Name of the Province:
Valvran

Name of your liege:
King Kro of the Kenaii from Jrevik

Full name:
Kro of The Kenaii, He who flies with the winds of change, wielder of the blooded spear, player of the political harp and the painted one.

Position:
Valvran lies to east of the capital between Torivian and the what in their tung is called the mirror sea. De cities of valvran are positioned near the great rivers that flow to the sea.

Specialty:
The Valvaran’s are proficient in the art of healing. This is because of their history with diseases and it is the bedrock of their traditions.
Thanks to the fertile lands Valvran is also the provider of the majority of the food in the Torivian empire.

History:
A long time ago, the people of Valvran were nomads, travelling the land. But an unfortunate event put a halt to their nomad ways. A plague swept through and killed many, young and old. They decided to stay put and with their best efforts, would try to cure the sick. Shelter was build and the sick and caretakers stayed behind, while the healthy group continued travelling. After a time, the fruits of their labour finally started to pay off. People were starting to feel better and life flourished once more. The group decided to settle down and abandon their nomad ways.
The other group that had moved on, never returned. Many years passed, but to this day the people of Valvran never knew what’d happened to their ancient lost brothers and sisters.

The small village quickly expanded due to the booming population. Thanks to the fertile grounds the rivers provided, food was easy to come by. Soon it was clear to the populace, that they could only expand so much. New settlements had to be created to shelter the ever growing population. This time of migration and colonization is called the ‘Age of Expansion’ and brought a lot new land under Valvran control. Huge swaths of land, stretching from the mountains in the north to the deserts in the south. From the fertile plains around the major rivers, to the large forests providing timber and other resources.
But fertile lands attract unwanted attention. The ever expanding Torivian Empire needed the fertile lands, which the Valvran people had settled so long ago. Unprepared for the professional armies of the Empire, Valvran quickly fell, becoming a protectorate under the might Empire. Relations between the Kingdoms was strained for a very long time, but efforts of both sides quickly saw them mended.
Nowadays the Valvran people are a loyal subject of the Empire and relationships between the two are well.



Society:
Valvran is a province that is run by three groups, these groups are not clans by blood but by age. Before the age of ten you have no political rights nor any freedom of choice. You learn reading and writing and other basic skills. After turning ten, your life truly starts:

The Magdataii
When you become ten years old in Valvran you become a Magdataii. A youngling is in many ways a degrading word but not in Valvran. It means you will step into the political scene of Valvran and start making your career. The Magdataii do not have the right of calling the council together. But they can make discussion about political matters and can vote on the small matters that only concern the province itself. The Magdataii have no veto rights.

The Kenaii
When you are 25 you become a Kenaii, a Strongling. The kenaii’s are called that way because mentally and physically you are on the highpoints of your life. You have trained and debated for 15 years long. The Kenaii have the right of calling the council together. From this group, a Leiri is picked. Leiri is a sort of king. It’s more like a representative and decision maker. If he fails his people a new Leiri is chosen. Furthermore, they have the privilege of helping the Valkaii in the worshipping of the Geistir. The Kenaii can call in advisors from the Magdataii and Valkaii if their own discussion fails to be fruitful

The Valkaii
At sixty you become a Valkaii, A wise one. You retreat from all front seat political positions. The Valkaii have the right to worship and communicate with the Geiststir. You will start to learn this as you get older. Furthermore, the Valkaii do have the right of council and the veto right.

Soothe Sayers:
A few individuals in the province of Valvaran are born with an unique ability. These people are called Soothe Sayers, and are able to remove emotions from other people, and contain them within themselves. Next to the normal things all younglings learn, these Soothe Sayers also get special training in quarantining these emotions, so that they don’t lose themselves to it. This takes a lot of mental energy from the Soothe Sayers, and even has a risk of serious injury. Depending on the emotion removed, the Soothe Sayer needs to recover, ranging from days to weeks.
These Soothe Sayers are viewed with mixed emotions. One side sees them as useful diplomats, able to influence emotions during a heated debate, while the other side, sees them as dangerous and unpredictable. Who is to say if your emotions are your own when you’re near a Sooth Sayer after all?

Name:
Adelaida (of the) Kenaii (from) Altir

Age: 26



Known for:
Five years ago a conflict arose in the council of Kenaii. The idea of independence from the Torivian Empire had grown in recent years and the faction had gathered supporters in the council which divided it in twain. This escalated to the point of violence in the council and near civil war on the streets. After many days of conflict the Magdataii were brought in to advice the Kenaii and bring new perceptions to the table. One off these Magdataii was a young woman named Adelaida. She was against the idea of independence and compared the Torivian Empire to Valkvrans parents.

“Was it not the Torivian Empire that helped us develop to what we now are? What kind of children would we be, to run away after all we’ve learned from them? Is it not our duty as children to help our parents in times of need?”

Parent-Children relationship is important in Valvran culture and this comparison convinced the council of her beliefs. While a large group still supported the idea of independence, the true divide was no longer and peace returned to the Province of Valvran.
Adelaida had made a name for herself as a proud loyalist of the Torivian Empire and a renowned speaker in the council. It was only logical to send her once the request for an advisor came.

Dirty little secret:
It is interesting to see how a young girl as Adelaide, can deal so well with the emotions of others. Something is almost mystical about it…

Skills:
Persuasive: Has a way with words to get people on her side.
Healing Hands: Because of her being the daughter of an exceptionally well trained healer, she has a grasp of the knowledge of first aid and concoction making.

Motto: “Everything has scars.“

Why would you build a kingdom in a lands that doesn't want you there?
Why would you make lemon-aid if life gave you lemons?
Liege:
The current King Danallian The Second is a wisened old man chosen for the throne not by birth, but by brilliance in his youth. Now, his age is beginning to take over, leaving him on off days, and brilliant days. Currently, he has a series of caretakers who provide him tests to determine if he’s too dangerously intelligent to make decisions, too dull to make decisions, or if he’s in the sweet spot.

Position:
The Eru Barrens is an expansive grasslands and desert spanning the lands just south of the Shiverland Kingdoms. Due to the rainshadows created by the mountains, and powerful storms rolling from west and curving south at a predictable rate and pattern most of this landscape is actually barren. Many of the fauna and plant life have adapted to the climate. Most notably, streatching from the mountains and half way across the kingdom’s landmass are large platueas named “The Looking Glass of Erudite”. This name was given for the land mas taking a near circular shape while the plateaus looks to be broken from one single long line of planes – thus shattered glass.

Structure of Cities and Towns:
Due to the destructive power of the frequent storms, There are often plenty of flooding and high powered winds. On most of the plains the largest threat are the high powered winds destroying homes, removing trees, or flinging debris at speed. Within the The Looking Glass, floodings and rushing rapids become massive threats in the chasms.

Most of the cities are often built in locations where they are protected from the high winds by natural land formations, or with the construction of wind blades that break up the force and speed of winds. There are some major trading cities and towns built underground inside massive cave systems once hollowed out by the constant floods however.

Most buildings are primarily built of formed stone and cement. Should the homes be exposed to the weather, they are often built with domes or bladed roofs extending to the ground in the direction of the wind. Only the cities or towns most protected from the harsh winds use wood as the primary construction material.
Capital:

Home of the king and the most difficult location to siege is Lanaru, Tower of Defiance. Or Often called The Tower, Citadel of Sarcasm, or Insult to Ari and Ira (Death). This location is a marvel of engineering, and had quite literally been born from an engineer’s sarcasm taken a little too seriously. Within the center of the broken plains of The Looking Glass, there was a large plateau wedged between two of the lands highest mountains that had been rounded at all sides by weathering to form the rough shape of a cone. This mountain was between two other mounts of similar height, but had not been worn so badly. When the ancient engineer first proposed his idea, he did not have any designs, he simply jokingly told the crown amongst the arguing scholars and engineers “Why don’t we just bastardize that damned pointy hill in the middle of nowhere. We could make it a tower! Make all pretty like!”

The result is a tower of 800m in height built of ten tiers of concentric platforms with varying numbers of floors within each platform. The lowest platform is about 1.5km across and also holds several entrances into the tower proper. On the balconies where the powerful storms do not touch, there are gardens, farms, and pastures for livestock. Resident Nobility and Royalty is held on the upper most floors. Water fills reservoirs on multiple floors and uses the aid of gravity to provide plumbing. The water pumps are powered by the winds of the storms to push water up to the highest reservoir which then falls down to each lower floor till the reservoirs have been filled.

In history, the tower has been sieged a number of times by enemies testing the King’s claim. However, this quickly proved just how insanely difficult it is to siege this tower. Due to the self sustaining nature of the tower, and that the tower also acts as a city… the lands around them provide absolutely no cover. Sieging armies are exposed to siege weapon fire and archers with the benefit of high ground. There are no buildings for armies to shelter in to surround the tower. The broken plains are ravaged by powerful storms two times a month in fall and winter, and three times in spring and summer. The Chasms are subject to flooding, which have drowned numerous invading armies without notice.

Specialty: Logistics, Rhetoric, Bureaucracy, Music, and Engineering.
This nation is most well-known for Bureaucracy and Law however. It will not be uncommon to hear of jokes regarding the need for forms and papers just to relieve one’s self in a public outhouse. That did actually happen in history, but it was quickly thrown out because of how inconvenient and poorly timed it was.

History: The Kingdom of the Eru Barrens was once part of the Shiverpeak kingdoms. However, infighting began between two brothers in Royalty, and thus resorted in the split. At first, the lands the brother had taken for himself were completely uninhabitable. But it did not take very long for the new inhabitants to quickly adapt to their new surroundings after observing nature’s various patterns, and discovering multiple landmarks that provided protection from the elements. Various oddities have been found, from Cave systems so large that it holds its own climate and atmosphere, to large sweeping plateaus that shields one of the major Port towns known as “Storms Breach of Aardmoedier”.

Name: Jeckle
Age: 36
Appearance: A thin dark brown skinned man. His scalp is shaved clean of hair, as well as his eyebrows. The eyebrows have been painted on with the use of some makeup, as is fashionable in these lands. He wears a set of thin robes and colorful wraps of silk on his body. His left side is exposed, showing off his chiseled muscles, while the right is covered and creates a long sleeve. He wears a head dressing with bolts of cloth that extends down just underneath his rib cages.
Dirty Little Secret: None. This man is way too open to actually have one.
Skills: A Smooth talker, and a Bard.
Motto: “All stories have been told before. The only difference are the names!”