Society (Sylfaen Supplement)

Daear

The Tyr Empire

The powerful empire of Tyr holds control over most of the occupied lands in all Sylfaen, and thus has great influence in most cultures ,despite any differences between them.

The nations in Sylfaen were once diverse and filled with richness of cultures and lifestyles. The Tyr Empire, however, made sure to to uniformize and standardize that as much as possible, while allowing the minimal possible of individuality for the different cultures and nations to prevent civil unrest. And, those nations lucky enough to be not conquered by the empire, or be ignored by them, manage to still keep their practices and cultures mostly untouched.

Languages

Centered in Daear, tyrians have some unified characteristics. Everyone in the empire, regardless of race, speak eldian, also known as the common language. However, other languages are also common, depending on the province you find yourself into.

Those in the southeast, in the province of Eldor usually speak dwarvish and goblin. In the northern province, giant and lyd (the variant of common in the north). The western provinces popularize the draconic, due to the culture of arcane study, since the draconic is the language in which most of arcane manuscripts are written.

Religion

Human tyrians aren't usually very concerned about religions in the usual sense of the world, being the devotion to ancient and mythical powers beyond comprehension. They, however, devote more tangible forces, being the Empire and Magic itself. A type of secular religion has been gaining power through the last hundred years, the macadianism. Macadianists believe in the manifest destiny of humans, who they believe are destined to conquer the world, and mainly worship human heroes, who were elevated to the status of saints.

More cultured and academic humans tend to ignore even these heroic worships, relying instead on a type of arcane atheism, the belief that the gods do exist and influence the world, but they are not incomprehensible beings, but just really powerful magic users, and with enough study and power, anyone can become a god. They are less worshipers and more students in the fields of theurgy and necromancy.

Some human tyrians, however, specially those in more rural areas, those in the north and those who live more in contact with other races tend to have more faith in the gods. Northern believe in a pantheon, that was mostly based on the giant pantheon.

Non-humans in tyr usually believe in their own racial gods and religions, trying the most to keep their cultures. Dwarvish people worship mostly Moradin, although they also give a status of sainthood to the dwarven lords of Runedar and the dwarven emperor of Caurak Aetharn.

Orcs and half-orcs in Tyr are mostly ancestor worshipers, and they believing that deceased family members can give them magical powers, cure diseases and give them power in battle, although some of them have embraced some aspects of human religiosity, and merged with their own religion, creating a type of hybrid religion, by giving divine status to heroic orcs.

Politics and Government

Tyr is an empire, but it is not an monarchy, being instead governed by a oligarchy formed by five noble houses, the Tyrian Pentaverate. The seat of the throne obeys a cycle of governance that lasts a hundred years in control of one of the houses, until being replaced by the next in the cycle. If the emperor dies during his governance, he is just replaced by the next in the succession line on his house.

Through the almost five hundred years of this regime, the power transitions have happened with peace and respect, despite the differences between the houses, which was helped by the constant conflict tyr find itself into against other nations and races. Another factor that helps the maintenance of this stability is the relative freedom each house has over his own particular dominion inside the empire.

The hierarchy of power in the macro level respects the following order: The Emperor is the head of state and government, aided by the Archons, the council formed by a chosen member, often but not always the house leader, that act as advisors to the Emperor; the Leaders of the Houses, who act as absolute monarchs in their own respective dominions and territories; Governors, representatives of each house who lead over provinces; and finally nobles, who vary in titles and privileges in each one of the five territories.

Dominions and Territories

A dominion is an administrative region in the empire, controlled by one of the five houses. Although these territories still belong to the Empire as a whole, the House Leaders have usually final saying inside them. A Dominion works a species of "capital" of a territory, but also are realms in and on themselves.

Territory is a group of provinces that are administered by the a single Dominion. Although each house has influence over one of territories, their authority there is only supplemental to the governance of the empire.

Military and Defense

One of the main reasons why the empire managed to come so far in terms of power and dominance is their military organization, that will be explained in this section.

Houses Orders

Although they also rely on the strength of the Imperial Army to keep themselves safe, each one of the five houses have his own personal army, formed by warriors who have their loyalty to the family coming before the loyalty to the empire. They are usually lead by their respective Dominion Knights, the first knightly order of each house.

The Golden Lions

The Night Crows

The Iron Bears

The Dancing Serpents

The Dragon Knights

Imperial Paladins

The silent guardians of the emperor, these armored juggernauts are amongst the most feared warriors in all the empire. The Order of the Imperial Paladins are formed by mage warriors who zealously protect the figure of the emperor, regardless of what family sits in the throne. They don't care about the internal disputes or the wars Tyr get itself into, since they only role is to serve the emperor. They serve the title of emperor itself, not the man who currently bears the title.

When they are not guarding the emperor itself, they protect people, places and objects of crucial importance to the empire, and do so at the cost of their own lives.

The Pentaverate

The governing body in the Tyrian Empire is made up of the members of the Pentaverate, the descendants of Throgul Dragonbane. The pentaverate is a council of the five noble families that rule Tyr, from where the emperor is chosen. The government over the empire by the members of the pentaverate is cyclical: Each family choose one of his members to become the new ruler, who will then hold power until his death. For this reason, the families will often choose the youngest member possible to hold on to power for the longest time.

Forming the pentaverate are the following families:

Brann

The Brann family is represented by the Crow, and it is located in the Center-West region of the continent. They are famous for their pale skins and black clothes, and depraved rituals. The brann's are notorious occultists. One of the most notorious heroic figures in the whole empire, Arkhan, was from the brann family.

Llewellyn

The llewellyn family is represented by the Crow, and it is located on the South of the continent. They have white tanned skins and are generally blond with blue or green eyes. The family is famed by their great leaders and commanders. The current emperor is a member of the Llewellyn family.

The Dwarven Kingdoms of Runedar

The dwarven kingdoms no longer exist, but their enduring constructions still evoke their past glory, and the remaining dwarves in Eldor still consider those lands as their lands. The dwarven people were divided into two huge clans: the surface kingdom of Rinn, and the underground realm of Caurak Aetharn.

Rinn

Rinn was a prosper dwarven kingdom, but plagued by many catastrophes in the last centuries. The kingdom was vast, occupying most of the center-south portion in the continent of Daear.

Caurak Aetharn

The underground kingdom of dwarves were composed by a complex of caverns and underground galleries, that formed the subterrain portion of the dwarven lands.

The Royal Path

A large and long road that linked the seven major dwarven cities in the realm of rinn.

The Northern Lands of Rhew

The north was for a very long time an region almost unexplored by imperial expeditionaries. The disinterest for those inhospitable and dangerous lands, alongside with the native inhabitants, seen as savage and barbaric, kept the northern tribes and clans in relative tranquility.

Everything change when lord Edwin Stormwolf, a small lord, organized a mass escape, alongside with a couple of other lords during the Long War, seeking distant lands and a promise of freedom and independence from the imperial control.

War followed this insurrection, and the conquest of the north begin. Nowadays, although the north is subjugated by the empire and pay tributes to them, in the form of gold, goods and even people, they still retain some of their relative independence, which gives the northern clans much power, although they are held back by their constant infighting.

Jordensbarn

The true sons of the north, this clan already lived in the northern lands when the first imperial dissidents arrived and are the oldest clan. More than any other clan, they see the need for union between the nations in the north. They believe in the Helvebrann, an apocalyptic event in their faith, and their prophets speak about the union between the clans as the only salvation. Shamans and oracles from the Jordesbarn clan are very aware of the abyssal corruption in Daearn, and they spare no efforts in the fight against the demonic influence in the material plane.

They bear the white tree as their as their heraldic symbol.

Ulvebrod

Relentless and ferocious warriors, the Ulvebrod value loyalty and strength above anything else. They train constantly to battle, and due to their worship of strength and resilience, they have as a tradition the scarification, since each scar in their bodies is a badge of honor. They are also the most aggressively enslaver society in all the north.

Ulvebrod despise the Jordensbarn clan, considering them weak due to their peaceful nature. Their heraldic symbol is the giant black wolf.

Svartraseri

Near the east coast of the northern sea are the Triads, a small archipelago formed by three islands. I the Triads, the Svartraseri was founded by an ex-slave from the Ulvebrod clan. The svartraseri is a matriarchal society, were the role of warrior can only be filled by women, while man usually turn to religious roles and navigation. They are the best archers and lancers in all the north, and their shielders are legendary.

They have a deep hatred towards the Ulvebrod people, rooted in their history as slaves from that clan. Their heraldic symbol is a chimera.

Rodklos

Rodklos are savage in the purest sense of the word. They are a nomadic clan, that wander through the gelid wasteland in the middle of the rhew, rejecting most traditional hierarchical structures, due to their cultural trauma due to the subjugation by the empire. They are the most ferocious enemies of the empire in the north, and are known as the "Horde" by both enemies and allies, a title they bear with pride.

Rodklos devote all their hatred to the Empire of Tyr, and avoid as much as possible to fight against other northern clans. They also have a deep respect for the Jordensbarn although they see them as naive.

Their heraldic symbol is the broken crown.

Skygger

The skygger are the most manipulative and astute of the northern clans. They value intelligence, diplomacy and magic. Amongst them, there are an intense dispute for power, but despite that, they are the most internally consistent and unified clan, and their disputes rarely result in battles or deaths amongst the clan members.

They despise recklessness, what they see as a symbol of weakness, reason why they hate the Ulvebrod, seen by them as stupid brutes and too dangerous to remain alive.

Their symbol is a black crow nesting atop of a human skull.

Solvhogg

Another of the original northern clans, and today the closer the clans have to a leadership. The Solvhogg are the heirs of heroes from ancient myths and legends, and their nobility is both envied, feared and respected by other clans.

They see the Skygger as a threat to their dominance, reason for why they seem them as enemies. Their symbol is the silver falcon wearing a crown, over a black backdrop.

Slottsherre

Members from the Slottsherre clan emulate the imperial tactics and culture, seen the benefits of their methods of organization and their knowledge. They live in constructions that emulate imperial architecture, and even emulate their institutions, having their own version of the Pentaverate as the governmental structure of the clan.

They profoundly despise the decadent traditionalism of the Solvhogg, and the useless savagery of the Rodklos.

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