Tairafon Worldbuilding

[St George]

Tairafon

Area: 392,000km2
Population: 47,040,000
Population Density: 120km2
Capital, and largest city: Caerwyn (“Fair Fort”) population 480,000
Second city: Aberllyn (“Mouth of the Lake”) population 370,000, Pontarfan (“Bridge on the Tarfan”) population 310,000
Other cities: Llanerchfaen (180,000), Rhydonnen (130,000), Brynmawrth (115,000), Glanyrhyd (95,000)
Official language: Taireg, Afoneg (bardic form of Taireg given official status)
Religion: Yr Eglwys Afonol (The Riverine Church) (64%), Irreligious (19%), Orthodox (6%), Lakhic Church (2%), Others (9%)
Demonym(s): Taires / Tairwr
Government: Cooperative Parliamentary Republic
Head of State: Ceremonial Arlywydd (President) Bryn Cadi
Head of Government: Prif Weinidog (Prime Minister) Seren Siân
Legislature: unicameral 399-member Y Senedd Genedlaethol (National Senedd) / y Gymanfa (informal name)
Electoral System: Mixed-Member Proportional Representation
Motto: “Dan Dair Afon, Un Gyfraith” (Under Three Rivers, One Law)
Currency: fflorinau (₣ or Ff)

Tairafon is an agricultural, mid-sized nation of 47,040,000 per the 2026 census, having grown by around 89,000 per year over the previous census, taken in 2016. The area around the three rivers that dominate the geography of the country was first settled by tribesman moving in from the Iterian interior around 2,300 years ago who migrated north, following the Afon Tarfan and setting up the Teyrnas yr Afon (River Kingdom) though the contemporary name appears to have been related to the settlement of Adref, translated from the proto-Taireg dialect of Afoneg (distinguished from the modern bardic language with the same name, which was a split of Taireg created during the 19th century bardic revival) as “home” or sometimes “safety”.

Records of the Teyrnas yr Afon vary but it, alongside other early tribal settlements along the Tarfan and during the next three to four hundred years the Afon Eirian and Afon Rhydlas, grew and shrank in the usual way – one of these early kingdoms would grow dominate the area before the others brought them down. According to the semi-historical records of Mawgan, the Messianist monk whose Hanesion y Tair Pobl Afon (Histories of the Three River Peoples), circa 642 CE, is the earliest surviving document purporting to tell a complete history of the Tairwr, the entirety of the three rivers from the source of the Tarfan in the far south to estuary of Eirian where it’s joined by the Rhydlas and flows into the Môr Digoneddus (Bountiful Sea) as Mawgan names it, however by the time the 13th century Brenhines yr Afon (River Queen) Branwen, the southernmost lands had been lost to invading southern Iterian empires, likely the Kyerkhen-Tso Empire.

The present day borders of Tairafon have been largely unchanged since the days of Branwen and her descendants, even as the Ty o Llŷr fell and was replaced by first the Gwyn and later the Suadvici-originating Fflafian, named after Marcus Antony Flavian, who nativised himself as Marcws Antwn Fflafian. The Fflafians were the last ruling house of the Tairafon and with the death of Elenora I Fflafian in 1808, who during the bardic revival is given the epithet “Y Frenhines Dawel” (the Quiet Queen”), the nobility, clergy, senior judges, town delegates and cooperative representatives gathered in Caerwyn to select a successor.

No successor was selected however, due to an inability to come to an agreement. Wanting to avoid war and with no compromise candidate emerging, the assembly opted instead to pass the Deddf Gwarchod y Deyrnas, 1809 (the Act for the Keeping of the Realm). The Act establishes that, until a new monarch is chosen, royal powers will be exercised by y Gymanfa, which will elect a council of ministers and a ceremonial presiding officer called Stiward y Deyrnas (the Steward of the Realm). The Act also establishes that the courts shall act in the name of the law rather than the crown, “Hyd oni choronir olynydd cyfreithlon” (until a lawful successor is found.

This goes on for several decades, until the Y Senedd enacts Deddf y Weriniaeth (The Republic Act) 1856. The opening line becomes famous through Tairafon, “Gan fod y Goron wedi aros yn wag, a’r wlad heb aros yn segur…” (Since the Crown has remained empty, and the country has not remained idle…) and the Gweriniaeth Tairafon (Republic of Tairafon) is formed. The Stiward y Deyrnas becomes the Arlywydd (President) at this time also.

Tairafon largely avoided the wars of the 20th century, due to the passage of Deddf Niwtraliaeth (Neutrality Act) 1909 which committed Tairafon to cooperative diplomacy, humanitarian causes and banned the government from waging wars of aggression or conquest. Humanitarian, peacebuilding and other aid organisations received government backing during the Fascist Wars, and Tairafon opened itself to refugees in this time, though post-Fascist Wars many refugees found themselves “encouraged” home by the state.

In the modern day, Tairafon is an agricultural exporter, though doesn’t engage in mass livestock farming, instead preferring to use land for crops or for wildlife, with hunting a major industry and venison a national dish. The population has started an urban influx, however compared to other nations Tairafon is notably rural – the capital city of Caerwyn and the larger Ardal y Brifddinas Tair Dinas (Three Cities Capital Area) has a population of 480,000 and 1.7 million people total. The largest city outside of the capital region, Llanerchfaen, is only 180,000.

Rather than industrialise and lacking the large deposits of natural resources that are needed for large scale mining operations, the economy is highly decentralised, with local cooperatives making up the vast majority of registered companies in the nation. More recently, the government has attempted to attract international finance corporations to the country with favourable tax rates though this remains highly controversial.

The 399-member unicameral Y Senedd Genedlaethol (National Senedd) is elected on a mixed-member proportional representation system, where 60% of the members come from the constituency vote and 40% from regional lists. The voting age is 16 and parties require 4% of the regional vote to gain representation in the Senedd.

 

[St George]

The Cooperative Movement

Cooperative tradition begins to gain prominence in the early 18th century, though it’s not ideological or at the national level – it’s farmers sharing mills, chapel-led poor funds and the first local credit societies in cities and towns. Under Elian I Fflafian (1731-1759), the movement gains more official backing, as he gives legal protection to the chapel mutual-aid societies and backs local assemblies and clergy-led mediation over the traditional rights of the nobles.

Elian’s successor, Luc Fflafian (1759-1784) expands the roles of these societies and other cooperative bodies, giving them high status in terms of national petitions. Tutored in his youth by the Tairwr philosopher and historian Dale Owen, Luc was influenced by Owen’s ideas around consensus-based decision, to the frustration of some of his own court. By the end of Luc’s rule, consensus politics and the cooperative movement were both fashionable among the educated classes.

In contrast to Luc’s consensus based work, Marcws Antwn II Fflafian (1784-1797) attempts to reverse the drift, but is stymied by how entrenched committees and cooperatives have become. Marcws Antwn – and his favourites at court – dismiss such things as dithering, but his attempts to bypass the Senedd and cooperative societies largely fail as the decentralised bureaucracy in towns and cities fail to enforce unpopular tolls. Under Elenora I Fflafian, the chronically ill last queen of Tairafon, her regents and councils restore the cooperative, consensus-based system. Elenora, for her part, is said to have been a supporter of these efforts, though whether this is true has been disputed by more recent, revisionist historians.

Following the official establishment of the republic in 1856, the Mudiad y Gydfasnach (the mutual trade movement) emerges, beginning as a collection of farmers’ grain cooperatives, mutual insurance societies, chapel credit unions, workers’ buying clubs, river transport groups and seed banks and machinery-sharing societies banding together in their local areas. Over time, these groups coalesce and after receiving government backing and established in the constitution, the Cyngor y Gydfentor (Cooperative Council) is formed in 1923, operating not as a second chamber in the Senedd, but as an advisory body, weighing in on bills that must be referred to it under the law.

Today, cooperatives dominate the day to day life of the people. For example;

Lian and Beca Prys drop off their son Cai and daughter Emi at their school in Coedllwyd, a market town along the Afon Tarfan, run by the local Cymdeithas Ysgol Gydfuddiannol (mutual school society), before Beca heads to an appointment at a branch of Banc Cydafon, a national cooperative banking network that traces its origins back to the chapel credit unions and farmers’ funds, to see about getting an assisted loan to help fund their farm. At the same time, Lian takes a Teithio Tarfan bus ran by a cooperative to the Coedllwyd market hall, run by the Marchnad Gydweithredol Genedlaethol, a national federation of market halls, produce auctions and food distribution networks. He’s there to speak to a representative of the Cwmni Grawn Rhanbarthol (reginal grain company) for Rhanbarthol Tarfan, about how much storage the Prys farm will need this coming harvest.

At school, Emi is finishing her application to Prifysgol Gydweithredol Caerwyn (Cooperative University of Caerwyn), one of the three major universities in the nation, where she’s aiming to study medicine. Cai, meanwhile, is on a school trip, to the Academi Chwaraeon Genedlaethol (the National Sports Academy), which is run cooperatively by many of the country’s sports federation. Cai is a promising rugby and Pêl Afon player, who has already representing Tairafon at the youth level.