Free Republic of Avelax

The Free Republic of Avelax is the largest nation on the continent of Avelax, and one of the largest and most powerful in all of Dadauar. Also known as the FRA, as the Republic, or simply as Avelax (despite the ambiguity with the continent), the Free Republic of Avelax is an onirarchy, a dictatorship ruled by magic-using leaders who siphon off dream energy from their subjects. More so than in most such nations, however, the onirarchs of the Republic go through the motions of democracy, giving the people an illusion of self-rule.

Geography

The Free Republic takes up most of the continent it occupies. The Xien Peninsula to the south, which makes up about a third of the continent, is held by other nations: K'eng, Ren Gao, and T'in among them. Aside from that, Avelax covers the entire remainder of the continent except for Mapland to the west, and a few other, much smaller surrounding nations, including the Ivinian colony of Kasie—and one interior locale, the Godhill, to which the Republic has waived its claims, though it later had cause to regret this.

That isn't to say that all the land in the Republic's boundaries is developed. To be sure, central Avelax is little more than a vast sea of tall, dense cities, with a few small reservations of natural terrain. But there are edges that remain unworked—the jungles of the peninsula to the west, the mountains that run down the continent's center. Then, too, there is the City Proscribed, a mysterious site in the Republic's interior that the government officially claims but exerts no control over.

People

The people of the Republic are of mixed ethnicity and species, but predominant are the Balians, a light-skinned people originally from the continent of Burcady, who crossed the isthmus into Avelax just under two thousand years ago, driving out most of the indigenous Kenever people. But Avelax has had immigrants—voluntary and otherwise—from many other places, and is home to a considerable mix of people; the Balians form a majority, but there are many significant minorities.

Citizens of the FRA have come to be called "Freemen"—whether or not they are actually free, which leads to apparently oxymoronic constructions such as rebel agitators speaking of "Freeman slaves". This word has become so widespread, in fact, that it has come to be used as an adjective referring to anything from the Republic, not just limited to people; thus one speaks of Freeman imports, the Freeman government, and so forth.

Government

The Freeman government is nominally a democracy, ruled by a premier and an assembly composed of a representative from each district, all elected by the people on regular intervals. However, while it's true that the votes of the populace are actually counted, and the candidate with the most votes is installed into the office, the whole thing is orchestrated by a hidden government of onirarchs, led by a powerful cabal that refers to itself as the People's Council. The onirarchs choose the candidates, so whichever one the people elect, it makes little difference; technically, the people do have a choice in their government, but it's a choice between similar options already preselected for them.

Aside from the premier and the assembly, other important officials include the body of appointed officials known as the Ministry and the proconsuls who preside over the forty-one administrative districts of the nation.

The current premier of the Republic is an elderly woman named Eulaige Hahorbath.

Economy

The Free Republic is Dadauar's largest importer of food. All the developed part of the nation is taken up by cities with little or no greenspace save some small patches set aside for parks, and the Republic produces very little food of its own—though there is some seafood farmed around its edges. It exports magical goods, as well as certain mineral resources.

Internally, the FRA has done away with physical currency for its common citizens, whose net worth is instead tracked by implants in their left index fingers. Though this was nominally done for the sake of convenience, in practice it means these people have no purchase power outside the Republic where this system isn't used. This has motivated the black market and the Resistance to develop their own system of currency, with which they can trade without the onirarchy's oversight. This shadow currency, known as pall money in apparent allusion to the mysterious Avelachian Pall that once mantled the continent, is made of dreamstuff stolen by Resistance wizards from the onirarchs' creations.