Marafire

Marafire [bɑ.ɹʌ.fɪ.le̞], officially Tanekera Nekasaru Marafire [tʃɑ̃.ɲẽ̞.ɡɛ.ɹʌ ne̞.ɡʷɑ.ʃɑ.lɵ bɑ.ɹʌ.fɪ.le̞] (Socialist Republic of Marafire), is a large country on the eastern face of the Kurinefi Mountain Range.



Marafire is home to an arboreal species called the Re. The capital city, Seaki (shown below), is located on the northeast coast. Marafire has a land area of 3M mi2 and a population of 4,911,972 as of the last census. In the north and west the population is clustered tightly into city-states, while the southeast is much more suburban and communes are spread over large areas with wide and wild uninhabited sections of forest between them.



Most communes host Kenene which are like state police. They have no home commune but instead move between them as needed to help protect and keep peace. The Kenene guide and protect residents on their travels between the communes. They usually lead groups called tutura [t̠ʃɵ.d̠ʒɵ.ɹʌ] of up to 200 individuals at a time and this service is provided at no cost to Marafire citizens.

The Kenene are employed by the city-states, and in exchange for their services each commune gladly provides food and shelter to them and their tutura. However, foreigners do have to pay a sizeable fee to join a tutura. The fee is more reasonable for those who can navigate the trees easily, and much higher for terrestrials who must be taken the long way along dangerous winding footpaths. Kenene can be identified by their brightly colored and elaborate headdresses, worn so they are easily seen through the forest by everyone in the tutura.



Marafire is known for its extrodinary arboreal infrastructure, built completely from formed living trees. The Re prefer habitats in swamps and steep mountainsides. Building on the ground is difficult, if not impossible, in these areas and terrestrial tourism is low on the interior of the country. Still, the Re make an effort to be welcoming and accommodating to respectful visitors.



There are few state-maintained routes through Marafire, and those that exist are full of danger and cover perilous terrain. Everything from jaguars to highwaymen patrol these roads, so hiring a Re Kenene is by far the safest way to travel. Not only will they get you safely to your destination by navigating the vast webs of arboreal bridges, they will shelter and feed you on your way. Unofficial guides called neaane are also for hire for much cheaper, but do not come with the same safety guarantees and may or may not extort their party for more money throughout the journey.

Unfortunately for foreign travelers, the only fully accessible and maintained land route between the north and the south is the main highway through Marafire. The alternatives are booking water passage across the Freshwater Ocean or Freshwater Sea.



Marafire is extremely mountainous and half covered in dense swamp. This terrain is easily defensible and there has not been a military threat from outsiders in over a century.



In the east, Re very seldom face predation as long as they stay within the canopies of their communes. This relative safety and comfort combined with an environment rich in natural resources has allowed the develpment of vast, sprawling, luxurious residential areas. One of the differences between the east and the west is private ponds called fune that Wetland Re use for grooming, cooking, and cultivating foods like fasu in small family gardens.



Mountain Re version of fune are only small reservoirs used to catch and store what little rainwater falls in the region.

- WIP

- govt built in republican tiers

- on the national level 16 Ministers are elected representing the provinces; Ministers serve as executive and legislative power

- Ministers select one of their own to lead as Premier, and vote must be unanimous; Premier breaks ties, serves as moderator, etc

- elected Officers representing each city-state participate in democratic elections with ranked voting to select a Constitutional Court of 5 Prime Justices; the PJs ensure laws follow the Constitution

- centrally managed market economy aimed towards mutualism on city-state level up; no federal taxes; Nuesemu and Nutenine have province taxes; currency is the Nefi, 1 Nefi is enough to feed one Re for one day (~$10US)

- within city-states, pop org into meritocratic/technocratic communes where ~4-7 clans live and work cooperatively to produce goods and services to trade

- most communes have 3-5 horticultural specialties; communally owned property; shared food at central dining location; communal child rearing (school age children live in juvenile residences)

- historically foragers w no centralized govt; foraged in clans and were highly competitive w traditional markets; meteor hit in northwester lobe of Samasana devastated food sources and infrastrcuture, surviving Re decided to turn to socialism to survive and united under a republican govt