Every day outside the vales had been a parade of wonders for Evwin, and this one was shaping up to be the same. When she'd signed up for Jyre's "Cultural Exchange Corps," she hadn't been sure what to expect. Images of stark concrete and sooty clouds had danced in her nightmares, alongside every cautionary tale about outside invaders and their barbaric nature. But this? This was beautiful, in its own alien way.

She didn't need to know all the languages to hear the wind flapping through banners or smell the pungent aromas. Every booth was an adventure in flavours she'd never imagined. And so she wandered aimlessly, taking each moment as it came. Sure, she was supposed to be taking notes and gathering recipes. But simply living is a part of culture too... right? Besides, the few dozen other children of Jyre were surely gathering plenty of foreign knowledge to send home.

With a broad grin, she took a bite of the flatbread and goat cheese she'd been holding.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Matron Dina cursed softly in her native tongue as she scanned the crowd.

"What rock has damned our river today?" asked Toin, as he handed a thin wedge of Jyre's customary herbal cheese to an eager fairgoer.

"You... weren't supposed to hear that, Toin" Dina sighed. "But our bus leaves in an hour, and half our cohort can't yet make sense of outsider clocks."

"Mmm" came the noncommittal reply.

Sparing a glance at the electric timekeeper she'd recently acquired, then at the darkening sky, Dina let out another sigh. "Cail! Toin! Close down our stand for the night, and stop any of our people you see. I'm going to hunt around for the missing ones."

"Actually I'll just call them" Matron Cail responded with a wink.

"Who knows if they're even within earsh..... oh."

Cail produced her own timekeeper and, with a few swipes and taps on its glassy surface, Dina's timek... no, phone, began to chime.

This was going to take some getting used to.

https://www.nationstates.net/nation=jy_re/detail=factbook/id=1701321
(Let me know if I'm doing anything wrong)

Jyre was first settled around 300 B.C.E. in the mountain valleys of central Cotf Aranye. Over the next few centuries, countless small towns came to dot the region. While there was some substantial conflict up until ~600 C.E., the relatively remote nature of the region kept it safe from outside intrusion. Snowmelt rivers, treacherous in spring and nearly exhausted by autumn, served as a seasonal means of establishing trade and contact, but not enough for the Jyren City-States to draw external eyes. When combined with the mountainous terrain, Jyre was in isolation. This is part of what allowed the unique culture of Jyre to develop. Women have, in most other regions in the world, been largely subjugated by men. But in an environment where agility and nimbleness was more important than sheer strength, and external forces didn't impose a certain social order, they were mostly equal.
In ~600 C.E., a large migrating tribe moved into the lowlands around the main mountain range. While relations were fairly peaceful at first, misunderstandings and alluring Jyren livestock lead to many outlying city-states being either subjugated or destroyed. One of these, Liatmyr, was razed so brutally that the remaining city-states finally ceased their squabbles and united.

The first Matron-Warden came from Liatmyr. A mother who had been captured in the fighting, she slew her captors and escaped with her remaining children when a chance came. From there she made the trek to Sipstim, the nearest city, and demanded aid in repelling the invaders. When the leaders hesitated, she instead took her appeal to the women of the city. She and her children stood as a representation of what was coming, and what needed to be done. With nearly a hundred armed women and men at her back, they cowed the guards and seized control of the city. After reorganizing affairs, she set out and, one city at a time, brought them into the common purpose of defense. While most were more supportive than Sipstim, force was used where needed. Inside a decade, the Matron-Warden had united the majority of the city-states under her flag and firmly fortified the boundary cities and mountain passes. When she fell in a skirmish, her eldest daughter seized the moment. Having been old enough to remember Liatmyr's burning, the second Matron-Warden solidified her rule and drove the invaders from every occupied city and valley. She also formalized the religious cult which continues to define much of Jyre's culture. Drawing on Goddess and Nature worshiping elements, she declared that "These vales are ours, and our children's after us, and theirs after them. Likewise, we are the children of the mountains. We will defend and work them as they defend and nourish us." Positioning herself as the representative of the maternal mountains, she built a cult of personality around herself as her people's Matron-Warden.

Once the invaders were dealt with, she spent the rest of her life trying to ensure that what she built would last. Her creeds, though developed throughout the millennia, are still in use today. She set up the psuedo-caste and matron systems, enshrined the ethos of long-term planning, and though she wouldn't live to see them in full force, the next few generations saw her work through.

By ~800 C.E., the remaining city states had united under Jyre's flag. Mostly without conquest, though sparked revolutions, assassination, and deliberate cultural spread played a large part.

The next thousand years saw primarily public works projects, though this was slowed by the heavy ecological emphasis in Jyre's culture. Roads, dams, windmills, waterwheels, terraced and floating farms, communication systems, and more were built up. The region was deliberately tied together as strongly as possibly by each successive generation of Matrons, and with the prioritization of needs first, there was little internal conflict. External threats were mostly kept at bay, though a few breached into Jyren heartland. This slow state of affairs continued until the industrial revolution began picking up steam elsewhere in the world.

Strongly opposed to mining within the vales (and settling beyond eyeshot of the mountains was generally frowned upon), or any form of pollution, Jyre was already at a marked disadvantage. The few things they did absorb improved life significantly, but anything involving fossil fuels was out of the question. Even before it became apparent that coal and oil were limited resources, the smog and waste associated with them was viewed as reprehensible and abhorrent. "Green" energy sources, when they became more common in the rest of the world, were likewise slow to be integrated. Without industrial mining, Jyre's progress was capped by what little trade of rare resources flowed in. And without industrial production, they had few goods in sufficient quantity to foster further trade.

Nation Name: Jyre

Nation Link: https://www.nationstates.net/nation=jy_re (a bit confused on how this plays into everything. Also, apparently a Jyre had just been deleted, so I've got Jy re for now hahaha)

Provinces you wish to claim:
1: W-9
2: W-10
3: P-45
4: P-46
5:
6:

Proposed colour of your nation on the map: Lavender

I, Bookshop, have read the rules set down above, and agree to follow them.