Thrane
The modern Church of the Silver Flame was founded in Thrane, and most of the people of the nation follow this faith. During the Last War, the people of Thrane chose to set aside the rule of the monarchy and to embrace the leadership of the church. For the last seventy years, Thrane has been a theocracy. The head of the state is 11-year-old Jaela Daran, the divinely selected Keeper of the Flame. Jaela depends on the Council of Cardinals to perform the practical work of running the nation.
The primary purpose of the Silver Flame is to defend the innocent from supernatural evil. The church has always had a militant aspect, with battalions of templars and peasant militias prepared to face undead, lycanthropes, or other monstrous threats. But compassion and charity are core values of the church, and the templars are tasked to defend all innocents. Even during the Last War, if a fiendish threat arose in a Brelish village, Thrane templars would ally with the locals to bring an end to the threat. Not all Thranes rise to this ideal. Zealous Thranes believe the church is destined to reunite Galifar under the Silver Flame, and corrupt priests are interested only in power and wealth.
Not all priests are clerics, and the typical templar is a mundane warrior. However, due to the deep faith of its people, Thrane produces more clerics and paladins than any other nation in Khorvaire.
The Argentum
The Argentum is a ministry within the Church of the Silver Flame dedicated to the acquisition, study, and redistribution of magic items and artifacts. Freed from all restrictions and disavowed by the Church at large, it sends agents abroad to retrieve items of power—things that can be used by Thrane to solidify its political and magical dominance. Some of these items languish in half-forgotten ruins. Others must be snatched from the clutches of their present owners. The Argentum is a shadow organization that cares not for treaties. It exists because Thrane needs powerful magic as muchas it needs great armies.Structure
For the better part of a thousand years, the scions of King Galifar I — all members of the royal Wynarn bloodline—ruled Thrane. The children of Galifar’s ruling sovereign were always first in line to govern the Five Nations. Occasionally, as happens when there are fewer suitable heirs, governorship of Thrane fell totrusted regents drawn from other parts of the family.
As with the other Five Nations, Thrane was administered by the governor-princes as part of the Kingdom of Galifar from the founding of the kingdom until 894 YK. In that year, as the struggle for the crown that caused the Last War escalated, Thrane broke from the kingdom and declared itself an independent monarchy under the rule of King Thalin. Thalin, like many of the Thrane-based ir’Wynarns, was a devoted follower of the Silver Flame. He broke with tradition in order to exercise what he saw ashis divine right to the Galifar crown. With the kingdom under his control, he could elevate the Silver Flame to its proper position as the one true religion of the land and the people. In many ways, it was Thalin’s zealous faith thatled to the next stage in Thrane’s history.
Thrane remained a monarchy until 914 YK, when it became a theocracy governed by the Church of the Silver Flame. At that time, temporal and spiritual power fell to the Council of Cardinals and the Keeper of the Flame. Although the Wynarn line in Thrane continues to appoint blood regents (eldest scions of the royal family), these scions are merely fiureheadswithout any temporal power.
Culture
Thranes are overwhelmingly dedicated and passionate about their state religion The Church of the Silver Flame. Thranish culture is conservative in that the Thranish are devoted to religion, family, work and puritanical ideals. Thranes are known to be hard working, once accepting a task they devote themselves to its completion. The Thranish tend to lead prudent lives; gambling, carousing, and similar hedonistic activities are frowned upon.
Despite common belief, the majority of Thranes are not zealots. They are incredibly faithful with regards to their own beliefs, but they still tolerate other belief systems. Most are aware that Tira Miron herself started as a paladin of Dol Arrah. The Thranish understand that The Silver Flame demands its followers only destroy evil incarnate in the forms of the undead, fiends, and other abominations. If a paladin sensed an evil within a person that they considered redeemable, they would council them back to the light, and would not rush to violence.
Type
Geopolitical, Country
Capital
Demonym
Thranish
Leader
Government System
Theocracy
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