Koroge

Koroge (pronounced /kɵˈroʊdʒi/ is a nation on the eder of Tegn, which occupies the western part of a medium-sized shee called Domire that it shares with the nation of Qabad. It is best known for the unusual solution its people have come up with for the problem of limited space: "mouse tunnels" have been implemented around the nation that much of the Korogian populace at any given time is transmagnified to a much smaller size.

The nation of Koroge is inhabited primarily, but not exclusively, by humans. Ii, yindles, and sweses are also present in signiicant numbers; other races are rarer. The human inhabitants of Koroge were formerly mostly of the Muruvian ethnicity, though now there has been enough immigration that the Muruvians are no longer a majority.

Geography

Koroge is roughly semicircular, the relatively straight side being its border with Qabad. Although said border is mountainous, most of Koroge is not; in fact, much of the nation is covered by jungle and other forest, with large patches of swamp. A few mountain ranges do pass through Koroge, however, the tallest (aside from the border range of the Jiqars) being the Alome Mountains. A number of rivers flow through Koroge from magical springs in the mountains; the two largest rivers are the Rege and the Orago.

The shee of Domire overlooks the soffoca monal of A'aanu and the stonewater monal called the Sea of Tears. Koroge is mostly over the latter, its rivers cascading at the shee's edge into the Sea of Tears (or in the case of the Yyl into the A'aanu) in huge waterfalls.

Mouseholes

The best known feature of Koroge are the "mouseholes" that run through the mountain ranges and other barriers, including some artificial walls erected just for that purpose. The mouseholes are tunnels of circular cross section about 5.2 meters in diameter at one end, and 20 centimeters at the other. The lengths of the mouseholes vary, from sixty meters to seven hundred. What all mouseholes have in common, and indeed their defining characteristic, is a rhegus on its frustal interior causing whatever passes through the mousehole to change in size, according to the mousehole's diameter—that is, at any given position in the mousehole, the ratio of the object's linear size to the diameter of the mousehole will be constant. Anything entering through the large end of the mousehole and leaving through the small end will be reduced to about 1/20 its (linear) size; conversely, anything entering through the small end and leaving through the large end will be enlarged to twenty times its former size.

Most of the mouseholes are made of a cement-like alchemically produced material called shirk, but the material of the mouseholes doesn't matter, and many are made of wood or other materials. Though some mouseholes are simply smooth and unadorned, others are ornamented on the inside with elaborate filigrees or murals.

While not completely insurmountable, the various barriers penetrated by the mouseholes divide Koroge into distinct areas, some of which are therefore inhabitated entirely by "shrunken" people and some by full-sized people. Small, unenchanted tunnels do link many of the "shrunken" areas, or k-zones, with the larger areas, or o-zones, and there are therefore places where the shrunken "k-people" and full-sized "o-people" interact.

People are not the only things that can pass through the mouseholes; they often bring items with them or drive vehicles through compact enough to fit through the holes. More to the point, noetic beasts can also wander through the holes, and while it's relatively rare that one will happen to make its way all the way through a mousehole on its own it's not unheard of. Those that go from large end to small end rarely survive long, or if they do seldom are noticed or make much impact, but those that go through the other way essentially become giant forms of what they originally were; these giant beasts can sometimes cause significant problems before they're exterminated or driven back through the mouseholes in the other direction. Some Korogeans take advantage of this property of the mouseholes, however, and keep giant insects or other arthropods as pets, or even export them to other nations.

Government

Koroge is a clerisiarchy of sorts, its ruling Gray Council comprising twenty-four individuals chosen for their knowledge and wisdom by the Brotherhood of Philosophers. The Brotherhood of Philosophers is itself an august body of scholars selected for their learning and their demonstrated intelligence; one joins the Brotherhood only by invitation by an existing member, and one's membership must then be ratified by at least twenty-four other members in good standing. (Despite the name, members of the Brotherhood of Philosophers are not philosophers in the abstract sense, but rather in the sense of "natural philosopher".) The Brotherhood boasts thirty thousand members, about 0.4% of the overall population. This includes almost all faculty members of Koroge's universities, but also a number of independent scholars. Though the Gray Council has a reputation as being slow to make decisions, and as sometimes allowing itself to be overly influenced by charismatic lobbyists, so far it has seemed adequate for Koroge's direction.

Koroge is divided into twenty-four administrative districts, each of which is in theory overseen by one member of the Gray Council. In practice, the council members usually delegate their oversight of these districts to local governments, though the details of the government vary by the whims of the particular overseer.

Economy

Koroge's lush jungles provide much in the way of fruits, spices, and other exotic botanical product that can be exported to other nations. It also specializes in the production of clockwork and other intricate mechanisms that benefit from having reduced-sized people involved with the manufacture where they can inspect and take care of some of the very small detail work.

Like many nations of Tegn, Koroge also does quite a bit of work in alchemy, and some of its alchemical products it also exports to other nations. As in its more straightforward manufacture, Koroge specializes in alchemical work that is helped by the involvement of people of different sizes—notably, that which involves the admixture of different reagents in very precise quantities. One important Korogian alchemical product is dordwater, a colorless substance that can increase or decrease the weight of objects it is applied to, its own weight decreasing or increasing complementally.