Lhendom ast Grathem

Aemarda is one race, created from the same materials and derived from the same mind. Yet, north and south are nothing alike in temperament and fate. The lands beyond the northern Aeducarrs forged one distinct path, while the immense south grew in opposition. Centuries of violence erupted from small clashes in remote places between insignificant men, but these embers billowed. In time, the competing tribes were eradicted by the Etayen, but the Aemar survived as subject states and servants.   All these events occurred within a region broadly known as Grathem. What this entails has changed over the epochs, but the curious mind must begin somewhere. The political region is titled after the geographical expanse south of the Aeducarrs known as Grahen.   Everos collapsed into a state of unprecendented anarchy after the death of Atûn and destruction of Étunas in the year zero. The south, which Rhelored represented, was particularly vulnerable. Aemar nations to the north were unwilling to support their traitorous brethren beyond the Aeducarrs, and Corgastor himself was occupied attempting to construct Ghethemas. Other allies, such as Aragos Wologhest, who was himself technically a southerner, disassociated with Grathem and aligned with the north. This left a unique vacuum of power in the region unseen in the north. Vojûnic warlords came to power, using the unleashed energies of Atûn to wreck unbelievable havoc and subjugate unwilling victims. Dozens of these men and women carved up southern Everos for themselves, decimating the outer bastions of Etayen civilizations. Only in stalwart Voletal domains such as Jequasghal and Nathrovas were the renegade Aemar warriors repulsed. Among the new Aemar territories, no customs of mercy nor traditions of civility survived to guide their definition of honor. Primal survival and the thrill of conquest was the current upon which this degenerate society drifted.   The sole chance for unity among the southern Everosi peoples came from military conquest. Successive masters vied for complete control, but each were torn down. Their names are fleeting and scant in the historical record, but a minority survive. Hemgeshel reigned from the Gismyr to western Aeduccars from 344 until his 351. Adrenesta dominated the arid Amhelon valley from 501 until her assassination by her enemies in the year 517. Each used Vojûn to achieve their ends. Each was ruthless in battle and rule. However, another figure rose among the southern warlords. His name was Aemehen, and he was the scion of an experienced warrior people trapped between the Elivas in the west, northerners beyond the Aeduccars, and eastern hill-fighters.   Lhenod Aemehen was showered in glories after his coronation in 843. His people looked upon him as a mere step beneath the Eshan themselves and offered themselves to any task he wished. For luck, Aemehen did have work for them. He desired a city to crown his infantile realm, new and hewn from virgin stone. For the location, the Lhenod chose a place well known in the folklore of the Grathon. It was called Calacarr, or the Colored Hills, but was known to the Etayen as Netrekal. During the reign of Étunas, the latter group settle throughout the southern reaches of Everos, touching everywhere south of the Aeducarr mountains and fair reaches beyond them. At the sight of Calacarr, the jagged rock formations which grew from the world’s roots gained a brilliant array or colors unknown beyond plant pigments. Come the 800s, many centuries later, the legend of the Colored Hill was potent among the southern Aemar. Lhenod Aemehen travelled there with his close retinue to reconnoiter the region. He found that a vibrant religious sect had grown around those magnificent stones.

Aemehen’s city was completed in its first iteration around 849, boasting a population of some 5,000 esseythu. A significant portion of them were the workers themselves who settled with their families.   The initial Corgastodmar strike into the south ended in stalemate, but the borderlands between them never quite silenced. Between 1463 and 1910, Amaderin Lorvelgis of Corgastor established themselves and surged southward, constantly embattling generations of militia warriors. Aemardic historians recall this vast swathe of time as the Aeducarren Wars since every major engagement was fought in the shade of or upon those peaks.   Grathem’s broken superiorty over the Aeducarr Mountains cast a dark shadow over the Lhendom. It was such that travel to the Aebastadmar shrines found thereabouts was stymied or otherwise halted. Bold worshippers continued to make   The legacy of the Grathon realm was terminated with the Corgastodmar conquest, completed in 3309. Asterod’s kingdom was divided into three realms, Hennas, Grathem, and Lohoremas. His own line was spared and lifted to the rank of Ghetûn of Grathem, but this was mere consolation. Grathem as it existed for thousands of years was gone forever.   Zarthum’s horrific slaughter of olûndi and Eshan alike brought the Aemardic world to its knees. Corgastor was destroyed by Kovûnkal and Aebaster was slain by Ácolitus’ hand. Yet, the lands of southern Aemarda were accustomed to war without the support of their weakened deity.   Lhenod Modorin’s maiming and Vulred Drakasghal’s ascension to power in southern Everos forced the Grathon state westward. The lines were drawn with the Zomore river to the north, Aeducarr mountains to the east, Gismyr to the west, and Gosver river in the south. The ancient city of Calathem was restored as the capital of the Grathon nation. These things were done, but Modorin himself did not live long thereafter, and died with much suffering from his wounds. A power vacuum occurred, for while Modorin fathered children they were young and unfit to rule in this severe time. The Lhehon gathered themselves and decided to choose a Lhenod from among themselves, not from hate nor malice but from the genuine desire to survive. Who to reign? Eyes turned toward Lhehon Rhomeden Anherod, who was younger but aflush with qualification. His lineage was supreme, dating back to the Grathon masters who served Corgastor during the height of Corgastoria, and those who rose their swords against Ghethemas when Corgastor died. He was known to all in that land, and his upbringing was under the eyes of fellow nobles who were long masters of administrative and diplomatic arts.

Among all the races of Aemarda, the peoples of Grathon are singular in their maintenance of the calendar of their ancient forebearers. It is a five period model, corresponding to the seasons.

The time of Hemevod begins when the last vestiges of snow melt to nothing. Riverlets rush down from the Aeducarr mountains, expanding the venerable Gosver river and its tributaries.

The time of Menorod begins which the wetness of the retreating snow dries, and the light of Eshabal reigns high and hot. Work is often done during the mornings and evenings, but rarely the afternoon. Warriors despise the time for campaigns, but their roads and supplies are most easily gathered now.

The time of Ghedremas begins when the first trees begin to die. Eshabal’s light and warmth begins to wane, but that foodstuffs must be harvested or die.

The time of Ehemergon begins when the first snow blankets the ground. It is known among the Grathon that outdoor endeavors must be concluded within a narrow measure or be crushed beneath poor weather. Most know it as a time of rushed, wild activity.

The time of Otar begins on the first cycle wherein Eshabal is invisible during the day and Kovûl invisible during the night. Weather, not some strange Eshanic intervention cause this phenomenon, for the snow and drab grey consumes all for whole weeks. This is the worst of the winter, when it is no longer a hint but rather an inescapable reality.

In southern Everos, the first systems of governance were derived from the capability of warrior chiefs and chieftesses to protect a small collection of underlings. These leaders were known as Lherodored. In return, these common people offered manual labor, craftwork, and irregular taxes. Each Lherodored was master of his or her own domain. No high sovereign ruled them, but they waged constant war to assert dominance over one another.   During the invasions of the Etayen in the -1400s, the dynamics of government began to evolve. Sovereigns who commanded realms upon hilltops took custody over their lowland neighbors whose lands were overwhelmed. This made the Hemethal, being the title of these hilltop rulers, effective masters over the other Grathom Lherodored. With a high nobility established, the road become clear for singular royal masters in the future.   The Grathem which Aemehen created in 843 was unlike its predecessors. Aspects of Etayen technocracy had bled into the equation, so that precision became relevant and governance considered an art. Lesser Lherodored who once reigned over southern Everos and struggled against Etayen rule were modernized. Their names became Lhohen in accordance with the evolving lexicon of the southern Everosi and their role became subservient to the Lhenod, who reigned as master of all. Considerable resistance was generated through these reforms, such that Aemehen was compelled to assuage fears and anger with clever diplomacy. He rooted his changes in the legacy of Rhelored, being the Lherodored who marshalled the southern Everosi in support of Corgastor during the Velgasid Etag.   Beginning with Lhenod Rhemal in 1049, the Grathon sovereigns made practice of traveling with their court rather than remaining in a static location. Calathem remained the Lhenod’s residence, but lesser Lhohen were expected to host the master whenever he or she arrived in the area.   The roaming period of Grathon government concluded in 1463, with the first significant Corgastodmar invasion of the south.

The purchase, use, and trade of slaves is an ancient Aemar tradition. It dates back innumerable epochs to when Karthuul first roamed the north and Euboa lounged in primordial Othos.   During periods of intense conflict against the Corgastodmar Ghetunbalastod, which were many, the Lhenods of Grathem offered freedom to their slaves in exchange for effective military service. This latter qualifier refers to a vague measure of honor and valor displayed in the field. Veterans of particular note are freed from bondage and offered generation terms to remain with the army and train inexperienced warriors. Those who decline are granted small parcels of land to settle and farm. This latter practice was the norm for centuries, until the encroaching Corgastodmar reduced the land capable of distribution.

The Grathon were infamous enemies with the Corgastodmar. No greater rivalry was ever known in Everos. For this reason, the south became a gathering ground for the numerous enemies of the Ghetunbalasod who materialized with every new conquest. Disgruntled Elivas, enslaved then escaped Karthuuzar, exploited Doarhu, and hateful Etayen made their homes in places like Calathem or Drakar. Order beyond government became commonplace, for the Lhenods were more than glad to witness such machinations against the north brew naturally.

The collapse of the Corgastodmar Ghetunbalastod prompted a crisis of security throughout Everos. Completely anarchy erupted in the north, while factions in the south tore the corpse of Corgastoria apart. The Grathon were among them, claiming independence within a decade of the first tremors. In securing this independence, the masters and Lhenod of Grahen required a constant flow of information from throughout the continent. Lhenod Hemecar, who reigned in the early 3500s, organized a close circle of thinkers and travelers. They were male and female, any who possessed robust connections and otherwise moved often in their own occuptions. It was a gathering of incidental Grathon nationalists operating as unprofessional eyes and ears.   As the 3500s continued, the anarchy which consumed the continent became refined. Actual nations were forged from molten iron. In these circumstances, Lhenod Hemecar, now aged but clear in thought, began professionalizing his brain-child. This involved rudimentary intelligence gathering lessons, taught by thinkers equally new to these strange concepts as the students. It involved linguistic courses, along with the forging of documents. For dire situations, the eyes and ears of Hemecar were taught how to defend themselves with short-swords and daggers.   The beginning of the Second Feud in the Elivas grove of Yassaben was the first major deployment of the Lhenod’s eyes and ears. Agents remained close to hand with such events, and managed to infiltrate the Beacons of Mesian which formed to pursue her will.

It is Grathon tradition to rely upon the authority of reigning masters to determine matters of law, rather than trusting a complex bureaucracy of judges and their servants. The Lhenod and his Lhohen were expected to craft laws, uphold them with their available means, and punish violators. A measure of accountability was thus forged within the nation, wherein the Lhenod could not escape responsibility through the shield of others.   Disputes of lesser importance, such as land boundaries and property concerns, were left to local communities and their leaders. This centralizied system reduced the burdens placed upon the upper-most government structures but created an inconsistent potency of law. Certainly, some lesser masters were eager to repute themselves a law-makers, but others took the invitation for self-arbitration as an invitation to abuse power without oversight.

The most famous criminals in the Grathon experience were born from the chaos wrought by the Corgastodmar invasions of the south. They were war profiteers, masters of logistics who picked clean abandoned battlefields for equipment and treasures. Common Grathon people knew them as Ghejed, or Handlers in their tongue. When villages were razed to ruin, this criminal breed swept through the remains to hoard whatever remained. In turn, the Ghejed perceived the embattled warriors of their homeland and their displaced neighbors as prime customers. Nothing was cheap.   Matters regarding these Ghejed became so enflamed that Lhenod Morjed III Medrogen declared such parasites as outlaws in 2135. This decision was made in the midst of the Third War of Grathem, being the first of these major Corgastodmar invasions to seriously endanger the existence of the independent Grathon realm.

Despite the rough and rumble reputation of souther Everos, the people of Grathem possess a rich mercantile tradition which once enriched the territory. The first lanes of foreign trade were established by the Etayen during their years of global colonization. Goods from distant Othos, Etal, and Nevan, hitherto unseen, became commonplace in those southern reaches. Sedar was the nexus of this exchange, and wealth flowed northward to the farthest frontiers of their civilization, whereupon the Everosi beyond rejected integration and chose war instead.   After the collapse of Étunas, Grathem suffered incredible economic decline. Markets failed, cropping fields were targeted by voracious brigands and faminished neighbors, and the craftswork of manufactured goods ground to a halt. It must be understood that while Etayen settlement brought devastating pressure upon traditional Aemar society, it did bring prosperity under the obsessive technocratic eyes of their new masters. Without them, the carefully woven system frayed and broke. Jequasghal and Nathrovas continued to survive and maintain some normalcy, which Aemar Everos wailed. The countryside reverted to ancient systems of bartering to exchange goods and services, while Vojûnic warlords exacted punishing taxes of food and precious materials on impoverished people who possessed neither.   The creation of the ancient, then modern Grathon nation in 843 brought new economic prospects to the south. Lhenod Aemehen brought stability, and in turn prosperity followed. Farmers were able to till their lands under the shadow of the Aeducarrs, craftsmen produced unique works worthy of a proud people, and foreign traders began to return more regularly. This latter trend continued throughout the following centuries, bringing increasing attention to the independent region. The outcome was that Grathem transformed itself from an agrarian, light manufacturing country like the northerners into a trading, export-oriented domain.   War assailed the careful economic prosperity which successive Lhenod’s brought to the south.   Provincial and later independent Grathem attempted to recuperate their previous economic prosperity which characterized their glory days. In the former circumstance, the Corgastodmar heartland around Ghethemas and those provinces which the Ghetunbast favored seized economic assests through tax. Little else must be said regarding their economic period, but that Grathem endured a stable but roundly mediocre century of second-pickings from the dominant Corgastodmar.

The slopes of the Aeduccar mountains are rife with Grathon constructions. Their general character is narrow but tall, with common houses being no more than 15 strides across, 15 back, yet many upward. Each are inlaid within the hillsides, often without burrowing, so that rooms and storage take a sweeping path. Dark Aeducarr stone makes up the structure. One approaching at night might mistake the dwelling as barren hillside beside the disconcerting candle-lights flickering. The roofs are sharp pinnacles jabbing toward Vussalas, often for storage or observation.   Upon the flatlands elsewhere in Sedrohed, the architecture of the Grathon was compelled to change. Those buildings once meant for the hillsides were in unfamiliar territory. It brought great consternation among them but invited ingenuity. The Grathon responded by replicating their native terrain upon the lowlands. Great mounds of earth were removed from such low countries and transposed into hills, wherein massive trenches were left around the base. Houses were built on these artificial hills which were no different from those found in nature.

The military hosts of Grathem consist of local militias known as Mehnerods, which operate as the defenders and law enforcement for a small region.   Grathem’s impressive defensive core made major offensives and smaller assaults costly and difficult to secure. The south downfall was the complete tactical inflexibility of the Mehnerod system. Warriors were not accustomed to travelling far from home, nor were the Mehnerods capable of rallying a sufficient force for campaign. This meant that territories lost and occupied by stalwart Corgastodmar were nigh impossible to dislodge.

The people of the Everosi south are a historicized people, thus distant cultural kin to ancient breeds such as the Karthuuzar and Vestanir who refuse to relinquish the past. Their glory years are in misty epochs distant, before the coming of the Etayen or their Corgastodmar subjugation. Memory of that time endures, and thus Grathon society remained largely unchanged from its earlier iterations.

Class among the Grathon people is vague within categories but strict between such categories. It is much alike the elder years of Everos, when decentralized landlords commanded their immediate regions. Those who toiled beneath them were lesser in perception and reality. Yet, those were landlords themselves were akin to one another, warring for dominance with equal legitimacy.   At the pinnacle of the class structure were the Hemethal, being the masters of fortified territory. The definition of fortified territory regarded hilltops universally, often crowned with rudimentary constructions. It is upon the Hemethal’s shoulders that other Grathon might flee when invaders entered the region. During the wars of the Etayen in the -1400s, the hills swarmed with refugees from the lower countries. The Hemethal extracted tax from them and demanded temporary vassalage. Their power grew to magnificent heights, so that the Hemethal became the undisputed masters of the south. It is from those ranks that the Lhenod’s dynasty is derived.   Beneath the Hemethal were the Lorhenes, being landlords of unfortified lands, being those between the hills which commanded the south. Their ostensive authority was alike the Hemethal- taxation of craft goods, conscription, religious enforcement, and other abilities. However, the Lorhenes were less capable of defending themselves against interior or exterior enemies. The Hemethal upon the mounds might march against them without fear of counter-invasion, while the Etayen found little difficulty in marching through the plains.   Farther down were the Medhron, or those without land. Most Grathon are members of this class, and their influence over government and society is limited. None rely upon them in defense, but they are conscripted by upper classes. None rely on them in wealth, but they are taxed for the upper echelon’s betterment.

The Grathon are a long embattled people, beneath the Etayen shadow or later dominion of the Corgastodmar. One might believe that their literature brutishly glorifies resistance against such outsiders in harsh prose. This is the fate of many conquered people, for defeat in reality might be forgotten through victory in stories. The Grathon do not subscribe to such lingering of a bitter past. Instead, their literature follows a romantic tradition, reign in tragic peace with destruction near on them. Warriors are not the heroes, but the artists and thinkers. The narrative is not destruction, but the preservation and proliferation of beauty in spite of destruction. Tragedy in the darkest pages of such stories is the comprise of beauty and the onrush of destruction, which threatens to destroy it.

All know Grahen as the realm of hilltops, and their music reflects that identity. Their songs rush down the grassy slopes with heavy drum tones; choral renditions ride upon the wind gusts as steeds. It is meant to be ambient, to carry distance, to demand attention. Foreign listeners are often disturbed by it, for Grathon music is often practiced as odd beats. The listener is carried through each stroke attempting to discover its internal order. Low beats sound when high beats are expected. Silence dins when low beats are expected. Moments meant to be silent in any other musical tradition are high beats.

Just as much of southern Everos fell under the shadow of Etayen domination during the Ascencion Era, so did the minds of its Aemardic peoples. The impossible revelations of the Eshanic Enlightenment destroyed the previous mental frameworks which supported the Grathon world. No longer did local spirits command the turning of the seasons or creation of the world. Idols which once rested in the noble houses were reconsidered with a sober embarrassment. Laws regarding natural and unnatural powers written by wise-persons were now scorned as the scribblings of children. It became that Grathon intellectualism was Etayenized, such that an Aemardic culture was supported by foreign methods of thought.   In this established vein of Etayen influence, the Grathon never created great institutions of learning as exist in Othos or Neyas or northern Everos. Instead, education remained a more intimate affair between masters and their chosen students. Schools of thought much alike Etal formed in Grahen between rival theories of the masters.

The Grathon are ancient in their conceptions of love and relationships. Unions between individuals of the upper classes, being Hemethal and Lorhenes, are regulated by the heads of household. The youth in question are offered a section of partners according to which families of status are eligible. A period of undetermined time follows wherein the potential suitors of that class travel about Grathem to meet one another and determine their own opinions. Once suitable mates were chosen, the heads of household measured the economic prospects and made final choice. Those who remain without partner are either forced into love or allowed to wait for another opportunity.   Among the lesser class, being those landless, love possesses a more romantic spirit. None care who one individual joins with compared to another, for all are alike in their low status. Heads of household carry no particular authority in the matter. Merits in art, love, and compassion are the measures through which one Aemar measures another.

Love in the more passionate sense in not much regulated among the southern people. Youth meet often to share experience with each other, such that love prior to union is common. Why not? It is only an oppressive regime which seeks to blockade love in its immature youth. After union, however, there are expectations that each partner love according to their opposite’s desire. This might mean sharing love with a third person outside the union, or a fourth, or more, according to taste.

For generations, the Grathon people buried their dead upon the slopes and peak of the Aeducarr mountains, which they considered to be powerful holy sites of Aebaster. Those rocks represented the heart of Everos and the closest an olûndari might come to Vussalas while alive.   Corgastor’s terrible wars against the south undermined these traditions, as the Grathon were physically repulsed from those mountains which they beloved so dearly.

The peoples of southern Everos speak a recognizable dialect of their Aemardic tongue, so imparted to them in ancient days by Aebaster. It is matured, however, perhaps beyond the northern dialect which remained aggressively insular for centuries. Etayen grammar infiltrated the language, along with certain loan words from Etal or Othos.

Alike other Everosi Aemardic tongues, Grathon names have a preponderance of H, E, G, L, O, D, and other middling letters. Names such as Aemehen, Rhelored, Ralihem, Orelhod, Hedegold, and others are commonplace.

While Corgastodmar rose to dominate in the northernmost regions of Everos, whence that Eshan himself was born, veneration of Aebaster the Eldest remained strong in the south. Religion offered the newly liberated Aemar a sense of identity after centuries of subordination to Etayen masters. It was their tenacious resistance which was impossible to stamp out completely.   The next great chapter in the Grathon religious experience came with the Corgastodmar invasion of the 1400s. These shameful attacks of Aemar against Aemar were the product of Corgastoria’s impressive rise after the union of Loryne and Valgorod and ouster of the Karthuuzar from the north. They felt invincible, chosen, and entitled to Aemarda’s protection in Qadal. Ghetunbast Haborengest invaded in 1462, pitting the Aebastadmars against their once feeble Corgastodmar kin. What matters, however, is that the celestial balances of power were no longer in the favor of the Eldest Eshan. Aebaster sacrificed energy to empower his people, more to raise Corgastor’s dying essence, and more still to guide his people through the terrible tribulations of the Weeping Era. He was spent in every regard. No amount of energy thus granted could compete with the Corgastodmar tide. The great shame of this religious episode is that Corgastor himself did not halt his people’s vigorous conquest, whether from person greed or weakness to deny them. He violated the trust which Aebaster placed within him as the master of Aemarda where ever it might be found but chose a single group among them as his chosen people. The unity of the Aebastadmar faith was thus shattered forever. This destroyed legitimacy did not undermine the faith in Grathem, but it create competitors in Corgastor himself, Lysander in Othos, and acceptance of the Axokari in Nevan.   Under the yoke of Corgastodmar rule, the religious solidarity which epitomized the high kingdom era was gradually eroded. Other faiths such as Corgastodmarism, Mesianic worship, Atûyen, Euboa and Lysander’s cult, and smaller sects plucked southerners away from traditional Aebaster veneration. This said, the Eldest Eshan retained the majority. Yet, some measure of freedom was demanded by and required for these minority worshippers to exist in peace with their Aebastadmar, Aemar neighbors. This was granted in gradual movements between 3320 and 3410, with traditional powers losing strength every decade. The crowning monument of this new status quo was the Spiral Temple, built in what was then Lohoremas, to celebrate the intersection of religions in the south. Its central structure was of typical Everosi design, neat and hewn into sharp edges with gradual, sloping rooves. Around it, however, were four beautiful towers which twisted and spiraled in decorative manners unseen elsewhere in the south. They were built from the same painted stones as Calathem and bolstered with rocks from the Gol Sadun mountains. Each tower was dedicated to a major Eshanic deity which was observed in the south- Mesian, Aebaster, Corgastor, and Atûn, with smaller sects being allowed entry without representation. Outside its walls stood the Spiral Square, which was ornately decorated with numerous, smaller spirals which together created an almost forest-like illusion. These were decorated with every manner of religious icon and etched design.