Culture Focus: Rotak

[virgil]

Rotak: A Land Above
Lay of the Land
A plateau with 450 meter tall cliffs on every side and a 60,000 sq.km. footprint, this clouded nation is known for its distinctly violet ironwood trees, two meter mushrooms, baby pink lakes, and the single immense ramp of the Great Road leading up to it. The terrain is diverse, with swamps and ravines scattered about.
Game other than birds is scarce, but the flora is proactive, especially near the edges of the plateau and the cities.

Major Cities
About 80% of the two million Rotakans live in the three dozen cities along the Great Road, many agrarian. The other 20% live on scattered royal estates and isolated villages where serfs are at their most independent and short-lived.
The architecture is best described as bygone & robust.

Economics
More elves than any other nation, Rotak commands a large number of master artisans and the best apprenticeship programs of any trade or craft in the known world. Cobblers, mercenaries, smiths, and more come to learn their vocation with a contractual obligation to send a small portion of their future earnings for a time after their training.
Of note is the Blanket of Rotak, where the heavy taxation is redistributed to tenants and citizens as befits their need. This is a formalized form of the long-standing gift culture.

Law & Order
The Guard is the most public and iconic branch of the nation, the laws they enforce artistically displayed in gold filigree on statues in the Great Hall of Mandates. Custodians maintain the quality of public property, and strive to be unobtrusive. Few know that the Custodial Department is the largest employer of citizens in the country.
Of particular note is the frequent national holidays celebrating events related to Rotak’s independence and successful conquests (officially classified as civil war) of the lowlanders.

Government
The oldest nation since the death of the All-Father (of which several elders are old enough to remember fleeing to Rotak as children), and considered the birthplace of democracy. Universal suffrage is granted at age 64, with mandatory participation. Even foreigners are granted citizenship with thirty years of residency. The government is run by a parliament proportionally elected by local councils that themselves are elected by their constituency.
There are functionally three castes; citizens, tenants, and serfs. Serfs make up the majority of the population, and are legally public property (slaves of the state). Tenants are residents that do not yet have citizenship, and so cannot participate in government nor exercise control over serfs, but otherwise have the same rights and protections as citizens.

[Laertes]

I don't know what your tech base is, but 80% urbanisation seems incredibly high for a preindustrial society. The reason why the medieval era had 90% subsistence farmers wasn't just because they needed that for food production; it's also because it was the only form of mass employment available. High urbanisation is largely an artifact of industrial employment.

I love the colour palette you invoke.