Idris

Idris
Ethnicity	Idrian
Capital	Bevalis
Ruled by	Dedelin
World	Nalthis
Universe	Cosmere

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“Composed, simple, hard, and capable. Idrian. ”
—King Dedelin's observation of Vivenna^[1]

Idris is a country to the north of Hallandren on Nalthis.

Geography and Ecology

“They’re rocks, like you said, but they’re not lifeless. They’re green—as green as your jungles. But it’s a different green. ”
—Siri telling Susebron about the mountains of her homeland^[2]

Idris lies in a large mountain range.^[1] The Idrian mountains experience cold weather, with it being warm for only a short time in the summers.^[1] Due to this cold climate agriculture is hard, and crops sometimes fail.^[3] For at least part of the year it snows, which is an important factor is the nation’s defense.

The northern mountains have vegetation that buds out in spring,^[1] There are fields and meadows with grasses and wild flowers. The air here is crisp and chilly due to the elevation.^[2] A known type of flower is the Vanavel, the flower and the roots from this plant are eatable.^[4] Some valuable roots grow high up in the mountains.^[4]^[5] There are also berry bushes in the highlands.^[4]

History

“The royal family of Idris, who can apparently trace their line back to the first Returned. Another heritage of divinity, a challenger for rightful rule in Hallandren. ”
—Siri musing on the politics surrounding the throne of Hallandren^[6]

Idris was one nation with Hallandren until the Manywar, when the royals refused to support the conflicts that led up to the war.^[7] The separate nation of Idris was formed at the climax of the war when the royal family fled to the mountains for safety after being rejected by the people of Hallandren in favor of being ruled by the Returned.^[1]^[8]

Twenty years before the events of the Pahn Kahl rebellion, Dedelin's father was assassinated, and he inherited the throne. King Dedelin's first official act was to negotiate a treaty with Susebron promising to send his daughter (ostensibly Vivenna, though this was not stated specifically) to the Court of Gods to marry him when Vivenna turned twenty-two, thereby reintroducing the bloodline of the royals into Hallandren's own ruling line. When the time came, however, Dedelin could not bring himself to send his beloved daughter to what he was sure would be her death, so he sent Siri instead.^[1]

During that time of deteriorating relations, Lemex, the chief Idrian spy in T'Telir, acted on Dedelin's orders in an attempt to destabilize Hallandren and undermine its ability to wage war. Unfortunately, he was oblivious to the fact that Denth and his crew, whom he had hired to aid in his efforts, were manipulating him; Lemex's actions were actually inflaming the already considerable tensions.^[9] Vivenna continued his work, also in the name of helping Idris and also unaware of Denth's true motivations.^[10]

At the culmination of the Pahn Kahl rebellion, Hallandren's Lifeless army was sent to Idris to slaughter its population; however, Susebron sent Kalad's Phantoms after the army, who reached the Lifeless in time to defeat the force.^[11]^[12]

Government

Monarchy

Idris has a monarchical system of government.^[1]

The King or Queen

The Idrian King or Queen is responsible for ruling the country.^[1]

They can write treaties themselves, such as the marriage treaty between Idris and Hallandren somewhere around the year 327. They also sit on the Idrian war council.^[1]^[4]

Idrian Royal Family

Key

Parents/Children

Siblings

Ancestors/Descendants

Marriage

Partnership/relationship

Deceased

Succesion

The eldest child of the King and Queen inherits the throne, regardless of gender.^[4] This only happens after the ruler, be it the king or the queen, has died.^[1]

There is at least one known case of the second eldest child inheriting,^[4] while the eldest child is still alive. This usually happens because the eldest child is engaged to a ruler of another country, and cannot rule Idris.^[4]

The Royal Locks

Those of the royal family who either rule or are potential heirs have the Royal Locks: hereditary hair that changes color according to the bearer's emotional state, at their will, or not at all when the bearer uses training and discipline to suppress the changes.^[1]^[13] Those with the Royal Locks can also grow them when they want to, and this feels to them as if they were using a physical muscle.^[14] The members of the royal family usually keep their hair black or brown, as other colors such as red or yellow are considered ostentatious.^[1]

Foreign Policy and International Relationships

Hallandren

“Your people are in a state of rebellion against the rest of the kingdom.”
—Treledees to Siri^[15]

Hallandren and Idris have bad relations with each other. This is due to a number of reasons.

Idris and Hallandren used to be the same country, although at the conclusion of the Manywar they split.^[6] The Idrians view this event as the Hallandren rebelling against them, turning into pagans by worshipping the Returned. In turn the Hallandren view the Idrians as rebels. Due to this Hallandren claims the Idrian mountains as their own territory, further provoking hostilities.^[15]

The Idrian religion of Austrism teaches against many things done or used in Hallandren such as ostentation, lifeless and awakening.^[1]^[5] This makes the Idrians believe that the Hallandren are terrible, as they do everything their religions preaches against. The Idrians also view the Iridescent Tones as heresy, thinking of the Hallandren as pagans. This further provokes hostilities.^[4]

The Idrians have many false views of Hallandren, this is because of, among others, false stories told by ramblemen.^[1]

Tedradel

Tedradel has good relations with Idris.^[1] The General of the Idrian army, Yarda, considers it possible that Tedradel would aid Idris if Hallandren attacked them.^[1]

These nations also have many similarities, such as in fashion, with both nations preferring covering clothing.^[16]

The Northern Kingdoms

There are dozens of kingdoms north of Idris that do not share Hallandren's belief that Idris is a rebel faction, and these countries would ally with Idris should a war break out, or use the opportunity to seize control of T'Telir.^[8]

Vendis

It is currrently unknown who or what the Vendis are. They are in a state of war with Idris however, constantly raiding them. They are still doing this around the year 327 of the Hallandren calendar.^[1]

Military

Command structure

At the head of the Idrian Military is the Idrian ruler. He also sits on a war council. Directly underneath is a general. During the reign of King Dedelin the general was named Yarda.^[1]

Spies and Guards

Idris has a large number of spies. These spies all have passcodes which will get them to listen to you. The Idrian spy network in Hallandren is loosely organized. The ruler of Idris knows all of the agents. These spy networks have leaders, who act as coordinators between the king and the agents, During the rule of King Dedelin the head spy in Hallandren was called Lemex.^[17]

Idris employs a number of soldiers as guards. These guards are used to watch the Hallandren border and to guard the northern passes. These duties are often very lonely.^[5]

Army

Idris has an army, but it is not terribly capable, being no match for the Hallandren army. It is likely that this army fights against the Vendis whenever they raid Idris.^[1]

The heavy snowfall also contributes to the Idrian defenses.^[1]

Economics

“It’s hard, sometimes, living up in those mountains. Crops fail, and what do you have? The king owns your land, so you can’t sell... ”
—Thame explaining to Vivenna why thousands of Idrians work in Hallandren^[3]

Idris has few exports of note. The kingdom gains most of its income from tariffs on four main trade passes that it controls. These trade passes are extremely important to Hallandren, as they are the kingdom's only reliable method of passage to the north. Idris must be careful with the tariffs it charges on goods that pass through these trade routes, as raising them too high would upset the countries that use their routes and could be cause for war.^[8]

Commerce in Idris is not particularly robust at the time of the Pahn Kahl rebellion. Due to this, many struggling Idrians find themselves traveling south to Hallandren for work to support their families.^[5] Farming is difficult in the snowy mountain range of Idris and farmland is owned and levied by the kingdom, not by the farmers themselves. Thus, struggling farmers cannot rent or sell land if their crop yield is low, forcing them to find work elsewhere.^[3]

Idris has disaster relief funds, and one can petition the king in the case of disaster. A major flaw with this program is that it requires travel to Bevalis, which can take several weeks. Thus it is more practical to seek work in Hallandren, which is not far from lower farms in southern Idris. This is often a better alternative to taking a long trek through snowy mountains, likely with minimal supplies due to the disaster, to petition the king for assistance.^[3]

Bevalis

The capital of Idris is the city of Bevalis. Its roads are unpaved, and its houses are stone-walled, thatched cottages. The royal palace, which serves as a meeting place and a center of operations for the kingdom, is a single-story building with a courtyard of packed dirt; it is, however, large enough to be considered almost "flamboyant."^[1] Bevalis is a small city in comparison with the capitals of other nations on Nalthis, with a population of around a few thousand.^[5]