Altena

One of the Six Great Nations of Alter-Mana, often called the Witch Kingdom. Altena has dominated the politics of Northern Alter-Mana for decades, though the Witch Kingdom's influence began a descent during the War of Threes from which it has yet to recover. Now, with Forthena ascendant, Altena is reduced to the role of a supporting player.

Even so, Altena remains a leader in magical power among the nations of Alter-Mana. With the Merge League, Mysidia and Aryth, Altena is one of the few nations of the Web that follows the governmental model of magocracy.

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Sigil of the Witch Monarchs

Land

Altena controls the entirety of Al'Diorre, the continental landmass that includes both the eponymous Altenan home province, and the formerly independent elven kingdom of Diorre.

Southwest of Altena lies the Forthena Plateau. Across the water to the East is the dark realm of Mindas, and to the West lies the Isle of Glass.

Map of Altena

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Population

Altena boasts a fairly mixed population, predominantly of humans and Todos, but also with Dohwar and a small minority of Nekos. A significant portion of the human population is of mixed ancestry, and has some scant amount of Elven blood. With the recent annexation of Diorre, most full-blooded Elves are counted among the Witch Kingdom's population.

Religion

Altena is a strictly Elementalist nation, the religion being strongly reinforced by the practice of Mana Magic among the political elites. Children are taught from a very early age about the practices and theories about mana magic casting, which even for wizards is a highly ritualized affair that cannot be adequately discussed without mentioning such things as Mana Purelands, and Mana Elementals, and Mana Goddesses and Mana Trees, and things of this nature.

Economy

Altena's economy has been reliant on trade with Forthena since Alter-Mana's introduction into the Web of Worlds. This dependence has only increased with the passage of time, as Forthena possesses its own space fleet (and therefore can access and trade with the Core) while Altena does not.

There is a growing disparity between the haves and have-nots in Altena. Humans and Elves, who tend to be highly magic-capable, are more empowered by the magocracy and so tend to control most of the land and resources in the country, while Dohwar and Todos (who tend not to have many practicing magic-users among their ranks) are relegated to positions in society as servants and manual laborers. The growing race-class divide has lead to racial tensions, but no real uprisings as yet. Still, the possibility of all-out class warfare has drawn the eyes of both the Seeders and S/31, whose agents are constantly scouting the country for ways to covertly instigate and foment a leftist uprising.

Because of the warding glyphs that inhibit foreign spellcasters, the Seeders have had to recruit native Altenan agents to do their legwork for them. Carno Terithran was one such agent.

Law

The primacy of Altenan law is handed down in the Forbidden Tome, which was penned by the first Witch Queen and founder of the Kingdom. Despite the book's name, all Altenans are encouraged to know of its contents (and are in fact required to study it in Civics class in high school). So really, it's not so forbidden at all. It's funny the Altenans would call it that... sort of misleading, in a way.

Boiled down to its essential thesis, the Forbidden Tome basically lays out all the ways in which magic-using persons are inherently better than non-magic using persons, and because of this superiority magic-users are both entitled and obligated to hold the reins of government. In fact, up until the reforms put in place by the last Witch Queen, Angela DeMere, mages were the only members of society who had any form of enfranchisement or representation within the Altenan government. While non-mages are still kept from positions of true power by the entrenchment of the magocratic elites, the rights of all Altenan citizens are enshrined and protected by Queen Angela's bill of rights.

Unlike other magocracies, like Merge and Mysidia, where diversity of arcane practice is encouraged, Altena operates under a tightly controlled magical orthodoxy. All spellcasting traditions save those practiced by Mana Mages, Priests and Summoners is illegal within Altena's borders, and the Witch Monarchs have established warding glyphs along the borders of Altena's main province to inhibit the use of non-Mana magics. (this policy was set in place by the Four Masters of the Academy at Geo centuries ago in order to assure their dominance within the nation; despite this, the Witch Monarchs ultimately prevailed in ascending to a place of power over Geo's faculty members)

Since the wards do not extend over the newly-aquired Diorre, this law is not in effect within the Elven lands. There is some talk among Altena's nobility of extending new glyphs to encompass the Diorrean province, but since in antiquity the construction of each glyph required the sacrifice of a maiden from the Altenan royal line, they are not likely to appear any time in the immediate future. (both because the above-stated practice is likely to earn international scorn and outrage, and also because the current royal line has no maidens to sacrifice)

Government

There are three main organs of Altena's government: the Witch Monarch, the Magocratic Nobility, and the Four Masters.

The Witch Monarch is the supreme executive of the Altenan state. While the Forbidden Tome originally intended that the Witch Monarch always be the nation's most powerful magic user, the establishment of hereditary lines (where successors to the throne were not always as powerful as their predecessors) caused this restriction to be relaxed and revised. The Witch Monarch has the power to control Altena's armies, declare war, and act as Altena's chief diplomat when dealing with other countries and powers. The Witch Monarch can enter into treaties and appoint ambassadors and Members of the Alliance Congress. The Witch Monarch also has the power to appoint his/her own heirs.

The Magocratic Nobility is a legislative body comprised of representatives of the Kingdom's landed magocrats. Though each individual representative in the body retains a large retinue of family, friends and servants, the actual body itself consists of only twelve individuals at present: seven from the fiefdoms in the province of Elrand, and five from the fiefs of Feig. The Nobility, through its assembly of representatives, has the power to make laws that affect internal governance, especially as through taxes, criminal law and laws affecting social issues. The Witch Monarch may make decrees, but these must be ratified by the Nobility before they are enacted. Similarly, the Nobility has the power to ratify or overrule a Witch Monarch's declaration of war, and they may also choose to overrule a Witch Monarch's decision to enter into a treaty. The Nobility may also elect to review the Witch Monarch's choices of ambassadors and MACs, though in the past this power is rarely invoked. The Nobility cannot dispute a Witch Monarch's choice of heir, though in the absence of a declared heir it is the Nobility that is delegated the responsibility to select a new Witch Monarch. (the recent crowning of Irwin Haer'Dalis circumvented this part of the process, largely due to Forthenan interference and the ambiguous powers of the Four Masters)

Finally, there are the Four Masters. The Four Masters are widely acknowledged to be the four most powerful wizards in Alter-Mana, and are most definitely four of the most powerful spellcasters in the entire Web of Worlds. They reside at the Arcane Academy in the city of Geo, and serve as faculty administrators there, overseeing curricula and the training of new generations of Altenan wizards. Ages ago, the four of them were each in contention for succession to the Witch Throne, but as none could overpower any of the others through sheer force of magic, they decided to do battle by proxy of their followers instead. So the Masters gathered in the foothills beneath the Mountains of Undine's Crown, and each Master gathered to him several neophyte wizards. Each Master then taught his students magic by way of his own personal philosophy. And each Master kept growing his fellowship, larger and larger, each Master afraid to make the first move on the others and thus render himself vulnerable. Eventually, the fellowships became so large that the Masters had to disperse them, and as one class dispersed a new, freshman class was brought in. Slowly, around their quad-partite camp, a city arose, and then within the city each Master build his own school site. Finally, the four school sites were combined into the larger Academy building. In the time since the Masters first began their competition, hundreds of Witch Monarchs have ascended and passed on the throne. Some believe the Masters are still in contention for the throne; others believe that, as apparently ageless beings, they have grown beyond such pursuits. Still more believe that, as they exist now, they are more powerful than even the office of the Witch Monarch -- especially so now that one of the Masters has seen his own son placed upon the throne. As an organ of government, the Four Masters are the arbiters of the magical orthodoxy, serving as a sort of judicial branch. No magic is taught or wielded within Altena's borders without their sanction, implicit or otherwise. They apparently also have the power to override the Magocratic Nobility, as they did when they installed Irwin son of Mephianse on the throne.

Internal Politics

Within Altena, there is an undercurrent of discontent among the lower, non-magic using classes, especially among the Todo and Dohwar populations. There are also long standing rumors that the Seeders have infiltrated the magic-using aristocracy -- rumors that seemed to have been confirmed with the exposure of Carno Terithran as a Merge League sympathizer.

Foreign Politics

The current regime under King Irwin is staunchly anti-communist, just as Altena's allies in Forthena and Guardia are... Though it is significant to note that no nation in Alter has contributed militarily to Guardia's expanding war against the Communist Protectorate.

Within the Alter Dimension, Altena counts itself among the core allies of the Forthenan Dominion, with Forthena and The Beast Kingdom. Altena has longstanding friendly relations with Wendel, Naba'al and Laurent.

Military

Altena's military is broken down into three branches: the landbound Eternal Crimson, the naval Swords of Coral, and the aerial Teeth of the Wind.

Eternal Crimson

So named because of the blood-red cloaks worn to distinguish Altenan field commanders. The Crimson relies mostly on combat-trained war mages behind a frontline of specially constructed clockwork golems. These golems have been upgraded over the years to incorporate various Mana Canon and Magitek weaponry, and are now the core frontline infantry of the Altenan land army.

Swords of Coral

Altena is also one of two nations on Alter-Mana to field a proper blue water navy, the other being Naba'al. While Naba'al's navy is comprised mostly of appropriated Esperian units, Altena's boats are natively built and incorporate Mana Canon weaponry and power sources. The Altenan Navy is mostly a show of national defense, and her vessels are crewed mostly by Todos and Dohwar (in fact, the Swords of Coral boast an impressive marine corps made up of mixed units of golems and todos).

Naval service is one of the few places in modern Altena where Todos and Dohwars routinely rise to positions of excellence and respect; Altena's current Swordmaster-Admiral is Auken Uspo, a Dohwar.

Teeth of the Wind

Altena possesses an airfleet of magic-powered airships, and has used them domestically as recently as the Great War era (prior to Alter's discovery by the GSF). More recent additions to this force includes squadrons of flight-capable golems, as well as aerial fighter-planes constructed using appropriated Forthenan Mana Canon technology. The Teeth of the Wind are regarded as adequate for domestic defense, but they still lag behind most Web standards for a modern airforce (if only because most modern airforces don't incorporate magic the way the Teeth do).