Zefiru
"How long shall it be before they realise that what lights their path is not the celestial aether, but the devouring flame?"
The dark decades of the Endwar left behind a scarred, shattered world - nowhere more so than on the northern continent. The disparate human nations had had their lands ravaged, their people dead or in exile, and even their ley lines had been polluted and diminished.
Most imperial texts on Zefiru focus on that origin - on how they built a sprawling empire that united the north.
As for writers outside the nation... their accounts are far less optimistic.
The empire of Zefiru is the strongest of the human nations, and quite possibly the most powerful in all of Wyral. Its spears have conquered the harsh northern reaches, the bountiful coastlands, and the wild places of the woods. The few regions that remain independent - and several nations across the sea - find themselves facing an empire of overwhelming might and awe-inspiring glory, inviting them into a grand coalition.
For the Zefirua seek to build a nation that could withstand another great catastrophe.
They seem not to realise that they have become one themselves.
All That The Light Touches
"One day, you will be able to freely see all the world's wonders, and subdue its horrors. That is why you must learn to fight - for yourself, and your children, and the world that you love."
Zefiru is widely known as a nation of 'cold-blooded murderers', but this is far too simplistic a description. Teachers, scholars and leaders alike struggle to explain the Zefirua mentality: a proud people, a broken nation, a grasping empire, a haughty protector.
All of these are true, of course. That is the problem.
The leaders of Zefiru do not immediately resort to violence, but instead prefer diplomacy - often forceful or heavy-handed, but diplomacy nonetheless. From within the empire, the people see themselves as the ultimate bulwark of humanity, standing strong against the nameless horrors stalking the world. They envision the outside world as dangerous and unprotected, filled with monsters and 'barbaric peoples'.
One cannot entirely blame them for this mindset. The world is filled with peril, but Zefiru's military might keeps the bulk of that danger well outside the borders. To anyone who has grown up in such a place, it is almost natural that other lands and countries seem inferior, in need of aid, or a threat to peace.
But this condescension rarely makes negotiations friendly, no matter how good-natured the Zefirua perceive it as.
Hence their... propensity for force.
A Gilded Cage
"We are forged in divine fire, and guided by heavenly whispers! No lesser fate awaits us than the mastery of all realms!"
In an era of divine silence, Zefiru is blessed - or cursed, depending on perspective - by the presence of not one but two Exalted abodes. The Verdigris Tower was absorbed during the empire's last great expansion, although it retained almost all of its autonomy. The 'children' of Siahir do not need Zefiru's protection, but they bargained their immense wisdom in exchange for the freedom of several subdued populations. Whether this was simply an act of goodwill or in service to some greater fate, no one can say.
The other abode is the Crucible, once the residence of the Exalted, Nur. This great blackened ring once burned with aethereal fire, and the first rulers of Zefiru would walk through in the hopes of purifying their souls. Now that the fire has reignited, though, it is not emperors but criminals who are subjected to the Crucible. Legend has it that Nur gifted the first empress one of his ever-burning feathers, to light the way forth for her nation. He is venerated even above the Wolflords Themselves.
Needless to say, the people of Zefiru take these two abodes as a sign of divine sanction. Many Zefirua make pilgrimages to the Tower to ask of their fates, and the empire's favoured deity is the Golden Sunbird who once blessed them. It also informs their perspective on the world and their place in it. After all, with the Exalted of 'Time' and 'Purity' on their side, who could have the right to resist them?
But Siahir and Nur have both vanished, leaving only echoes of their divinity behind. And whatever the empire proclaims, simply laying claim to these abodes does not signify the Exalted's support.
Driven Before Them
"The brilliant feather that they bear... it must burn them like fire. Why else would they be driven on like demons?"
For all Zefiru's lofty notions of deliverance and protection, most peoples outside the empire's borders see it only as a nation of conquerors. The lands who forged agreements with Zefiru - some autonomy in exchange for protection - were eventually assimilated. And the regions that dared to openly defy the empire found themselves under increasingly brutal attack.
Most sensible leaders opt for an uneven balancing act, friendly but not welcoming. But even this strategy sometimes fails, if the current ruler of Zefiru is power-hungry enough.
Put another way: if the current ruler of Zefiru resembles Artexanar.
The Zefirua name him 'the God-Emperor'. Others calls him an all-conquering tyrant. Over this emperor's eighty years of rule - extremely long for a human - he subdued almost every nation on the continent, and threatened several across the seas.
He dealt the death blow to the ikayal nation of Arwifal, toppling a kingdom that had withstood even the Endwar. He razed the ulfar's heartwoods with fire and death. On the distant shores of the southern continent, he nearly orchestrated Axu's destruction. Nowhere remained free of his influence, even long after his death.
His successors have increasingly striven to be like him. And the rest of the world holds its breath.
To live in Zefiru is to know peace and prosperity. It is to know that you are fighting for an ideal as bright as the sun, and that your descendants will be born into a nation strong enough to defend them.
To live in Zefiru is to live in a gilded cage.
And who knows what will happen when it melts in the flames of its own ambition.
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