TiirtaÄävot Jat

TiirtaÄävot Jat (Saljaajui for "Land of the Shining Sea") is an ancient city state located in the Anderm region of northeastern Moria.. Based around the historic Dwarven city of Dakuh Duzma, it is led by its one and only historic leader, Admiral C. Vernesteen. Although lacking in most resources and a powerful ground force, the wide access to the ocean and historical origins of its people mean it has both a thriving trade and fishing economy as well as the largest and most powerful navy in Alathra.

Pre-Foundation History
The lands upon which the Äävot Daasee now inhabit were not always theirs. Thousands of years ago, before most Alathran civilizations had begun to bloom, the Dwarves of Dakuh Duzma had carved themselves a mighty city of quartz and stone. Into the face and interior caves of the mountain lay a shining white city rich in minerals and prosperity. Unfortunately, the Dwarves, like their ancestors before them and their kin after, were too greedy. They mined the mountain dry, becoming obsessed with its value and possible jewels and minerals. They dug too far for too long. When winter of that year struck, the Dwarves had no provisions as they hadn't prepared for the cold winter months that year. Now, Dwarves being Dwarves, this was no major adversity. Yes there were some that starved or died of dehydration, but the majority of the population survived to what would've been spring. They survived long enough that they thought that crops would begin to grow anew. That's where they were met with a deadly surprise. The winter that year never let up. It hasn't for the past few thousand years since the dwarves died or froze to death, their entire population ravaged by storm. The entire peninsula was and still is surrounded by an intense winter storm, refusing to die or leave the area. The once beautiful mountain civilization would lie dormant with halls emptied of its once lively inhabitants for a thousand years and yet another thousand years over. This would remain up until the start of recent Alathran history.

History of TiirtaÄävot Jat
Roughly 500 years before present day, a group of explorers got lost in an intense winter wind.

A small caravan of ships, led by Admiral C. Vernesteen, crashed upon the shores of the Imiskee Siinny Peninsula (funnily translating to "the Mountain's Peninsula Peninsula" beacuse a few muotäi diplomats didn't quite understand the language). Vernesteen ventured towards the mountain he could see in the distance, eventually stumbling upon the gates of Dakuh Duzma. Leading his crewmates inside, they hunkered down with what little provisions they had with them and began to plan. Leveraging their slightly more advanced technological understanding and infrastructure, the newly landed inhabitants quickly laid out greenhouses in the slightly more temperate summer months allowing crops to grow and life to continue. From there, beautiful and wondrous as Dakuh Duzma was, the now self proclaimed Äävot Daasee began construction of homes and buildings outside the mountain and across the Ääpetmöy Vau River (again diplomats performed a "River" river) in a town they called RinoImiskee Pyyn. This town would quickly grow to become a major port city, climate not withstanding, within Moria and the town would expand exponentially to support many sea faring merchants. TiirtaÄävot Jat would continue its history without anything new of note happening, preferring to remain to itself and neutral in most global conflicts, retreating inwards in regards to global affairs.

Government
TiirtaÄävot Jat started as and has remained what is functionally a monarchy since its foundation 500 odd years ago. Since its leader, Admiral C. Vernesteen, is immortal save for a lethal blow, it hasn't had the opportunity nor the necessity to change leaders. It also does not have any means or plans to do so so if Vernesteen were to die, chaos would most likely erupt within the city and surrounding area.

Language
The residents of TiirtaÄävot Jat speak Saljaajui, a language evolved from what they could decipher of the ancient Dwarven texts of Dakuh Duzma as well as the original language spoken by the first settlers of the land. The language also gained influence from merchants and traders who settled in the lands over the years allowing for a thriving mixing pot of languages that continues to evolve to this day.

Saljaajui follows a VSO structure (verb subject object) in which the verb of the sentence comes before the subject and the the object follows the subject. For example, "I eat an apple" in english would translate to "jie ke ariiny" in Saljaajui. A direct translation would be "eat I an apple". The language also follows a system of suffixes and prefixes for verbs and nouns depending on use in a sentence. Say for example you wanted a noun to act as an adjective, you would use the suffix äi or o. The suffix/prefix changes depending on whether the word contains a certain type of vowel sound. Each sound is separated into one of 3 categories: 1rst, 2nd, or neutral. Those in the first category would gain the suffix äi and those in the second would gain the suffix o. Neutral words also take the first categories suffix or prefix.

The language also consists of its own alphabet and writing system.

(For a full list of grammar and vocabulary, send me [CHVRedstone] a message on discord and I'll send you the pdfs)

Religion
There is no state determined nor commonly accepted religion within the region of TiirtaÄävot Jat but as a sea fairing society, many people choose to worship the moon in some way or another. Those who follow the Mufijo Faith may choose to pray to Jorb whereas others may partake in worship to Luna of the Silvan Faith. It is also not uncommon for people to pray to water gods such as the Water Cycle God of the Havenian Pantheon faith. Somewhat less common, some people choose to worship multiple gods from differing religions, believing that appeasing all of them might help them more than true faith and devotion to one. Whatever the case, it is customary for all captains and crew alike to toss a coin to the sea and say a short prayer towards the moon. Even if they do not practice any of the aforementioned religions regularly.

Daily life
Life for the Äävot Daasee is fairly normal. Their diet consists of mostly fish, grain, and root vegetables. They prefer spicy and hot foods to help cope with the colder climates. Many of them are fishermen or work on ships away from home for the majority of the year, only stopping by once in a while if their ship needs to make a stop at a port within the TiirtaÄävot Jat area. The rest of the population is divided fairly equally between miners, lumberjacks, and farmers, with anyone else being a housekeeper while their significant other is away.

Economy
The majority of the economy remains self contained and self sufficient, with very few exports or imports. The few exported goods TiirtaÄävot Jat provides are minerals (specifically quartz) from Dakuh Duzma's mines and locally farmed fish. It also provides one of the few sources of Shulkers and Elytras within Alathra, having salvaged them from the remains of the Dwarven civilization. It tends to import some more exotic foods such as greens and meats as well as artisanal goods such as glass and tile.