Adriano (also known as the Old World) is an enormous western continent that consists of North and South Adriano, separated by the Maris straight. The Old World covers an enormous area of more than 30 million square kilometers, with its population ranging from 100 million up to 1 billion, depending on the researcher. The climate of Adriano varies greatly region to region, which further reinforces cultural and economical differences between the Old World’s countries. Adriano’s northern border fades in the deserts of an unexplored glacier, and the southern border neighbors the gentle waters of the Warm Sea. The Ioan Range stretches along the whole continent, dividing both parts of the Old World into the East and the West almost evenly.
Adriano is home to the prominent and royal Old World’s civilization, a tapestry of different ethnicities and countries. Adrianites generally have light skin and thin build. Their culture makes them freedom-loving and prone to ambition; they are the biggest individualists of the Disc. Aside from the famous gentleman culture and their early industrial technology, the Old World’s folk are well-known for their aspiration to conquer foreign coasts, which has been proven by the impressive number of Adrianian colonies on all continents of the Disc.
The most (and, in fairness, the only) widespread religion here is Messianism. It is a faith of prohibitions called to protect the believers from evil. However, Messianism is losing its popularity to the newfangled atheism and its many forms. The Old World’s people try to abide by humanistic principles; liberal ideas are starting to gain weight, while traditionalism gives in to cosmopolitanism.
Adriano’s political systems are extremely diverse. It is said that the Old World has been turned into a Land of Republics by the Anti-monarchy Revolutions of 1799, but that notion is not quite true. Besides the republics, established after the revolutions, both North and South Adriano are full of small kingdoms, counties, volnytsias (independent interstate lands) and hradstadts (sovereign city-states). Adrianites also do not abstain from inner conflicts, although there haven’t been any truly large-scale wars since the dissolution of the Spohledian Protectorate.
By the Disc’s general standards, the Old World civilization is quite technologically advanced. It has now been decades since steam engines became the lungs of insatiable factories and hasty trains. Wealthy Adrianites can afford to get a picture from one of the pioneers of photography, or have their voices recorded on a primitive phonograph for the sake of entertainment. Military commanders of leading countries can order hot air balloons for scouting, or have many kilometers of telegraph cables set up to deliver classified messages. The northern part of Adriano is more industrialized than the south. The Folderein and Brasian townsfolk are now getting used to the noises and the sight of various metal beasts, while in the Confederation and everywhere to its south, technology is met with caution.
COUNTRIES OF ADRIANO
The following is a list of Adrianian countries in order of their arrangement, north to south.
- Syndel Coasts are mysterious, remote lands separated from the rest of the Old World by uninhabited snow deserts. The coasts are generally inhabited with friendly northerners with almond-shaped eyes; however, Syndelians are not even considered proper representatives of the Old World in its general meaning. While Adrianian tribes were busy aggressively conquering each other, Syndelians, being skillful sailors and merchants, were already trading with the peoples of other continents.
- Northern Volnytsia is an area at the northern border of the Old World. It comprises numerous settlements, small hradstadts, occasional knights’ fortresses and ancient monasteries. People came here in search of freedom or refuge, so the population is an array of different nationalities. In winter, Volnytsia’s citizens leave their homes to look for work at Brasian factories or as mercenaries for international conflicts, and come home when it is warm to try and live off of the land as much as possible.
- The Kingdom of Arder is a legendary archipelago to the north-west of Adriano’s coast. This is where the pioneer legions came from to conquer the Old World and bring on a thousand-year-long reign of the Tyrannian Empire. Nowadays, the Kingdom of Arder is but a ghost of its former glory. Most young Arderians spend their lives serving the military in other countries or working at shady private companies, only to come back to their half-empty frozen towns when they are old and ready to spend their remaining years at home.
- The Kingdom of Radenia is the most conservative country of the Old World, the last stronghold of Adrianian knighthood in both the best and the worst sense of the term. The country is famous for its loyalty to tradition and at the same time its catastrophic rejection of progress. Radenians have no trust for steam powered technologies or firearms, preferring old-fashioned farming and arming their city guards with crossbows. Nevertheless, Radenian songs and church architecture are famous all over the Old and even the New World, even though the kingdom does not have colonies of its own.
- The Brasian Republic is the grand heir to the Spohledian Protectorate, the motherland of the Adrianian Anti-monarchy Revolution, and one of the biggest naval empires of today. Brasians might appear wealthy, successful, and ambitious, but in truth the republic stands on the blood and sweat of tons of uneducated villagers, soot-covered factory workers, and soldiers crippled in colonial wars. The prospering Republic is one of the leaders of the Dawn of the New Times, but its issues (the immigration of the New World’s ethnicities, political disparities, and constant wars with its colonies) can radically outweigh its accomplishments at any point now.
- Folderein is an area in the lower part of North Adriano. These lands are split up between dozens of small countries that gained independence after the dissolution of the Protectorate. Multiple Folderanian republics, counties, and hradstadts are populated by hard-working and pragmatic people, renowned throughout the Old World as pioneers of industrialization. Mysterious ruins of ancient palaces and temples can be found all over Folderein, carrying on the silent centuries-old memory of the times when these lands served as the center of the Tyrannian Empire’s reign. Folderein is traditionally divided into Westfold and Ostfold, to the west and east from the Ioan Range, respectively.
- Grand Orlo is the biggest known free city and the biggest seaport on the Disc. Spread across both North and South Adriano coasts and serving as a trading bridge between the two, Grand Orlo is really a name for a conglomerate of three cities, called Upper and Lower Orlo with Island Orlo in between. The strait dividing Grand Orlo and the whole Adriano is named Maris Sea after one of the Tyrannian pioneers. The citizens of Grand Orlo are known for their ginger hair and business prowess, for they are inborn merchants and polyglots. Some call Grand Orlo the capital of Private Colonial Companies and the City of Opportunists. Upper Orlo is considered to be a part of Folderein, and Lower Orlo is officially a part of the Old World Confederation.
- The Bascar Republic is a famed island country, homeland of explorers and industrialists. Historically, the Bascar Republic is the first republic of the Old World, where democratic autonomy (with property qualification, of course) was implemented way before the rise of the Adrianian Empire. The Bascarian archipelago lies in the cold seas to the west of the Adrianian mainland. Its citizens suffer from unceasing piercing winds and consequential illnesses such as pneumonia, which everyone from the youth to the elderly has to alleviate by constantly smoking medicinal tobacco imported from Deneria, as the Denerian colonies are the pride of every Bascarian. The Bascar Republic’s citizens are known for their manners and impeccable taste, as well as their ability to delicately meddle into other people’s business. Bascarian Gentleman Factories with their dandy workers are no less famous, and the products of these factories are in high demand among everyone who knows their way around gunpowder and is familiar with the reputable firearm trademarks of the republic.
- The Old World Confederation is an intergovernmental association in the upper part of South Adriano. The confederate countries, from small kingdoms and counties to advanced republics and hradstadts, are all interconnected with thousands of ancient agreements and treaties. The Confederation’s existence is not certified by any manifesto, but is instead a logical outcome of the political and cultural connections and the Confederates’ determination to unite against the ’outside’ nations. The Confederates are expressive and emotional people with a deep understanding of tribal unity and local patriotism. Despite the feigned unity they present to outside countries, the Confederation’s citizens lead endless inner wars caused by half-forgotten vendettas or even ancient traditions.
- The Kingdom of Macabria is an uninviting Old World country, cut off from the rest of Adriano by mountains and deserts. Travelers and merchants avoid the kingdom’s borders, and only the gravest of reasons can force a foreigner to visit this land. Macabrians are poor and superstitious people who cope with their hardships with loud celebrations and gunfights; it is said that children of this country are born squeezing gunpowder in their fists. Macabrians are known as the biggest desperados in Adriano, rebellious and vile. Luckily, various mystical beliefs prevent them from leaving their homeland, which makes their neighbors extremely happy.
- The Oltah Steppe is an area in the south-west of Adriano that remains almost entirely uninhabited. These lands are semi-arid, with frequent deadly thunderstorms and tornadoes. There have been numerous attempts to settle in the area and bring it under somebody’s reign, but those have all been unsuccessful, except for the handful of cities. The Oltah Steppe remains a free, untamed land, home only to some Oltah volnytsias and the nomadic Skyphian tribes. Myths of the neighboring countries speak of Oltah as a cursed land where a careless traveler might easily lose either their soul, or sanity.
- The Czardom of Ostar is a conservative Old World state, covered mostly with lush, impassable forests. The Ostarians are quite a unique nation, as their lives are deeply rooted in tradition and ancient religious beliefs. A considerable part of the population resides in large cities built from wood and situated right next to the border of Ostar; others make their living engaging in various trades in the depths of The Crown Woods that cover the whole central part of South Adriano. It is said that, thanks to the mining of precious metals, the Ostarians became possibly the wealthiest nation of the Old World. However, the czar’s subjects do not seem to know how to enjoy a luxurious life; instead, all their riches are spent financing questionable colonization initiatives in the New World, or donated to the Church of Messiah.
- The Kastemolia Oligarchy is a maritime country situated on the sunny, rocky shores of the south-east Adriano. Kastemolians are not much of a prosperous nation; most of them spend their lives fishing or shipbuilding. Formally, the country is ruled by a military council. De facto, however, Kastemolia consists of several large autonomous provinces, each ruled by a wealthy family with almost absolute power. Kastemolian pirates were known all throughout Oceania in the past, but those days are long gone. Nowadays, stemolians attempt to make easy money on Al-Avidian pilgrims and, since almost every family has some pirate blood in them, figure out where their ancestors hid the stolen treasure.
- The Kingdom of Hispars is a large, heavily militarized country that protects the southern shore of the Old World from sunworshippers of the Solar Sultanate, their crusades being a constant threat to the area. Hisparsians are extremely arrogant and uncompromising, used to living under a constant siege; although, to be fair, the exhausting violent wars between them and their southern Al-Avidian neighbors only occur once in many decades. Military service is highly honored in the kingdom, and serving the navy — even more so. Although Hispars does not have its own colonies, other Adrianian countries are happy to pay a considerable amount of coin for Hisparsian ships to patrol their New World shores. Even in peacetime, the kingdom keeps amassing Messianist volunteer troops, and many archaic chivalric orders stand guard here. And so the day-to-day life of Hisparsian people moves along between fortress walls and foreign garrisons, accompanied by unceasing songs of battle achievements.