Countries, states and cultures: Hespera

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Full name: Union of Hesperan Republics

Type: Territorial state. A parliamentary federal republic.

Demonym: Hesperan, Hesprin, Hespren

Description: Some of the constituent (and varyingly autonomous) lands of the republic include Espada, Kotollia, Arriulon, Rehhia, Valarra, Pardinon, Aellegcia, Visihalonha and the Detelaric Isles. These lands are largely the same as the traditional lands and original territories from the era of the preceding monarchies.

Real world frame of reference: Early modern Spain, from a ca 16th century level up to the period of the Napoleonic wars. Like real world Spain, it is a very diverse country. In fact, it is more of a country of countries, similarly to real world Spain and other fictional Aporuean countries. Many of the major regions of Hespera have their own local ethnic and linguistic identities. Unlike Spain, though, the country had become a republic quite a while ago and is famous for its good relations with the Britain analogue. The analogues to Spanish historical lands and regions are, as follows: Espada = Granada (bit of a pun, espada being the Spanish word for “sword”), Kotollia = Castillia (a play on the Greek kotoikia, i.e. “fort”), Arriulon = Aragon (arriu means river in Occitan, and Aragon probably had its name based on a Spanish or Basque root meaning “water”), Rehhia = Basque country (an anagram of the Basque word herria, “land”, e.g. Euskal Herria), Valarra = Navarra (the original name comes partly from naba or nava, Basque and Spanish terms for valley; modern Spanish uses val as the usual term for valley), Pardinon = Leon (pardinus is the Lat. species name of the Iberian Lynx, hence a pun on “lion”), Aellegcia = Galicia (an anagram of its period Roman name, Gallaecia), Visihalonha = Catalonia (a kitbash of “Visigoths”, “Halans/Alans” and the Occitan suffix -onha - the first two reference the medieval theories on Catalonia being named after Goth and Alan tribes), Detelaric Isles = Balearic Islands (a pun - the original native and Roman word root supposedly nodded to the nakedness of the natives, while this name is from the Spanish de tela, “made of cloth”).

City NPCs of Hesperan origins: Loin Šeaieg