Raiftsmark

Raiftsmark (: 𐍂𐌰𐌹𐍆𐍄𐍃𐌼𐌰𐍂𐌺), officially the God's March on Katal (𐌲𐌿𐌸𐍃𐌼𐌰𐍂𐌺-𐌰𐌽𐌰-𐌺𐌰𐍄𐌰𐌻, tr. Guthsmark-ana-Katal) is a country spanning southern Hatar and eastern Avarda. Clockwise from its metropole, it shares a maritime border with Rhaetia in the north; and is bound by the Polinsular Sea in the north, the Katal Rift in the east, and the Sea of Katal to its southeast. With a population of 137 million, it is the most populated country on the continent. Its capital is Aþasdaur, which aside from being the residence of its monarchy - the House of Trachenbaurg - is additionally the holiest city in Kaurissem. Its largest city is Alhsaiweins in the north, a major financial hub servicing the Rift. Its second-largest is Raginastaþs-on-Rasan in the south, which additionally serves as the country's secondary capital for managing its historically and geographically distant southern provinces.

The region which now constitutes the core of Raiftsmark has been a point of cultural exchange since antiquity, seeing consistent interactions between societies in Hatar, Avarda, and Rhodin through trade in the Katal Rift. The Rift was under the suzerainty of the Ardasid Empire since its conquest by Ardas the Great in XXX BCE, then contested between the various rump states which formed out of the Empire's collapse in XXX BCE following Ardas' death. The world's largest religion, Kaurissem, emerged from the region, as the Kaurissemite messiah Iosus Kauriss was born in Aþasdaur on 1 CE and proselytized the faith. The region eventually unified under XXX in XXX, coalescing as the Synodate of Katalia. The Synodate wielded significant influence: both through its prominent religious position as the steward of the Holy Land, and economic position through its monopoly on Katal Rift trade. When the Council of Narau of 710 established the papacy and Holy See in response to the XXX, political conflict arose from the erosion of the Synodate's eminency in Kaurissemite politics, exacerbating the slow decline of the Synodate as endemic corruption from the country's commercial wealth infected all levels of government. This conflict of authority eventually culminated in the Austral Schism in 1094 CE as the Katalese Papacy was unilaterally established by the Synodate, to which the Holy See eventually replied with the Katalese Crusades - a 64-year long series of crusades from 1159 to 1223 which aimed to dislodge the schismatic Synodate from the Rift.

In 1223, the Synodate would finally capitulate to papal crusaders at the Siege of Aþasdaur, the Ana Aiweinsfrauja confirming its partition into western and eastern halves to prevent any future Katalese consolidation. Raiftsmark as a political entity would be established at this date, the Awards of Ragnaric enfeoffing the Avalonian crusader Ragnaric as King and Margrave over the March of Katal. Kept under papal oversight until the last vestiges of schismatics were eradicated, Raiftsmark would become the bastion of Orthodox Kaurissem in southern Hatar, extending its imperial reach into Avarda through the Purgation of Avarda - a series of evangelical missions and crusades into the continent sponsored by the country. Reactionary elements prevailed during the Industrial Revolution and related -era intellectual movements, crushing the worker revolts of the Esirtan Spring of 1873. The Katalese constitution would be ratified in 1877, enshrining the country as a and establishing democratic rule, albeit one which guaranteed significant rights to the royalty and clergy.