Creative Exercise--Aleasana

[Rhialto]

Hey, I liked it...

Contribution:

The Dvergar claim that Aleasana was created for them by Koschei, a gift to his dark children. According to the Dvergar, they had to fight their way up from the deep caverns where he placed him, until they reached the bright shining lands of the surface. For the Dvergar the view of the surface as their promised reward--and the depths as their secret refuge--have shaped their culture, resulting in the arrogance, militarism, and finally, the strange patience for which the race is famous. It has also resulted in the quiet split in their culture between the scholarly, aristocratic "High Dwarves", and the hard-working, militant "Deep Dwarves". Though the modern High Dwarves have grown especially snobbish about their lower-dwelling kin, traditionally, the two groups have always been allies.

Most Dvergar dislike sharing "their" land with what one scholar called "a wave of criminals, and a second wave of disaster refugees", but prefer to "wait out" their rivals. However, two groups have sprung up with more radical opinions. Many Dvergar state that they must learn to deal with--and even accept their neighbors, who aren't going away any time soon. However, a smaller group is calling on the Dvergar to purge the land of Aleasani, and to enslave the Shay once more. Still, they are a small minority, with little in the way of power and influence.

 

[Sarellion]

If the secon wave are the humans these could be considered criminals as well. Aleasana the dumping ground of the unwanted...

Contribution:
Alanna is the shay goddess of nature, fertility and woodcarving. She is depicted as a shay woman clad in leaves and flowers. Treants are considered to be her high priests and elven clerics of Alanna are required to have a treant patron and mentor who initiated them into the priesthood.

The Aleasani included Alanna in their pantheon as the nature goddess of Aleasana. She is considered to be the wife of Tarsinus, a notion the shay find laughable.

The shay revere her together with her husband Vinnaron, god of animals and the hunt.

 

[Arkhandus]

It is whispered that Kohemet once spent years lost at the heart of the Southern Desert, the Sun's Anvil where even the Juni do not go. Then with fearful glances some claim that he found something there or indeed that something found him. At this point silence usually descends upon the speakers, but it is known that Kohemet walked out of the desert then and that the Juni fear him as much as the Bodai do...

Unknown to Sergis Sahn and his Bodai, the advisor Kohemet is actually one of the Bleak Archons, a dreadfully powerful undead cleric of some sort, and part of the leading council in the Bleak Ascension. He appears to be merely a pale Bodai priest, and uses some magicks to conceal his motives and undead nature. Naturally, he is optimistic and eager to advise Sergis Sahn in his war-making, allowing Kohemet to animate the corpses of fallen enemies and even fallen Bodai, in secret, in the wake of a battle. Kohemet hides his undead servitors somehow as well, perhaps spiriting them away to a stronghold or hideout of the Bleak Ascension. Perhaps what Kohemet found years ago in the Sun's Anvil Desert is the source of his undead status and power........

 

[Rhialto]

If the secon wave are the humans these could be considered criminals as well. Aleasana the dumping ground of the unwanted...

Contribution:
Alanna is the shay goddess of nature, fertility and woodwork. She is depicted as a shay woman clad in leaves and flowers. Treants are considered to be her high priests and elven clerics of Alanna are required to have a treant patron and mentor who initiated them into the priesthood.

The Aleasani included Alanna in their pantheon as the nature goddess of Aleasana. She is considered to be the wife of Tarsinus, a notion the shay find laughable.

The shay revere her together with her husband Vinnaron, god of animals and the hunt.

What makes the conclusion particularly laughable to the Shay is that their sun god, Bel, who has come to be identified with Tarsinus, is Alanna and Vinnaron's child, thus making the cross-faith situation extremely amusing.

Bel (or more properly Lord Bel) is in fact one of seven children. His siblings are Lady Ishta, the Moon, Lord Darmuk, the Sky, Lord Kazamon, the Wind, Lady Brigid, the Water, Lady Ashta, the Fire, and Lady Arun, the Death. To each of these seven, their father Vinnaron (also called "the Dagd") entrusted part of creation, and each of them generally does their best to uphold it, though of course there are fights and trouble, with the exception of course of Lady Arun, who always does what she has to, no more, no less.

According to Shay (and Tuatha) legend, they are the children of Lord Bel and Lady Ishta, the result of an epic affair between the brother and sister that was both fiery, passionate, and quarrelsome, and ended with Lady Ishta depositing her children in the Faegrim. The Shay honor both their "parents", as well as their various "aunts" and "uncles".

The identification between Lord Bel and Tarsinus (and there are many points of resemblence between the two gods, despite their differing myths) has greatly aided the Aleasani God's cult since the Asani's arrival. Back in the Old Land, Tarsinus's cult had declined from the royal religion to a secondary one, and then finally an illegal one, in those frenzied years before the Ruin sent San'sai beneath the waves. After the Asani found Aleasana and became the Aleasani, the persecutions initially continued--in the famous "Chronicle of the First Year" Tarsinus's name is noticible mostly in its absence, and references to executions of followers of 'the Shining One' abound. But eventually, the vastness of the land and the apparent worship of this diety by many of the natives strengthened the cult, and eventually lead to its ascendency over its persecutors. These days, Tarsinus is one of the most popular Aleasani gods, easily eclipsing Dar, Callach, Delar and Kithea.

 

[Sarellion]

What´s San´Sai? The old lands?

Before you sink the old lands there are still people there who worship Tarsinus as the highest god.

 

[Conaill]

It has also resulted in the quiet split in their culture between the scholarly, aristocratic "High Dwarves", and the hard-working, militant "Deep Dwarves". Ironically, both of these two groups hold each other in high regard, and view their mutual efforts as necessary to the continued existence of the dwarven nation.

Not entirely inconsistent, but I thought I'd just remind you of this bit:

The Z.G.B. (Zwergerkraft Grundwerken Broderschaft) specializes in any kind of large-scale underground engineering projects[...] A particularly gruff and unfriendly lot, these deep dwarves speak an ancient dialect unintelligible to most, and are shunned by the surface dwarves.

 

[Arkhandus]

By the way, it's the Revolutionist Concordat, not Concordant. A Concordat is a sort of small, separate, sovereign land in the midst of other territories, such as the Vatican in Italy (or at least, the Vatican was once a Concordat, I don't recall if it's still considered such). At least that's my understanding of the term.

And as for the sinking of the old land Rhialto mentioned..... It's possible that whoever dwells there now has become merfolk or something, perhaps. It could explain the continued worship of Tarsinus there, if it is the same old land that was mentioned before as the Aleasani/Asani homeland. Of course, San'Sai could have been just a portion of the continent, or an island chain, or something......

Sarellion, I think Rhialto just spontaneously named the Aleasani/Asani homeland now as San'Sai. I'm quite certain it was never mentioned before, but there have been a few posts that I may have only skimmed in the past rather than fully reading.

He has been becoming more like his old self since the Petha incident reenergized his sense of purpose. The Revolutionist Concordant had seized control of the city of Pertha in a coup while he was still investigating the group. They seized several members of the Order of the Just, and executed them as oppressive servants of the aristocracy. The rendering of all those members of the Concordant in Petha into object lessons by the Mouser was particularly grisly and public, regarded as vicious even for him. The heads of the Concordant have been meeting to figure out a stance on the Guardians of Alasnea.

 

[Rhialto]

Yep--I just named the homeland, because I felt that it needed a name. And as for the deep and high dwarves... D'OH!

Now, if we want to discuss these things further meta-thread. I'd really like to see more contributions....

 

[Sarellion]

San´Sai is the homeland of the Asani people who fled to Aleasana. but it wasn´t the only land beyond the sea. The old lands consist of a small continent and several large islands. San´Sai was one of the island provinces. The San´Sai people became proud and arrogant. They rebelled against the Astarin rulers and let the old religion of Tarsinus fall into decline. It became an outlawed religion because it propagated the Astarin as the divinely ordained leaders of the Asani. The mainland warred with the rebellious province. During this war some old weapon caused the sinking of the San´Sai island. The rebels fled to the unknown lands of Aleasana.

 

[Sarellion]

@Arkhandus

According to my dictionary a concordat is an agreement between a state and the church on church affairs.

In Germany for example is a concordat allowing religious lessons in public school.

It could be that Italy and the Vatican have a concordat about their relationship to each other ot that a there was a concordat after the old church state became part of a unified Italy in the 19th century that the Vatican is a separate state, but concordat is not a name for a mini state within a state.

The Vatican is still a separate state.