The Early History of Alorenhem
In the early days of Alorenhem the nation was surrounded by jungle. The people lived in stone buildings, organized into villages, surrounded by walls, and connected to the other villages by paths through the jungle. All villages had a large road leading back to the capital city, Alara, where the people would commute and sell the fruits they found inthe forests around them. Often, some would take the quicker route of traveling by way of the river in reed canoes they had made inland. Overall, it was a simple time for Alorenhem and it's people.
The spiritual beliefs of early Alorenhem were relatively simple. They revolved mainly around mythical forest creatures, and Aloren, the godess of the forests, wind, and rainfall, who's name was the origin of our world Alor, meaning divne. Thus our nation Alorenhem, combining Aloren with our word for land, hem, means land of the great godess Aloren. Alorenen, the capital city, was named such by combining the name of the godess with en, the word for city, and means city of the godess. The people would regularly worship in special alters found in their homes, or commonly in village gardens and by the side of the forests. By 1900 B.C. however, the need for the people to worship was far too much for such small sanctuaries. King Alorois II (divine son in Alorenhemian) finally decided to solve the problem by turning the largest garden in Alorenen into a great shrine, to be called the first temple. There, the people of Alorenhem could worship their deity in peace and tranquility.
Besides the religious aspect, Alorenen also had great importance in it's markets, where farmers from the surrounding villages would exchange their goods with the people of Alorenen, of which there were many. An early form of taxes also existed, as for particularly large purchases the seller had to donate some of his prophet to the King. At first, buying food for the family fell upon the man of the house, and hence they came only once or twice a month, ensuring a large windfall of gold for the King. However, as roads improved and people began trying to avoid the tax, even the common people would come to the market as often as twice a day to buy something as small as a single fish caught from the river. To fix this problem, King Aloris IV changed the tradition so that people from the villages would come to the markets only a few times every year, in large festivals. This ensured that the king maintained a profit and, as we shall see later on, helped develop a stronger sense of communitty for the small vilages.
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- Capital city is Alorenen
- Change ruler name to Aloris IV
- Begin work on 1st temple of Aloren
- Increase EP
- Explore with navy along coast to meet new cultures
- Cut away at forest, but respect the gods of nature and use the wood to it's fullest extent