Zira has roughly the same land-area as real life New Zealand.  It is made up of two islands; the main island is in itself called Zira, while a smaller one to the north west is called Vici.  The island is sparsely populated, with less than a million inhabitants.  Around half of these live in the major cities, while the other half live in rural areas.

The climate of the country is Mediterranean.  Summers are quite hot, winters are mild.  Winters are wet, rarely ever fall below 10 degrees Celsius, and it never snows.  This allows for such crops as olives, almonds, and wheat.  Many different fruits and vegetables thrive in the climate.

There are several major cities.  Kabesera, is the largest and the capital of the country.  King Anatole is the current leader.  He resides in the Forbidden City, which is itself located in Kabesera.  Only the King's family, personal servants and workers and his army are allowed to enter the Forbidden City.  Kabesera also has a small port.   It is perhaps the most intellectual of the three major cities, as it has the highest literacy rates, the largest university and many schools.

Ilma Behar is a large port town on the east coast.  Because of large docking taxes and restrictions in Kabesera, most of the sea traffic coming in and out of the country goes through Ilma Behar.  Ilma Behar is less traditional than any of the other Ziran cities because of the constant foreign influences.  There are more kinds of churches, and less Ziran is spoken - to the point that some children are not fluent in their native language. There is also a large fishing community.

The Merchants City as it is located half way between Ilma Behar and Kabesera.  It began as a small hamlet without a name, and has never really found one for itself.  Merchants who wish to sell their goods will travel up the main road from Ilma Behar and set up shop in Hanut.  Hanut is a very busy city, streets are constantly crowded by shoppers, and market stands, restaurants stay open into the early hours of the morning, many providing live music or drama.  Hotels in the busiest part of town are almost always fully booked, and many pubs and brothels provide low-quality rooms as a secondary source of income.  However, there are very poor parts of Hanut.  Especially in the western part of the city, many people live in poverty in deteriorating buildings, on the streets or in makeshift shelters.  Drugs and exploitation of women and children are a big problem in these parts.  No real effort is being made by the king to improve the conditions in these areas however some foreign churches provide aid.

The twin cities, Arikov and Morikov are on the north west coast.  Arikov means 'younger brother' and Morikov means 'elder brother'.  Both have small ports, and most of the traffic from this port is used by the fishing community, however Arikov also runs frequent boats to Vici.  Both these cities began as large estates belonging to members of the royal family, however over time have grown into large towns. 

Most of the land in Zira is flat steppe.  There is some valleys towards the centre of the country, and marshlands in the south east.  Much of the land is farmed, and walled to protect it from their dangerous national animal.

Many small animals live in Zira, such as rabbits, pigs, wild boar, and wild dogs.  However, the most distinctive Ziran animal is the raptor.  They are extremely dangerous to humans, keenly intelligent, and fierce hunters and trackers.  They are occasionally raised from eggs and used as labour on farms, but most are wild.  They are the reason that most establishments in Zira, such as farms and cities, are surrounded by a thick wall.  The gates are locked at dusk when the raptors become active and are not reopened until the morning.  They come in a wide variety of colours, such as brown, green, black as well as the more 'collectable' white, red and blue.  Humans do not eat raptors.  This is because raptors can potentially eat humans, and they do not wish to feast on the flesh of that which feasts on human flesh.

Demographics
There are four very distinct categories of people in Zira:  farmers, fishermen, those who live in the city, and those of the People's Army.

Around 35% of all people in Zira live as a farmer.  Some sell their goods in town, while others only grow enough to support their families.  Farmers are known for being hard-working, larger-than average people.  They live in a house on their land, or the land of their employer.   Many farmers are uneducated and illiterate.  Only around 50% of farming children go to school, and many complete their studies at the age of twelve or thirteen before starting to work full time as a farmer.

Around 20% of people in Zira work as a fisherman.  Fishermen live in the coastal cities.  Like the farmers some sell their goods, while others simply live of their own means.  Some fishing communities live permanently at sea on floating structures and rafts.  Others live in normal houses in cities.  More fishermen are literate than farmers, because many of them live in cities where education is readily available, and less manpower is needed to maintain a large fishing vessel than a large farm.

A further 40% of people live in the cities.  City children are the most likely to be educated, and often get a job as a tailor, metalworker, builder, stoneworker, chef, doctor - and so on.  There's much more variety in the cities than the other two groups.  However, people growing up in the cities are much more likely to live in poverty - as farmers and fishermen have the skills to fend for themselves, city folk often don't.  Both the farmers and fishermen say that city folk are much shorter than they are, but in reality there isn't a substantial difference. 

Finally, the People's Army make up for around 5% of population.  They live in one of three camps, Dan Durem - the largest camp where the General resides, Dan Demora and Phar Lan.  The People's Army are by far the least educated people of Zira, with only 10% of them being able to read, and 40% being able to verbally communicate in both Ziran and Common.  They are however, incredibly skilled warriors.  A significantly below average warrior of the People's Army is still much better than the average warrior outside the army.  The People's Army, except for higher ranked soldiers have very little contact with the outside world, and have all developed a strong us-vs-them mentality and leader worship for their current General.
 

Culture
The most noticeable part of the Ziran culture is the high regard families hold for the eldest son.  The eldest son is marked by keeping his hair long.  They often receive the best schooling and many employers would rather employ an eldest son than a younger one.  If a family runs a successful business, the eldest son is expected to take over it after his parent's retirement.

Tobacco is considered a taboo product in Zira.  It is used by Necromancers, and its Ziran name translates to 'demon leaf'.  However, there are many other drugs available both legally, such as a sweet stimulating tea called Tsen.  This drug is sold in tea houses though major cities - these tea houses have often been in the family for generations, and walk a careful road with the law enforcement.  There are many harder drugs too.  The most notable is Panta.  It turns the teeth of the users black.  It is the most common drug sold in the poorer districts of Kabasera.

Gold is seen as lucky.  It is common for friends and relatives to give people a gold coin with their name engraved into it before exams, moving, marriage or childbirth.  Most commonly, the name will be scratched in by the well wisher - but if they do not have the tools or ability, the service is available in major cities.  Some wealthy families have coins custom made, with the name as part of an elaborate design.

Swordplay is a very common hobby for young boys and fine tutors are often hired for the eldest son of a family.  Ziran has a distinct national style, which employs quick, dance-like movement, a two edged (European style) short sword, and leather armour.  Some heavy armour styles are taught too, but mostly by people of a foreign background. 

Except for fish, Zirans do not eat a lot of meat.  Most of the major cities are coastal, so fish is always plentiful and fresh.  However, in the Merchant City, fish can be ridiculously expensive.  Other meats such as duck, chicken, boar, pork and lamb are sometimes eaten, but they are expensive and usually reserved for special occasions.  Because technology in Zira isn't as good as our own, nor is their magic very good, meat must be eaten on the day it was killed, or otherwise preserved in salt or smoked.

However, the vegetable industry is very strong.  Most dishes are made up of many vegetables, grilled, boiled, roasted or fried.  Western Zira in particular is known for their spicy food.  These vegetables are served with breads, pastries.  Most Ziran dishes can be eaten with your hands; however some foreign-inspired cuisines require the use of cutlery.

The largest festival in Zira is held in the middle of the summer every year.   Families create a small wooden boat, place a candle inside and set it out to sea for good luck.  An Alt festival is also widely celebrated - Iraam which is held every 10 years.  This is celebrated by the country's mages performing free shows in the cities, parades, costumes, and lots of food and drink.

Because of the low literacy rate in Zira, reading is considered very 'upper class'.  Newspapers and speciality-magazines and books are available in all the major cities and are a sign of wealth and education even though much of the content is quite trashy.

Zira is not a very religious county - having no religion of its own.  Zirans have seen the great magical powers gifted to their Alt neighbours by their gods.  As most Zirans have little or no magic they have decided this is because no gods watch over their countries.  Several countries have set up churches hoping to bring in new worshippers or to help the poor, however most of these are very unsucessful, struggling to find enough donations to stay open.  The sucessful churches are in Ilma Behar where foreign sailors frequently visit.

The farmers blame the soil, the fishermen blame the ocean � nobody knows the real truth, but compared to its close neighbour Altaire, almost nobody in Zira is born with innate magic.  Those who are either move to Altaire to further their studies or are quickly recruited by the People�s Army.

Around 30% of the population have no magical talent at all, not even being able to cast the most basic light spell.  Of this group, most of them are male, and most of them are noticeably of the �ancient� silver haired tribal people of Zira.  Those who can cast magic are usually limited to what the schools call �survival magic� � basic light, fire, wind, and cooling spells.

Although it is not recorded, most of the original Alt settlers of Zira had an average Alt-level magical talent, however with each passing generation their magical power has diminished.

However, due to its close proximity to Altaire, many magical items are available in the market, however they are very expensive.  Magical talent is more valuable than gold.  A small 1 foot x 1 foot fridge-like device costs upwards of 20 thousand gold.  Smaller enchantments and spells usually cost 100-200 gold coins.

However, because Necromancy gets its power from words everybody can perform it.  The royal family of Zira actually encourage its people to study the art of Necromancy, however people have not yet embraced it, out of respect for the dead, other traditional ideas such as a great fear of demons.  Another reason for Necromancy�s unpopularity is because it requires a high level of literacy, not only in Ziran but in Common too � as almost no magic books are produced in Ziran.  This means that only the most educated people can even consider the profession.

All the cites in Zira are walled to protect the residents from wild raptors.  However, this makes it difficult for cities to expand.  This would require a portion of wall to be knocked down and rebuilt, which is extremely dangerous.  Instead, Zira has chosen to build upwards.  It is common to see expensive new housing on top of old, dilapidated ones.

Most people who own businesses live in a quarters above their shop.  Some shops never close because the owners are always upstairs and willing to wake up at insane hours of the night to earn a few extra gold. 

Buildings in Zira are very brightly coloured.  At first one building in a street would be painted a bright colour to stand out from the rest... but eventually others would follow until large streets were filled with a rainbow array of buildings.  The fad has started to wear out a bit, and paintjobs have sometimes been neglected.  Paint flakes, showing a history of other paint jobs underneath and climbing vines have been allowed to conquer unused walls.

In cities, gates are closed at sunset and are not reopened until sunrise.  It is extremely urgent for all travellers to reach their destination before they get locked out of the city.  Sometimes mercenary camps form outside city walls who charge extortionate rates to merchants for protection, who are forced to spend the night between cities.  Luckily, each city is easily within one-day's walking distance to the next one.  For those unable or unwilling to walk, places can be bought on merchant wagons, and an airship is available, but only operates once a week.