Coxland

Aka: Imperial Coxish Isles
Capital: Ayvon Ryn
Demographics: 82% Human, 9% Dwarven, 6% Drowl, 3% Other
Official Language: Coxish
Official Religion: Protestant Christianity
Currency: Crowns
Islands: Ayvon Ryn, Elon, Weywyn, Sadar
Colonies: Upper Evaland, Lower Eopian Islands, Far Mali, Jade Port, High Crystal Island
Government: Constitutional monarchy
Ruling Family: Fairlyn
Monarch: King Tristan III
Congress: Noble Parlement & Plebeian Parlement

Coxland is archipelago with four main islands drifting in close proximity to each other. Coxland is a forward and powerful nation with advanced technology, magic, a powerful air navy and a handful of colonies. It is rich in resources such as water, cole and iron and other metals, which helped it to lead the rest of the world into the Industrial Revolution. It has a long and proud history and was one or the nations which helped to found Central City. Not long ago Coxland could have been considered the most powerful empire in the world, but recently the rest of the world has began to catch up and political turmoil is slowing Coxland down. The diplomatic power of Central City and the magic and technology of other rapidly advancing city-states are beginning to supersede Coxland and the edge it once had over the rest of Icarus has all but crumbled. Nonetheless, just because Coxland is no longer ahead of the games doesn't mean it's fallen out of it. The Coxish Isles are still one of the most advanced of the Imperial nations and it is continues to be a diplomatic ally to Central City and other founding states.


Coxish People: Aka Coxlanders aka Coxies. Though Coxy is considered slang and started off as a derogative term, (it still is if used by Non-Coxish in the wrong way,) its come to be embraced by Coxlanders and will be heard in common speech and in in songs.

The modern Coxish people are descended from the Ancient Coxish, the Drakes/Danes, The Numinors and to a small existent Dwarves.

The Ancient Coxish were small, round-faced and tended to have blond or light brown hair, blue or gray eyes and little to no facial hair. The Drakes and Danes were pale, very tall and brawny, with blond, brown or red hair, blue, green and gray eyes and a lot of facial hair. The Numinors were medium tall, with pale to medium skin-tones, brown or black hair and blue or brown eyes. Dwarves were very short and pale to ruddy skinned, with a variety of hair and eye colors and a lot of facial hair on both men and women.

The modern Coxish people are fair-skinned, with a verity of hair and eye colors, though blond and light-medium brown hair is the most common. They can range in hight, depending on their ancestry, but average out to a medium hight of about 5'9" for men and 5'3" for women. Coxish people tend to have more propensity toward magic than some other humans, but do not consider themselves a magical race of people.


Class System: Since the Industrial Revolution and the rise of Capitalism, the old class system and nobility tittles based on land has broken down a good deal and been partly nullified. People with wealth based simply in business and capital have gained titles without actual land, which is not the traditional roles. But, nonetheless, the titles and ranks still exist and still have social influence and standing.

Nobility

• King: Authority over the entire empire
  
• Duke: Authority over states
  
• Earls: Authority over counties
  
• Counts: Authority over multiple townships
  
• Baron: Authority over one town
  
• Governor: Authority over a Colony
  
• Knight: Honorary tittle of nobility rewarded to an individual by the King for great service done for the county. Knights may or may not have authority over lands.

Non-nobilty

• Merchant/Artisan/Craftsman: Independent businessman/artist with no land.
  
• Yeoman: Independent Farmer renting &/or managing land. (Modern yeomen can own land)
  
• Peasant: Dependent worker traditionally bound to serve one lord (Modern peasants are no longer bound to service, but they still can't own land, or any businesses over a certain size in Coxland)
  
• Slave: Non-citizen, completely dependent, legally bound to a master and unable to own anything. (By modern Coxish law, no human can be a slave)

The church is outside the secular class-system and has it's own higharchy, which is roughly comparable, but which I will not describe. The military also has ranks and tittles, but I will not describe that here.

Government: The King of Coxland has had a form of limited power, for nearly three hundred years, but at the end of Queen Angel's reign, a formal Constitution and a Bill of Coxish Rights was written. This limited the monarch's powers even more, making Coxland more of a Democracy than a monarchy.

However, the monarch is still and inherited and lifelong position and still maintains a lot of power, responsibility and respect. While the king cannot make laws, go to war or approve a national budget without the approval of Congress, he is in charge of the military, responsible for protecting the nation, enforcing the laws and managing finances among many other things. He can also write/propose laws, veto Congresses laws and useally represents the country in foreign negotiations.

The Congress keeps the king in check by approving or vetoing laws, overviewing the budges and approving acts of war. They can also write and amend laws and, if necessary, The Congress can put the king on trial for treason against the nation.

The Coxish Congress is made up of two parliaments. In the Noble Parliament seats are held for life and only nobles who are counts or high can hold office. Also, only nobles can vote in the elections. There are 34 seats in the Noble Parliament and 12 high chairs. This corresponds to the tradition of there being 12 dukes and 34 earls in Coxland. (The actual number of dukes and earls is much higher now, but the number of seats is the same.) In the Plebeian Parliament any male citizen, who has a set amount of wealth can be elected and all educated (able to read and write) citizens, both men and women are allowed to vote. The number of seats are determined by the size of the population and there are currently 79 seats. Congressmen hold office for six years, before they must run for reelection.

The growth in population and the increase of wealth and education in the lower classes has seen a substantial rise in the power of the Plebeian Parliament and also some very dynamic changes in social governance, as the interests of the common men become more influential than the interests of the nobility.

Navy
As an imperial nation Coxland has one of the best navies in Icarus. They were one of the first nations to use gasoline and combustion engines to propelled blimps and planes and they had breaking innovations in weapons and applied magic technology(AMT). However, twenty years ago they started loosing their edge when they lost one of their richest colonies and the reign of Queen Angela came to an end. Funding and innovations for the navy fell off and other nations have been quickly catching up. Now Coxland is trying its best to maintain the rest of their colonies and not get over taken by the latest advancements of other countries. There navy is neither as large nor as advanced as it once was. Moral is rather low, because old officers can see that the golden age is slipping away and young recruits are neither as well trained nor as patriotic as they used to be. Nonetheless, the Coxish navy has more modern gear and more experience with AMT and combustion technology than many other countries and they still pride themselves for having the best and bravest fighter pilots and in all of Icarus. Of course weather that claim still holds any water is debatable.

Magic: While Coxland is advanced in magic and employs it in a lot of their technology, they are also very wary of magic and it is strictly regulated by the government.

Coxland is very accepting of magical items or ready made charms and potions, which always preform in a consistent and predictable manner. They actively pursue amulets, wards, charmed objects, potions, applied magical technology and other such things which can be produced and used by anyone in the same way. However, while people are free to have personal any personal object (assuming it's not been condemned as illegal), all magical items used in public and commercial endeavors must be approved and registered by the government.

Coxland is much more careful about the practice of magic. The only people allowed to practice magic are those who have graduated from a government approved school of magic and received a license of Wizardry. The license must be renewed every ten years and the government has the authority to revoke a license at any point, if the practitioner is caught using magic to break laws or preforming illegal magical practices. Despite all this regulation, Coxland puts a lot of money into magical research and development. This is mostly because Coxland sees magic as a dangerous weapon and the best way to control a threat is to have the bigger stick. Fighting magic with magic, has always been a primary purpose of Coxish wizardry.

What Coxland is most suspicious of is naturally born people of magic. Coxland has alway had a larger than usual minority of naturally gifted people and the fear that your neighbor has some unknown and supernatural power has been a pressing concern throughout their history. Magical people are known as "divies" and there have been various eras of persecution. However, at some point (no one's certain exactly when) strains of divy heritage got into the royal family and several other high noble families and the laws became more tolerant. The currant laws do not require any noble with natural powers to reveal him/herself. Divies among the common people must be registered by the government and must abide by any regulations or accommodations deemed necessary. Commoners who are unregistered and any divy who uses their power to break the laws are severely persecuted.

Coxland has little to know tolerance for non-human creatures with magical abilities/natures. This includes vampires, werewolves, tolls, ghosts and other "monsters." Every now and again exceptions will be made, but most magical "monsters" are hunted down and executed without trial, often on the spot.


Social Attitude: The Coxish are very nationalistic and tend to look down on other people and cultures. Even though their empire isn't as large as it used to be they still think of themselves as the center of the civilized world. They are very proud of their history, innovations and acoplishments.

Even though they consiser themselves superior to other nations, Coxland still likes to be involved in international affairs and the wealthy often consider traveling abroad a very inteltectual and adventurous affair. They especally like going to "new" and "exotic" islands where "civilization" is only starting to take a foot hold. The romantiscied idea of a "gentleman adventurer" is very popular amung the modern Coxish.

Non-humans: The Coxlanders are suspcious and unwelcoming toward non-humans, and while they don't mind interacting with them abroad, they don't like having non-humans settling in Coxland. Useally, only human beings can be Coxish citizens, and visiting non-humans need to have visa to live and/or work in Coxland. Visa's are given out on an individual basis and aplicans must appear before a panel of inquisitors. Every once in a while perminant visa's will be given out, giving a nonhuman full citizen rights, but this is rare and they must be renewed whenever a new monarch takes the throne. Most visa are temporary or else only guarantee limeted rights under the law.

For a few native groups, citizenship can be obtained as cultural group rather than on an individulal biases. But even groups who've been Coxish longer then the humans have been around need to reaply for citizenship everytime a new king coming to the throne.

Probably the most trusted and respected group of non-humans are the Sarian Dwarves. There are various clans of the Sarians, most of which are native to either Sardar or Weywyn. Every king for the last 370 years has granted them citizenship and dwarves now make up almost 10% of the population.

The Toven are a much smaller minority and have suffered much prescution, almost to the point of exstiction. However, durring Queen Angela's reign, they were granted citizenship and the rights have been renew by evry king since then. The Toven are native to Weywyn and are seldom seen on other islands.

Trolls are also native to Coxland, but have never been given citizenship. However an unwritten "live and let live" policy has existied between trolls and humans for several year. As long as trolls keep a distance and don't get too involved in affairs, the government doesn't waist money trying to chaise them from the country.

Groups such as vampires, werewolves and ghosts are not so lucky, however. Coxland has divisions of law enforcement which hunt "monsters" as well as illegal practictioners of magic. Most non-humans, who have no visa or citizenship are considerered monsters. Mosters have no rights under the law and, even if they can avoid the government, they are at the mercy of any normal citizen, who may want to take advantage of them.

History
Coxland has a long and proud history. It was formed over 650 years ago when Edwyn the Great united the Christian lords of Coxland and drove back the invading Drakes and other barbarians. Since then the line of kings can be traced back through four families and 34 monarchs.

Throughout its history, Coxland has fought many wars against both other nations and forces of magic. They first developed flight by domesticating winged horses and building light crafts which the horses could support in flight. The Winged Knights of Coxland were once great warriors and feared on both land and sky.

Early in Coxish history they were invaded by sorcerous elves from Weywyn, known as the Last Elves. This caused the country to take magic siriously and after the eventual defeat of the Last Elves, Coxland has been studying magic in order to fight magic.

The Coxland/Belyce wars that waged on and off for over a century, drove Coxland to develop new weapons, air ships and strategies, appling magical technology and new forms of glider ships and eventually magical balloon and combustions air ships. Exploration, magic and science has always been an important part of the country's culture. In attempt to make peace with Belyce and many other rival nations, Coxland helped to found both Central City and Shelby University.

The golden Age of Coxland occurred after the Coxish Civil War which ended a hundred years ago. During the war King Richard III the last of the Wynsten family was dethroned. For some time, Coxland was ruled by a Republic controlled by Ayvon University, which was a sister school to Shelby University. However, after 18 years the Republic fell apart and the Torron Family, cousins to the Wynstens, were placed on the throne and the Constitutional Contract was written. The contract divided the power between the monarch and the parliament and contained the Bill of Rights. Over the next hundred years Coxland's Empire expanded and the country grew in wealth, power and influence. Magical advancements flourished, the Industrial Age dawned. With Coxland's rich abundance of coal, water and iron she was at the forefront of invention and advancements.

30 years ago the last Torron monarch, Queen Angela, died and the Fairlyn family took over. Queen Angela had been greatly beloved and though Fairlyns were the closest blood relatives, they had been living in Central City since the Coxish Civil War. Neither Parliament nor the people had much faith in the Fairlyns and it didn't help matters when the both the Mercury War and the Audum Revolution broke out at the same time as the Fairlyn ascension. Coxland lost Audum one of her richest colonies and, even though Coxland won the Mercury War, the nation is still trying to recover he moral and finical blow of the Audum Revolution.