Varlosen
Varlosen
Religion
Traditions
-15% Land Attrition
-10% Cost to Promote Mercantilism
Spirit of the Border“...the Borders, they call it. A trick they play upon the gullibles and themself, an illusion of the power they claim to hold over this land. That false name is heard only along the roads and once you step off them, you enter the Milcorissia of yore.”\n\nFounded by the Milcori, a subset of the Businori, Milcorissia was an ancient kingdom known for its use of necromancy and led by fabled Lich-Kings. For millennia, it ruled the land that would be known as the Borders holding strong while others collapsed.\n\nIn the end, the kingdom would fall during the rule of the last Lich-King, Xamarzu. The land would be scoured first by the Wexonards in the West, and Castanor to the North. Later, it would be Jexis and her Phoenix Empire, then the Empire of Anbennar. Each conqueror, in their attempt to control the region, left marks on the Borders, like scars on a body. Its spirit, however, remained unbroken, and in Varlosen, the people still call it by its true name.
+1 Attrition for Enemies
Say Not His NameBelow ground just as above, war ravaged Milcorissia. The great labyrinthine catacombs that dotted the kingdom were left in ruin, their treasure stolen, their occupants left to rot and the phylacteries of the Lich-King of old that they protected were destroyed. Only Xamarzu survived, hidden away in his own catacomb by powerful wards and enchantments, bodies of flesh or stone his only subjects.\n\nUnable to end him, his enemies instead sought to destroy his legacy. The advisor of the once king, along with any suspected of practicing necromancy were executed and his name was stricken from every record, forbidden to be even said.\n\nOf the Last Lich-King, only tales remain. Tales of a king of bones, that seek out the corrupts and wickeds, tales of a being so vile that to say its name was inviting death and damnation.
-2 National Unrest
Nerat’s FlamesThe candle makers of Varlosen have an important role in Cannorian life, their crafts affecting the lives, or more exactly, the death of many people around the continent. Using techniques first developed by the Milcori and perfected through the centuries, they create candles that last longer than most.\n\nKnown as Nerat’s Flames, these candles are believed to burn with a flame that would accompany the departed within the domain of the god of the dead. The funeral rites overseen by neratic priests are done under the light of Nerat’s flame and once they're done, its light guides the soul within the fugue plane. However if the flame goes out before the rites are completed, the soul will find themself lost in Nerat’s domain.
+10% Production Efficiency
To Find The CureWhile Aldresia dealt the killing blow to Canrec the Defiler, it was Garion the Wise that defeated him. The great mage, protected from the worst effect of the White Pestilence by his elven physiology, traveled to the remote tower of Varlosen. Here, hidden in the middle of Canrec’s domain by the tower's ancestral magical protections, he found the cure to the undead plague that ravaged Cannor.\n\nGarion made Varlosen a place of study, of magical plagues and, under heavy watch, necromancy, convinced by the need to maintain an understanding of both should others wish to follow in the Defiler’s footsteps. Since then the tower has produced many cures to both major and minor plagues, ensuring that, when the Empire of Anbennar was founded, Varlosen became the main base of operation in the Borders of the newly created Magisterium.
+15% National Manpower Modifier
+5% Mages Loyalty Equilibrium
Pact of SaltFinding themselves without a home and hunted for their craft, the necromancers of old Milcorissia banded together and formed the Lodge of the Nameless, an organization that worked in the shadow to preserve the kingdom culture, its magical knowledge and restore its rightful ruler.\n\nFinding common ground and allies in the practitioners of other forbidden arts, the Lodge grew, opening its door to Roilsardi blood mages, infernal cultists, demon worshiping gnolls, even dissatisfied magisters; and their secrets. The Lodge greatest allies, however, were the counts of Varlosen with whom they were linked by a pact: the counts would do their utmost to protect the Lodge’s anonymity in exchange for some of its secret. This series of strong allies found its end with Count Alin, a fool with a mouth too big for its own good. Revealing secrets in front of the wrong people, he brought the attention of the Magisterium to Varlosen and soon the county found itself under assault from the force of the Empire, and the Lodge was destroyed.\n\nOr so they believed…
-3% All Power Costs
Eternal GuardVarlosen is a strange land, its great forests are covered by mist and a peaceful yet eerie silence. And rare are those who can stomach the stillness. Rarer still are the ones who bear witness to the true peace of the land. In many parts of the forest, the mist turns to a dense fog where the silence grows to be violent and where the mind fills the void left by the lack of sense.\n\nShould one enter the fog and find their way to its heart, they would find statues, soldiers of ages past wielding weapons stained by blood, and many tombs laid at their feets. This is where the inhabitants of Varlosen bury their dead, confident that, in these places, they will find peace under the silent and careful watch of their guardians.\n\nStories tell they are soldiers of Nerat, sent to stand guard so that the dead may truly rest. At times a statue vanishes, recalled by the god, only for a new one to take its place in an eternal guard.
-15% Stability Cost Modifier
Undying FaithIn time past, before the Regent Court took hold of the Borders, its people already revered Nerat. Some parts of the old faith were not so different from his modern interpretation, that Nerat ruled over the souls of the dead after their time on Halann. Less orthodox, however, was the belief that his chosen were the Lich-Kings of old who would make a great sacrifice by choosing lichdom: in binding their soul eternally to the Material Plane, they abandoned all hope to unite with their god, so that they could guide others toward the afterlife.\n\nOf course, today the Lich-Kings are gone. The cult itself survives only in isolated communities. Within these communities, alongside strange nameless fellows, they pray for the Borders to be returned to its rightful rulers.
+1% Missionary Strength
+1 Tolerance of Heathens
Ambition
+1 Yearly Prestige
History
TBD
Strategy
TBD