Kelean

The Keleans are a devout and formidable offshoot of Eldwelian culture, born during the chaos and dislocation of the Burn. Emerging in the aftermath of widespread disaster and mass migration, the Keleans represent both a preservation and a radical reinterpretation of northern traditions, shaped by fire, faith, and a singular vision of divine truth.

Origins and Faith

The roots of Kelean identity lie in the teachings of Samuel Bartholomew Hawk, a controversial figure once considered an eccentric archaeologist in the service of the Eldwellian Empire. It was Hawk who unearthed the Sundial of Atulahai—an ancient, cryptic artifact he claimed held divine truths hidden from the world for millennia. Interpreting its inscriptions as revelations from Solis himself, Hawk abandoned the mainstream Church of Solis and began preaching a stricter, more esoteric doctrine, one that emphasized personal purity, isolation from corruption, and divine dominion through understanding of the past.

Culture and Character

Keleans are deeply religious, intensely driven, and fiercely self-reliant. They view themselves as chosen torchbearers of a truer Solisic path—torchbearers not of mercy, but of judgment and clarity. While they are courteous, even kind, to strangers and travelers, there is always a certain wariness behind the welcome, a sense that outsiders are, at best, misguided… and at worst, corrupted.

Hard work, invention, and community discipline are pillars of Kelean life. Every Kelean is expected to contribute to the survival and purity of their people, whether through agriculture, craft, warfare, or theological study. Their homesteads are often marvels of ingenuity, fashioned from salvaged wreckage or hewn from stubborn stone, each bearing solar motifs and elaborate murals inspired by Sundial scriptures.

Despite their religious rigidity, Keleans are surprisingly inventive—when the doctrine demands results, creativity is a holy calling. Their engineers craft clever devices powered by electrum batteries and sunlight, their alchemists brew tinctures praised across the southern islands, and their scholars remain obsessed with unearthing the lost technologies and rituals of the ancient world.

Social Structure and Gender Roles

The Kelean Mandate is governed by a theocratic council, but religious authority is held exclusively by women and led by Scarlett Rebekah Brownlow-Hawk , believed to have a deeper spiritual resonance with the divine due to their generative power. Men handle the military, agriculture, and infrastructure, while women lead prayer, interpret doctrine, and administer justice. In this way, the society maintains both a rigid structure and a strange duality—patriarchal in discipline, matriarchal in spirit.

Keleans view non-Keleans with a wary contempt—not out of malice, but out of conviction that others live in ignorance or decadence. This insular outlook makes diplomatic relations difficult, though their trade goods—particularly herbs, medicinal salves, and rare sun-forged tools—are coveted abroad.

Legacy and Presence

Though still a young people by historical standards, the Keleans have made an outsized mark. Their military, once defensive, has grown increasingly assertive. Their missionaries, cloaked in sun-yellow robes and speaking in riddles from the Sundial, have begun appearing across the coasts of Nyria. And their belief—that they are the chosen interpreters of Solis’s will—burns ever brighter, like a flame that consumes all doubt.

We are not the ones who turned our backs on the light. We are the ones who followed it farther than the rest could bear.

— *Acolyte Maran of the Seventh Sun*