The Leftist AssemblyBoard

After more than two centuries under the dominion of Merk, the first embers of Ravinya began to glow among the oppressed. Thereafter, nearly 80 years of profound economic instability, unrest, rebellion, and civil war followed. This left what would eventually become Ravinya in an extremely damaged and dilapidated state. These years of civil and economic decay were marred by war and destruction as Merk used all of its military might attempting to maintain its hegemony on power and quench the fires of rebellion. However, these extreme measures took their toll on not only the countless rebel factions - but also on the greater empire itself.

Through savagely fighting to maintain its role without concession, Merk eventually fell prey to dissent within the military. Soon it's diplomatic structures eroded, it's infrastructure was dismantled, and its financial institutions were rendered nearly obsolete through hyperinflation and misallocation. The empire and all those within it had become awash in poverty and ruin. Communications infrastructure could no longer be upkept and thus state propaganda could no longer be distributed. This marked the beginning of the end for Merk, which by that point was only keeping the rebels from its gates through divisive propaganda designed to foment infighting and mitigate organizational power within the rebellion.

This is the time when we see the true birth of Ravinya. Where before there had been multitudes of squabbling rebels warring sporadically in the ruins of an empire, there now came a unified material necessity to coordinate and maintain base needs, communication, military infrastructure, and medical supplies. This of course required some kind of rudimentary networking across what was a very large landmass. Couriers were tried and failed due to warring factions on the ground and raiding groups. Technological infrastructure had been reduced to a heavily localized level, and the ability for individuals to communicate at a distance was essentially nonexistent. That is, until the introduction of Ravinya and its carrier ravens.

Ravinya began simply as a group of nomadic aviculturists who tamed, bred, hunted, and scavenged with companion birds known as "The Ravinyans". As this group grew and settled in different areas, they discovered that their ravens worked incredibly well as carrier birds, flying messages and letters back and forth between settlements. In time the Ravinyans saw the need for a communications network among the many disparate groups vying to fill the power vacuum left by the fallen empire, and to this end, they offered their ravens. Soon Ravinyan carrier ravens were flying missives, letters, and diplomatic documents more than one thousand miles across the landscape. It was not long before the Ravinyans realized the power they had come to possess, with all of the information of the newly developing nations traveling on the wings of their very own companions.

The Ravinyans soon had aviaries all across the land where their birds would stop to rest on long journeys. Occasionally a curious flight master would open a missive or letter and read its contents. Within a short time, it became apparent that the ruined nation was sliding quickly into hands that were nearly identical to those that held power before the fall. Exploitative, resource-hungry groups who fancied themselves the Royalty to-be of the new era were scheming and coordinating for great personal gain at the expense of the masses. The raven keepers could not abide this coming to pass for a second time.

The Ravinyans remembered Merk. They remembered the gilded halls built by the weary hands of the oppressed. They remembered the millions of homeless, marginalized, and exploited citizens whose pleas for meager concessions and social programs were met solely with imprisonment and state violence. They remembered when the voice of the masses was rendered mute by the boots of the powerful. They remembered that individuals resembling this new "would-be bourgeoisie" sat at the helm of these atrocities once before. The Ravinyans decided that the time had come to abandon their stance of neutrality and intervene. Soon there was not a single word flown on ebon wings that was not altered by, or read by the raven folk.

Over the next decade, their communications network grew to massive proportions and became a cornerstone of the overculture and infrastructure of the now balkanized nations, accessible to those who had resource and those who had almost nothing alike. This hegemony on information allowed the Ravinyans to play a masterful game of statecraft through altering, destroying, sending, and writing replacement messages. The Ravinyans prevented and broke alliances between groups that would seek to seat the throne through exploitation and war. They sowed renewed insurgency and mistrust of the feudal rulers of the new regions and began to gain influence simply by taking measures to mitigate the influence of would-be oppressors. Their network of ravens quickly became a network of propaganda and rebel communication, all while under the guise of neutrality, such that those who they coined "the new oppressors" in their writings to the masses never once suspected foul play.

In time, the Ravinyan manipulations led to the balkanized leaders being deposed by their subjects with no allies to aid them in dealing with their rebellions. In all of these disparate places, immediately after the depositions, regardless of regionality, the same thing happened. Raven banners with fields the color of parchment and vellum were flown in the streets. A symbol of the messengers who had brought the people together and delivered to them the information of their rulers misdeeds. Unwittingly, the Ravinyans had simultaneously become the mouthpiece, harbinger, and symbol of the Second People's Revolt of the former nation of Merk.

Through their diplomatic manipulations, and the sheer force of the will of the masses, the once-simple, nomadic Ravinyans eventually became the de facto leaders of the entire region once known as Merk. Marking this new dawn for the now reunified nation, it was renamed "Ravinya" and given the motto "None shall fly if any must walk" to honor its commitment to an equitable existence for all who live under its banner.