few lone Gethelian traders do make a living this way, but it is not a common profession there, and not one the government does anything to support or encourage. Instead, it only takes advantage of its ships to transport its own goods to their destination and carry home its imports, and otherwise uses its navigation skills mostly for fishing and passenger ships. Perhaps Gethel's apparent failure to exploit this potentially lucrative niche comes from the national mindset not lending itself well to such simple mercantile pursuits, or perhaps (and more likely) it fears that focusing too much on this endeavor would potentially harm its sales of ships to nations who might feel that Gethel was competing with them, and might damage its diplomatic ties with nations that might resent some of the trade deals it makes—when people are dissatisfied with trade matters, it's often the middle-man who bears the brunt of the backlash.

Relations

Gethel has cordial relations with most other nations of Vlastach, its fame for entertainment and the generous terms with which it sells its wood and ships ensuring the goodwill of its trading partners. It has particularly close relations with Geremor, Kek, and Sukuchi, all of which can be considered its allies. The nations with which Gethel's relationships are poorest are some of those geographically closest to it. Gethelian relations with Caphavia have long been on shaky ground simply because it occupies land the empire covets—especially since Gethel lies between Caphavia and its colony Aluane. (Gethel's relations with Aluane, however, are somewhat less tense than with Caphavia itself.) Gethel also has somewhat sour relations with Imberly and Kajak, each of which has approached it for aid against the other, and has resented the fact that Gethel refused to take sides in their dispute.

Recently, Gethel's alliance with Geremor has worsened its relations with Caphavia further, since the Caphavian leaders see it as supporting Geremor's independence from Caphavia and weakening the empire. Many observers believe that Caphavia may be on the verge of declaring war on Gethel. While Caphavia has yet to make any such formal declaration, it does seem to have been solidifying its border nearest Gethel and in stepping up its efforts on espionage to discover Gethel's secrets and perhaps find a way to undermine it. Gethel's leaders are not blind to Caphavia's hostility, and, while reluctant to return it in kind, have made some effort to develop and disseminate landworking rituals that could be used to defend the nation if needed, in the hopes that perhaps Vlastach itself will aid Gethel against its enemy should war break out. Given Caphavia's Crafter status and apparent disdain for landworking, this is by no means an unrealistic hope, and despite Caphavia's clearly greater military power it's far from a foregone conclusion which nation would come out ahead should it come to that—and it may be the Caphavian leadership's cognizance of this fact that has prevented them from declaring war yet.

Unlike the situation with Caphavia, Gethel's poor relations with Imberly and Kajak seem unlikely to result in warfare in the near future. The two nations are too focused on battling each other to divert their attention to attacking a third party.