Vannos
Vannos, officially the High Lamneary of Vannos (Liturgical Antissan: Εϸαρας Λαμνιαυαντας Ουαχνας , Esharas Lamniyantas Wahnas; Zepnish: Οχλαμνερϸαφτ Ϝαννος Hochlamnerschaft Vannos), is an independent state and group of Sirian religious communities in southern Messenia, occupying the island of the same name off the south-eastern coast of Madaria in the northern Messenic Sea. While the High Lamneary has resided here since the middle 14th century, its current independent status dates only from 1927, when its sovereign status was agreed by gift of the sovereign of Madaria.
High Lamneary of Vannos Εϸαρας Λαμνιαυαντας Ουαχνας Esharas Lamniyantas Wahnas | |
|---|---|
 Flag | |
 Position of Vannos off southern Messenia | |
| Capital and largest city | Vannos Town |
| Official languages | Liturgical Antissan, Madarian, Zepnish, Elmiesian |
| Demonym | Vannite |
| Government | Monastic council |
| Andreas tou Anthraka | |
| Legislature | Tuliyas |
| Establishment | |
• First settlement by Sirian monastics | 1349 |
• Elevation to High Lamneary | 1573 |
• Agreement on sovereignty | 15 Fabricad 1927 |
| Area | |
• Total | 193.7 km2 (74.8 sq mi) |
| Population | |
• Census | 1,569 |
• Density | 8.1/km2 (21.0/sq mi) |
| Currency | Madarian kroun |
Geography and climate
The island of Vannos lies 77 kilometres (48 miles) south-west of the Madarian mainland. It covers an area of only 175.7 sq. km. (67.8 sq. miles), making it the smallest independent polity in the world, and is formed from the remains of a basaltic volcano which is believed to have become extinct at least one million years ago. Its coastline is largely made up of cliff faces; there are no harbour facilities, and anything not produced locally must be brought in by boat to one of several jetties built for the purpose at Vannos Town, on the north coast of the island and its only non-religious settlement of any size.
The lamnearic territories also extend to the two smaller nearby islands of Irais and Pirunos. The latter, a rough oval less than two kilometres across on its long axis, was used as an isolation facility for infractions of community discipline and has never been permanently inhabited; Irais has a resident population of about 100.
Vannos’ climate is subtropical, with only some slight seasonal variation due to the clockwise-flowing Messenic Gyre which passes by the island to the south. The island is still largely forested, particularly by the sturdy Vannos pines which share its name and which encouraged its early settlement. It has no rivers and only one internal body of fresh water, the Papparsa lake, in the north of the island.
Etymology
The name Vannos (Old Messenian Βάννος) is most usually thought to have emerged from Antissan wahnu, “to fortify”. The nature of the island, with high cliffs around most of its coastline preventing easy access and making it in many respects a natural fortress, perhaps supports that view. An alternative, but unconfirmed, theory holds that it is actually a mistranscription of the Old Messenian νάνος, “dwarf”, in reference to the smallness of the island.
History
Prior to settlement
Although located very much at the heart of some of the oldest cultures in the world, Vannos’ forbidding geography meant that it was almost entirely uninhabited for most of the pre-Common Era period. The first permanent claims on Vannos and its neighbouring islands were probably made by the revived Neokos Empire around 200 CE; excavations for an extension to lamneary buildings on the east coast of the island in 1956 found coinage and other small personal effects consistent with that period. However, it is presumed that any ongoing connection with the mainland was lost in the fall of the empire to Secote invasion under Czeslaw in the early eighth century. The minimal contact that was maintained until the establishment of the Lamneary was largely for the felling of trees for use in shipbuilding, the quality of Vannos timber being much prized.
The Lamneary
The first settlement by Sirian religious communities began in 1349, with the foundation of the original Lamneary of Vannos. Records surrounding the foundation are scarce and patchy, but it is generally held that the decision to move to the island emerged out of a doctrinal dispute between members of the Lamneary of Tacheinero, in the south of present-day Madaria; the precise details are not known. The 1349 date is taken from a reference in papers at Tacheinero to a hantas or “first one” on the island. It was formally elevated to the status of High Lamneary by decision of the Tepharion, the ruling council of Siriash in the west, in 1573.
Vannos’ isolation seems to have largely defined its nature as a restricted and generally contemplative community, although this did not suffice to keep it wholly isolated from the wider world. The Lamneary was obliged to make accommodations with secular powers on several occasions across the centuries, including the Palthic Empire as it expanded south and east into the Prasinian peninsula. The community’s present ruling council was established in 1677, essentially as a miniature replica of the Tepharion, with the High Lamneant functioning as chief secular authority on those occasions when temporal powers could not be held at arm’s length.
Although the Vannos community passed through the possession of several nations and polities over the years, it had largely been able to retain a measure of autonomy, given the desires of most of its nominal rulers to maintain good relations with the Tepharion. However, it did not achieve actual independence until 1927, when Andreas, the sovereign of Madaria and a notably pious Sirian – to the extent that he had at one point seriously considered entering the religious life himself – formally separated the High Lamneary from his country as a polity in its own right on the occasion of his 75th birthday. Despite this official independence, Madaria still retains responsibility for Vannos’ defence and provision of services, essentially as a dependent territory.
In the modern era, Vannos remains very largely the enclosed religious community which it was established as being; it is for the most part self-sufficient in food, with the twenty-two separate communities on the island maintaining themselves largely through farming. Some logging for internal usage is still carried out. Subventions from the Madarian budget and from the Tepharion are used to supplement the Vannite budget and pay for larger capital works where required.
Government and foreign relations
Vannos is not a “state” in the generally accepted sense of that term, and consequently has no direct interordinate relations with other states; these are dealt with on its behalf by the foreign affairs department of the Madarian government. The ruling council of the Vannos community, the Tuliyas, is formed from the leaders of the individual island communities, with the High Lamneant acting as leader and functional head of state. However, by agreement with Madaria, that country appoints a lay administrator to deal with the day-to-day functioning of the island and public order issues. As the High Lamneant is also, by virtue of his status, a member of the Tepharion, he appoints a deputy to act on his behalf while attending its sessions in Coseptra, and this is the main channel for any churchly relations with other states.
Transport and access
There are no harbours or waterways on Vannos, with all goods being transhipped to shore. The island did not have permanent roads until 1973 (Irais and Pirunos still do not), and local laws still require the relatively few motor vehicles on the island to give way to cattle. In keeping with the nature of the island as a religious haven, Vannos did not have an airport until 1989, when the aid of the Madarian army corps of engineers was enlisted to level out sufficient land for a small airstrip; even today, this is manned only on an at-need basis.
Access rights to Vannos are strictly monitored, the population of the island is almost entirely made up of monastics and are all male, and women are not permitted to visit the island, as the residents believe that the presence of women, as inferiors within Siriash’s Divine Hierarchy, will hinder them in their efforts towards Ascension. Indeed, the ban on the female gender is so all-pervasive as to extend to the island’s livestock. The last confirmed female visitor to Vannos was the wife of a local ruler from the mainland, who was sent there in 1606 to avoid the spread of Seranian fever in the region, which had already killed her husband. Some women, including the Zepnish journalist Lotte Lang, are known to have stayed on Vannos while disguised as men. Although Vannos is only about one hour by sea from the Madarian mainland, the High Lamneary allows only limited visitation rights; visitors’ permits must be obtained before arrival are usually of no more than three days’ duration. However, a visitor who has been invited by a particular community on the island may remain for as long as that community permits. Visitors are required to have their hair cut short; any visitor who is deemed non-compliant must have his hair cut to a suitable length before being allowed to leave Vannos Town for his destination.
Finance and currency
The official currency of Vannos is the Madarian kroun; however, for most practical purposes the island does not use actual cash, with the various monastic settlements being broadly self-sufficient and obtaining supplementary items and materials by normal commercial channels, almost always through factors based on the mainland. A suggestion by the Madarian state mint in 2009 for the issue of commemorative Vannos coinage was turned down by the Tuliyas.
Language usage
The official language of Vannos is Liturgical Antissan, the original language of the Book of Transcendence and the historical liturgical language of Siriash. However, in practice the main languages used on a daily basis are Madarian, Zepnish and to a lesser extent Elmiesian. As the Vannos community contains members from all across the Sirian communion who have sought the contemplative life, a variety of other languages may also be heard in day-to-day use.