Nixium

Nixium, officially the Archduchy of Nixium, is a nation located on the Olarian Peninsula, on the north-western portion of the continent of Prospit.

Etymology
The name 'Nixium' comes from a word for snow (Latin), alluding to the landscape around the first two member cities of the Old Nixium Oath.

Pre-History
Place-holder: Dark Times under Aquendavia, Archivia the only city to be respected by the tyrants.

The Old Nixium Oath


After Prospitian Revolution where Isvik and Archivia covertly sided with the rebellion against Acquendavia, the two neighbouring settlements formed The Nixium Oath together by enshrining egalitarian principles and rights between member-towns in a Charter and formalising an Oath to which they abided for many winters. The core sentiment of the Oath was “all for one and one for all”. This took place in a solemn meeting in the dark forests between Archivia and Isvik, where the Oath was discussed for days before finally agreed upon and written down by the scholars of Archivia. Those present also agreed on the colours of the national banner which incorporated black, white, dark green and a tree to allude to the dark landscape.

Although the nation was formally egalitarian and rejected the notion of a chain of command with a leader at the top, instrumental to the creation of the Old Nixium Oath was the demonic Arch Archivist of Archivia, Zaktos - who became the de-facto leader and informal figurehead of the nation.

All of Nixium was not to be cold dark forests however, as the nation exerted its territorial claims southwards into the borderlands between River Rolda and the Tipiat Sea, which included warm plains, beaches and temperate forests. Issues immediately arose with the extensive territories. The southern lands were largely unpopulated, so a keep was built by the bridge over the Rolda so that the road connecting to Ragusa passed straight through. The keep served as a border outpost, immigration office, national showroom and secure accommodation and stables for traveling citizens.

Another issue was the Free City of Zusammenflossberg was located right on the river Rolda but ignored all invitations and communication attempts from the Nixians. Out of respect to their neighbors, Nixium created a large salient in its eastern border to accommodate Zusammenflossberg’s core territory, but kept up attempts to integrate the town.

In the (in game-) years that followed, the new nixians expanded their road network, housing and lore keeping, combining their best scholastic and crafting abilities.

In November of 2021 Zaktos suddenly departed from the realm of Alathra. this left the population disillusioned and many projects ground to a halt. Only the Isvikings expanded their town and intra-urban road network modestly.

Monarchy
As the realm fell into disrepair and under management, the Jarl of Isvik Pzychosocial rose to prominence as the de-facto caretaker of the realm. Worried by the state of affairs and seeing how the Oath democracy slowed the decision-making effectiveness of the state, Pzychosocial sought support for running the entire nation as a monarch and was eventually crowned Archduke in the stave church of Isvik on the twentieth of January 2022.

Government and Administrative Divisions
The Archduchy of Nixium is a feudal state governed by a hierarchy of overlords and vassals. The paramount overlord to whom all vassals swear loyalty to is the Arch Hegemon, which can be either the Archduke of Nixium or Arch Archiver of Nixium depending on if the leadership position is inherited by a noble house or by the clergo-academical line of Archivia, i.e. the next in line to become the Grandmaster of Archivia.

Nixium is divided into many different levels of lands held in fief by vassals to their respective overlords. These are classified into hierarchical levels: 1, 2, and 3 (where 1 is highest) and three categories or lines: A, B, and C.

C is the clergo-academical line of Archivia while A and B are both noble lines with the only distinction that A is exclusive to Isvik and B is generic for other noble houses and their fiefdoms. For this reason sometimes category A is known as the Jarl's Line because it theoretically grants faster succession rights to the crown. This arrangement came about since the Clan of Isvik was the first (and for a long time, only) noble house present in Nixium or on the Olarian peninsula as a whole and as one can only be knighted by another knight, it was only by the right of the blue blood of the Isviking nobility that they could create another noble title system parallel but separate to their own. Apart from the above fiefdoms there is also the Dominium Ducale and Commons.

Lands directly held by the Arch Hegemon. If the Arch Hegemon is the Arch Archivist of Archivia, then lands held directly by the leadership is known as Dominium Archivum. If these lands are in the possession of a noble house they do not transfer ownership if leadership changes, but lands may be set aside for the exclusive benefit, use or protection by the Arch Hegemon directly which would nullify any subsequent noble claim.

Land not formally held by any lord is shared and cared for by all who use it and is classified as Commons. A title may vary depending on the culture and mother tongue of the lord. For example, Earl is the word for Jarl in the Common Tongue, however the Jarl of Isvik is stylised as Jarl because the tongue spoken in Isvik is isviking (Swedish). In the County of Zussammenflussberg, the Count is known as Greve, which is also the isviking word for Count.

Dynasties
A Dynasty is a noble house, family, clan or clique that have rule lands held in fief. The current ruling dynasty is the Clan of Isvik which possess the counties of Isvik and Zusammenflossberg as well as the position of Archduke.

(Players are encouraged to form dynasties with people they trust or have either long-standing or IRL friendships to safeguard their possessions and optimize their collaboration).

Languages
There is no official language in Nixium due to the mix of cultures and for historical reasons as it has not been a centralized state for long. The main spoken language and de facto Lingua Franca is the Common Tongue (English), but Isviking (Swedish) is also widely spoken. The Common Tongue was mainly spoken by the archivists of Archivia, traveling traders and local Olarian villagers. When the Vikings settled however and founded Isvik, they brought with them both their daily language and elder language used for poetic or ceremonial purposes.

The scholars of Archivia also knew many languages that were taught to the vikings of Isvik and local Olarian villagers as well.

The founders of Zusammenflossberg spoke a language that related to both the common tongue and isviking, but was generally not mutually intelligible without effort (German).

As the isvikings travelled the world and eventually founded the port city of Port-au-Nixe they brought an influx of other languages, including Lydoneian (Latin) which mixed with the local languages to create Bastardo (any Romance language, mix thereof or an attempt to speak Latin with only knowledgeable of other Romance languages).

Towns

 * Archivia
 * Isvik
 * Port-au-Nixe
 * Zussammenflussberg
 * Araaqsal