Silent Threads: The Myria and the Empire

Overview

At Vikan Academy, social and behavioral science is not simply the study of society in isolation. It is the dissection of how stories shape nations, how fear shapes memory, and how the act of remembering can be a form of resistance or control within a tightly regulated empire. Students learn that societies are shaped as much by what they choose to forget as by what they are allowed to remember, and every lecture is a reminder that even history can be a tool of power.
  In the controlled environment of Vikan, what is taught in classrooms often conflicts with the whispers that pass through its halls. Professors like Havan speak of unity, stability, and the empire’s triumph over chaos, dismissing rumors of hidden groups as mere legends. Yet beneath the filtered lights and cold, recycled air, students learn to read between the lines of their lectures, understanding that the stories told to them are not always the whole truth. Nowhere is this tension clearer than in the quiet mentions of the diasporas the empire claims no longer exist.
 

The Myria: A Diaspora Spread Around the World

Though the empire dismisses them as scattered remnants, the Myria are a true diaspora, shaped by centuries of forced displacement and quiet survival under imperial rule. They originate from Vaes, a land rich with history and old alliances, where the Myria once lived openly in tightly knit clans.
  Before the Daeva Empire unified the continent, the Myria’s bloodlines carried unique abilities—powers tied to memory, blood, and promise, including persuasion that bends the will, transference of misfortune, and binding arts capable of halting a person in place. They believe these abilities stem from Raeya, Goddess of Death and Magic, also known as the Goddess of Oblivion and the Lady of the Veils. Myria ancestral stories speak of Raeya’s blessing upon their people, granting them the ability to manipulate Aether energy as a gift and a burden tied to service and secrecy.
  The First Purge, presented by the empire as a necessary step toward unity, shattered Myria communities. Entire families were uprooted, cities burned, and generations scattered, forced to flee along roads that led nowhere. In Vikan’s lecture halls, the Purge is spoken of with cold detachment, but for the Myria, it marked the beginning of living as ghosts within the empire’s borders.
  Despite efforts to erase them, the Myria endured, weaving themselves into cities while holding tightly to their hidden traditions. They choose partners from among their own people, preserving bloodlines to keep Raeya’s blessing alive and ensure their grasp of Aether endures.
  The Myria uphold many traditional ceremonies that honor their ancestry and preserve their connection to Raeya. These rituals are meant to strengthing their communal bonds and remind them of their place within the greater story of their people. One such ceremony is The Transition, which marks the passing of Syndicate members, ensuring that memory, duty, and power are carried forward even in death.
  The Myria remain whispers in marketplaces, coded signals passed in dorm halls, and watchful eyes in places of power where they have carefully positioned themselves. Rumors persist that even within Vikan Academy, the Myria watch from the shadows, assessing who may be an ally—or who must be removed.
  The empire claims these rumors are fear-fueled legends, stories meant to justify vigilance and control. Yet within the sealed halls of Vikan, under the glow of filtered dome lights and the cold gaze of instructors like Havan, students feel the tension between the empire’s narrative of peace and the unspoken reality that not all have accepted this peace quietly.
  For the Myria, memory is not only a form of resistance; it is a means of survival. Shaped by exile, war, and empire-building, they carry with them the knowledge that survival means adapting, hiding, and never fully forgetting who they once were. To some, they are a reminder that the empire’s peace is built on displacement. To others, they are an unbroken thread of a past the empire has tried to erase.
  Within Vikan Academy, the study of society often becomes a study of what happens when those who are forced to scatter refuse to disappear—and how, even in a world that demands silence, the Myria endure, waiting for the moment to reclaim what was once theirs.