Istaar

Yebelayineti Ishitari Principality of Istaar
Conventional short name:
Local:	Ishitar
Ingallish:	Istaar
Data codes:	IS, IST
Languages:
Official:	Kwane
Others:	Yare, Zangan
Cities:
Capital:	Maacher
Other:	Krassikh, Adisi Washa, Tiru Melikane, Aroge Ras, Ranwasa, Borg
Government type:	Constitutional monarchy
Ras:	Vini Salamalou
Prime Minister:	Aziza Makonnen
Population:	2.100.000 (320 est.)
Established:	9th of August, 320
Currency:	Biri

The Principality of Istaar (Kwane: Yebelayineti Ishitari), sometimes also known as the Rasinate of Istaar or the Rasdom of Istaar, is a landlocked country in Melania which, until August 320, formed part of the Stervian Confederation. The country is one of the few monarchies in the continent, ruled by Ras Vini Salamalou.

Etymology

Istaar, also known by the Kwane word Ishitar, is the name of two important bodies of water in Melania: Lake Istaar and River Istaar, both also known by the Phenixien name Estuary. This was the name of several historical polities of the region, most notably the pre-Plague Kingdom of Istaar from 1.200 BP to 850 BP.

Government

Istaar is among the few monarchies in the continent of Melania, alongside the Duchy of Joos and the Burovian dominion of Kalisth'azira. Most daily affairs fall under the responsibility of the Prime Minister and his Royal Cabinet of Ministers, while the forty-member Royal Parliament proposes and votes new legislation - which need the approval of the Prime Minister before being put into effect. The Parliament, in turn, has the ability to impeach the Prime Minister under a simple vote of no confidence. Both the Parliament and the Prime Minister are directly-elected for six-year terms.

Although bound by a Constitution, the Ras of Istaar has considerably more powers than normally found on a traditional constitutional monarchy: instead of simply serving as a symbolic Head of State, the monarch conducts the country's foreign policy, is the commander-in-chief of the military, and has the right to dissolve Parliament and dismiss the Prime Minister.

The current provisional Prime Minister is Aziza Makonnen, a historian and wife of the last Brolecian governor of Estuary.

Istaar is an unitary state. While divided in 23 districts (weredawochi), normally named after the largest city in the area, they serve mostly to facilitate the work of the central government and do not have the prerogative to pass their own legislation.

The Ras

Born in 276, Vini Salamalou is the current Ras - a Kwane word meaning leader or prince - of Istaar. While distantly related to the House of Salamalou, the ruling dinasty of the pre-Plague Kingdom of Istaar, the Ras is a closer relative of several noble families that flourished during the Afrazurean domination of the region, between 270 BP and 299 AP. After the establishment of the Stervian Confederation in 302 - and, with it, its repressive policies against the non-Sterv population - Ras Salamalou and his close family sought exile in Porto Capital, where he established the Royal Council of the Kwane Lands - initially a cultural circle and institute for Istaarian studies, which soon became one of the main social-democratic groups of the anti-Stervian resistance.

Following the Portocapitalian-led intervention in Stervia in 320, Ras Salamalou was appointed to lead the government of the new Kingdom of Istaar.

History

(Main article: History of Istaar)

Archeological findings and historical records show traces of human habitation in Istaar starting on the 10th millennium before the Plague. Organized states, however, only formed around the 4th millenium BP, as changes in local weather patterns favored the emergence of agricultural societies and, with that, urban centers. These early states mostly formed along the few major rivers of the area - with little arable land available beyond the shores of Lake Istaar, this led to the development of flood control and irrigation techniques. This meant, in turn, that the ruling classes of these states stayed in power due to their control of the access to fresh water.

TBC