The Kingdom of Arcadia

"'Whatever It Takes'"

Background
Founded: Unknown (oldest known civilization)

Arcadia is the second largest power in the world, ruled by aristocrats. When Mercia first attempted to occupy the kingdom, they were driven back by the world’s first airship, developed by Arcadia. A treaty of peace was formed to avoid further conflict.

Unlike Mercians who find comfort in simplicity, Arcadians take pride in their wealth, rich history, and a love of finer things in life. Many people around the world with an interest in theater, art, and architecture will find themselves gravitating toward Arcadia. However, due to Arcadians valuing blood and birthright above all, the divide between the rich and the poor in Arcadia is a large and unchanging one. As a result, a community of “peasants” has formed beneath the city, banded together and maintained by the mysterious Ringleader.

As rich as their blood may be, it seems to be filling the streets as Arcadian aristocrats are routinely being found dead. The kingdom heaves with creepy undertones and conspiracies, but the citizens seem willfully ignorant of the bizarre events going on under their noses.

Arcadia is loosely based off of France and Ancient Greece.

Birds are their national animals.

Politics
Ruler: Queen Adelle de Arcadius VI

Next in line: Prince Consort Ravi de Arcadius

Known members of Arcadia's Five:
 * Alexander de Leveque (Ambassador/Royal Advisor)
 * Leonardo van Ostrand (Admiral)
 * Kasper Hawkins (Head of Police)
 * Cecelia Boucher (Head of Weapons Development)
 * Osbert Altair (Head of Airship Development)

The Catacombs
Refers to both the place and the society that lives there. The Catacombs are a series of large chambers and pathways beneath the city of Arcadia, where those with no place to go retreat. They are ruled by The Ringleader, who rubs shoulders with the aristocrats above to get work for his people, helping them to get back to the surface.

Technology
Overall, Arcadia doesn't care much for the advance of technology, and focuses more on the arts - theater, writing, food, etc.

Airships
Great flying machines first developed by Arcadia, in order to counter Mercia’s attempts to overtake them.

They are the reason Arcadia has been the only nation to ever parlay with Mercia and form a peace treaty. Osbert Altair, a member of Arcadia’s Five, is the world’s leading airship engineer. While Mercia has been able to craft their own airships, Osbert's designs are ultimately superior.

Culture
Arcadia has existed since before Mercia, and is extremely set in its ways. They are extremely attached to the idea that keeping bloodlines strong is vital to keeping Arcadia itself strong, which is why there is no middle class. One is either a member of a ruling House (such as Alexander), distantly related to a ruling house (such as Christian), or someone who is extremely unfortunate, as there are very few resources for anyone who isn't an aristocrat.

The ruling houses have existed since ancient Arcadia, and their contributions to Arcadia in the form of politics, science, warfare, etc, is what Arcadians believe keeps their kingdom strong, as they are the only kingdom that hasn't been swallowed by the Mercian Empire. (There is a huge focus on the sins/virtues of forefathers, which is why the houses are such a big deal and part of reason why those of the lower class are in their current plight, furthered by the fact that Arcadia is very traditional and thus stunts the growth of any class that isn't the majority.) They believe that if the houses were to fizzle out of existence, Arcadia will decline and fall apart. As a result, aristocratic parents have minor issues with homosexuality since there is such a large emphasis on preserving bloodlines.

Aristocrats also traditionally are taught some form of self-defense: Alexander knows how to fence, Christian knows (albeit reluctantly) how to shoot a firearm, etc. However, many aristocrats such as Elise are lazy, or are sure nothing will ever happen where they'll need that knowledge, so they don't bother learning how to defend themselves.

Arcadians prize long, blonde hair as a standard of beauty. To them, the length and color is a status symbol, representative of their wealth and nobility. As a result, Arcadians will oftentimes even dye their hair blonde.

Government
Overall Arcadia is more of a matriarchy, as the kingdom will always prioritize a queen over a king. This in part is also a reason why a majority of the soldiers in Arcadia are all women. However in Arcadia bloodline trumps all, so bloodline succession can fall in equal parts to either female or male descendants.

Architecture
Their architecture is very prim and proper - as Christian puts it, “an almost clinical precision”. Everything is visually appealing, everything is measured properly, and nothing is out of place. In addition, since it is the oldest civilization out of the three nations, it also has a lot of ancient buildings. As a result, places such as Arcadia Fortress have a ton of stairs, since the building was constructed thousands of years ago - long before lifts were even a thing.

Economy
In Arcadia, most shops (like bakeries/groceries/etc) are owned high high high up by aristocrat families, who have control over who is hired and who is not. People who wish for a job must jump through many hoops just for a job interview.

Arcadia also trades more than Mercia does, and has better trade connections with Khonsur (which is why there are more people from Khonsur in Arcadia). The kingdom also mainly partakes in ocean farming (so more fish than meat), and produces mostly fabrics, art, and fine food.

Arcadia uses 'arcs' as currency. In-verse, an apple will average about 10 arcs, while fast food would cost 100 arcs and a dinner out would be 600 arcs. Compared to real life, the ratio is approximately 2.86arcs=1 USD and 4arcs=GBP.

Holidays
The two main holidays celebrated are midsummer and midwinter, simply called the Summer and Winter festivals. There are also national holidays - the current leader’s birthday is a holiday, and Mercia and Arcadia share a national holiday to celebrate their peace treaty.

The people in the Catacombs celebrate as much as they can. Gaz uses holidays as an excuse to take advantage of surface-dweller’s “holiday generosity” and secures a lot of money/food/clothes/etc for everyone while he can.

Superstitions
In Arcadia it’s said you shouldn’t look into a mirror for over 30 seconds. It's meant as a deterrent against vanity.

Legends and Stories
Arcadia especially revels in their own legends, because they are very proud of their history. The most popular is the story of the Arcadius Siblings, who once ruled ancient Arcadia. The eldest brother, a fair and passionate politician - the middle sister, a lawful and stern inquisitor - and the youngest brother, who did not achieve great things, but always tried his best. The tale teaches people what it means to be Arcadian, and what values to strive for.

Immigration/Travel
It’s VERY uncommon for Mercians to live in Arcadia and vice versa, just on account of how much the citizens seriously loathe one another (and some of the politicians) - but more importantly because of how much paperwork and etc goes into it because of the terrorist attacks/murders in the past 7 years. So immigration is almost unheard of. Christian is a special case because Esther personally vouched for him, but the shopkeeper at the end of Chapter 1 only knew the gossip about Cog because she has a relative who works in Mercia Fortress. It's for the same reason that everyone is surprised that Cog is in Arcadia - he's Mercian, and it's not normal to see Mercians in Arcadia.

People don't really move around a lot in the world of Clockwork, so tourism isn't even a business. Another reason is that no one wants to get between the Mercian-Arcadian "shitfest" if they don't have to. The world is just an extremely tense place.

Warfare
Most wars and scuffles came from Mercia attempting to subjugate Arcadia, which ended when Arcadia developed the world's first airship and forced Mercia to sign a treaty of peace. Arcadians are aware that Mercians have no love for them because of the cultural differences and the fact that they won't join the empire. Mercia sees it as disrespect and Arcadians see it as wanting to protect their independence and history.