User:Alcardens/Sandbox

Sfchriósis (Xismo: Sfxriósis ; Tilennan: Saeglioses  ; : Sinchrose  ), formally known as the Heavenly Diarchy of Sfchriósis (Xismo: Tiòrchìrin Fríná ro Sfchriósis  ; Tilennan: Tepurena Ferio Saeglioso  ; : Diarchie Céleste de Sinchrose  ), sometimes also referred to as Synchrosis or  Saeglioses is an sovereign island nation located in the East Tethys. It shares a maritime border with the Yarovan territory of Latanga to the North and Tilenno to the East. Sfchriósis covers a land area of 1,233 km² making it Anterra's 128th largest nation by area. The islands are home to approximately 134,720 people, making it the 98th largest nation by population. Sfchriósis is organised as a with at its head a diarchy of two Xfurís. The nation is divided into 6 regions, which are further subdivided into townships. Sfchriósis' largest city and capital is the city of Xàlmni, located on the second-largest island Fchasó in the region of Fchasìrin. Other notable towns include Mnìrcho, Tichnú and Fòrachmnísu.

Humans have inhabited the Synchrosian islands from as far back as the 2nd millenium BCE. The first people to arrive there sailed West from North Avalonia, mainly coming from what's now Tilenno. Over the centuries the islands fell in and out of control by mainland Perellan kingdoms and states. Their culture has therefore been largely influenced by that of Perella. At the beginning of the Artemian age of exploration, Sfchríosis was an independent kingdom. It refused the offer to join the Tilennan Royal Confederacy to avoid drawing unwanted attention and trouble. Yet, in 1563 the islands got claimed by Insennia, but being an far flung territory without any strategical benefit, Insennian influence was very minimal and large scale settlement remained out. After Tilenno won their colonial war with Ovancia and got reunified, it lay claim on the Synchrosian islands as rightfully part of the Tilennan world. Insennia, who didn't want to risk a fiasco like Ovancia, sold the islands to the Tilennan Confederacy. However during the late 19th century Artemian influence in the Tethys started to rise and suddenly the islands had strategic importance. That's why in 1862 Ovancia took control of Sfchriósis after winning against the Tilennan navy. This occupation lasted until the Grand Campaigns in which Tilenno took advantage of the Artemian chaos to reclaim the islands. However Sfchríosis was not happy with this situation and after some protests they decided they wanted independence via a referendum in which 58% voted yes. The islands have remained independent and largely neutral on the international front since.

Sfchriósis has a relatively small economy with a GDP (PPP) of only $720 million, approximately $5,342 per capita. It is mostly reliant on tourism and fisheries as a main source of income. Their largest export is Synchrosian honey, which is very popular in East Kesh. In the last decade the islands have also seen an increase in remote service jobs in the Tilennan telecommunication and customer service industry. Sfchriósis' main trading partner is Tilenno with almost 80% of imports coming from there, followed by Brigantica, Yarova and Osorra. The standard of living is nevertheless quite high, mainly due to foreign aid from North Avalonian nations.

Etymology
The term Sfchriósis was first mentioned in a Tilennan book from the 2nd century BCE which featured a simple map of the trade connections from Làgora to the East Tethian Isles. The islands were labelled 'Sifachi Feriles', which is believed to be a poor Tilennan interpretation of the actual name, which would likely have been Sfachi Frilosis at the time.

Sfchriósis is believed to be a contraction of the words sfchí, meaning rocks and fríosa, to fall. The name for the islands would simply translate to fallen rocks. This is in reference to the origin myth of the islands. During the war between the god of the Sun (Kió) and the godess of the Ocean (Lìna), Kió's son, Kìrno, god of the land, volcanos and fire, found himself in a fight against Fúlnis. In a desperate attempt to gain the upper hand, he dug deep into the earth and threw red hot rocks at his opponent, temporarily blinding her. Some of the rocks missed and flew far into the Tethys ocean, creating the East Tethian isles. The hole he dug, got filled with the tears of Fúlnis, creating the Lake of Gantes in Tilenno.

Some people like to point out the similarity between the Ovancian name Sinchrose and the s,, ,  or. However this is a mere coincedence as the native term is noticeably different and has existed before the Ovancian claim. This hasn't stopped the name Saint Chrysostomos Islands and other variations from popping up on Artemian maps over the centuries.

Another misconception is that the name would be Helinikan in origin. Often it gets retroactively constructed from the particle συv-, meaning with and the word χρυσος, meaning gold. The name of the islands could therefore be interpreted as land with gold or simply as rich lands. However this is often just stated as a fun fact, with no real experts backing up this explanation.

Sfchriósis' name across different language can vary quite a bit. This is often due to the hard to pronounce cluster of /sfxr/ at the beginning, leading other languages to opt for a simpler alternative that fits the phonology of their language. For example the Tilennan name is Saegliosis, which moved some sounds around as the language has a distinct lack of clusters, except for a few. The name Sinchrose came about as the actual name got misheard as Sichriosis, which over time morphed into Sinchrose, which in turn inspired the  Synchrosis.

Geography


Sfchriósis is an archipelago not far West from the North Avalonian coast. It lies at roughly 10 degrees North and 115 degrees West. It is one of the few sovereign nations completely located on the far side of Anterra at more than 90 degrees from the prime meridian. The archipelago covers an area of roughly 240,000 km², of which only 0.5% is dry land, it also spans a distance of 500 km North to South and 850 km East to West.

It total Sfchriósis covers a land area 1,233 km², which consists of approximately 300 islands. Most of these islands are located in one of the 10 main atolls of the nation. However the largest islands are located outside of these atolls. These are Safntisú, on which the town of Salfimnió is located, Fchasí, home to the capital of Xalmní, and Tichnú with the eponymous town of Tichnú. Safntisú and Fchas;i are both located in the region of Fchasìrin, making it the largest region by land area with 30% of all land located there.

The nation is in general very low-lying, with the highest point only rising 34 m above sea level in Atchís Point on Safntisú. There exist no real rivers, except from a couple small semi-permanent creeks on the larger islands.

Atolls
The predominant type of island found in Sfchriósis are s. They formed due to the presence of the converging plate boundary that runs along the Tethys Ocean. Due to this most islands are small low-lying. Coral can be found on the shelves of the majority of the islands. Sfchriósis only features s with semi-enclosed lagoons that contain brackisch water. While the islands were formed by volcanic activity, the nation doesn't have any active volcanoes anymore and is tectonically stable.

There are 10 main s in Sfchriósis. They are spread across the entire nation. Only the region of Fchasìrin doesn't have any. The largest atoll is the Lauchfíris atoll which makes up the entire landmass of the region of Lauchfíris. In a similar way the second largest atoll, Nàmirís, is its own region as well. Both these are inhabited, while the third largest atoll, Fausmníris atoll in the region of Sórfsìrin, is for the most part uninhabited, except for a couple resorts. Both the region of Sórfsìrin and Xiòfstìrin tie for most s as they both have three. Fiosúmnìrin only has two, while the last two regions completly exist out of one.