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Consecrated Legions

2026-06-24T23:48:29Z

Zadammac:

The '''Consecrated Legions''' are specialized units within the [[Imperial Legion]] of the [[Atarlie Empire]], fulfilling social, political, and martial roles similar to the [[Chivalric Orders]] of [[Bastonia]]. Service in a consecrated legion comes with heavier strictures in terms of required codes of conduct and terms of service (often for life), but is a commensurately more rewarded career path than the common legion, both in terms of rise of political station and in terms of material wealth. Many members of consecrated legions earn veteran discharges and become travelling adventurers. The ranks of these legions swell with warrior-clerics, knights, and when appropriate, Paladins.

Each of the gods of the [[Noon-Sun Court]] have patronage of a consecrated legion, with the exceptions of [[Shalaevar Shamaris]] and [[Hycis Uriris]], whose best patronage in the view of mainstream Atarlie culture would be their continued disinterest in elven affairs. However, the actual faction which rules over each of these legions is a matching [[Gen]], or noble family said to have descended from that Patron god.

* The [[Legio Rophalin]] in service to [[Rophalin Imperitor]] are considered the most elite unit of the entire imperial legion. Occasionally fielded in battle, it is far more common to find units of the Legio Rophalin stationed in the [[Imperial City]] as elite guards to both the [[Emperor of the Elves]] and the [[Imperial Senate]].
* The [[Legio Valeptor]] often serve as supplementary city guard units or temple wardens. This unit, dedicated to [[Pyria Valeptor]], usually masses as a full legion to come to the aid of distressed frontier cities or other areas where Elves are under threat.
* The [[Legio Feno]], servants of [[Feno Illirel]], are best known for their skills in the medicinal arts. Companies of the Legio Feno are often attached to other legion (even common legion) units on deployment or dispatched to areas suffering from outbreaks of plague or famine.
* The [[Legio Navarre]] are a scattered legion in the service of [[Navarre Yesbella]]. They patrol the roads of the empire seeking to discourage or capture thieves, bandits, and other such ne'er-do-wells. Alone among all legion units, the Legio Navarre only accepts individuals of common station - people from elevated families need not apply. As a result they are one of the most racially integrated legions in the whole Atarlie military.
* The [[Legio Chaelabar]] is largely divided into two camps in keeping with the general missions and portfolio of [[Merellien Chaebalar]], their patron. The first camp occupies a position similar to Bastonian Sherriffs, responsible for the maintainence of prisons, security of courts, and the transportation of prisoners. The other camp serves a role more martial, pursuing escaped convicts or fugitives within and without the Empire's territory.
* The [[Legio Camus]] are a legion with a disproportionate number of Magus in their ranks, owing to their patronage of [[Camus Inakas]]. Camus' follower-legion, like many of the others, serves twin roles: the first as guardians of the often-wealthy temples to Camus, and the second as travelling companies, dispatched to guard excavations put on by the church or attached to other legions to supplement their fighting capabilities with their potent mastery of the arcane.
* The [[Legio Lugolor]] are particularly feared on the battlefield, though their sometimes-distasteful association with [[Lysanthir Lugalor]] means their soldiers' stars do not rise perhaps as quickly as the rest. Lugalor's legion is one of battlefield chaplains; under most commands, more a comfort to their side than a menace to the enemy. Their specialty is in the dispatch of the undead and those who work best with the undead - Necromancers. All this being said, in desperate conditions, the elite core of the Legio Lugalor can channel their master's mastery over death into truly dire arts of war.
* Finally, the [[Legio Immarra]] are servants of the elven god of beauty, [[Immarra Hyacinth]], and mostly serve as wardens to her temple or guardians of artworks under transportation. A few fill a role closer to that of ranger, and protect parklands and reserves renowned for their natural beauty. On rare occasions, members of the Legio Immarra are peeled off of their ordinary duties to attend to the collection of some art or artist of great value.

Atarlie Empire

2026-06-24T23:46:36Z

Zadammac: /* Atarlie and the Nations of Wisteria */

{{Major Revision}}

The '''Atarlie Empire''' is a nation-state on the eastern side of the Atlas mountains, extending across the Northern Shore to the Eastern Sea, and bounded by the [[Hearthlands]] in the south. Populated largely by a haughty branch of the [[Elven]] lineage (often known as High Elves in other nations), the Atarlie consider themselves the true rules of Wisteria and the highest lifeform in Ahren. Their mythologies hold that they are the offspring of a sun-god and that they have kept alive a "flame of civilization" that has survived many cycles of worldly recreation. Like any good empire it is actually fairly diverse, integrating humans, halflings, and gnomes from the regions it has conquered, who can obtain full citizenship rights and occasionally even serve in positions of authority.

The Atarlie People, whose name show their connection to the Sun, are often called Sun Elves or High Elves in other lands, by contrast to the relatively “base” Carcolie or other, more exotic offshoots of Elvendom. They are creatures strongly tied to the natural flow of arcane magics, for which they are known and using which their cities and architecture are constructed.

Elven society is both extremely dynamic generation-over-generation in terms of social and economic mobility, and seemingly unchanging to shorter-lived races such as humanity. While it does distinguish between aristocratic, landed, and working classes, those lines blur constantly through intermarriage, political intrigue, and economic mobility (in both directions). Individual regnal periods of individual emperors are relatively long in human terms but still can seem short and end brutally by elven standards, though bloodless coups are more common than full-on imperial assassinations.

All this being said, the Altarie nonetheless consider themselves to be the steadfast guardians of natural and divine order, worshipping the [[Noon-Sun Court]] and banning the worship of all gods outside that within their provinces - but not, however, within other holdings, like their protectorate in the [[Hearthlands]]. They maintain an internal cohesiveness of realpolitikal and legal power unseen in other nations of comparable size, such as the [[Bastonia|Bastonians]] or the [[Clans of Magnus]]; while individual Bastonian Monarchs or Dwarven High Kings may achieve similar cohesion, it rarely survives the interregnum. The elves therefore have a pronounced culture of bureaucratic and magisterial civil services which are not seen nearly as pervasively elsewhere.

Atarlie adventurers broadly fall into two classes – elite legionary units or former units now operating as “dogs of war” or “soldiers of fortune”, and disaffected members of Atarlie lowerclasses seeking to make their fortunes elsewhere. Exceptions exist, as always, but as the Empire is seen by most of its citizens as the most preferable domains in the world, exceptions to the two above rules rarely adventure outside the wildernesses of the Empire itself.

==Atarlie Geography and Government==
===Understanding Atarlie Senatorial Politics===
While the external view – and the titular expectation – of Imperial power is that the Emperor is the most powerful individual among the Atarlie, the truth is somewhat more complicated. While the Emperor has a great deal of unilateral power with regard to foreign policy and military affairs, the critical powers of taxation and treaty ratification reside in the hands of the Senate.

The senate are a political class (and body) of landed gentry, exclusively Elves, who must meet requirements of ancestral service within the senate along with a certain minimum level of civil or military service prior to being appointed to the Senate. While an Emperor can raise new senators who meet the requirements into their ranks, the Emperor does not have the ability to dismiss the senate.

Because of this the Senate can often hamstring Emperors who have become unpopular among their number, but the Emperor can also retaliate by swelling the senate’s ranks with persons who serve their own interests.

===Provinces and Protectorates===
The Empire is broken up into a series of provincial holdings, each under the purview of a Prefect, who is responsible to the Emperor for leveeing forces according to the province’s capabilities and to the Senate for meeting requirements of law and taxation. In order of political importance, these provinces are:
* The [[Imperial Province]] in the Northwestern Empire, extending from the [Atlas Mountains] in its west to a border along the line from [[Tripolis]] to [[Sunport]]. The [[Imperial City]] is its capital, though the personages of the Emperor and the [[Prefect of the Imperial City]] are separate offices.
* The [[Province of the Sun and Moon]] extends from this same border all the way to the eastern shores of Wisteria, and as south as the River Silverrun, which is south of [[Convergence Hall]]. It commands the important cities of [[Moonvale]], [[Convergence Hall]], and [[Sunport]], the later being its extremely wealthy capital.
* The [[Atlassian Foothills]] are a province just south of the Imperial Province, as far south as [[Three Peak Dale]], and as far east as its capital, [[Heroka]] and the [[Three Sisters]], a set of mountains which form the general suggestion of its entire eastern border.
* The [[Province of the Lowland Meadows]] is east of the Three Sisters, with a central capital of [[Imarraka]] which serves as a hub for the ports of [[Fjordlodge]] and [[Bayside]], being important trading ports.
* The [[Southern Province]], which is the geographically largest, but least densely populated and least politically unified. This enormous wooded province extends all the way from the borders of the Atlassian Foothills and the Province of the Lowland Medals to the rough median latitude of the [[Hearthlands]], an Atarlie Protectorate. This expanse is rich in natural resources and is somewhat known as the breadbasket and lumberyard of the empire as a result, but the lifestyle is much more insular and rural than the rest of the empire, which is fairly cosmopolitan. It's largest city is [[Corran]], at the foothills of a branch of the Atlas Mountains.
* The [[Province of the Sunset Valleys]] is in the southern reaches of the Atlassian Foothills and western extents of the [[Atlassian Foothills]].
* The [[Atarlie Frontier]] is further south still, extending from the formal border of the Southern Province, all the way to the Great River of Stars. The expansion of the empire into the [[Shimmering Shores]], stymied by the Great Collapse, means that the frontier is somewhat more dangerous than the rest of the Empire, and more heavily fortified - the administrative capital at [[Ichor Hall]], a trading port at [[South Point]], and the garrison city of [[Navarre's Crossing]].

The Empire also has a practice of establishing protectorates – often centuries later becoming provinces. Currently, the principal noteworthy protectorate is the [[Hearthlands]]. Attacking the Hearthlands from land would require either bypassing Imperial territory or launching an attack across the Atlas Mountains, which would involve bypassing the territory of the [[Clans of Magnus]], who fiercely defend their mountain home.

==Atarlie Culture==
===Arts and Architecture===
The Atarlie are a culture at their modern apex, and so are undergoing a golden age in the arts. Artists of all kinds - architects, sculptors, painters, weavers, musicians, playwrights, thespians, and so forth - enjoy an economic freedom to ply their trade unseen elsewhere on [[Wisteria]], or indeed all of [[Ahren]]. These artists make up an economic class above the main labour classes but below the loftier merchantile class, who make up a great deal of their patronage.

Atarlie Architects in particular have a reputation for doing the "impossible", incorporating living elements in their designs and shaping walls and towers out of whole stone, seemingly without toolmarks or joinery. They do this by including wizards and other spellcasters in their labour force, who are capable of remarkable feats of craftsmanship. Such "Grandmaster Technicians" often fail to draw a dividing line between the "mundane" elements of their craft-of-expertise and the parts which are magical.

===Religion, Festivals, and Timekeeping===
The civil religion of the Atarlie Empire focuses on [[Noon-Sun Court|a broad pantheon]] of divinities. The divinities in general are worshipped by the entire population to varying degrees, especially [[Pyria Valeptor]] and [[Rophalin Imperitor]]. The other dieties in the pantheon are each the patrons of various powerful ruling families which themselves rule the individual provinces of the empire, and so enjoy widespread worship in at least some corner of the empire. An increasing number of elves have begun to worship the [[Awakened One]], usually as an additional component to the civic religion, rather than to the exclusion of the atarlie ancestor-worship.

Each of these gods have their own festivals associated with them; in most cases, observed only by the friends and family of people who have selected them as a patron. Only [[Pyria Valpetor]], the Mother of Gods, who is commonly seen as the head of the pantheon enjoys universal observance of her feasts, which are observed on the solstices and equinoxes, given her association with the sun.

If the Bastonian language and alphabet is considered the "common" tongue of Ahren, it is the incredibly precise calendar maintained by the Atarlie that can be thought of as the common calendar. A solar calendar, it consists of 13 months of 28 days, with a single [[Festival of the Turning Wheel]] marking a new year celebration that is not considered belonging to any of those months. This calendar takes its name, the [[Rophalin Calendar]], from [[Rophalin Imperitor]], first emperor of the Atarlie, whose date of coronation forms the epoch for the calendar.

There are also a number of civic holidays observed, including celebrations of historical victories, the birthday of the reigning emperor, and special by-proclamation holidays to mark events the Emperor or Senate want fondly remembered.

===Fighting, Warfare, and Death===
Curiously for an Empire (and therefore a military power), the Atarlie see warfare as an unfortunate but necessary evil. Most expressions of Atarlie imperial power are soft power – displays of force used in place of actual battles, and games of economic manipulation. The elves in general are the longest-lived race on [[Wisteria]] and so take a longer view of history and empire; if they can bloodlessly win a province by spending four human generations working the social and economic angles of the problem, that's no skin off their nose.

These Elves also have a saying: “It is better to be a warrior in a garden than a gardener in the battlefield” (usually attributed to [[Immarra Hyacinth]]. Professional military service is encouraged among all the races that make up the empire (and is one of the paths the gentrified class can use to improve their position), and unlike many other nations the Imperial Legion is a true, standing, professional military force, sworn to servitude with the emperor directly, in the form of the [[Imperial Legion]], as well as a standing military class to be found in the [[Consecrated Legions]].

The Elven Pantheon teaches an afterlife with an [[Elysium]], not unlike Bastonian conceptions of [[Heaven]]. However, Elven morality is far looser and less restrictive, placing a focus on self-improvement and increasing one’s connection to the flows of the arcane. However, since the [[Age of the Summer of Mortals]] has begun, the religion of the [[Awakened One]] has become influential on Atarlie religious scholarship. As a result, a growing number believe they will be reincarnated on [[Ahren]] if they don't "merit" transition to Elysium.

===Language and Scholarship===
The Atarlie Alphabet is a syllabary alphabet, used in the recording of all variants of Elvish language, as well as in some traditions of magical writing, such as those employed in [[Bastonia|The North]]. Atarlie Elvish and Carcolie Elvish are sufficiently similar in their spoken form as to be mutually understood by speakers of either, and many of the other races of Wisteria simply refer to both languages, collectively, as Elvish. However, this is not true of all elvish variants.

The Atarlie Empire has perhaps the most developed and active tradition of formal scholarship the world over. While under- and lower-class families experience much the same educational process as seen elsewhere in the world (focused apprenticeship), the middle and upper classes enjoy a much more generalized education at the hands of privately-funded schools or even private tutors. The goal of this education, in addition to its stated goal of broadening the student's horizons in a manner befitting a "ruler of the world", is to prepare the student for the [[Atarlie Civil Examination]] - an annual round of official examinations that assess the student's suitability for public service and gatekeep civil service positions, most of which are seen as ways to rapidly advance in social or economic position. Schools and independent tutors to help prepare students for these exams are ubiquitous, but expensive. As such, both the schools and the exams are usually only frequented by the children of Gen nobility or wealthy merchants.

Owing to the tight relationship between the Atarlie and the Arcane, schools of arcane magic are extremely common throughout the empire. Most small cities can boast at least one academy focusing on a particular school of magic. In larger settlements, additional schools or even Universities teaching broader fields of study exist.

===Diet, Libations, and Entertainment===
Given the economic power and high degree of urbanization supported by the Atarlie Empire, along with its habit of trade, the Atarlie enjoy a higher than usual standard of diet, both in terms of raw caloric intake and variety, as well as complexity. The culinary arts are heavily patronized by the Atarlie, both in the civilian and military classes. Atarlie cooks are in demand worldwide for their exotic dishes, having developed many condiments and seasonings which have become iconically Atarlie, such as [[Garum]], [[Miso]]. Grand feasts are common among even the middle class, at which the courses are defined by custom. Unlike in Bastonia, where potatoes are the principal caloric filler, the Atarlie make heavy use of rice and wheat pasta. THere is no special distinction between foods appropriate at different meals.

Atarlie followers of the [[Awakened One]] - especially those who have taken up residence in monasteries or who have formally devoted themselves to further study of his teachings - observe a religious abstinence from eating animal products apart from honey. This eventually lead to the creation of additional foodstuffs like [[konjak]], [[tofu]], and [[ofu]] which have themselves backfilled into the mainstream and courtly cuisines.

To a greater extent than elsewhere in the world, being a cook is a respectable profession in Atarlie society that can go on to become a living in its own right. A form of restaurant culture even exists in the country in the form of the [[Atarlie Guesthouse]]. However, the majority of people who earn their living through the preparation of food do so in street stalls in major settlements or at major temples.

Wine is the alcoholic beverage of choice - much of the region is suited to the cultivation of grapes. Every region usually has a signature wine or two, named for the variety of grape from which it is produced, sometimes with the regional name appended if the grape is a wide-spread variety.

Music and Dance are popular at banquets. The Atarlie are decadent by Bastonian standards; such dance includes both the ordinary composed courtly dances as well as a tradition of exotic dancers of all kinds, if suitable for the feast in question.

==Atarlie Economics==
===Taxation and Provision===
As with other aspects of law, taxation is heavily formalized and codified. The [[Imperial Senate]] sets the levels at which provinces themselves are taxed, with prefects left responsible for collecting those taxes. As is common in nations with a taxation policy, the Empire sets taxes on the sale of specific goods or the licensing of particular trades, rather than on income. All taxation is handled in coin at the official level - in some rural areas the prefect may elect to collect the tax in the form of trade goods, but is ultimately responsible for the sale of those goods and providing the necessary coin to the Senate Treasury. Unsurprisingly, this creates a common avenue for corruption, with prefects setting a low price for goods in terms of their utility for paying the tax, and then selling them off abroad at a profit.

Taxation is used to pay for the extensive [[Imperial Legion]], one of the only truly-permanent standing armies in all of Wisteria, as well as funding infrastructure projects. In times of crisis, the senate may intervene with subsidy or provision to lower the popular temperature and avert the risk of revolt; otherwise, Imperial citizens are generally left to their own capabilities to earn a living.

===Social Class and Economic Position===
The Atarlie have a heavily-developed class system, which is at once castelike in its divisions and highly fluid in terms of social mobility. While only Atarlie Elves can serve in the senate or in higher government office, anyone who can meet the requirements of citizenship (usually by way of service in the Legion) enjoys those benefits regardless of race. These social classes range from an underclass of indentured servants, non-citizens, and the truly destitute, through a lower class made up of "ordinary" labour such as farmers, paid servants, and so forth, through a class of artists, merchants, and lower civil servants, all the way up to a sort of gentrified class, primarily Elves, who serve in the senate, high government office, and high military positions.

The principal dividing factor between these classes is economic - even Atarlie find themselves among the underclass as fate occasionally dictates. Only the gentrified class is purely restricted to the Elves, though some scholars argue that a "pseudogentry" exists, consisting largely of humans, halfings, gnomes, and so-on who have the social and economic connections of the true gentry, without the ability to serve in some of the higher positions the elven members of the gentry enjoy.

One can endeavour to become upwardly socially mobile in one of two ways:
# By climbing the socio-economic ladder one can afford to put oneself or ones children through the necessary education to sit the [[Atarlie Civil Examination]]. This can be seen by the slow way, and is far from being a sure thing, but is often preferred due to the nature of the alternative.
# By serving in the [[Imperial Legion]] or [[Consecrated Legions]] and excelling at ones duties, or by nepotism or other gamesmanship, one can achieve military offices. These offices are often of equivalent stature to various civil service positions with the advantage that there is little upfront cost to obtain them - but of course, all the usual risks of a life spent in military service are implied.

Becoming a citizen of the empire works in much the same way as the [[Atarlie Civil Examination]]. The immediate children of current citizens of the empire are automatically granted citizenship. However, for most non-elves, citizenship was earned. The ordinary way in which this can happen is by appeal to court officials based on the completion of certain duties and examinations. However, the far more common route by which non-elvish families became Imperial families was military service - the Imperial Senate (in the case of the Imperial Legion), at the Empire's request, can grant blanket citizenship to all members of a specific legion, usually as a reward for service in a specific campaign. These campaigns needn't always be warfare; the legion is often used as an institutional labour force. Along a similar vein, the Atarlie Gen have the authority to grant citizen-vassalship to individual members of their [[Consecrated Legion]].

===Focal Industries===
Providing infrastructure to its citizens is the principal advantage - and arguably the greatest strength - of the Empire, and things like continent-spanning roads, irrigation systems, and fortifications require resources. After infrastructure, maintaining the legion is a key economic driver.

Abroad, apart from their legions, the Atarlie's chief export is knowledge. Atarlie writings on sciences mundane and arcane are considered authoritative around the world, at Atarlie traders frequently ply their craft by taking books and scrolls abroad, selling their wares, and returning with exotic goods like spices. The Empire has a fierce demand for salt that they cannot themselves match, and a goodly chunk of their trade is founded on acquiring more, along with spell components, the magical writings of other cultures, and furs, woods, or metals not found freely in the empire itself.

===Technology and Craftsmanship===
The strong connection of the Atarlie elves to arcane magic pervades every aspect of life in the empire, and craftsmanship is no exception. If the Dwarves are known for their powerfully enchanted arms and armour, the elves are known for their trade in scrolls, wands, rings, and wonderous items of every other description. The reliance on magics both Arcane and Divine means that the elves enjoy a quality of life beyond other nations simply down to the labour they save by using magic to accomplish the same goals.

==Atarlie and the Adventuring Classes==
'''Barbarians''' are exceedingly rare among the Atarlie; if they exist at all it’s usually in an underclass absorbed into the empire recently. Atarlie senses of decorum and military traditions do not encourage the fury required by the Rage mechanic, nor the style of combat itself.

'''Bards''' are common in a variety of forms – professional scholars and adventuring troubadors alike. [[Immarra Hyacinth]]’s clergy includes a disproportionate number of bards, whose combined use of divine and arcane magics often makes for unorthodox, but useful, Theurges.

'''Clerics''' are actually quite common, both among the pastoral clergy and in military and adventuring contexts. Elves take their religions and traditions seriously, and while most elves worship the entire pantheon, clerics continue to focus on a single member of the pantheon as their divine patron.

'''Druids''' are common among the worshippers of [[Feno Ilirel]], and form the backbone of the clergy of that particular member of the panethon. The social role of druids is both as healer and soothsayer, particularly in the country where they might be the only clergy present, such as in farming villages.

'''Fighters''' are common within the empire, though the heavier armour and weapons seen in Bastonia and the lands of the dwarves are rarer, seen only among the higher classes or certain specialist warriors – military doctrine favours light or medium armour and graceful weaponry.

'''Monks''' are rare within the empire, and are usually of archetypes that favour armed combat, if they exist at all. There is no corresponding god that would serve the monk class well; monks within the empire’s ranks are usually either transplants or students of transplants and are seen to have something of the foreigner about them regardless of their original heritage.

'''Paladins''' are surprisingly rare, as High Elven society tends toward Lawful Neutral rather than lawful good. Those that exist often serve as justicars or magistrates, though some are functional templars, maintained by the clerical orders of Gods whose alignments would suit their alignment restriction.

'''Rangers''' are an extremely common class among the high elves and can represent any of a number of social roles as befits their combat archetypes and character creation choices. Whole legionary units are composed of rangers almost to the exclusion of others, and representatives of this class can be found among a number of civilian roles, such as dedicated hunters (including of monsters), couriers, cartographers, and the like.

'''Rogues''' are extremely common (as is their combat specialist prestige class, the Assassin). In addition to the usual criminal underclass, anyone who is interested in maintaining their social and political position (or improving it) usually employs a few rogues as spies, informants, and the like.

'''Sorcerers''' are not seen as negatively in the Empire as they are in some other lands, and the arcane bloodline is extremely common. So closely are the Atarlie tied to the sources of magic in the world that it commonly bubbles in their very veins. Sorcery is so common in the Empire that Sorcerers are not always (or even often) proper adventurers, particularly among the older landed and aristocratic families.

'''Wizards''' are also extremely common. Most Atarlie cities have one or more schools of magic, usually focusing on an individual area of study, though a few Universities exist, catering to more generalist wizards-aspirant. Atarlie are so well known for their wizardry that Atarlie wizards are often in demand in other lands as educators, and adventuring Atarlie Wizards are often travelling the world as part of their research. The Atarlie Empire is one of the only places in Ahern where the practice of necromancy is not illegal, though uses beyond communicating with the dead are frowned upon.

==Atarlie and Monsters==
With how heavily developed the Atarlie Empire is, monsters are a rare concern. The odd dragon or giant may wander down from the Atlas Mountains, along with goblinoid raiding parties, causing issues in that frontier. Similarly, legions abroad have to deal frequently with monsters in their area of operations. That said, the bulk of the empire consists of territory devoid of much by way of actively-hostile magical creatures, and the elves are neutral to friendly with a large number of woodland spirits, fey, fawns, and the like which may inhabit the wilder parts of the Imperial Interior.

==Atarlie and the Nations of Wisteria==
The Atarlie consider themselves the true rulers of Wisteria, with all areas not under their control seen generally as frontiers of varying degree of civilization. They are diplomatic enough to not say so bluntly, but their haughty affectation often chills discourse with the other nations of Wisteria.

* [[Bastonia]] and its largely human population is seen as a mostly-civilized land, or at least as civilized as any nation of such short-lived people could be. The Atarlie trade with Bastonia regularly, especially in The North, where they can obtain rare commodities such as valuable furs, salt (and salt brine), and whale oil - especially [[Arcwhale Oil]]. Many elves see "completing" the civilization of Bastonia by assimilating it into the empire the next logical move in their campaign.
* The [[Carcolie]] are the wild and barbaric cousins of the Atarlie, who have an uneasy peace with the each other. The Mountain Elves claim their culture is unique and pure by divine privilege; conversely the many of the High Elves feel that the Mountain Elves have fallen far from grace and will eventually need to be re-civilized.
* The [[Clans of Magnus]] are respected, but seen as aloof isolationists; it is a poorly-kept secret that the only reason the Empire has not attempted to exert authority over the Carcolie is that the Mountain Elves share the Atlas Mountains with the dwarven clans. All such past attempts by the elves to seize territory from the dwarves have met in failure, and so instead a cold peace has developed between the two factions. Atarlie honour-concepts and the [[Holy Dwarven Grudge]] keep relationships at the state level frosty and rigid, but individual elves have been known to study with the dwarves who practice similar crafts, such as the contemporary elvish master sculptor, [[Aliende Imarra]].
* The [[Hearthlands]] is a peaceful protectorate of the Empire, and one relied on heavily for agricultural trade, with the native halflings and gnomes producing food far in abundance of even their own appetites. While viewed sometimes mockingly by the High Elves, it is held that the Hearthlands are "sufficiently civilized" to not require assimilation into the empire proper.
* The two nations of the [[Lordless Lands]]; the [[Orcish Nation]] and the [[Confederacy of Sages]], are both known to the Empire, considered equally barbaric. However, the Lordless Lands is so far removed from Atarlie territory that no serious consideration of either nation is made.
* In contrast, the [[Shimmering Shore]], with its own strong connection to both the Arcane and other worlds entirely, is seen as prime real-estate. The Elves trade frequently with the city-states of the Shimmering Shore, who view them as both vital economic allies as well as the looming foreign threat that some of the more eastern city-states use to try and push one another into a larger alliance. The [[Atarlie Frontier]] is where (and what) it is because of repeated attempts to militarily conquor the city of [[Xarthekei]].

{{Atarlie Empire}}
[[Category: Atarlie Empire]][[Category: Wisterian Nations]]

Atarlie Empire

2026-06-24T23:37:26Z

Zadammac: /* Social Class and Economic Position */

{{Major Revision}}

The '''Atarlie Empire''' is a nation-state on the eastern side of the Atlas mountains, extending across the Northern Shore to the Eastern Sea, and bounded by the [[Hearthlands]] in the south. Populated largely by a haughty branch of the [[Elven]] lineage (often known as High Elves in other nations), the Atarlie consider themselves the true rules of Wisteria and the highest lifeform in Ahren. Their mythologies hold that they are the offspring of a sun-god and that they have kept alive a "flame of civilization" that has survived many cycles of worldly recreation. Like any good empire it is actually fairly diverse, integrating humans, halflings, and gnomes from the regions it has conquered, who can obtain full citizenship rights and occasionally even serve in positions of authority.

The Atarlie People, whose name show their connection to the Sun, are often called Sun Elves or High Elves in other lands, by contrast to the relatively “base” Carcolie or other, more exotic offshoots of Elvendom. They are creatures strongly tied to the natural flow of arcane magics, for which they are known and using which their cities and architecture are constructed.

Elven society is both extremely dynamic generation-over-generation in terms of social and economic mobility, and seemingly unchanging to shorter-lived races such as humanity. While it does distinguish between aristocratic, landed, and working classes, those lines blur constantly through intermarriage, political intrigue, and economic mobility (in both directions). Individual regnal periods of individual emperors are relatively long in human terms but still can seem short and end brutally by elven standards, though bloodless coups are more common than full-on imperial assassinations.

All this being said, the Altarie nonetheless consider themselves to be the steadfast guardians of natural and divine order, worshipping the [[Noon-Sun Court]] and banning the worship of all gods outside that within their provinces - but not, however, within other holdings, like their protectorate in the [[Hearthlands]]. They maintain an internal cohesiveness of realpolitikal and legal power unseen in other nations of comparable size, such as the [[Bastonia|Bastonians]] or the [[Clans of Magnus]]; while individual Bastonian Monarchs or Dwarven High Kings may achieve similar cohesion, it rarely survives the interregnum. The elves therefore have a pronounced culture of bureaucratic and magisterial civil services which are not seen nearly as pervasively elsewhere.

Atarlie adventurers broadly fall into two classes – elite legionary units or former units now operating as “dogs of war” or “soldiers of fortune”, and disaffected members of Atarlie lowerclasses seeking to make their fortunes elsewhere. Exceptions exist, as always, but as the Empire is seen by most of its citizens as the most preferable domains in the world, exceptions to the two above rules rarely adventure outside the wildernesses of the Empire itself.

==Atarlie Geography and Government==
===Understanding Atarlie Senatorial Politics===
While the external view – and the titular expectation – of Imperial power is that the Emperor is the most powerful individual among the Atarlie, the truth is somewhat more complicated. While the Emperor has a great deal of unilateral power with regard to foreign policy and military affairs, the critical powers of taxation and treaty ratification reside in the hands of the Senate.

The senate are a political class (and body) of landed gentry, exclusively Elves, who must meet requirements of ancestral service within the senate along with a certain minimum level of civil or military service prior to being appointed to the Senate. While an Emperor can raise new senators who meet the requirements into their ranks, the Emperor does not have the ability to dismiss the senate.

Because of this the Senate can often hamstring Emperors who have become unpopular among their number, but the Emperor can also retaliate by swelling the senate’s ranks with persons who serve their own interests.

===Provinces and Protectorates===
The Empire is broken up into a series of provincial holdings, each under the purview of a Prefect, who is responsible to the Emperor for leveeing forces according to the province’s capabilities and to the Senate for meeting requirements of law and taxation. In order of political importance, these provinces are:
* The [[Imperial Province]] in the Northwestern Empire, extending from the [Atlas Mountains] in its west to a border along the line from [[Tripolis]] to [[Sunport]]. The [[Imperial City]] is its capital, though the personages of the Emperor and the [[Prefect of the Imperial City]] are separate offices.
* The [[Province of the Sun and Moon]] extends from this same border all the way to the eastern shores of Wisteria, and as south as the River Silverrun, which is south of [[Convergence Hall]]. It commands the important cities of [[Moonvale]], [[Convergence Hall]], and [[Sunport]], the later being its extremely wealthy capital.
* The [[Atlassian Foothills]] are a province just south of the Imperial Province, as far south as [[Three Peak Dale]], and as far east as its capital, [[Heroka]] and the [[Three Sisters]], a set of mountains which form the general suggestion of its entire eastern border.
* The [[Province of the Lowland Meadows]] is east of the Three Sisters, with a central capital of [[Imarraka]] which serves as a hub for the ports of [[Fjordlodge]] and [[Bayside]], being important trading ports.
* The [[Southern Province]], which is the geographically largest, but least densely populated and least politically unified. This enormous wooded province extends all the way from the borders of the Atlassian Foothills and the Province of the Lowland Medals to the rough median latitude of the [[Hearthlands]], an Atarlie Protectorate. This expanse is rich in natural resources and is somewhat known as the breadbasket and lumberyard of the empire as a result, but the lifestyle is much more insular and rural than the rest of the empire, which is fairly cosmopolitan. It's largest city is [[Corran]], at the foothills of a branch of the Atlas Mountains.
* The [[Province of the Sunset Valleys]] is in the southern reaches of the Atlassian Foothills and western extents of the [[Atlassian Foothills]].
* The [[Atarlie Frontier]] is further south still, extending from the formal border of the Southern Province, all the way to the Great River of Stars. The expansion of the empire into the [[Shimmering Shores]], stymied by the Great Collapse, means that the frontier is somewhat more dangerous than the rest of the Empire, and more heavily fortified - the administrative capital at [[Ichor Hall]], a trading port at [[South Point]], and the garrison city of [[Navarre's Crossing]].

The Empire also has a practice of establishing protectorates – often centuries later becoming provinces. Currently, the principal noteworthy protectorate is the [[Hearthlands]]. Attacking the Hearthlands from land would require either bypassing Imperial territory or launching an attack across the Atlas Mountains, which would involve bypassing the territory of the [[Clans of Magnus]], who fiercely defend their mountain home.

==Atarlie Culture==
===Arts and Architecture===
The Atarlie are a culture at their modern apex, and so are undergoing a golden age in the arts. Artists of all kinds - architects, sculptors, painters, weavers, musicians, playwrights, thespians, and so forth - enjoy an economic freedom to ply their trade unseen elsewhere on [[Wisteria]], or indeed all of [[Ahren]]. These artists make up an economic class above the main labour classes but below the loftier merchantile class, who make up a great deal of their patronage.

Atarlie Architects in particular have a reputation for doing the "impossible", incorporating living elements in their designs and shaping walls and towers out of whole stone, seemingly without toolmarks or joinery. They do this by including wizards and other spellcasters in their labour force, who are capable of remarkable feats of craftsmanship. Such "Grandmaster Technicians" often fail to draw a dividing line between the "mundane" elements of their craft-of-expertise and the parts which are magical.

===Religion, Festivals, and Timekeeping===
The civil religion of the Atarlie Empire focuses on [[Noon-Sun Court|a broad pantheon]] of divinities. The divinities in general are worshipped by the entire population to varying degrees, especially [[Pyria Valeptor]] and [[Rophalin Imperitor]]. The other dieties in the pantheon are each the patrons of various powerful ruling families which themselves rule the individual provinces of the empire, and so enjoy widespread worship in at least some corner of the empire. An increasing number of elves have begun to worship the [[Awakened One]], usually as an additional component to the civic religion, rather than to the exclusion of the atarlie ancestor-worship.

Each of these gods have their own festivals associated with them; in most cases, observed only by the friends and family of people who have selected them as a patron. Only [[Pyria Valpetor]], the Mother of Gods, who is commonly seen as the head of the pantheon enjoys universal observance of her feasts, which are observed on the solstices and equinoxes, given her association with the sun.

If the Bastonian language and alphabet is considered the "common" tongue of Ahren, it is the incredibly precise calendar maintained by the Atarlie that can be thought of as the common calendar. A solar calendar, it consists of 13 months of 28 days, with a single [[Festival of the Turning Wheel]] marking a new year celebration that is not considered belonging to any of those months. This calendar takes its name, the [[Rophalin Calendar]], from [[Rophalin Imperitor]], first emperor of the Atarlie, whose date of coronation forms the epoch for the calendar.

There are also a number of civic holidays observed, including celebrations of historical victories, the birthday of the reigning emperor, and special by-proclamation holidays to mark events the Emperor or Senate want fondly remembered.

===Fighting, Warfare, and Death===
Curiously for an Empire (and therefore a military power), the Atarlie see warfare as an unfortunate but necessary evil. Most expressions of Atarlie imperial power are soft power – displays of force used in place of actual battles, and games of economic manipulation. The elves in general are the longest-lived race on [[Wisteria]] and so take a longer view of history and empire; if they can bloodlessly win a province by spending four human generations working the social and economic angles of the problem, that's no skin off their nose.

These Elves also have a saying: “It is better to be a warrior in a garden than a gardener in the battlefield” (usually attributed to [[Immarra Hyacinth]]. Professional military service is encouraged among all the races that make up the empire (and is one of the paths the gentrified class can use to improve their position), and unlike many other nations the Imperial Legion is a true, standing, professional military force, sworn to servitude with the emperor directly, in the form of the [[Imperial Legion]], as well as a standing military class to be found in the [[Consecrated Legions]].

The Elven Pantheon teaches an afterlife with an [[Elysium]], not unlike Bastonian conceptions of [[Heaven]]. However, Elven morality is far looser and less restrictive, placing a focus on self-improvement and increasing one’s connection to the flows of the arcane. However, since the [[Age of the Summer of Mortals]] has begun, the religion of the [[Awakened One]] has become influential on Atarlie religious scholarship. As a result, a growing number believe they will be reincarnated on [[Ahren]] if they don't "merit" transition to Elysium.

===Language and Scholarship===
The Atarlie Alphabet is a syllabary alphabet, used in the recording of all variants of Elvish language, as well as in some traditions of magical writing, such as those employed in [[Bastonia|The North]]. Atarlie Elvish and Carcolie Elvish are sufficiently similar in their spoken form as to be mutually understood by speakers of either, and many of the other races of Wisteria simply refer to both languages, collectively, as Elvish. However, this is not true of all elvish variants.

The Atarlie Empire has perhaps the most developed and active tradition of formal scholarship the world over. While under- and lower-class families experience much the same educational process as seen elsewhere in the world (focused apprenticeship), the middle and upper classes enjoy a much more generalized education at the hands of privately-funded schools or even private tutors. The goal of this education, in addition to its stated goal of broadening the student's horizons in a manner befitting a "ruler of the world", is to prepare the student for the [[Atarlie Civil Examination]] - an annual round of official examinations that assess the student's suitability for public service and gatekeep civil service positions, most of which are seen as ways to rapidly advance in social or economic position. Schools and independent tutors to help prepare students for these exams are ubiquitous, but expensive. As such, both the schools and the exams are usually only frequented by the children of Gen nobility or wealthy merchants.

Owing to the tight relationship between the Atarlie and the Arcane, schools of arcane magic are extremely common throughout the empire. Most small cities can boast at least one academy focusing on a particular school of magic. In larger settlements, additional schools or even Universities teaching broader fields of study exist.

===Diet, Libations, and Entertainment===
Given the economic power and high degree of urbanization supported by the Atarlie Empire, along with its habit of trade, the Atarlie enjoy a higher than usual standard of diet, both in terms of raw caloric intake and variety, as well as complexity. The culinary arts are heavily patronized by the Atarlie, both in the civilian and military classes. Atarlie cooks are in demand worldwide for their exotic dishes, having developed many condiments and seasonings which have become iconically Atarlie, such as [[Garum]], [[Miso]]. Grand feasts are common among even the middle class, at which the courses are defined by custom. Unlike in Bastonia, where potatoes are the principal caloric filler, the Atarlie make heavy use of rice and wheat pasta. THere is no special distinction between foods appropriate at different meals.

Atarlie followers of the [[Awakened One]] - especially those who have taken up residence in monasteries or who have formally devoted themselves to further study of his teachings - observe a religious abstinence from eating animal products apart from honey. This eventually lead to the creation of additional foodstuffs like [[konjak]], [[tofu]], and [[ofu]] which have themselves backfilled into the mainstream and courtly cuisines.

To a greater extent than elsewhere in the world, being a cook is a respectable profession in Atarlie society that can go on to become a living in its own right. A form of restaurant culture even exists in the country in the form of the [[Atarlie Guesthouse]]. However, the majority of people who earn their living through the preparation of food do so in street stalls in major settlements or at major temples.

Wine is the alcoholic beverage of choice - much of the region is suited to the cultivation of grapes. Every region usually has a signature wine or two, named for the variety of grape from which it is produced, sometimes with the regional name appended if the grape is a wide-spread variety.

Music and Dance are popular at banquets. The Atarlie are decadent by Bastonian standards; such dance includes both the ordinary composed courtly dances as well as a tradition of exotic dancers of all kinds, if suitable for the feast in question.

==Atarlie Economics==
===Taxation and Provision===
As with other aspects of law, taxation is heavily formalized and codified. The [[Imperial Senate]] sets the levels at which provinces themselves are taxed, with prefects left responsible for collecting those taxes. As is common in nations with a taxation policy, the Empire sets taxes on the sale of specific goods or the licensing of particular trades, rather than on income. All taxation is handled in coin at the official level - in some rural areas the prefect may elect to collect the tax in the form of trade goods, but is ultimately responsible for the sale of those goods and providing the necessary coin to the Senate Treasury. Unsurprisingly, this creates a common avenue for corruption, with prefects setting a low price for goods in terms of their utility for paying the tax, and then selling them off abroad at a profit.

Taxation is used to pay for the extensive [[Imperial Legion]], one of the only truly-permanent standing armies in all of Wisteria, as well as funding infrastructure projects. In times of crisis, the senate may intervene with subsidy or provision to lower the popular temperature and avert the risk of revolt; otherwise, Imperial citizens are generally left to their own capabilities to earn a living.

===Social Class and Economic Position===
The Atarlie have a heavily-developed class system, which is at once castelike in its divisions and highly fluid in terms of social mobility. While only Atarlie Elves can serve in the senate or in higher government office, anyone who can meet the requirements of citizenship (usually by way of service in the Legion) enjoys those benefits regardless of race. These social classes range from an underclass of indentured servants, non-citizens, and the truly destitute, through a lower class made up of "ordinary" labour such as farmers, paid servants, and so forth, through a class of artists, merchants, and lower civil servants, all the way up to a sort of gentrified class, primarily Elves, who serve in the senate, high government office, and high military positions.

The principal dividing factor between these classes is economic - even Atarlie find themselves among the underclass as fate occasionally dictates. Only the gentrified class is purely restricted to the Elves, though some scholars argue that a "pseudogentry" exists, consisting largely of humans, halfings, gnomes, and so-on who have the social and economic connections of the true gentry, without the ability to serve in some of the higher positions the elven members of the gentry enjoy.

One can endeavour to become upwardly socially mobile in one of two ways:
# By climbing the socio-economic ladder one can afford to put oneself or ones children through the necessary education to sit the [[Atarlie Civil Examination]]. This can be seen by the slow way, and is far from being a sure thing, but is often preferred due to the nature of the alternative.
# By serving in the [[Imperial Legion]] or [[Consecrated Legions]] and excelling at ones duties, or by nepotism or other gamesmanship, one can achieve military offices. These offices are often of equivalent stature to various civil service positions with the advantage that there is little upfront cost to obtain them - but of course, all the usual risks of a life spent in military service are implied.

Becoming a citizen of the empire works in much the same way as the [[Atarlie Civil Examination]]. The immediate children of current citizens of the empire are automatically granted citizenship. However, for most non-elves, citizenship was earned. The ordinary way in which this can happen is by appeal to court officials based on the completion of certain duties and examinations. However, the far more common route by which non-elvish families became Imperial families was military service - the Imperial Senate (in the case of the Imperial Legion), at the Empire's request, can grant blanket citizenship to all members of a specific legion, usually as a reward for service in a specific campaign. These campaigns needn't always be warfare; the legion is often used as an institutional labour force. Along a similar vein, the Atarlie Gen have the authority to grant citizen-vassalship to individual members of their [[Consecrated Legion]].

===Focal Industries===
Providing infrastructure to its citizens is the principal advantage - and arguably the greatest strength - of the Empire, and things like continent-spanning roads, irrigation systems, and fortifications require resources. After infrastructure, maintaining the legion is a key economic driver.

Abroad, apart from their legions, the Atarlie's chief export is knowledge. Atarlie writings on sciences mundane and arcane are considered authoritative around the world, at Atarlie traders frequently ply their craft by taking books and scrolls abroad, selling their wares, and returning with exotic goods like spices. The Empire has a fierce demand for salt that they cannot themselves match, and a goodly chunk of their trade is founded on acquiring more, along with spell components, the magical writings of other cultures, and furs, woods, or metals not found freely in the empire itself.

===Technology and Craftsmanship===
The strong connection of the Atarlie elves to arcane magic pervades every aspect of life in the empire, and craftsmanship is no exception. If the Dwarves are known for their powerfully enchanted arms and armour, the elves are known for their trade in scrolls, wands, rings, and wonderous items of every other description. The reliance on magics both Arcane and Divine means that the elves enjoy a quality of life beyond other nations simply down to the labour they save by using magic to accomplish the same goals.

==Atarlie and the Adventuring Classes==
'''Barbarians''' are exceedingly rare among the Atarlie; if they exist at all it’s usually in an underclass absorbed into the empire recently. Atarlie senses of decorum and military traditions do not encourage the fury required by the Rage mechanic, nor the style of combat itself.

'''Bards''' are common in a variety of forms – professional scholars and adventuring troubadors alike. [[Immarra Hyacinth]]’s clergy includes a disproportionate number of bards, whose combined use of divine and arcane magics often makes for unorthodox, but useful, Theurges.

'''Clerics''' are actually quite common, both among the pastoral clergy and in military and adventuring contexts. Elves take their religions and traditions seriously, and while most elves worship the entire pantheon, clerics continue to focus on a single member of the pantheon as their divine patron.

'''Druids''' are common among the worshippers of [[Feno Ilirel]], and form the backbone of the clergy of that particular member of the panethon. The social role of druids is both as healer and soothsayer, particularly in the country where they might be the only clergy present, such as in farming villages.

'''Fighters''' are common within the empire, though the heavier armour and weapons seen in Bastonia and the lands of the dwarves are rarer, seen only among the higher classes or certain specialist warriors – military doctrine favours light or medium armour and graceful weaponry.

'''Monks''' are rare within the empire, and are usually of archetypes that favour armed combat, if they exist at all. There is no corresponding god that would serve the monk class well; monks within the empire’s ranks are usually either transplants or students of transplants and are seen to have something of the foreigner about them regardless of their original heritage.

'''Paladins''' are surprisingly rare, as High Elven society tends toward Lawful Neutral rather than lawful good. Those that exist often serve as justicars or magistrates, though some are functional templars, maintained by the clerical orders of Gods whose alignments would suit their alignment restriction.

'''Rangers''' are an extremely common class among the high elves and can represent any of a number of social roles as befits their combat archetypes and character creation choices. Whole legionary units are composed of rangers almost to the exclusion of others, and representatives of this class can be found among a number of civilian roles, such as dedicated hunters (including of monsters), couriers, cartographers, and the like.

'''Rogues''' are extremely common (as is their combat specialist prestige class, the Assassin). In addition to the usual criminal underclass, anyone who is interested in maintaining their social and political position (or improving it) usually employs a few rogues as spies, informants, and the like.

'''Sorcerers''' are not seen as negatively in the Empire as they are in some other lands, and the arcane bloodline is extremely common. So closely are the Atarlie tied to the sources of magic in the world that it commonly bubbles in their very veins. Sorcery is so common in the Empire that Sorcerers are not always (or even often) proper adventurers, particularly among the older landed and aristocratic families.

'''Wizards''' are also extremely common. Most Atarlie cities have one or more schools of magic, usually focusing on an individual area of study, though a few Universities exist, catering to more generalist wizards-aspirant. Atarlie are so well known for their wizardry that Atarlie wizards are often in demand in other lands as educators, and adventuring Atarlie Wizards are often travelling the world as part of their research. The Atarlie Empire is one of the only places in Ahern where the practice of necromancy is not illegal, though uses beyond communicating with the dead are frowned upon.

==Atarlie and Monsters==
With how heavily developed the Atarlie Empire is, monsters are a rare concern. The odd dragon or giant may wander down from the Atlas Mountains, along with goblinoid raiding parties, causing issues in that frontier. Similarly, legions abroad have to deal frequently with monsters in their area of operations. That said, the bulk of the empire consists of territory devoid of much by way of actively-hostile magical creatures, and the elves are neutral to friendly with a large number of woodland spirits, fey, fawns, and the like which may inhabit the wilder parts of the Imperial Interior.

==Atarlie and the Nations of Wisteria==
The Atarlie consider themselves the true rulers of Wisteria, with all areas not under their control seen generally as frontiers of varying degree of civilization. They are diplomatic enough to not say so bluntly, but their haughty affectation often chills discourse with the other nations of Wisteria.

* [[Bastonia]] and its largely human population is seen as a mostly-civilized land, or at least as civilized as any nation of such short-lived people could be. The Atarlie trade with Bastonia regularly, especially in The North, where they can obtain rare commodities such as valuable furs, salt (and salt brine), and whale oil.
* The [[Carcolie]] are the wild and barbaric cousins of the Atarlie, who have an uneasy peace with the each other. The Mountain Elves claim that the High Elves drove them into the mountains in some largely-forgotten historical rebellion; conversely the High Elves claim the Carcolie have never lived anywhere else, and are simply uncivilizable due to their tight connection to nature and the wildness that breeds.
* The [[Clans of Magnus]] are respected, but seen as aloof isolationists; it is a poorly-kept secret that the only reason the Empire has not attempted to exert authority over the Carcolie is that the Mountain Elves share the Atlas Mountains with the dwarven clans. All such past attempts by the elves to seize territory from the dwarves have met in failure, and so instead a cold peace has developed between the two factions.
* The [[Hearthlands]] is a peaceful protectorate of the Empire, and one relied on heavily for agricultural trade, with the native halflings and gnomes producing food far in abundance of even their own appetites. While viewed sometimes mockingly by the High Elves, it is held that the Hearthlands are "sufficiently civilized" to not require assimilation into the empire proper.
* The two nations of the [[Lordless Lands]]; the [[Orcish Nation]] and the [[Confederacy of Sages]], are both known to the Empire, considered equally barbaric. However, the Lordless Lands is so far removed from Atarlie territory that no serious consideration of either nation is made.
* In contrast, the [[Shimmering Shore]], with its own strong connection to both the Arcane and other worlds entirely, is seen as prime real-estate. The Elves trade frequently with the city-states of the Shimmering Shore, who view them as both vital economic allies as well as the looming foreign threat that some of the more eastern city-states use to try and push one another into a larger alliance.

{{Atarlie Empire}}
[[Category: Atarlie Empire]][[Category: Wisterian Nations]]

Atarlie Empire

2026-06-24T23:23:13Z

Zadammac: /* Diet, Libations, and Entertainment */

{{Major Revision}}

The '''Atarlie Empire''' is a nation-state on the eastern side of the Atlas mountains, extending across the Northern Shore to the Eastern Sea, and bounded by the [[Hearthlands]] in the south. Populated largely by a haughty branch of the [[Elven]] lineage (often known as High Elves in other nations), the Atarlie consider themselves the true rules of Wisteria and the highest lifeform in Ahren. Their mythologies hold that they are the offspring of a sun-god and that they have kept alive a "flame of civilization" that has survived many cycles of worldly recreation. Like any good empire it is actually fairly diverse, integrating humans, halflings, and gnomes from the regions it has conquered, who can obtain full citizenship rights and occasionally even serve in positions of authority.

The Atarlie People, whose name show their connection to the Sun, are often called Sun Elves or High Elves in other lands, by contrast to the relatively “base” Carcolie or other, more exotic offshoots of Elvendom. They are creatures strongly tied to the natural flow of arcane magics, for which they are known and using which their cities and architecture are constructed.

Elven society is both extremely dynamic generation-over-generation in terms of social and economic mobility, and seemingly unchanging to shorter-lived races such as humanity. While it does distinguish between aristocratic, landed, and working classes, those lines blur constantly through intermarriage, political intrigue, and economic mobility (in both directions). Individual regnal periods of individual emperors are relatively long in human terms but still can seem short and end brutally by elven standards, though bloodless coups are more common than full-on imperial assassinations.

All this being said, the Altarie nonetheless consider themselves to be the steadfast guardians of natural and divine order, worshipping the [[Noon-Sun Court]] and banning the worship of all gods outside that within their provinces - but not, however, within other holdings, like their protectorate in the [[Hearthlands]]. They maintain an internal cohesiveness of realpolitikal and legal power unseen in other nations of comparable size, such as the [[Bastonia|Bastonians]] or the [[Clans of Magnus]]; while individual Bastonian Monarchs or Dwarven High Kings may achieve similar cohesion, it rarely survives the interregnum. The elves therefore have a pronounced culture of bureaucratic and magisterial civil services which are not seen nearly as pervasively elsewhere.

Atarlie adventurers broadly fall into two classes – elite legionary units or former units now operating as “dogs of war” or “soldiers of fortune”, and disaffected members of Atarlie lowerclasses seeking to make their fortunes elsewhere. Exceptions exist, as always, but as the Empire is seen by most of its citizens as the most preferable domains in the world, exceptions to the two above rules rarely adventure outside the wildernesses of the Empire itself.

==Atarlie Geography and Government==
===Understanding Atarlie Senatorial Politics===
While the external view – and the titular expectation – of Imperial power is that the Emperor is the most powerful individual among the Atarlie, the truth is somewhat more complicated. While the Emperor has a great deal of unilateral power with regard to foreign policy and military affairs, the critical powers of taxation and treaty ratification reside in the hands of the Senate.

The senate are a political class (and body) of landed gentry, exclusively Elves, who must meet requirements of ancestral service within the senate along with a certain minimum level of civil or military service prior to being appointed to the Senate. While an Emperor can raise new senators who meet the requirements into their ranks, the Emperor does not have the ability to dismiss the senate.

Because of this the Senate can often hamstring Emperors who have become unpopular among their number, but the Emperor can also retaliate by swelling the senate’s ranks with persons who serve their own interests.

===Provinces and Protectorates===
The Empire is broken up into a series of provincial holdings, each under the purview of a Prefect, who is responsible to the Emperor for leveeing forces according to the province’s capabilities and to the Senate for meeting requirements of law and taxation. In order of political importance, these provinces are:
* The [[Imperial Province]] in the Northwestern Empire, extending from the [Atlas Mountains] in its west to a border along the line from [[Tripolis]] to [[Sunport]]. The [[Imperial City]] is its capital, though the personages of the Emperor and the [[Prefect of the Imperial City]] are separate offices.
* The [[Province of the Sun and Moon]] extends from this same border all the way to the eastern shores of Wisteria, and as south as the River Silverrun, which is south of [[Convergence Hall]]. It commands the important cities of [[Moonvale]], [[Convergence Hall]], and [[Sunport]], the later being its extremely wealthy capital.
* The [[Atlassian Foothills]] are a province just south of the Imperial Province, as far south as [[Three Peak Dale]], and as far east as its capital, [[Heroka]] and the [[Three Sisters]], a set of mountains which form the general suggestion of its entire eastern border.
* The [[Province of the Lowland Meadows]] is east of the Three Sisters, with a central capital of [[Imarraka]] which serves as a hub for the ports of [[Fjordlodge]] and [[Bayside]], being important trading ports.
* The [[Southern Province]], which is the geographically largest, but least densely populated and least politically unified. This enormous wooded province extends all the way from the borders of the Atlassian Foothills and the Province of the Lowland Medals to the rough median latitude of the [[Hearthlands]], an Atarlie Protectorate. This expanse is rich in natural resources and is somewhat known as the breadbasket and lumberyard of the empire as a result, but the lifestyle is much more insular and rural than the rest of the empire, which is fairly cosmopolitan. It's largest city is [[Corran]], at the foothills of a branch of the Atlas Mountains.
* The [[Province of the Sunset Valleys]] is in the southern reaches of the Atlassian Foothills and western extents of the [[Atlassian Foothills]].
* The [[Atarlie Frontier]] is further south still, extending from the formal border of the Southern Province, all the way to the Great River of Stars. The expansion of the empire into the [[Shimmering Shores]], stymied by the Great Collapse, means that the frontier is somewhat more dangerous than the rest of the Empire, and more heavily fortified - the administrative capital at [[Ichor Hall]], a trading port at [[South Point]], and the garrison city of [[Navarre's Crossing]].

The Empire also has a practice of establishing protectorates – often centuries later becoming provinces. Currently, the principal noteworthy protectorate is the [[Hearthlands]]. Attacking the Hearthlands from land would require either bypassing Imperial territory or launching an attack across the Atlas Mountains, which would involve bypassing the territory of the [[Clans of Magnus]], who fiercely defend their mountain home.

==Atarlie Culture==
===Arts and Architecture===
The Atarlie are a culture at their modern apex, and so are undergoing a golden age in the arts. Artists of all kinds - architects, sculptors, painters, weavers, musicians, playwrights, thespians, and so forth - enjoy an economic freedom to ply their trade unseen elsewhere on [[Wisteria]], or indeed all of [[Ahren]]. These artists make up an economic class above the main labour classes but below the loftier merchantile class, who make up a great deal of their patronage.

Atarlie Architects in particular have a reputation for doing the "impossible", incorporating living elements in their designs and shaping walls and towers out of whole stone, seemingly without toolmarks or joinery. They do this by including wizards and other spellcasters in their labour force, who are capable of remarkable feats of craftsmanship. Such "Grandmaster Technicians" often fail to draw a dividing line between the "mundane" elements of their craft-of-expertise and the parts which are magical.

===Religion, Festivals, and Timekeeping===
The civil religion of the Atarlie Empire focuses on [[Noon-Sun Court|a broad pantheon]] of divinities. The divinities in general are worshipped by the entire population to varying degrees, especially [[Pyria Valeptor]] and [[Rophalin Imperitor]]. The other dieties in the pantheon are each the patrons of various powerful ruling families which themselves rule the individual provinces of the empire, and so enjoy widespread worship in at least some corner of the empire. An increasing number of elves have begun to worship the [[Awakened One]], usually as an additional component to the civic religion, rather than to the exclusion of the atarlie ancestor-worship.

Each of these gods have their own festivals associated with them; in most cases, observed only by the friends and family of people who have selected them as a patron. Only [[Pyria Valpetor]], the Mother of Gods, who is commonly seen as the head of the pantheon enjoys universal observance of her feasts, which are observed on the solstices and equinoxes, given her association with the sun.

If the Bastonian language and alphabet is considered the "common" tongue of Ahren, it is the incredibly precise calendar maintained by the Atarlie that can be thought of as the common calendar. A solar calendar, it consists of 13 months of 28 days, with a single [[Festival of the Turning Wheel]] marking a new year celebration that is not considered belonging to any of those months. This calendar takes its name, the [[Rophalin Calendar]], from [[Rophalin Imperitor]], first emperor of the Atarlie, whose date of coronation forms the epoch for the calendar.

There are also a number of civic holidays observed, including celebrations of historical victories, the birthday of the reigning emperor, and special by-proclamation holidays to mark events the Emperor or Senate want fondly remembered.

===Fighting, Warfare, and Death===
Curiously for an Empire (and therefore a military power), the Atarlie see warfare as an unfortunate but necessary evil. Most expressions of Atarlie imperial power are soft power – displays of force used in place of actual battles, and games of economic manipulation. The elves in general are the longest-lived race on [[Wisteria]] and so take a longer view of history and empire; if they can bloodlessly win a province by spending four human generations working the social and economic angles of the problem, that's no skin off their nose.

These Elves also have a saying: “It is better to be a warrior in a garden than a gardener in the battlefield” (usually attributed to [[Immarra Hyacinth]]. Professional military service is encouraged among all the races that make up the empire (and is one of the paths the gentrified class can use to improve their position), and unlike many other nations the Imperial Legion is a true, standing, professional military force, sworn to servitude with the emperor directly, in the form of the [[Imperial Legion]], as well as a standing military class to be found in the [[Consecrated Legions]].

The Elven Pantheon teaches an afterlife with an [[Elysium]], not unlike Bastonian conceptions of [[Heaven]]. However, Elven morality is far looser and less restrictive, placing a focus on self-improvement and increasing one’s connection to the flows of the arcane. However, since the [[Age of the Summer of Mortals]] has begun, the religion of the [[Awakened One]] has become influential on Atarlie religious scholarship. As a result, a growing number believe they will be reincarnated on [[Ahren]] if they don't "merit" transition to Elysium.

===Language and Scholarship===
The Atarlie Alphabet is a syllabary alphabet, used in the recording of all variants of Elvish language, as well as in some traditions of magical writing, such as those employed in [[Bastonia|The North]]. Atarlie Elvish and Carcolie Elvish are sufficiently similar in their spoken form as to be mutually understood by speakers of either, and many of the other races of Wisteria simply refer to both languages, collectively, as Elvish. However, this is not true of all elvish variants.

The Atarlie Empire has perhaps the most developed and active tradition of formal scholarship the world over. While under- and lower-class families experience much the same educational process as seen elsewhere in the world (focused apprenticeship), the middle and upper classes enjoy a much more generalized education at the hands of privately-funded schools or even private tutors. The goal of this education, in addition to its stated goal of broadening the student's horizons in a manner befitting a "ruler of the world", is to prepare the student for the [[Atarlie Civil Examination]] - an annual round of official examinations that assess the student's suitability for public service and gatekeep civil service positions, most of which are seen as ways to rapidly advance in social or economic position. Schools and independent tutors to help prepare students for these exams are ubiquitous, but expensive. As such, both the schools and the exams are usually only frequented by the children of Gen nobility or wealthy merchants.

Owing to the tight relationship between the Atarlie and the Arcane, schools of arcane magic are extremely common throughout the empire. Most small cities can boast at least one academy focusing on a particular school of magic. In larger settlements, additional schools or even Universities teaching broader fields of study exist.

===Diet, Libations, and Entertainment===
Given the economic power and high degree of urbanization supported by the Atarlie Empire, along with its habit of trade, the Atarlie enjoy a higher than usual standard of diet, both in terms of raw caloric intake and variety, as well as complexity. The culinary arts are heavily patronized by the Atarlie, both in the civilian and military classes. Atarlie cooks are in demand worldwide for their exotic dishes, having developed many condiments and seasonings which have become iconically Atarlie, such as [[Garum]], [[Miso]]. Grand feasts are common among even the middle class, at which the courses are defined by custom. Unlike in Bastonia, where potatoes are the principal caloric filler, the Atarlie make heavy use of rice and wheat pasta. THere is no special distinction between foods appropriate at different meals.

Atarlie followers of the [[Awakened One]] - especially those who have taken up residence in monasteries or who have formally devoted themselves to further study of his teachings - observe a religious abstinence from eating animal products apart from honey. This eventually lead to the creation of additional foodstuffs like [[konjak]], [[tofu]], and [[ofu]] which have themselves backfilled into the mainstream and courtly cuisines.

To a greater extent than elsewhere in the world, being a cook is a respectable profession in Atarlie society that can go on to become a living in its own right. A form of restaurant culture even exists in the country in the form of the [[Atarlie Guesthouse]]. However, the majority of people who earn their living through the preparation of food do so in street stalls in major settlements or at major temples.

Wine is the alcoholic beverage of choice - much of the region is suited to the cultivation of grapes. Every region usually has a signature wine or two, named for the variety of grape from which it is produced, sometimes with the regional name appended if the grape is a wide-spread variety.

Music and Dance are popular at banquets. The Atarlie are decadent by Bastonian standards; such dance includes both the ordinary composed courtly dances as well as a tradition of exotic dancers of all kinds, if suitable for the feast in question.

==Atarlie Economics==
===Taxation and Provision===
As with other aspects of law, taxation is heavily formalized and codified. The [[Imperial Senate]] sets the levels at which provinces themselves are taxed, with prefects left responsible for collecting those taxes. As is common in nations with a taxation policy, the Empire sets taxes on the sale of specific goods or the licensing of particular trades, rather than on income. All taxation is handled in coin at the official level - in some rural areas the prefect may elect to collect the tax in the form of trade goods, but is ultimately responsible for the sale of those goods and providing the necessary coin to the Senate Treasury. Unsurprisingly, this creates a common avenue for corruption, with prefects setting a low price for goods in terms of their utility for paying the tax, and then selling them off abroad at a profit.

Taxation is used to pay for the extensive [[Imperial Legion]], one of the only truly-permanent standing armies in all of Wisteria, as well as funding infrastructure projects. In times of crisis, the senate may intervene with subsidy or provision to lower the popular temperature and avert the risk of revolt; otherwise, Imperial citizens are generally left to their own capabilities to earn a living.

===Social Class and Economic Position===
The Atarlie have a heavily-developed class system, which is at once castelike in its divisions and highly fluid in terms of social mobility. While only Atarlie Elves can serve in the senate or in higher government office, anyone who can meet the requirements of citizenship (usually by way of service in the Legion) enjoys those benefits regardless of race. These social classes range from an underclass of indentured servants, non-citizens, and the truly destitute, through a lower class made up of "ordinary" labour such as farmers, paid servants, and so forth, through a class of artists, merchants, and lower civil servants, all the way up to a sort of gentrified class, primarily Elves, who serve in the senate, high government office, and high military positions.

The principal dividing factor between these classes is economic - even Atarlie find themselves among the underclass as fate occasionally dictates. Only the gentrified class is purely restricted to the Elves, though some scholars argue that a "pseudogentry" exists, consisting largely of humans, halfings, gnomes, and so-on who have the social and economic connections of the true gentry, without the ability to serve in some of the higher positions the elven members of the gentry enjoy.

===Focal Industries===
Providing infrastructure to its citizens is the principal advantage - and arguably the greatest strength - of the Empire, and things like continent-spanning roads, irrigation systems, and fortifications require resources. After infrastructure, maintaining the legion is a key economic driver.

Abroad, apart from their legions, the Atarlie's chief export is knowledge. Atarlie writings on sciences mundane and arcane are considered authoritative around the world, at Atarlie traders frequently ply their craft by taking books and scrolls abroad, selling their wares, and returning with exotic goods like spices. The Empire has a fierce demand for salt that they cannot themselves match, and a goodly chunk of their trade is founded on acquiring more, along with spell components, the magical writings of other cultures, and furs, woods, or metals not found freely in the empire itself.

===Technology and Craftsmanship===
The strong connection of the Atarlie elves to arcane magic pervades every aspect of life in the empire, and craftsmanship is no exception. If the Dwarves are known for their powerfully enchanted arms and armour, the elves are known for their trade in scrolls, wands, rings, and wonderous items of every other description. The reliance on magics both Arcane and Divine means that the elves enjoy a quality of life beyond other nations simply down to the labour they save by using magic to accomplish the same goals.

==Atarlie and the Adventuring Classes==
'''Barbarians''' are exceedingly rare among the Atarlie; if they exist at all it’s usually in an underclass absorbed into the empire recently. Atarlie senses of decorum and military traditions do not encourage the fury required by the Rage mechanic, nor the style of combat itself.

'''Bards''' are common in a variety of forms – professional scholars and adventuring troubadors alike. [[Immarra Hyacinth]]’s clergy includes a disproportionate number of bards, whose combined use of divine and arcane magics often makes for unorthodox, but useful, Theurges.

'''Clerics''' are actually quite common, both among the pastoral clergy and in military and adventuring contexts. Elves take their religions and traditions seriously, and while most elves worship the entire pantheon, clerics continue to focus on a single member of the pantheon as their divine patron.

'''Druids''' are common among the worshippers of [[Feno Ilirel]], and form the backbone of the clergy of that particular member of the panethon. The social role of druids is both as healer and soothsayer, particularly in the country where they might be the only clergy present, such as in farming villages.

'''Fighters''' are common within the empire, though the heavier armour and weapons seen in Bastonia and the lands of the dwarves are rarer, seen only among the higher classes or certain specialist warriors – military doctrine favours light or medium armour and graceful weaponry.

'''Monks''' are rare within the empire, and are usually of archetypes that favour armed combat, if they exist at all. There is no corresponding god that would serve the monk class well; monks within the empire’s ranks are usually either transplants or students of transplants and are seen to have something of the foreigner about them regardless of their original heritage.

'''Paladins''' are surprisingly rare, as High Elven society tends toward Lawful Neutral rather than lawful good. Those that exist often serve as justicars or magistrates, though some are functional templars, maintained by the clerical orders of Gods whose alignments would suit their alignment restriction.

'''Rangers''' are an extremely common class among the high elves and can represent any of a number of social roles as befits their combat archetypes and character creation choices. Whole legionary units are composed of rangers almost to the exclusion of others, and representatives of this class can be found among a number of civilian roles, such as dedicated hunters (including of monsters), couriers, cartographers, and the like.

'''Rogues''' are extremely common (as is their combat specialist prestige class, the Assassin). In addition to the usual criminal underclass, anyone who is interested in maintaining their social and political position (or improving it) usually employs a few rogues as spies, informants, and the like.

'''Sorcerers''' are not seen as negatively in the Empire as they are in some other lands, and the arcane bloodline is extremely common. So closely are the Atarlie tied to the sources of magic in the world that it commonly bubbles in their very veins. Sorcery is so common in the Empire that Sorcerers are not always (or even often) proper adventurers, particularly among the older landed and aristocratic families.

'''Wizards''' are also extremely common. Most Atarlie cities have one or more schools of magic, usually focusing on an individual area of study, though a few Universities exist, catering to more generalist wizards-aspirant. Atarlie are so well known for their wizardry that Atarlie wizards are often in demand in other lands as educators, and adventuring Atarlie Wizards are often travelling the world as part of their research. The Atarlie Empire is one of the only places in Ahern where the practice of necromancy is not illegal, though uses beyond communicating with the dead are frowned upon.

==Atarlie and Monsters==
With how heavily developed the Atarlie Empire is, monsters are a rare concern. The odd dragon or giant may wander down from the Atlas Mountains, along with goblinoid raiding parties, causing issues in that frontier. Similarly, legions abroad have to deal frequently with monsters in their area of operations. That said, the bulk of the empire consists of territory devoid of much by way of actively-hostile magical creatures, and the elves are neutral to friendly with a large number of woodland spirits, fey, fawns, and the like which may inhabit the wilder parts of the Imperial Interior.

==Atarlie and the Nations of Wisteria==
The Atarlie consider themselves the true rulers of Wisteria, with all areas not under their control seen generally as frontiers of varying degree of civilization. They are diplomatic enough to not say so bluntly, but their haughty affectation often chills discourse with the other nations of Wisteria.

* [[Bastonia]] and its largely human population is seen as a mostly-civilized land, or at least as civilized as any nation of such short-lived people could be. The Atarlie trade with Bastonia regularly, especially in The North, where they can obtain rare commodities such as valuable furs, salt (and salt brine), and whale oil.
* The [[Carcolie]] are the wild and barbaric cousins of the Atarlie, who have an uneasy peace with the each other. The Mountain Elves claim that the High Elves drove them into the mountains in some largely-forgotten historical rebellion; conversely the High Elves claim the Carcolie have never lived anywhere else, and are simply uncivilizable due to their tight connection to nature and the wildness that breeds.
* The [[Clans of Magnus]] are respected, but seen as aloof isolationists; it is a poorly-kept secret that the only reason the Empire has not attempted to exert authority over the Carcolie is that the Mountain Elves share the Atlas Mountains with the dwarven clans. All such past attempts by the elves to seize territory from the dwarves have met in failure, and so instead a cold peace has developed between the two factions.
* The [[Hearthlands]] is a peaceful protectorate of the Empire, and one relied on heavily for agricultural trade, with the native halflings and gnomes producing food far in abundance of even their own appetites. While viewed sometimes mockingly by the High Elves, it is held that the Hearthlands are "sufficiently civilized" to not require assimilation into the empire proper.
* The two nations of the [[Lordless Lands]]; the [[Orcish Nation]] and the [[Confederacy of Sages]], are both known to the Empire, considered equally barbaric. However, the Lordless Lands is so far removed from Atarlie territory that no serious consideration of either nation is made.
* In contrast, the [[Shimmering Shore]], with its own strong connection to both the Arcane and other worlds entirely, is seen as prime real-estate. The Elves trade frequently with the city-states of the Shimmering Shore, who view them as both vital economic allies as well as the looming foreign threat that some of the more eastern city-states use to try and push one another into a larger alliance.

{{Atarlie Empire}}
[[Category: Atarlie Empire]][[Category: Wisterian Nations]]

Atarlie Empire

2026-06-24T23:16:03Z

Zadammac: /* Language and Scholarship */

{{Major Revision}}

The '''Atarlie Empire''' is a nation-state on the eastern side of the Atlas mountains, extending across the Northern Shore to the Eastern Sea, and bounded by the [[Hearthlands]] in the south. Populated largely by a haughty branch of the [[Elven]] lineage (often known as High Elves in other nations), the Atarlie consider themselves the true rules of Wisteria and the highest lifeform in Ahren. Their mythologies hold that they are the offspring of a sun-god and that they have kept alive a "flame of civilization" that has survived many cycles of worldly recreation. Like any good empire it is actually fairly diverse, integrating humans, halflings, and gnomes from the regions it has conquered, who can obtain full citizenship rights and occasionally even serve in positions of authority.

The Atarlie People, whose name show their connection to the Sun, are often called Sun Elves or High Elves in other lands, by contrast to the relatively “base” Carcolie or other, more exotic offshoots of Elvendom. They are creatures strongly tied to the natural flow of arcane magics, for which they are known and using which their cities and architecture are constructed.

Elven society is both extremely dynamic generation-over-generation in terms of social and economic mobility, and seemingly unchanging to shorter-lived races such as humanity. While it does distinguish between aristocratic, landed, and working classes, those lines blur constantly through intermarriage, political intrigue, and economic mobility (in both directions). Individual regnal periods of individual emperors are relatively long in human terms but still can seem short and end brutally by elven standards, though bloodless coups are more common than full-on imperial assassinations.

All this being said, the Altarie nonetheless consider themselves to be the steadfast guardians of natural and divine order, worshipping the [[Noon-Sun Court]] and banning the worship of all gods outside that within their provinces - but not, however, within other holdings, like their protectorate in the [[Hearthlands]]. They maintain an internal cohesiveness of realpolitikal and legal power unseen in other nations of comparable size, such as the [[Bastonia|Bastonians]] or the [[Clans of Magnus]]; while individual Bastonian Monarchs or Dwarven High Kings may achieve similar cohesion, it rarely survives the interregnum. The elves therefore have a pronounced culture of bureaucratic and magisterial civil services which are not seen nearly as pervasively elsewhere.

Atarlie adventurers broadly fall into two classes – elite legionary units or former units now operating as “dogs of war” or “soldiers of fortune”, and disaffected members of Atarlie lowerclasses seeking to make their fortunes elsewhere. Exceptions exist, as always, but as the Empire is seen by most of its citizens as the most preferable domains in the world, exceptions to the two above rules rarely adventure outside the wildernesses of the Empire itself.

==Atarlie Geography and Government==
===Understanding Atarlie Senatorial Politics===
While the external view – and the titular expectation – of Imperial power is that the Emperor is the most powerful individual among the Atarlie, the truth is somewhat more complicated. While the Emperor has a great deal of unilateral power with regard to foreign policy and military affairs, the critical powers of taxation and treaty ratification reside in the hands of the Senate.

The senate are a political class (and body) of landed gentry, exclusively Elves, who must meet requirements of ancestral service within the senate along with a certain minimum level of civil or military service prior to being appointed to the Senate. While an Emperor can raise new senators who meet the requirements into their ranks, the Emperor does not have the ability to dismiss the senate.

Because of this the Senate can often hamstring Emperors who have become unpopular among their number, but the Emperor can also retaliate by swelling the senate’s ranks with persons who serve their own interests.

===Provinces and Protectorates===
The Empire is broken up into a series of provincial holdings, each under the purview of a Prefect, who is responsible to the Emperor for leveeing forces according to the province’s capabilities and to the Senate for meeting requirements of law and taxation. In order of political importance, these provinces are:
* The [[Imperial Province]] in the Northwestern Empire, extending from the [Atlas Mountains] in its west to a border along the line from [[Tripolis]] to [[Sunport]]. The [[Imperial City]] is its capital, though the personages of the Emperor and the [[Prefect of the Imperial City]] are separate offices.
* The [[Province of the Sun and Moon]] extends from this same border all the way to the eastern shores of Wisteria, and as south as the River Silverrun, which is south of [[Convergence Hall]]. It commands the important cities of [[Moonvale]], [[Convergence Hall]], and [[Sunport]], the later being its extremely wealthy capital.
* The [[Atlassian Foothills]] are a province just south of the Imperial Province, as far south as [[Three Peak Dale]], and as far east as its capital, [[Heroka]] and the [[Three Sisters]], a set of mountains which form the general suggestion of its entire eastern border.
* The [[Province of the Lowland Meadows]] is east of the Three Sisters, with a central capital of [[Imarraka]] which serves as a hub for the ports of [[Fjordlodge]] and [[Bayside]], being important trading ports.
* The [[Southern Province]], which is the geographically largest, but least densely populated and least politically unified. This enormous wooded province extends all the way from the borders of the Atlassian Foothills and the Province of the Lowland Medals to the rough median latitude of the [[Hearthlands]], an Atarlie Protectorate. This expanse is rich in natural resources and is somewhat known as the breadbasket and lumberyard of the empire as a result, but the lifestyle is much more insular and rural than the rest of the empire, which is fairly cosmopolitan. It's largest city is [[Corran]], at the foothills of a branch of the Atlas Mountains.
* The [[Province of the Sunset Valleys]] is in the southern reaches of the Atlassian Foothills and western extents of the [[Atlassian Foothills]].
* The [[Atarlie Frontier]] is further south still, extending from the formal border of the Southern Province, all the way to the Great River of Stars. The expansion of the empire into the [[Shimmering Shores]], stymied by the Great Collapse, means that the frontier is somewhat more dangerous than the rest of the Empire, and more heavily fortified - the administrative capital at [[Ichor Hall]], a trading port at [[South Point]], and the garrison city of [[Navarre's Crossing]].

The Empire also has a practice of establishing protectorates – often centuries later becoming provinces. Currently, the principal noteworthy protectorate is the [[Hearthlands]]. Attacking the Hearthlands from land would require either bypassing Imperial territory or launching an attack across the Atlas Mountains, which would involve bypassing the territory of the [[Clans of Magnus]], who fiercely defend their mountain home.

==Atarlie Culture==
===Arts and Architecture===
The Atarlie are a culture at their modern apex, and so are undergoing a golden age in the arts. Artists of all kinds - architects, sculptors, painters, weavers, musicians, playwrights, thespians, and so forth - enjoy an economic freedom to ply their trade unseen elsewhere on [[Wisteria]], or indeed all of [[Ahren]]. These artists make up an economic class above the main labour classes but below the loftier merchantile class, who make up a great deal of their patronage.

Atarlie Architects in particular have a reputation for doing the "impossible", incorporating living elements in their designs and shaping walls and towers out of whole stone, seemingly without toolmarks or joinery. They do this by including wizards and other spellcasters in their labour force, who are capable of remarkable feats of craftsmanship. Such "Grandmaster Technicians" often fail to draw a dividing line between the "mundane" elements of their craft-of-expertise and the parts which are magical.

===Religion, Festivals, and Timekeeping===
The civil religion of the Atarlie Empire focuses on [[Noon-Sun Court|a broad pantheon]] of divinities. The divinities in general are worshipped by the entire population to varying degrees, especially [[Pyria Valeptor]] and [[Rophalin Imperitor]]. The other dieties in the pantheon are each the patrons of various powerful ruling families which themselves rule the individual provinces of the empire, and so enjoy widespread worship in at least some corner of the empire. An increasing number of elves have begun to worship the [[Awakened One]], usually as an additional component to the civic religion, rather than to the exclusion of the atarlie ancestor-worship.

Each of these gods have their own festivals associated with them; in most cases, observed only by the friends and family of people who have selected them as a patron. Only [[Pyria Valpetor]], the Mother of Gods, who is commonly seen as the head of the pantheon enjoys universal observance of her feasts, which are observed on the solstices and equinoxes, given her association with the sun.

If the Bastonian language and alphabet is considered the "common" tongue of Ahren, it is the incredibly precise calendar maintained by the Atarlie that can be thought of as the common calendar. A solar calendar, it consists of 13 months of 28 days, with a single [[Festival of the Turning Wheel]] marking a new year celebration that is not considered belonging to any of those months. This calendar takes its name, the [[Rophalin Calendar]], from [[Rophalin Imperitor]], first emperor of the Atarlie, whose date of coronation forms the epoch for the calendar.

There are also a number of civic holidays observed, including celebrations of historical victories, the birthday of the reigning emperor, and special by-proclamation holidays to mark events the Emperor or Senate want fondly remembered.

===Fighting, Warfare, and Death===
Curiously for an Empire (and therefore a military power), the Atarlie see warfare as an unfortunate but necessary evil. Most expressions of Atarlie imperial power are soft power – displays of force used in place of actual battles, and games of economic manipulation. The elves in general are the longest-lived race on [[Wisteria]] and so take a longer view of history and empire; if they can bloodlessly win a province by spending four human generations working the social and economic angles of the problem, that's no skin off their nose.

These Elves also have a saying: “It is better to be a warrior in a garden than a gardener in the battlefield” (usually attributed to [[Immarra Hyacinth]]. Professional military service is encouraged among all the races that make up the empire (and is one of the paths the gentrified class can use to improve their position), and unlike many other nations the Imperial Legion is a true, standing, professional military force, sworn to servitude with the emperor directly, in the form of the [[Imperial Legion]], as well as a standing military class to be found in the [[Consecrated Legions]].

The Elven Pantheon teaches an afterlife with an [[Elysium]], not unlike Bastonian conceptions of [[Heaven]]. However, Elven morality is far looser and less restrictive, placing a focus on self-improvement and increasing one’s connection to the flows of the arcane. However, since the [[Age of the Summer of Mortals]] has begun, the religion of the [[Awakened One]] has become influential on Atarlie religious scholarship. As a result, a growing number believe they will be reincarnated on [[Ahren]] if they don't "merit" transition to Elysium.

===Language and Scholarship===
The Atarlie Alphabet is a syllabary alphabet, used in the recording of all variants of Elvish language, as well as in some traditions of magical writing, such as those employed in [[Bastonia|The North]]. Atarlie Elvish and Carcolie Elvish are sufficiently similar in their spoken form as to be mutually understood by speakers of either, and many of the other races of Wisteria simply refer to both languages, collectively, as Elvish. However, this is not true of all elvish variants.

The Atarlie Empire has perhaps the most developed and active tradition of formal scholarship the world over. While under- and lower-class families experience much the same educational process as seen elsewhere in the world (focused apprenticeship), the middle and upper classes enjoy a much more generalized education at the hands of privately-funded schools or even private tutors. The goal of this education, in addition to its stated goal of broadening the student's horizons in a manner befitting a "ruler of the world", is to prepare the student for the [[Atarlie Civil Examination]] - an annual round of official examinations that assess the student's suitability for public service and gatekeep civil service positions, most of which are seen as ways to rapidly advance in social or economic position. Schools and independent tutors to help prepare students for these exams are ubiquitous, but expensive. As such, both the schools and the exams are usually only frequented by the children of Gen nobility or wealthy merchants.

Owing to the tight relationship between the Atarlie and the Arcane, schools of arcane magic are extremely common throughout the empire. Most small cities can boast at least one academy focusing on a particular school of magic. In larger settlements, additional schools or even Universities teaching broader fields of study exist.

===Diet, Libations, and Entertainment===
Given the economic power and high degree of urbanization supported by the Atarlie Empire, along with its habit of trade, the Atarlie enjoy a higher than usual standard of diet, both in terms of raw caloric intake and variety, as well as complexity. The culinary arts are heavily patronized by the Atarlie, both in the civilian and military classes. Atarlie cooks are in demand worldwide for their exotic dishes, which include the usual roasts, stews, and pies, along with more exotic preparations such as stir-fries, various types of [[Road Tarts]], samosas, and the like. Grand feasts are common among even the middle class, at which the courses are defined by custom. Unlike in Bastonia, where potatoes are the principal caloric filler, the Atarlie make heavy use of rice and wheat pasta.

Wine is the alcoholic beverage of choice - much of the region is suited to the cultivation of grapes. Every region usually has a signature wine or two, named for the variety of grape from which it is produced, sometimes with the regional name appended if the grape is a wide-spread variety.

Music and Dance are popular at banquets. The Atarlie are decadent by Bastonian standards; such dance includes both the ordinary composed courtly dances as well as a tradition of exotic dancers of all kinds, if suitable for the feast in question.

==Atarlie Economics==
===Taxation and Provision===
As with other aspects of law, taxation is heavily formalized and codified. The [[Imperial Senate]] sets the levels at which provinces themselves are taxed, with prefects left responsible for collecting those taxes. As is common in nations with a taxation policy, the Empire sets taxes on the sale of specific goods or the licensing of particular trades, rather than on income. All taxation is handled in coin at the official level - in some rural areas the prefect may elect to collect the tax in the form of trade goods, but is ultimately responsible for the sale of those goods and providing the necessary coin to the Senate Treasury. Unsurprisingly, this creates a common avenue for corruption, with prefects setting a low price for goods in terms of their utility for paying the tax, and then selling them off abroad at a profit.

Taxation is used to pay for the extensive [[Imperial Legion]], one of the only truly-permanent standing armies in all of Wisteria, as well as funding infrastructure projects. In times of crisis, the senate may intervene with subsidy or provision to lower the popular temperature and avert the risk of revolt; otherwise, Imperial citizens are generally left to their own capabilities to earn a living.

===Social Class and Economic Position===
The Atarlie have a heavily-developed class system, which is at once castelike in its divisions and highly fluid in terms of social mobility. While only Atarlie Elves can serve in the senate or in higher government office, anyone who can meet the requirements of citizenship (usually by way of service in the Legion) enjoys those benefits regardless of race. These social classes range from an underclass of indentured servants, non-citizens, and the truly destitute, through a lower class made up of "ordinary" labour such as farmers, paid servants, and so forth, through a class of artists, merchants, and lower civil servants, all the way up to a sort of gentrified class, primarily Elves, who serve in the senate, high government office, and high military positions.

The principal dividing factor between these classes is economic - even Atarlie find themselves among the underclass as fate occasionally dictates. Only the gentrified class is purely restricted to the Elves, though some scholars argue that a "pseudogentry" exists, consisting largely of humans, halfings, gnomes, and so-on who have the social and economic connections of the true gentry, without the ability to serve in some of the higher positions the elven members of the gentry enjoy.

===Focal Industries===
Providing infrastructure to its citizens is the principal advantage - and arguably the greatest strength - of the Empire, and things like continent-spanning roads, irrigation systems, and fortifications require resources. After infrastructure, maintaining the legion is a key economic driver.

Abroad, apart from their legions, the Atarlie's chief export is knowledge. Atarlie writings on sciences mundane and arcane are considered authoritative around the world, at Atarlie traders frequently ply their craft by taking books and scrolls abroad, selling their wares, and returning with exotic goods like spices. The Empire has a fierce demand for salt that they cannot themselves match, and a goodly chunk of their trade is founded on acquiring more, along with spell components, the magical writings of other cultures, and furs, woods, or metals not found freely in the empire itself.

===Technology and Craftsmanship===
The strong connection of the Atarlie elves to arcane magic pervades every aspect of life in the empire, and craftsmanship is no exception. If the Dwarves are known for their powerfully enchanted arms and armour, the elves are known for their trade in scrolls, wands, rings, and wonderous items of every other description. The reliance on magics both Arcane and Divine means that the elves enjoy a quality of life beyond other nations simply down to the labour they save by using magic to accomplish the same goals.

==Atarlie and the Adventuring Classes==
'''Barbarians''' are exceedingly rare among the Atarlie; if they exist at all it’s usually in an underclass absorbed into the empire recently. Atarlie senses of decorum and military traditions do not encourage the fury required by the Rage mechanic, nor the style of combat itself.

'''Bards''' are common in a variety of forms – professional scholars and adventuring troubadors alike. [[Immarra Hyacinth]]’s clergy includes a disproportionate number of bards, whose combined use of divine and arcane magics often makes for unorthodox, but useful, Theurges.

'''Clerics''' are actually quite common, both among the pastoral clergy and in military and adventuring contexts. Elves take their religions and traditions seriously, and while most elves worship the entire pantheon, clerics continue to focus on a single member of the pantheon as their divine patron.

'''Druids''' are common among the worshippers of [[Feno Ilirel]], and form the backbone of the clergy of that particular member of the panethon. The social role of druids is both as healer and soothsayer, particularly in the country where they might be the only clergy present, such as in farming villages.

'''Fighters''' are common within the empire, though the heavier armour and weapons seen in Bastonia and the lands of the dwarves are rarer, seen only among the higher classes or certain specialist warriors – military doctrine favours light or medium armour and graceful weaponry.

'''Monks''' are rare within the empire, and are usually of archetypes that favour armed combat, if they exist at all. There is no corresponding god that would serve the monk class well; monks within the empire’s ranks are usually either transplants or students of transplants and are seen to have something of the foreigner about them regardless of their original heritage.

'''Paladins''' are surprisingly rare, as High Elven society tends toward Lawful Neutral rather than lawful good. Those that exist often serve as justicars or magistrates, though some are functional templars, maintained by the clerical orders of Gods whose alignments would suit their alignment restriction.

'''Rangers''' are an extremely common class among the high elves and can represent any of a number of social roles as befits their combat archetypes and character creation choices. Whole legionary units are composed of rangers almost to the exclusion of others, and representatives of this class can be found among a number of civilian roles, such as dedicated hunters (including of monsters), couriers, cartographers, and the like.

'''Rogues''' are extremely common (as is their combat specialist prestige class, the Assassin). In addition to the usual criminal underclass, anyone who is interested in maintaining their social and political position (or improving it) usually employs a few rogues as spies, informants, and the like.

'''Sorcerers''' are not seen as negatively in the Empire as they are in some other lands, and the arcane bloodline is extremely common. So closely are the Atarlie tied to the sources of magic in the world that it commonly bubbles in their very veins. Sorcery is so common in the Empire that Sorcerers are not always (or even often) proper adventurers, particularly among the older landed and aristocratic families.

'''Wizards''' are also extremely common. Most Atarlie cities have one or more schools of magic, usually focusing on an individual area of study, though a few Universities exist, catering to more generalist wizards-aspirant. Atarlie are so well known for their wizardry that Atarlie wizards are often in demand in other lands as educators, and adventuring Atarlie Wizards are often travelling the world as part of their research. The Atarlie Empire is one of the only places in Ahern where the practice of necromancy is not illegal, though uses beyond communicating with the dead are frowned upon.

==Atarlie and Monsters==
With how heavily developed the Atarlie Empire is, monsters are a rare concern. The odd dragon or giant may wander down from the Atlas Mountains, along with goblinoid raiding parties, causing issues in that frontier. Similarly, legions abroad have to deal frequently with monsters in their area of operations. That said, the bulk of the empire consists of territory devoid of much by way of actively-hostile magical creatures, and the elves are neutral to friendly with a large number of woodland spirits, fey, fawns, and the like which may inhabit the wilder parts of the Imperial Interior.

==Atarlie and the Nations of Wisteria==
The Atarlie consider themselves the true rulers of Wisteria, with all areas not under their control seen generally as frontiers of varying degree of civilization. They are diplomatic enough to not say so bluntly, but their haughty affectation often chills discourse with the other nations of Wisteria.

* [[Bastonia]] and its largely human population is seen as a mostly-civilized land, or at least as civilized as any nation of such short-lived people could be. The Atarlie trade with Bastonia regularly, especially in The North, where they can obtain rare commodities such as valuable furs, salt (and salt brine), and whale oil.
* The [[Carcolie]] are the wild and barbaric cousins of the Atarlie, who have an uneasy peace with the each other. The Mountain Elves claim that the High Elves drove them into the mountains in some largely-forgotten historical rebellion; conversely the High Elves claim the Carcolie have never lived anywhere else, and are simply uncivilizable due to their tight connection to nature and the wildness that breeds.
* The [[Clans of Magnus]] are respected, but seen as aloof isolationists; it is a poorly-kept secret that the only reason the Empire has not attempted to exert authority over the Carcolie is that the Mountain Elves share the Atlas Mountains with the dwarven clans. All such past attempts by the elves to seize territory from the dwarves have met in failure, and so instead a cold peace has developed between the two factions.
* The [[Hearthlands]] is a peaceful protectorate of the Empire, and one relied on heavily for agricultural trade, with the native halflings and gnomes producing food far in abundance of even their own appetites. While viewed sometimes mockingly by the High Elves, it is held that the Hearthlands are "sufficiently civilized" to not require assimilation into the empire proper.
* The two nations of the [[Lordless Lands]]; the [[Orcish Nation]] and the [[Confederacy of Sages]], are both known to the Empire, considered equally barbaric. However, the Lordless Lands is so far removed from Atarlie territory that no serious consideration of either nation is made.
* In contrast, the [[Shimmering Shore]], with its own strong connection to both the Arcane and other worlds entirely, is seen as prime real-estate. The Elves trade frequently with the city-states of the Shimmering Shore, who view them as both vital economic allies as well as the looming foreign threat that some of the more eastern city-states use to try and push one another into a larger alliance.

{{Atarlie Empire}}
[[Category: Atarlie Empire]][[Category: Wisterian Nations]]

Atarlie Empire

2026-06-24T23:13:53Z

Zadammac: /* Religion, Festivals, and Timekeeping */

{{Major Revision}}

The '''Atarlie Empire''' is a nation-state on the eastern side of the Atlas mountains, extending across the Northern Shore to the Eastern Sea, and bounded by the [[Hearthlands]] in the south. Populated largely by a haughty branch of the [[Elven]] lineage (often known as High Elves in other nations), the Atarlie consider themselves the true rules of Wisteria and the highest lifeform in Ahren. Their mythologies hold that they are the offspring of a sun-god and that they have kept alive a "flame of civilization" that has survived many cycles of worldly recreation. Like any good empire it is actually fairly diverse, integrating humans, halflings, and gnomes from the regions it has conquered, who can obtain full citizenship rights and occasionally even serve in positions of authority.

The Atarlie People, whose name show their connection to the Sun, are often called Sun Elves or High Elves in other lands, by contrast to the relatively “base” Carcolie or other, more exotic offshoots of Elvendom. They are creatures strongly tied to the natural flow of arcane magics, for which they are known and using which their cities and architecture are constructed.

Elven society is both extremely dynamic generation-over-generation in terms of social and economic mobility, and seemingly unchanging to shorter-lived races such as humanity. While it does distinguish between aristocratic, landed, and working classes, those lines blur constantly through intermarriage, political intrigue, and economic mobility (in both directions). Individual regnal periods of individual emperors are relatively long in human terms but still can seem short and end brutally by elven standards, though bloodless coups are more common than full-on imperial assassinations.

All this being said, the Altarie nonetheless consider themselves to be the steadfast guardians of natural and divine order, worshipping the [[Noon-Sun Court]] and banning the worship of all gods outside that within their provinces - but not, however, within other holdings, like their protectorate in the [[Hearthlands]]. They maintain an internal cohesiveness of realpolitikal and legal power unseen in other nations of comparable size, such as the [[Bastonia|Bastonians]] or the [[Clans of Magnus]]; while individual Bastonian Monarchs or Dwarven High Kings may achieve similar cohesion, it rarely survives the interregnum. The elves therefore have a pronounced culture of bureaucratic and magisterial civil services which are not seen nearly as pervasively elsewhere.

Atarlie adventurers broadly fall into two classes – elite legionary units or former units now operating as “dogs of war” or “soldiers of fortune”, and disaffected members of Atarlie lowerclasses seeking to make their fortunes elsewhere. Exceptions exist, as always, but as the Empire is seen by most of its citizens as the most preferable domains in the world, exceptions to the two above rules rarely adventure outside the wildernesses of the Empire itself.

==Atarlie Geography and Government==
===Understanding Atarlie Senatorial Politics===
While the external view – and the titular expectation – of Imperial power is that the Emperor is the most powerful individual among the Atarlie, the truth is somewhat more complicated. While the Emperor has a great deal of unilateral power with regard to foreign policy and military affairs, the critical powers of taxation and treaty ratification reside in the hands of the Senate.

The senate are a political class (and body) of landed gentry, exclusively Elves, who must meet requirements of ancestral service within the senate along with a certain minimum level of civil or military service prior to being appointed to the Senate. While an Emperor can raise new senators who meet the requirements into their ranks, the Emperor does not have the ability to dismiss the senate.

Because of this the Senate can often hamstring Emperors who have become unpopular among their number, but the Emperor can also retaliate by swelling the senate’s ranks with persons who serve their own interests.

===Provinces and Protectorates===
The Empire is broken up into a series of provincial holdings, each under the purview of a Prefect, who is responsible to the Emperor for leveeing forces according to the province’s capabilities and to the Senate for meeting requirements of law and taxation. In order of political importance, these provinces are:
* The [[Imperial Province]] in the Northwestern Empire, extending from the [Atlas Mountains] in its west to a border along the line from [[Tripolis]] to [[Sunport]]. The [[Imperial City]] is its capital, though the personages of the Emperor and the [[Prefect of the Imperial City]] are separate offices.
* The [[Province of the Sun and Moon]] extends from this same border all the way to the eastern shores of Wisteria, and as south as the River Silverrun, which is south of [[Convergence Hall]]. It commands the important cities of [[Moonvale]], [[Convergence Hall]], and [[Sunport]], the later being its extremely wealthy capital.
* The [[Atlassian Foothills]] are a province just south of the Imperial Province, as far south as [[Three Peak Dale]], and as far east as its capital, [[Heroka]] and the [[Three Sisters]], a set of mountains which form the general suggestion of its entire eastern border.
* The [[Province of the Lowland Meadows]] is east of the Three Sisters, with a central capital of [[Imarraka]] which serves as a hub for the ports of [[Fjordlodge]] and [[Bayside]], being important trading ports.
* The [[Southern Province]], which is the geographically largest, but least densely populated and least politically unified. This enormous wooded province extends all the way from the borders of the Atlassian Foothills and the Province of the Lowland Medals to the rough median latitude of the [[Hearthlands]], an Atarlie Protectorate. This expanse is rich in natural resources and is somewhat known as the breadbasket and lumberyard of the empire as a result, but the lifestyle is much more insular and rural than the rest of the empire, which is fairly cosmopolitan. It's largest city is [[Corran]], at the foothills of a branch of the Atlas Mountains.
* The [[Province of the Sunset Valleys]] is in the southern reaches of the Atlassian Foothills and western extents of the [[Atlassian Foothills]].
* The [[Atarlie Frontier]] is further south still, extending from the formal border of the Southern Province, all the way to the Great River of Stars. The expansion of the empire into the [[Shimmering Shores]], stymied by the Great Collapse, means that the frontier is somewhat more dangerous than the rest of the Empire, and more heavily fortified - the administrative capital at [[Ichor Hall]], a trading port at [[South Point]], and the garrison city of [[Navarre's Crossing]].

The Empire also has a practice of establishing protectorates – often centuries later becoming provinces. Currently, the principal noteworthy protectorate is the [[Hearthlands]]. Attacking the Hearthlands from land would require either bypassing Imperial territory or launching an attack across the Atlas Mountains, which would involve bypassing the territory of the [[Clans of Magnus]], who fiercely defend their mountain home.

==Atarlie Culture==
===Arts and Architecture===
The Atarlie are a culture at their modern apex, and so are undergoing a golden age in the arts. Artists of all kinds - architects, sculptors, painters, weavers, musicians, playwrights, thespians, and so forth - enjoy an economic freedom to ply their trade unseen elsewhere on [[Wisteria]], or indeed all of [[Ahren]]. These artists make up an economic class above the main labour classes but below the loftier merchantile class, who make up a great deal of their patronage.

Atarlie Architects in particular have a reputation for doing the "impossible", incorporating living elements in their designs and shaping walls and towers out of whole stone, seemingly without toolmarks or joinery. They do this by including wizards and other spellcasters in their labour force, who are capable of remarkable feats of craftsmanship. Such "Grandmaster Technicians" often fail to draw a dividing line between the "mundane" elements of their craft-of-expertise and the parts which are magical.

===Religion, Festivals, and Timekeeping===
The civil religion of the Atarlie Empire focuses on [[Noon-Sun Court|a broad pantheon]] of divinities. The divinities in general are worshipped by the entire population to varying degrees, especially [[Pyria Valeptor]] and [[Rophalin Imperitor]]. The other dieties in the pantheon are each the patrons of various powerful ruling families which themselves rule the individual provinces of the empire, and so enjoy widespread worship in at least some corner of the empire. An increasing number of elves have begun to worship the [[Awakened One]], usually as an additional component to the civic religion, rather than to the exclusion of the atarlie ancestor-worship.

Each of these gods have their own festivals associated with them; in most cases, observed only by the friends and family of people who have selected them as a patron. Only [[Pyria Valpetor]], the Mother of Gods, who is commonly seen as the head of the pantheon enjoys universal observance of her feasts, which are observed on the solstices and equinoxes, given her association with the sun.

If the Bastonian language and alphabet is considered the "common" tongue of Ahren, it is the incredibly precise calendar maintained by the Atarlie that can be thought of as the common calendar. A solar calendar, it consists of 13 months of 28 days, with a single [[Festival of the Turning Wheel]] marking a new year celebration that is not considered belonging to any of those months. This calendar takes its name, the [[Rophalin Calendar]], from [[Rophalin Imperitor]], first emperor of the Atarlie, whose date of coronation forms the epoch for the calendar.

There are also a number of civic holidays observed, including celebrations of historical victories, the birthday of the reigning emperor, and special by-proclamation holidays to mark events the Emperor or Senate want fondly remembered.

===Fighting, Warfare, and Death===
Curiously for an Empire (and therefore a military power), the Atarlie see warfare as an unfortunate but necessary evil. Most expressions of Atarlie imperial power are soft power – displays of force used in place of actual battles, and games of economic manipulation. The elves in general are the longest-lived race on [[Wisteria]] and so take a longer view of history and empire; if they can bloodlessly win a province by spending four human generations working the social and economic angles of the problem, that's no skin off their nose.

These Elves also have a saying: “It is better to be a warrior in a garden than a gardener in the battlefield” (usually attributed to [[Immarra Hyacinth]]. Professional military service is encouraged among all the races that make up the empire (and is one of the paths the gentrified class can use to improve their position), and unlike many other nations the Imperial Legion is a true, standing, professional military force, sworn to servitude with the emperor directly, in the form of the [[Imperial Legion]], as well as a standing military class to be found in the [[Consecrated Legions]].

The Elven Pantheon teaches an afterlife with an [[Elysium]], not unlike Bastonian conceptions of [[Heaven]]. However, Elven morality is far looser and less restrictive, placing a focus on self-improvement and increasing one’s connection to the flows of the arcane. However, since the [[Age of the Summer of Mortals]] has begun, the religion of the [[Awakened One]] has become influential on Atarlie religious scholarship. As a result, a growing number believe they will be reincarnated on [[Ahren]] if they don't "merit" transition to Elysium.

===Language and Scholarship===
The Atarlie Alphabet is a syllabary alphabet, used in the recording of all variants of Elvish language, as well as in some traditions of magical writing, such as those employed in [[Bastonia|The North]]. Atarlie Elvish and Carcolie Elvish are sufficiently similar in their spoken form as to be mutually understood by speakers of either, and many of the other races of Wisteria simply refer to both languages, collectively, as Elvish. However, this is not true of all elvish variants.

The Atarlie Empire has perhaps the most developed and active tradition of formal scholarship the world over. While under- and lower-class families experience much the same educational process as seen elsewhere in the world (focused apprenticeship), the middle and upper classes enjoy a much more generalized education at the hands of privately-funded schools or even private tutors. The goal of this education, in addition to its stated goal of broadening the student's horizons in a manner befitting a "ruler of the world", is to prepare the student for the [[Atarlie Civil Examination]] - an annual round of official examinations that assess the student's suitability for public service and gatekeep civil service positions, most of which are seen as ways to rapidly advance in social or economic position.

Owing to the tight relationship between the Atarlie and the Arcane, schools of arcane magic are extremely common throughout the empire. Most small cities can boast at least one academy focusing on a particular school of magic. In larger settlements, additional schools or even Universities teaching broader fields of study exist.

===Diet, Libations, and Entertainment===
Given the economic power and high degree of urbanization supported by the Atarlie Empire, along with its habit of trade, the Atarlie enjoy a higher than usual standard of diet, both in terms of raw caloric intake and variety, as well as complexity. The culinary arts are heavily patronized by the Atarlie, both in the civilian and military classes. Atarlie cooks are in demand worldwide for their exotic dishes, which include the usual roasts, stews, and pies, along with more exotic preparations such as stir-fries, various types of [[Road Tarts]], samosas, and the like. Grand feasts are common among even the middle class, at which the courses are defined by custom. Unlike in Bastonia, where potatoes are the principal caloric filler, the Atarlie make heavy use of rice and wheat pasta.

Wine is the alcoholic beverage of choice - much of the region is suited to the cultivation of grapes. Every region usually has a signature wine or two, named for the variety of grape from which it is produced, sometimes with the regional name appended if the grape is a wide-spread variety.

Music and Dance are popular at banquets. The Atarlie are decadent by Bastonian standards; such dance includes both the ordinary composed courtly dances as well as a tradition of exotic dancers of all kinds, if suitable for the feast in question.

==Atarlie Economics==
===Taxation and Provision===
As with other aspects of law, taxation is heavily formalized and codified. The [[Imperial Senate]] sets the levels at which provinces themselves are taxed, with prefects left responsible for collecting those taxes. As is common in nations with a taxation policy, the Empire sets taxes on the sale of specific goods or the licensing of particular trades, rather than on income. All taxation is handled in coin at the official level - in some rural areas the prefect may elect to collect the tax in the form of trade goods, but is ultimately responsible for the sale of those goods and providing the necessary coin to the Senate Treasury. Unsurprisingly, this creates a common avenue for corruption, with prefects setting a low price for goods in terms of their utility for paying the tax, and then selling them off abroad at a profit.

Taxation is used to pay for the extensive [[Imperial Legion]], one of the only truly-permanent standing armies in all of Wisteria, as well as funding infrastructure projects. In times of crisis, the senate may intervene with subsidy or provision to lower the popular temperature and avert the risk of revolt; otherwise, Imperial citizens are generally left to their own capabilities to earn a living.

===Social Class and Economic Position===
The Atarlie have a heavily-developed class system, which is at once castelike in its divisions and highly fluid in terms of social mobility. While only Atarlie Elves can serve in the senate or in higher government office, anyone who can meet the requirements of citizenship (usually by way of service in the Legion) enjoys those benefits regardless of race. These social classes range from an underclass of indentured servants, non-citizens, and the truly destitute, through a lower class made up of "ordinary" labour such as farmers, paid servants, and so forth, through a class of artists, merchants, and lower civil servants, all the way up to a sort of gentrified class, primarily Elves, who serve in the senate, high government office, and high military positions.

The principal dividing factor between these classes is economic - even Atarlie find themselves among the underclass as fate occasionally dictates. Only the gentrified class is purely restricted to the Elves, though some scholars argue that a "pseudogentry" exists, consisting largely of humans, halfings, gnomes, and so-on who have the social and economic connections of the true gentry, without the ability to serve in some of the higher positions the elven members of the gentry enjoy.

===Focal Industries===
Providing infrastructure to its citizens is the principal advantage - and arguably the greatest strength - of the Empire, and things like continent-spanning roads, irrigation systems, and fortifications require resources. After infrastructure, maintaining the legion is a key economic driver.

Abroad, apart from their legions, the Atarlie's chief export is knowledge. Atarlie writings on sciences mundane and arcane are considered authoritative around the world, at Atarlie traders frequently ply their craft by taking books and scrolls abroad, selling their wares, and returning with exotic goods like spices. The Empire has a fierce demand for salt that they cannot themselves match, and a goodly chunk of their trade is founded on acquiring more, along with spell components, the magical writings of other cultures, and furs, woods, or metals not found freely in the empire itself.

===Technology and Craftsmanship===
The strong connection of the Atarlie elves to arcane magic pervades every aspect of life in the empire, and craftsmanship is no exception. If the Dwarves are known for their powerfully enchanted arms and armour, the elves are known for their trade in scrolls, wands, rings, and wonderous items of every other description. The reliance on magics both Arcane and Divine means that the elves enjoy a quality of life beyond other nations simply down to the labour they save by using magic to accomplish the same goals.

==Atarlie and the Adventuring Classes==
'''Barbarians''' are exceedingly rare among the Atarlie; if they exist at all it’s usually in an underclass absorbed into the empire recently. Atarlie senses of decorum and military traditions do not encourage the fury required by the Rage mechanic, nor the style of combat itself.

'''Bards''' are common in a variety of forms – professional scholars and adventuring troubadors alike. [[Immarra Hyacinth]]’s clergy includes a disproportionate number of bards, whose combined use of divine and arcane magics often makes for unorthodox, but useful, Theurges.

'''Clerics''' are actually quite common, both among the pastoral clergy and in military and adventuring contexts. Elves take their religions and traditions seriously, and while most elves worship the entire pantheon, clerics continue to focus on a single member of the pantheon as their divine patron.

'''Druids''' are common among the worshippers of [[Feno Ilirel]], and form the backbone of the clergy of that particular member of the panethon. The social role of druids is both as healer and soothsayer, particularly in the country where they might be the only clergy present, such as in farming villages.

'''Fighters''' are common within the empire, though the heavier armour and weapons seen in Bastonia and the lands of the dwarves are rarer, seen only among the higher classes or certain specialist warriors – military doctrine favours light or medium armour and graceful weaponry.

'''Monks''' are rare within the empire, and are usually of archetypes that favour armed combat, if they exist at all. There is no corresponding god that would serve the monk class well; monks within the empire’s ranks are usually either transplants or students of transplants and are seen to have something of the foreigner about them regardless of their original heritage.

'''Paladins''' are surprisingly rare, as High Elven society tends toward Lawful Neutral rather than lawful good. Those that exist often serve as justicars or magistrates, though some are functional templars, maintained by the clerical orders of Gods whose alignments would suit their alignment restriction.

'''Rangers''' are an extremely common class among the high elves and can represent any of a number of social roles as befits their combat archetypes and character creation choices. Whole legionary units are composed of rangers almost to the exclusion of others, and representatives of this class can be found among a number of civilian roles, such as dedicated hunters (including of monsters), couriers, cartographers, and the like.

'''Rogues''' are extremely common (as is their combat specialist prestige class, the Assassin). In addition to the usual criminal underclass, anyone who is interested in maintaining their social and political position (or improving it) usually employs a few rogues as spies, informants, and the like.

'''Sorcerers''' are not seen as negatively in the Empire as they are in some other lands, and the arcane bloodline is extremely common. So closely are the Atarlie tied to the sources of magic in the world that it commonly bubbles in their very veins. Sorcery is so common in the Empire that Sorcerers are not always (or even often) proper adventurers, particularly among the older landed and aristocratic families.

'''Wizards''' are also extremely common. Most Atarlie cities have one or more schools of magic, usually focusing on an individual area of study, though a few Universities exist, catering to more generalist wizards-aspirant. Atarlie are so well known for their wizardry that Atarlie wizards are often in demand in other lands as educators, and adventuring Atarlie Wizards are often travelling the world as part of their research. The Atarlie Empire is one of the only places in Ahern where the practice of necromancy is not illegal, though uses beyond communicating with the dead are frowned upon.

==Atarlie and Monsters==
With how heavily developed the Atarlie Empire is, monsters are a rare concern. The odd dragon or giant may wander down from the Atlas Mountains, along with goblinoid raiding parties, causing issues in that frontier. Similarly, legions abroad have to deal frequently with monsters in their area of operations. That said, the bulk of the empire consists of territory devoid of much by way of actively-hostile magical creatures, and the elves are neutral to friendly with a large number of woodland spirits, fey, fawns, and the like which may inhabit the wilder parts of the Imperial Interior.

==Atarlie and the Nations of Wisteria==
The Atarlie consider themselves the true rulers of Wisteria, with all areas not under their control seen generally as frontiers of varying degree of civilization. They are diplomatic enough to not say so bluntly, but their haughty affectation often chills discourse with the other nations of Wisteria.

* [[Bastonia]] and its largely human population is seen as a mostly-civilized land, or at least as civilized as any nation of such short-lived people could be. The Atarlie trade with Bastonia regularly, especially in The North, where they can obtain rare commodities such as valuable furs, salt (and salt brine), and whale oil.
* The [[Carcolie]] are the wild and barbaric cousins of the Atarlie, who have an uneasy peace with the each other. The Mountain Elves claim that the High Elves drove them into the mountains in some largely-forgotten historical rebellion; conversely the High Elves claim the Carcolie have never lived anywhere else, and are simply uncivilizable due to their tight connection to nature and the wildness that breeds.
* The [[Clans of Magnus]] are respected, but seen as aloof isolationists; it is a poorly-kept secret that the only reason the Empire has not attempted to exert authority over the Carcolie is that the Mountain Elves share the Atlas Mountains with the dwarven clans. All such past attempts by the elves to seize territory from the dwarves have met in failure, and so instead a cold peace has developed between the two factions.
* The [[Hearthlands]] is a peaceful protectorate of the Empire, and one relied on heavily for agricultural trade, with the native halflings and gnomes producing food far in abundance of even their own appetites. While viewed sometimes mockingly by the High Elves, it is held that the Hearthlands are "sufficiently civilized" to not require assimilation into the empire proper.
* The two nations of the [[Lordless Lands]]; the [[Orcish Nation]] and the [[Confederacy of Sages]], are both known to the Empire, considered equally barbaric. However, the Lordless Lands is so far removed from Atarlie territory that no serious consideration of either nation is made.
* In contrast, the [[Shimmering Shore]], with its own strong connection to both the Arcane and other worlds entirely, is seen as prime real-estate. The Elves trade frequently with the city-states of the Shimmering Shore, who view them as both vital economic allies as well as the looming foreign threat that some of the more eastern city-states use to try and push one another into a larger alliance.

{{Atarlie Empire}}
[[Category: Atarlie Empire]][[Category: Wisterian Nations]]

Atarlie Empire

2026-06-24T23:13:00Z

Zadammac: /* Fighting, Warfare, and Death */

{{Major Revision}}

The '''Atarlie Empire''' is a nation-state on the eastern side of the Atlas mountains, extending across the Northern Shore to the Eastern Sea, and bounded by the [[Hearthlands]] in the south. Populated largely by a haughty branch of the [[Elven]] lineage (often known as High Elves in other nations), the Atarlie consider themselves the true rules of Wisteria and the highest lifeform in Ahren. Their mythologies hold that they are the offspring of a sun-god and that they have kept alive a "flame of civilization" that has survived many cycles of worldly recreation. Like any good empire it is actually fairly diverse, integrating humans, halflings, and gnomes from the regions it has conquered, who can obtain full citizenship rights and occasionally even serve in positions of authority.

The Atarlie People, whose name show their connection to the Sun, are often called Sun Elves or High Elves in other lands, by contrast to the relatively “base” Carcolie or other, more exotic offshoots of Elvendom. They are creatures strongly tied to the natural flow of arcane magics, for which they are known and using which their cities and architecture are constructed.

Elven society is both extremely dynamic generation-over-generation in terms of social and economic mobility, and seemingly unchanging to shorter-lived races such as humanity. While it does distinguish between aristocratic, landed, and working classes, those lines blur constantly through intermarriage, political intrigue, and economic mobility (in both directions). Individual regnal periods of individual emperors are relatively long in human terms but still can seem short and end brutally by elven standards, though bloodless coups are more common than full-on imperial assassinations.

All this being said, the Altarie nonetheless consider themselves to be the steadfast guardians of natural and divine order, worshipping the [[Noon-Sun Court]] and banning the worship of all gods outside that within their provinces - but not, however, within other holdings, like their protectorate in the [[Hearthlands]]. They maintain an internal cohesiveness of realpolitikal and legal power unseen in other nations of comparable size, such as the [[Bastonia|Bastonians]] or the [[Clans of Magnus]]; while individual Bastonian Monarchs or Dwarven High Kings may achieve similar cohesion, it rarely survives the interregnum. The elves therefore have a pronounced culture of bureaucratic and magisterial civil services which are not seen nearly as pervasively elsewhere.

Atarlie adventurers broadly fall into two classes – elite legionary units or former units now operating as “dogs of war” or “soldiers of fortune”, and disaffected members of Atarlie lowerclasses seeking to make their fortunes elsewhere. Exceptions exist, as always, but as the Empire is seen by most of its citizens as the most preferable domains in the world, exceptions to the two above rules rarely adventure outside the wildernesses of the Empire itself.

==Atarlie Geography and Government==
===Understanding Atarlie Senatorial Politics===
While the external view – and the titular expectation – of Imperial power is that the Emperor is the most powerful individual among the Atarlie, the truth is somewhat more complicated. While the Emperor has a great deal of unilateral power with regard to foreign policy and military affairs, the critical powers of taxation and treaty ratification reside in the hands of the Senate.

The senate are a political class (and body) of landed gentry, exclusively Elves, who must meet requirements of ancestral service within the senate along with a certain minimum level of civil or military service prior to being appointed to the Senate. While an Emperor can raise new senators who meet the requirements into their ranks, the Emperor does not have the ability to dismiss the senate.

Because of this the Senate can often hamstring Emperors who have become unpopular among their number, but the Emperor can also retaliate by swelling the senate’s ranks with persons who serve their own interests.

===Provinces and Protectorates===
The Empire is broken up into a series of provincial holdings, each under the purview of a Prefect, who is responsible to the Emperor for leveeing forces according to the province’s capabilities and to the Senate for meeting requirements of law and taxation. In order of political importance, these provinces are:
* The [[Imperial Province]] in the Northwestern Empire, extending from the [Atlas Mountains] in its west to a border along the line from [[Tripolis]] to [[Sunport]]. The [[Imperial City]] is its capital, though the personages of the Emperor and the [[Prefect of the Imperial City]] are separate offices.
* The [[Province of the Sun and Moon]] extends from this same border all the way to the eastern shores of Wisteria, and as south as the River Silverrun, which is south of [[Convergence Hall]]. It commands the important cities of [[Moonvale]], [[Convergence Hall]], and [[Sunport]], the later being its extremely wealthy capital.
* The [[Atlassian Foothills]] are a province just south of the Imperial Province, as far south as [[Three Peak Dale]], and as far east as its capital, [[Heroka]] and the [[Three Sisters]], a set of mountains which form the general suggestion of its entire eastern border.
* The [[Province of the Lowland Meadows]] is east of the Three Sisters, with a central capital of [[Imarraka]] which serves as a hub for the ports of [[Fjordlodge]] and [[Bayside]], being important trading ports.
* The [[Southern Province]], which is the geographically largest, but least densely populated and least politically unified. This enormous wooded province extends all the way from the borders of the Atlassian Foothills and the Province of the Lowland Medals to the rough median latitude of the [[Hearthlands]], an Atarlie Protectorate. This expanse is rich in natural resources and is somewhat known as the breadbasket and lumberyard of the empire as a result, but the lifestyle is much more insular and rural than the rest of the empire, which is fairly cosmopolitan. It's largest city is [[Corran]], at the foothills of a branch of the Atlas Mountains.
* The [[Province of the Sunset Valleys]] is in the southern reaches of the Atlassian Foothills and western extents of the [[Atlassian Foothills]].
* The [[Atarlie Frontier]] is further south still, extending from the formal border of the Southern Province, all the way to the Great River of Stars. The expansion of the empire into the [[Shimmering Shores]], stymied by the Great Collapse, means that the frontier is somewhat more dangerous than the rest of the Empire, and more heavily fortified - the administrative capital at [[Ichor Hall]], a trading port at [[South Point]], and the garrison city of [[Navarre's Crossing]].

The Empire also has a practice of establishing protectorates – often centuries later becoming provinces. Currently, the principal noteworthy protectorate is the [[Hearthlands]]. Attacking the Hearthlands from land would require either bypassing Imperial territory or launching an attack across the Atlas Mountains, which would involve bypassing the territory of the [[Clans of Magnus]], who fiercely defend their mountain home.

==Atarlie Culture==
===Arts and Architecture===
The Atarlie are a culture at their modern apex, and so are undergoing a golden age in the arts. Artists of all kinds - architects, sculptors, painters, weavers, musicians, playwrights, thespians, and so forth - enjoy an economic freedom to ply their trade unseen elsewhere on [[Wisteria]], or indeed all of [[Ahren]]. These artists make up an economic class above the main labour classes but below the loftier merchantile class, who make up a great deal of their patronage.

Atarlie Architects in particular have a reputation for doing the "impossible", incorporating living elements in their designs and shaping walls and towers out of whole stone, seemingly without toolmarks or joinery. They do this by including wizards and other spellcasters in their labour force, who are capable of remarkable feats of craftsmanship. Such "Grandmaster Technicians" often fail to draw a dividing line between the "mundane" elements of their craft-of-expertise and the parts which are magical.

===Religion, Festivals, and Timekeeping===
The civil religion of the Atarlie Empire focuses on [[Noon-Sun Court|a broad pantheon]] of divinities. The divinities in general are worshipped by the entire population to varying degrees, especially [[Pyria Valeptor]] and [[Rophalin Imperitor]]. The other dieties in the pantheon are each the patrons of various powerful ruling families which themselves rule the individual provinces of the empire, and so enjoy widespread worship in at least some corner of the empire.

Each of these gods have their own festivals associated with them; in most cases, observed only by the friends and family of people who have selected them as a patron. Only [[Pyria Valpetor]], the Mother of Gods, who is commonly seen as the head of the pantheon enjoys universal observance of her feasts, which are observed on the solstices and equinoxes, given her association with the sun.

If the Bastonian language and alphabet is considered the "common" tongue of Ahren, it is the incredibly precise calendar maintained by the Atarlie that can be thought of as the common calendar. A solar calendar, it consists of 13 months of 28 days, with a single [[Festival of the Turning Wheel]] marking a new year celebration that is not considered belonging to any of those months. This calendar takes its name, the [[Rophalin Calendar]], from [[Rophalin Imperitor]], first emperor of the Atarlie, whose date of coronation forms the epoch for the calendar.

There are also a number of civic holidays observed, including celebrations of historical victories, the birthday of the reigning emperor, and special by-proclamation holidays to mark events the Emperor or Senate want fondly remembered.

===Fighting, Warfare, and Death===
Curiously for an Empire (and therefore a military power), the Atarlie see warfare as an unfortunate but necessary evil. Most expressions of Atarlie imperial power are soft power – displays of force used in place of actual battles, and games of economic manipulation. The elves in general are the longest-lived race on [[Wisteria]] and so take a longer view of history and empire; if they can bloodlessly win a province by spending four human generations working the social and economic angles of the problem, that's no skin off their nose.

These Elves also have a saying: “It is better to be a warrior in a garden than a gardener in the battlefield” (usually attributed to [[Immarra Hyacinth]]. Professional military service is encouraged among all the races that make up the empire (and is one of the paths the gentrified class can use to improve their position), and unlike many other nations the Imperial Legion is a true, standing, professional military force, sworn to servitude with the emperor directly, in the form of the [[Imperial Legion]], as well as a standing military class to be found in the [[Consecrated Legions]].

The Elven Pantheon teaches an afterlife with an [[Elysium]], not unlike Bastonian conceptions of [[Heaven]]. However, Elven morality is far looser and less restrictive, placing a focus on self-improvement and increasing one’s connection to the flows of the arcane. However, since the [[Age of the Summer of Mortals]] has begun, the religion of the [[Awakened One]] has become influential on Atarlie religious scholarship. As a result, a growing number believe they will be reincarnated on [[Ahren]] if they don't "merit" transition to Elysium.

===Language and Scholarship===
The Atarlie Alphabet is a syllabary alphabet, used in the recording of all variants of Elvish language, as well as in some traditions of magical writing, such as those employed in [[Bastonia|The North]]. Atarlie Elvish and Carcolie Elvish are sufficiently similar in their spoken form as to be mutually understood by speakers of either, and many of the other races of Wisteria simply refer to both languages, collectively, as Elvish. However, this is not true of all elvish variants.

The Atarlie Empire has perhaps the most developed and active tradition of formal scholarship the world over. While under- and lower-class families experience much the same educational process as seen elsewhere in the world (focused apprenticeship), the middle and upper classes enjoy a much more generalized education at the hands of privately-funded schools or even private tutors. The goal of this education, in addition to its stated goal of broadening the student's horizons in a manner befitting a "ruler of the world", is to prepare the student for the [[Atarlie Civil Examination]] - an annual round of official examinations that assess the student's suitability for public service and gatekeep civil service positions, most of which are seen as ways to rapidly advance in social or economic position.

Owing to the tight relationship between the Atarlie and the Arcane, schools of arcane magic are extremely common throughout the empire. Most small cities can boast at least one academy focusing on a particular school of magic. In larger settlements, additional schools or even Universities teaching broader fields of study exist.

===Diet, Libations, and Entertainment===
Given the economic power and high degree of urbanization supported by the Atarlie Empire, along with its habit of trade, the Atarlie enjoy a higher than usual standard of diet, both in terms of raw caloric intake and variety, as well as complexity. The culinary arts are heavily patronized by the Atarlie, both in the civilian and military classes. Atarlie cooks are in demand worldwide for their exotic dishes, which include the usual roasts, stews, and pies, along with more exotic preparations such as stir-fries, various types of [[Road Tarts]], samosas, and the like. Grand feasts are common among even the middle class, at which the courses are defined by custom. Unlike in Bastonia, where potatoes are the principal caloric filler, the Atarlie make heavy use of rice and wheat pasta.

Wine is the alcoholic beverage of choice - much of the region is suited to the cultivation of grapes. Every region usually has a signature wine or two, named for the variety of grape from which it is produced, sometimes with the regional name appended if the grape is a wide-spread variety.

Music and Dance are popular at banquets. The Atarlie are decadent by Bastonian standards; such dance includes both the ordinary composed courtly dances as well as a tradition of exotic dancers of all kinds, if suitable for the feast in question.

==Atarlie Economics==
===Taxation and Provision===
As with other aspects of law, taxation is heavily formalized and codified. The [[Imperial Senate]] sets the levels at which provinces themselves are taxed, with prefects left responsible for collecting those taxes. As is common in nations with a taxation policy, the Empire sets taxes on the sale of specific goods or the licensing of particular trades, rather than on income. All taxation is handled in coin at the official level - in some rural areas the prefect may elect to collect the tax in the form of trade goods, but is ultimately responsible for the sale of those goods and providing the necessary coin to the Senate Treasury. Unsurprisingly, this creates a common avenue for corruption, with prefects setting a low price for goods in terms of their utility for paying the tax, and then selling them off abroad at a profit.

Taxation is used to pay for the extensive [[Imperial Legion]], one of the only truly-permanent standing armies in all of Wisteria, as well as funding infrastructure projects. In times of crisis, the senate may intervene with subsidy or provision to lower the popular temperature and avert the risk of revolt; otherwise, Imperial citizens are generally left to their own capabilities to earn a living.

===Social Class and Economic Position===
The Atarlie have a heavily-developed class system, which is at once castelike in its divisions and highly fluid in terms of social mobility. While only Atarlie Elves can serve in the senate or in higher government office, anyone who can meet the requirements of citizenship (usually by way of service in the Legion) enjoys those benefits regardless of race. These social classes range from an underclass of indentured servants, non-citizens, and the truly destitute, through a lower class made up of "ordinary" labour such as farmers, paid servants, and so forth, through a class of artists, merchants, and lower civil servants, all the way up to a sort of gentrified class, primarily Elves, who serve in the senate, high government office, and high military positions.

The principal dividing factor between these classes is economic - even Atarlie find themselves among the underclass as fate occasionally dictates. Only the gentrified class is purely restricted to the Elves, though some scholars argue that a "pseudogentry" exists, consisting largely of humans, halfings, gnomes, and so-on who have the social and economic connections of the true gentry, without the ability to serve in some of the higher positions the elven members of the gentry enjoy.

===Focal Industries===
Providing infrastructure to its citizens is the principal advantage - and arguably the greatest strength - of the Empire, and things like continent-spanning roads, irrigation systems, and fortifications require resources. After infrastructure, maintaining the legion is a key economic driver.

Abroad, apart from their legions, the Atarlie's chief export is knowledge. Atarlie writings on sciences mundane and arcane are considered authoritative around the world, at Atarlie traders frequently ply their craft by taking books and scrolls abroad, selling their wares, and returning with exotic goods like spices. The Empire has a fierce demand for salt that they cannot themselves match, and a goodly chunk of their trade is founded on acquiring more, along with spell components, the magical writings of other cultures, and furs, woods, or metals not found freely in the empire itself.

===Technology and Craftsmanship===
The strong connection of the Atarlie elves to arcane magic pervades every aspect of life in the empire, and craftsmanship is no exception. If the Dwarves are known for their powerfully enchanted arms and armour, the elves are known for their trade in scrolls, wands, rings, and wonderous items of every other description. The reliance on magics both Arcane and Divine means that the elves enjoy a quality of life beyond other nations simply down to the labour they save by using magic to accomplish the same goals.

==Atarlie and the Adventuring Classes==
'''Barbarians''' are exceedingly rare among the Atarlie; if they exist at all it’s usually in an underclass absorbed into the empire recently. Atarlie senses of decorum and military traditions do not encourage the fury required by the Rage mechanic, nor the style of combat itself.

'''Bards''' are common in a variety of forms – professional scholars and adventuring troubadors alike. [[Immarra Hyacinth]]’s clergy includes a disproportionate number of bards, whose combined use of divine and arcane magics often makes for unorthodox, but useful, Theurges.

'''Clerics''' are actually quite common, both among the pastoral clergy and in military and adventuring contexts. Elves take their religions and traditions seriously, and while most elves worship the entire pantheon, clerics continue to focus on a single member of the pantheon as their divine patron.

'''Druids''' are common among the worshippers of [[Feno Ilirel]], and form the backbone of the clergy of that particular member of the panethon. The social role of druids is both as healer and soothsayer, particularly in the country where they might be the only clergy present, such as in farming villages.

'''Fighters''' are common within the empire, though the heavier armour and weapons seen in Bastonia and the lands of the dwarves are rarer, seen only among the higher classes or certain specialist warriors – military doctrine favours light or medium armour and graceful weaponry.

'''Monks''' are rare within the empire, and are usually of archetypes that favour armed combat, if they exist at all. There is no corresponding god that would serve the monk class well; monks within the empire’s ranks are usually either transplants or students of transplants and are seen to have something of the foreigner about them regardless of their original heritage.

'''Paladins''' are surprisingly rare, as High Elven society tends toward Lawful Neutral rather than lawful good. Those that exist often serve as justicars or magistrates, though some are functional templars, maintained by the clerical orders of Gods whose alignments would suit their alignment restriction.

'''Rangers''' are an extremely common class among the high elves and can represent any of a number of social roles as befits their combat archetypes and character creation choices. Whole legionary units are composed of rangers almost to the exclusion of others, and representatives of this class can be found among a number of civilian roles, such as dedicated hunters (including of monsters), couriers, cartographers, and the like.

'''Rogues''' are extremely common (as is their combat specialist prestige class, the Assassin). In addition to the usual criminal underclass, anyone who is interested in maintaining their social and political position (or improving it) usually employs a few rogues as spies, informants, and the like.

'''Sorcerers''' are not seen as negatively in the Empire as they are in some other lands, and the arcane bloodline is extremely common. So closely are the Atarlie tied to the sources of magic in the world that it commonly bubbles in their very veins. Sorcery is so common in the Empire that Sorcerers are not always (or even often) proper adventurers, particularly among the older landed and aristocratic families.

'''Wizards''' are also extremely common. Most Atarlie cities have one or more schools of magic, usually focusing on an individual area of study, though a few Universities exist, catering to more generalist wizards-aspirant. Atarlie are so well known for their wizardry that Atarlie wizards are often in demand in other lands as educators, and adventuring Atarlie Wizards are often travelling the world as part of their research. The Atarlie Empire is one of the only places in Ahern where the practice of necromancy is not illegal, though uses beyond communicating with the dead are frowned upon.

==Atarlie and Monsters==
With how heavily developed the Atarlie Empire is, monsters are a rare concern. The odd dragon or giant may wander down from the Atlas Mountains, along with goblinoid raiding parties, causing issues in that frontier. Similarly, legions abroad have to deal frequently with monsters in their area of operations. That said, the bulk of the empire consists of territory devoid of much by way of actively-hostile magical creatures, and the elves are neutral to friendly with a large number of woodland spirits, fey, fawns, and the like which may inhabit the wilder parts of the Imperial Interior.

==Atarlie and the Nations of Wisteria==
The Atarlie consider themselves the true rulers of Wisteria, with all areas not under their control seen generally as frontiers of varying degree of civilization. They are diplomatic enough to not say so bluntly, but their haughty affectation often chills discourse with the other nations of Wisteria.

* [[Bastonia]] and its largely human population is seen as a mostly-civilized land, or at least as civilized as any nation of such short-lived people could be. The Atarlie trade with Bastonia regularly, especially in The North, where they can obtain rare commodities such as valuable furs, salt (and salt brine), and whale oil.
* The [[Carcolie]] are the wild and barbaric cousins of the Atarlie, who have an uneasy peace with the each other. The Mountain Elves claim that the High Elves drove them into the mountains in some largely-forgotten historical rebellion; conversely the High Elves claim the Carcolie have never lived anywhere else, and are simply uncivilizable due to their tight connection to nature and the wildness that breeds.
* The [[Clans of Magnus]] are respected, but seen as aloof isolationists; it is a poorly-kept secret that the only reason the Empire has not attempted to exert authority over the Carcolie is that the Mountain Elves share the Atlas Mountains with the dwarven clans. All such past attempts by the elves to seize territory from the dwarves have met in failure, and so instead a cold peace has developed between the two factions.
* The [[Hearthlands]] is a peaceful protectorate of the Empire, and one relied on heavily for agricultural trade, with the native halflings and gnomes producing food far in abundance of even their own appetites. While viewed sometimes mockingly by the High Elves, it is held that the Hearthlands are "sufficiently civilized" to not require assimilation into the empire proper.
* The two nations of the [[Lordless Lands]]; the [[Orcish Nation]] and the [[Confederacy of Sages]], are both known to the Empire, considered equally barbaric. However, the Lordless Lands is so far removed from Atarlie territory that no serious consideration of either nation is made.
* In contrast, the [[Shimmering Shore]], with its own strong connection to both the Arcane and other worlds entirely, is seen as prime real-estate. The Elves trade frequently with the city-states of the Shimmering Shore, who view them as both vital economic allies as well as the looming foreign threat that some of the more eastern city-states use to try and push one another into a larger alliance.

{{Atarlie Empire}}
[[Category: Atarlie Empire]][[Category: Wisterian Nations]]

Atarlie Empire

2026-06-24T23:07:19Z

Zadammac: /* Religion, Festivals, and Timekeeping */

{{Major Revision}}

The '''Atarlie Empire''' is a nation-state on the eastern side of the Atlas mountains, extending across the Northern Shore to the Eastern Sea, and bounded by the [[Hearthlands]] in the south. Populated largely by a haughty branch of the [[Elven]] lineage (often known as High Elves in other nations), the Atarlie consider themselves the true rules of Wisteria and the highest lifeform in Ahren. Their mythologies hold that they are the offspring of a sun-god and that they have kept alive a "flame of civilization" that has survived many cycles of worldly recreation. Like any good empire it is actually fairly diverse, integrating humans, halflings, and gnomes from the regions it has conquered, who can obtain full citizenship rights and occasionally even serve in positions of authority.

The Atarlie People, whose name show their connection to the Sun, are often called Sun Elves or High Elves in other lands, by contrast to the relatively “base” Carcolie or other, more exotic offshoots of Elvendom. They are creatures strongly tied to the natural flow of arcane magics, for which they are known and using which their cities and architecture are constructed.

Elven society is both extremely dynamic generation-over-generation in terms of social and economic mobility, and seemingly unchanging to shorter-lived races such as humanity. While it does distinguish between aristocratic, landed, and working classes, those lines blur constantly through intermarriage, political intrigue, and economic mobility (in both directions). Individual regnal periods of individual emperors are relatively long in human terms but still can seem short and end brutally by elven standards, though bloodless coups are more common than full-on imperial assassinations.

All this being said, the Altarie nonetheless consider themselves to be the steadfast guardians of natural and divine order, worshipping the [[Noon-Sun Court]] and banning the worship of all gods outside that within their provinces - but not, however, within other holdings, like their protectorate in the [[Hearthlands]]. They maintain an internal cohesiveness of realpolitikal and legal power unseen in other nations of comparable size, such as the [[Bastonia|Bastonians]] or the [[Clans of Magnus]]; while individual Bastonian Monarchs or Dwarven High Kings may achieve similar cohesion, it rarely survives the interregnum. The elves therefore have a pronounced culture of bureaucratic and magisterial civil services which are not seen nearly as pervasively elsewhere.

Atarlie adventurers broadly fall into two classes – elite legionary units or former units now operating as “dogs of war” or “soldiers of fortune”, and disaffected members of Atarlie lowerclasses seeking to make their fortunes elsewhere. Exceptions exist, as always, but as the Empire is seen by most of its citizens as the most preferable domains in the world, exceptions to the two above rules rarely adventure outside the wildernesses of the Empire itself.

==Atarlie Geography and Government==
===Understanding Atarlie Senatorial Politics===
While the external view – and the titular expectation – of Imperial power is that the Emperor is the most powerful individual among the Atarlie, the truth is somewhat more complicated. While the Emperor has a great deal of unilateral power with regard to foreign policy and military affairs, the critical powers of taxation and treaty ratification reside in the hands of the Senate.

The senate are a political class (and body) of landed gentry, exclusively Elves, who must meet requirements of ancestral service within the senate along with a certain minimum level of civil or military service prior to being appointed to the Senate. While an Emperor can raise new senators who meet the requirements into their ranks, the Emperor does not have the ability to dismiss the senate.

Because of this the Senate can often hamstring Emperors who have become unpopular among their number, but the Emperor can also retaliate by swelling the senate’s ranks with persons who serve their own interests.

===Provinces and Protectorates===
The Empire is broken up into a series of provincial holdings, each under the purview of a Prefect, who is responsible to the Emperor for leveeing forces according to the province’s capabilities and to the Senate for meeting requirements of law and taxation. In order of political importance, these provinces are:
* The [[Imperial Province]] in the Northwestern Empire, extending from the [Atlas Mountains] in its west to a border along the line from [[Tripolis]] to [[Sunport]]. The [[Imperial City]] is its capital, though the personages of the Emperor and the [[Prefect of the Imperial City]] are separate offices.
* The [[Province of the Sun and Moon]] extends from this same border all the way to the eastern shores of Wisteria, and as south as the River Silverrun, which is south of [[Convergence Hall]]. It commands the important cities of [[Moonvale]], [[Convergence Hall]], and [[Sunport]], the later being its extremely wealthy capital.
* The [[Atlassian Foothills]] are a province just south of the Imperial Province, as far south as [[Three Peak Dale]], and as far east as its capital, [[Heroka]] and the [[Three Sisters]], a set of mountains which form the general suggestion of its entire eastern border.
* The [[Province of the Lowland Meadows]] is east of the Three Sisters, with a central capital of [[Imarraka]] which serves as a hub for the ports of [[Fjordlodge]] and [[Bayside]], being important trading ports.
* The [[Southern Province]], which is the geographically largest, but least densely populated and least politically unified. This enormous wooded province extends all the way from the borders of the Atlassian Foothills and the Province of the Lowland Medals to the rough median latitude of the [[Hearthlands]], an Atarlie Protectorate. This expanse is rich in natural resources and is somewhat known as the breadbasket and lumberyard of the empire as a result, but the lifestyle is much more insular and rural than the rest of the empire, which is fairly cosmopolitan. It's largest city is [[Corran]], at the foothills of a branch of the Atlas Mountains.
* The [[Province of the Sunset Valleys]] is in the southern reaches of the Atlassian Foothills and western extents of the [[Atlassian Foothills]].
* The [[Atarlie Frontier]] is further south still, extending from the formal border of the Southern Province, all the way to the Great River of Stars. The expansion of the empire into the [[Shimmering Shores]], stymied by the Great Collapse, means that the frontier is somewhat more dangerous than the rest of the Empire, and more heavily fortified - the administrative capital at [[Ichor Hall]], a trading port at [[South Point]], and the garrison city of [[Navarre's Crossing]].

The Empire also has a practice of establishing protectorates – often centuries later becoming provinces. Currently, the principal noteworthy protectorate is the [[Hearthlands]]. Attacking the Hearthlands from land would require either bypassing Imperial territory or launching an attack across the Atlas Mountains, which would involve bypassing the territory of the [[Clans of Magnus]], who fiercely defend their mountain home.

==Atarlie Culture==
===Arts and Architecture===
The Atarlie are a culture at their modern apex, and so are undergoing a golden age in the arts. Artists of all kinds - architects, sculptors, painters, weavers, musicians, playwrights, thespians, and so forth - enjoy an economic freedom to ply their trade unseen elsewhere on [[Wisteria]], or indeed all of [[Ahren]]. These artists make up an economic class above the main labour classes but below the loftier merchantile class, who make up a great deal of their patronage.

Atarlie Architects in particular have a reputation for doing the "impossible", incorporating living elements in their designs and shaping walls and towers out of whole stone, seemingly without toolmarks or joinery. They do this by including wizards and other spellcasters in their labour force, who are capable of remarkable feats of craftsmanship. Such "Grandmaster Technicians" often fail to draw a dividing line between the "mundane" elements of their craft-of-expertise and the parts which are magical.

===Religion, Festivals, and Timekeeping===
The civil religion of the Atarlie Empire focuses on [[Noon-Sun Court|a broad pantheon]] of divinities. The divinities in general are worshipped by the entire population to varying degrees, especially [[Pyria Valeptor]] and [[Rophalin Imperitor]]. The other dieties in the pantheon are each the patrons of various powerful ruling families which themselves rule the individual provinces of the empire, and so enjoy widespread worship in at least some corner of the empire.

Each of these gods have their own festivals associated with them; in most cases, observed only by the friends and family of people who have selected them as a patron. Only [[Pyria Valpetor]], the Mother of Gods, who is commonly seen as the head of the pantheon enjoys universal observance of her feasts, which are observed on the solstices and equinoxes, given her association with the sun.

If the Bastonian language and alphabet is considered the "common" tongue of Ahren, it is the incredibly precise calendar maintained by the Atarlie that can be thought of as the common calendar. A solar calendar, it consists of 13 months of 28 days, with a single [[Festival of the Turning Wheel]] marking a new year celebration that is not considered belonging to any of those months. This calendar takes its name, the [[Rophalin Calendar]], from [[Rophalin Imperitor]], first emperor of the Atarlie, whose date of coronation forms the epoch for the calendar.

There are also a number of civic holidays observed, including celebrations of historical victories, the birthday of the reigning emperor, and special by-proclamation holidays to mark events the Emperor or Senate want fondly remembered.

===Fighting, Warfare, and Death===
Curiously for an Empire (and therefore a military power), the Atarlie see warfare as an unfortunate but necessary evil. Most expressions of Atarlie imperial power are soft power – displays of force used in place of actual battles, and games of economic manipulation.

These Elves also have a saying: “It is better to be a warrior in a garden than a gardener in the battlefield”. Professional military service is encouraged among all the races that make up the empire (and is one of the paths the gentrified class can use to improve their position), and unlike many other nations the Imperial Legion is a true, standing, professional military force, sworn to servitude with the emperor directly.

The Elven Pantheon teaches an afterlife with an [[Elysium]], not unlike Bastonian conceptions of [[Heaven]]. However, Elven morality is far looser and less restrictive, placing a focus on self-improvement and increasing one’s connection to the flows of the arcane.

===Language and Scholarship===
The Atarlie Alphabet is a syllabary alphabet, used in the recording of all variants of Elvish language, as well as in some traditions of magical writing, such as those employed in [[Bastonia|The North]]. Atarlie Elvish and Carcolie Elvish are sufficiently similar in their spoken form as to be mutually understood by speakers of either, and many of the other races of Wisteria simply refer to both languages, collectively, as Elvish. However, this is not true of all elvish variants.

The Atarlie Empire has perhaps the most developed and active tradition of formal scholarship the world over. While under- and lower-class families experience much the same educational process as seen elsewhere in the world (focused apprenticeship), the middle and upper classes enjoy a much more generalized education at the hands of privately-funded schools or even private tutors. The goal of this education, in addition to its stated goal of broadening the student's horizons in a manner befitting a "ruler of the world", is to prepare the student for the [[Atarlie Civil Examination]] - an annual round of official examinations that assess the student's suitability for public service and gatekeep civil service positions, most of which are seen as ways to rapidly advance in social or economic position.

Owing to the tight relationship between the Atarlie and the Arcane, schools of arcane magic are extremely common throughout the empire. Most small cities can boast at least one academy focusing on a particular school of magic. In larger settlements, additional schools or even Universities teaching broader fields of study exist.

===Diet, Libations, and Entertainment===
Given the economic power and high degree of urbanization supported by the Atarlie Empire, along with its habit of trade, the Atarlie enjoy a higher than usual standard of diet, both in terms of raw caloric intake and variety, as well as complexity. The culinary arts are heavily patronized by the Atarlie, both in the civilian and military classes. Atarlie cooks are in demand worldwide for their exotic dishes, which include the usual roasts, stews, and pies, along with more exotic preparations such as stir-fries, various types of [[Road Tarts]], samosas, and the like. Grand feasts are common among even the middle class, at which the courses are defined by custom. Unlike in Bastonia, where potatoes are the principal caloric filler, the Atarlie make heavy use of rice and wheat pasta.

Wine is the alcoholic beverage of choice - much of the region is suited to the cultivation of grapes. Every region usually has a signature wine or two, named for the variety of grape from which it is produced, sometimes with the regional name appended if the grape is a wide-spread variety.

Music and Dance are popular at banquets. The Atarlie are decadent by Bastonian standards; such dance includes both the ordinary composed courtly dances as well as a tradition of exotic dancers of all kinds, if suitable for the feast in question.

==Atarlie Economics==
===Taxation and Provision===
As with other aspects of law, taxation is heavily formalized and codified. The [[Imperial Senate]] sets the levels at which provinces themselves are taxed, with prefects left responsible for collecting those taxes. As is common in nations with a taxation policy, the Empire sets taxes on the sale of specific goods or the licensing of particular trades, rather than on income. All taxation is handled in coin at the official level - in some rural areas the prefect may elect to collect the tax in the form of trade goods, but is ultimately responsible for the sale of those goods and providing the necessary coin to the Senate Treasury. Unsurprisingly, this creates a common avenue for corruption, with prefects setting a low price for goods in terms of their utility for paying the tax, and then selling them off abroad at a profit.

Taxation is used to pay for the extensive [[Imperial Legion]], one of the only truly-permanent standing armies in all of Wisteria, as well as funding infrastructure projects. In times of crisis, the senate may intervene with subsidy or provision to lower the popular temperature and avert the risk of revolt; otherwise, Imperial citizens are generally left to their own capabilities to earn a living.

===Social Class and Economic Position===
The Atarlie have a heavily-developed class system, which is at once castelike in its divisions and highly fluid in terms of social mobility. While only Atarlie Elves can serve in the senate or in higher government office, anyone who can meet the requirements of citizenship (usually by way of service in the Legion) enjoys those benefits regardless of race. These social classes range from an underclass of indentured servants, non-citizens, and the truly destitute, through a lower class made up of "ordinary" labour such as farmers, paid servants, and so forth, through a class of artists, merchants, and lower civil servants, all the way up to a sort of gentrified class, primarily Elves, who serve in the senate, high government office, and high military positions.

The principal dividing factor between these classes is economic - even Atarlie find themselves among the underclass as fate occasionally dictates. Only the gentrified class is purely restricted to the Elves, though some scholars argue that a "pseudogentry" exists, consisting largely of humans, halfings, gnomes, and so-on who have the social and economic connections of the true gentry, without the ability to serve in some of the higher positions the elven members of the gentry enjoy.

===Focal Industries===
Providing infrastructure to its citizens is the principal advantage - and arguably the greatest strength - of the Empire, and things like continent-spanning roads, irrigation systems, and fortifications require resources. After infrastructure, maintaining the legion is a key economic driver.

Abroad, apart from their legions, the Atarlie's chief export is knowledge. Atarlie writings on sciences mundane and arcane are considered authoritative around the world, at Atarlie traders frequently ply their craft by taking books and scrolls abroad, selling their wares, and returning with exotic goods like spices. The Empire has a fierce demand for salt that they cannot themselves match, and a goodly chunk of their trade is founded on acquiring more, along with spell components, the magical writings of other cultures, and furs, woods, or metals not found freely in the empire itself.

===Technology and Craftsmanship===
The strong connection of the Atarlie elves to arcane magic pervades every aspect of life in the empire, and craftsmanship is no exception. If the Dwarves are known for their powerfully enchanted arms and armour, the elves are known for their trade in scrolls, wands, rings, and wonderous items of every other description. The reliance on magics both Arcane and Divine means that the elves enjoy a quality of life beyond other nations simply down to the labour they save by using magic to accomplish the same goals.

==Atarlie and the Adventuring Classes==
'''Barbarians''' are exceedingly rare among the Atarlie; if they exist at all it’s usually in an underclass absorbed into the empire recently. Atarlie senses of decorum and military traditions do not encourage the fury required by the Rage mechanic, nor the style of combat itself.

'''Bards''' are common in a variety of forms – professional scholars and adventuring troubadors alike. [[Immarra Hyacinth]]’s clergy includes a disproportionate number of bards, whose combined use of divine and arcane magics often makes for unorthodox, but useful, Theurges.

'''Clerics''' are actually quite common, both among the pastoral clergy and in military and adventuring contexts. Elves take their religions and traditions seriously, and while most elves worship the entire pantheon, clerics continue to focus on a single member of the pantheon as their divine patron.

'''Druids''' are common among the worshippers of [[Feno Ilirel]], and form the backbone of the clergy of that particular member of the panethon. The social role of druids is both as healer and soothsayer, particularly in the country where they might be the only clergy present, such as in farming villages.

'''Fighters''' are common within the empire, though the heavier armour and weapons seen in Bastonia and the lands of the dwarves are rarer, seen only among the higher classes or certain specialist warriors – military doctrine favours light or medium armour and graceful weaponry.

'''Monks''' are rare within the empire, and are usually of archetypes that favour armed combat, if they exist at all. There is no corresponding god that would serve the monk class well; monks within the empire’s ranks are usually either transplants or students of transplants and are seen to have something of the foreigner about them regardless of their original heritage.

'''Paladins''' are surprisingly rare, as High Elven society tends toward Lawful Neutral rather than lawful good. Those that exist often serve as justicars or magistrates, though some are functional templars, maintained by the clerical orders of Gods whose alignments would suit their alignment restriction.

'''Rangers''' are an extremely common class among the high elves and can represent any of a number of social roles as befits their combat archetypes and character creation choices. Whole legionary units are composed of rangers almost to the exclusion of others, and representatives of this class can be found among a number of civilian roles, such as dedicated hunters (including of monsters), couriers, cartographers, and the like.

'''Rogues''' are extremely common (as is their combat specialist prestige class, the Assassin). In addition to the usual criminal underclass, anyone who is interested in maintaining their social and political position (or improving it) usually employs a few rogues as spies, informants, and the like.

'''Sorcerers''' are not seen as negatively in the Empire as they are in some other lands, and the arcane bloodline is extremely common. So closely are the Atarlie tied to the sources of magic in the world that it commonly bubbles in their very veins. Sorcery is so common in the Empire that Sorcerers are not always (or even often) proper adventurers, particularly among the older landed and aristocratic families.

'''Wizards''' are also extremely common. Most Atarlie cities have one or more schools of magic, usually focusing on an individual area of study, though a few Universities exist, catering to more generalist wizards-aspirant. Atarlie are so well known for their wizardry that Atarlie wizards are often in demand in other lands as educators, and adventuring Atarlie Wizards are often travelling the world as part of their research. The Atarlie Empire is one of the only places in Ahern where the practice of necromancy is not illegal, though uses beyond communicating with the dead are frowned upon.

==Atarlie and Monsters==
With how heavily developed the Atarlie Empire is, monsters are a rare concern. The odd dragon or giant may wander down from the Atlas Mountains, along with goblinoid raiding parties, causing issues in that frontier. Similarly, legions abroad have to deal frequently with monsters in their area of operations. That said, the bulk of the empire consists of territory devoid of much by way of actively-hostile magical creatures, and the elves are neutral to friendly with a large number of woodland spirits, fey, fawns, and the like which may inhabit the wilder parts of the Imperial Interior.

==Atarlie and the Nations of Wisteria==
The Atarlie consider themselves the true rulers of Wisteria, with all areas not under their control seen generally as frontiers of varying degree of civilization. They are diplomatic enough to not say so bluntly, but their haughty affectation often chills discourse with the other nations of Wisteria.

* [[Bastonia]] and its largely human population is seen as a mostly-civilized land, or at least as civilized as any nation of such short-lived people could be. The Atarlie trade with Bastonia regularly, especially in The North, where they can obtain rare commodities such as valuable furs, salt (and salt brine), and whale oil.
* The [[Carcolie]] are the wild and barbaric cousins of the Atarlie, who have an uneasy peace with the each other. The Mountain Elves claim that the High Elves drove them into the mountains in some largely-forgotten historical rebellion; conversely the High Elves claim the Carcolie have never lived anywhere else, and are simply uncivilizable due to their tight connection to nature and the wildness that breeds.
* The [[Clans of Magnus]] are respected, but seen as aloof isolationists; it is a poorly-kept secret that the only reason the Empire has not attempted to exert authority over the Carcolie is that the Mountain Elves share the Atlas Mountains with the dwarven clans. All such past attempts by the elves to seize territory from the dwarves have met in failure, and so instead a cold peace has developed between the two factions.
* The [[Hearthlands]] is a peaceful protectorate of the Empire, and one relied on heavily for agricultural trade, with the native halflings and gnomes producing food far in abundance of even their own appetites. While viewed sometimes mockingly by the High Elves, it is held that the Hearthlands are "sufficiently civilized" to not require assimilation into the empire proper.
* The two nations of the [[Lordless Lands]]; the [[Orcish Nation]] and the [[Confederacy of Sages]], are both known to the Empire, considered equally barbaric. However, the Lordless Lands is so far removed from Atarlie territory that no serious consideration of either nation is made.
* In contrast, the [[Shimmering Shore]], with its own strong connection to both the Arcane and other worlds entirely, is seen as prime real-estate. The Elves trade frequently with the city-states of the Shimmering Shore, who view them as both vital economic allies as well as the looming foreign threat that some of the more eastern city-states use to try and push one another into a larger alliance.

{{Atarlie Empire}}
[[Category: Atarlie Empire]][[Category: Wisterian Nations]]

Atarlie Empire

2026-06-24T23:04:12Z

Zadammac: /* Arts and Architecture */

{{Major Revision}}

The '''Atarlie Empire''' is a nation-state on the eastern side of the Atlas mountains, extending across the Northern Shore to the Eastern Sea, and bounded by the [[Hearthlands]] in the south. Populated largely by a haughty branch of the [[Elven]] lineage (often known as High Elves in other nations), the Atarlie consider themselves the true rules of Wisteria and the highest lifeform in Ahren. Their mythologies hold that they are the offspring of a sun-god and that they have kept alive a "flame of civilization" that has survived many cycles of worldly recreation. Like any good empire it is actually fairly diverse, integrating humans, halflings, and gnomes from the regions it has conquered, who can obtain full citizenship rights and occasionally even serve in positions of authority.

The Atarlie People, whose name show their connection to the Sun, are often called Sun Elves or High Elves in other lands, by contrast to the relatively “base” Carcolie or other, more exotic offshoots of Elvendom. They are creatures strongly tied to the natural flow of arcane magics, for which they are known and using which their cities and architecture are constructed.

Elven society is both extremely dynamic generation-over-generation in terms of social and economic mobility, and seemingly unchanging to shorter-lived races such as humanity. While it does distinguish between aristocratic, landed, and working classes, those lines blur constantly through intermarriage, political intrigue, and economic mobility (in both directions). Individual regnal periods of individual emperors are relatively long in human terms but still can seem short and end brutally by elven standards, though bloodless coups are more common than full-on imperial assassinations.

All this being said, the Altarie nonetheless consider themselves to be the steadfast guardians of natural and divine order, worshipping the [[Noon-Sun Court]] and banning the worship of all gods outside that within their provinces - but not, however, within other holdings, like their protectorate in the [[Hearthlands]]. They maintain an internal cohesiveness of realpolitikal and legal power unseen in other nations of comparable size, such as the [[Bastonia|Bastonians]] or the [[Clans of Magnus]]; while individual Bastonian Monarchs or Dwarven High Kings may achieve similar cohesion, it rarely survives the interregnum. The elves therefore have a pronounced culture of bureaucratic and magisterial civil services which are not seen nearly as pervasively elsewhere.

Atarlie adventurers broadly fall into two classes – elite legionary units or former units now operating as “dogs of war” or “soldiers of fortune”, and disaffected members of Atarlie lowerclasses seeking to make their fortunes elsewhere. Exceptions exist, as always, but as the Empire is seen by most of its citizens as the most preferable domains in the world, exceptions to the two above rules rarely adventure outside the wildernesses of the Empire itself.

==Atarlie Geography and Government==
===Understanding Atarlie Senatorial Politics===
While the external view – and the titular expectation – of Imperial power is that the Emperor is the most powerful individual among the Atarlie, the truth is somewhat more complicated. While the Emperor has a great deal of unilateral power with regard to foreign policy and military affairs, the critical powers of taxation and treaty ratification reside in the hands of the Senate.

The senate are a political class (and body) of landed gentry, exclusively Elves, who must meet requirements of ancestral service within the senate along with a certain minimum level of civil or military service prior to being appointed to the Senate. While an Emperor can raise new senators who meet the requirements into their ranks, the Emperor does not have the ability to dismiss the senate.

Because of this the Senate can often hamstring Emperors who have become unpopular among their number, but the Emperor can also retaliate by swelling the senate’s ranks with persons who serve their own interests.

===Provinces and Protectorates===
The Empire is broken up into a series of provincial holdings, each under the purview of a Prefect, who is responsible to the Emperor for leveeing forces according to the province’s capabilities and to the Senate for meeting requirements of law and taxation. In order of political importance, these provinces are:
* The [[Imperial Province]] in the Northwestern Empire, extending from the [Atlas Mountains] in its west to a border along the line from [[Tripolis]] to [[Sunport]]. The [[Imperial City]] is its capital, though the personages of the Emperor and the [[Prefect of the Imperial City]] are separate offices.
* The [[Province of the Sun and Moon]] extends from this same border all the way to the eastern shores of Wisteria, and as south as the River Silverrun, which is south of [[Convergence Hall]]. It commands the important cities of [[Moonvale]], [[Convergence Hall]], and [[Sunport]], the later being its extremely wealthy capital.
* The [[Atlassian Foothills]] are a province just south of the Imperial Province, as far south as [[Three Peak Dale]], and as far east as its capital, [[Heroka]] and the [[Three Sisters]], a set of mountains which form the general suggestion of its entire eastern border.
* The [[Province of the Lowland Meadows]] is east of the Three Sisters, with a central capital of [[Imarraka]] which serves as a hub for the ports of [[Fjordlodge]] and [[Bayside]], being important trading ports.
* The [[Southern Province]], which is the geographically largest, but least densely populated and least politically unified. This enormous wooded province extends all the way from the borders of the Atlassian Foothills and the Province of the Lowland Medals to the rough median latitude of the [[Hearthlands]], an Atarlie Protectorate. This expanse is rich in natural resources and is somewhat known as the breadbasket and lumberyard of the empire as a result, but the lifestyle is much more insular and rural than the rest of the empire, which is fairly cosmopolitan. It's largest city is [[Corran]], at the foothills of a branch of the Atlas Mountains.
* The [[Province of the Sunset Valleys]] is in the southern reaches of the Atlassian Foothills and western extents of the [[Atlassian Foothills]].
* The [[Atarlie Frontier]] is further south still, extending from the formal border of the Southern Province, all the way to the Great River of Stars. The expansion of the empire into the [[Shimmering Shores]], stymied by the Great Collapse, means that the frontier is somewhat more dangerous than the rest of the Empire, and more heavily fortified - the administrative capital at [[Ichor Hall]], a trading port at [[South Point]], and the garrison city of [[Navarre's Crossing]].

The Empire also has a practice of establishing protectorates – often centuries later becoming provinces. Currently, the principal noteworthy protectorate is the [[Hearthlands]]. Attacking the Hearthlands from land would require either bypassing Imperial territory or launching an attack across the Atlas Mountains, which would involve bypassing the territory of the [[Clans of Magnus]], who fiercely defend their mountain home.

==Atarlie Culture==
===Arts and Architecture===
The Atarlie are a culture at their modern apex, and so are undergoing a golden age in the arts. Artists of all kinds - architects, sculptors, painters, weavers, musicians, playwrights, thespians, and so forth - enjoy an economic freedom to ply their trade unseen elsewhere on [[Wisteria]], or indeed all of [[Ahren]]. These artists make up an economic class above the main labour classes but below the loftier merchantile class, who make up a great deal of their patronage.

Atarlie Architects in particular have a reputation for doing the "impossible", incorporating living elements in their designs and shaping walls and towers out of whole stone, seemingly without toolmarks or joinery. They do this by including wizards and other spellcasters in their labour force, who are capable of remarkable feats of craftsmanship. Such "Grandmaster Technicians" often fail to draw a dividing line between the "mundane" elements of their craft-of-expertise and the parts which are magical.

===Religion, Festivals, and Timekeeping===
The civil religion of the Atarlie Empire focuses on [[Noon-Sun Court|a broad pantheon]] of divinities. The divinities in general are worshipped by the entire population. Some, such as career clerics, or individuals who feel an affinity based on profession or circumstance, will also worship one or more of these deities in particular above (but not to the exclusion of) the others, as a Patron.

Each of these gods have their own festivals associated with them; in most cases, observed only by the friends and family of people who have selected them as a patron. Only [[Pyria Valpetor]], the Mother of Gods, who is commonly seen as the head of the pantheon enjoys universal observance of her feasts, which are observed on the solstices and equinoxes, given her association with the sun.

If the Bastonian language and alphabet is considered the "common" tongue of Ahren, it is the incredibly precise calendar maintained by the Atarlie that can be thought of as the common calendar. A solar calendar, it consists of 13 months of 28 days, with a single [[Festival of the Turning Wheel]] marking a new year celebration that is not considered belonging to any of those months. This calendar takes its name, the [[Rophalin Calendar]], from [[Rophalin Imperitor]], first emperor of the Atarlie, whose date of coronation forms the epoch for the calendar.

There are also a number of civic holidays observed, including celebrations of historical victories, the birthday of the reigning emperor, and special by-proclamation holidays to mark events the Emperor or Senate want fondly remembered.

===Fighting, Warfare, and Death===
Curiously for an Empire (and therefore a military power), the Atarlie see warfare as an unfortunate but necessary evil. Most expressions of Atarlie imperial power are soft power – displays of force used in place of actual battles, and games of economic manipulation.

These Elves also have a saying: “It is better to be a warrior in a garden than a gardener in the battlefield”. Professional military service is encouraged among all the races that make up the empire (and is one of the paths the gentrified class can use to improve their position), and unlike many other nations the Imperial Legion is a true, standing, professional military force, sworn to servitude with the emperor directly.

The Elven Pantheon teaches an afterlife with an [[Elysium]], not unlike Bastonian conceptions of [[Heaven]]. However, Elven morality is far looser and less restrictive, placing a focus on self-improvement and increasing one’s connection to the flows of the arcane.

===Language and Scholarship===
The Atarlie Alphabet is a syllabary alphabet, used in the recording of all variants of Elvish language, as well as in some traditions of magical writing, such as those employed in [[Bastonia|The North]]. Atarlie Elvish and Carcolie Elvish are sufficiently similar in their spoken form as to be mutually understood by speakers of either, and many of the other races of Wisteria simply refer to both languages, collectively, as Elvish. However, this is not true of all elvish variants.

The Atarlie Empire has perhaps the most developed and active tradition of formal scholarship the world over. While under- and lower-class families experience much the same educational process as seen elsewhere in the world (focused apprenticeship), the middle and upper classes enjoy a much more generalized education at the hands of privately-funded schools or even private tutors. The goal of this education, in addition to its stated goal of broadening the student's horizons in a manner befitting a "ruler of the world", is to prepare the student for the [[Atarlie Civil Examination]] - an annual round of official examinations that assess the student's suitability for public service and gatekeep civil service positions, most of which are seen as ways to rapidly advance in social or economic position.

Owing to the tight relationship between the Atarlie and the Arcane, schools of arcane magic are extremely common throughout the empire. Most small cities can boast at least one academy focusing on a particular school of magic. In larger settlements, additional schools or even Universities teaching broader fields of study exist.

===Diet, Libations, and Entertainment===
Given the economic power and high degree of urbanization supported by the Atarlie Empire, along with its habit of trade, the Atarlie enjoy a higher than usual standard of diet, both in terms of raw caloric intake and variety, as well as complexity. The culinary arts are heavily patronized by the Atarlie, both in the civilian and military classes. Atarlie cooks are in demand worldwide for their exotic dishes, which include the usual roasts, stews, and pies, along with more exotic preparations such as stir-fries, various types of [[Road Tarts]], samosas, and the like. Grand feasts are common among even the middle class, at which the courses are defined by custom. Unlike in Bastonia, where potatoes are the principal caloric filler, the Atarlie make heavy use of rice and wheat pasta.

Wine is the alcoholic beverage of choice - much of the region is suited to the cultivation of grapes. Every region usually has a signature wine or two, named for the variety of grape from which it is produced, sometimes with the regional name appended if the grape is a wide-spread variety.

Music and Dance are popular at banquets. The Atarlie are decadent by Bastonian standards; such dance includes both the ordinary composed courtly dances as well as a tradition of exotic dancers of all kinds, if suitable for the feast in question.

==Atarlie Economics==
===Taxation and Provision===
As with other aspects of law, taxation is heavily formalized and codified. The [[Imperial Senate]] sets the levels at which provinces themselves are taxed, with prefects left responsible for collecting those taxes. As is common in nations with a taxation policy, the Empire sets taxes on the sale of specific goods or the licensing of particular trades, rather than on income. All taxation is handled in coin at the official level - in some rural areas the prefect may elect to collect the tax in the form of trade goods, but is ultimately responsible for the sale of those goods and providing the necessary coin to the Senate Treasury. Unsurprisingly, this creates a common avenue for corruption, with prefects setting a low price for goods in terms of their utility for paying the tax, and then selling them off abroad at a profit.

Taxation is used to pay for the extensive [[Imperial Legion]], one of the only truly-permanent standing armies in all of Wisteria, as well as funding infrastructure projects. In times of crisis, the senate may intervene with subsidy or provision to lower the popular temperature and avert the risk of revolt; otherwise, Imperial citizens are generally left to their own capabilities to earn a living.

===Social Class and Economic Position===
The Atarlie have a heavily-developed class system, which is at once castelike in its divisions and highly fluid in terms of social mobility. While only Atarlie Elves can serve in the senate or in higher government office, anyone who can meet the requirements of citizenship (usually by way of service in the Legion) enjoys those benefits regardless of race. These social classes range from an underclass of indentured servants, non-citizens, and the truly destitute, through a lower class made up of "ordinary" labour such as farmers, paid servants, and so forth, through a class of artists, merchants, and lower civil servants, all the way up to a sort of gentrified class, primarily Elves, who serve in the senate, high government office, and high military positions.

The principal dividing factor between these classes is economic - even Atarlie find themselves among the underclass as fate occasionally dictates. Only the gentrified class is purely restricted to the Elves, though some scholars argue that a "pseudogentry" exists, consisting largely of humans, halfings, gnomes, and so-on who have the social and economic connections of the true gentry, without the ability to serve in some of the higher positions the elven members of the gentry enjoy.

===Focal Industries===
Providing infrastructure to its citizens is the principal advantage - and arguably the greatest strength - of the Empire, and things like continent-spanning roads, irrigation systems, and fortifications require resources. After infrastructure, maintaining the legion is a key economic driver.

Abroad, apart from their legions, the Atarlie's chief export is knowledge. Atarlie writings on sciences mundane and arcane are considered authoritative around the world, at Atarlie traders frequently ply their craft by taking books and scrolls abroad, selling their wares, and returning with exotic goods like spices. The Empire has a fierce demand for salt that they cannot themselves match, and a goodly chunk of their trade is founded on acquiring more, along with spell components, the magical writings of other cultures, and furs, woods, or metals not found freely in the empire itself.

===Technology and Craftsmanship===
The strong connection of the Atarlie elves to arcane magic pervades every aspect of life in the empire, and craftsmanship is no exception. If the Dwarves are known for their powerfully enchanted arms and armour, the elves are known for their trade in scrolls, wands, rings, and wonderous items of every other description. The reliance on magics both Arcane and Divine means that the elves enjoy a quality of life beyond other nations simply down to the labour they save by using magic to accomplish the same goals.

==Atarlie and the Adventuring Classes==
'''Barbarians''' are exceedingly rare among the Atarlie; if they exist at all it’s usually in an underclass absorbed into the empire recently. Atarlie senses of decorum and military traditions do not encourage the fury required by the Rage mechanic, nor the style of combat itself.

'''Bards''' are common in a variety of forms – professional scholars and adventuring troubadors alike. [[Immarra Hyacinth]]’s clergy includes a disproportionate number of bards, whose combined use of divine and arcane magics often makes for unorthodox, but useful, Theurges.

'''Clerics''' are actually quite common, both among the pastoral clergy and in military and adventuring contexts. Elves take their religions and traditions seriously, and while most elves worship the entire pantheon, clerics continue to focus on a single member of the pantheon as their divine patron.

'''Druids''' are common among the worshippers of [[Feno Ilirel]], and form the backbone of the clergy of that particular member of the panethon. The social role of druids is both as healer and soothsayer, particularly in the country where they might be the only clergy present, such as in farming villages.

'''Fighters''' are common within the empire, though the heavier armour and weapons seen in Bastonia and the lands of the dwarves are rarer, seen only among the higher classes or certain specialist warriors – military doctrine favours light or medium armour and graceful weaponry.

'''Monks''' are rare within the empire, and are usually of archetypes that favour armed combat, if they exist at all. There is no corresponding god that would serve the monk class well; monks within the empire’s ranks are usually either transplants or students of transplants and are seen to have something of the foreigner about them regardless of their original heritage.

'''Paladins''' are surprisingly rare, as High Elven society tends toward Lawful Neutral rather than lawful good. Those that exist often serve as justicars or magistrates, though some are functional templars, maintained by the clerical orders of Gods whose alignments would suit their alignment restriction.

'''Rangers''' are an extremely common class among the high elves and can represent any of a number of social roles as befits their combat archetypes and character creation choices. Whole legionary units are composed of rangers almost to the exclusion of others, and representatives of this class can be found among a number of civilian roles, such as dedicated hunters (including of monsters), couriers, cartographers, and the like.

'''Rogues''' are extremely common (as is their combat specialist prestige class, the Assassin). In addition to the usual criminal underclass, anyone who is interested in maintaining their social and political position (or improving it) usually employs a few rogues as spies, informants, and the like.

'''Sorcerers''' are not seen as negatively in the Empire as they are in some other lands, and the arcane bloodline is extremely common. So closely are the Atarlie tied to the sources of magic in the world that it commonly bubbles in their very veins. Sorcery is so common in the Empire that Sorcerers are not always (or even often) proper adventurers, particularly among the older landed and aristocratic families.

'''Wizards''' are also extremely common. Most Atarlie cities have one or more schools of magic, usually focusing on an individual area of study, though a few Universities exist, catering to more generalist wizards-aspirant. Atarlie are so well known for their wizardry that Atarlie wizards are often in demand in other lands as educators, and adventuring Atarlie Wizards are often travelling the world as part of their research. The Atarlie Empire is one of the only places in Ahern where the practice of necromancy is not illegal, though uses beyond communicating with the dead are frowned upon.

==Atarlie and Monsters==
With how heavily developed the Atarlie Empire is, monsters are a rare concern. The odd dragon or giant may wander down from the Atlas Mountains, along with goblinoid raiding parties, causing issues in that frontier. Similarly, legions abroad have to deal frequently with monsters in their area of operations. That said, the bulk of the empire consists of territory devoid of much by way of actively-hostile magical creatures, and the elves are neutral to friendly with a large number of woodland spirits, fey, fawns, and the like which may inhabit the wilder parts of the Imperial Interior.

==Atarlie and the Nations of Wisteria==
The Atarlie consider themselves the true rulers of Wisteria, with all areas not under their control seen generally as frontiers of varying degree of civilization. They are diplomatic enough to not say so bluntly, but their haughty affectation often chills discourse with the other nations of Wisteria.

* [[Bastonia]] and its largely human population is seen as a mostly-civilized land, or at least as civilized as any nation of such short-lived people could be. The Atarlie trade with Bastonia regularly, especially in The North, where they can obtain rare commodities such as valuable furs, salt (and salt brine), and whale oil.
* The [[Carcolie]] are the wild and barbaric cousins of the Atarlie, who have an uneasy peace with the each other. The Mountain Elves claim that the High Elves drove them into the mountains in some largely-forgotten historical rebellion; conversely the High Elves claim the Carcolie have never lived anywhere else, and are simply uncivilizable due to their tight connection to nature and the wildness that breeds.
* The [[Clans of Magnus]] are respected, but seen as aloof isolationists; it is a poorly-kept secret that the only reason the Empire has not attempted to exert authority over the Carcolie is that the Mountain Elves share the Atlas Mountains with the dwarven clans. All such past attempts by the elves to seize territory from the dwarves have met in failure, and so instead a cold peace has developed between the two factions.
* The [[Hearthlands]] is a peaceful protectorate of the Empire, and one relied on heavily for agricultural trade, with the native halflings and gnomes producing food far in abundance of even their own appetites. While viewed sometimes mockingly by the High Elves, it is held that the Hearthlands are "sufficiently civilized" to not require assimilation into the empire proper.
* The two nations of the [[Lordless Lands]]; the [[Orcish Nation]] and the [[Confederacy of Sages]], are both known to the Empire, considered equally barbaric. However, the Lordless Lands is so far removed from Atarlie territory that no serious consideration of either nation is made.
* In contrast, the [[Shimmering Shore]], with its own strong connection to both the Arcane and other worlds entirely, is seen as prime real-estate. The Elves trade frequently with the city-states of the Shimmering Shore, who view them as both vital economic allies as well as the looming foreign threat that some of the more eastern city-states use to try and push one another into a larger alliance.

{{Atarlie Empire}}
[[Category: Atarlie Empire]][[Category: Wisterian Nations]]

Atarlie Empire

2026-06-17T14:50:20Z

Zadammac:

{{Major Revision}}

The '''Atarlie Empire''' is a nation-state on the eastern side of the Atlas mountains, extending across the Northern Shore to the Eastern Sea, and bounded by the [[Hearthlands]] in the south. Populated largely by a haughty branch of the [[Elven]] lineage (often known as High Elves in other nations), the Atarlie consider themselves the true rules of Wisteria and the highest lifeform in Ahren. Their mythologies hold that they are the offspring of a sun-god and that they have kept alive a "flame of civilization" that has survived many cycles of worldly recreation. Like any good empire it is actually fairly diverse, integrating humans, halflings, and gnomes from the regions it has conquered, who can obtain full citizenship rights and occasionally even serve in positions of authority.

The Atarlie People, whose name show their connection to the Sun, are often called Sun Elves or High Elves in other lands, by contrast to the relatively “base” Carcolie or other, more exotic offshoots of Elvendom. They are creatures strongly tied to the natural flow of arcane magics, for which they are known and using which their cities and architecture are constructed.

Elven society is both extremely dynamic generation-over-generation in terms of social and economic mobility, and seemingly unchanging to shorter-lived races such as humanity. While it does distinguish between aristocratic, landed, and working classes, those lines blur constantly through intermarriage, political intrigue, and economic mobility (in both directions). Individual regnal periods of individual emperors are relatively long in human terms but still can seem short and end brutally by elven standards, though bloodless coups are more common than full-on imperial assassinations.

All this being said, the Altarie nonetheless consider themselves to be the steadfast guardians of natural and divine order, worshipping the [[Noon-Sun Court]] and banning the worship of all gods outside that within their provinces - but not, however, within other holdings, like their protectorate in the [[Hearthlands]]. They maintain an internal cohesiveness of realpolitikal and legal power unseen in other nations of comparable size, such as the [[Bastonia|Bastonians]] or the [[Clans of Magnus]]; while individual Bastonian Monarchs or Dwarven High Kings may achieve similar cohesion, it rarely survives the interregnum. The elves therefore have a pronounced culture of bureaucratic and magisterial civil services which are not seen nearly as pervasively elsewhere.

Atarlie adventurers broadly fall into two classes – elite legionary units or former units now operating as “dogs of war” or “soldiers of fortune”, and disaffected members of Atarlie lowerclasses seeking to make their fortunes elsewhere. Exceptions exist, as always, but as the Empire is seen by most of its citizens as the most preferable domains in the world, exceptions to the two above rules rarely adventure outside the wildernesses of the Empire itself.

==Atarlie Geography and Government==
===Understanding Atarlie Senatorial Politics===
While the external view – and the titular expectation – of Imperial power is that the Emperor is the most powerful individual among the Atarlie, the truth is somewhat more complicated. While the Emperor has a great deal of unilateral power with regard to foreign policy and military affairs, the critical powers of taxation and treaty ratification reside in the hands of the Senate.

The senate are a political class (and body) of landed gentry, exclusively Elves, who must meet requirements of ancestral service within the senate along with a certain minimum level of civil or military service prior to being appointed to the Senate. While an Emperor can raise new senators who meet the requirements into their ranks, the Emperor does not have the ability to dismiss the senate.

Because of this the Senate can often hamstring Emperors who have become unpopular among their number, but the Emperor can also retaliate by swelling the senate’s ranks with persons who serve their own interests.

===Provinces and Protectorates===
The Empire is broken up into a series of provincial holdings, each under the purview of a Prefect, who is responsible to the Emperor for leveeing forces according to the province’s capabilities and to the Senate for meeting requirements of law and taxation. In order of political importance, these provinces are:
* The [[Imperial Province]] in the Northwestern Empire, extending from the [Atlas Mountains] in its west to a border along the line from [[Tripolis]] to [[Sunport]]. The [[Imperial City]] is its capital, though the personages of the Emperor and the [[Prefect of the Imperial City]] are separate offices.
* The [[Province of the Sun and Moon]] extends from this same border all the way to the eastern shores of Wisteria, and as south as the River Silverrun, which is south of [[Convergence Hall]]. It commands the important cities of [[Moonvale]], [[Convergence Hall]], and [[Sunport]], the later being its extremely wealthy capital.
* The [[Atlassian Foothills]] are a province just south of the Imperial Province, as far south as [[Three Peak Dale]], and as far east as its capital, [[Heroka]] and the [[Three Sisters]], a set of mountains which form the general suggestion of its entire eastern border.
* The [[Province of the Lowland Meadows]] is east of the Three Sisters, with a central capital of [[Imarraka]] which serves as a hub for the ports of [[Fjordlodge]] and [[Bayside]], being important trading ports.
* The [[Southern Province]], which is the geographically largest, but least densely populated and least politically unified. This enormous wooded province extends all the way from the borders of the Atlassian Foothills and the Province of the Lowland Medals to the rough median latitude of the [[Hearthlands]], an Atarlie Protectorate. This expanse is rich in natural resources and is somewhat known as the breadbasket and lumberyard of the empire as a result, but the lifestyle is much more insular and rural than the rest of the empire, which is fairly cosmopolitan. It's largest city is [[Corran]], at the foothills of a branch of the Atlas Mountains.
* The [[Province of the Sunset Valleys]] is in the southern reaches of the Atlassian Foothills and western extents of the [[Atlassian Foothills]].
* The [[Atarlie Frontier]] is further south still, extending from the formal border of the Southern Province, all the way to the Great River of Stars. The expansion of the empire into the [[Shimmering Shores]], stymied by the Great Collapse, means that the frontier is somewhat more dangerous than the rest of the Empire, and more heavily fortified - the administrative capital at [[Ichor Hall]], a trading port at [[South Point]], and the garrison city of [[Navarre's Crossing]].

The Empire also has a practice of establishing protectorates – often centuries later becoming provinces. Currently, the principal noteworthy protectorate is the [[Hearthlands]]. Attacking the Hearthlands from land would require either bypassing Imperial territory or launching an attack across the Atlas Mountains, which would involve bypassing the territory of the [[Clans of Magnus]], who fiercely defend their mountain home.

==Atarlie Culture==
===Arts and Architecture===
The Atarlie are a culture at their modern apex, and so are undergoing a golden age in the arts. Artists of all kinds - architects, sculptors, painters, weavers, musicians, playwrights, thespians, and so forth - enjoy an economic freedom to ply their trade unseen elsewhere on [[Wisteria]], or indeed all of [[Ahren]]. These artists make up an economic class above the main labour classes but below the loftier merchantile class, who make up a great deal of their patronage.

Atarlie Architects in particular have a reputation for doing the "impossible", incorporating living elements in their designs and shaping walls and towers out of whole stone, seemingly without toolmarks or joinery. They do this by including wizards and other spellcasters in their labour force.

===Religion, Festivals, and Timekeeping===
The civil religion of the Atarlie Empire focuses on [[Noon-Sun Court|a broad pantheon]] of divinities. The divinities in general are worshipped by the entire population. Some, such as career clerics, or individuals who feel an affinity based on profession or circumstance, will also worship one or more of these deities in particular above (but not to the exclusion of) the others, as a Patron.

Each of these gods have their own festivals associated with them; in most cases, observed only by the friends and family of people who have selected them as a patron. Only [[Pyria Valpetor]], the Mother of Gods, who is commonly seen as the head of the pantheon enjoys universal observance of her feasts, which are observed on the solstices and equinoxes, given her association with the sun.

If the Bastonian language and alphabet is considered the "common" tongue of Ahren, it is the incredibly precise calendar maintained by the Atarlie that can be thought of as the common calendar. A solar calendar, it consists of 13 months of 28 days, with a single [[Festival of the Turning Wheel]] marking a new year celebration that is not considered belonging to any of those months. This calendar takes its name, the [[Rophalin Calendar]], from [[Rophalin Imperitor]], first emperor of the Atarlie, whose date of coronation forms the epoch for the calendar.

There are also a number of civic holidays observed, including celebrations of historical victories, the birthday of the reigning emperor, and special by-proclamation holidays to mark events the Emperor or Senate want fondly remembered.

===Fighting, Warfare, and Death===
Curiously for an Empire (and therefore a military power), the Atarlie see warfare as an unfortunate but necessary evil. Most expressions of Atarlie imperial power are soft power – displays of force used in place of actual battles, and games of economic manipulation.

These Elves also have a saying: “It is better to be a warrior in a garden than a gardener in the battlefield”. Professional military service is encouraged among all the races that make up the empire (and is one of the paths the gentrified class can use to improve their position), and unlike many other nations the Imperial Legion is a true, standing, professional military force, sworn to servitude with the emperor directly.

The Elven Pantheon teaches an afterlife with an [[Elysium]], not unlike Bastonian conceptions of [[Heaven]]. However, Elven morality is far looser and less restrictive, placing a focus on self-improvement and increasing one’s connection to the flows of the arcane.

===Language and Scholarship===
The Atarlie Alphabet is a syllabary alphabet, used in the recording of all variants of Elvish language, as well as in some traditions of magical writing, such as those employed in [[Bastonia|The North]]. Atarlie Elvish and Carcolie Elvish are sufficiently similar in their spoken form as to be mutually understood by speakers of either, and many of the other races of Wisteria simply refer to both languages, collectively, as Elvish. However, this is not true of all elvish variants.

The Atarlie Empire has perhaps the most developed and active tradition of formal scholarship the world over. While under- and lower-class families experience much the same educational process as seen elsewhere in the world (focused apprenticeship), the middle and upper classes enjoy a much more generalized education at the hands of privately-funded schools or even private tutors. The goal of this education, in addition to its stated goal of broadening the student's horizons in a manner befitting a "ruler of the world", is to prepare the student for the [[Atarlie Civil Examination]] - an annual round of official examinations that assess the student's suitability for public service and gatekeep civil service positions, most of which are seen as ways to rapidly advance in social or economic position.

Owing to the tight relationship between the Atarlie and the Arcane, schools of arcane magic are extremely common throughout the empire. Most small cities can boast at least one academy focusing on a particular school of magic. In larger settlements, additional schools or even Universities teaching broader fields of study exist.

===Diet, Libations, and Entertainment===
Given the economic power and high degree of urbanization supported by the Atarlie Empire, along with its habit of trade, the Atarlie enjoy a higher than usual standard of diet, both in terms of raw caloric intake and variety, as well as complexity. The culinary arts are heavily patronized by the Atarlie, both in the civilian and military classes. Atarlie cooks are in demand worldwide for their exotic dishes, which include the usual roasts, stews, and pies, along with more exotic preparations such as stir-fries, various types of [[Road Tarts]], samosas, and the like. Grand feasts are common among even the middle class, at which the courses are defined by custom. Unlike in Bastonia, where potatoes are the principal caloric filler, the Atarlie make heavy use of rice and wheat pasta.

Wine is the alcoholic beverage of choice - much of the region is suited to the cultivation of grapes. Every region usually has a signature wine or two, named for the variety of grape from which it is produced, sometimes with the regional name appended if the grape is a wide-spread variety.

Music and Dance are popular at banquets. The Atarlie are decadent by Bastonian standards; such dance includes both the ordinary composed courtly dances as well as a tradition of exotic dancers of all kinds, if suitable for the feast in question.

==Atarlie Economics==
===Taxation and Provision===
As with other aspects of law, taxation is heavily formalized and codified. The [[Imperial Senate]] sets the levels at which provinces themselves are taxed, with prefects left responsible for collecting those taxes. As is common in nations with a taxation policy, the Empire sets taxes on the sale of specific goods or the licensing of particular trades, rather than on income. All taxation is handled in coin at the official level - in some rural areas the prefect may elect to collect the tax in the form of trade goods, but is ultimately responsible for the sale of those goods and providing the necessary coin to the Senate Treasury. Unsurprisingly, this creates a common avenue for corruption, with prefects setting a low price for goods in terms of their utility for paying the tax, and then selling them off abroad at a profit.

Taxation is used to pay for the extensive [[Imperial Legion]], one of the only truly-permanent standing armies in all of Wisteria, as well as funding infrastructure projects. In times of crisis, the senate may intervene with subsidy or provision to lower the popular temperature and avert the risk of revolt; otherwise, Imperial citizens are generally left to their own capabilities to earn a living.

===Social Class and Economic Position===
The Atarlie have a heavily-developed class system, which is at once castelike in its divisions and highly fluid in terms of social mobility. While only Atarlie Elves can serve in the senate or in higher government office, anyone who can meet the requirements of citizenship (usually by way of service in the Legion) enjoys those benefits regardless of race. These social classes range from an underclass of indentured servants, non-citizens, and the truly destitute, through a lower class made up of "ordinary" labour such as farmers, paid servants, and so forth, through a class of artists, merchants, and lower civil servants, all the way up to a sort of gentrified class, primarily Elves, who serve in the senate, high government office, and high military positions.

The principal dividing factor between these classes is economic - even Atarlie find themselves among the underclass as fate occasionally dictates. Only the gentrified class is purely restricted to the Elves, though some scholars argue that a "pseudogentry" exists, consisting largely of humans, halfings, gnomes, and so-on who have the social and economic connections of the true gentry, without the ability to serve in some of the higher positions the elven members of the gentry enjoy.

===Focal Industries===
Providing infrastructure to its citizens is the principal advantage - and arguably the greatest strength - of the Empire, and things like continent-spanning roads, irrigation systems, and fortifications require resources. After infrastructure, maintaining the legion is a key economic driver.

Abroad, apart from their legions, the Atarlie's chief export is knowledge. Atarlie writings on sciences mundane and arcane are considered authoritative around the world, at Atarlie traders frequently ply their craft by taking books and scrolls abroad, selling their wares, and returning with exotic goods like spices. The Empire has a fierce demand for salt that they cannot themselves match, and a goodly chunk of their trade is founded on acquiring more, along with spell components, the magical writings of other cultures, and furs, woods, or metals not found freely in the empire itself.

===Technology and Craftsmanship===
The strong connection of the Atarlie elves to arcane magic pervades every aspect of life in the empire, and craftsmanship is no exception. If the Dwarves are known for their powerfully enchanted arms and armour, the elves are known for their trade in scrolls, wands, rings, and wonderous items of every other description. The reliance on magics both Arcane and Divine means that the elves enjoy a quality of life beyond other nations simply down to the labour they save by using magic to accomplish the same goals.

==Atarlie and the Adventuring Classes==
'''Barbarians''' are exceedingly rare among the Atarlie; if they exist at all it’s usually in an underclass absorbed into the empire recently. Atarlie senses of decorum and military traditions do not encourage the fury required by the Rage mechanic, nor the style of combat itself.

'''Bards''' are common in a variety of forms – professional scholars and adventuring troubadors alike. [[Immarra Hyacinth]]’s clergy includes a disproportionate number of bards, whose combined use of divine and arcane magics often makes for unorthodox, but useful, Theurges.

'''Clerics''' are actually quite common, both among the pastoral clergy and in military and adventuring contexts. Elves take their religions and traditions seriously, and while most elves worship the entire pantheon, clerics continue to focus on a single member of the pantheon as their divine patron.

'''Druids''' are common among the worshippers of [[Feno Ilirel]], and form the backbone of the clergy of that particular member of the panethon. The social role of druids is both as healer and soothsayer, particularly in the country where they might be the only clergy present, such as in farming villages.

'''Fighters''' are common within the empire, though the heavier armour and weapons seen in Bastonia and the lands of the dwarves are rarer, seen only among the higher classes or certain specialist warriors – military doctrine favours light or medium armour and graceful weaponry.

'''Monks''' are rare within the empire, and are usually of archetypes that favour armed combat, if they exist at all. There is no corresponding god that would serve the monk class well; monks within the empire’s ranks are usually either transplants or students of transplants and are seen to have something of the foreigner about them regardless of their original heritage.

'''Paladins''' are surprisingly rare, as High Elven society tends toward Lawful Neutral rather than lawful good. Those that exist often serve as justicars or magistrates, though some are functional templars, maintained by the clerical orders of Gods whose alignments would suit their alignment restriction.

'''Rangers''' are an extremely common class among the high elves and can represent any of a number of social roles as befits their combat archetypes and character creation choices. Whole legionary units are composed of rangers almost to the exclusion of others, and representatives of this class can be found among a number of civilian roles, such as dedicated hunters (including of monsters), couriers, cartographers, and the like.

'''Rogues''' are extremely common (as is their combat specialist prestige class, the Assassin). In addition to the usual criminal underclass, anyone who is interested in maintaining their social and political position (or improving it) usually employs a few rogues as spies, informants, and the like.

'''Sorcerers''' are not seen as negatively in the Empire as they are in some other lands, and the arcane bloodline is extremely common. So closely are the Atarlie tied to the sources of magic in the world that it commonly bubbles in their very veins. Sorcery is so common in the Empire that Sorcerers are not always (or even often) proper adventurers, particularly among the older landed and aristocratic families.

'''Wizards''' are also extremely common. Most Atarlie cities have one or more schools of magic, usually focusing on an individual area of study, though a few Universities exist, catering to more generalist wizards-aspirant. Atarlie are so well known for their wizardry that Atarlie wizards are often in demand in other lands as educators, and adventuring Atarlie Wizards are often travelling the world as part of their research. The Atarlie Empire is one of the only places in Ahern where the practice of necromancy is not illegal, though uses beyond communicating with the dead are frowned upon.

==Atarlie and Monsters==
With how heavily developed the Atarlie Empire is, monsters are a rare concern. The odd dragon or giant may wander down from the Atlas Mountains, along with goblinoid raiding parties, causing issues in that frontier. Similarly, legions abroad have to deal frequently with monsters in their area of operations. That said, the bulk of the empire consists of territory devoid of much by way of actively-hostile magical creatures, and the elves are neutral to friendly with a large number of woodland spirits, fey, fawns, and the like which may inhabit the wilder parts of the Imperial Interior.

==Atarlie and the Nations of Wisteria==
The Atarlie consider themselves the true rulers of Wisteria, with all areas not under their control seen generally as frontiers of varying degree of civilization. They are diplomatic enough to not say so bluntly, but their haughty affectation often chills discourse with the other nations of Wisteria.

* [[Bastonia]] and its largely human population is seen as a mostly-civilized land, or at least as civilized as any nation of such short-lived people could be. The Atarlie trade with Bastonia regularly, especially in The North, where they can obtain rare commodities such as valuable furs, salt (and salt brine), and whale oil.
* The [[Carcolie]] are the wild and barbaric cousins of the Atarlie, who have an uneasy peace with the each other. The Mountain Elves claim that the High Elves drove them into the mountains in some largely-forgotten historical rebellion; conversely the High Elves claim the Carcolie have never lived anywhere else, and are simply uncivilizable due to their tight connection to nature and the wildness that breeds.
* The [[Clans of Magnus]] are respected, but seen as aloof isolationists; it is a poorly-kept secret that the only reason the Empire has not attempted to exert authority over the Carcolie is that the Mountain Elves share the Atlas Mountains with the dwarven clans. All such past attempts by the elves to seize territory from the dwarves have met in failure, and so instead a cold peace has developed between the two factions.
* The [[Hearthlands]] is a peaceful protectorate of the Empire, and one relied on heavily for agricultural trade, with the native halflings and gnomes producing food far in abundance of even their own appetites. While viewed sometimes mockingly by the High Elves, it is held that the Hearthlands are "sufficiently civilized" to not require assimilation into the empire proper.
* The two nations of the [[Lordless Lands]]; the [[Orcish Nation]] and the [[Confederacy of Sages]], are both known to the Empire, considered equally barbaric. However, the Lordless Lands is so far removed from Atarlie territory that no serious consideration of either nation is made.
* In contrast, the [[Shimmering Shore]], with its own strong connection to both the Arcane and other worlds entirely, is seen as prime real-estate. The Elves trade frequently with the city-states of the Shimmering Shore, who view them as both vital economic allies as well as the looming foreign threat that some of the more eastern city-states use to try and push one another into a larger alliance.

{{Atarlie Empire}}
[[Category: Atarlie Empire]][[Category: Wisterian Nations]]

Elven

2026-06-17T14:48:45Z

Zadammac: Redirected page to Elves

#REDIRECT [[Elves]]

Atarlie Empire

2026-06-17T14:48:18Z

Zadammac: /* Provinces and Protectorates */

{{Major Revision}}

The '''Atarlie Empire''' is a nation-state on the eastern side of the Atlas mountains, extending across the Northern Shore to the Eastern Sea, and bounded by the [[Hearthlands]] in the south. Populated largely by a haughty branch of the [[Elven]] lineage (often known as High Elves in other nations), the Atarlie consider themselves the true rules of Wisteria and the highest lifeform in Ahren. Like any good empire it is actually fairly diverse, integrating humans, halflings, and gnomes from the regions it has conquered, who can obtain full citizenship rights and occasionally even serve in positions of authority.

The Atarlie People, whose name show their connection to the Sun, are often called Sun Elves or High Elves in other lands, by contrast to the relatively “base” Carcolie or other, more exotic offshoots of Elvendom. They are creatures strongly tied to the natural flow of arcane magics, for which they are known and using which their cities and architecture are constructed.

Elven society is both extremely dynamic generation-over-generation in terms of social and economic mobility, and seemingly unchanging to shorter-lived races such as humanity. While it does distinguish between aristocratic, landed, and working classes, those lines blur constantly through intermarriage, political intrigue, and economic mobility (in both directions). Individual regnal periods of individual emperors are relatively long in human terms but still can seem short and end brutally by elven standards, though bloodless coups are more common than full-on imperial assassinations.

All this being said, the Altarie nonetheless consider themselves to be the steadfast guardians of natural and divine order, worshipping the [[Noon-Sun Court]] and banning the worship of all gods outside that within their provinces - but not, however, within other holdings, like their protectorate in the [[Hearthlands]]. They maintain an internal cohesiveness of realpolitikal and legal power unseen in other nations of comparable size, such as the [[Bastonia|Bastonians]] or the [[Clans of Magnus]]; while individual Bastonian Monarchs or Dwarven High Kings may achieve similar cohesion, it rarely survives the interregnum. The elves therefore have a pronounced culture of bureaucratic and magisterial civil services which are not seen nearly as pervasively elsewhere.

Atarlie adventurers broadly fall into two classes – elite legionary units or former units now operating as “dogs of war” or “soldiers of fortune”, and disaffected members of Atarlie lowerclasses seeking to make their fortunes elsewhere. Exceptions exist, as always, but as the Empire is seen by most of its citizens as the most preferable domains in the world, exceptions to the two above rules rarely adventure outside the wildernesses of the Empire itself.

==Atarlie Geography and Government==
===Understanding Atarlie Senatorial Politics===
While the external view – and the titular expectation – of Imperial power is that the Emperor is the most powerful individual among the Atarlie, the truth is somewhat more complicated. While the Emperor has a great deal of unilateral power with regard to foreign policy and military affairs, the critical powers of taxation and treaty ratification reside in the hands of the Senate.

The senate are a political class (and body) of landed gentry, exclusively Elves, who must meet requirements of ancestral service within the senate along with a certain minimum level of civil or military service prior to being appointed to the Senate. While an Emperor can raise new senators who meet the requirements into their ranks, the Emperor does not have the ability to dismiss the senate.

Because of this the Senate can often hamstring Emperors who have become unpopular among their number, but the Emperor can also retaliate by swelling the senate’s ranks with persons who serve their own interests.

===Provinces and Protectorates===
The Empire is broken up into a series of provincial holdings, each under the purview of a Prefect, who is responsible to the Emperor for leveeing forces according to the province’s capabilities and to the Senate for meeting requirements of law and taxation. In order of political importance, these provinces are:
* The [[Imperial Province]] in the Northwestern Empire, extending from the [Atlas Mountains] in its west to a border along the line from [[Tripolis]] to [[Sunport]]. The [[Imperial City]] is its capital, though the personages of the Emperor and the [[Prefect of the Imperial City]] are separate offices.
* The [[Province of the Sun and Moon]] extends from this same border all the way to the eastern shores of Wisteria, and as south as the River Silverrun, which is south of [[Convergence Hall]]. It commands the important cities of [[Moonvale]], [[Convergence Hall]], and [[Sunport]], the later being its extremely wealthy capital.
* The [[Atlassian Foothills]] are a province just south of the Imperial Province, as far south as [[Three Peak Dale]], and as far east as its capital, [[Heroka]] and the [[Three Sisters]], a set of mountains which form the general suggestion of its entire eastern border.
* The [[Province of the Lowland Meadows]] is east of the Three Sisters, with a central capital of [[Imarraka]] which serves as a hub for the ports of [[Fjordlodge]] and [[Bayside]], being important trading ports.
* The [[Southern Province]], which is the geographically largest, but least densely populated and least politically unified. This enormous wooded province extends all the way from the borders of the Atlassian Foothills and the Province of the Lowland Medals to the rough median latitude of the [[Hearthlands]], an Atarlie Protectorate. This expanse is rich in natural resources and is somewhat known as the breadbasket and lumberyard of the empire as a result, but the lifestyle is much more insular and rural than the rest of the empire, which is fairly cosmopolitan. It's largest city is [[Corran]], at the foothills of a branch of the Atlas Mountains.
* The [[Province of the Sunset Valleys]] is in the southern reaches of the Atlassian Foothills and western extents of the [[Atlassian Foothills]].
* The [[Atarlie Frontier]] is further south still, extending from the formal border of the Southern Province, all the way to the Great River of Stars. The expansion of the empire into the [[Shimmering Shores]], stymied by the Great Collapse, means that the frontier is somewhat more dangerous than the rest of the Empire, and more heavily fortified - the administrative capital at [[Ichor Hall]], a trading port at [[South Point]], and the garrison city of [[Navarre's Crossing]].

The Empire also has a practice of establishing protectorates – often centuries later becoming provinces. Currently, the principal noteworthy protectorate is the [[Hearthlands]]. Attacking the Hearthlands from land would require either bypassing Imperial territory or launching an attack across the Atlas Mountains, which would involve bypassing the territory of the [[Clans of Magnus]], who fiercely defend their mountain home.

==Atarlie Culture==
===Arts and Architecture===
The Atarlie are a culture at their modern apex, and so are undergoing a golden age in the arts. Artists of all kinds - architects, sculptors, painters, weavers, musicians, playwrights, thespians, and so forth - enjoy an economic freedom to ply their trade unseen elsewhere on [[Wisteria]], or indeed all of [[Ahren]]. These artists make up an economic class above the main labour classes but below the loftier merchantile class, who make up a great deal of their patronage.

Atarlie Architects in particular have a reputation for doing the "impossible", incorporating living elements in their designs and shaping walls and towers out of whole stone, seemingly without toolmarks or joinery. They do this by including wizards and other spellcasters in their labour force.

===Religion, Festivals, and Timekeeping===
The civil religion of the Atarlie Empire focuses on [[Noon-Sun Court|a broad pantheon]] of divinities. The divinities in general are worshipped by the entire population. Some, such as career clerics, or individuals who feel an affinity based on profession or circumstance, will also worship one or more of these deities in particular above (but not to the exclusion of) the others, as a Patron.

Each of these gods have their own festivals associated with them; in most cases, observed only by the friends and family of people who have selected them as a patron. Only [[Pyria Valpetor]], the Mother of Gods, who is commonly seen as the head of the pantheon enjoys universal observance of her feasts, which are observed on the solstices and equinoxes, given her association with the sun.

If the Bastonian language and alphabet is considered the "common" tongue of Ahren, it is the incredibly precise calendar maintained by the Atarlie that can be thought of as the common calendar. A solar calendar, it consists of 13 months of 28 days, with a single [[Festival of the Turning Wheel]] marking a new year celebration that is not considered belonging to any of those months. This calendar takes its name, the [[Rophalin Calendar]], from [[Rophalin Imperitor]], first emperor of the Atarlie, whose date of coronation forms the epoch for the calendar.

There are also a number of civic holidays observed, including celebrations of historical victories, the birthday of the reigning emperor, and special by-proclamation holidays to mark events the Emperor or Senate want fondly remembered.

===Fighting, Warfare, and Death===
Curiously for an Empire (and therefore a military power), the Atarlie see warfare as an unfortunate but necessary evil. Most expressions of Atarlie imperial power are soft power – displays of force used in place of actual battles, and games of economic manipulation.

These Elves also have a saying: “It is better to be a warrior in a garden than a gardener in the battlefield”. Professional military service is encouraged among all the races that make up the empire (and is one of the paths the gentrified class can use to improve their position), and unlike many other nations the Imperial Legion is a true, standing, professional military force, sworn to servitude with the emperor directly.

The Elven Pantheon teaches an afterlife with an [[Elysium]], not unlike Bastonian conceptions of [[Heaven]]. However, Elven morality is far looser and less restrictive, placing a focus on self-improvement and increasing one’s connection to the flows of the arcane.

===Language and Scholarship===
The Atarlie Alphabet is a syllabary alphabet, used in the recording of all variants of Elvish language, as well as in some traditions of magical writing, such as those employed in [[Bastonia|The North]]. Atarlie Elvish and Carcolie Elvish are sufficiently similar in their spoken form as to be mutually understood by speakers of either, and many of the other races of Wisteria simply refer to both languages, collectively, as Elvish. However, this is not true of all elvish variants.

The Atarlie Empire has perhaps the most developed and active tradition of formal scholarship the world over. While under- and lower-class families experience much the same educational process as seen elsewhere in the world (focused apprenticeship), the middle and upper classes enjoy a much more generalized education at the hands of privately-funded schools or even private tutors. The goal of this education, in addition to its stated goal of broadening the student's horizons in a manner befitting a "ruler of the world", is to prepare the student for the [[Atarlie Civil Examination]] - an annual round of official examinations that assess the student's suitability for public service and gatekeep civil service positions, most of which are seen as ways to rapidly advance in social or economic position.

Owing to the tight relationship between the Atarlie and the Arcane, schools of arcane magic are extremely common throughout the empire. Most small cities can boast at least one academy focusing on a particular school of magic. In larger settlements, additional schools or even Universities teaching broader fields of study exist.

===Diet, Libations, and Entertainment===
Given the economic power and high degree of urbanization supported by the Atarlie Empire, along with its habit of trade, the Atarlie enjoy a higher than usual standard of diet, both in terms of raw caloric intake and variety, as well as complexity. The culinary arts are heavily patronized by the Atarlie, both in the civilian and military classes. Atarlie cooks are in demand worldwide for their exotic dishes, which include the usual roasts, stews, and pies, along with more exotic preparations such as stir-fries, various types of [[Road Tarts]], samosas, and the like. Grand feasts are common among even the middle class, at which the courses are defined by custom. Unlike in Bastonia, where potatoes are the principal caloric filler, the Atarlie make heavy use of rice and wheat pasta.

Wine is the alcoholic beverage of choice - much of the region is suited to the cultivation of grapes. Every region usually has a signature wine or two, named for the variety of grape from which it is produced, sometimes with the regional name appended if the grape is a wide-spread variety.

Music and Dance are popular at banquets. The Atarlie are decadent by Bastonian standards; such dance includes both the ordinary composed courtly dances as well as a tradition of exotic dancers of all kinds, if suitable for the feast in question.

==Atarlie Economics==
===Taxation and Provision===
As with other aspects of law, taxation is heavily formalized and codified. The [[Imperial Senate]] sets the levels at which provinces themselves are taxed, with prefects left responsible for collecting those taxes. As is common in nations with a taxation policy, the Empire sets taxes on the sale of specific goods or the licensing of particular trades, rather than on income. All taxation is handled in coin at the official level - in some rural areas the prefect may elect to collect the tax in the form of trade goods, but is ultimately responsible for the sale of those goods and providing the necessary coin to the Senate Treasury. Unsurprisingly, this creates a common avenue for corruption, with prefects setting a low price for goods in terms of their utility for paying the tax, and then selling them off abroad at a profit.

Taxation is used to pay for the extensive [[Imperial Legion]], one of the only truly-permanent standing armies in all of Wisteria, as well as funding infrastructure projects. In times of crisis, the senate may intervene with subsidy or provision to lower the popular temperature and avert the risk of revolt; otherwise, Imperial citizens are generally left to their own capabilities to earn a living.

===Social Class and Economic Position===
The Atarlie have a heavily-developed class system, which is at once castelike in its divisions and highly fluid in terms of social mobility. While only Atarlie Elves can serve in the senate or in higher government office, anyone who can meet the requirements of citizenship (usually by way of service in the Legion) enjoys those benefits regardless of race. These social classes range from an underclass of indentured servants, non-citizens, and the truly destitute, through a lower class made up of "ordinary" labour such as farmers, paid servants, and so forth, through a class of artists, merchants, and lower civil servants, all the way up to a sort of gentrified class, primarily Elves, who serve in the senate, high government office, and high military positions.

The principal dividing factor between these classes is economic - even Atarlie find themselves among the underclass as fate occasionally dictates. Only the gentrified class is purely restricted to the Elves, though some scholars argue that a "pseudogentry" exists, consisting largely of humans, halfings, gnomes, and so-on who have the social and economic connections of the true gentry, without the ability to serve in some of the higher positions the elven members of the gentry enjoy.

===Focal Industries===
Providing infrastructure to its citizens is the principal advantage - and arguably the greatest strength - of the Empire, and things like continent-spanning roads, irrigation systems, and fortifications require resources. After infrastructure, maintaining the legion is a key economic driver.

Abroad, apart from their legions, the Atarlie's chief export is knowledge. Atarlie writings on sciences mundane and arcane are considered authoritative around the world, at Atarlie traders frequently ply their craft by taking books and scrolls abroad, selling their wares, and returning with exotic goods like spices. The Empire has a fierce demand for salt that they cannot themselves match, and a goodly chunk of their trade is founded on acquiring more, along with spell components, the magical writings of other cultures, and furs, woods, or metals not found freely in the empire itself.

===Technology and Craftsmanship===
The strong connection of the Atarlie elves to arcane magic pervades every aspect of life in the empire, and craftsmanship is no exception. If the Dwarves are known for their powerfully enchanted arms and armour, the elves are known for their trade in scrolls, wands, rings, and wonderous items of every other description. The reliance on magics both Arcane and Divine means that the elves enjoy a quality of life beyond other nations simply down to the labour they save by using magic to accomplish the same goals.

==Atarlie and the Adventuring Classes==
'''Barbarians''' are exceedingly rare among the Atarlie; if they exist at all it’s usually in an underclass absorbed into the empire recently. Atarlie senses of decorum and military traditions do not encourage the fury required by the Rage mechanic, nor the style of combat itself.

'''Bards''' are common in a variety of forms – professional scholars and adventuring troubadors alike. [[Immarra Hyacinth]]’s clergy includes a disproportionate number of bards, whose combined use of divine and arcane magics often makes for unorthodox, but useful, Theurges.

'''Clerics''' are actually quite common, both among the pastoral clergy and in military and adventuring contexts. Elves take their religions and traditions seriously, and while most elves worship the entire pantheon, clerics continue to focus on a single member of the pantheon as their divine patron.

'''Druids''' are common among the worshippers of [[Feno Ilirel]], and form the backbone of the clergy of that particular member of the panethon. The social role of druids is both as healer and soothsayer, particularly in the country where they might be the only clergy present, such as in farming villages.

'''Fighters''' are common within the empire, though the heavier armour and weapons seen in Bastonia and the lands of the dwarves are rarer, seen only among the higher classes or certain specialist warriors – military doctrine favours light or medium armour and graceful weaponry.

'''Monks''' are rare within the empire, and are usually of archetypes that favour armed combat, if they exist at all. There is no corresponding god that would serve the monk class well; monks within the empire’s ranks are usually either transplants or students of transplants and are seen to have something of the foreigner about them regardless of their original heritage.

'''Paladins''' are surprisingly rare, as High Elven society tends toward Lawful Neutral rather than lawful good. Those that exist often serve as justicars or magistrates, though some are functional templars, maintained by the clerical orders of Gods whose alignments would suit their alignment restriction.

'''Rangers''' are an extremely common class among the high elves and can represent any of a number of social roles as befits their combat archetypes and character creation choices. Whole legionary units are composed of rangers almost to the exclusion of others, and representatives of this class can be found among a number of civilian roles, such as dedicated hunters (including of monsters), couriers, cartographers, and the like.

'''Rogues''' are extremely common (as is their combat specialist prestige class, the Assassin). In addition to the usual criminal underclass, anyone who is interested in maintaining their social and political position (or improving it) usually employs a few rogues as spies, informants, and the like.

'''Sorcerers''' are not seen as negatively in the Empire as they are in some other lands, and the arcane bloodline is extremely common. So closely are the Atarlie tied to the sources of magic in the world that it commonly bubbles in their very veins. Sorcery is so common in the Empire that Sorcerers are not always (or even often) proper adventurers, particularly among the older landed and aristocratic families.

'''Wizards''' are also extremely common. Most Atarlie cities have one or more schools of magic, usually focusing on an individual area of study, though a few Universities exist, catering to more generalist wizards-aspirant. Atarlie are so well known for their wizardry that Atarlie wizards are often in demand in other lands as educators, and adventuring Atarlie Wizards are often travelling the world as part of their research. The Atarlie Empire is one of the only places in Ahern where the practice of necromancy is not illegal, though uses beyond communicating with the dead are frowned upon.

==Atarlie and Monsters==
With how heavily developed the Atarlie Empire is, monsters are a rare concern. The odd dragon or giant may wander down from the Atlas Mountains, along with goblinoid raiding parties, causing issues in that frontier. Similarly, legions abroad have to deal frequently with monsters in their area of operations. That said, the bulk of the empire consists of territory devoid of much by way of actively-hostile magical creatures, and the elves are neutral to friendly with a large number of woodland spirits, fey, fawns, and the like which may inhabit the wilder parts of the Imperial Interior.

==Atarlie and the Nations of Wisteria==
The Atarlie consider themselves the true rulers of Wisteria, with all areas not under their control seen generally as frontiers of varying degree of civilization. They are diplomatic enough to not say so bluntly, but their haughty affectation often chills discourse with the other nations of Wisteria.

* [[Bastonia]] and its largely human population is seen as a mostly-civilized land, or at least as civilized as any nation of such short-lived people could be. The Atarlie trade with Bastonia regularly, especially in The North, where they can obtain rare commodities such as valuable furs, salt (and salt brine), and whale oil.
* The [[Carcolie]] are the wild and barbaric cousins of the Atarlie, who have an uneasy peace with the each other. The Mountain Elves claim that the High Elves drove them into the mountains in some largely-forgotten historical rebellion; conversely the High Elves claim the Carcolie have never lived anywhere else, and are simply uncivilizable due to their tight connection to nature and the wildness that breeds.
* The [[Clans of Magnus]] are respected, but seen as aloof isolationists; it is a poorly-kept secret that the only reason the Empire has not attempted to exert authority over the Carcolie is that the Mountain Elves share the Atlas Mountains with the dwarven clans. All such past attempts by the elves to seize territory from the dwarves have met in failure, and so instead a cold peace has developed between the two factions.
* The [[Hearthlands]] is a peaceful protectorate of the Empire, and one relied on heavily for agricultural trade, with the native halflings and gnomes producing food far in abundance of even their own appetites. While viewed sometimes mockingly by the High Elves, it is held that the Hearthlands are "sufficiently civilized" to not require assimilation into the empire proper.
* The two nations of the [[Lordless Lands]]; the [[Orcish Nation]] and the [[Confederacy of Sages]], are both known to the Empire, considered equally barbaric. However, the Lordless Lands is so far removed from Atarlie territory that no serious consideration of either nation is made.
* In contrast, the [[Shimmering Shore]], with its own strong connection to both the Arcane and other worlds entirely, is seen as prime real-estate. The Elves trade frequently with the city-states of the Shimmering Shore, who view them as both vital economic allies as well as the looming foreign threat that some of the more eastern city-states use to try and push one another into a larger alliance.

{{Atarlie Empire}}
[[Category: Atarlie Empire]][[Category: Wisterian Nations]]

Noon-Sun Court

2026-06-17T14:46:52Z

Zadammac:

'''The Noon-Sun Court''', known to the [[Atarlie]] as the '''Divine Ancestors''' or the '''Elysian Princes''' are the objects of worship of the Atarlie State culture, a polytheistic belief system centered around an progenitor [[deity]] and a retinue of divine cousins, some descended from her and others ascended from mortal elves. The elven matron goddess, [[Pyria Valpetor]], is held to be both the mother of many of these deities and the progenitor of the elven species - in common understanding the Atarlie specifically, who hold that all other elves are simply distaff cousins.

While many public holidays center Pyria's worship, most Elves take actual patronage from one specific diety within the pantheon, with the public worship of any of these being nominally legal within the [[Atarlie Empire]] - there is no unified church as compared to the contrasting [[Bastonian Pantheon]]. This includes the evil deities on the Pantheon, though most of their public worshippers are basically petitioning for mercy rather than for favour.

The collective belief among followers of deities within the pantheon is that all elves who die go to [[Elysium]], with only the most wicked among them being turned away from the Cradle of the Wise and instead swallowed up by [[the Abyss]].

Two of these gods, Shaelavar and Hycis, are known as the "Rampaging Ancestors". They are less worshipped than they are propitiated and aren't the patrons of anything, instead being honoured only in small ways in order to buy their ignorance rather than seek their blessing.

===Pantheon at a Glance===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Dieties of the Bastonian Pantheon
|-
! Name !! Portfolio !! Worshippers !! Domains !! [[Alignment]]
|-
| [[Pyria Valeptor]] || Families, Divinity, Fortune || Universal, Mothers of Large Families || Community, Protection, Sun, Weather|| TN
|-
| [[Rophalin Imperitor]] || Royalty, Rulership, Authority, The Empire || Officials (Military and Civil), Clerks, Historians || Glory, Law, Nobility, Protection || LN
|-
| [[Feno Ilirel]] || Medicine, Alchemy, Wellbeing, Births || Doctors, Healers, Veterinarians, the Ill || Good, Healing, Plant, Magic || NG
|-
| [[Navarre Yesbella]] || Liberation, Welfare || The Poor, Some Magistrates, Philathropists, Some Thieves || Community, Liberation, Luck, Protection || CG
|-
| [[Merellien Chaebalar]] || Justice and Just Causes || Many Magistrates, Jailors, Paladins || Healing, Law, Protection, War || LG
|-
| [[Camus Inakas]] || Magic, Scholarship, Exploration, Discovery || Mages, Philosophers, Scholars, Adventurers || Artifice, Knowledge, Magic, Rune || CN
|-
| [[Lysanthir Lugolor]] || Death, Final Judgement, Passing of Seasons and the Ending of Days || Mortuaries, Necromancers, Assassins, Some Magistrates || Darkness, Death, Erosion, Repose|| LE
|-
| [[Shalaevar Shamaris]] || Disease, Disasters, Crises || Assassins, Bandits, the Ill, Some Doctors || Destruction, Evil, Ruins, Vermin || NE
|-
| [[Hycis Uriris]] || Rebellion, Arcane Disasters, Wild Portals || Some Mages, Philosophers, Rebels || Air, Chaos, Earth, Fire, Water || CE
|-
| [[Immarra Hyacinth]] || Beauty, The Arts, Love || Artists, Lovers, Aristocrats || Charm, Glory, Good, Plant || CG
|-
|}

==Origins==
{{Meta-Analysis}}
While the worship and veneration given by the elves makes these figures true [[deities]], in actual fact all of them are simply a princely family of elves who had lead the recolonization of [[Wisteria]] from [[Elysium]] during the [[Springtime of the Gods]]. In the many centuries since that age, however, this fact has now largely been eclipsed by other topics in Elvish education, and the Elysian Princes are now thought of as a sort of forerunner line, now extinct in the mortal world, to mainstream elvendom. It remains fashionable among the Atarlie upper class to maintain expensive family genealogies that show how and where they are connected to the Divine Ancestors, but even in these families, the attitude that one is "descended from the gods" in any way that confers special authority is exceedingly rare.

{{Atarlie Empire}}
[[Category: Atarlie Empire]]

Hycis Uriris

2026-06-17T14:44:10Z

Zadammac:

'''Hycis Uriris''' is a goddess in the [[Noon-Sun Court]], whose purview is rebellion, the collapse of [[Cosmology|the wall between worlds]], and the sudden outbreak of magical disaster. She is perhaps the youngest of all the gods in her pantheon, and known by a variety of epithets including the Laughing Chaos and Mother of Titans. In spite of her young and destructive nature, she is revered as a [[First Ancestor]] by [[Gen Hycis]], a rebellious faction found in the [[Southern Province]], though they have no formal recognition or Legio.

Her symbol is a prismatic splash of colour. As a neutral good deity, she grants her followers access to Air, Chaos, Earth, Fire, and Water domains. Her sacred weapon is the double sword, and those entitled to a proficiency through her are granted mastery of the same.

===History===
Born in the seduction of [[Camus Inakas]] by [[Shalaevar Shamaris]], Hycis's principle intervention against elvenkind was the failure of the [[Southern Campaign]], an action some feel resulted in (or at least helped precipitate) the [[Great Collapse]]. She continues to speak whispered plans into the minds of the rebellious to encourage them to lash out against the Emperor. Some worry that her birth will jeopardize the Imperial mission for [[Vergence]].

===Relationships===
Though a young god by comparison to the rest of her pantheon, Hycis has wasted no time in making enemies, having even alienated [[Camus Inakas]], her father together with [[Shalaevar Shamaris]]. Her propensity to break apart elven unity and abuse those who delve too quickly into the arcane has made enemies of much the rest of the pantheon, particularly [[Rophalin Imperitor]], with whom the [[Atarlie Empire]] is personally identified, with her father [[Shalaevar Shamaris]] as her only ally and mentor.

In particular, she attempts to court the attention of [[Lysanthir Lugolor]], keeping none of those her plans slay and instead offering them up to him. While he accepts the souls of these among all other Elves, he does not approve of her methods, or, it seems, her personally.

Some whisper that she makes plans in the Abyss with the gods of other Pantheons and even the [[Lords of the Abyss]]. In particular, she is rumoured to have been among those with whom [[Gul Spell-Speaker]] made deals for his own divine mastery of the arcane.

===Appearance===
Hycis stands head and shoulders above elves, but otherwise appears as a member of their race, with flowing burgandy hair and inkwell eyes. She is said to have a curious youthful impression, in spite of her otherwise fully-grown appearance and demeanor. She often appears in a gown of material that prismatically changes its colour as the eye slides over it.

===Realm===
Hycis has been cast out by the elvish divine family (and the laws of [[Cosmology]]), and so makes her realm for herself in [[the Abyss]], in a territory known as '''The Titan Wastes''', a chaotic swamp-plain of magical energies in their raw and destructive states, at the center of which she maintains a personal sanctum served by the few among her followers who can survive such conditions.

===Providence===
Hycis is known more for ill than good, but many who petition her do so for her blessing to succeed in their magical experiments - sacrificing less to get knowledge from her and more for her to find her amusement in the suffering of people other than themselves. Her true faithful hear her whispered voice in the back of their minds at odd times, ranging from babble and cryptic nonsense to powerful arcane lore.

===Servants===
A race of elementals known as the Titans serves Hycis and are frequently sent from her realm into other domains to cause chaos and devastation when the mood strikes their master.

==Unique Servants==
===Itha'katos===
An enormous subterrainian amphibian of incredible age, Itha'katos is a powerful sorcerer with the unfortunate trait of having been made into both an oracle and herald of Hycis. Trapped in a lake at the center of her realm in [[the Abyss]], it is unclear if her herald serves her willingly or as a punishment for some past transgression, and though he is unfailing in his obedience, the two are transparently unfond of each other.

==Church==
For most Elves, worship of Hycis Uriris is a distasteful and mercifully rare part of the spiritual life of the [[Atarlie Empire]]. The vast majority who worship at her temples do so to buy her continued ignorance and divert her attention, though a rare few have the opposite intention, serving as her priests or otherwise worshipping obediently in public or secret, hoping to direct her attention to some end or another.

===Worshippers===
Rebels who would seek the destruction of the current Empire or overthrow of part or all of its aparatus form the bulk of her true believers and followers, though often these goals are secret, even to others within her church. Some mages, who wish to continue their experiments in oftentimes profane directions, without incurring her wrath, also pay her fealty.

===Clergy===
Few and far between, Hycis' clergy manage their affairs in covert ways. While publically serving as intercessors in helping the mainstream elven population avoid the wrath of the Queen of Titans, in private, the Clergy are often courting Hycis' attention deliberately, either to earn from her the right to use arcane energies to their own ends, or to direct her wrathful attention at those they perceive as actually needing the "intervention".

In addition to those powers granted by their divine patron, many of Hycis' followers are thaumaturges or theurges, blurring the line between arcane and divine spellcasting.

===Temples & Shrines===
Temples are small affairs, quite different from those of the more mainstream gods of the pantheon, and in keeping with both Hycis' standing as a new divinity and the church's narrow popular appeal. In keeping with their main draw - averting disaster for magical efforts - they are usually established near centers of higher learning or occasionally directly within arcane laboratories. Most who frequent such temples are not themselves evil or chaotic persons - instead, they are attempting to buy off the Queen of Titans so that they can continue their works in peace.

===Holy Texts===
Hycis's most holy text is the [[Doctrine of Lies]], a profane and arcane document that might be the smallest of all holy scriptures among gods who maintain the arcane in their portfolio, comprising just three volumes. The text itself is considered heretical and downright incorrect by most other churches within the empire and most schools of magical theory - it is rare to find a copy outside of the collections of her clergy, and it is not taught to laypeople the way the scriptures of many other religions may be.

===Church History===
Hycis' church is only a generation or two old in elven terms. It has not had the large cultural impact of many of the other churches, and so is not much of a player. It's quick spread, in small but well-spread pockets throughout the empire, is more of a testment to the elven reliance on Arcane magic and their concerns about her intervention than any zeal or passion for her among the Elves as a whole.

===Holidays===
While not universal and usually only marked by her clergy, her birthday is a sacred day to her true faithful and marked with the sacrificial destruction through burning of arcane texts (and in some rare cases where her followings are large enough to manage it, arcane spellcasters).

===Favoured Animals===
No one beast is held as sacred to Hycis Uriris.

[[Category: Atarlie Empire]][[Category: Hycis Uriris]]

Shalaevar Shamaris

2026-06-17T14:32:15Z

Zadammac:

'''Shaelevar Shamaris''' is a god in the [[Noon-Sun Court]], a primordial diety in opposition to [[Pyria Valeptor]]. He is known by the epithet ''The Last'' and ''The Plaguefather'', and among his devout followers are Assassins, Necromancers (especially those aspiring to become liches), and Bandits. He is represented by depictions of his sacred animal, the mosquito. A creature of crisis, he represents plague, blight, and other natural disasters. He is the only member of the Noon-Sun Court who does not have an [[Atarlie Gens]] named after him, and therefore rules no province nor patronizes any legion.

His sacred weapon is the rapier, a subtle weapon capable of causing great destruction when applied directly. His followers, through their devotion, gain access to the domains of Artifice, Knowledge, Magic, and Rune. His sacred symbol, when one is called for, is a single droplet of blood as it falls.

===History===
Shaelevar came into being at the same time as [[Pyria Valeptor]], perhaps as a cosmic counterbalance to her design. Initially indifferent to her experiments with the Elves, his intervention resulted in the appearance of plague among them, and necessitated the creation by Pyria of [[Feno Ilirel]]. Since then, he has been an occasional antagonist of the Elves, appearing from time to time in the form of plagues, outbreaks of vermin, and other natural disasters.

===Relationships===
Shaelevar is the outcast bastard of the divine family of the High Elf Pantheon, having no place in [[Elysium]] and receiving a cold welcome when he appears there. Only [[Hycis Uriris]] (who he sired together with [[Camus Inakas]]) and [[Lysanthir Lugolor]] will deal with him willingly, and the latter does so only coldly, and usually in the hinderance of Shalaevar's designs.

Like most gods, he cannot long withstand [[Stasis]], which is said to be his native plane. Instead, he spends his time as a sort of professional traveller diety, appearing in the courts of the various [[Princes of Hell]] or [[Lords of the Abyss]].

===Appearance===
Shaelevar stands head and shoulders above the mortal elves he so despises, but would otherwise pass for a member of their race. He has long-white hair and ruby-red eyes, neither of which are natural for Elves, and has jet black skin. Shaelevar is known widely as a magus and so often appears in iconography with a spell in one hand and his sword in the other.

===Realm===
Shalaevar is the only god in the pantheon who does not have a permanent or semi-permanent home in [[Elysium]]. While cosmic law would draw him toward the plane of [[Stasis]], and he can indeed call upon the negative energy from that plane quite deeply, he prefers to split his time in [[Hell]] or [[the Abyss]], visiting with the other gods in those planes or with the [[Princes of Hell]] and [[Lords of the Abyss]], some of whom he is more welcome with than others.

===Providence===
Shalaevar's best providence is the lack of his intervention, that being a time of pleasantness and peace. He occasionally will curse oracles with the knowledge of his plans and intercession, contradictory allowing them to fight against his plans or putting them into servitude to further them.

===Servants===
Shalaevar claims the loyalty of a host of devils and demons who follow his destructive whims above and beyond their hatred of each other.

==Unique Servants==
===The Behemoth of Zent===
A gargantuan undead creature composed of the bodies of several giants, this unique divine herald has no will or mind of its own. Shalaevar sends his herald out as something of an avatar, speaking and acting through it at times when he would prefer to not be subtle about his point.

==Church==
For most Elves, worship of Shalaevar Shamaris is an unwelcome and unpleasant extension of the general spiritual life of the [[Atarlie Empire]], aimed toward keeping him satisfied and as far away from them as possible. Temples built in his honour are not tolerated except in the wildest of locations.

===Worshippers===
Known to all Atarlie, those who worship Shalaevar in a true way are rare. Many are bandits who share his disdain for the empire and imperial philosophy. Still others are necromancers, seeking his intercession in the furtherance of their own goals. Still more are cultists, touched by his profane blessings and determined to further his ambitions on [[Ahren]].

===Clergy===
Clergy of the Plaguefather walk a very fine line indeed. All of them must necessarily dedicate their lives to his service, but the public expectation is that they do so, interpreting the will of their divine master with one hand while attempting to hold their god back with the other. His clergy lead rights of sacrifice and flagellant prayer intended to sate his appetites for destruction and crisis, while at the same time opening themselves up to his influence, risking that they turn themselves fully toward him and instead work fully toward his own goals.

For this reason, his clerics and oracles are rarely trusted by others, disdained even by other members of the priestly class within the Empire, and required by imperial law to wear his fly mark on the backs of their left hands as a tattoo.

===Temples & Shrines===
True temples to Shalaevar Shamaris are rare, and they are almost always subject to government review and inspection by officials of the church of [[Rophalin Imperitor]]. No fora are provided, and the form of worship is monitored to ensure it remains appropriately abjuring toward Shalaevar. If they are permitted to be built at all, it is usually in remote areas.

Rumours persist of more dedicated shrines and temples in the wilds of the Empire and the depths of under-maintained catacombs, where truly-faithful clergy congregate to participate in far darker rites, not all of which are aimed at keeping their god content and away from [[Ahren]].

===Holy Texts===
Shalaevar maintains no holy text, as the only reliably sacred thing to him is his own whims. In substitute to scriptural proficiency, his clergy are instead subject to scrutiny as to their true loyalties.

===Church History===
Shalaevar's church has never been highly influential in the Empire. While his church has occasionally precipitated such crises, they always disavow the temple or cult that actively participated, and work together with the other churches in the Empire to stamp out such "heretical offshoots". The fact that this keeps happening suggests that they are perhaps not sincere in their abhorrence.

===Holidays===
Different cults celebrate festivals of sacrifice and debauchery at different times of year, dedicating them to Shalaevar Shamaris. The mainstream, public face of the church marks no holy days, but leads ceremonies on each new moon to petition for Shalaevar's mercy.

===Favoured Animals===
Mosquitos, who are known to spread a large number of diseases, are sacred to Shalaevar and his cult.

[[Category: Dieties]][[Category: Noon-Sun Court]][[Category: Shalaevar Shamaris]]

Lysanthir Lugolor

2026-06-17T14:25:39Z

Zadammac:

'''Lysanthir Lugolor''' is a god in the [[Noon-Sun Court]], twin brother to [[Rophalin Imperitor]] and in some ways counterpart of [[Feno Ilirel]]. He is known by the epithet ''Prince of the Dead'' or ''Judge of the Ultimate'' and counts mortuaries, some magistrates, assassins and divinatory necromancers among his unrelated followers. The bulk of his worship, however, comes from his role as the [[First Ancestor]] of [[Gen Lugolor]], rulers of the [[Province of the Sunset Valleys]] and patronage of their legion, the [[Legio Lugalor]].

His sacred symbol is a raven in flight and his favoured weapon is the scythe, while crows are his sacred animal. He is best known for his prominent place in funerary rites of the [[Atarlie Empire]]. His followers can draw divine energy through the domains of Darkness, Death, Erosion, and Repose

===History===
Lysanthir was created concurrently with Rophalin Imperitor by [[Pyria Valeptor]], as a natural consequence of the mortality of the elves, whose immortal souls would need to be judged and apportioned to their place in the cosmos. With his brother, he travelled to [[Ahren]] for the [[Springtime of the Gods]], and taught the mortal elves about their apportioned fate and how to best approach it. Since that time, he has rarely intervened in mortal history, existing more as a passive god of death and judgement than a direct force for causing the same. He is said to some respect to be responsible for the passing of day into night and the change of the seasons, the order he established for which is measured in the [[Rophalin Calendar]], invented by his twin.

As a god of death, he views his role as a necessary unpleasantness rather than something to revel in, and so is somewhat more accustomed to the good faith of mortals than many other gods of death who are more debased and death-seeking in their approaches.

===Relationships===
Lysanthir gets along surprisingly well with the rest of the elven divine family, given that he is, in many ways, the antithesis of what [[Elysium]] itself stands for. Though viewed as taciturn and staid by most, he has good rapport nonetheless with his twin, Rophalin Imperitor. His chief rival should be [[Feno Ilirel]] as the goddess of healing, but in actuality the two get along amicably, and once had an affair that produced [[Camus Inakas]].

Lysanthir is the intermediary through which the other gods attempt to reason with [[Shalaevar Shamaris]], and it is through this friendship with his father that he has attracted the affections of [[Hycis Uriris]], who he openly disdains. His longest-running affair to date has been with [[Immarra Hyacinth]], and it is a popular legend among the elves that Immarra created so many short-lived sources of beauty as gifts to Lysanthir, which Lysanthir is said to cherish.

===Appearance===
Rophalin stands head and shoulders above the mortal elves he will inevitably come to judge, but otherwise appears to be a member of their kind, with a head of jaw-length, silver hair, and wise eyes that make him seem older than he otherwise looks. He is often clad in the black robes of a high-ranking elven magistrate.

===Realm===
Lysanthir is part of the elvish divine family, and so has a portion of the realm of [[Elysium|The Cradle of the Wise]], a fortified city in the plane of the [[Elysium]]. However, his nature is such that he cannot be truly comfortable there, and so has a proper realm in [[Hell]], which he occasionally retires to to rest and meditate. This Hidden Valley is said to be a rare gap in Hell's nature, where he and the dead can wait in the quiet peace of their state, rather than having to be oppressed by [[the Enemy]].

===Providence===
Lysanthir's best providence is a good life and a good death, the merciful slip in the dead of sleep or a peaceful death at the end of a battle with illness or injury. Some of his followers have dreams of Lysanthir, warning them cryptically of this or that hazard. A few have returned from the shores of death with tales of having been turned back by the Judge of the Ultimate, told it was not their time.

===Servants===
A small retinue of minor devils attend Lysanthir at his realm in hell, but his true servants are the Psychopomps, questing through all the planes looking for souls that have gotten lost on their way to his court.

==Unique Servants==
===The Merciful Shepherd===
Appearing as a skeletal elven figure in a hooded black robe, armed with a shepherd's crook, Lysanthir's herald is often among the worst omens imaginable, as his appearance, especially unlooked for, rarely portends well for those who he has come to see. Lysanthir frequently sends the Merciful Shepherd to those who have attempted to abuse necromancy to cheat death, to bring them back into their proper and ordered state.

==Church==
For most Elves, worship of Lysanthir Lugolor is an extension of the general spiritual life of the [[Atarlie Empire]]. His temples also serve as mortuaries and have custody over the catacombs and cemetaries that make up burial grounds throughout the empire. Observances toward Lysanthir are made at times of formal government proceedings such as trials potentially ordering an execution, state executions, and in the funeral rites of elves of all standings. For these reasons, even if the main temples of his worship are to be found in the [[Province of the Sunset Valleys]], at least a small shrine to him can be found in any settlement that hosts a cemetery, however humble.

===Worshippers===
Known to all Atarlie, those who worship Lysanthir are more often than not his clergy, though his temples almost always have more than a few worshippers hoping for a glimpse of their recently-departed loved ones, whose zeal and faith will wane with their grief. A few petition him for help in their endeavours, be they to make contact with or gain some mastery over the souls of the dead, or to "help speed death along".

===Clergy===
Lysanthir's clergy dress in black and white robes in keeping with the somber nature of their profession, and dress formally as a rule, usually including white gloves that are particular to his faith. The carrying of symbolic hourglasses or actual thuribles is also common. Most of his clergy travel with the materials needed for funerary rites on their person.

Clergy of Lysanthir also serve in the Imperial Legion as chaplains alongside those of several other gods, helping with battleground funerary and crematory practices.

===Temples & Shrines===
Found in a settlement of any size, the temple to Lysanthir Lugolor has a large commonality with other Atarlie temple architectures, sometimes including a public forum. In addition to place of worship and housing for the clergy, such temples have undercomplexes where pre-burial rites are performed on the recently departed, and will either be the entrances to local catacombs or near to local burial grounds. In some major cities, crematoria are also found.

Many temples of Lysanthir are meeting places for local assassin guilds or necromancer cabals, and may have other facilities suited to those purposes for those who know how to identify themselves as such discreetly. Ironically, Lysanthir himself directly opposes necromancy that forces the dead to endure on [[Ahren]] rather than going to their apportioned place.

===Holy Texts===
Lysanthir's holy work, the [[Codex Mors]] is a dictated treatise on the nature of death, providing prescriptions for pre- and post-mortem prepratory rites, the formulae for funerary rites, and other bits of trivia. Uncommonly for the holy works of evil gods, the Codex is heavily reproduced and widly available. A great many elder elves, sensing their oncoming deaths in their bones, obtain copies and study them for the philosophical commentary on the nature of a "good death" and to steel themselves against the fear of the oncoming grave, knowing they too will one day have to explain themselves before the Judge of the Ultimate. Such a practice is also not uncommon among elves with warlike professions.

===Church History===
The history of the church of Lysanthir is the history of the empire itself; it is one of the oldest cults within the Empire and has never been out of influence.

===Holidays===
The Festival of the Turning Wheel nominally takes place on the anniversary of Lysanthir's birth and is the holiest of his holy days, observed throughout the empire and its protectorates. This New Year celebration is also observed in other territories, but rarely in his honour directly as it focuses more closely on his twin brother and first emperor, [[Rophalin Imperator]].

Festivals are also held in his honour on the anniversaries of important deaths, and a festival in the twelfth month of the [[Rophalin Calendar]] which marks the formal transition from autumn to winter.

===Favoured Animals===
Ravens, who are said to be a sort of curious earthly psychopomp, are sacred to Lysanthir and his followers.

[[Category: Dieties]][[Category: Noon-Sun Court]][[Category: Lysanthir Lugolor]]

Immarra Hyacinth

2026-06-17T14:13:43Z

Zadammac:

'''Immarra Hyacinth''' is a goddess in the [[Noon-Sun Court]], held as the patron goddess of beauty and romantic love. She is the Unfading Beauty, and a direct child of [[Pyria Veleptor]], birthed to enrich the lives of the [[Atarlie Empire]]'s population of elves as a twin to [[Feno Ilirel]]. She is [[First Ancestor]] of [[Gen Immarra]] and matron of their legion, the [[Legio Immarra]]. She was said to be especially fond of the area to which she lead them to settle, the [[Province of the Lowland Meadows]].

Her symbol is a tiger lilly in full bloom, and birds of paradise in all their myriad forms are sacred to her. As a neutral good deity, she grants her followers access to the Charm, Glory, Good, and Plant domains. While not being warlike herself, those in her church who go into battle do so with a naginata as her divine weapon.

===History===
Imarra was born to [[Pyria Valeptor]] shortly after the creation of the elves and her older cousin, [[Rophalin Imperitor]], as a twin to [[Feno Illirel]]. She was tasked with, and busies herself in, enhancing the beauty of elvendom, whether through inspiring poets and musicians as a muse, delivering the secrets of various visual arts, or providing for natural beauty through the creation of a great number of creatures and plants.

===Relationships===
Feno is a daughter of a kind to [[Pyria Valeptor]], and she and [[Feno Ilirel]] worked together to create the elven god of charity, [[Navarre Yesbella]], who they raised as their daughter. She is known to have had a long-standing affair with [[Lysanthir Lugolor]], creating many creatures and plants of great beauty, all of whom are ultimately fated to die and fall into Lysanthir's domain.

===Appearance===
Immarra is a tall and unusually beautiful example of the elven race, whose hair colour shifts and changes with her mood and the passage of the seasons. She always appears with a fan of colourful feathers to hand.

===Realm===
Imarra is part of the elvish divine family, and so has a portion of the realm of [[Elysium|The Cradle of the Wise]], a fortified city in the plane of the [[Elysium]]. This is her native plane, and she spends a great amount of time in her legendary gardens there, perfecting new creations to release into [[Ahren]].

===Providence===
The sudden breakthrough from creative block, an unusually full blooming of a garden, and the scent of unexpected fragrances on the wind are all signs of Imarra's providence. She appears in the dreams of many of her followers as a muse-figure or in the guise of their lovers and whispers her inspirations to them.

===Servants===
A whole class of Azata known as the Muses serve Immarra, and carry her favour, blessing, or inspiration throughout the multiverse on her behalf.

==Unique Servants==
===The Muse of Emperors===
Known by the epithet alone, this large and unique Azata is singularly beautiful, her snake-like lower body clad in prismatic and iridescent scales, not unlike opal. She serves Immarra as her divine herald and has been said to appear particularly often to Emperors whose rule has caused the arts to stagnate, to inspire, bully, or cajole them into action.

==Church==
Of all the minor dieties of the pantheon, Immarra is the most popular, though not nearly as often observed as [[Rophalin Imperitor]] or [[Pyria Valeptor]]. Immarra has jurisdiction over both the arts and romantic love. Her extraporivincial follower base are disproportionately skewed toward the younger generations of elfdom. Naturally, she is venerated as an important ancestor by [[Gen Immarra]] and as a matrong by the [[Legio Immarra]]. Most of her temples can be found in the [[Province of the Lowland Meadows]] but her followers are known to build her small temples on vistas or at other sites of great natural beauty throughout the Empire and to even attempt to do so outside the empire's borders.

===Worshippers===
Artists, be they painters, sculptors, illusionists, actors, musicians, dancers, poets, and so forth swell the ranks of the Church of Immarra. Those who have been lucky in love and are smitten with romance, as well as those who have been unlucky in love and wish to petition her intervention, also make up a sizable cohort of her faith. Many are aristocrats, for whom the trappings of beauty are both weapon and armour.

===Clergy===
The Clergy of Immarra Hyacinth wear light-blue robes or drapes of light blue over their armour. While not a warlike bunch, Immarra's clergy have responsibility for defending the natural beauty of the world as well as repositories of the arts. Many of her clerics are also artists in their own right, in some way, shape, or form.

While not militant in her teachings, she counts an undeniable minority of paladins among her ranks, in the form of questing templar, tasked with protecting temples and repositories, or questing throughout all of [[Wisteria]] in search of lost works of beauty. A rare few of these paladins have been known to quest in her service, either to recover some missing artifact or on a divine mission to see more of the world and bring back word and vision of what they found. Due to her procilivity for the arts being reflected in her mortal progeny, the [[Legio Immarra]] are often tasked with escorting artists or artworks around the world.

===Temples & Shrines===
Immarra's temples are always immaculately constructed, regardless of size. In place of public fora for discussion, they usually house a performance hall and a large complex of gardens, and their catacombs are not for the burial of the dead but full of studios for clergy and students of the arts who are being instructed by such clergy.

Owing to the large number of objets d'art in such temples, they are often discreetly guarded by templar-paladin in the service of Imarra as they become tempting targets for theives otherwise.

===Holy Texts===
Immarra's holy texts are the [[Perspectives]], a single volume of musings on art that range from philosophical analysis of what it means to be beautiful or to love, as well as practical matters on elements of design, color theory, and perspective. Her teachings and edicts emphasize both moral and aesthetic beauty and encourage her followers to uplift those around them. Creating a unique and masterfully rendered manuscript copy of the Perspectives is a rite of passage for postulates seeking to become her clerics - many nobles might own commissioned copies of the work, but her clergy ''always'' study and teach from their own manuscript.

===Church History===
Immarra's church is not directly a political tool, but the over-representation of the aristocratic class among her faithful means that the church itself often has the appearance of being political, and has been used in the past as a tool to soothe or agitate the populice through art.

===Holidays===
Immara's Day is the 14th of the 2nd month of the [[Rophalin Calendar]], a day for lovers in all stages of love to mark their relationship. She is also invoked at all weddings within the Empire.

===Favoured Animals===
Birds of Paradise, who come in as many forms and colours as the eye can percieve, are sacred to Immarra Hyacinth, credited with their creation.

[[Category: Dieties]][[Category: Noon-Sun Court]][[Category: Immarra Hyacinth]]

Camus Inakas

2026-06-17T14:03:05Z

Zadammac:

'''Camus Inakas''' is a god in the [[Noon-Sun Court]], whose purview covers the arcane, the unknowable and unknown, the lands beyond the horizon and that which has yet to be learned. He is a middling god in the Pantheon, born of a dalliance between [[Lysanthir Lugolor]] and [[Fero Ilirel]], the gods of Death and Medicine, respectively. His epithet, the ''keeper of secrets'', is suggestive of his reputation for being selectively helpful. While career mages and philosophers are among his most obvious followers, he is also popular among adventurers, whose delving of ancient ruins is considered a sacred activity within his church. He is [[First Ancestor]] of the [[Gen Inakas]] and the patron of the [[Legio Camus]], making him the broader Patron of the [[Atarlie Foothills]] province. His significance in Atarlie culture is increased by his Gen's control over [[Heroka]] and the [[Font of the Axis]].

His symbol is the Octarchy, a symbol of the eight elements of the arcane under [[Ars Magica]]. As a chaotic neutral diety, he grants his followers access to Artifice, Knowledge, Magic, and Rune domains. Her sacred weapon is the longbow, and those entitled to a proficiency through her are granted mastery of the same.

===History===
Born as the son of [[Lysanthir Lugolor]] during his affair with [[Fero Ilirel]], Camus is the oldest of those gods not directly created by [[Pyria Valeptor]], except of course for her fellow primordial, [[Shalaevar Shamaris]]. Camus's influence is said to be responsible for deepening the already-strong relationship of elf-kind in general with magic into the legendary affinity of the [[Atarlie Empire|Atarlie]] for arcane magic. He is also believed to be one of the gods who dealt with [[Gul Spell-Speaker]] to grant him the power to become divine himself. He had a direct hand in the establishment of his province during the [[Springtime of the Gods]] and co-founded the school of [[Ars Magica]] by collaborating with the [[Bastonian]] wizard-saint [[San Sylvester]].

===Relationships===
Camus is a member of the divine family of the [[Noon-Sun Court]], and so is friendly with all of its gods, though distrusted (by degrees) by [[Rophalin Imperator]], who holds his one-time dalliance with [[Shalaevar Shamaris]] against him; this affair resulted in the creation of [[Hycis Uriris]], one of the great enemies of elvenkind. Camus actively despises Hycis in spite of her nominally being his daughter, and will go to great lengths to demonstrate his continued loyalty to the rest of his family by acting contrary to both Shalaevar and Hycis whenever possible.

Unsurprisingly, he is best loved by [[Lysanthir Lugolor]] and [[Feno Ilirel]], his parents and mentors, both of whom he works with closely. When he is present in Elysium, he is also known to frequent the court of [[San Sylvester]], who is a rival god of magic and also teaches the arcane school [[Ars Magica]].

Interestingly, he frequently brings himself and his supporters into conflict with those of [[Gul Spell-Speaker]], though the two are of similar disposition. This betimes-violent rivalry is said to be rooted in their irreconcilable views of arcane power and the correct pursuit of knowledge.

===Appearance===
Camus stands head and shoulders above elves, but otherwise appears as a member of their race, ice-blue hair and soft, youthful eyes. He is typically depicted as wearing the red and gold robes of imperial court magisters and a tokin hat, into which he has said to have secreted the [[Last Secret of Convergence]].

===Realm===
Camus is, of course, welcome in [[Elysium]]. However, due to his own nature and the nature of [[Cosmology]], his true realm is [[Pandemoneum]]. He maintains one of the most stable regions in the entire plane, near its shallow edges where the pull of Chaos is ameliorated by the influence of other planes, known as the [[Pandemoneum#Repository of Archmages|Repository of Archmages]]. Among the gods, he is one of the most likely to visit the Eight Essential Planes, as well, being an adventurer himself.

===Providence===
Camus's favour is finding just the right article tucked between the leaves of a tome you accidentally knock from the shelf, or the apple falling from a tree that makes a riddle suddenly clear. Camus's direct teachings are rarely given to mortals; he values the search for knowledge too greatly to give such shortcuts except sparingly. Instead, he sends cryptic dreams, symbolic messages in the waking world, or creates oracles who can only speak toward the truth rather than directly expressing it.

===Servants===
Camus is served by a variety of elementals and constructs he has bound to his servants, and by a retinue of Azatas when he is present in Elysium.

==Unique Servants==
===The Lens of Camus===
This prismatic sphere, roughly the size of a football, is a major artifact of its own unique intelligence, serving as Camus's herald. Camus is known for sending the Lens to hide itself in some ancient tomb or ruin, spreading breadcrumbs in legend and rumour to lead the intended audience to uncover it.

==Church==
Camus's worship is widespread in the [[Atarlie Empire]], and any city large enough to host one or more wizard's colleges usually also can boast a temple to this god - sometimes those institutions are one in the same.

===Worshippers===
Mages, both adventuring and professional, be they sorcerer, wizard, or otherwise, very often worship Camus Inakas, and his teachings are often the first forays of many elves into formal arcane theory and the [[Ars Magica]]. Scholars of non-arcane topics also follow Camus, as do cartographers, and many a professional adventurer. Of course, he is also venerated as the First Ancestor of [[Gen Inakas]] and the province they rule over is one of the most densely-populated provinces in the whole of empire.

His association with even non-magical scholarship is such that temples in the [[Imperial City]] which are dedicated to him become increasingly strained with postulants who are applicants to the [[Imperial Examinations]] and who wish for his intercession in their results.

===Clergy===
Many of Camus's clergymen are also arcanists, making themselves thaumaturges or theurges as the need warrants. They wear the red and gold robes of official court mages because they are, in fact, official court mages, and lead comfortable lives as a result of their relatively high office and the high demand for their services. Even his clerics who do not serve official court functions wear tokin hats as a sign of their affiliation.

Such clergymen are usually clerics; neither paladins nor monks are of a suitable alignment to follow the sometimes-capricious Camus Inakas. If applicable, his adventuring clergy are often maguses, as confident in their swordsmanship as their spellcasting.

===Temples & Shrines===
Camus's temples are large, though the areas set aside for worship make up a small part of them. Several public fora are set aside for the discussion of various topics, arcane or alchemical demonstrations, and public study. Libraries, sometimes public and other times private, are also common features, as are living and working quarters for the clergy and magical laboratories for study. Many temples in key cities may have Gates, and Imperial officials rely on these gates to move quickly throughout the empire when the need arises.

His primary temple complex, the seat of the primate of his church and the central licensing body for all subordinate temples in his name is his complex surrounding the [[Font of the Axis]].

===Holy Texts===
Camus's [[Compendium Magica]] is an enormous collection of magical writings and teachings-on-teaching, including several full works on Theory of Knowledge, that are necessarily published as carefully-curated sets of up to 24 volumes on their own, often with several additional volumes of commentary besides. In addition, each and every member of his clergy makes their own publications that join the Greater Compendium, a collection of sacred arcane theory documentation at the principle temple of the order in [[Heroka]], which is said to be duplicated in Camus's realm as well.

The official text of the core [[Compendium Magica]] is maintained on a set of inert mythril tablets in [[Heroka]] from which official copies are printed.

===Church History===
Camus's church does not concern itself with political influence, beyond ensuring that the Empire remains aware that Camus and the Arcane are cornerstones of the imperial position and comforts, and that imperial funding and favour remains available to the church.

===Holidays===
Camus's birthday is said to be the First of the Third Month in the [[Rophalin Calendar]], and on this day it is customary to hold a large festival of feasting and celebration, supplanted with large demonstrations of prestidigitation and other magical novelty.

===Favoured Animals===
Peacocks, especially the males, who are believed in some ways to be magical themselves, or otherwise connected to the acane, are held as sacred to Camus Inakas.

[[Category: Noon-Sun Court]] [[Category: Dieties]] [[Category: Camus Inakas]]

Merellien Chaebalar

2026-06-17T13:44:36Z

Zadammac:

'''Merellien Chaebalar''' is a goddess in the [[Noon-Sun Court]], held as the patron goddess of justice, both in the sense of just causes and in the sense of those who deliver and seek justice. She is the Celestial Warden, born in a dalliance between [[Rophalin Imperitor]] and [[Feno Ilirel]]. Among other aspects, she represents the ability of a state to heal its society in the way that her mother, Feno, represents the ability of a healer to minister to the sick. As such a great many magistrates are among her followers, as are wardens of prisons and penitent prisoners. She is [[First Ancestor]] of [[Gen Chaebalar]] and therefore the matron of the [[Province of the Sun and Moon]]. Unsurprisingly given her association with law and order, this matronage has created an association between both of those organizations and that of power.

Her symbol is a blazing star, and badgers are considered sacred by her church. As a lawful good deity, she grants her followers access to Healing, Law, Protection, War domains. The elven curve blade is said to be her creation, and all those who can channel her divine mastery of its forms are proficient in its use.

===History===
Merellien Chaebalar was born near the end of the earthly reign of [[Rophalin Imperitor]], and for a time served as one of his magistrates, departing [[Ahren]] when the First Reign came to an end and the throne was transmitted to [[Gen Rophalin]]. She remains heavily interested in the state politics of the [[Atarlie Empire]], and from time to time has lead her followers in battle personally, though always against other dieties.

===Relationships===
Merellien Chaebalar has a strong relationship with both of her parents, as well as with her half-sister, [[Navarre Yesbella]]. The pair have overlapping portfolios, and while they don't always see perfectly eye to eye, they agree enough in their essentials that they work together to a greater extent than almost any of the other elven divinities. Unsurprisingly, she stands athwart the less benevolentjapa in her Pantheon, and has been known to attend the court of [[Lysanthir Lugalor]] to argue on the behalf of penitent elven souls present for his judgement.

Unsurprisingly, Merellien also has great connections among the [[Bastonian Pantheon]]. She spends a quantity of time in [[Heaven]] and has been known in particular to spar with and strategize alongside [[San Lucas]].

===Appearance===
Merellien stands head and shoulders above the mortal elves, but otherwise appears to be a member of their kind, with a head of long, golden hair, and wise eyes that make her seem older than he otherwise looks. She wears very finely wrought and gilded mithril armour that has been painstakingly engraved, and a silk shashimono bearing her starburst symbol.

===Realm===
Merellien is part of the elvish divine family, and so has a portion of the realm of [[Elysium|The Cradle of the Wise]], a bastion in the plane of the [[Elysium]]. However, due to her lawful nature she is never truly at home in [[Elysium]] and so frequently finds herself in [[Heaven]], where she maintains a small outpost-realm known as the '''Evenstar Bastion'''.

===Providence===
True justice, be it the acquittal of the innocent or the sudden turn of a trial against the guilty, is seen as Merellien's purview. Her followers look to commune with her through their dreams but find no answers, and her teachings caution them to trust only what their mortal senses can perceive directly.

===Servants===
While she is occasionally attended by Azatas while within [[Elysium]], Archons make up most of her servitors and man the walls of the Evenstar Bastion.

==Unique Servants==
===[[Kade Corellian]]===
A mythological hero of the ancient Atarlie, Kade lives on immortal as the Captain-General of Merellien's hosts and her Divine Herald. An imposing paladin clad in blackened armour studded with ruby, Kade's kingly bearing is as unmistakable as the sword he carries, which is said to be the first Elven Curved Sword ever forged, and originally Merellien's own.

==Church==
The direct worship of Merellien by the common population of the Atarlie is somewhat uncommon, as imperial law is light enough that few ever cross it. Much of her follower base comes from the ranks of the judiciary, especially those magistrates tasked with sorting out criminal rather than civil law. Wardens and other workers and ministers in imperial prisons also contribute to her ranks, as do those who have committed crimes and, through their inbuilt need for justice, have turned to making amends. Unsurprisingly these are offices that are common in the ranks of [[Gens Chaelabar]]. She is also, obviously, the matron of the [[Legio Chaelabar]].

===Worshippers===
In addition to those described above, all manner of adventurers commonly flock to Merellien. Soldiers in wartime who believe that their cause is just often petition Merellien for protection and the strength or courage to carry out their duties; bounty-hunters seeking to bring criminals to justice turn to the First Paladin for guidance and inspiration.

===Clergy===
Merellien's clergy are perhaps the most militarized of all the elven gods, save those of [[Rophalin Imperitor]] himself. While pastoral clergy do exist, maintaining urban temples, a great many more of their number are actually lumped into the broader mission of Chaplains. Such chaplains serve among Imperial Legion units or within the walls of Imperial prisons, ministering to those under their care and promising that the cause of justice will be served by their adherence to the examples and strictures of Merellien. Merellien's clergy, moreso than those of any other god except perhaps [[Lysanthir Lugalor]], are known for taking to the fields in order to ferret out and uproot undead as well as other monsters of all sorts.

Clerics and Paladins in particular make up the bulk of this chaplaincy, though not all paladins in Merellien's service are considered Chaplains of her church, and a great many more besides are more properly considered worshippers than clergy. Chaplain-Paladins make up the heads of orders of their brethren.

===Temples & Shrines===
Any settlement the size of a small city or larger will have at least one temple to Merellien, and such temples are as much schools as they are places of worship. They often have one or more fora for public meetings, where recent court rulings are discussed "in the round" among scholars of law, magistrates, and Merellien's clergy, along with any others in attendance who wish to use their voices. Her two largest and most significant temples - the [[Temple of the Imperial Codifier]] in the [[Imperial City]] and the [[Temple at Mount Heron]] in the [[Province of the Sun and Moon]] - are both especially renowned as schools of law and have [[Imperial Imprimatur]] with respect to publishing legal texts, including records of the proceedings of the [[Imperial Senate]].

Rare is an Atarlie Prison without a small chapel set up in Merellien's honour, where one or more Chaplains attend to the spiritual needs of the incarcerated, providing council and therapy with the intention of turning them back toward a just path. The only time such a jail would not have a shrine to Merellien would be if it was a provincial prison outside of the [[Province of the Sun and Moon]].

===Holy Texts===
It is said that the earliest codified laws in the Atarlie Empire, the [[Codex Merellien]], were scribed by Merellien herself as dictated by Rophalin, before being ratified by the Senate of the time. As such, the Codex itself is a holy text among her followers, though it is often supplemented with the [[Codex Iustitiae]], a more philosophical work that defines justice in fairly broad (and often times retributive) terms. These two codices are required reading for Merellien's clergy and even the paladins in her service are expected to be quotably-familiar with the latter.

===Church History===
Merellien's church has a disproportionate impact on Atarlie politics, as it is strongly married to both the Atarlie populace's trust in its legal (especially criminal) systems, as well as to the ruling class's fears of just comeuppance should they wander too far toward corruption. The church's influence has a strongly moderating influence on the general elven tendency toward chaos, and together with the Church of Rophalin Imperitor, is essentially the reason the Empire has been able to remain cohesive.

===Holidays===
Merellien has no direct holidays; while the date of her nativity is known (three days after the summer equinox), she does not deliberately court overt displays of the worship of herself or any other personality, and so has discouraged ceremonies on her own behalf. However, there is no want for invocation, as she is invoked almost daily at the start of court proceedings or at ceremonies in penitentiaries.

===Favoured Animals===
Badgers, who brave all with a stolid, "dwarflike" resolve, are sacred to Merellien and her followers, who are admonished in her teachings to remain as the "Last True Bulwark of the Elves".

[[Category: Dieties]][[Category: Noon-Sun Court]][[Category: Merellien Chaebalar]]

Navarre Yesbella

2026-06-17T13:29:00Z

Zadammac:

'''Navarre Yesbella''' is a goddess in the [[Noon-Sun Court]], the daughter of [[Feno Ilirel]] and [[Immarra Hyacinth]]. Patron to those in need of liberation and of the welfare of the elves, she is said to be the Goddess of the Godless, whose beneficence touches everyone. As a result, her followers are many among the poor, the imprisoned, the enslaved, as well as those magistrates and officials who would seek to do those persons justice. That said, she is still considered a First Ancestor of [[Gen Navarre]] and is the matron of the [[Legio Navarre]]. Her Province is the [[Southern Province]], so in some respects she is occasionally considered a matron to the [[Hearthlands]] and those from there.

Her symbol is an oblong coin (formerly a common mintage of the empire, though now only seen in antique coins), and cats are her sacred beast. As a chaotic good diety, she grants her followers access to the domains of Community, Liberation, Luck, and Protection. While not warlike herself or given to the practice, those among her followers who can channel a divine proficiency become proficient in the quarterstaff, which she is said to have some skill with herself, and is often depicted using.

===History===
Toward the end of the [[Springtime of the Gods]], Navarre's mothers [[Feno Ilirel]] and [[Immara Hyacinth]] created her together when Imarra saw that [[Merellien Chaebalar]]'s tendencies would need to be balanced lest they create their own injustices. For a time, Nevarre Yesbella continued to live with the mortal elves in the [[Atarlie Empire]] even after her uncle's reign ended, ministering to those in need before eventually returning to [[Elysium]], her church having been established to continue her works in her stead while she focused on more divine matters of welfare. For this reason, she is sometimes known as "The Last", since she is held to be the last of the First Ancestors of the Noon-Sun Court to return to Elysium through the [[Font of the Axis]].

===Relationships===
Navarre is the beloved baby-child of the Elven Divine Family, though she is not technically the youngest. She was raised as the child of [[Feno Ilirel]] and [[Immarra Hyacinth]] to be the counter-balance to her half-sister, [[Merellien Chaebalar]]. Perhaps surprisingly, the two get along famously well, and while they have been known to disagree to the point of vocal debate with one another, they rarely act against each other on purpose. She is also a half-brother to [[Camus Inakas]], though Camus's own isolationism has lead to a rift between the pair of them. Many fables featuring Navarre and Camus focus on the relationship between the common and the learned or on themes of elitism and its perils.

Navarre is said to have "youthful exuberance" and freely speaks - and even acts - against the interests of the less-benevolent members of the court. Even her uncle, [[Lysanthir Lugalor]], can be assured of a cold welcome from Navarre, though the two are at least quite civil with each other.

===Appearance===
Navarre stands head and shoulders above mortal elves, but otherwise looks much akin to that race. She has chest-length chestnut hair and a kindly smile, that together give her the appearance of a country elf, possibly even of slightly mixed-with-human heritage. She is not commonly without her staff, which has the appearance of an enormous pestle, being wider and rounded on one end than the other.

===Realm===
Navarre is part of the elvish divine family, and so has a portion of the realm of [[Elysium|The Cradle of the Wise]], a fortified city in the plane of the [[Elysium]]. Her presence there is rarely interrupted and she is the most likely of all the Elven gods to entertain visitors apart from her cousins.

===Providence===
Any boon to the poor, especially unlooked for, especially when the circumstance was otherwise dire, is often attributed to Navarre's direct intervention. She is the aching voice of guilt in the hearts of her followers that spurs them into action to preserve the welfare of all.

===Servants===
Azatas serve Navarre in [[Elysium]], and occasionally even travel to [[Ahren]] on her orders to deliver messages of importance. She is not known to have a divine herald - the demands upon her attention are too great to be served by any one entity and so must be attended to by the legions themselves.

==Church==
Many, many elves who are of ordinary or impoverished means turn to Navarre Yesbella for aid, and her ministers work hard to attract aristocrats and merchants into her ranks to help equalize the need. She is a popular matron-ancestor for non-[[Elves]] who become citizens of the empire, owing to her general matronage of the underclasses as well as an association with newcomers. Within her province and along the [[Meridian Road]], monks of Navarre Yesbella's temples maintain the peace and order of the roadways, offering protection and lodgings for traders and travellers.

===Worshippers===
Known to all Atarlie, and patron of the poor and downtrodden, Navarre is second only to [[Rophalin Imperator]] in terms of the number of followers in her flock who make regular observances - she often becomes popular in any province if the ruling Gen is seen as overly oppressive or dismissive of the peasantry. Her temples hold services in her honour daily, including a ritualized service of meals in the evening. She is patron to all who feel the heavy boot of oppressiveness, be they oppressed by corrupt ruler, economic circumstance, or the infirmities of fate.

A subcult among her followers, the [[Hands of Navarre]] consists largely of thieves who specialize in the redistribution of wealth from centres of concentration into the hands of the many, tithing a percentage of their proceeds to her church and keeping a small portion for themselves along the way.

===Clergy===
Navarre's clergy wear plain robes in natural colours for the materials from which they are made, by long tradition, eschewing dyes and bleaches as unnecessary expense. Such clergy observe vows of poverty, though the church provides for their needs as readily as for the needs of any who call upon them, and so they want for little. They are known for a practice of begging for alms in exchange for the passing of blessings which is similar in Atarlie cults to the [[Awakened One]], and laypeople often confuse followers of one for the other.

A minority of her clergy are adventuring missionaries, usually clerics, who travel the world to spread her message of co-reliance and social justice.

===Temples & Shrines===
Despite her broad appeal, the nature of the Noon-Sun Court's relationships to secular [[Atarlie Gens]] means that formal temples larger than wayside or household shrines to Navarre are almost exclusively found in the [[Southern Province]], though that is, admittedly, a large area. Her temple precincts are usually open and unfenced, hosting the fora popular among Atarlie temple architecture along with large halls and lodgings to support travelers and her church's practice of dinner service to all-comers. Wayside shrines are ubiquitous in her province and even appear along most of the length of the [[Meridian Road]] and range from the usual small housings of an idol to cabins fit for a traveling party to briefly stay in. Most of these shrines are unique in that they are situated near sources of natural or magical running water, fit for both ritual ablutions and to slake the thirst of the traveler.

Non-Southern worshippers of Navarre often do so in secret due to fears of reprisal from their provinces' ruling Gens. Household idols, especially, of Nevarre are often deliberately made to be ambiguous in their design so that they can be passed off as figures of [[Pyria Valeptor]] to visitors.

===Holy Texts===
Navarre's faithful observe study of the [[Rule of Navarre]], and a copy of this pamphlet said to be penned by Navarre herself is maintained at the head charterhouse of the order, the Temple of Navarre in the [[Imperial City]]. The text is short and impresses upon the reader to use their wealth and labour for the good of all. It has been compared by theologians to the [[Rule of San Lukas]]. Copying the pamphlet as a woodcut print or in manuscript form and distributing it is a common occupation for her clerics.

===Church History===
Navarre's church has been a fulcrum for political change at multiple times in the history of the [[Atarlie Empire]]. It is a rallying point for the masses, and above and beyond that known for both endorsing and condemning senators, prefects, and other officials on the basis of their record with respect to the popular good. These destabilization are often the first step in [[Atarlie Provincial Wars]] even if [[Gen Navarre]] isn't involved.

===Holidays===
The fourteenth and twenty-eighth day of each month of the [[Rophalin Calendar]] are sacred to the followers of Navarre as days on which the giving of gifts and charity are particularly auspicious. Her birth date is the twelfth of the twelfth, and [[Navarre Day]] celebrations are often held on this day, on which it is traditional to distribute gifts.

===Favoured Animals===
Cats, who can survive in a city or town of any size, are sacred to the followers of Navarre. They are said in particular to be her eyes and ears.

[[Category: Dieties]][[Category: Noon-Sun Court]][[Category: Navarre Yesbella]]

Feno Ilirel

2026-06-17T13:08:10Z

Zadammac:

'''Feno Ilirel''' is a goddess in the [[Noon-Sun Court]], held as the patron goddess of the healing arts and alchemy. She is the Celestial Doctor, and a direct child of [[Pyria Veleptor]], birthed to keep watch over the [[Atarlie Empire]]'s population of elves when it was clear that they were more frail than originally realized. She is known by a variety of epithets including the Secret-Keeper, the Speaker of Illness, and the Queen of Herbs. Among the [[Carcolie]], she is known as the '''Second Mother''', since it was her direct action that created the Carcolie subculture as a distinct branch of Elvendom.

Her symbol is a crysanthemum flower viewed head-on. As a neutral good deity, she grants her followers access to Good, Healing, Plant, and Magic domains. While not being warlike herself, those in her church who go into battle do so with a sickle as her divine weapon.

===History===
Feno was born to [[Pyria Valeptor]] shortly after the creation of the elves and her older cousin, [[Rophalin Imperitor]]. She appeared in visions to philosophers among the elves, granting them the secrets of healing magics, natural medicines, and alchemy. She is credited with appearing at various times throughout Atarlie history to intervene in various disasters with her own arts. In terms of the relative history of the most recent [[Vergence]], she is the founding ancestor of [[Gen Ilirel]]. When the elves reappeared in the [[Springtime of the Gods]], her household founded the [[Uplands Province]], between the [[Atlas Mountains]] and the [[Imperial Province]]. Five centuries into that period, she sent the [[Carcolie]] to live in the mountains and start a new culture with values, customs, and sciences settled on the foundation of [[Ahren]] as it was, rather than bringing the civilization of Elysium with them. As with all the First Ancestors, she returned to [[Elysium]] at the close of the age.

===Relationships===
Feno is a daughter of a kind to [[Pyria Valeptor]], and the mother of [[Merellien Chaebalar]] through a dalliance with [[Rophalin Imperitor]]. Quite naturally, given her capabilities and portfolio, she is a staunch enemy of [[Shalaevar Shamaris]] and unfond of [[Hycis Uriris]]. She and [[Immarra Hyacinth]] worked together to create the elven god of charity, [[Navarre Yesbella]].

Though created as a counterbalance to [[Lysanthir Lugolor]] the two get along fantastically well, and an affair of their own produced [[Camus Inakas]]. It is said that they continue to interact with one another mostly in passing, though in the legends of such meetings, Feno is often depicted as flirtatious toward Lysanthir, who himself is depicted as falsely coy back toward her.

Feno's council is said often sought by [[San Sylvester]], who considers her to be the superior alchemist.

===Appearance===
Feno stands head and shoulders above the mortal elves he once ruled, but otherwise appears to be a member of their kind, with a head of long, golden hair, and wise eyes that make her seem older than he otherwise looks. She wears the green-and-yellow robes common among healers and other philosophers, and smells strongly of medicinal herbs.

===Realm===
Feno is part of the elvish divine family, and so has a portion of the realm of [[Elysium|The Cradle of the Wise]], a fortified city in the plane of the [[Elysium]]. She is also believed to have access to the plane of [[Vita]], but as with many divinities cannot handle prolonged exposure to the '''Fires of Creation''' and so rarely visits it, preferring to channel from the plane indirectly instead.

===Providence===
Feno is often credited with the sudden breaking of a chronic or serious illness, or the dying out of plagues. She has been said to whisper to philosophers and other followers in their dreams, providing cryptic formulae to answer some riddle or unlock some knowledge they were otherwise stuck upon.

===Servants===
Azatas in particular serve Feno, who will send them to her followers in times of need to act as protectors or mentors.

==Unique Servants==
===Caduceus===
An enormous emerald snake with angelic white wings, Feno's divine herald rarely appears in [[Ahren]], but occasionally appears in visions to her followers offering plain and at times dire warnings.

==Church==
Feno is effectively a god of split churches. Within the [[Atarlie Empire]], she is honoured as the First Ancestor in lands controlled by [[Gen Ilirel]], and venerated by members of that aristocratic milleau, their servants in the [[Legio Ilirel]], and by the peasantry in their lands, and the border regions of the [[Uplands Province]]. In addition, doctors, healers, and natural philosophers empire-wide are known to venerate her, as are [[Carcolie]] elves who have assimilated into the empire.

Among the [[Carcolie]], she is considered a guiding figure and key ancestor who is worshiped universally as the founder of the culture.

===Worshippers===
Doctors, alchemists, and apothecaries all commonly worship the Queen of Herbs and the Mother of Medicines, as do those who minister to the health of animals and those who suffer from severe or chronic illnesses and injuries. Her worshippers often seek relief or guidance from their patron, who is generous with her gifts in exchange for their prayer and sacrifices of various incenses, some more affordable than others. Members of [[Gen Ilirel]] or the [[Legio Ilirel]] venerate her as their ultimate progentor (or at least adoptive matron).

===Clergy===
Known as philosophers, the clergy of Feno Ilirel are more often than not medical professionals, in one sense or another. Whether developing deep understanding of natural remedies, plumbing the arcane depths of Alchemy in search for cures and restoratives, or channeling her healing power directly, Feno's pious followers are among the finest healers in all of [[Wisteria]]. Such clergy have pastoral duties of care as well as spiritual duties of observance, and the bulk of their ranks are clerics and druids.

Her clergy wear rich robes of largely green and yellow coloration and are often set apart from the public by their broad adoption of squared-off pilbox hats known as Philosopher's Crowns.

===Temples & Shrines===
Throughout her province and the province's borderlands, any town of the size of "small city" or larger will likely have a temple to Feno Ilirel, and she has temples in the [[Imperial City]] and "temple schools" across the fullness of the empire. Such temples are as much hospitals and schools of medicine as they are places of worship. They eschew the grand fora common in other Atarlie temple architecture in place of being complexes, fronted with a place of worship, comprising operating theaters, recovery wards, laboratories and libraries.

It is not uncommon in large towns to have something more akin to a Shrine dedicated to Feno, which provides a place for the recovery of the sick and a venue for the veneration of the Mother of Medicines, but rarely has the facilities to train more than one or two apprentice clergy at a time.

As with other members of the [[Noon-Sun Court]], wayside and household shrines to Feno are common in the regions the [[Atarlie Gen]] she founded rules or has ruled historically. Given the broad appeal of her portfolio over healing and medicine, she enjoys this privilege to a greater degree than most of her divine cousins.

The Carcolie are known to occasionally create large stone idols of Feno from the living rock of their mountain homes, and the precincts around these statues are sacred spaces for her specific worship.

===Holy Texts===
Feno Ilirel gifted mortals a document known as the [[Codex Medicamentum]] through dictation to one of her earliest followers, [[Heptus Septim]]. This book details a basic understanding of the practice and ethics of medicine and alchemy and is considered the foundational document of both practices, though huge bodies of work exist that expand upon both disciplines.

===Church History===
Feno's churches have stood as a remarkable testimony to the advantages of adaptability and diplomacy over sheer conquest in terms of the ability for religious organizations to have influence that goes beyond ordinary secular limits. Though her province is bordered on two sides by the naturally impassible (the [[Atlas Mountains]] to the west and sea to the north) and a third by the [[Imperial Province]], she has somehow spread her influence across the entire Atarlie Empire, and thorugh the Carcolie, even beyond the reaches of her "parent" culture.

===Holidays===
The Festivals of Smoke are monthly observances held throughout the Empire on the night of the new moon, when ceremonies involving the use of perfumed smokes created from a specific formula of herbs and alchemical compounds are carried out, said to prevent the spreading of miasma and so, the outbreak of plague. While most universally practiced in her home province, any major city in the empire will make careful observance of these ceremonies as a measure of hygiene considered vital in Imperial culture.

===Favoured Animals===
Snakes, whose venom are the root of the cure for their venom, are considered sacred to Feno Ilirel, and often snakes native to the area are kept in her temples for the production of the same antivenom or similar alchemical compounds.

[[Category: Noon-Sun Court]] [[Category: Feno Illirel]] [[Category: Dieties]]

Rophalin Imperitor

2026-06-16T19:42:02Z

Zadammac:

'''Rophalin Imperitor''' is a god in the [[Noon-Sun Court]], best known as having founded the Atarlie Empire and being a forebearer of the royal lineages of the Atarlie race of elves. He is known by the epithet ''The God-Emperor'' or ''Prince of Princes'' and counts royals, senators, state officials (military and civil), and historians among his followers, as he is said to be the [[Primogenitor]] of the [[Gens Imperator]]. His sacred symbol is a wreath of laurels and his favoured weapon is the longsword, while mountain lions are his sacred animal. He is known for having created the [[Rophalin Calendar]], used commonly throughout all of [[Wisteria]].

For those playing with the Dungeons and Dragons ruleset, Rophalin Imperator is a Lawful Good Diety whose clerics and other domain-using spellcasters gained access to the Glory, Law, Nobility, and Protection domains.

===History===
Rophalin was created first among all the elves by [[Pyria Valeptor]], who gifted him with divine ability and knowledge from the outset of his existence, and sent to live among and rule over the elves for the first several generations of what would become the [[Atarlie Empire]]. In each [[Springtime of the Gods]], he leads the elves from [[Elysium]] to [[Ahren]] and re-establishes them, before departing at the start of the [[Age of the Summer of Mortals]]. It is said that come the [[Age of Wisterian Autumn]] he will return again to lead the elves back to [[Elysium]] and so keep the flame of civilization alive through another [[Vergence]].

===Relationships===
Rophalin is a son of a kind to [[Pyria Valeptor]], and the father of [[Merellien Chaebalar]] through a dalliance with [[Feno Ilirel]]. As the First Emperor, he is fond of the elves in general and so opposes [[Shalaevar Shamaris]] and [[Hycis Uriris]]. He has been seen, as have most of his pantheon, to court [[Immarra Hyacinth]], though he is too staid and practical for either of them to tolerate the other for long.

He and his twin [[Lysanthir Lugolor]] get along decently, though as brothers are wont to do they often attempt to thwart or prank each other for no reason apart from this petty mood or that. Rophalin extends only the "rule of politeness" to non-elvish visitors in his realm, which is unusual, as it was said to be his own law that allows non-[[Elves]] to become citizens of the empire.

===Appearance===
Rophalin stands head and shoulders above the mortal elves he once ruled, but otherwise appears to be a member of their kind, with a head of long, golden hair, and wise eyes that make him seem older than he otherwise looks. He usually appears dressed in the purple or armour of a ruling emperor, and speaks with a voice that is said to command elf and beast alike.

[[Category: Dieties]][[Category: Noon-Sun Court]][[Category: Rophalin Imperitor]]

===Realm===
Rophalin is part of the elvish divine family, and so has a portion of the realm of [[Elysium|The Cradle of the Wise]], a fortified city in the plane of the [[Elysium]].

===Providence===
Rophalin is well-known for appearing in the dreams of his followers and providing them with guidance. It is said that he never creates true oracles, preferring plain speech and clear instructions.

===Servants===
Rophalin is said to have an entire Elysian legion of warriors with the bodies of elves and heads of mountain lions known as the [[Inevitable]] at his command and has used them as a ruler would any other kind of army in numerous legends of his interactions with both other members of the Noon-Sun Court and in some accounts with alien divinities as well.

==Unique Servants==
===Triandal Yinsatra===
Appearing as an aged elven woman in golden armour, Triandal is a Paladin in the service of Rophalin during his time as emperor who was granted immortality when he returned to [[Elysium]], becoming his Herald. He has been known to joke in her company when visiting [[Elysium]] that Triandal is also the voice of his conscience, occasionally reminding him of the need for benevolence to overrule the code of law. She is also known as the "First Consort" and is Captain-General of his divine army, not to be confused with a rank of the [[Legio Rophalin]].

==Church==
For most Elves, worship of Rophalin Imperitor is an extension of the general spiritual life of the [[Atarlie Empire]]. His temples also serve as great archives for the empire as a whole and his more devout followers occasionally become clerks of these archives. Observances toward Rophalin are made at times of formal government proceedings such as trials or congresses of the senate. His observance is the only one that enjoys the same ubiquity as [[Pyria Valeptor]], Mother of Mothers.

===Worshippers===
Known to all Atarlie, those who worship Rophalin in particular are usually aspiring rulers, government officials, career bureaucrats, or military officials who wish to both follow and lead in the example of the First Emperor. Citizens of the [[Imperial Province]], and those with ambitions to ingratiate themselves among [[Gens Imperator]], round out the ranks of his followers.

===Clergy===
Formal clergy of the First Emperor wear robes of a deep wine red, the closest to purple a non-emperor can publicly wear. Most, in addition to their sacred duties, are clerks, scribes, and bureaucrats within the church's own hierarchy or in service to various government offices. Many are also clerics, paladins, or fighters in dedicated service to Rophalin's mission to be the bulwark and protector of the Atarlie people.

Such consecrated combatants often wear the wine-red colours of their clerical companions as well as the pelts of Mountain Lions, especially if they are members of the [[Legio Rophalin]].

===Temples & Shrines===
Second in commonality only to temples to [[Pyria Valeptor]], Rophalin's temples are usually impressive stonework fora crafted from magically-shaped native rock, in keeping with the idea that he was the rock on which Pyria founded Elven supremacy and the [[Atarlie Empire]]. Such temples are beautifully decorated and supported by outer grounds of palatial terraces and gardens. Within the temples themselves are usually several subterranian floors of archives. In addition to religious observances, the forum at the heart of each temple is often opened to the public of non-senatorial classes to debate public matters. Observed by the clergy, these debates often help to inform senate opinion.

Homes which have a [[God Closet]] will usually include icons to Rophalin. Curiously, it is not customary that he should be the subject of any wayside shrines except along the [[Meridian Road]], where they are always positioned such that his extended right arm points the way toward the [[Imperial City]].

===Holy Texts===
In some sense, every archived work in the collective archives of his church is treated as a holy text, but [[The Histories of Rophalin]] are a contemporary record of his time spent on [[Ahren]] as the First Emperor, written by the ancient scholar [[Vestele Iliwynn]]. The core edition can fit in a single volume, but commentated editions exist that are upwards of a dozen total volumes in length.

===Church History===
The history of the church of Rophalin is the history of the empire itself; it is one of the oldest cults within the Empire and has never been out of influence.

===Holidays===
The Festival of the Turning Wheel nominally takes place on the anniversary of Rophalin's birth and is the holiest of his holy days, observed throughout the empire and its protectorates. This New Year celebration is also observed in other territories, but rarely in his honour directly.

===Favoured Animals===
Mountain lions are considered sacred to Rophalin.

Pyria Valeptor

2026-06-16T19:22:37Z

Zadammac:

'''Pyria Valeptor''' is a god in the [[Noon-Sun Court]], progenitor of most of the other divinities within that pantheon, and creator of the Elves of [[Wisteria]]. She is '''Mother of All''' and '''Flame of Empires''', a primordial deity through whose benevolence the [[Atarlie Empire]] attributes its success. Her children (and her children's children) make up the bulk of the pantheon worshiped by the Atarlie elves. She is ancient even by comparison to the other members of the court and is the only member of the court who enjoys more-or-less universal reverence among both [[Elves]] as a whole and [[Atarlie]] specifically. To the [[Carcolie]], she is known better by the epithet "She of Suns".

When playing Dungeons and Dragons: clerics of this Neutral Good dieity gain access to the domains of Community, Protection, Sun, and Weather. Her symbol and sacred animal are a small songbird native to the Atarlie Empire known as the [[Atarlie Chickadee]].

===History===
Pyria is said to have sprung from [[Vita]] at the beginning of time as a manifestation of light and love. In some time before the most recent [[Vergence]], she created the first elves along with her sons [[Rophalin Imperitor]] and [[Lysanthir Lugolor]] to watch over them, and later directly created [[Feno Illerel]] and [[Immarra Hyacinth]]. She periodically intervenes between the other gods of her pantheon, restoring their machinations to positions of relative balance, or chastising [[Shalaevar Shamaris]] for his plots.

Unlike the other members of the Noon-Sun Court, Pyria Valeptor has never been known to frequent [[Wisteria]] and was not present for the [[Springtime of the Gods]].

===Relationships===
Pyria is unique among the gods of the Noon-Sun Court in that she commands the fealty and motherly reverence of each. She alone freely speaks with and against [[Shalaevar Shamaris]], and their past encounters have shown that, at least for now, she has the upper hand between them. Even [[Hycis Uriris]] can enjoy the love of the mother of mothers - and face her wrath when her plans run afoul of the elves.

Pyria is a jovial and welcoming goddess, a matron of plenty and of boons to mothers. She is always hospitable to visitors to her domain such as [[San Sylvester]].

===Appearance===
Pyria appears as an unnaturally tall elf with black hair studded with stars, whose eyes glow with a golden light. She is usually shown as dressed in a fine, simple gown of white.

===Realm===
Pyria is part of the elvish divine family, and so has a portion of the realm of [[Elysium|The Cradle of the Wise]], a bastion in the plane of the [[Elysium]], which she claims as her personal realm and maintains through divine fiat. Properly, she is native to [[Vita]], and is one of the few even among gods who can traverse the '''Fires of Creation''' with impunity.

===Providence===
Pyria sends songbirds as omens to her followers, or intercedes in their dreams.

===Servants===
Pyria is served by - and said to have created - the [[Azatas]] who inhabit the Cradle of the Wise. From time to time she will send them perforce as her messengers or a heavenly host.

==Unique Servants==
===Kesefeon===
An enormous Atarlie Chickadee whose voice is a choir, this unique celestial creature is Pyria Valeptor's divine herald.

==Church==
Pyria is a keystone of the spiritual life of the [[Atarlie Empire]], with the only observance that's nearly as common being those of her son, [[Rophalin Imperitor]], the first emperor. Shrines of her icons or idols are common throughout the empire and she is honoured in the [[God-Closets]] of Atarlie homes. The occasions for her worship are frequent, but in the daily lives of the average citizen of the empire they are less liturgical ceremony and more customary gestures, outside of festivals.

===Worshippers===
Known to all Atarlie, her ceremonies are observed by all. In particular, new and expecting mothers, and the long-suffering mothers of large families, tend to seek her aid most directly. All Atarlie citizens, even non-[[Elves]], are expected to make at least token observance of her. Fortunately, her direct theology is not exclusive.

===Clergy===
Formal clergy of the Mother of All wear robes of pure white. Many, in addition to their sacred duties in maintaining her holy sites and leading ceremonies, are midwives and experts in the medicine of pregnancy. Many are also clerics, druids, and monks in service to Pyria's mission to keep the elven light alive.

She is known to always have at least one oracle tied to her mysteries, in order to keep the light of her influence alive on Ahren and further stymie the ambitions of [[Shalaevar Shamaris]]. The [[Pyrean Oracle]] is a state position in the court of the current [[Emperor of the Elves]], and is seen as both the primate of Pyria's clergy specifically as well as the clergy of the Empire more broadly, whomever they most directly serve.

===Temples & Shrines===
Ubiquitous throughout the empire, temples and shrines to [[Pyria Valeptor]] are universal, be they full-blown temples of stone with large public fora, small and wooden community chapels, or even private household or wayside shrines with little more than a sacred icon of the goddess. Unlike many of the other gods in the Pantheon, her temples serve no auxiliary, secular service, and are dedicated entirely to her worshipful contemplation. This does not contradict the obstetric role of many of her clergy as the Atarlie custom is for home births.

===Holy Texts===
Pyria Valeptor did not leave the elves behind with a record of sacred teachings or scriptures. In a sense, the observance of Atarlie customs and order in their entirity is a tribute to her. The [[Collected Writings of the Oracles]] is held as a sacred document and comprises, at this stage, scores of volumes at its full extent. Copies are maintained at most temples in settlements of the size "small city" or larger, transported at great expense from the more central temples with retinues of gods. Such works are only ever exclusively manuscript and are often accompanied with sacred paintings and bound between fine silk boards. An individual volume or set of volumes containing the writings of just one Pyrean Oracle can fetch a high price; full collections are exclusively the province of high-ranking aristocrats or temples themselves.

It is said that those of the wrong mindset can be blasted mad in pursuing the Collected Writings, and more than one of the church-recognized oracles became 'an' oracle (though never the Pyrean Oracle) from having done so.

===Church History===
The history of the church of Pyria is the history of the empire itself; it is the oldest cult within the Empire and has never been out of influence.

===Holidays===
Ceremonies to celebrate new births always invoke Pyria Valeptor, and there is a practice of baptism common among her more devout that is said to cause her to look more favourably on the baptized youth. Community services of worship are held for her on the days of full moons. Families, especially those that have been unlucky in pregnancy, have been known to leave her offerings following occasions of conception.

===Favoured Animals===
Atarlie Chickadees, said to be her second creation, are sacred to Pyria Valeptor, and her temples often raise them and release them en masse.

[[Category: Dieties]][[Category: Noon-Sun Court]][[Category: Pyria Valeptor]]

Noon-Sun Court

2026-06-16T19:05:16Z

Zadammac:

'''The Noon-Sun Court''', known to the [[Atarlie]] as the '''Divine Ancestors''' or the '''Elysian Princes''' are the objects of worship of the Atarlie State culture, a polytheistic belief system centered around an progenitor [[deity]] and a retinue of divine cousins, some descended from her and others ascended from mortal elves. The elven matron goddess, [[Pyria Valpetor]], is held to be both the mother of many of these deities and the progenitor of the elven species - in common understanding the Atarlie specifically, who hold that all other elves are simply distaff cousins.

While many public holidays center Pyria's worship, most Elves take actual patronage from one specific diety within the pantheon, with the public worship of any of these being nominally legal within the [[Atarlie Empire]] - there is no unified church as compared to the contrasting [[Bastonian Pantheon]]. This includes the evil deities on the Pantheon, though most of their public worshippers are basically petitioning for mercy rather than for favour.

The collective belief among followers of deities within the pantheon is that all elves who die go to [[Elysium]], with only the most wicked among them being turned away from the Cradle of the Wise and instead swallowed up by [[the Abyss]].

===Pantheon at a Glance===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Dieties of the Bastonian Pantheon
|-
! Name !! Portfolio !! Worshippers !! Domains !! [[Alignment]]
|-
| [[Pyria Valeptor]] || Families, Divinity, Fortune || Universal, Mothers of Large Families || Community, Protection, Sun, Weather|| TN
|-
| [[Rophalin Imperitor]] || Royalty, Rulership, Authority, The Empire || Officials (Military and Civil), Clerks, Historians || Glory, Law, Nobility, Protection || LN
|-
| [[Feno Ilirel]] || Medicine, Alchemy, Wellbeing, Births || Doctors, Healers, Veterinarians, the Ill || Good, Healing, Plant, Magic || NG
|-
| [[Navarre Yesbella]] || Liberation, Welfare || The Poor, Some Magistrates, Philathropists, Some Thieves || Community, Liberation, Luck, Protection || CG
|-
| [[Merellien Chaebalar]] || Justice and Just Causes || Many Magistrates, Jailors, Paladins || Healing, Law, Protection, War || LG
|-
| [[Camus Inakas]] || Magic, Scholarship, Exploration, Discovery || Mages, Philosophers, Scholars, Adventurers || Artifice, Knowledge, Magic, Rune || CN
|-
| [[Lysanthir Lugolor]] || Death, Final Judgement, Passing of Seasons and the Ending of Days || Mortuaries, Necromancers, Assassins, Some Magistrates || Darkness, Death, Erosion, Repose|| LE
|-
| [[Shalaevar Shamaris]] || Disease, Disasters, Crises || Assassins, Bandits, the Ill, Some Doctors || Destruction, Evil, Ruins, Vermin || NE
|-
| [[Hycis Uriris]] || Rebellion, Arcane Disasters, Wild Portals || Some Mages, Philosophers, Rebels || Air, Chaos, Earth, Fire, Water || CE
|-
| [[Immarra Hyacinth]] || Beauty, The Arts, Love || Artists, Lovers, Aristocrats || Charm, Glory, Good, Plant || CG
|-
|}

==Origins==
{{Meta-Analysis}}
While the worship and veneration given by the elves makes these figures true [[deities]], in actual fact all of them are simply a princely family of elves who had lead the recolonization of [[Wisteria]] from [[Elysium]] during the [[Springtime of the Gods]]. In the many centuries since that age, however, this fact has now largely been eclipsed by other topics in Elvish education, and the Elysian Princes are now thought of as a sort of forerunner line, now extinct in the mortal world, to mainstream elvendom. It remains fashionable among the Atarlie upper class to maintain expensive family genealogies that show how and where they are connected to the Divine Ancestors, but even in these families, the attitude that one is "descended from the gods" in any way that confers special authority is exceedingly rare.

{{Atarlie Empire}}
[[Category: Atarlie Empire]]

Font of the Axis

2026-06-16T19:04:48Z

Zadammac: Text replacement - "High Elven Pantheon" to "Noon-Sun Court"

'''This article is a stub. You can help the Archivum Wisteria by expanding it'''

{{Major Revision}}

The '''Font of the Axis''' is an [[Atarlie Empire | Atarlie]] shrine built around a pre-mortal artifact of the same name, found in the city of [[Heroka]]. Architecturally, the area is quite simple, being a stone forum which surrounds an ancient, ring-shaped gateway of Basalt. The construction of the ring is lost to time, though it is believed by the scholars of the city that the same culture was responsible for founding prehistoric [[Baghar]].

The Font of the Axis is one of what is likely to be many such sites on [[Ahren]] where the barrier between the material and [[Astral Plane]] is thinned. Priests to [[Camus Inakas]], who maintain the shrine, routinely undertake rituals to activate the ring gate and link it to locations in the Astral Plane or even, if conditions are favourable, to other planes in the great wheel of Wisterian [[Cosmology]].

{{Atarlie Empire}}

[[Category: Holy Sites]] [[Category: Noon-Sun Court]] [[Category: Baghar]]

Diety

2026-06-16T19:04:41Z

Zadammac: Text replacement - "High Elven Pantheon" to "Noon-Sun Court"

{{Incomplete Record}}

A '''deity''', also known as a God, Divine Paragon, or other appropriate epithet, is a special class of being whose power eclipses and encompasses that of all living mortals - even the least powerful god can handily dispose of the most powerful warriors and mages of [[Ahren]], at least in single combat. Divines are always immortals - some of them have outlived all of history itself - and are extremely difficult to kill because of their peculiar relationship to life, existence, mortality (and mortals), and [[source]].

In general, deities can be divided into three subcategories. Of those, the first two are the '''Gods Known''', those species of divinity of which mortals are aware:
* '''[[Primordial Dieities]]''', whose histories extend outward past the most ancient known [[history]] and may possibly eclipse the supposed cycles of existence and non-existence experienced by [[Ahren]]; that is, they are gods of the broadest universe, rather than Ahren itself. The Primordial Dieties are the most limited in number - but powerful - of all dieties.
* '''[[Realized Dieties]]''' are beings, who through one mechanism or another, have "become" divine at some point in the calculable history of [[Ahren]]. Some, such as the many in the [[Noon-Sun Court]], were created or birthed by the Primordials, or indeed, any other dieties. Others, such as the deities of the [[Orcish Pantheon]], became divine in death through the faith of their survivors. Still others, most famously the [[Awakened One]], became divine in their own right through the realization of deep truths.

The third subcategory is largely unknown to the average mortal denizen of [[Ahren]], and is considered outright heretical in almost all faiths: the '''[[Gnostic Aseity]]'''. These (speculative) deities (usually proposed as a Monad, or singular entity) stand entirely outside the fabric of cosmology. As even the primordial dieties do not claim to have created the universe in its entirety, where such an entity is believed to exist, the creation of the universe is usually attributed to it.

Under such divisions only one god is a complete outlier: [[Gob]], the Goblin God, who by all outside accounts was certainly created ex-nihilo from the Goblins through raw faith.

The powers of divine beings are as varied as their origins and the interests of both them and their followers. While constrained to some degree by ideas like faith and portfolio, the gods nonetheless have minds and personalities more or less as mortals understand them (or at least are capable of expressing ideas in mortal terms - some, especially the primordial, deeply eclipse human cerebral capability). In general though, an understanding of the limitations of the divines relies on three core concepts: faith, source, and portfolio.

== Faith ==
<blockquote>This information is couched in terms best familiar to [[Ars Magica]] and is used to explain how the universe works under the hood. It should not be taken as the average mortal's understanding of the mechanics of faith or even be usually considered true in regions where [[Ars Magica]] is not the standard operating model of magic.</blockquote>

The currency and feedstock of divinity is Faith, without which, no God can exist. In this sense, Faith is being used as the simple nomenclature of a force-substance similar to [[Source]] which can be generated only by mortals and is both consumed and transferred by the gods. Faith powers divine magic in a manner analogous to Source powering Ahrenic magics; not in the sense that clerics and wizards have different sources of magic, but in the sense that a deity's investiture of a cleric with the capacity for miracles is a consumption of Faith, the gestation of a realized deity by another deity is a consumption of faith, the elevation of a venerated ancestor is a consumption of faith, and a god's exerted influence within their realm is a constant consumption of faith.

Put simply, Faith is a sort of anti-source. It is created by complex and difficultly-understood (even by the divines) processes within the souls of sentient mortals, and transferred to deities through acts of worship, be they overt or covert. A deity can both horde vast stores of latent faith (it is thought that this is how the primordial deities survived between periods of the relative sparseness of mortals), work Faith-based magic in a similar way to how mortal spellcasters manipulate source, or even become Faith Starved.

A deity is said to become faith starved during periods in which it has few, or no, mortal followers. Such a condition can arise from the deity's own misrule, its failure to prevent cataclysmic events from befalling its people, or sectarian conflict amongst mortals. When this happens, a deity loses its ability to generate Faith in replacement to the faith it is spending by existing and maintaining a realm. Deities are acutely aware of this problem, in the same way that humans usually do not need to be warned of the horrors of the possibility of famine. If such a state persists long enough, the deity may eventually bleed off all of the faith that sustains it, and "fade from existence".

Peculiarly, through rare processes, a deity can be restored from having faded to faith-starvation through a sudden revival of its faith amongst mortals. It is thought this likely happened in the case of the unspeakably ancient god [[Anghara]], who is the only deity whose teachings openly espouse a cyclic view of existence and time, and who simultaneously claims to have survived several such cycles.

== Source ==
<blockquote>This information is couched in terms best familiar to [[Ars Magica]] and is used to explain how the universe works under the hood. It should not be taken as the average mortal's understanding of the mechanics of faith or even be usually considered true in regions where [[Ars Magica]] is not the standard operating model of magic.</blockquote>

The interrelationship between the deities and source is poorly understood, even by the gods themselves, as few (save those generally seen, in one way or another, as "gods of magic") have concerned themselves with a formal study of such things. What is believed to be true is that a deity can freely convert their reserved faith into [[source]] at massive returns; investing a small amount of faith therefore generating an enormous amount of source. Some deities are sufficiently talented at spellcraft as to then work magic more familiar to mortals using it; more often, they transfer this source directly to their devout as a reward for their faith.

== Portfolio ==
All deities have a portfolio, or an area of mortal life with which they are concerned, and to within which their powers are typically constrained - note however that a narrow portfolio does not necessarily imply a "limited" godhood. A good example of this is [[San Heather]], who is nominally a god of architects and engineers but has been seen, repeatedly, to be one of the pinnacle craftspeople amongst the gods and is known from hagiography to have been a mighty warrior during both her mortal and divine lives.

Portfolios can shift over time. [[Anghara]] is a marvelous example of this, having almost certainly once been but one god in a Pantheon of such beings, with a narrow focus on knowledge and magic, who, through changes in his faithful, has become an All-God, with purview over almost all aspects of life, in a manner similar to [[the Almighty]]. What effect this has on the personality or capability of gods is not known, but it is likely tied to changes in their available reserves of faith.

Category:Pyria Valeptor

2026-06-16T19:04:39Z

Zadammac: Text replacement - "High Elven Pantheon" to "Noon-Sun Court"

[[Category: Noon-Sun Court]]

Merellien Chaebalar

2026-06-16T19:04:38Z

Zadammac: Text replacement - "High Elven Pantheon" to "Noon-Sun Court"

'''Merellien Chaebalar''' is a goddess in the [[Noon-Sun Court]], held as the patron goddess of justice, both in the sense of just causes and in the sense of those who deliver and seek justice. She is the Celestial Warden, born in a dalliance between [[Rophalin Imperitor]] and [[Feno Ilirel]]. Among other aspects, she represents the ability of a state to heal its society in the way that her mother, Feno, represents the ability of a healer to minister to the sick. As such a great many magistrates are among her followers, as are wardens of prisons and penitent prisoners.

Her symbol is a blazing star, and badgers are considered sacred by her church. As a lawful good deity, she grants her followers access to Healing, Law, Protection, War domains. The elven curve blade is said to be her creation, and all those who can channel her divine mastery of its forms are proficient in its use.

===History===
Merellien Chaebalar was born near the end of the earthly reign of [[Rophalin Imperitor]], and for a time served as one of his magistrates, departing [[Ahren]] when the First Reign came to an end. She remains heavily interested in the state politics of the [[Atarlie Empire]], and from time to time has lead her followers in battle personally, though always against other dieties.

===Relationships===
Merellien Chaebalar has a strong relationship with both of her parents, as well as with her half-sister, [[Navarre Yesbella]]. The pair have overlapping portfolios, and while they don't always see perfectly eye to eye, they agree enough in their essentials that they work together to a greater extent than almost any of the other elven divinities. Unsururpsingly, she stands athwart the evil dieties in her Pantheon, and has been known to attend the court of [[Lysanthir Lugalor]] to argue on the behalf of penitent elven souls present for his judgement.

Unsurprisingly, Merellien also has great connections among the [[Bastonian Pantheon]]. She spends a quantity of time in [[Heaven]] and has been known in particular to spar with and strategize alongside [[San Lucas]].

===Appearance===
Merellien stands head and shoulders above the mortal elves, but otherwise appears to be a member of their kind, with a head of long, golden hair, and wise eyes that make her seem older than he otherwise looks. She wears very finely wrought and gilded mithril armour that has been painstakingly engraved, and a silk tabard bearing her starburst symbol.

===Realm===
Merellien is part of the elvish divine family, and so has a portion of the realm of [[Elysium|The Cradle of the Wise]], a bastion in the plane of the [[Elysium]]. However, due to her lawful nature she is never truly at home in [[Elysium]] and so frequently finds herself in [[Heaven]], where she maintains a small outpost-realm known as the '''Evenstar Bastion'''.

===Providence===
True justice, be it the aquittal of the innocent or the sudden turn of a trial against the guilty, is seen as Merellien's purview. Her followers look to commune with her through their dreams but find no answers, and her teachings caution them to trust only what their mortal senses can perceive directly.

===Servants===
While she is occasionally attended by Azatas while within [[Elysium]], Archons make up most of her servitors and man the walls of the Evenstar Bastion.

==Unique Servants==
===Kade Corellian===
A mythological hero of the ancient Atarlie, Kade lives on immortal as the Captain-General of Merellien's hosts and her Divine Herald. An imposing paladin clad in blackened armour studded with ruby, Kade's kingly bearing is as unmistakable as the sword he carries, which is said to be the first Elven Curved Sword ever forged, and originally Merellien's own.

==Church==
The direct worship of Merellien by the common population of the Atarlie is somewhat uncommon, as imperial law is light enough that few ever cross it. Much of her follower base comes from the ranks of the judiciary, especially those magistrates tasked with sorting out criminal rather than civil law. Wardens and other workers and ministers in imperial prisons also contribute to her ranks, as do those who have committed crimes and, through their inbuilt need for justice, have turned to making amends.

===Worshippers===
In addition to those described above, all manner of adventurers commonly flock to Merellien. Soldiers in wartime who believe that their cause is just often petition Merellien for protection and the strength or courage to carry out their duties; bounty-hunters seeking to bring criminals to justice turn to the First Paladin for guidance and inspiration.

===Clergy===
Merellien's clergy are perhaps the most militarized of all the elven gods, save those of [[Rophalin Imperitor]] himself. While pastoral clergy do exist, maintaining urban temples, a great many more of their number are actually lumped into the broader mission of Chaplains. Such chaplains serve among Imperial Legion units or within the walls of Imperial prisons, ministering to those under their care and promising that the cause of justice will be served by their adherence to the examples and strictures of Merellien. Merellien's clergy, moreso than those of any other god except perhaps [[Lysanthir Lugalor]], are known for taking to the fields in order to ferret out and uproot undead.

Clerics and Paladins in particular make up the bulk of this chaplaincy, though not all paladins in Merellien's service are considered Chaplains of her church, and a great many more besides are more properly considered worshippers than clergy. Chaplain-Paladins make up the heads of orders of their brethren.

===Temples & Shrines===
Any settlement the size of a small city or larger will have at least one temple to Merellien, and such temples are as much schools as they are places of worship. They often have one or more fora for public meetings, where recent court rulings are discussed "in the round" among scholars of law, magistrates, and Merellien's clergy, along with any others in attendance who wish to use their voices.

Rare is an Atarlie Prison without a small chapel set up in Merellien's honour, where one or more Chaplains attend to the spiritual needs of the incarcerated, providing council and therapy with the intention of turning them back toward a just path.

===Holy Texts===
It is said that the earliest codified laws in the Atarlie Empire, the [[Codex Merellien]], were scribed by Merellien herself as dictated by Rophalin, before being ratified by the Senate of the time. As such, the Codex itself is a holy text among her followers, though it is often supplemented with the [[Codex Iustitiae]], a more philosophical work that defines justice in fairly broad (and often times retributive) terms. These two codices are required reading for Merellien's clergy and even the paladins in her service are expected to be quotably-familiar with the latter.

===Church History===
Merellien's church has a disproportionate impact on Atarlie politics, as it is strongly married to both the Atarlie populace's trust in its legal (especially criminal) systems, as well as to the ruling class's fears of just comeuppance should they wander too far toward corruption. The church's influence has a strongly moderating influence on the general elven tendency toward chaos, and together with the Church of Rophalin Imperitor, is essentially the reason the Empire has been able to remain cohesive.

===Holidays===
Merellien has no direct holidays; while the date of her nativity is known (three days after the summer equinox), she does not deliberately court overt displays of the worship of herself or any other personality, and so has discouraged ceremonies on her own behalf. However, there is no want for invocation, as she is invoked almost daily at the start of court proceedings or at ceremonies in penitentiaries.

===Favoured Animals===
Badgers, who brave all with a stolid, "dwarflike" resolve, are sacred to Merellien and her followers, who are admonished in her teachings to remain as the "Last True Bulwark of the Elves".

[[Category: Dieties]][[Category: Noon-Sun Court]][[Category: Merellien Chaebalar]]

Imperial City

2026-06-16T19:04:34Z

Zadammac: Text replacement - "High Elven Pantheon" to "Noon-Sun Court"

The '''Imperial City''', known in Atarlied as '''Amuncaras''' is the capital city of the [[Atarlie Empire]] as well as its [[Imperial Province]]. The city is a metropolis, with a mixed population of mostly Atarlie elves, but with a strong minority presence of halflings, gnomes, humans, and latterly [[Carcolie]] elves. As the seat of the empire it occupies a high place in both the politics and faith of the [[Atarlie Empire]]. Some refer to the city as the '''Cradle of Civilization'''.

== Geography ==
The city has enormous sprawl, and given its relatively isolated and protected position is largely unwalled, with extensive neighbourhoods known as boroughs that exist entirely outside its walls. Increasingly inward districts of the city are more fortified, though mostly these fortifications are magical in nature, and the city therefore has a parklike appearance compared to the more stark cities of [[Bastonia]]. At the heart of the city is its '''Celestial Quarter''', with the Imperial Palace and the key temples of most of the dieties of the [[Noon-Sun Court]]. A spring runs out from the Imperial Palace and ultimately becomes the Rophalin River, which goes on to join the North Sea.

== Economy ==
Unsurprisingly for a metropolis, provincial, and Imperial Capital, the Imperial City is arguably the most materially wealthy city in the whole empire, with the economy to match. Much of trade throughout the entire empire is centred around acquiring luxury goods, essential arcane materials, and religious necessities from across [[Wisteria]] (and indeed, abroad yet further) and trading them, ultimately all the way up to the Imperial City.

As with all cities of this scale there is significant wealth disparity, especially with the underclasses, non-citizens, and refugees in the boroughs. This leads to a criminal undercurrent, often discounted, which preys in particular on traders attempting to enter or leave the city, and results in crackdowns as necessary.

== Politics ==
Amuncaras is the secular and religious seat of power within the [[Atarlie Empire]], with temples representing all 10 gods of their pantheon available, along with both the Imperial Palace, the [[Imperial Senate]], and the headquarters of the [[Imperial Legion]] all present here. The city is defended by the Atarlie elves above all other holdings, and the whole city has an aura of sacredness about it, having its legendary founding at the hands of [[Rophalin Imperitor]], the ''God-Emperor'' of the elves who is second only to [[Pyria Valeptor]] in the rankings of the Gods.

While Senatorial position (and imperial families) can naturally only be of Atarlie bloodlines, the [[Imperial Legion]] is open to all citizens, and members of other races in important social and economic positions host lavish parties to promote the causes of their cousins in the Legion or lobby the senators they can best charm to act in their own interest.

{{Atarlie Empire}}
[[Category: Atarlie Empire]][[Category: Metropolii]]

Shalaevar Shamaris

2026-06-16T19:04:31Z

Zadammac: Text replacement - "High Elven Pantheon" to "Noon-Sun Court"

'''Shaelevar Shamaris''' is a god in the [[Noon-Sun Court]], a primordial diety in opposition to [[Pyria Valeptor]]. He is known by the epithet ''The Last'' and ''The Plaguefather'', and among his devout followers are Assassins, Necromancers (especially those aspiring to become liches), and Bandits. He is represented by depictions of his sacred animal, the mosquito. A creature of crisis, he represents plague, blight, and other natural disasters.

His sacred weapon is the rapier, a subtle weapon capable of causing great destruction when applied directly. His followers, through their devotion, gain access to the domains of Artifice, Knowledge, Magic, and Rune.

===History===
Shaelevar came into being at the same time as [[Pyria Valeptor]], perhaps as a cosmic counterbalance to her design. Initially indifferent to her experiments with the Elves, his intervention resulted in the appearance of plague among them, and necessitated the creation by Pyria of [[Feno Ilirel]]. Since then, he has been an occasional antagonist of the Elves, appearing from time to time in the form of plagues, outbreaks of vermin, and other natural disasters. It is claimed that his disasters sequestered the Carcolie into the wild and lead to their divergent culture, and that his own torturous experiments on Atarlie he had captured lead to the creation of the Drow, within [[the Deeps]].

===Relationships===
Shaelevar is the outcast bastard of the divine family of the High Elf Pantheon, having no place in [[Elysium]] and receiving a cold welcome when he appears there. Only [[Hycis Uriris]] (who he sired together with [[Camus Inakas]]) and [[Lysanthir Lugolor]] will deal with him willingly, and the latter does so only coldly, and usually in the hinderance of Shalaevar's designs.

Like most gods, he cannot long withstand [[Stasis]], which is said to be his native plane. Instead, he spends his time as a sort of professional traveller diety, appearing in the courts of the various [[Princes of Hell]] or [[Lords of the Abyss]].

===Appearance===
Shaelevar stands head and shoulders above the mortal elves he so despises, but would otherwise pass for a member of their race. He has long-white hair and ruby-red eyes, neither of which are natural for Elves, and has jet black skin; these attributes support the idea he created the drow. Shaelevar is known widely as a magus and so often appears

===Realm===
Shalaevar is the only god in the pantheon who does not have a permanent or semi-permanent home in [[Elysium]]. While cosmic law would draw him toward the plane of [[Stasis]], and he can indeed call upon the negative energy from that plane quite deeply, he prefers to split his time in [[Hell]] or [[the Abyss]], visiting with the other gods in those planes or with the [[Princes of Hell]] and [[Lords of the Abyss]], some of whom he is more welcome with than others.

===Providence===
Shalaevar's best providence is the lack of his intervention, that being a time of pleasantness and peace. He occasionally will curse oracles with the knowledge of his plans and intercession, contradictorily allowing them to fight against his plans or putting them into servitude to further them.

===Servants===
Shalaevar claims the loyalty of a host of devils and demons who follow his destructive whims above and beyond their hatred of each other.

==Unique Servants==
===The Behemoth of Akara===
A gargantuan undead creature composed of the bodies of several giants, this unique divine herald has no will or mind of its own. Shalaevar sends his herald out as something of an avatar, speaking and acting through it at times when he would prefer to not be subtle about his point.

==Church==
For most Elves, worship of Shalaevar Shamaris is an unwelcome and unpleasant extension of the general spiritual life of the [[Atarlie Empire]], aimed toward keeping him satisfied and as far away from them as possible. His temples serve little other purpose than to propitiate his compliance and keep him in check, though a few rogue temples are used by his cultists and oracles for more profane practices to try and further his earthly goals.

===Worshippers===
Known to all Atarlie, those who worship Shalaevar in a true way are rare. Many are bandits who share his disdain for the empire and imperial philosophy. Still others are necromancers, seeking his intercession in the furtherance of their own goals. Still more are cultists, touched by his profane blessings and determined to further his ambitions on [[Ahren]].

===Clergy===
Clergy of the Plaguefather walk a very fine line indeed. All of them must necessarily dedicate their lives to his service, but the public expectation is that they do so, interpreting the will of their divine master with one hand while attempting to hold their god back with the other. His clergy lead rights of sacrifice and flagellant prayer intended to sate his appetites for destruction and crisis, while at the same time opening themselves up to his influence, risking that they turn themselves fully toward him and instead work fully toward his own goals.

For this reason, his clerics and oracles are rarely trusted by others, disdained even by other members of the priestly class within the Empire, and required by imperial law to wear his fly mark on the backs of their left hands as a tattoo.

===Temples & Shrines===
True temples to Shalaevar Shamaris are rare, and they are almost always subject to government review and inspection by officials of the church of [[Rophalin Imperitor]]. No fora are provided, and the form of worship is monitored to ensure it remains appropriately abjuring toward Shalaevar.

Rumours persist of more dedicated shrines and temples in the wilds of the Empire and the depths of under-maintained catacombs, where truly-faithful clergy congregate to participate in far darker rites, not all of which are aimed at keeping their god content and away from [[Ahren]].

===Holy Texts===
Shalaevar maintains no holy text, as the only reliably sacred thing to him is his own whims. In substitute to scriptural proficiency, his clergy are instead subject to scrutiny as to their true loyalties.

===Church History===
Shalaevar's church has never been highly influential in the Empire. While his church has occasionally precipitated such crises, they always disavow the temple or cult that actively participated, and work together with the other churches in the Empire to stamp out such "heretical offshoots". The fact that this keeps happening suggests that they are perhaps not sincere in their abhorrence.

===Holidays===
Different cults celebrate festivals of sacrifice and debauchery at different times of year, dedicating them to Shalaevar Shamaris. The mainstream, public face of the church marks no holy days, but leads ceremonies on each new moon to petition for Shalaevar's mercy.

===Favoured Animals===
Mosquitos, who are known to spread a large number of diseases, are sacred to Shalaevar and his cult.

[[Category: Dieties]][[Category: Noon-Sun Court]][[Category: Shalaevar Shamaris]]

Category:Rophalin Imperitor

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[[Category: Noon-Sun Court]]

Category:Feno Illirel

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[[Category: Noon-Sun Court]]

Category:Navarre Yesbella

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[[Category: Noon-Sun Court]]

Doctrine of Lies

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{{Stub}}

'''The Doctrine of Lies''' are the sacred writings (or blasted ramblings, depending on your perspective) of [[Hycis Uriris]], the mad [[Noon-Sun Court | High Elven]] goddess of arcane magic. Of all the common gods worshipped on [[Wisteria]] who are masters of the arcane, the Doctrine of Lies is the shortest work, comprising just three volumes. The text itself is considered heretical and downright incorrect by most other churches within the empire and most schools of magical theory - it is rare to find a copy outside of the collections of her clergy, and it is not taught to laypeople the way the scriptures of many other religions may be.

[[Category: Holy Scriptures]][[Category: Hycis Uriris]]

Category:Shalaevar Shamaris

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[[Category: Noon-Sun Court]]

Feno Ilirel

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'''Feno Ilirel''' is a goddess in the [[Noon-Sun Court]], held as the patron goddess of the healing arts and alchemy. She is the Celestial Doctor, and a direct child of [[Pyria Veleptor]], birthed to keep watch over the [[Atarlie Empire]]'s population of elves when it was clear that they were more frail than originally realized. She is known by a variety of epithets including the Secret-Keeper, the Speaker of Illness, and the Queen of Herbs.

Her symbol is a serpent with the white wings of a dove, and both such animals are considered sacred in her church as a result. As a neutral good deity, she grants her followers access to Good, Healing, Plant, and Magic domains. While not being warlike herself, those in her church who go into battle do so with a sickle as her divine weapon.

===History===
Feno was born to [[Pyria Valeptor]] shortly after the creation of the elves and her older cousin, [[Rophalin Imperitor]]. She appeared in visions to philosophers among the elves, granting them the secrets of healing magics, natural medicines, and alchemy. She is credited with appearing at various times throughout Atarlie history to intervene in various disasters with her own arts.

===Relationships===
Feno is a daughter of a kind to [[Pyria Valeptor]], and the mother of [[Merellien Chaebalar]] through a dalliance with [[Rophalin Imperitor]]. Quite naturally, given her capabilities and portfolio, she is a staunch enemy of [[Shalaevar Shamaris]] and unfond of [[Hycis Uriris]]. She and [[Immarra Hyacinth]] worked together to create the elven god of charity, [[Navarre Yesbella]]

Though created as a counterbalance to [[Lysanthir Lugolor]] the two get along fantastically well, and an affair of their own produced [[Camus Inakas]].

Feno's council is often sought by [[San Sylvester]], who considers her to be the superior alchemist.

===Appearance===
Feno stands head and shoulders above the mortal elves he once ruled, but otherwise appears to be a member of their kind, with a head of long, golden hair, and wise eyes that make her seem older than he otherwise looks. She wears the white robes common among healers and other philosophers, and smells strongly of medicinal herbs.

===Realm===
Feno is part of the elvish divine family, and so has a portion of the realm of [[Elysium|The Cradle of the Wise]], a fortified city in the plane of the [[Elysium]]. She is also believed to have access to the plane of [[Vita]], but as with many divinities cannot handle prolonged exposure to the '''Fires of Creation''' and so rarely visits it, preferring to channel from the plane indirectly instead.

===Providence===
Feno is often credited with the sudden breaking of a chronic or serious illness, or the dying out of plagues. She has been said to whisper to philosophers and other followers in their dreams, providing cryptic formulae to answer some riddle or unlock some knowledge they were otherwise stuck upon.

===Servants===
Azatas in particular serve Feno, who will send them to her followers in times of need to act as protectors or mentors.

==Unique Servants==
===Caduceus===
An enormous emerald snake with angelic white wings, Feno's divine herald rarely appears in [[Ahren]], but occasionally appears in visions to her followers offering plain and at times dire warnings.

==Church==
For most Elves, worship of Feno Ilirel, Queen of Herbs is an extension of the general spiritual life of the [[Atarlie Empire]]. Her temples also serve as places of magical and medical healing or centers of recovery. A few, though, fall under her more direct sway and worship.

===Worshippers===
Doctors, alchemists, and apothecaries all commonly worship the Queen of Herbs and the Mother of Medicines, as do those who minister to the health of animals and those who suffer from severe or chronic illnesses and injuries. Her worshippers often seek relief or guidance from their patron, who is generous with her gifts in exchange for their prayer and sacrifices of various incenses, some more affordable than others.

===Clergy===
Known as philosophers, the clergy of Feno Ilirel are more often than not medical professionals, in one sense or another. Whether developing deep understanding of natural remedies, plumbing the arcane depths of Alchemy in search for cures and restoratives, or channeling her healing power directly, Feno's pious followers are among the finest healers in all of [[Wisteria]]. Such clergy have pastoral duties of care as well as spiritual duties of observance, and the bulk of their ranks are clerics and druids.

===Temples & Shrines===
Any settlement the size of a small city or larger will have at least one temple to Feno Ilirel, and such temples are as much hospitals and schools of medicine as they are places of worship. They eschew the grand fora common in other Atarlie temple architecture in place of being complexes, fronted with a place of worship, comprising operating theaters, recovery wards, laboratories and libraries.

It is not uncommon in large towns to have something more akin to a Shrine dedicated to Feno, which provides a place for the recovery of the sick and a venue for the veneration of the Mother of Medicines, but rarely has the facilities to train more than one or two apprentice clergy at a time.

===Holy Texts===
Feno Ilirel gifted mortals a document known as the [[Codex Medicamentum]] through dictation to one of her earliest followers, [[Heptus Septim]]. This book details a basic understanding of the practice and ethics of medicine and alchemy and is considered the foundational document of both practices, though huge bodies of work exist that expand upon both disciplines.

===Church History===
Feno Ilirel's church is not a political power in spite of its broad reach throughout the [[Atarlie Empire]]; this is said to be down to her recognizing the primacy of her elder brother [[Rophalin Imperitor]] and so not directing her followers in directions contrary to that of the Empire as a whole.

===Holidays===
The Festival of Smoke is a monthly observance held throughout the Empire on the night of the new moon, when ceremonies involving the use of perfumed smokes created from a specific formula of herbs and alchemical compounds are carried out, said to prevent the spreading of miasma and so, the outbreak of plague.

===Favoured Animals===
Snakes, whose venom are the root of the cure for their venom, are considered sacred to Feno Ilirel, and often snakes native to the area are kept in her temples for the production of the same antivenom or similar alchemical compounds.

[[Category: Noon-Sun Court]] [[Category: Feno Illirel]] [[Category: Dieties]]

Category:Hycis Uriris

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[[Category: Noon-Sun Court]]

Template:Carcolie

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{{Navbox
|name = Carcolie
|title = Tribes of the [[Carcolie]] Wood-Elves
|state = collapsed
|above = ''The Storm Scours, the Sky Provides'' - Motto, [[Carcolie Ravenmasters]]
|group1 = Leadership
|list1 = [[Great-Grandchieftain]] {{*}} [[Chieftain]] {{*}} [[Speaker of the Eye]] {{*}}
|group2 = [[Cult of the Stormseers | Religion]]
|list2 = [[Cult of the Stormseers]] {{*}} [[Noon-Sun Court]]
|group3 = Military Authorities
|list3 = [[Brave Chieftain]] {{*}} [[Carcolie Ravenmasters]]
|below = '''Children of the Wild'''
|group5 = Major Settlements
|list5 = [[The Hidden Capital]]
|group6 = Points of Interest
|list6 = [[Dire Rooks]] {{*}} [[Secrets of Nature]] {{*}} [[Carcolie Skyiron]]
|}}
[[Category: Carcolie]]

Halfling Pantheon

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{{Incomplete Record}}

'''The Halfling Pantheon''' is a catch-all collection for the cults and churches of various dieties revered by the Halflings. While all these gods are recognized in divinity by the halflings in the [[Hearthlands]] as a whole, each god has its own strictures and religion for their followers, and some gods are held in more or less esteem. All of the dieties in this pantheon are believed to be ascended Halflings, whose roles in history lead to their eventual divinity.

Unlike in[[Bastonia]], the Hearthlands have no restrictions on any of the gods in this Pantheon. Some halflings worship one, many, or none of these gods, and others still are followers of [[Navarre Yesbella]], a goddess in the [[Noon-Sun Court]].

Believers in the gods of this Pantheon share in the general halfling belief that their souls will go to [[Elysium]] when they die.

===Pantheon at a Glance===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Dieties of the Halfling Pantheon
|-
! Name !! Portfolio !! Worshippers !! Domains !! Alignment
|-
| [[Haralda Longshanks]] || Mischief and Luck || Widespread, Thieves, Adventurers || Good, Luck, Trickery, War || NG
|-
| [[Jurgen Kingslayer]] || Rebellion, Misfortune, Greed || Assassins, Some Merchants, Rebels || Chaos, Evil, Nobility, Trickery || CE
|}

[[Category: Halfling Pantheon]] [[Category: Hearthlands]]

Cosmology

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{{Major Revision}}

'''Cosmology''' is the study of the nature and orientation with respect to one another of the planes of existence within the Wisterian Multiverse. Most cosmologists in [[Ahren]] adhere to a model of cosmology promulgated by Atarlie schools of magical thinking, which themselves have been influenced by knowledgeable sources such as the [[Elysium#The Cradle of the Wise|the Schola Sylvestri]], known as the Wisterian Model, or ''the Cosmologica Ars Magica'', referencing the [[Ars Magica | arcane school which promulgates it]].

The various schools of thought surrounding cosmology fundamentally agree on the existence of the planes and their movements through the sky; however all differ in ways major and minor over the interpretation of the significance of these various planes, and even their natures. Generally speaking, the planes can be thought of in three seperate groups:
* The '''Concurrent Planes''', a set of planes which broadly overlap with one another, best thought of as alternative realities or "other worlds"
* The '''Elemental Planetessemals''', a set of eight planes which have strong influences on the use of magic and which can be seen to move through the night sky.
* The '''Heavenly Kingdoms''', a set of four planes, the interpretations of which wildly differ, which dominate regions of the night sky, and;
* The '''Cardinal Abstractive Planes''', a set of four celestial objects which have peculiar interpretations unique to each culture on [[Wisteria]].

== The Concurrent Planes ==
The Concurrent Planes are a set of alternative realities - the existence of which is sometimes disputed by the major schools of magic to various degrees - which are thought of as being co-extant, or parallel, to material reality, and by definition includes material reality as part of the set. These planes are complete, parallel-constructed realities which differ from each other in their fundamentals but not "spatially". While few [[sophant]] creatures can simply step between the concurrent planes, the concurrent planes are none the less the easiest planes to reach by magical means and sometimes serve as transitional spaces between material reality and the other planes. For unknown reasons, the magical and reality-driven barrier between the Emperical Realm and the other concurrent planes is far thicker than the barrier between the various planes, which is what leands to disagreement over the number and nature of these planes.

=== Ahren - the Prime Material Plane ===
While [[Ahren]] is held by many to be the center of its solar system and with many mortal species holding Ahren as home, there is some debate as to whether the planet Ahren is also at the center of its own plane. The plane itself, referred to properly as the Prime Material Plane or the Empirical Realm, refers to the physical universe which Ahren exists within. According to the Wisterian Model, this universe is at the center of many additional multiverses, which each rotate through the [[Astral Plane]] around the axis of the Prime Material Plane.

Ahren is thought to be a flat world, hemmed in by the firmament that has been stretched across it like a cover, and extending down into depths unknown even to the [[Clans of Magnus]]. Strange things happen in [[the Deeps]].

=== The Ethereal Plane ===
''See Also: [[The Ethereal Plane]]''

The Ethereal Plane, at least in respect to the portion of the Prime Material occupied by [[Ahren]] and its immediate celestial environs, is fully coterminous with the Prime Material Plane. Home to outsider species such as dopplegangers and ethergaunts, this strange, otherworldly plane is a shadow of a memory of Ahren, often alien to those who transit from Ahren into the Ethereal. This is the medium through which many teleporation effects transit. The Ethereal plane is sometimes referred to as the "Unseen World", and those with insufficient mastery over light sometimes substitute transposition into this plane for proper invisibility, to their own peril.

=== The Astral Plane ===
The [[Astral Plane]], known by various terms such as the Greater Heavens, the Planar Firmament, and so-forth, this plane is thought of as the space which exists above and beyond the Bounds of the Sky of the prime material plane - that is, it's where all the stars and other planes exist. For this reason, [[Ars Magica]] practitioners consider the Astral Plane especially important to understand and it figures heavily in [[astrology | astrological]], [[Source | quintessential]], and other magical calculations. The mages of [[Heroka]] recognize a specialist class amongst themselves known as the [[Astrographers]] whose whole purpose is tracking, predicting, and correlating measurements of the astral plane to facilitate [[interplanar travel]].

=== The Bardo ===
''See Also: [[Bardo]]''

The Bardo is a spirit world, a coterminous plane with that of Ahren, in which all is in its natural state - cities have not been raised, forests have not been razed by mortal hands, and so forth. Some mortal souls - those who are touched with the knowledge of Awakening, however mild, do not travel to any of the Dogmatic Planes, but instead linger for a time in Bardo before divinity or nature draws them back into Ahren via rebirth. A few gods; those who reached their zenith through [[Awakening]] or those whose connection to nature is stronger than any particular ideology, call The Bardo home. As a truly neutral plane, it is pulled upon equally by the four Cardinal Abstractive Planes.

=== The Dreaming ===
Thought of as the realm of the [[Great Fae]], [[the Dreaming]] is a concurrent plane in which reality is inconstant - that is, it's a realm where the beliefs and dreams of sophont races have almost as much pull as those of gods. The Fae are thought to be native to the dreaming, and many cultures that make obeisance toward the Fae consider them, effectively, to be the gods of this realm.

=== As Understood By the Schools ===
==== Ars Magica ====
The Schola [[Ars Magica]] is rarely divided, but their divisions tend to show up most strongly against cosmological lines. In both the Western ([[Bastonian]]) and Eastern ([[Atarlied]]) schools, it is agreed that the Empirical Realm, Ethereal Plane, and Astral Plane all exist - though the common name for the latter differs depending on whether you favour the human or elven scholarship, with elves preferring the term Planar Firmament and Bastonians preferring Greater Heavens, for religious reasons. Western Ars Magica scholarship denies the existence of the Bardo completely as a kind of "southern heresy" and considers the Dreaming to be a subset of the Ethereal plane, whereas the eastern school accepts the existence of the Bardo and the Dreaming, considering all five of the planes listed above as factual and extant.

As stated above, both schools consider the Astral Plane to be extremely important and make great efforts to measure and understand the signs and portents of the Astral. It is believed by the Ars Magica schools that a firmament called the Bounds of the Sky exists at the 'bottom' of the Astral Plane, against which the other planes and the stars shine, which is why the sky appears to be flat, or otherwise have no depth. This boundary serves as the "trinary boundary" between the Astral Plane and where it intersects with both the Ethereal and Empirical planes. However, moving between the concurrent planes is thought of as fairly trivial by specialists in the right magics, and even bypassing the Bounds of the Sky is possible with the aid of the right apparatus.

==== Secrets of Nature ====
Though occasionally separated between the Secrets as known to the [[Star-Counters]] and the [[Carcolie]] druidic cults, the Secrets of Nature actually largely correspond with regard to the concurrent planes. These druids believe that the Ethereal, Astral, Dreaming, and Bardo planes all exist as one plane known as the Spirit Realm; the separation between those planes is, to them, merely conceptual and once access into the spirit realm has been made, switching between these supposed sub-planes is comparatively trivial to those who know the right [[Strange Trods]]. Among the [[Confederacy of Sages]] some [[Outrunners]] which operate under the auspices of the [[Star-Counters]] can use [[Long Walk]] shortcuts through the spirit realm to shorten distances on the material plane.

==== Orcish Shamanism ====
[[Orcish Shamanism]] teaches similarly to the [[Secrets of Nature]] that most of the concurrent planes are as one. In fact, they believe that the original realm of the orcs and many other creatures is effectively the [[Bardo]]; the [[Fire-keeper]] transplanted the pre-sentient orcs into Ahren from the Bardo and kindled them into sentient beings. Many orcish gods have their realms in the Bardo - in addition to the Fire Keeper, it's thought to be the proper land of all the orcish hero-gods.

==== Way of the Elements ====
The [[Way of the Elements]] teaches a modified form of the cosmology promulgated by the Ars Magica school, with regard to the concurrent planes - it explicitly names the Bardo as existing (and in fact, the term Bardo is native to the Petrenean tongue), and combines the Ethereal and Astral Planes into one entity, collectively known as the Realm of Ghosts and Dragons.

==== Other Interpretations ====
The dwarves of the [[Clans of Magnus]] do not speak of the Concurrent Planes as being entirely separate. They believe that, through passages in [[The Depths]], it is possible to move between these realms without the use of magic. Therefore, these are not alternate realities but alternate locations, leading to some dwarven maps to border on unreadable and unusable to other polities. The Astral Plane ''is'' recognized as something separate-and-apart, but also thought of as unreachable - it is the light of the god-fires reflecting off the facets of the crystal dome that separates the world of things-that-are from the world of things-that-aren't.

== The Four Heavenly Kingdoms ==
Variously known as the Dead Lands, the Stellar Kingdoms, or the Seasonal Realms, the Heavenly Kingdoms can be thought of as the four afterlife realms of this cosmology, though the reality of that proposition is hotly contested amongst the various religions and schools of magic across [[Wisteria]]. These planes - [[Heaven]], [[Hell]], [[Elysium]], and [[the Abyss]] - all play host to the afterlife in at least one world religion. These planes are clearly visible on sufficiently dark nights through the firamement of the [[Astral Plane]] in the night sky, and their respective passage through that night sky (known as the Parade of Heaven) largely marks the passage of the seasons through [[Ahren]].

=== Heaven ===
''See Also: [[Heaven]]''

The Bastion of Heaven, as it is called, is a plane strongly aligned with good and law, and dominates the night sky during summer, visible as a bright cluster of stars. Strongly colonized by much of the [[Bastonian Pantheon]], Heaven is the native plane of [[Archons]] and the ultimate resting place of the souls of many believers in the faith of [[Bastonia]].

=== Elysium ===
''See Also: [[Elysium]]''

Elysium is a plane strongly aligned with good and chaos. It is strongly colonized by (and occasionally the origin of) several of the [[Noon-Sun Court]], [[Gnomish Pantheon]], and [[Halfling Pantheon]], and the place where many High Elves, Gnomes, Halflings, and other folk believe their souls will go when they die, with varying strictures on how that process should function. [[Azatas]] are native to Elysium. It is visible as a colorful stretch of lights across the sky on sufficiently dark nights during springtime.

=== Hell ===
''See Also: [[Hell]]''

Hell is the cosmological antepode of Elysium, being therefore strongly aligned with evil and law, visible in the autumn. [[The Enemy]] of the [[Bastonian Pantheon]] claims to have created hell, along with the [[Princes of Hell]], who are the ruling caste among the native inhabitants, a race of infernals known as [[Devils]]. Bastonian belief centers hell as a place of damnation and the souls of wicked Bastonians as well as others who have made deals with or earned the attention of Devils often end up here in the afterlife. It is visible as a bright cluster of flame-red stars on crisp autumn evenings.

=== The Abyss ===
''See Also: [[The Abyss]]''

The Abyss is the cosmological antipode of Heaven, a plane of vacuous emptiness punctuated by occasional bursts of hellish surrealism. While neither evil-aligned Dogmatic Plane is particularly easy to live with for mortals, the Abyss is perhaps the most hostile, and few gods, if any, call it home. It yawns like a gaping hole in the night sky during winter nights, when seemingly even the stars are too cold to glow.

=== As Understood By the Schools ===
==== Ars Magica ====
The Schola [[Ars Magica]] divide most strongly over the role and function of these planes, which are thought of best in their religious terms, and therefore the distinction should be seen as theological rather than academic. Western scholars are usually adherents to the [[Church of Bastionia]] in which Heaven, Hell, and the coming war between them figure heavily; in the east, the other pair are actually more emphesized.

Heretical Western scholars borrow the Eastern view that Ahren turns and so presents a different view of the sky each night. The less heretical view, promulgated in the west but increasingly regarded as anachronistic among learned mages, aligns with the view of the Church of Bastonia that the Heavens march in accordance with the maneuvers of the armies of heaven and hell.

==== Secrets of Nature ====
The scholars of the Secrets of Nature do not use the terms Elysium, Heaven, Hell, or Abyss to describe these Seasonal Realms; instead, they are the Lands of Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter respectively. All four realms are considered deeply relevant and fundamentally accessible to the talented mage, but in general the summoning of "spirits" from any of them is considered a dangerous ability at best and strongly discouraged.

The procession of these planes throughout the year is thought of as being caused by the natural spin of the astral plane.

==== Orcish Shamanism ====
[[Orcish Shamanism]] teaches similarly to the [[Secrets of Nature]] that these planes are the domains of seasons, but the orcish belief that [[Kodo the Devourer]] is involved in the creation of the Abyss means that they also tend to refer to that plane as the Hungry Lands. It is considered dangerous to find oneself without fire on nights when the Hungry Lands are visible in the sky in spite of the fact that winters are relatively mild in the lands of the [[Orcish Nation]].

==== Way of the Elements ====
These realms are the realms on which the teachings of the Way of the Elements School differs the most strongly from [[Ars Magica]]. All four planes are thought of as equally important and present, and in the cosmology of the Way schools, each is thought of as a Celestial Cardinal, similar to the cardinal directions. These Stellar Kingdoms are ruled over by the gods of the other world religions as Celestial Mandarins and each is the realm of various kinds of Outer Creature - demons, azatas, and so on. These realms are not what is moving; it is believed that [[Ahren]] itself is voyaging among their realms on the Stellar Pilgrimage.

==== Other Interpretations ====
The dwarves of the [[Clans of Magnus]] do not speak of the Heavenly Kingdoms as planes; astronomy does not figure heavily in their cosmology or magic.

== The Eight Elemental Planetessemals ==
The Eight Essential Planes are further removed from the Concurrent Planes, and are not reached directly from the Concurrent, but rather through transit across the Astral Plane - despite appearances through the use of Gates or Wild Portals, which nonetheless cover some distance across the Astral to connect each end of the portal. These eight essential planes, sometimes called the primordial planes, are bastions of each of the Elements, or Essentia, common to the understanding of [[Ars Magica]]. These planes move at different rates through the cosmos, occasionally wandering nearer or further in relation to each other, and to Ahren. The interpretation of the movements of these planes visible on the night sky is used by almost every major culture on [[Wisteria]] in their own respective schools of magic, to explain and predict the ebb and flow of magical potencies over time.

=== Pyrenum ===
''See Also: [[Pyrenum]]''

Pyrenum is is the Essential Plane of Fire. It appears as a dim and enormous red star in the night sky, usually near the horizon, being more or less prominent during the year. Interpretations of its meaning and influence vary wildly based on the various schools of magical thought across [[Ahren]], but it is universally agreed upon as the realm of fire-spirits. Pyrenum is the [[Atarlied]] name; the [[Star-Counters]] term it the Dragon Star.

=== Akara ===
''See Also: [[Akara]]''

Akara is the Essential Plane of Water. It is visible in the night sky especially during spring and summer, as a dim blue sphere, though keen eyes are required to pick it out, in the absence of tools or arcane means. Akara is thought to be the ancient [[Baghari]] or pre-Baghari name for the star. Water spirits are known to originate in this realm and it is often said that the plane entering a period of retrograde motion is empowering to [[Arcwhales]].

=== Petrii ===
''See Also: [[Petrii]]''

Petrii is the Essential Plane of Earth. A vast expanse of stone, sand, and the like, occasional pockets of air and caverns within it are peopled by the hearty [[Shaitan]], and other earth-elemental outsiders. It glows of silver starlight, though it is too fat to be a star, and visible through much of the year, trailing the moons. In the extreme south of the [[Shimmering Shore]], sages have promulgated images of the earth-star as it appears under strong magnification, in mottled grey and green, which is said to have influenced their view of Earth as two destinct essences - Metal and Wood.

=== Antistasis ===
''See Also: [[Antistasis]]''

Antistais is known as the Essential Plane of Wind, a vast and often featureless sky riven by weather, sometimes more destructive than ever seen on [[Ahren]], and occasionally dotted with flying/falling islands of solid land where various species live, including the indigenous [[Djinni]]. It's silver-white or paynes grey, a bit too dim to be a proper star, and often visible near the horizon in the hours just after sunset.

=== Lumina ===
''See Also: [[Lumina]]''

The essential plane of light, Lumina brings with it many dangers, as it is perpetually illuminated from almost all sides, to the point of being hazardous to normal mortal health. It is antipodal cosmologically to [[Tenebaria]]. Home to an elusive and insular race known as [[Luminaria]], the light of Lumina is believed to be the source of the spark of sentience.

=== Tenebaria ===
''See Also: [[Tenebaria]]''

Tenebaria is the Essential Plane of Shadow, making it the antipode to Lumina within Wisterian Cosmology. Though shrowded in perpetual darkness and considered a near ascendant of [[the Abyss]], Tenebaria is not actually good or evil aligned, and is simply a place of darkness. The [[Mesmerites]], a species of dopplegangar native to Tenebaria, hale from here and often travel to other planes in search of new experiences. The star itself is not visible in the night sky - a keen observer marks it by its passage before other objects.

=== Tindalos ===
''See Also: Tindalos''

Tindalos is the Essential Plane of Time. Like its close cousin, [[Xeno]], it is unique among the Essential Planes in that it cannot be reached by normal means of extraplanar travel, and it is extremely rare even on cosmological time-scales for wild portals to bring travelers to Tindalos. Coterminous with all points in time that have been, are, shall be, or never were, across all planes in the cosmos, Tindalos is the subject of speculation, ambition of the occasional power-hungry wizard or sorcerer, and chiefly known only by the evidence of its impact on other planes. Several strange and aberrant species are said to be native to Tindalos, none of which are known conclusively to exist, chiefly the [[Hounds of Tindalos]], a race of shape-shifting beasts who police the multiverse against those who would thwart fate or alter the flow of time too severely.

Tindalos is visible in the night sky as the Constant Star, a star in the northern sky around which the entire astral plane sometimes appears to spin. For this reasons, gnomes familiar with horology refer to it as the Pivot Star.

===Xeno===
''See Also: [[Xeno]]''

Xeno, sometimes known as the Great Between, is the Essential Plane of Space. Alongside its cousin, Tindalos, it is known by the effects of its movement through the cosmological cycle rather than direct travel, and is nearly impossible to reach. It is said to be the plane between other planes and the Astral Plane - a theory often challenged. In the same sense that Tindalos is coterminous with all points in time, Xeno is said to be coterminous with all points in space. It is unique among the Eight Essential Planes in that no species is said to be native to it, though there are rumours of [[The Pattern Spider|a god of many bodies]] who calls the plane home.

Xeno is sometimes visible in the hours immediately before dawn in the eastern sky. A mad sage of the [[Star Counters]] once claimed that under magnification, the star is cubic; however, most observers agree it is simply a bright, mobile star.

=== As Understood By the Schools ===
==== Ars Magica ====
The Schola Ars Magica gave these planes the names by which they are listed above, and those names are largely considered dominant throughout much of the world. Ars Magica, unsurprisingly, promulgates all eight of these planes' essences as elemental to the use of magic. Equally unsurprisingly, a basic understanding of astrological and astronomical calculation is considered fundamental education for wizards and scholars alike under this school. Ars Magica practicioners maintain extensive tables of ephemera to help compute past and future positions of these stars, which are the most influential and specific objects tracked in [[Astrology (Ars Magica) | Northern Astrology]].

These stars are collectively agreed upon to be the light of their respective planes as reflected by the astral plane, and their motion through the night sky ''believed'' to be entirely mathematical, though the math is complex enough that the ephemera tables are necessary for all but the most learned scholars.

==== Secrets of Nature ====
The [[Secrets of Nature]] school is most strongly internally divided over these stars. The primary group of the school, the [[Star-Counters]] that lead the [[Confederacy of Sages]], is aware of the existence of all eight and computes their motions more accurately and efficiently than even the Ars Magica scholars, allowing them to use [[Stellar Almanacs]] to make extremely accurate predictions of disasters, weather, and other portents. Conversely, the [[Cult of the Stormseers]] has no use for the motion of any of these stars other than Akara and Antistasis, which both figure heavily in their own soothsaying regarding storms.

Both cults agree that these lights are themselves extremely powerful spirits, the forebears of all other spirits and elementals of their kind, and their motions subject to ritual propiation, though their will is largely inexorable.

==== Orcish Shamanism ====
[[Orcish Shamanism]] teaches effectively identical view to the [[Star-Counters]] interpretation of the Secrets of Nature with regard to these elements, with the only distinction being that only Pyrenum, Akara, Petrii, and Antistasis are important - admittedly by their own name. The orcs believe that their god [[Gul Spell-Speaker]] has bound the spirits involved totemically and thus consider their motion both predictable and divinely-ordained.

==== Way of the Elements ====
The four planets recognized in Orcish Shamanism are well-known in south to be medallions shining upon the necks of celestial dragons, and their motions have similar connotations - the other four planets are observable but thought to be tokens of lesser importance, as the standards of celestial generals off on their marches.

==== Other Interpretations ====
In [[Baghar]], all eight planets are recognized, as the glint of the light of [[Anghara]] against the lens of the astral plane as it turns on the so-called Lathe of Heaven.

== The Four Cardinal Abstractive Planes ===
On the furthest edges of the cosmology are four planes that each represent, in its purest form, a moral or ethical ideal: [[Vita]], [[Stasis]], [[Axioma]] and [[Pandemoneum]]. Each has their own hazards, and apart from the occasional stable pockets in their own domain, are possibly the most dangerous planes of existence in this cosmological model. These planes can be reached from the Astral with varying degrees of difficulty.

===Vita===
''See Also: [[Vita]]''

Vita, the life-source, star of animus and wellspring of energy, is the sun of [[Ahren]].

===Stasis===
''See Also: [[Stasis]]''

Stasis is the death-source, the drain of energy, the star of demise. It shows no light and is visible only by its absence - it is thought to be the thing at the center of [[the Abyss]] that stars surrounding the Abyss are avoiding (or were destroyed by). The Orcs do not believe in a plane of stasis; this thing (visible by magical beings) is an aspect of their primordial god [[Kodo the Devourer]].

===Axioma===
''See Also: [[Axioma]]''

The Plane of Great Order, Axioma is known as either the moon of Ahren or the bright moon of Ahren - Ars Magica scholars believe it is one of two moons of the planet, while the scholars of the Way of the Elements and the Star-Counters both believe there is no other moon. This place is the source of all organization, and goes through a cycle of phases which drives in lockstep with the [[Rophalin Calendar]], with months being exactly lunar. Axioma is known to be important to the tides, especially in springtime when it is in celestial conjunction with Akara.

===Pandemonium===
''See also: [[Pandemonium]]''

The Plane of Great Chaos, or the Perversion of Order, Pandemonium is known to some as the Dark Moon of Ahren. Ars Magica scholars postulate it as an invisible extra plane which periodically overtakes Axioma, causing the phases. Other schools say that the orderly nature of the system of phases means that the phases are "of Axioma" itself. Cultures without a concept of Pandemonium-as-celestial-object but which are aware of the influence of Pandemonium usually blame trickster or mad gods.

[[Category: The Planes]] [[Category: Glossary]]

Category:Merellien Chaebalar

2026-06-16T19:03:58Z

Zadammac: Text replacement - "High Elven Pantheon" to "Noon-Sun Court"

[[Category: Noon-Sun Court]]

Immarra Hyacinth

2026-06-16T19:03:56Z

Zadammac: Text replacement - "High Elven Pantheon" to "Noon-Sun Court"

'''Immarra Hyacinth''' is a goddess in the [[Noon-Sun Court]], held as the patron goddess of beauty and romantic love. She is the Unfading Beauty, and a direct child of [[Pyria Veleptor]], birthed to enrich the lives of the [[Atarlie Empire]]'s population of elves as a twin to [[Feno Ilirel]].

Her symbol is a tiger lilly in full bloom, and birds of paradise in all their myriad forms are sacred to her. As a neutral good deity, she grants her followers access to the Charm, Glory, Good, and Plant domains. While not being warlike herself, those in her church who go into battle do so with a glaive-gisarme as her divine weapon.

===History===
Imarra was born to [[Pyria Valeptor]] shortly after the creation of the elves and her older cousin, [[Rophalin Imperitor]], as a twin to [[Feno Illirel]]. She was tasked with, and busies herself in, enhancing the beauty of elvendom, whether through inspiring poets and musicians as a muse, delivering the secrets of various visual arts, or providing for natural beauty through the creation of a great number of creatures and plants.

===Relationships===
Feno is a daughter of a kind to [[Pyria Valeptor]], and she and [[Feno Ilirel]] worked together to create the elven god of charity, [[Navarre Yesbella]], who they raised as their daughter. She is known to have had a long-standing affair with [[Lysanthir Lugolor]], creating many creatures and plants of great beauty, all of whom are ultimately fated to die and fall into Lysanthir's domain.

===Appearance===
Immarra is a tall and unusually beautiful example of the elven race, whose hair colour shifts and changes with her mood and the passage of the seasons. She always appears with a fan of colourful feathers to hand.

===Realm===
Imarra is part of the elvish divine family, and so has a portion of the realm of [[Elysium|The Cradle of the Wise]], a fortified city in the plane of the [[Elysium]]. This is her native plane, and she spends a great amount of time in her legendary gardens there, perfecting new creations to release into [[Ahren]].

===Providence===
The sudden breakthrough from creative block, an unusually full blooming of a garden, and the scent of unexpected fragrances on the wind are all signs of Imarra's providence. She appears in the dreams of many of her followers as a muse-figure or in the guise of their lovers and whispers her inspirations to them.

===Servants===
A whole class of Azata known as the Muses serve Immarra, and carry her favour, blessing, or inspiration throughout the multiverse on her behalf.

==Unique Servants==
===The Muse of Emperors===
Known by the epithet alone, this large and unique Azata is singularly beautiful, her snake-like lower body clad in prismatic and iridescent scales, not unlike opal. She serves Immarra as her divine herald and has been said to appear particularly often to Emperors whose rule has caused the arts to stagnate, to inspire, bully, or cajole them into action.

==Church==
Of all the minor dieties of the pantheon, Immarra is the most popular, though not nearly as often observed as [[Rophalin Imperitor]] or [[Pyria Valeptor]]. Immarra has jurisdiction over both the arts and romantic love. Her follower base are disproportionately skewed toward the younger generations of elfdom.

===Worshippers===
Artists, be they painters, sculptors, illusionists, actors, musicians, dancers, poets, and so forth swell the ranks of the Church of Immarra. Those who have been lucky in love and are smitten with romance, as well as those who have been unlucky in love and wish to petition her intervention, also make up a sizable cohort of her faith. Many are aristocrats, for whom the trappings of beauty are both weapon and armour.

===Clergy===
The Clergy of Immarra Hyacinth wear light-blue robes or drapes of light blue over their armour. While not a warlike bunch, Immarra's clergy have responsibility for defending the natural beauty of the world as well as repositories of the arts. Many of her clerics are also artists in their own right, in some way, shape, or form.

While not militant in her teachings, she counts an undeniable minority of paladins among her ranks, in the form of questing templar, tasked with protecting temples and repositories, or questing throughout all of [[Wisteria]] in search of lost works of beauty. A rare few of these paladins have been known to quest in her service, either to recover some missing artifact or on a divine mission to see more of the world and bring back word and vision of what they found.`

===Temples & Shrines===
Immarra's temples are always immaculately constructed, regardless of size. In place of public fora for discussion, they usually house a performance hall and a large complex of gardens, and their catacombs are not for the burial of the dead but full of studios for clergy and students of the arts who are being instructed by such clergy.

Owing to the large number of objets d'art in such temples, they are often discreetly guarded by templar-paladin in the service of Imarra.

===Holy Texts===
Immarra's holy texts are the [[Perspectives]], a single volume of musings on art that range from philosophical analysis of what it means to be beautiful or to love, as well as practical matters on elements of design, color theory, and perspective. Her teachings and edicts emphasize both moral and aesthetic beauty and encourage her followers to uplift those around them.

===Church History===
Immarra's church is not directly a political tool, but the over-representation of the aristocratic class among her faithful means that the church itself often has the appearance of being political, and has been used in the past as a tool to soothe or agitate the populice through art.

===Holidays===
Immara's Day is the 14th of the 2nd month of the [[Rophalin Calendar]], a day for lovers in all stages of love to mark their relationship. She is also invoked at all weddings within the Empire.

===Favoured Animals===
Birds of Paradise, who come in as many forms and colours as the eye can percieve, are sacred to Immarra Hyacinth, credited with their creation.

[[Category: Dieties]][[Category: Noon-Sun Court]][[Category: Immarra Hyacinth]]

Category:Camus Inakas

2026-06-16T19:03:48Z

Zadammac: Text replacement - "High Elven Pantheon" to "Noon-Sun Court"

[[Category: Noon-Sun Court]]

Camus Inakas

2026-06-16T19:03:45Z

Zadammac: Text replacement - "High Elven Pantheon" to "Noon-Sun Court"

'''Camus Inakas''' is a god in the [[Noon-Sun Court]], whose purview covers the arcane, the unknowable and unknown, the lands beyond the horizon and that which has yet to be learned. He is a middling god in the Pantheon, born of a dalliance between [[Lysanthir Lugolor]] and [[Fero Ilirel]], the gods of Death and Medicine, respectively. His epithet, the ''keeper of secrets'', is suggestive of his reputation for being selectively helpful. While career mages and philosophers are among his most obvious followers, he is also popular among adventurers, whose delving of ancient ruins is considered a sacred activity within his church.

His symbol is the Octarchy, a symbol of the eight elements of the arcane under [[Ars Magica]]. As a chaotic neutral diety, he grants his followers access to Artifice, Knowledge, Magic, and Rune domains. Her sacred weapon is the longbow, and those entitled to a proficiency through her are granted mastery of the same.

===History===
Born as the son of [[Lysanthir Lugolor]] during his affair with [[Fero Ilirel]], Camus is the oldest of those gods not directly created by [[Pyria Valeptor]], except of course for her fellow primordial, [[Shalaevar Shamaris]]. Camus's influence is said to be responsible for deepening the already-strong relationship of elf-kind in general with magic into the legendary affinity of the [[Atarlie Empire|Atarlie]] for arcane magic. He is also believed to be one of the gods who dealt with [[Gul Spell-Speaker]] to grant him the power to become divine himself.

===Relationships===
Camus is a member of the divine family of the [[Noon-Sun Court]], and so is friendly with all of its gods, though distrusted (by degrees) by [[Rophalin Imperator]], who holds his one-time dalliance with [[Shalaevar Shamaris]] against him; this affair resulted in the creation of [[Hycis Uriris]], one of the great enemies of elvenkind. Camus actively despises Hycis in spite of her nominally being his daughter, and will go to great lengths to demonstrate his continued loyalty to the rest of his family by acting contrary to both Shalaevar and Hycis whenever possible.

Unsurprisingly, he is best loved by [[Lysanthir Lugolor]] and [[Feno Ilirel]], his parents and mentors, both of whom he works with closely. When he is present in Elysium, he is also known to frequent the court of [[San Sylvester]], who is a rival god of magic and also teaches the arcane school [[Ars Magica]].

Interestingly, he frequently brings himself and his supporters into conflict with those of [[Gul Spell-Speaker]], though the two are of similar disposition. This betimes-violent rivalry is said to be rooted in their irreconcilable views of arcane power and the correct pursuit of knowledge.

===Appearance===
Camus stands head and shoulders above elves, but otherwise appears as a member of their race, ice-blue hair and soft, youthful eyes. He is typically depicted as wearing the red and gold robes of imperial court magisters.

===Realm===
Camus is, of course, welcome in [[Elysium]]. However, due to his own nature and the nature of [[Cosmology]], his true realm is [[Pandemoneum]]. He maintains one of the most stable regions in the entire plane, near its shallow edges where the pull of Chaos is ameleorated by the influence of other planes, known as the [[Pandemoneum#Repository of Archmages|Repository of Archmages]]. Among the gods, he is one of the most likely to visit the Eight Essential Planes, as well, being an adventurer himself.

===Providence===
Camus's favour is finding just the right article tucked between the leaves of a tome you accidentially knock from the shelf, or the apple falling from a tree that makes a riddle suddenly clear. Camus's direct teachings are rarely given to humans; he values the search for knowledge too greatly to give such shortcuts except sparingly.

===Servants===
Camus is served by a variety of elementals and constructs he has bound to his servants, and by a retinue of Azatas when he is present in Elysium.

==Unique Servants==
===The Lens of Camus===
This prismatic sphere, roughly the size of a football, is a major artifact of its own unique intelligence, serving as Camus's herald. Camus is known for sending the Lens to hide itself in some ancient tomb or ruin, spreading breadcrumbs in legend and rumour to lead the intended audience to uncover it.

==Church==
Camus's worship is widespread in the [[Atarlie Empire]], and any city large enough to host one or more wizard's colleges usually also can boast a temple to this god - sometimes those institutions are one in the same.

===Worshippers===
Mages, both adventuring and professional, be they sorcerer, wizard, or otherwise, very often worship Camus Inakas, and his teachings are often the first forays of many elves into formal arcane theory and the [[Ars Magica]]. Scholars of non-arcane topics also follow Camus, as do cartographers, and many a professional adventurer.

===Clergy===
Many of Camus's clergymen are also arcanists, making themselves thaumaturges or theurges as the need warrants. They wear the red and gold robes of official court mages because they are, in fact, official court mages, and lead comfortable lives as a result of their relatively high office and the high demand for their services.

Such clergymen are usually clerics; neither paladins nor monks are of a suitable alignment to follow the sometimes-capricious Camus Inakas. If applicable, his adventuring clergy are often maguses, as confident in their swordsmanship as their spellcasting.

===Temples & Shrines===
Camus's temples are large, though the areas set aside for worship make up a small part of them. Several public fora are set aside for the discussion of various topics, arcane or alchemical demonstrations, and public study. Libraries, sometimes public and other times private, are also common features, as are living and working quarters for the clergy and magical laboratories for study. Many temples in key cities may have Gates, and Imperial officials rely on these gates to move quickly throughout the empire when the need arises.

===Holy Texts===
Camus's [[Compendium Magica]] is an enormous collection of magical writings and teachings-on-teaching, including several full works on Theory of Knowledge, that are necessarily published as carefully-curated sets of up to 24 volumes on their own, often with several additional volumes of commentary besides. In addition, each and every member of his clergy makes their own publications that join the Greater Compendium, a collection of sacred arcane theory documentation at the principle temple of the order in [[Heroka]], which is said to be duplicated in Camus's realm as well.

===Church History===
Camus's church does not concern itself with political influence, beyond ensuring that the Empire remains aware that Camus and the Arcane are cornerstones of the imperial position and comforts, and that imperial funding and favour remains available to the church.

===Holidays===
Camus's birthday is said to be the First of the Third Month in the [[Rophalin Calendar]], and on this day it is customary to hold a large festival of feasting and celebration, supplanted with large demonstrations of prestidigitation and other magical novelty.

===Favoured Animals===
Peacocks, especially the males, who are believed in some ways to be magical themselves, or otherwise connected to the acane, are held as sacred to Camus Inakas.

[[Category: Noon-Sun Court]] [[Category: Dieties]] [[Category: Camus Inakas]]

Elysium

2026-06-16T19:03:35Z

Zadammac: Text replacement - "High Elven Pantheon" to "Noon-Sun Court"

{{Incomplete_Record}}

'''Elysium''' is one of the '''Four Dogmatic Planes''' of Wisterian [[Cosmology]], a distinction shared with [[Heaven]], [[Hell]], and [[The Abyss]]. As a dogmatic plane, it is strongly linked to the concepts of Chaos and Good, and is the final resting place for auspicious deaths under the belief systems of the [[Noon-Sun Court]], [[Gnome Pantheon]], and [[Halfling Pantheon]]. As is the case with [[Ahren]] and virtually every other plane, the true origins of Elysium are lost to mortal memory and the subject of frequent debate. Even the [[abmortal]] [[Azatas]] and [[Angels]] who call the plane home are unsure when their world was founded or which of the competing Elysian Courts is the true first.

The land of elysium is lush, verdant, and always temperate. Weather comes and goes to Elysium, but is never destructive - rivers never slip their banks, storms never pull down trees or light fields aflame, and so on. Mostly a verdant wilderness, Elysium is none the less populated with four main realms: the Cradle of the Wise, Hollyhall, the Glade of Ages, and Elyptrea.

==The Cradle of the Wise==
The '''Cradle of the Wise''' is one of the Four Courts of Elysium, home to many of the deities of the [[Noon-Sun Court]], as well as those Azatas and Angels who serve them, and mortal elves who have earned their right to citizenship within the Oldest City. This sheltered mountain valley and its city of magnificent moonstone towers is said by some to be the wellspring of all Arcane Magic under the Atarlie system of understanding such things - as a result it is also the home of some gods of other Pantheons.

===Gods Inhabitant===
- [[San Sylvester]] occupies a subrealm of the Cradle of the Wise known as the '''Schola Sylvestri''', considered to perhaps be the forefront organized school of study of the arcane magics in the entire multiverse.

==Hollyhall==
A great hall occupying an incalculably large hill, Hollyhall is a seemingly infinite domain of mead halls, dining rooms, bedrooms, and other luxuries that collectively make up the shared home of much of the [[Halfling Pantheon]], as well as being the resting place of many a meritorious halfling. Those who rest in Hollyhall want for nearly nothing, sup as often or rarely as they please, and enjoy all those fine things they may or may not have had access to in life. Hollyhall frequently plays host to denizens of the other Elysian Courts as well, and is particularly welcoming to mortal adventurers.

===Gods Inhabitant===

==The Glade of Ages==
Scholars debate whether or not the Glade of Ages is physically present on Elysiam or is in fact a subplane overlapping it. While it is properly the Elysian Court of the [[Gnomish Pantheon]], it is also said to be home to [[The Oldest]], fae beings of such age and depth of dreaming that their Dreams shape the glade itself. While the portion of the Glade that overlaps Elysium is as safe and protected as the rest of the plane, it is possible to slip onto [[Wrong Trods]] and find yourself in other planes that are much less idyllic.

===Gods Inhabitant===

==Elyptera==
Elyptera is a city of marble and brass on the "shores" of Elysium, and the native capital of a whole region originally populated by Azatas and later colonized by Angels, [[Ahren]] mortals, and other planar wanderers. As such, it is the only Elysian Court not to play host to a Pantheon, though the graciousness of the other courts and the collective wisdom of its inhabitants has allowed it to remain independant.

[[Category: The Planes]][[Category: Elysium]]

Province of the Lowland Meadows

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Zadammac: Text replacement - "High Elven Pantheon" to "Noon-Sun Court"

The '''Province of the Lowland Meadows''' is an eastern province of the [[Atarlie Empire]]. It is defined as all lands in the eponymous geographical region, which are the eastern side of the Three Sisters mountains and bounded (more or less) by the borders with the [[Province of the Sun and Moon]] in its north and the [[Southern Province]], extending all the way to the shores of the Eastern Sea. The meadows for which the region are known are verdant, the hunting is rich, and the region is overall considered desirable for the establishment of private houses. What's more, the province has important ties to the south of [[Wisteria]] through its port at [[Bayside]] and a thriving fishing and adventuring industry headquartered in [[Fjordlodge]], where ships occasionally depart to cross the Eastern Sea entirely.

The provincial capital, the city of [[Imarraka]], is a wealthy city, and the largest city south of [[Tripolis]]. Imarraka is particularly well known for its temple district - in good standing for its prominent temple to [[Immarra Hyacinth]] and the thriving art district that supports. However, it is also known for a more sinister tie, and is rumoured to contain somewhere within its bounds a temple to [[Hycis Uriris]], a chaotic evil god of the [[Noon-Sun Court]] who many blame for the [[Great Collapse]].

{{Atarlie Empire}}
[[Category: Atarlie Empire]]

Grand Temple of Camus Inakas

2026-06-16T19:03:32Z

Zadammac: Text replacement - "High Elven Pantheon" to "Noon-Sun Court"

{{Stub}}

The Grand Temple of Camus Inakas is an institution of the city of [[Heroka]] dedicated to the worship of [[Camus Inakas]], the god of arcane magic under the [[Noon-Sun Court]]. Unsurprisingly, its vast grounds and marble surrounds are used in part as a sort of college of arcane instruction (though the greater school of the city is actually the [[Lyceum Ars Magica]], which is nearby. The temple is the trust of the [[Pontiff of Camus Inakas]] and is the head temple of all such temples to the god throughout the [[Atarlie Empire]] - while many such temples are smaller, they are built off the example of the Grand Temple.

In particular, the catacombs below the temple open onto several libraries, treasuries, and laboratories known collectively as the Repository. The Repository serves as a centralized store of magical learning and unique arcane artefacts for the empire. It is therefore rather jealously guarded.

The temple grounds also contain the principle pathway to reach the [[Font of the Axis]], a sacred site said to have been constructed ''before'' the birth of Camus Inakas by the [[Pre-Baghar Civilization]], perhaps even divinely created by [[Anghara]].

{{Atarlie Empire}}
[[Category: Named Dungeons]]

High Elven Pantheon

2026-06-16T19:03:29Z

Zadammac: Zadammac moved page High Elven Pantheon to Noon-Sun Court: Lore Change

#REDIRECT [[Noon-Sun Court]]

Noon-Sun Court

2026-06-16T19:03:28Z

Zadammac: Zadammac moved page High Elven Pantheon to Noon-Sun Court: Lore Change

'''The Noon-Sun Court''', known to the [[Atarlie]] as the '''Divine Ancestors''' or the '''Elysian Princes''' are the objects of worship of the Atarlie State culture, a polytheistic belief system centered around an progenitor [[deity]] and a retinue of divine cousins, some descended from her and others ascended from mortal elves. The elven matron goddess, [[Pyria Valpetor]], is held to be both the mother of many of these deities and the progenitor of the elven species - in common understanding the Atarlie specifically, who hold that all other elves are simply distaff cousins.

While many public holidays center Pyria's worship, most Elves take actual patronage from one specific diety within the pantheon, with the public worship of any of these being nominally legal within the [[Atarlie Empire]] - there is no unified church as compared to the contrasting [[Bastonian Pantheon]]. This includes the evil deities on the Pantheon, though most of their public worshippers are basically petitioning for mercy rather than for favour.

The collective belief among followers of deities within the pantheon is that all elves who die go to [[Elysium]], with only the most wicked among them being turned away from the Cradle of the Wise and instead swallowed up by [[the Abyss]].

===Pantheon at a Glance===
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Dieties of the Bastonian Pantheon
|-
! Name !! Portfolio !! Worshippers !! Domains !! Alignment
|-
| [[Pyria Valeptor]] || Families, Divinity, Fortune || Universal, Mothers of Large Families || Community, Protection, Sun, Weather|| TN
|-
| [[Rophalin Imperitor]] || Royalty, Rulership, Authority, The Empire || Officials (Military and Civil), Clerks, Historians || Glory, Law, Nobility, Protection || LN
|-
| [[Feno Ilirel]] || Medicine, Alchemy, Wellbeing, Births || Doctors, Healers, Veterinarians, the Ill || Good, Healing, Plant, Magic || NG
|-
| [[Navarre Yesbella]] || Liberation, Welfare || The Poor, Some Magistrates, Philathropists, Some Thieves || Community, Liberation, Luck, Protection || CG
|-
| [[Merellien Chaebalar]] || Justice and Just Causes || Many Magistrates, Jailors, Paladins || Healing, Law, Protection, War || LG
|-
| [[Camus Inakas]] || Magic, Scholarship, Exploration, Discovery || Mages, Philosophers, Scholars, Adventurers || Artifice, Knowledge, Magic, Rune || CN
|-
| [[Lysanthir Lugolor]] || Death, Final Judgement, Passing of Seasons and the Ending of Days || Mortuaries, Necromancers, Assassins, Some Magistrates || Darkness, Death, Erosion, Repose|| LE
|-
| [[Shalaevar Shamaris]] || Disease, Disasters, Crises || Assassins, Bandits, the Ill, Some Doctors || Destruction, Evil, Ruins, Vermin || NE
|-
| [[Hycis Uriris]] || Rebellion, Arcane Disasters, Wild Portals || Some Mages, Philosophers, Rebels || Air, Chaos, Earth, Fire, Water || CE
|-
| [[Immarra Hyacinth]] || Beauty, The Arts, Love || Artists, Lovers, Aristocrats || Charm, Glory, Good, Plant || CG
|-
|}

==Origins==
{{Meta-Analysis}}
While the worship and veneration given by the elves makes these figures true [[deities]], in actual fact all of them are simply a princely family of elves who had lead the recolonization of [[Wisteria]] from [[Elysium]] during the [[Springtime of the Gods]]. In the many centuries since that age, however, this fact has now largely been eclipsed by other topics in Elvish education, and the Elysian Princes are now thought of as a sort of forerunner line, now extinct in the mortal world, to mainstream elvendom. It remains fashionable among the Atarlie upper class to maintain expensive family genealogies that show how and where they are connected to the Divine Ancestors, but even in these families, the attitude that one is "descended from the gods" in any way that confers special authority is exceedingly rare.

{{Atarlie Empire}}
[[Category: Atarlie Empire]]

Lysanthir Lugolor

2026-06-16T19:03:25Z

Zadammac: Text replacement - "High Elven Pantheon" to "Noon-Sun Court"

'''Lysanthir Lugolor''' is a god in the [[Noon-Sun Court]], twin brother to [[Rophalin Imperitor]] and in some ways counterpart of [[Feno Ilirel]]. He is known by the epithet ''Prince of the Dead'' or ''Judge of the Ultimate'' and mortuaries, some magistrates, assassins and divinatory necromancers among his followers. His sacred symbol is an hour glass and his favoured weapon is the scythe, while crows are his sacred animal. He is best known for his prominent place in funerary rites of the [[Atarlie Empire]]. His followers can draw divine energy through the domains of Darkness, Death, Erosion, and Repose

===History===
Lysanthir was created concurrently with Rophalin Imperitor by [[Pyria Valeptor]], as a natural consequence of the mortality of the elves, whose immortal souls would need to be judged and apportioned to their place in the cosmos. Since that time, he has rarely intervened in mortal history, existing more as a passive god of death and judgement than a direct force for causing the same. He is said to some respect to be responsible for the passing of day into night and the change of the seasons, the order he established for which is measured in the [[Rophalin Calendar]], invented by his twin.

As a god of death, he views his role as a necessary unpleasantness rather than something to revel in, and so is somewhat more accustomed to the good faith of mortals than many other gods of death who are more debased

===Relationships===
Lysanthir gets along surprisingly well with the rest of the elven divine family, given that he is, in many ways, the antithesis of what [[Elysium]] itself stands for. Though viewed as taciturn and staid by most, he has good rapport nonetheless with his twin, Rophalin Imperitor. His chief rival should be [[Feno Ilirel]] as the goddess of healing, but in actuality the two get along amicalbly, and once had an affair that produced [[Camus Inakas]].

Lysanthir is the intermediary through which the other gods attempt to reason with [[Shalaevar Shamaris]], and it is through this friendship with her father that he has attracted the affections of [[Hycis Uriris]], who he openly disdains. His longest-running affair to date has been with [[Immarra Hyacinth]], and it is a popular legend among the elves that Immarra created so many short-lived sources of beauty as gifts to Lysanthir, which Lysanthir is said to cherish.

===Appearance===
Rophalin stands head and shoulders above the mortal elves he will inevitably come to judge, but otherwise appears to be a member of their kind, with a head of jaw-length, silver hair, and wise eyes that make him seem older than he otherwise looks. He is often clad in the black robes of a high-ranking elven magistrate.

===Realm===
Lysanthir is part of the elvish divine family, and so has a portion of the realm of [[Elysium|The Cradle of the Wise]], a fortified city in the plane of the [[Elysium]]. However, his nature is such that he cannot be truly comfortable there, and so has a proper realm in [[Hell]], which he occasionally retires to to rest and meditate.

===Providence===
Lysanthir's best providence is a good life and a good death, the merciful slip in the dead of sleep or a peaceful death at the end of a battle with illness or injury. Some of his followers have dreams of Lysanthir, warning them cryptically of this or that hazard. A few have returned from the shores of death with tales of having been turned back by the Judge of the Ultimate, told it was not their time.

===Servants===
A small retinue of minor devils attend Lysanthir at his realm in hell, but his true servants are the Psychopomps, questing through all the planes looking for souls that have gotten lost on their way to his court.

==Unique Servants==
===The Merciful Shepherd===
Appearing as a skeletal elven figure in a hooded black robe, armed with a shepherd's crook, Lysanthir's herald is often among the worst omens imaginable, as his appearance, especially unlooked for, rarely portends well for those who he has come to see. Lysanthir frequently sends the Merciful Shepherd to those who have attempted to abuse necromancy to cheat death.

==Church==
For most Elves, worship of Lysanthir Lugolor is an extension of the general spiritual life of the [[Atarlie Empire]]. His temples also serve as mortuaries and have custody over the catacombs and cemetaries that make up burial grounds throughout the empire. Observances toward Rophalin are made at times of formal government proceedings such as trials potentially ordering an execution, state executions, and in the funeral rites of elves of all standings.

===Worshippers===
Known to all Atarlie, those who worship Lysanthir are more often than not his clergy, though his temples almost always have more than a few worshippers hoping for a glimpse of their recently-departed loved ones, whose zeal and faith will wane with their grief. A few petition him for help in their endeavours, be they to make contact with or gain some mastery over the souls of the dead, or to "help speed death along".

===Clergy===
Lysanthir's clergy dress in black and white robes in keeping with the somber nature of their profession, and dress formally as a rule, usually including white gloves that are particular to his faith. The carrying of symbolic hourglasses or actual thuribles is also common. Most of his clergy travel with the materials needed for funerary rites on their person.

Clergy of Lysanthir also serve in the Imperial Legion as chaplains alongside those of several other gods, helping with battleground funerary and crematory practices.

===Temples & Shrines===
Found in a settlement of any size, the temple to Lysanthir Lugolor has a large commonality with other Atarlie temple architectures, sometimes including a public forum. In addition to place of worship and housing for the clergy, such temples have undercomplexes where pre-burial rites are performed on the recently departed, and will either be the entrances to local catacombs or near to local burial grounds. In some major cities, crematoria are also found.

Many temples of Lysanthir are meeting places for local assassin guilds or necromancer cabals, and may have other facilities suited to those purposes for those who know how to identify themselves as such discreetly.

===Holy Texts===
Lysanthir's holy work, the [[Codex Mors]] is a dictated treatise on the nature of death, providing prescriptions for pre- and post-mortem prepratory rites, the formulae for funerary rites, and other bits of trivia. Uncommonly for the holy works of evil gods, the Codex is heavily reproduced and widly available. A great many elder elves, sensing their oncoming deaths in their bones, obtain copies and study them for the philosophical commentary on the nature of a "good death" and to steel themselves against the fear of the oncoming grave, knowing they too will one day have to explain themselves before the Judge of the Ultimate.

===Church History===
The history of the church of Lysanthir is the history of the empire itself; it is one of the oldest cults within the Empire and has never been out of influence.

===Holidays===
The Festival of the Turning Wheel nominally takes place on the anniversary of Lysanthir's birth and is the holiest of his holy days, observed throughout the empire and its protectorates. This New Year celebration is also observed in other territories, but rarely in his honour directly.

===Favoured Animals===
Crows, who are said to be a sort of curious earthly psychopomp, are sacred to Lysanthir and his followers.

[[Category: Dieties]][[Category: Noon-Sun Court]][[Category: Lysanthir Lugolor]]