Sippar
Sippar is the southern-most continent in the realm of Alleria. Air is associated with the land of Sippar: the southern continent of Alleria. A world of sand and rock, this place is most renowned for their Library of Knowledge. The few oases in the deserts are home to some of the greatest cities known to Allerians. When thinking of how it looks, imagine the Middle East: Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Afghanistan. The far west, though, holds vestiges of an older culture which resembles India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.
History
Annexation of Hingol
In about year 1200, Sippar annexed the region formerly known as Weka through a "caretaker clause" in their trade agreements. Weka, to benefit from the medicinal care available in Sippar, agreed to be annexed and officially recognized as part of Sippar though they maintain their own cultural identity. The reason the annexation went through was because of an outbreak of a unique water-borne disease that spread rapidly through the many islands. Sippar at the time had recently developed vaccinations for their own common diseases and were intent on being able to move freely through Weka to study this outbreak.
Unbeknownst to Weka, Sippar experimented on several smaller islands to test the success of their vaccines. While ultimately curing the disease and finding the root cause— whales with a particular bacterium from close to the Rim dying in the shallow archipelago that carried water through the small nation— more lives were lost to Sippari experimentation than anticipated. Sippar has documented these experiments and locked them behind specialist knowledge cases, but it was discovered in 1560 and Sippar ended up paying reparations to the former nation.
Geography
Government and politics
Pre-Covenant
In the early days of when the nations were first learning about each other, that they had some brief wars with the other nations. But swiftly, the Intelligence Guild/Library of Knowledge stepped in and with their ability to collect information combined with the country's knack for tactical maneuvers, the other countries found it more beneficial to form trade agreements instead.
Part of what led to the Covenant was Sippar discovering that the other nations were developing similar weapons to their own and thus began the idea of a World Federation that would bind them all together.
Post-Covenant
As a neutral nation, Sippar has conducted itself to avoid international conflict— conflict comes from inside Sippar. Western and eastern sippar used to be different countries, and East Sippar was using West for human experimentation for their more unethical experiments. While this is not common knowledge, some western Sippari folks still harbor distrust. How does a disease simply disappear after aid is provided in exchange for free trade and eventual annexation? It was so smooth that East Istres modeled their takeover of Conglìn after it, albeit much more sloppily— Sippari annexation is rarely sispected to be thought of as purposeful.
Sippar trades well with all of the nations, and despite their dark secrets, will stand firm on the Covenant and remain neutral in all other conflicts.
Economy
Currency
the recognized currency in Sippar is that of the Global Federation. It operates similarly to our financial system.
However, there is a bartering system of sorts when it comes to knowledge trades. There are knowledge trades that can be made either in exchange for gold, equally valued knowledge, or other goods/services approved by the vendor. Knowledge trades are handled by Knowledge Vendors or with a certified Vendor as an intermediary. These specialty vendors are certified by the Library of Knowledge.
Imports
paper, medicine, fruits (not natively grown), potatoes, seed oils, wool, animals, crustaceans, cocoa, art & handicrafts, technology, lumber, wood pulp, rubber, perfumes
Exports
books (knowledge), wheat, barley, rice, tea, fruits (pomegranates, dates, apricots, figs, cherries, oranges, coconuts, mangoes, and guavas), nuts (pistachios, cashews, chick peas), caviar, sugar, spices (saffron, chili peppers, pepper, garlic, ginger, nutmeg, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, coriander, cumin, mint, etc.), poppy (for culinary and medicinal purposes), salt, iron, steel, copper, cotton, textiles (carpets), pottery, enamel works
Culture
Dragons (Azhdar)
Dragons in Sippar are called "Azhdar". Their dragons look more like birds. Their chests are wider and thicker, giving them more room to hold in air and making them streamlined while their spines are more feathery.
