Devidhyaan

Devidhyaan (pronounced DEH vid YAHN) means God’s Eye. The nation takes its name from the large lake where Mother makes her home. The country is largely forest, interspersed with areas cleared for agriculture and habitation. Because Lalika’s navy rules the seas, Devidhyaan’s maritime activities are generally confined to coastal fishing, and coastal settlements are usually walled.

A break in the mountains east of the Eye of God opens Devidhyaan to the southern Vasu plains. This is Devidhyaan’s major trade route, giving access to Akshay and Mahday in the north, and Jarayu in the south. This road is carefully maintained and zealously guarded. Though Devidhyaan doesn’t have a large standing army, it does have well-trained battle mages, something no other nation has. These mages keep the Akshay-Jarayu road safe, and Devidhyaan’s borders secure.

Mother (or Tarlah, as the dragons know her) encourages her people to seek knowledge of every kind. She has built upon her own mother’s work, and ensures there are schools and academies in every major community. The people of Devidhyaan are well-educated, with the highest literacy rate in the hemisphere.
The people are, for the most part, self-governed. Each community elects its leaders, usually from among scholars, teachers, and judges. They also elect representatives who travel to the capital to represent the community in the legislature. It is an egalitarian society in theory, advocating equality between all species. In practice, of course, the dragons are still supreme rulers, considered the physical manifestations of gods. There are people who prefer to have power over others. There is corruption, and greed, and all the other vices common to sentient races. Still, Devidhyaan is the only nation that operates under the rule of law.

The largest settlements of Devidhyaan are strung like pearls on a necklace around the lake known as the Eye of God. The largest city, where Mother most often resides, is Aamin (ah MEEN), which means “divine grace”.

Aamin is situated on the eastern shore of the lake, home to half a million souls of various races. It is the cultural, political, and economic center of Devidhyaan. The legislature resides here, convening for three months every year to discuss the business of the realm. Aamin also boasts the continent’s only museum as well as the only schools teaching archaeology or magic.

Many people travel to Aamin every year, hoping to be accepted into one of the prestigious academies. Most are turned away since they do not yet have the necessary background education. Disheartened, they return to their homes, though some stay to look for work in Aamin. A handful will enroll in the basic education programs, and eventually realize their dreams of entering an academy.

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Featured Image: A map of Devidhyaan created with the InKarnate Worlds map creator.

This work by Jean Headley is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.