Menema , the chain of islands off the coast of Dalanya, is physically very similar to the mainland. The islands are mountainous and mostly of volcanic origin. Two volcanoes have been active in recent history, Mt. Veramel and Mt. Makurel. Mt. Veramel erupted spectacularly in the early 6th century and recently has threatened to erupt again. Mt. Makurel is continuously active, though on a small and mostly non-violet scale.
Menema shares Dalanya's mild climate and generous winter rainfall. Like Dalanya it is cooled in the summer by the Trierzi current which brings cool waters from the north. Meneman wildlife and domesticated animals are essentially identical to Dalanyan.
Before the Azeryani conquest in the mid 5th century Menema was inhabited by Baltazim farmers and fishermen. Menemans were a substantial part of of the Baltazim Felthora ring and the entire area was culturally quite uniform. Unfortunately the A HREF="azeTOC.html">Azeryani brought with them plague and the Baltazim population was devastated. The mainland population was not quite as severely hit, but the island population was nearly wiped out. Coupled with later Azeryani immigration during the Zonara/Trierzi succession, Baltazim culture was essentially eradicated on the islands. When Dalanya broke away from the empire in the early 6th century, Meneman culture was purely Azeryani.
Kolvis, the principle town of Menema, was founded in 485 TR as an imperial naval base in an attempt to control piracy on the Western Venarian Sea. It stayed primarily a military encampment until the Zonara/Trierzi succession in 488-492 TR, when Azeryani refugees settled in the area. Menema quickly took on the look of any other Azeryani province, though with a large military and naval presence. Conquest by the Ivinian clan Ljatemaal in 531 TR had little effect on the general population or government. The Ljatemaals merely assumed control of the government and hired themselves as a large portion of the standing army, but left everything thing else more or less unchanged. Within five generations the Ljatemaals had intermarried with the local Azeryani population and been culturally absorbed. Descent from the Ljatemaals is still a mark of prestige, and worship of Sarajin is popular among the rulers, but otherwise the Ivinian legacy has been minor.
Kolvis is a small city for Azeryan, with a steady population of roughly 5,000. Its economy is largely mercantile with a healthy dose of piracy. Meneman marines and sailors routinely hire out as mercenaries in the various Venarian conflicts, another source of income. Agriculturally it is only capable of supporting itself through its holdings on the Dalanyan mainland. The government is officially a kingdom but it is modelled closely on the Azeryani imperial structure. The Imperial bureaucracy is still intact and constitutes the majority of the government. That the local ruler styles himself "King" instead of "Governor" is the only substantial difference between Menema and other Azeryani provinces.
Ziryabism is officially proscribed in the Kingdom of Menema. In 634, Ziryabite fanatics assassinated the king, Yngvy Toricson, leading to 7 years of bloody persecution. That the kingdom of Menema controls a large piece of the Dalanyan mainland which is inhabited almost exclusively by Ziryabite Baltazim and Agrazhim is problematic. Most Ziryabite worship has been practiced quietly and behind closed doors since the persecutions of the 630s, but since Mt. Veramel threatened to erupt in 717 tensions between the Ziryabites and the ruling Azeryani and Ivinians have been on the rise. In 718 a delegation of Baltazim clanheads petitioned the Warriors of Ahrmiz, a Ziryabite sorcerous order in Isynen, for help in throwing off the yoke of Meneman rule. In 718 and 719 eight different Baltazim Ziryabites arranged to have themselves martyred by the Meneman government. In late 719 the Baltazhim clans in the area surrounding Delket declared their independence from Menema and have refused to pay their regular tribute. So far the king of Menema has taken no direct action but diplomats have been busily traveling back and forth between Delket and Kolvis. It is whispered that Baltazim warriors throughout Dalanya are organizing across clan lines to join the Warriors of Ahrmiz when they arrive with their army.