Baskinia

Baskinia (/bæskɪnɪɑː/ or /bɑːskɪneɪ.ər/), officially the Baskinian Triarchy (Žadamonark Baskinnoz), is a sovereign country situated on the continent of Langtnord, bordering Odstrimania to the west and southwest, Dunkce to the south and Dreikland to the east. It has no offshore claims. Baskinians speak a creole created from the marriage of the ancient language Tirikoznuno and Germanic languages in the area. It bears similarity to English in many ways. It is the world’s fourteenth largest country by total area. Baskinia’s capital and largest urban area is Azarenka.

Their national animal, the Oimanya, is also an albino Displacer Beast from Dungeons and Dragons. Seriously, look it up.

Name
Baskinia was known in ancient times as Tirikoz, deriving from the Tirikoznoz words for ‘land’ and ‘to have.’

The name Baskinia is believed to come from the name of the last High Priest of Tirikoz, Bazkinn, or perhaps the Mount of Bazekan in Azarenka where the Baskinian Clans first declared federation.

Pre-Humans
Before human migration to the region, Baskinia was home to the ezkazmi. This was a largely uneventful period, as the ezkazmi were barely sentient. Recent archeological studies have indicated that they may have built settlements during this time, and even had a written language, although by the time humans arrived the ezkazmi exhibited no such hallmarks of civilisation.

Colonisation
The first humans in Baskinia colonised it from over the southern side of the Baskinian Boundary Ranges, emerging from the region today known as Werchstadt-Brendalit in c. 2500 BCE. However, modern Baskinians and the denizens of Werchstadt-Brendalit have very little genetic resemblance. Little study has gone into the origin of ethnic Baskinians, although theories have gone in and out of fashion for centuries, almost always motivated by nationalistic and political rhetoric as opposed to any actual research.

Tirikoz
In ancient times, Baskinia was an unbelievably harsh and deadly place. Notable scourges of early people include the oimanya, and the Tirikoznoz wolf.The Eztirikozmi resorted to worship of otherworldly powers in order to survive. Little is known about their enigmatic religion, particularly due to so called ‘revisionism’ by the Ezarite church. In reality, it is an effort by the modern day Baskinian religious authorities to demonise the nation’s pagan past.

It is known that Tirikoz was a theocracy. All government officials were priests. They would keep law and administrate during times of peace, and lead armies during times of war.

The Tirikoznoz civilisation was established in 53 BCE, when a priestess known as Čaner declared herself to be High Priestess, swaying all the local priests of the region to her side in a period of campaigns and political manoeuvres. She established her capital in the city of Ajerrez (meaning Holy Mountain) on the coast.

Since its inception, the High Priesthood of Tirikoz had dominion over only half of its ancestral and ethnic lands. The eastern half of Baskinia was under the Norshtan Empire. This ended in 652 with the conquests of High Priest Gurokk, and the Battle of Tuzzu. Thus followed the Tuzzu Pogroms, a series of persecutive campaigns and genocides against Norshtan people within Tirikoz.

Due to their isolationism, Tirikoz was of little consequence on the world stage, and so much of their history is unknown. Most of the few primary sources that survived the Tirikoznoz era now exist in private collections, such as Gurokk’s military uniform, now residing in Monsoonia.

It is known from outside sources that the Eztirikozmi were regarded with awe and suspicion by the rest of the world, and their religious practices were condemned as heresy.

They had a very insular economy, and a syllabary script characterised by unwieldy ‘word-sentences.’

In the year 1241, High Priest Rayorki called for an expedition over the boundary ranges into Werchstadt-Brendalit. Foreigners are reported to have participated in the expedition. The expeditionaries are believed to have returned with an early version of the Bastaxian Plague. The Plague more than decimated the Tirikoznoz population, and shattered the power base of the priesthood.

In 1245, Ajerrez was sacked by an enraged mob of revolutionaries. High Priest Rayorki was dragged through the streets by the mob, before being stoned to death in the Grand Temple. His body was thrown in a midden with the corpses of Plague victims. Tirikoz briefly became a republic, the New Regime, run by the conspirators who had plotted Rayorki’s murder. After a short struggle, power seceded to his nephew, Bazkinn, whom died of the Plague within the year. Ajerrez was burned to the ground by a mysterious army from Werchstadt-Brendalit, which proceeded to vanish from history. Tirikoz as a nation ceased to exist.

Establishment of The Baskinian Clans
"Jenfor the priestess rode into the town on the back of her mule. Her vestments flapped in the summer gale.""The townsfolk stopped and listened to her sermon. She told it well."" 'Gone are the times where you worship the efreeti and spirits of the desert. The dark gods beyond the veil. The bogeymen in the old churches. You worship the Divine, the patron of us priests of old Tirikoz."" 'His name is Ezar'un. He lives in crossroads, and he comes to reclaim his people.'""Where the townsfolk had only superstition, she gave them faith.""-Excerpt from ‘Came Into Town’ a rhyme translated from Baskinian Creole, used to teach children about the founders of the clans."In the time following the collapse of the Tirikoznoz High Priesthood, the Baskinian region was a place of anarchy and turmoil, dominated by local warlords. Records were not written during the time, and artefacts of Tirikoz were sold overseas. Lives were short, and allegiances to leadership even shorter. It was easy to rise to power, and easy to lose it. There are documented attempts at foreign invasion, but they were repelled due to fear of the Bastaxian Plague.