Introduction: Unbeknownst to all outsiders, especially the humans of Estram, the Angco Republic is populated solely by Snake People. To keep up appearances, it is actually a law that citizens of the republic must maintain a human form whenever they leave the territory of Angco as well as any time outsiders are allowed to come into their lands, although such directives are limited to the immediate areas the outsiders will be visiting. These laws are all proposed, debated, and either approved or disapproved by small councils of elected representatives, each town council acting as a miniature version of the Angco Council which governs the entire nation, each town sending a single councilor to represent their interests on a national level. The snake people of Angco have maintained this method of governance since their ancestors, refugees from the fall of an ancient snake person kingdom in the bog lands of Squee, came to Fizsaire almost 1,500 years ago. The refugees, seeing the errors made by their forebears who tried and failed many times to establish themselves as rulers. Snake people of Angco and the rest of the Island of Fizsaire are aware of the crimes of their ancestors and the ongoing distrust and hatred that is directed at their kind, so they are often more than willing to go to great lengths to preserve not only their secrets, but the peaceful way of life they have attained after many generations of failed conquest. To ensure this peace lasts as long as it can, the Angco Council has embedded many agents in the government of King Edgard, to ensure that they are prepared for any potential invasions and that the plans for such invasions meet difficulties at every turn.
Magic and Technology: Over the years, the snake people of Angco have developed a strong connection to the Slithering Rainforest and the spirits which inhabit it. Through this connection, they have developed a form of channeling in which those who always use their natural powers of disguise to mimic plants and animals are able to take on the abilities of those plants and animals themselves, something that is not normally possible for snake people. About half of the snake people in Angco live this way, using the many abilities present in such a diverse environment to assist their communities. At the same time, a small school of spellcasting and enchanting is present in Angcopolis, however it has few students and cannot boast of an impressive faculty either. This, along with the secrecy of the true nature of the residents of Angco, has led to perceptions from outside of the republic that the people there are bad at magic. This is not true in the slightest, they are just skilled at a different form of it.
Society: The snake people of Angco value secrecy, harmony, and respect above pretty much anything else. This shows in the system of elected councils that govern each town and the nation as a whole. Other than that, towns tend to be fairly autonomous, maintaining their own policies and ways of doing things that work best for their unique contexts. With this system, the snake people are able to live successful, happy lives. They manage and use the rainforest around their towns to forage and produce pretty much all of the resources that people need. Communities work together to ensure that everyone is able to do something that benefits the town and that everyone receives water, food, shelter, and care. The structures of town councils can vary between locations, but they all consist of some number of snake people elected from among the residents of that town. Every two years, coinciding with the elections for the Angco Council, all seats on a given town’s council are up for re-election. This mirrors the Angco Council which functions identically to a town council save that it is made up of one councilor from each town and meets in Angcopolis, the capital of the Angco Republic. The Angco Council also governs the city with the goal of it being neutral ground in which snake people from anywhere can live and be prosperous. All of these facts are highly guarded secrets to whoever the snake people of Angco consider outsiders, of course. In general, the snake people of Angco believe that one of the most important factors allowing them to live the harmonious lives they live is the fact that no one outside Angco really knows about them, let alone that the citizens of the nation are anything other than human. This habit of secrecy is not normally a problem for snake people who stick to their hometowns and places that are friendly to them, but issues can arise when they come to a place full of strangers. Without any pre-existing connections that might make them part of an in-group, it is normal for strangers and communities they visit to share so little information with each other that distrust and even violence can arise. Passing laws to ease the inherent distrust and conflict of a secretive society is one of the main duties of the Angco Council, as well as maintaining a facade of humanness to people from abroad. Generally, desires for peace and harmony and respect for the interests of all snake people have allowed the Angco Republic to stick to its stated goals and ideals, although not always. At times, distrust and secrecy win out, leading to periods of unrest and danger, although these periods are relatively rare in Angco history.
Religion: While the Angco Republic has no official religion, all religious snake people of the nation worship the dragon who lives in an extinct volcano in the Curtaneous Mountains, Rosaline. The Lady of Steel, one of the many titles worshipers have given to Rosaline, is understood to be quite ancient, but has maintained the secret of what she hoards for her entire existence. This dedication to secrecy is what inspires worship of the dragon, a practice which mostly involves pondering and debating what it is that Rosaline collects. It is believed that anyone who is able to figure it out and provide an addition to the collection will be told the secret to spiritual enlightenment in return. Whether or not this is true is unclear because Rosaline has never accepted any gift offered to her. This religious tradition is decentralized, with each cult maintaining its own secret shrine where they meet to worship and make offerings at an effigy of Rosaline. Most cults also maintain their own library and history of unaccepted gifts, information sources which each group keeps secret from each other. In smaller towns, it is normal for everyone to be a part of the same cult, however larger towns are known to have multiple competing cults, and Angcopolis itself is said to have hundreds of individual cults to Rosaline, although the true numbers are understandably hard to figure out. The secrecy and competition between cults to be the first to figure out the secret of their deity’s collection encourages inter-cult espionage as well, although it is understood that this state of affairs is never to include violence. It is even said that at times, Rosaline herself will take the form of a snake person and spend time touring the many cults, checking in on the progress of her followers. Not everyone believes this, but it is actually true, although unknown to the cult members, the true purpose of these excursions is to see if any of the groups have come up with new things to call the object of their worship, unwittingly giving Rosaline the exact thing she wants.
Angcopolis: Angcopolis is the capital city of the Angco Republic, governed directly by the Angco Council which meets in an open-air coliseum once each week. Most of the city is built on and around the massive trees of the rainforest, however a large area has been cleared for the coliseum to ensure that all who wish to watch the meetings of the Angco Council have room. Because each councilor is from a different village, Angcopolis is considered neutral ground for all snake people of the republic. This makes the city the go-to place for solving conflicts between towns, as well as the only place where strangers are able to feel a certain level of trust with each other. No outside nations maintain embassies in Angco, but diplomatic visits are always hosted in Angcopolis, where residents are used to taking human guise to accommodate such events. At the same time, it is more accurate to think of the city as a gigantic village more than a traditional city. Residents of the city are organized based on profession, with each profession forming a union with an elected leadership council. Each union council is responsible for setting policies and rules that ensure the smooth and efficient operation of their unions and associated professions. Like in towns, no one on Angcopolis is paid a wage, every resident is assumed to be doing their fair share of work through their union and is in turn provided with food, water, shelter, and care. Although this is difficult to conceive of for a city with a population around 500,000, each union is able to provide their services to all who need them. There is enough surplus of supplies that visitors are able to be given these things with nothing given on their part.
Towns: There are many small towns scattered around the Angco Republic, and while each is expected to follow the laws set by the Angco Council, these laws are relatively few and mostly have no impact on small towns that never receive visitors. As such, each town is mostly left to its own devices regarding how they organize and what they do to survive. Each town has a council, elected from among the residents by the residents in a vote every two years. Town councils are expected to create and maintain policies that allow everyone in the town to live the life they want, provided that life includes working for the greater good of the town and not harming others. Although all towns are within the Slithering Rainforest, the ways that have been found to survive and maintain self-sufficiency are highly varied. Some towns are truly self-sufficient, with farmers and foragers working together to provide everything that the tradesfolk need to build structures and tools. Other towns seem to specialize in producing one thing, working with several other towns in the area and pooling resources to produce more than enough for everyone to share. The only real constant is that outsiders with no connection to a given town are likely to be mistrusted and spied on while many residents openly question their goals and intentions with their visit. This dichotomy of treatment between the trusted ingroup and the mistrusted outgroup is often shocking to the rare visitors to these towns, however they often find that if they can prove themselves trustworthy, they find the town to immediately become a warmer, more welcoming place.
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