Korrinth

Korrinth is a nation that developed during the early Second Chaotic Period on the north-western end of the Greater Continent. They split from the Marcon Alliance shortly before the destruction of the marcons at the hands of the old Gudersnipe Army.

Formation

Like all of the Marcon Alliance, Korrinth was utterly devastated by attacks from the Gudersnipe Army. They were, however, quickly able to organize and rebuild, erecting new Mage Towers within years of the attack. The Korra believed the rest of the Marcons had been killed, and thus did not attempt to contact their brethren.

In the confusion, many former slaves gained their freedom, and even attained high positions in the new government. This would forever change the makeup of the Korra, making them an independent nation, and not just a bunch of Marconian stragglers.

Culture

Though they did not adhere to the stricter tenants of Marconian beliefs, the Korra still practiced slavery and held women in little regard. Polygamy was still common, but women had some rights, and as early as B.G.A. 250, Korrinth had laws barring the sale of free women as brides.

Fall of Korrinth

Eieber set his sites on Korrinth in the third year of his Long March (B.G.A. 4), after the Battle of Korrasign at the beginning of the year. The country set several problems for conquest. Along the Sword Coast, a massive armada of ships and a series of island fortresses made attack by sea impossible. To the east, Korrinth was bordered by impassable mountains and a massive desert. The only avenue of attack was through Two-Fang's Pass, a heavily-fortified series of mountains.

Seeing no easy way through, Eieber enlisted the help of Finley Ray, a powerful Anomancer who controlled an army of dragons. The dragons simply flew Eieber's army over the Deadlands and into the heart of Korrinth, where they took the capital city in just three weeks. The dragons were then sent to destroy the Korrinth navy, and the war was essentially won.

Korrinth was not allowed to retain its sovereignty, and at Eieber's direct order, was kept under martial law until A.Y. 180, when its citizens were allowed to vote in free elections for the first time. The country was renamed Oncathula, and made a province of the Alliance.

Oncathula remained the common name until the end of the Golden Age and the Ninety-nine-years war. While the Alliance's central power structure crumbled, the people of Oncathula declared independence and changed its name back to Korrinth. Often called "Modern Korrinth", the country would retain a certain degree of independence while slowly absorbed into the Alliance during the Second Age.

Modern History

Modern Korrinth is nominally an independent country, but has such strong social, political, economic, and military ties to the Alliance that it is effectively just part of the whole. The massive social changes brought about by Eieber's occupation did stick, and Modern Korrinth is indistinguishable from most of the Alliance.

Modern Culture

In the mid Second Age, many attempts were made to "rediscover" the ancient culture and traditions of Korrinth. As so much information was lost, most of this amounted to looking at artifacts and inventing new traditions based on modern interpretations and political-correctness.

The modern Korra regarded men and women as equal and anything resembling slavery was forbidden by law. As these were both large parts of their history, a series of tongue-in-cheek celebrations sprang up. These included faux bridal and slave auctions, usually as part of a charity fundraiser. A "bride" sold might go out to dinner with her buyer, while a "slave" would perform some act of community service. While this all looked horrible to outsiders, the Korra seemed to like it.

Korrali Language

While no trace of the Marconian spoken tongue survived, some texts in an untranslatable written language did exist. A new spoken and written language was constructed on these, using new sounds for the characters and simply inventing new words with direct Common translations. Sentence structure and punctuation were taken from Common, though the language was phonetic and had additional characters. Most spellings were originally based on how pleasing the character combinations looked.

The new language, called Korrali, was popular at first for its novelty and later for its aesthetic value, primarily as decorative signs and salutations.

In the early Third Age, an eccentric billionaire named Geoffrey Aldun declared himself the king of Korrinth. Korrinth had never had a king before, and he had no political power whatsoever. He did, however, build a castle and begin writing lengthy proclamations in Korrali, and may have been its first real native speaker.

Over his lifetime, King Geoffrey popularized Korrali at elaborate banquets and parties in which guests were required to speak it. He built a personality cult around himself, with Geoffrey Parties becoming popular across the country. People wrote novels about him and entire (fictional) histories of the Aldun Line.

His son and successor, Geoffrey Aldun II, proved to be as charismatic and eccentric as his father. While never used in an official capacity, Korrali became a fixture in the popular culture of Korrinth, and by the Fourth Age it was officially recognized as "the native tongue of Korrinth" (despite the existence of almost no 'native' speakers), though not taught in the formal education process. A descendant of Geoffrey I was officially declared king in the Fourth Age, though still given no political power. Instead, Geoffrey had invented an entire culture for the nation.

New Day Korrali

Korrali, little more than a novelty construct, was lost during the Long Night. Though reading and writing were not banned (as in other regions), the printing press and electronic media were. As such, only Common continued to see use, and literature died completely. Hand-made writing materials were expensive, and hand-copied books were practically impossible. Add Samuel Fate's governors and their tendency to destroy any book deemed 'subversive', and reading and writing soon found little use beyond commerce and communication.

Following the end of the Long Night, books written in Korrali (which contained pronunciation guides and a Common translation) were discovered in the Library of Arindell and returned to Korrinth, where the language enjoyed a brief revival. However, the archaic format and lack of any real purpose made it unpalatable, and it was again reduced to novelty.