founding

Asphodel's land was once occupied by many ancient kingdoms. These kingdoms warred, politicked, backstabbed, and otherwise vied with each other for resources, which they knew to stockpile for times of disaster or siege. Once Arsene's poison hit, competition for uncontaminated stockpiles of water intensified severely. Those who couldn't secure foreign aid or water trade desperately improvised, deserted, or plundered however they could.

That all lasted about a century, until the knight Renard Cox from the struggling Kingdom of Lacren proposed to delve Nix and slay Arsene. Over the delve, his group recovered a powerful magical artefact that conjured clean water. Renard later died fighting Arsene and his squire, Fidel Asphodel, was also wounded in the fight. While Camellia appeared to chastise Renard, sap from Camellia's corpse dripped into Fidel's wounds. Camellia condemned Renard by turning him into a sword, then healed and blessed Fidel and instructed him to go save his country.

When Fidel returned, he found Lacren already destroyed. He himself had also changed. His veins ran with Camellia's godly ichor, infused with cleansing properties strong enough to purify souls of soul rot. With this blood, the water generator, and the blessed sword Render-All, Fidel unwittingly won over, conquered, and united the warring kingdoms under his own banner. So was created the United Kingdoms of Asphodel.

geography

Harsh and varied, with large canyons, cliffs, and plains, though most of the nation is wooded. Asphodel suffers from extreme weather and frequent natural disasters: wildfires and heat stroke in summer, blizzards and avalanches in winter, floods and mudslides in spring, tornadoes and thunderstorms in autumn, and earthquakes year-round. Rain and natural water in Asphodel is, to this day, complete poison.

society

A monarchy, formerly feudal, that has embraced changing times and technology while keeping the King's autocracy. Asphodelean citizens are pledged to serve the royal bloodline devoutly. In exchange, their souls are purified upon death by the monarch and safeguarded in magically warded crypts. The royals descend from Fidel, and share his supernatural constitution.

Succession prioritizes sons before daughters and older sons before younger ones. The current King is Aquila Asphodel, who has ruled for 400 years. Aside from his disowned brother Phoenix Valens, he is the last of the bloodline. Aquila is loved by his people, who often regard him not just as a politician or leader, but as the nation of Asphodel itself. To his aristocratic peers, he's often a little more sketchy.

Social hierarchies and class boundaries, though diluted, still dominate Asphodel. Pedigree, titles, and heritable honours are passes into exclusive and influential social circles, with clear pecking orders among the upper class. Nobles and would-be aristocrats continually vie for recognition, from their peers and especially from Aquila. Be it through military service, unique achievements, or just proficient bootlicking, personal ambition thrives heartily in Asphodel, alongside backstabbing and intrigue. Law & Order Asphodel is governed at the state and federal levels. Federally, bills are either raised or passed through a board of elected advisors. Bills not vetoed proceed to scrutiny from a board of appointed and elected noble advisors. Though they can't veto bills, they do give feedback on them before they pass to Aquila. Aquila ultimately approves or denies a bill. He can also bypass this system to respond directly to appeals.

Systems of governance vary tremendously at state level. Anything goes as long as governors remain loyal to Aquila and adhere to federal law. As such, rulership in some regions is still principally passed through bloodline, in others, it's elected or appointed. Industry & Technology Formerly quite weak and restricted to medieval tech, Asphodel is now the undisputed world power in science and technology. Specializing its research into electromagnetism, noble gasses, and magical artefacts, Asphodel's mastery of Tesla-style remote electricity has facilitated technology more advanced than that on present-day Earth.

Some things they have: antigravity, spacecraft, mechs, functional railguns, lasers, electrolasers, quantum glass, weather disruptors, molecule converters, so on and so on. Their most advanced technologies typically go towards military or civil services, but even industries with less state focus are quite advanced.

Their main exports are weapons and high technology, usually to Palida or Kitiven. People & Culture Native Asphodeleans have distinctive light olive skin, hair colours ranging from brown to black, and eye colours ranging from brown, to purple, to indigo, to slightly blue-purple. They are generally quite attractive, quick to learn, and build muscle quickly.

Cuisine is highly varied as locales retain their old specialities from ancient times, but national staples involve corn, potato, pork, turkey, chicken, and venison. One standout crop native to Asphodel is the cocoa plant, with sugarcane as another star hitter. Most Asphodeleans know the language native to their region, the national language of Lacren, and high-class or scholarly individuals should know Terran.

Religion

Asphodel factually acknowledges Camellia as the Demiurge, but doesn't formally worship him. Asphodelean culture prides itself on material logic and in prevailing through adversity without relying on questionable spirits or coddling from dead gods – especially when said gods are plainly not as infallible as scripture would claim. Churches primarily exist for funerals, services, and community events, though most towns will have at least one priest who sincerely believes in acknowledging Camellia.

Despite being predominantly atheist, Asphodeleans do deify the royal family. They are blood descendants of God; their rule is divinely sanctioned. Purification of souls is the reward for recognizing that sanction and pedigree. Rather than worrying about airy-fairy scriptures or promises or 'portents', it's generally accepted in Asphodel to consign soul and service to the monarchs, and have them deal with the finnicky god stuff.

Palidan spirituality occasionally bleeds into Asphodel. Some light, casual Archon worship is not too irregular, but vocal exaltation of them or of other patron spirits is shunned.

Death Rites

Souls of the dead are collected and sent to the monarchs. The monarchs purify the souls and entomb them in magically-warded crypts. Purification absolves the soul of rot and induces peaceful comas in the dead, making it one of the most ideal deaths in Aurholm.

While families are entitled to private funerals, monarchs also hold seasonal wakes to commemorate all who died in the previous months. The presence of royalty at any individual's funeral changes it into a highly religious, patriotic event.

Severance of souls is taboo in Asphodel. This taboo, combined with a frequently hostile environment and Asphodelean predilections for dangerous adventure, has resulted in an abnormally large number of magical creatures in Asphodel. There is also an above average population of witches. Both groups are frequently hunted, and much prestige comes with successfully doing so.

Notable Places

Lacren: The ancient Western Kingdom that was the birthplace of Asphodel's first monarch. Lacren, though not a nation in itself anymore, remains the territory most central to Asphodel's royal family and the location of the national capital.

Sebilles: The former capital city of Asphodel, from its founding to the disastrous reign of Phoenix Valens. The city has been an uninhabited ruin for centuries now, its rotten, dilapidated buildings and infrastructure stuck in the medieval period, when it was abandoned. Animals and nature have reclaimed much of the area.

The Cardinal House/Tyrant's Haunt: The royal palace in Sebilles and home base of the monarchy before Phoenix's reign. Phoenix still resides in this palace, despite its extreme disrepair. Although enough maintenance is done to keep Phoenix's quarters liveable, the House overall is a decrepit, labyrinthine mess sporadically assaulted by thieves, daredevils, and vandals.

Ferendeaux: The current capital city of Asphodel, changed from Sebilles solely to avoid Phoenix. It is the official residence of Aquila and Raum, housing Aquila's main palace, the Brier House, and Raum's mansion, which is just Raum's mansion.

The tunnels: A network of secret tunnels that connect churches, castles, and crypts across the country. They span such a large area and have so few landmarks, to get lost and die in them is a serious possibility.

relevant characters

Renard: A national hero of yore, revered for a career of peerless monster-slaying and for reaching the bottom of Nix, a feat none have replicated. Though he died in an altercation with Arsene, his protégé went on to become the first King of Asphodel. He remains a figure of national pride and is compulsory material in history classes.

Aquila: The reigning King for the past 400 years. Originally a relatively ordinary person, he died during Phoenix's reign, and shortly afterwards was resurrected as a familiar into an immortal (and infertile) body. Phoenix has sworn to destroy the country if Aquila leaves the throne, though fortunately for the populace, Aquila is a good ruler.

Phoenix: A tyrant who took the throne 400 years ago and plunged the nation into civil war, killing, resurrecting, and enslaving civilians with horrendous abuses of soulsmithing. He is also an Archon, and the most evil one, but fortunately he seems bound to the ruins of Sebilles. Though his legacy has faded somewhat, he's still compulsory material in schools, and a remembrance day is still held for his victims.

Raum: A tragic national hero and the crown prince of Asphodel. Celebrated for vanquishing a cult of Phoenix-worshipping terrorists, for saving Aquila from an assassination attempt, and for humility despite great noble heritage, Raum has unfortunately been enslaved by Phoenix and subverted against the state as Phoenix's henchman and spokesperson. His humble charisma has swayed even Phoenix, however, and he's allowed just enough freedom to conciliate between Phoenix and the Crown. He is generally liked, but distrusted as a known double-agent. He is also an Archon, presiding over memories, information, and secrets.