Verduria

Verduria is a fictional country created by Mark Rosenfelder. It is located in the third planet of the star Ënomai, called Almea. Verduria's culture and technology are roughly comparable to 18th century Europe. Almea is amazingly complex, with its own invented language, intelligent animals and history.

Almean Languages
Verdurian belongs to the 'Eastern' family of languages. It descends from Cadhinor, the language of the empire of Cadhinas that fell thousands of years ago (think Latin). Other descendents of Cadhinor include Ismaîn, Barakhinei and Sarroc. The languages for which Rosenfelder has kindly provided a grammar are: Verdurian (the most well developed of all the Almean languages), Ismaîn, Barakhinei, Cadhinor, Cuêzi (a contemporary of Cadhinor, think Ancient Greek), Kebreni (not an Eastern language) and We:dei (also non-Eastern).

Almean Species
There are over seven sentient species on Almean, called the lesuniae. They belong to the same taxonomical order and were all originally aquatic, though some, notably the elcari have adapted to life in extremely dry conditions. Perhaps the oldest and most powerful are the ilii and the ktuvoki, both more aquatic than the uesti (humans). The ilii are considered to be 'sinless' and the ktuvoki 'demons', making their conflict the classical conflict between good and evil. The Homonid family is also quite diverse, including the genuses (genii?) Fugax, Urestu, Nanus and Gigas. Verduria is an Urestu nation. Indeed, nearly all inland areas are controlled by the Homonids, who seem to be advancing at a rate much greater than either the ilii or the ktuvoki.

Verdurian History
The first human cultures on the continent of Ereláe were founded in -25000 Z.E. (zoni erei; 0 Z.E. is the founding of Ctésifon, capital of Cadhinor) Over the next few thousands of years, the ktuvoki formed the huge empire of Munkhâsh while various human empires rose and fell (Examples being Cuzei, Jeori and Axunai). Finally, the Cadhinorian League, which had since absorbed the superior Cuzeian civilisation, defeated Munkhâsh, ending the rule of ktuvoki in Almea. However, the Cadhinorian empire itself later collapsed, leading to the Dark Years and the later re-emergence of civilisation, exemplified by Verduria. Incidentally, while the Cadhinorians were busy in their Dark Age, the ktuvoki returned forming the empire of Dhekhnam.

For more information, especially about the extremely complex religious institutions of Verduria, see Mark Rosenfelder's Virtual Verduria at http://www.zompist.com/virtuver.htm.