Pesellier

Pésellier, officially the Monarchy of Pésellier, is a kingdom in Western Artemia. The country is bordered by Veikaia to the north, Mero-Curgovina to the east, Litania to the southwest, and the Hereszee to the south. It is located in the lowlands of the Artemian Great Lakes region, and is historically considered part of the Gotasesiana region with Austrasia, Mero-Curgovina, and Borgosesia. It is the northernmost country commonly included as part of Southern Artemia, largely due to its' long history as a territory of Curgovina. Pésellier encompasses an area of 37961 km2 with a population of just under 3.5 million, making it one of the smallest countries in Artemia by both area and population. The country is traditionally split into Meric and Lange d'Lis speaking regions, with the capital and largest city of Ermain located in the south of the country in the Meric speaking Hereszee region. Other major cities include Brageira, Rotlib, Euintan, Albige, Sant Micail, and Adacatha.

Pésellier is a parliamentary constitutional monarchy, traditionally split in representation between the Meric-speaking Hereszee-Sampflund region and the Lange d'Lis-speaking Basaira. Pésellier is known for being one of the flattest and wettest countries in Artemia, located entirely within the Artemian Rift Valley's Great Lakes region and consisting primarily of reclaimed agricultural land and lightly forested marshes. The majority of the population is located in the southern half of the country, with the largest concentration living in lakeside areas in the country's relatively dry highlands. It has historically been a conflict zone, primarily between Litania and Mero-Curgovina. This, in combination with the region's relatively unpleasant and strategically difficult fighting conditions, has given it the moniker of "Artemia's Wolftrap" (Meric: Arteamzy Wolfsgrib). It has been described in literature as the 'crossroads of empires', an epithet that was adopted as the official motto of the state in 1927.

Although the region of Pésellier has long-standing history, the modern state has only existed since 1925 when the collapses of Ovancia and imperial Mero-Curgovina lead to the Pésellierain Revolution. While traditionally ruled by a Prince of the Curgov house of Aulprinn, the first Pésellierain House of Lords instead appointed a ruler from the Litanine house of Bosade after the Casparist uprising in Curnathica lead to the executions of the Aulprinn princely family in exile. The monarch of Pésellier is known as the Casere, a Litanine corruption of the Meric term Casir. Although the role of Casir is generally understood to exist outside of the traditional roles of king and emperor in Artemian monarchies, the title is established as being equivalent to a kingship and is largely a ceremonial position according to the Constitution of Pésellier.

History
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Sanhmotte Culture
The earliest known inhabitants of what would become modern Pésellier did not leave behind a known name, instead being named after the settlements that archaeologists associated with them more prominently than any other artifacts found in the region. The term sanhmotte refers to a fortified settlement built on a dry area of land, generally a hill, within the marshland of the Artemian Great Lakes region. They are strongly associated with the sampfgarde castles of Curnathica, both names denoting a fortified position in a wetland area. Unlike Curnathica's wetland castles, which were purely defensive structures of the early Middle Ages, the Sanhmotte culture created elaborate sprawling settlements that more closely resembled villages of interlinking structures. Artifacts found in these settlements suggest that they were inhabited by persons of all walks of life, and largely clustered around a single centrally located keep structure that would have been inhabited by a chieftain or other authority figure of antiquity Pésellier.

There is ample evidence suggesting the Sanhmotte culture resisted the occupation of the migratory Gotaz during the Geutification of Mero-Curgovina. Historians suggest that their tight-knit social structures and culture of relative isolation from other settlements meant that there was no organized defense against the Gotaz. Having left no examples of their language or religion behind, the leading theory in academic communities is that the Sanhmotte culture were ultimately rendered extinct by or were assimilated into the Gotaz people. Their settlements would later be occupied as fortifications by the early Curgovs, and the remains of those settlements are commonly found underneath Curgov communities in reclaimed land in the modern Sampflund region.

Middle Ages
WAITING FOR MIGRATION / CHRISTIANITY LORE

Merand Sampfania and the Grand Campaigns
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Independent Pésellier
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Geography
it's wet and it sucks

Internal Division
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Politics
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Military
it's a PAC bitch

Membership in the Pan-Artemian Coalition
see above

Economy
you are poor!

Demographics
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Culture
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Language
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Religion
WAITING FOR MIGRATION / CHRISTIANITY LORE