Kingdom of Svart

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Located on a peninsula in northern Europe, the Kingdom of Svart is a constitutional monarchy with a long history. It has a stable political environment, an affluent society, as well as well-developed aviation, telecommunications, and pharmaceutical industry. Most multinational companies have a presence here, making Svart a hub of international trade. In Svart, although the King is the nominal Head of State and symbol of the Kingdom while the Prime Minister is the de facto head of government, the aristocracy in power, led by the Duke of Haspran, still exerts a strong influence on the kingdom's politics and economy.

The Kingdom of Svart is unlike the rest of modern Europe in that the Church of Svart--led by the King--and the country's nobility still maintain political and economic power. This has led to criticism about the country's "constitutional monarchy" as neither comprehensive nor absolute.

Svart leads a diplomatic union of countries; known members of this union include Nation A.

Culture

• Because Svart's winters involve hard snow, winter activities such as building snowmen are important to the children of Svart.
• Snowy owls are a common sight in the nation.
• Wooden horses encased in crystal are popular gifts, and it's considered more meaningful if the recipient's name is engraved on the horse.
• One romantic tradition of Svart is the casting of drift bottles into the sea. Any couple who does so is said to be blessed by the sea, which is a belief originating in a legend of an immortal fairy living in a drifting bottle who fell in love with a human girl. When the woman died, her last wish was to be buried at sea, and the fairy sealed himself in the bottle to be with her forever.
• A unique herb used in Svart's cuisine is snowleaf, which has a strong bitter taste that many visitors find hard to enjoy at first. Snowleaf fish cakes, in particular, are considered a delicacy.

Vyn Richter's unnamed hometown has several known traditions:

• There is a hunt every fall. Hunters are required to camp outdoors and gather all required food and water from the hunting grounds on their own.
• A Christmas fair is held from Christmas Eve to Boxing Day.
• A harvest festival with open-air stalls, parades of people in traditional clothing, and reenactments of mythological fables. Smoked salmon and cheesecake are specialty dishes of the festival, which culminates in a dance around the bonfire with folk songs sung by attendees.

Members of Svart's Government

• Eirik Haspran - Duke (Duchy of Haspran), Military leadership

Current Residents

• Carl: A world champion professional magician. He travels on global tours to put on his shows, with the most recent being an international award-winning Alice in Wonderland themed show called "Mad Alice," marked by rapidly changing background scenes that show her descent into madness while masking Carl's tricks. His performance in Stellis caused a local popularity boom for magic.
• Manfred: A professional polo player and friend of Ragnar. In addition to his skills in polo, he's able to play the violin.
• Ragnar: Main article: Ragnar
• Count Carl: Main article: Count Carl