New Colmaris

New Colmaris is a loose republic made up of island territories and united skytides that all shared a common ancestry prior to the Ancient Breaking, giving the region a common ancestor, which has reunited itself since the dawn of the age of flight in the aftermath of the First Skies War. By the time of the Age of Rediscovery, the nation was more or less entirely reunified and had been for some time.

The Skies and their sailing is deeply central to the lives and culture of the New Colmari people, so much so that their terminology, navigational conventions, techniques, and technologies have more or less become ubiquitous. Their small land mass and the fact that the nation consists of several divergent skytides has made them adopt sailing to a high standard, relying heavily on airships even before the proliferation of the heartballast device.

New Colmaris could be seen as a loose federation of slightly more tight-knit tidal republics, convening its federal offices only when made practical by the tides. While this has hampered them in terms of being a geopolitical power, they are vital to the overall Colmaris economy and their Mayors and Governors command high respect wherever they go. The federation has a parliamentary body, the Congress of Tollen, whose President in Congress could be seen as the head of the New Colmaris state and is certainly the head of government.

Etymology

Colmaris is the Colmari word for "the world" or "the lands of the people"; New Colmaris is simply "The New Place We Live" or "The New World".

History

See Also: History of New Colmaris

Pre-Breaking

Prior to the Ancient Breaking the Colmari ancestor culture had a common cultural identity and shared language, and to some limited extent even much of their records have survived the disaster in the form of archeological findings made during the Age of Rediscovery.

Three Cities

Within a century after the Ancient Breaking, the three oldest and most sifnificant cities in New Colmaris, being Tollen, Valley Bay and Dewpoint, had all been established on their respective islands. These early New Colmari communities were supported by primative airships that relied on the buoyancy of irongas, a flammable gas that could be produced by pouring certain acids onto the shavings of iron metal. It was at about this time that the Cartographers' Guild was founded in Tollen, in 124 YS.

Tollen Conference and the Republic of New Colmaris

In 324 YS, at the outbreak of the First Skies War, representatives of the seperate congresses of the republics of Tollen, Valley Bay, Dewpoint and Pivot gathered at Tollen and began a series of conferences that concluded with the Fifth of the Crab Declaration and the ratification of the constitution of a Federal Republic of New Colmaris, with Tollen as the seat of that federal government. The main driving factor of the decision to Federate was concern over the warlike nature of the then-kingdom of Trevult and the Feng Empire.

This was followed by several years of hurried diplomatic activity, during which the New Colmaris quickly ratified trade and neutrality agreements with the two powers, as well as the Sultanate of Gerb.

Colmari Ubiquity

Since federation, the New Colmari have actively pursued economic, social, and scholarly cooperation with the other nations of Colmaris, to such a degree that many of their customs, aeronautical terminology, technologies, and even institutions are ubiquitous on Colmaris. No better example of this exists than the Cartographers' Guild, an independent corporate entity with offices in every noteworthy harbour worldwide, dealing in updated charts and reference materials, the certification of sailors in matters pertaining to navigation and astrology, and trading in information, including lucerative freelance shipping contracts.

Geography

New Colmaris controls a reasonably large degree of landmass, but is composed entirely of relatively small islands, which was the impetus behind their early and enthusiastic pursuit of airships and their ongoing mastery of the trades of sail.

Skytides

There are four major skytides in New Comaris, each representing archipelagos of up to a dozen islands, and each named for their major city: Tollen Skytide, Valley Bay Skytide, Dewpoint Skytide, and Pivot Skytide. These tides have largely divergent routes and come together roughly every nine months before diverging again.

Climate

"It's said the ancients knew a thing or two about this, but I certainly don't."

- Anonymous Guild Cartographer

This article or section contains information that is not yet fully fleshed out.

Biodiversity

"It's said the ancients knew a thing or two about this, but I certainly don't."

- Anonymous Guild Cartographer

This article or section contains information that is not yet fully fleshed out.

Government and Politics

New Colmaris is a republic, which can best be thought of as a federation of smaller, independent republics - those of Tollen, Valley Bay, Dewpoint, and Pivot. Each of these republics has a lead official known as a Governor. The republics each have an allotment of representatives for a federal congress that they may elect in the manner that suits them, and all adult persons in New Colmaris have the right to vote on which amongst those representatives becomes the President of Congress, making that individual the head of government and state within the republic. However, the most common political office is that of Mayor.

Law

New Colmaris has an elaborate system of precedent-based common law alongside a body of codified laws, all with its founding principle and basic law to be found in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of New Colmaris, a document which is effectively an appendix of the Fifth of the Crab Declaration. Such laws are enforced by police forces and proved in courts of law.

Foreign Relations and Military

"It's said the ancients knew a thing or two about this, but I certainly don't."

- Anonymous Guild Cartographer

This article or section contains information that is not yet fully fleshed out.

Administrative Divisions

"It's said the ancients knew a thing or two about this, but I certainly don't."

- Anonymous Guild Cartographer

This article or section contains information that is not yet fully fleshed out.

There are four major skytides in New Comaris, each representing archipelagos of up to a dozen islands, and each named for their major city: Tollen Skytide, Valley Bay Skytide, Dewpoint Skytide, and Pivot Skytide. In addition to being a skytide, each is also its own Republic with an associated governor and republican government. This gives each Skytide the ability to govern itself when the Federal Government is not in session due to the large spatial separation resulting from divergent skytides.

Economy

New Colmaris has a thriving, trade-focused economy. Their principle exports are shipwrighting and sailing expertise and fresh water. One of their largest commercial enterprises is the Cartographers Guild which has a massive impact on the worldwide network of sailing logistics.

Science and Technology

"It's said the ancients knew a thing or two about this, but I certainly don't."

- Anonymous Guild Cartographer

This article or section contains information that is not yet fully fleshed out.

The Colmari are best known for their sailing technology, which has largely become instrumental globally.

Use of Magic

"It's said the ancients knew a thing or two about this, but I certainly don't."

- Anonymous Guild Cartographer

This article or section contains information that is not yet fully fleshed out.

Culture

"It's said the ancients knew a thing or two about this, but I certainly don't."

- Anonymous Guild Cartographer

This article or section contains information that is not yet fully fleshed out.

Because of their overall ubiquity, in many ways the New Colmari are the most influential culture on Colmaris and could be thought of as the touchstone culture globally.

Heritage Traits (Tarnished Tale))

"Come on, gentlemen, lead your shots, this isn't hard. We have math for this!"

- Almost every Trevultine Gunnery Officer

This article or section alludes to information that is under active development and subject to change.

Primary Trait

All Trevultines have the Yellow Stars (Heritage Trait) property by default.

Secondary Trait Options

A Trevultine character may select any one of the following secondary heritage traits:

• Lundesite Heart (Heritage Trait) - you possess a natural aptitude for modern technologies and have one automatic boon on repair checks made to repair steam-powered or electrical equipment.
• Noble Bearing (Heritage Trait) - whether legitimate or illegitimate, you cannot deny the noble blood that runs in your veins, and others see this readily in you. You have one automatic boon on social skills checks made outside the heat of battle.
• Street Savvy (Heritage Trait) - regardless of your upbringing, the ancestral memory of the lowest of the commoner class is imprinted upon you. Based on a permanent selection made when you take this trait, you will recieve a permanent boon to one skill relevant to urban survival in the slums of Trevultum's poorest districts.

Additionally, a Trevultine player character may eschew any of the above heritage-unique traits to take the Sign's Minor Blessing (Heritage Trait) secondary heritage trait instead. This is a rare property and should not be assigned to NPCs except perhaps major plot-drivers.