Vespia


 * This sovereign state is part of Project Genesis.

Vespia (Vespian:, Veskoya), officially known as the Godrealm of Vespia, the Empire of Tears (Vespian: , Xâu'Mâr No-Veskoyâno Tâzeno Voyâšono), is a located in northern TBD. Vespia is a, with its seat of power located in the capital city of Zanza. The government exercises its over twelve zharukdoms, all of which are under the direct control of the Vespian imperial government. The official language of Vespia is Vespian. The nation has a total land area of 13,149,431.21 km2 (5,077,023.77 sq mi), making it the largest sovereign state in the world. Furthermore, Vespia also had a population of some 946.7 million people as of 6017 Ʋ, making it one of the most populous nations in the world. The capital city of Zanza is the largest city and metropolis in Vespia, and the largest urban center in TBD. Vespia boasts the world's oldest continuously reigning and unbroken monarchical dynasty, with the Imperial Family of Vespia having ruled for some nearly four thousand years in all, with different branches of the imperial family overthrowing the previous ruling branch of the household. There has thus always remained a direct connection between the first Tazen of Vespia to its current Tazen.

Climate
Vespia consists almost entirely of the world's largest desert, the TBD. The overwhelming majority of Vespia, about ninety percent of the country, is classified as (BWh). The other ten percent is classified as having a (BSh), where the Zhona River originates within the region. The arid nature of the country, comprising most of the TBD Desert, has been linked to the presence of a large high-pressure system over the country, driving warm, dry air down from the troposphere, and wet, cool air and wind away from the northern half of the continent, preventing the formation of rain-clouds. Over several millennia, the cycle of warming and drying air from the troposphere, and the unfettered effects of thermal radiation upon the landscape in the northern regions of the continent, produced intensive desertification which resulted in the formation of the modern day TBD as an expansive desert region. Humidity in Vespia is one of the lowest in the world, with little rainfall outside of the southeastern quarter of the country.

Because of the stability of the atmosphere and the sustained cycle within the region, cloud formation is virtually impossible, and rainfall in practically nonexistent throughout most of the country. Only in the southeastern region of Vespia is there any rainfall, which is vital for the sustenance of the Zhona River flowing through Vespia. In spite of the lack of sustained cloud formation throughout the country, Vespia is home to several hundred oases, many of which are fed by underground aquifers protected from the desertification of the country. Ironically, Vespia, in spite of its status as the world's largest desert nation, is also home to the world's largest aquifer, the TBD, formed during the continent's early history as a fertile, well-watered region several million years ago. This aquifer feeds many of Vespia's oases, and in turn, sustains the many millions of Vespians living around them and dependent upon them for fresh water within the desert.

Vespia is, by the standards of most regions in the world, unusually hot, sunny, and dry, with the average temperatures during the day ranging anywhere from 30°C (86°F) to 48.8°C (120°F) closer to the interior of Vespia where the hot winds are more common, and where the humidity can drop as low as 5-8% or less. But aside from this, the weather in Vespia is always sunny and clear with the rare exception of sandstorms, making Vespia one of the least cloudy regions in the world. Based on this information, the only rainfall in Vespia falls in the southeastern regions where the Zhona originates. The majority of this rainfall appears during the winter months, when the air is most humid in the region and flowing southwards into the TBD Mountains. What little moisture moving through the eastern regions of Vespia accumulate in the TBD Mountains, and feed into the basin that drains out north and then west as the Zhona. Thanks to the flooding of the Zhona during the monsoon season, the river regularly replenishes the arable lands of Vespia along the river, giving the country a consistent harvest throughout the year.

Biodiversity and environment
For most of its history, Vespia was one of the most isolated regions in the world, due to its inhospitable and far-flung location far from the majority of the human population. Because of this, the arid lands of Vespia developed one of the most stable ecosystems in the world, even with the growth of the Vespian population along the Zhona. The country is home to more than 4,000 species of flora, but only 300-500 species of fauna adapted to the arid climate of the vast desert. The overwhelming majority of the animal species belong to the insect family, leaving about 50-60 animal species larger than a mouse. Uniquely, the bulk of the animal and plant life in Vespia away from the Zhona are either predatory or venomous, a trait linked to the need of life in the desert to survive through hunting. Closer to the river are all of the passive flora and fauna endemic to the country. On a macro-environmental scale, the Vespian biome is one of the most balanced in the world, with few incidences of overhunting or overgrazing in the region by the various species in the desert.