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Hesse is currently Under Construction.

The Kingdom of Hesse is the closest kingdom to the south of Anaxas. It is comprised of mostly grassland; a few rolling hills, forests and rivers break up the immense flatness. The kingdom is ruled by the unpopular King Amh, and while they historically claim the Circle God Ophur as their patron, Hesseans are largely agnostic and rather irreligious. Despite having seen much more prosperous times under different leadership, the kingdom's economy now relies on solely on its massive gold mines and trade with Anaxas.

For more information on the appearance of Hesseans, please see Genetics and Appearances.

The capital of Hesse is Mestigia, known as the City of Sunsets, and the unit of currency is the balat.

Hessean culture

Apart from the capital city, Hesse is an overwhelmingly rural kingdom, with many small towns and villages. Most of the inhabitants of these communities work in or around the gold mines for which Hesse is famous. As gold is very common in the country, there is no wealth attributed to it and its acquisition is a matter of necessity - it is a luxury commodity for the richer countries of Bastia and Anaxas. As such, and taking into account the vast amount of fatalities that result from working in the gold mines each year, there is a great deal of resentment towards these two countries in Hesse.

The Hessean people value common sense above most things; their lack of superstition or religiosity make other kingdoms view them as immoral or heathenish. Hessean morality revolves around which action does the greatest amount of good for the most people, and they avoid doing harm to others. Hesse has a peaceful history when it comes to warring and violence, and has been taken advantage of for a long period of its history.

The humans in Hesse have an aspect to their culture that few galdori comprehend: they often play-act and put on elaborate satires en masse to confuse and manipulate their leaders. Though the Hessean galdori consider the human population to be primitive and uneducated, they have been duped more than once by the subtle and complex political gamesmanship. An example would be one famous incident when all the residents of the small town of Surreth paid their taxes in goat droppings, pretending to be too stupid to understand what the new galdori government wanted. In reality they were attempting to embarrass the galdori government and get them to recognise how much trouble the local economy was in. Due in part to this ploy and attributed to the quickly failing Hessean currency, taxes were eventually lowered.

Hesseans have an intense bond with the natural world. From their rolling plains to their short, dense forests, they take great pride in the unspoiled nature of their land and honor the animals and mythic beasts found within.

Drake-taming

The dying art of drake-taming originated in Hesse. The drakes are enormous dragonlike lizards that for millennia have been tamed by the all-female Hessean Riders to carry huge amounts of ore cross-country; because these animals are immensely strong and large, they have the capacity to facilitate trade between countries. However, with the onset of aeroships, drake-taming, once a rite of passage for many young women in Hesse, has all but ceased. It is important to note that both humans and galdori participated in drake-taming during the golden age.

Hesse is closed for play.