Raiftsmark

Raiftsmark (Sundish: 𐍂𐌰𐌹𐍆𐍄𐍃𐌼𐌰𐍂𐌺), officially the God's March on Katal (𐌲𐌿𐌸𐍃𐌼𐌰𐍂𐌺 𐌰𐌽𐌰 𐌺𐌰𐍄𐌰𐌻, tr. Guþsmark 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 Waurmsbaurg - 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 was gradually united through the Great Lustrations (127-180) by the efforts of the Bishop Generals, coalescing as the Synodate of Katalia. The Synodate would wield 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, suppressing the worker revolts of the Esirtan Spring of 1873. The Katalese constitution would be ratified in 1877, enshrining the country as a and establishing a system of democratic rule which persists till modernity, albeit one which guaranteed significant rights to the royalty and clergy.

Orthodox Kaurissem is the of Raiftsmark and a Katalese dialect of  is its. Controversially, all members of the unicameral Swynja must be blessed by the Archbishop of Katal, and when coupled with the numerous seats reserved for the clergy in the Swynja alongside many other clerical privileges in government, commentators have classified the country as an Orthodox quasi- - to its own pride and to the detraction of liberal observers in the orient. The vast majority of its population is split between the Polinsular coastal north and tropical south along the Rasan River, both centers split from one another by the Ahura Desert and historically connected by sea through the Katal Rift. Regionalist attitudes based on this division have characterized Katalese politics for much of its modern history.

Today, Raiftsmark is classed as a, with a geopolitically strategic location over the Katal Rift. While the country has lost most of its imperial holdings in Avarda, it still retains a cultural sphere of influence through its religious position as the steward of the Holy Land, not to mention its lingering ties to their economies through the Thaler Monetary Community. It has a diversified economy, built primarily around its modernizing manufacturing and service sectors, but with notable contributions from tourism of both religious and conventional kinds.

Demographics
As of the late 2022 census, the population of Raiftsmark sits at 137,180,572, predominantly distributed between the northern Polinsular and southern Avardan population hubs.