Anikora

Anikora is the southernmost country of the world, a fact referenced by its name, which means "icy south" in Anikorais. It broke away from the ancient Kedaki Territory, before it was captured and occupied by Ptrao for 250 years, in a period known by locals as the Lost Centuries.

Geography
Anikora is an island group that includes two main islands, and about ten smaller ones. Its two largest islands were both formed from volcanic activity, and the east island is a large volcano in which the patron deity Iremoka resides.

Anikora is the southernmost country in the world, and one of its coldest on average. Vegetation is coarse and sparse, made up mostly of conifers and spiny plants, and little farming takes place except upon its highly fertile volcanic plains. Ice floes are sometimes seen both upon the ocean and in the lakes, when they do not freeze over.

Anikora's capital, Ike Kora, is a large city situated near the eastern coast of its east island, facing the Las Marr.

Language
The local language spoken in Anikora is Anikorais. It is an old relative of Orbono, the language of the Orbon nations, settling into its present state earlier than modern Orbono. It retains some of the Hies Loricoda spellings rather than the Orbono (including the pertinence suffix of a instead of o, and ai as the double pertinence suffix).

Theology
Anikora's patron deity is Iremoka, the goddess of volcanoes. Her power is thought to have established fertile soil in the region, and the people harness geothermal power from the rivers of magma flowing up through the crust. Every 3000 years, the largest volcano of Anikora erupts. Typically, the people are warned via Iremoka's priests of the impending eruption, allowing for ample time to evacuate.

Smaller volcanic vents are spread through the islands that were previously more active. The eruptions are tied with the rising and waning of Iremoka's power: her power crescendos towards an eruption and fades thereafter. The year 349 is marked as the start of a major crisis of divine origin: the expected eruption had been almost 150 years overdue, causing a panic among the people and a general decrease in morale surrounding the worship of Iremoka.

History
Before modern Anikora, till an estimated 3150 years ago, an older civilisation resided on the islands, also devoted to Iremoka and only known as the people of Iremoka, a subgroup under the Kedaki tribe. There are records of the great eruption that killed these people, with its cause relating to Iremoka's displeasure, but not much else is known about the causes. The survivors of the blast preserved a record of the events in writing, and became the custodians of that knowledge for the new civilisation that formed there from waves of migrating people.

Anikora withdrew from the Kedaki Territory half a century after the signing of the Red Ring Pact. Then it continued to grow into a large southern harbour with active trade relations with neighbours, and the last safe haven before the ice sheet, which was an occasional destination for travellers from across the world.

The knowledge of Iremoka's coming and going was almost erased with the conquest of Ptrao from the 150s to the 190s. Then, the Ptrao government attempted to destroy all records in an effort to erase Anikora's cultural memory and replace it with their own in order to bring it under control. Some knowledge survived nevertheless, guarded to the death by the last descendants of the custodian family.

In the Year 298, Anikora rose up in civil war against the Ptrao authority. Though severely outgunned, Anikora was able to defeat the local Ptrao forces due to the latter army's fatigue through its war against Cin. Cin later came to back their efforts, though it was believed this support came with strategic motives.

In the treaty ending the revolution, Ptrao promised to withdraw full government, but to leave a symbolic royal family in place while they transitioned to independence and elected a new government. The inaugural Anikora government included a president and an elected council, one representing each municipality. The royal family quickly turned to bribes and other machinations to inform the newly-formed government's decisions, winning over sympathy towards Ptrao.

Science and technology
Cold for most months of the year, Anikora's architecture has developed accordingly, characterised by stone buildings, thick double-layered walls, sloped roofs, and domes that snow slides off easily. Most of Anikora's architecture is old, some of it (though uncommon) going back a thousand years. With their dense double-layered stone walls, many of its buildings, especially in Ike Kora, have persisted for several centuries.

Hearths and furnaces are thought of as the heart of the home, and cooking as an art is greatly prized. There are also many underground dwellings, including a tunnel system across the city. Clothing in Anikora is also designed to address the need for insulation, much of it being many-layered and utilising a lot of fur, especially that of deer and moose.

Anikora has been one of the earliest adopters of steam technology. The country has vast coal reserves, but much of its energy is geothermal, drawn directly from the heat below the earth.

Culture and society
Members of each gender are thought of as having different places in society. Women tend to be associated with drudgery and hand-work, in areas from farming to artisanship, while men tend to hold high positions of office and scholarship. However, people of both groups are found in every echelon of society, albeit in different proportions.

There are few nonbinary people: identities that are not male or female have not yet become an accepted cultural norm, but these ideas are increasingly being introduced from neighbouring regions, such as Cin and Niro.