Russian Social Studies (Part 1) for Nescients.
This, and related posts, are primarily for my own deepening education. As westerners, we are rarely educated about Russia and Eastern Europe geography and cultures and I admit to being overwhelmed when it comes to (reasonably) quickly mentally placing a region when I read about something there. I have to remind myself that not EVERYwhere in Russia is like the stereotype of Siberia. With Russia revealing itself to be the current Karistus power-base, and with 3 of the 4 Brothers operating from here, it behooves those of us who consider ourselves as Karistians, to increase our familiarity with what we can. It's bad enough that we rely on translators to render Russian writings into English - with a whole lot of depth lost in translation, no doubt - but at least I can educate myself geographically, going from the large overview and then eventually drilling down into the details of the regions, their people, their cultures, their histories, and their mysteries. So, to begin with, I aim ...