Vaothan (pronounced VOW-than) is a nation around the Gulf of Timakal, once a province of Sangiran but now independent. While the death of the Eternal Suzerain of Sangiran had drastic consequences for all former subjects of the empire, the people of Vaothan took it particularly badly. Abandoned by their god, a large proportion of Vaothanites renounced faith entirely and now form an officially atheistic society, albeit one that remains fractured by internal divisions.
Geography, flora, and fauna
While much of Vaothan is covered by dense tropical forests, especially in the eastern parts of the mainland, the interior also includes large expanses of grasslands, dry forests, and plateaus. Mangroves thrive along the coast. The climate of the nation is quite hot for most of the year. Monsoons seasonally make landfall in the coastal regions.
Vaothan encompasses a great many islands. On the smaller side, innumerable barrier islands can be found along the coastline with the Gulf of Timakal. Farther afield, the Khahre Archipelago sits solidly within the gulf. On the other end of the spectrum are the large islands of Senarena, Timutara, and Emperor's Island. While these three islands have largely tropical climates, they each have elevated regions that are considerably drier for much of the year, save for when the seasonal rains arrive,
History
Pre-Sangiran
As with much of the lands around the Gulf of Timakal, prior to the arrival of the Sangiran Empire Vaothan was a patchwork of various tribes, city-states, and small independent realms. In Vaothan in particular many of these took the form of mage-kingdoms, territories ruled by dynasties of human and nagaji wizard-kings.
Sangiran colonization
Upon finishing their consolidation of Kea Racha with the full annexation of Langkha in Y6190*, the Eternal Suzerain looked to lands farther afield, and in particular those around the Timakal. By Y6400* waves of Kea Rachan settlers began arriving in the region, especially to the lush and fertile lands around the mouths of the Crocodile and White Stone rivers, where they built new cities and societies in the styles of their homelands. The growth of Sangiran control around the gulf was slow, but was significant and consistent enough that the province of Vaothan was integrated into the empire as a constituent nation in Y7232*, even if the colonization only reached its peak several centuries later.
During this period most new arrivals to Vaothan hailed from the core territories of Sangiran, in southern Kea Racha, as well as from parts of Kintaka and western Vua Ran. The settlers had a reputation as some of the most devoted followers of the Eternal Suzerain outside of Sangiran proper, and over the millennia they constructed many grant temples and monuments in honor of the dragon god. Multiple incarnations were known to especially appreciate the worship they received from the Vaothanites and spend much time amongst them, to the degree that the the imperial palaces within the city of Sanmorai were sometimes viewed as a second capital to the Empire.
Independence from the Empire
The sudden and final death of the Suzerain in Y9606* shook the people of Vaothan. While their death affected the entire Empire, setting off cultural and political ripples that turned to waves, few were as strongly affected as those in the cities around the Timakal. Unlike the other constituent nations within the Empire like Langkha or Kintaka, the inhabitants of Vaothan did not have an enduring existing identity to fall back upon, as these peoples of disparate origins had instead based their society and unity around the Suzerain as an individual.
Ultimately it was only six years after the Suzerain's death that Vaothan separated from the Empire. In Y9612* representatives from the remaining Sangiran military in the region, at least those who hadn't already returned to Kea Racha like those stationed in Bukran had, convened a council with various influential former priests and mercantile families from across Vaothan. Together they declared their independence, their will to remain part of the Empire shattered, as well as a drastic new policy - the banning of the worship of any gods. So broken was their faith after the death of the Suzerain that they came to believe no god was worth worshiping. They had been abandoned and left directionless once, and they decided they would not allow that to befall them again.
Vaothani civil war and the Mortal Guardians
Yet the transition away from the Empire was not easy for Vaothan. Their motivation for unification gone, the initial council soon fell to factionalism as various competing interests advocated for the newly independent nation to move in separate directions. A chaotic civil war ensued, as old Sangiran military units pledged their loyalties to competing cities and commanders. Eventually the factions consolidated into four - the newly established nobles of Ketek, formed from the now-faithless priestly elites, the wealthy merchant class of Kaluran, the republicans of Zaman, and the restored nagaji mage-kings of the southern mainland.
After several years of violence, the war had cooled by Y9615*, but it was not until Y9619* that it formally ended with the signing of a treaty between the Kaluran, Ketek, and Zaman factions. Each side pledged to cease hostilities and begin the process of reunifying Vaothan, with the goal of establishing a central government by Y9625*. Additionally, all agreed to form a new organization, the Mortal Guardians, to root out remaining worshipers of the dead dragon god who they blamed for stoking tensions between them in order to allow Sangiran to regain control of Vaothan.
Ultimately this deadline passed with little fanfare, as all three sides refused to relinquish control of their territories. The Mortal Guardians, however, only grew in influence, supported by all factions. Their purview quickly expanded from the suppression of the Eternal Suzerain's faith to that of all religions, a role they began to take with increasing vigor. Nearly all of the Suzerain's temples and monuments across Vaothan were soon destroyed, at least those not already in ruins from the war, as were holy sites to post-Suzerain deities and even ancestral shrines.
Only the nagaji mage-kings truly lost the civil war. With the ability to pull their forces away from the coastal defenses, the Kaluran faction turned their attention south, driving the mage-kings and their courts into the sparsely populated South Vaothani Hills. They remain there to to the present day, each ruling tiny realms while they plan their return to glory.
Modern Vaothan
Relatively little has changed in Vaothani politics in the last three centuries. The three factions have ossified into the circles that continue to govern the territories they possessed at the end of the war, while the Mortal Guardians remain vigilant against the religious revivalist movements that periodically arise across the nation. There is a semblance of stability in Vaothan, yet lingering tensions remain just below the surface.
Demographics
Humans, half-elves, and nagaji account for most of the population of Vaothan. The Island Kings, a dwarven people, have long called Emperor's Island home, but have little presence in the rest of Vaothan.
Culture
Government
See also: Circle (Vaothan)
Modern day Vaothan is ruled by the circles, as the descendants of the factions from the civil war are known. Between them, the Kaluran and Ketek circles rule most of the population of Vaothan, both oligarchic council formed of influential individuals and military commanders. The Zaman circle on Timutara is instead a republic, with their council elected from amongst the people of the island. Family ties remain crucial to all circles, and it is rare even in Zaman for a political outsider to rise to power.
Aside from the circles, functionally many aspects of pre-independence Vaothan remain intact. The courts, for example, continue to administer rulings largely derived from Sangiran law, and each individual city and town are still led by imperial-like bureaucracies, albeit ones appointed by the circles rather than by the dragon god's administrators.
The nagaji mage-kings, as well as the dwarves of Emperor's Island, remain functionally independent.