The record books of Meylean history can be found in the early medieval age. It can be deduced they were formally a migratory people's. Whether through persecution, wanderlust, or some other reason they never stayed in one spot long and always marched on to look for a home to call themselves. It was upon crossing the Kaginde River that they come upon the territory of present day Bethnay. Seeing it largely uninhabited they explored the land and came across the Sagan(Cherry) trees. Such a rich and bountiful fruit helped the migratory peoples and it was there they decided to set down and plant their flag in history.

Meylean cultural unity has allowed a relatively unified cultural-political polity to exist in some way, shape or form throughout the centuries but a commonality is both invading empires attacking them for their lands or people. Or family feuds breaking apart of the unity of their people. Such conflict has forced the Meyleans to become deeply protective of their independence and

Capital: Anise
Population: 224,821
Demographics:
Meylean 99%
Other <1%

Major Cities:
Anise
Kada
Kasidi
Saporet
Rogelva

Leadership:

Meylean culture is very collectivist in nature. Their history on the seas in an isolated region has meant the Meyleans have developed a very strong sense of family and togetherness. Push out any threats and hold your friends as close as you can. Such is the culture that in the Meylean language when speaking to someone else it is typically considered polite to use the word "we" when referring to them instead of "you" so instead of saying "how are you?" Meyleans would say, "How are we?" This has made Meylean history have a very stable and united cultural-political polity throughout their history.

Despite this shared unity the location of the Meylean people has made it the target of many empires, kingdoms, imperial endeavours and raiders. Meylean culture was never very militaristic but have a very deep rooted honorable warrior subculture from their history of conflict, exploitation and being forced to defend themselves from outsiders most men and many women train in at least some form of weaponry. In the medieval era Meyleans made heavy use of crossbows and light formations to defend their lands, the High Medieval era saw a rise in Meylean Heavy cavalry as their maritime routes and valuable resources allowed them to simply buy what they needed to defend themselves. Come the age of gunpowder Meyle kept their mobile cavalry formations and became some of the best cavalry-riflemen in the region. Well known for their accuracy on horseback and high mobility. Despite this warrior culture though the Meyleans non-militaristic ideologies and their maritime and trade culture meant they rarely stretched their influence past what they directly controlled and rarely maintained a fully independent polity.

The Bethnayan Home Guard is the domestic armed forces for Meyle. Largely operating as a Police Force It is made up of around 30,000 members. The Gelenian military maintains a single military base in Kesidi housing their forces and is primarily responsible for the defense of the colony. This force is armed primarily with light weapons yet it's soldiers are considered very experienced. many of their officers being former lords and officers in the old Meylean military and veterans of teh Hochiga Rebellion who managed to survive reprisals. Many former Univadi, seeking to more actively protect their country make up the ranks and thus, despite its lack of heavy weaponry is considered a proffessional force trained and raised to Gelenian standards and fight the tenacity every Meylean has. The only combat it has taken part in was the 1816 uprising when it had to put down a small group of disgruntled lords and soldiers who were opposed to the reforms of the Emperor. In this war they performed excellently and helped legitimize the force. While smaller then the Gelenian army in Meyle they work to maintain the colony's nominal independence and operate as a de facto armed forces of the Imperial Faction. The rivalry between Gelenian armed forces and the Home Guard has resulted in a few assaults and fights whenever they have to work together but Meyle has been quick to punish their soldiers if they were responsible.

Core beliefs:
Praecans follow a semi-polytheistic pantheon. Of one high God known as Palsi, many minor one's known as the Athe Chabriso, and then even more minor ones known as the Taduso nature and animal focused Praecanism follows a heirarchical rule of gods and respecting them and their domain for good luck and blessings. The largest core belief of Praecanism is that because the gods worked hard to bring what you enjoy into the earth you should respect them and work hard yourself to enure you don't waste what they have given you. This belief has made Meylean culture itself very frugal. With no central authority though what one gets out of Praecanism and their own relationship with the religion and the gods is mostly up to them and their own thoughts and beliefs.

Pantheon:
The one god of all things, known in Meylean as Palsi, created the world and all things in it from the sky, stars, earth, water. Everything, according some grand design. They are the only true "God" in Praecanism wherein the name of their god also doubles as the Meylean word for a god. Despite this though worship of Palsi is very minimal with no temples shrines or offerings that are officially under the religion given or set aside for him specifically. Although at times he is sometimes invoked to show hyperbole in a figure of speech.

Praecanism believes that while one god created everything Palsi then created what is known as the Athe Chabriso, lesser gods who hold sway in a particular domain. This is the Polytheistic aspect of Praecanism and what most people can recognize with their gods of the Earth, water, air, fire, etc. These deities in Praecanism, are also considered full gods and equal in standing to each other but as they only work with Palsi in managing his domain they are given that lable.

The next tier are the Taduso, while in Meylean "Taduso" would literally translate to "Helper" when speaking in the context of Praecanism it is typically translated as "Demi-god" to show the difference between Palsi and the Athe Chabriso and the Taduso. Despite this nomenclature Taduso are not considered beings of the mortal world like traditional demi-gods in other religions but instead make up the thousands of deities which focus on a particular object. The Taduso Tadusono no Kaliver is the god which watches over the rivers of the land. Traversing them one would ask her for good luck. The extent of the Taduso could theoretically be considered infinite as there is actually no solid list of who all the Taduso are, on the same subject while there is a documented Taduso of the rivers. There could(and is) be a Taduso of small creeks or something similar which could also be called on. Traditionally though Praecans say there is 10,000 Taduso, randing from the clouds in the sky to the pebbles next to the streets.

Worship:
There is no official form of worship of Praecanism and no central organization to regulate or standardize it practices and beliefs can vary by region and even by people. Despite this, there are many largely agreed upon methods to show respect and many temples, shrines, and other places of worship have been constructed in various areas with priests, known as Tadulapalsi, help overseeing offerings and personal worship, give blessings, or help facilitate more organized worship and chants. Tadulapalsi do have many rules and regulations on their behaviour, clothing, and way of life. Special clothes are crafted only from specific people to a specific design as Tadulapalsi typically follow and focus their worship on just one of the Athe Chabrisu or Taduso. Each Athe Chabriso has an agreed upon form, clothing, and philosophy of living the Tadulapalsi must adhere to in order to "grow closer" to said god and eventually "become one" with them with specific funeral rites practiced depending on the god.

Offerings are typically related to the God or Demi-god being worshipped. Many things are widely considered to be exclusive to a certain god or demi-god but overall anything can be considered an offering if the intention is there (obv offering water to the fire god would be the opposite of worship). The temples and shrines are the most common place to deliver offerings but there is no official incorrect way or place to do an offering to a god. Typically if one doesn't have anything to offer or is just attending a temple as apart of the more organized rites of Praecanism typically one coin is offered to the gods as a blessing. While its widely agreed more money doesn't mean your blessing will be heard more it is a Superstition that it is the case. In either case it is widely demanded of the Tadulapalsi to not do anything with the money and store it in a blessed area for the gods with the other more permanent offerings. Giving a sort of longevity culture with offerings. The money stuff though means that throughout history there are many instances of very old temples and shrines being raided for their valuables.

That also brings up the Univasi. A semi-military wing of Praecanism. Amidst the raids and other conflict which would damage century old temples or shrines some religious zealots decided to take matters into their own hands to protect the temples. Arming themselves and dedicating themselves to the God and Tadusos of wars and battles they dedicated themselves to defending all Praecan temples from any threats, both inside and outside. Many of the Univasi are Tadulapalsi worshipping the God of War and train with weapons their whole life. While they actively dedicate themselves to peace having no central religious polity to control them it was very rare the Univasi were used for something besides the defense of their specific temples they promised to protect. Before the age of gunpowder bar the Meylean knights and retainers there was no more elite warriors in Meyle.

Funeral rites are another widely agreed upon way of worship. Traditionally is someone died an early or unfortunate death their funeral would in some way be related to how they died, say if someone died from drowning their body would be floated out to sea as the God of Water called to him early. Otherwise the dead are typically buried or taken to safe areas and returned to nature. In the very olden days there were records of bodies being taken apart and recycled and reused for compost, or feed, a way to give and provide even after death although in the modern day when someone is buried typically a single Cherry seed is planted above their grave. Even to this day there are many shrines around the lands near solitary cherry trees where it is suspected that someone died and was buried and a tree actually sprouted beneath it.

Cherries are another important aspect of both Meylean and Praecanism. Because cherries originated in the lands of the Meylean people in their early history they provided a good and reliable fruit source which allowed them to settle making cherry trees one of the few things in Praecanism directly attested to Palsi on the mortal realm. This appreciation means that each part of a tree from the branches to fruit to the tree itself have their own unique names. To this day Meylean domestic species are considered the best and most delicious of all cherry species. In almost all holidays, religious or otherwise, cherries are commonly eaten and given out as a sign of good luck. A special technique of pressing and hardening Cherry leaves known as Ho allows garment makers to reliably sew and dye cherry blossoms and leaves onto the special garments of the Tadulapalsi. Giving them good luck and mark their status.

Whenever something is created, whether it be a birth or a craft, traditionally(although depending on the item) it gets blessed by a Tadulapalsi. Depending on the request of the specific creator(or parents) that Tadulapalsi will bless an item under a god to ensure its quality or good life and purpose. The free and unorganized nature of Praecanism renders such blessings very personal with no specific words, chants, or items required.