The Creation of Gromenia

A M y t h

In the beginning, there were four brothers originating from the land of
Doktovlania. An oracle said that one of them would become a great ruler. They all
wanted it. There was Garridis the Strong, Grentiminus the wise, Oktorian the Quick,
and Gromenius the Kind. Garridis was very, very desperate to be the ruler. He
bargained with the Doktovlanian god Skyris, the chief god, and sold his life source for
great power. He bribed the god Helotinant, the god of life and death, to give him
immortality. He then unleashed great power, devastating the land of Doktovlania and
killing Oktorian. The once hard and flat ground was now erupting and moving, and
rain was pouring down overhead, much to the disapproval of Yettasther, goddess of
water, and Taktean, goddess of the Earth. All of the disruption of rain, and Earth
movement, caused them to become angry with Garridis. They dragged him into the
underground dungeon where all horrible creatures were kept, where they tortured
him until he was through. Then they fed him to the great underworld beast Retaruto.
As a gift to the innocent people, Yettasther, Taktean, and Riyeda (goddess of crops) gave
the people of the once great Doktovlania potatoes. The new soil was rich and soft, good
for growing potatoes. Gromenius and Grentiminus started to rebuild the city. Skyris,
feeling guilty of helping Garridis, helped the brothers by giving them good luck and
warding off evil. Because Garridis was immortal, he survived being eaten. Skyris was
becoming weak, and Garridus confronted him. Garridis unleashed a plague, killing
twenty percent of the remaining population, including Grentiminus. Infuriated with
the sudden imbalance of life and death, Helotinant removed his immortality and ended
his life. Gromenius went on to build a great civilization spreading far and wide, and
named it after himself. With a mass production of potatoes and wheat, they could have
a stable food supply with lots to spare. The flat, large, relatively unharmed, grasslands
created by the Doktovlanians provided good grazing ground for cattle and horses ,
provided by Tyrna goddess of livestock, which gave good meat and transport. All of the
gods helped grow Gromenia by helping with features such as the army, trade, and art.
Chapter 1: Gromenia
Lesson 1: Gromenia's start

Gromenia: An unknown, but great civilization

– Gromenia's start is located on the northern border of Belarus, and occupies the
whole of northern europe and a small percentage of Asia. They occupy what used to
be an area known as Doktovlania, but that civilization was destroyed. Their location
is good for crops such as potatoes,
and grains such as wheat, barley,
and flax. They grew so many
crops, that they had more than
enough and could settle down
permanently. In about 150 BCE
They started to conquer more and
more land, until they reached the
Roman border. They influenced the
Romans by inventing a substance
that could dry quickly and harden.
Romans took that idea and made it into cement. They had trade routes throughout
Northern Europe and into Rome. They traded with Celts, and the inhabitants of
modern day Western Russia. They created beautiful art work and pots, many
depicting the variety of gods they adopted from Doktovlanian Religion. They were
well known for their use of white in
their works. They became allies with
Rome , instead of having Rome
conquer them. The Romans did not
mention them, and the Gromenians
were very big and powerful. This is
because the last Gromenian ruler
Triska, ripped off the Romans by not
giving them the right payment in
exchange for a year's worth of fish.
The Romans demanded it , and a
war broke out. The Romans
demolished Gromenia and erased
any evidence that it ever existed, even from other areas like the Celts and anyone
who was in contact with them. We know this because we have found a tablet in thei
Gromenian area that states “Roma is a great power, they took us over, and erased our
civilization, and all records of us. We are no more”.–
Gromenia and agriculture:
Gromenia's agriculture mainly consists of potatoes and grains. Their soil was the
right consistency to grow potatoes and grains like barley and wheat. They had
hundreds of acres of farmland around their main city, and thousands around their
empire. They had so much grain and potatoes, they needed to get rid of it so that
they wouldnt run out of storage. They traded the produce with the Romans in
exchange for fish and clothing. They developed their own version of the plow, which
was pulled by cows along the fields. It was like a very large wheel barrow that
poked holes in the ground, then dropped the seed in. They dug canals from nearby
rivers, and irrigated the fields.

Gromenian Trade:
Gromenia had a very wide variety of trade routes.
Rome Greeks
Imports- Fish, Clothing, Art, Gold Imports- Fish, Art, Metals
Exports- Potatoes, Grain, Iron, Exports- Wheat, Grain, Pottery

Celts-
Imports- Potatoes, art, livestock
Exports- Wheat, Clothing, Iron
Gromenia's Cultural Significance:
Gromenia had a very unique culture. They had a complex religion, great artwork, a
standard education, and very impressive architecture.

Art
Some of the only evidence that this culture ever existed was the art. There were
beautiful tapestries found inside of Roman homes, not made by the Romans. They
were colorful, and had images of Gods, agriculture, and cows. We know they were
from Gromenia because of one thing.
They all had a certain symbol, and the
words no per civitas of Gromenia,
(made by the city of Gromenia) . We
have also found pots depicting
everyday Roman Life , and wall
fragments with elaborate drawings
of people.

Music:
Gromenian music probably sounded quick, and loud, based off of the instruments
we've uncovered. They had bongo-like drums, and loud shakers made of wood, as
well as a plucking harp-like instrument
and a clarinet-like horn . There are
depictions of people dancing around
musicians , so the assumption would
be that it was energetic , and fast.

Architecture:
Gromenians have a architectural style much like the Romans, with pillars and
arches. The Arches are good at supporting weight, and the pillars are for looks.
They are very effective at impressing. We know this because of fragments, and
paintings.
Religion:
The Gromenians had a polytheistic religion. They had a wide pantheon of gods,
originating from the Doktovlanian period. Only 27 of which we know the names of
from myths and art we have uncovered.

Major Gods of the Gromenian Religion

Skyris- God of the Air
Terrya- Goddess of the Sky
Dantus- God of the Ocean
Yettasther- Goddess of Water
Taktean- Goddess of Earth
Helotinant- God of Lives
Riyeda- Goddess of Agriculture
Tyrna- Goddess of Livestock
Jantius- Goddess of Time
Formanti- God of Towns
Zregdel- God of the Home
Uat- Goddess of Architecture
Opitrenth- God of the Sun
Regidontis- God of the Moon
Flaytra- Goddess of the Military
Tryftya- God of Love
Rulera- Goddess of Rulers
Frinder- God of Children

Theater and Public Events:

Gromerians loved to visit the Theater, or watch races and sports. They had a wide
variety of plays based off of the number of different paintings, but none of them are
known. The theater would consist of 3 actors, and a chorus. The chorus would sing
or act as backgrounds. People would also race on Horses, or play games. A favorite
game of the Gromerians involved a ball, 10 players, 2 teams and hoops. We think
players would try to get the ball through each of the hoops while the opponents did
thye same.
Lesson 2: The Golden Age of Gromenia

Military Conquests:
The people of Gromenia were expanding, and they had a large military. They
decided to try and conquer other lands. They had 6 conquests. The first one, in
1780 BCE, went extremely smoothly, with no obstacles. They conquered more of
Northern Europe. The Second one, in 150 BCE, they ran into indigenous people who
lived in the area, but were allowed to join them. The third and fourth conquests,
held in 72 BCE and 53 BCE went smoothly, but the fifth and sixth conquests, not so
much. The indigenous people there were more advanced. The Gromenians barely
won the fifth conquest, in 32 BCE and had a tough time with the sixth, held in 14 CE.
Once all the land was captured, they entered what we call their Golden Age.
Everyday Life in Gromenia During the Golden Age:

Rich Life:
Rich people had a luxurious life. They had Great houses modeled off of temples and
palaces. They had a courtyard, and a garden, and sometimes a pool if you were
extremely wealthy. They got water by using the aqueduct system which they got
from the romans. We have found evidence
of aqueducts used by Gromenians . The
Rich could go to schools , where they
learned simple math , and how to read.
They had paid cooks make food for them,
and had paid workers do chores around
the house.

Humbler Life:
Humble people of Gromenia typically lived in small stone or wooden houses, with a
small stone oven stove. They had to walk to the nearest well to get water supplied
by aqueducts. They had do to all jobs by themselves, but could attend meetings for
the government just like Richer people. They were allowed to attend public events
such as races, or performances.

Government during the Golden Age:

Gromenia's government was very stable. There were citizens, which could be men
or women over 18, Senators, and one ruler. Citizens elected the ruler after
candidates went up against the Senate. Once they were chosen, they would rule for
4 years. Women or men could be chosen. Unlike Romans, where they had to be men
to even be citizens, women were valued in Gromenia. They bore more potential
rulers, or soldiers. They found it rude not to have them be equals to men. The social
class went as shown:
Lesson 3: The Fall of Gromenia

Their version of a republic lasted throughout their entire history, because no one
ever did wrong. A few messed up a little, but nothing horrible. Not until Triska, the
last ruler of Gromenia made a terrible mistake.

Triska:
Triska was the last ruler of the 15 th dynasty of Gromenia. His father, Hontas was a
great leader from the sources we've found. Triska on the other hand, was a
forgetful, irresponsible rookie. He had never done anything for the people, and was
too obsessed with leisure that when the Romans offered a trade of 13 pounds of
gold for 109 pounds of iron, he automatically said yes. It states in one of the
readings, “Romans offered us 13 [pounds] of gold for 109 [pounds] of iron. I
expected him to say no, we need the iron to make tools. That fool said yes. He has
doomed us.” He did doom them. After Rome gave them the gold, the most the
government would let him offer was 53 [pounds] of iron. Rome was furious. They
demanded a full payment, or to give up the money. Triska decided to have a battle.
Whoever won, took all. The Gromenians knew they were dead, going up against the
Roman army. They had a battle that lasted 4 months, that the Romans won. As one
last act of conflict, Triska invaded the Roman army camp and stole the entire
camp's supplies. This ticked off the Roman emperor, so he demolished the
civilization to the ground. Later Emperors erased any history of their existance to
remove the memory. Gromenia was no more.