Alaria: Holy Wars

Alaria

Holy Wars

Epoch 1

Alaria is a feudal and theocratic palatinate state of the god of conflict, Alar. Alaria was once a divided realm of multiple warring kingdoms until united under the guidance of the leader of the temple of Alar, the Alarian Palatine. Alaria's original kingdoms and tribes were restructured into a single feudal state that built a kingdom paying homage to the god of conflict in its structure and foundation. Alaria has some of the most fervent worshippers of the Pentaphany in the world and has produced the greatest amount of clerics, paladins, and priests dedicated to Alar in all Pentaphandom. However, it has also produced some of the largest multiple religious divides within one temple of the Pentaphany. 

Holy Wars

Alaria and the Alarian temple have gathered great hosts of the militant faithful in defense of civilization many times over the millennia. These were paid for by coffers filled with tithings from the faithful. Many threats have had the Temple of Alar and Alaria involved in providing manpower and direction including great undead incursions, dragon invasions, monster hordes, heretical nations, vampire overlords, and more. Alaria's populace are readied to be levied at any time via realm-sponsored training and outfitting to march at the will of Alar. Their recreation and traditions are very martial based and great coliseums, arenas, and tourney fields have been built to inspire the populace to hone their skills and body in service of Alar. This is what accounts for their stability and continuation along with the natural downsides one has by trying to invade a nation dedicated to a god from a religion with a very large following.  

Knights and Chivalry

Alaria did not create knights but it did become a sanctuary for them when over time they had become obsolete in the face of realms wanting to remove the landed gentry's power from the military in exchange for professional soldiers, levied forces, and the phenomena of contractors. Along with political reasons, knights had a horrible reputation across the lands as being thieving bullies and sanctioned brigands that would steal from the people and act like thugs and kill peasantry with little repercussion. One constant mission of the Temple of Alar was the rehabilitation of knighthood into a respectable and worthy class that would honor Alar. One invention in pursuit of this was the knightly system of chivalry that would lead knights into being honorable, respectful, and dutiful warriors of the war god that would protect the weak, uphold the honor and dignity of the lowly, and serve their god and lords well in life. This had mixed results. Many knights paid no mind to this and barely gave lip service, but the most successful attempts at instilling chivalry came from knightly orders that grew from monasteries and had its laws and values enforced socially and physically upon their members. From these knightly orders came a great militant force for the Pentaphany to use in pursuit of their goals whether they were the destruction of monsters terrorizing the laypeople, joining conflicts in the name of the gods to exert their influence militarily, or as sources of social influence that they could lay upon secular nations that were faithful to the Five. 

Knightly Orders and Errant Knights

Knightly orders were one of the few groups of warrior classes that would change to keep up with changing times and stay relevant. The older landed knights fell away but orders stayed and prospered in the contractor system by acting as religiously-aligned contractor guilds and companies with funding from the temples and resources for training paladins and clerics. Along with this, errant knights, paladins, and clerics fell into the contractor system as either solo workers or parts of parties. The changing reputation of errant knights gave them leeway with lawful individuals as their status and level of respect could open doors that would be closed to mercenaries or other contractors. Errant arms and armor were often paid for by the temples and they were trained by the faithful and serving as proper paragons and models to the faithful which gave the temples even more influence. Knightly orders could also fall to selfish or greedy ends, however, or hew to interpretations and zealous readings of religious scripture and become fanatics or simply fall into old habits of knightly past. Along with this, the temples did not have time to root out every single order that went bad and the use of inquisitors was a time consuming and possibly agitating process even for the truly faithful that were investigated. All this while the temples still paid their salaries, paid for their equipment and training, and had an interest in keeping these orders and errants respectful on the back of the laypeople's tithes. Inquisitors, contractors, governments, and militaries have had to deal with orders and knights that have gone bad. 

The Firmament's Creation in Alaria

Alaria is responsible for the foundation of the Firmament, a crusader state that rules over conquered land in eastern Aizarin. The Firmament came out of a conservative grouping of Alarian clergy, paladins, and laymen that rejected changes to the structure and rules of the Pentaphany over time; especially those that came from the Great Unburdening but they took issue with those that had come before as well. They reject the emancipation of fallow and their ability to worship and join the temples seeing their devil, demon, and anathema blood as corrupting to their own souls and the other faithful. They reject the addition of women to the Five's hierarchy seeing them as only worthy to bare more warriors as mothers or as cloistered ascetic nuns. They reject the Epiphany of Saint Bromae which emancipated magicians and magic use along with other use of energies like Heka and Kah; seeing only will as a properly pure method of power and all else being sinful deviations from the will of the gods. The Firmament movement named itself after their ideal of a holy society untethered by worldly sin that resembled their vision of how world fits it's symphonic purpose in the hands of the gods. They were given the chance to make such a society in their invasion of the Wahdali Sultanate. A vast majority of Firmament followers left Alaria.

Aggregationists and Reconciliationists

Two religious sects grew in Alaria that conflicted with each other based on centralization and decentralization movements. Similarly to the Firmament, Aggregationists believed that temples should reverse the course set by the Great Unburdening and take on more secular power to steer the world to stability and peace. Reconciliationists were those that had aligned themselves with the values of the Great Unburdening and even considered the removal of the temple's power over Alaria itself, seeing the Firmament and the Dominion as evidence that wordly control of the realms at a nation level was doomed to fail. More can be found about that argument under the Alar heading here: https://riddleofflame.blogspot.com/2020/02/the-deities.html.

The Alarian Civil War 1 PR to 22 PR

The civil war that took place in Alaria had the sectarian split as a driving factor. Multiple reasons could be cited for this war. The loss of the scroll of Saint Bromae, a very important figure in Alarian theology, and with it the loss of theological teachings that the palatine of Alar held along with important abilities including the ability to speak to Alar directly. The death of Queen Arabelle, the uniting monarch who left no heirs. Another factor was agitation by equitianist rabble rousers that were inspired by the methods the Uhlionic army used along with much larger harmonist agitators from Thrale and Mekkhor like Beauvoir, Arkoun, and Eco. The last and largest reason for the war were the main factions of the Reconciliationist League and the Aggregationist League coming to a head after a long time of feuding. The Reconciliationist League fought for an absolutist monarchy that would transition into a parliamentary system to remove Alarian religious influence over secular power structures. This would allow the Alarian clergy the ability to pursue their personal goals in a method similar to Sothian clerics and templars. The Aggregationist League fought to create a martial state ruled by a knightly order and a grandmaster chosen from the best of the order. They would oversee the ruling dukes and those dukes would use martial law to sustain order and stability. They were each led by a palatine, the Aggregationists by the chosen Polemarch and the Reconciliationists by the original Bellarch, and each palatine declared excommunication upon the other. This had the exact same effect of cutting each other off from their ability to perform miracles. Why this happened is still debated by theologians, and it was kept silent until decades after the war.

The harmonist and equitianist factions were kicked out of the war by the middle mark due to not being able to gather enough influence or power to truly challenge either of the leagues. The Reconciliationist League won the war and planted the right-hand man Utharic Lograthi to Palatine Rellic Rathian as the absolute king. The Aggregationist remnants fled to the Firmament. The Lograthi dynasty would hold up their promise of creating a constitutional parliamentarian system by 53 PR.

Epoch 2

Alaria's Dissolution

The Risen Realm: Dominions of the Sea

The Circled Areas are Xhenon Domain Cities

The Risen Realms are a collection of civilizations built by the Xhenons. The Xhenons were secret civilizations of deep sea kinds that avoided discovery by the world through the natural cover of their ocean floor cities, an extremely repressive caste of priest lords that kept an iron fist over their people, and their society-wide compliant secrecy. Their domains are massive cities and settlements found under the water that only xhenonic kinds could normally live in. Even magic users could not reasonably stay within them due to the deep-sea pressure, lack of oxygen, and even past that the concentration and energy to keep air bubbles and livable pressures would strain even the most powerful dragons or wizards. And they have. The only way for land-bound kinds to visit these places are either through vehicles built to withstand such natural deterrence and air sanctuary stones. Sanctuary stones are made of the same stuff that hearthstones are and they are the result from the same great astral rain of past millennia. They create spaces with livable pressures and even supply breathable air for landbound kinds. They are as required for transport for a person of the land as hearthstones are for traveling in Skalovia's marrow-chilling winters. 

Xhenonics resemble bestials in that they look like bipedal humanoid mixtures of a human and sea creatures. The known Xhenonics include sharkkinds, mantakinds, eelkinds, and whalekinds among others. They are naturally proficient swimmers and have a natural ability to center themselves upon the ground of the ocean. They can speak both the languages of the sea and lands with only as much difficulty as any other kinds that learn another language. While they seem to have gills they are also able to breathe the air of the land. Xhenonics tend to have trouble in transitioning in how they live from sea to land. They may find the way they physically feel to be turned upside down. Xhenonics sometimes feel intense dysphoria when living upon the land or find themselves in depressions similar to land-bound kinds that live for long times without sunlight. Many have been able to transition to the land, however.

The first introduction of Xhenonics to the utter surprise of those kinds of the land came from the Great Sea Wars of 156. During this time, the Xhenonics of Tys were united into a singular civilization by the lord priest cast known as the Iedoua. For millennia, they had gathered their power over the cities through their cult of the sun which taught that the Xhenonics were a chosen people that were dispossessed by the shiftless, sinful, and valueless land kinds that had once ago stolen the glory of the sun's life-giving love away from the sea kinds. The Iedoua taught that the Xhenons were destined to gather their power and take back their birthright. They proved this through predicting natural disasters and saying they came from those of the land. Through many years they gathered power, gained millions of followers, and readied for the final invasion.

Now, the Iedoua profited greatly from this cult talk. Many of the highest echelon did not truly believe in the cult. They profited off of their followers fear and tribute. However, they were forced to move their plans forward when the Iedoua of Xheolia, a far off domain off the northern coast of Aizarin, invaded the land. The Iedoua was a true zealot believer and even had power invested in them via miracles of the sun they could perform. None of the other Iedoua had this ability and in order to quickly cover up their powerlessness, they went ahead and invaded the lands from their domains as well. Massive armies rose from the sea and rolled over unprepared defenders.

This began the Great Sea Wars that lasted over a decade. The kinds of the land were able to push the Xhenonics back into the sea after consolidating their efforts as they once did for the Cold Death invasion. Once within the sea, there was a definitive impasse. Armies of the sea could not fight for a prolonged time within the sea even with sanctuary stones. Their weaponry was also massively limited because of the water and natural physics. Along with this, the xhenonics had their greatest strength in the water. However, xhenonics were not able to make permanent inroads onto the land either.

It was during this time that those xhenonics that had been influenced by the land began to question their rulers. Translated literature and simple conversation with the land kinds that had no idea of what the sun cult said became the beginning of the end for the Iedoua. More and more xhennics questioned what they were doing for the first time in millennia. In the end, they realized they had been duped by a caste of conmen and a great civil war waged in the sea between those that still believed in the Iedoua's words and those that wanted revenge against them.

Eventually, the Iedoua's regime was destroyed. Civilization had to be created and with the loss of unity between the domains they developed in separate ways. Over time, innovations from the land and sea made it possible for the two to be connected and for the xhenonics to join the rest of the world. While keeping their unique cultures, the kinds of the sea did also adopt things from the land.

While there is still a sense of alienness about them, by the second epoch there would be a small presence of Xhenonics in every major port city in the world and they would join the land and become contractors.

Known DomainsSholica

Tlaeica

Zaedica

Klaeica

Auradica

Dolomica

GURPS racial templates to come

Uladreng: A Dark Kingdom of Masks

Uladreng

A Dark Kingdom of Masks

Uladreng (oo-luh-drayng) is an absolute kingdom founded before the epoch of flame and has built a unique mixture of a foundationally militant human, drathi, bestial, and zethite dragon culture that welcomes diversity but has a peculiar way of expressing it. Its citizens are required to wear strange featureless black and white masks and robes throughout their lives. These masks are made in such a way that no one knows what any other person looks like and they can eat and work without issue. The military of Uladreng also uses these masks and forms but arm and armor themselves with rank denoted by colors lining seems and armor. This military is very important to Uladreng, having let it keep its independence from other realms and defend itself from the vampires to the northeast. Visitors to Uladreng are not required to wear these robes and masks and it is very obvious who outsiders are. Much of Uladreng is built around old ruins built around oases and livable areas in the desert that makes up the majority of the land. Closer to the edges one can find more varied climates from the jungles to the west and south, the mountainous terrain to the east, and the grasslands and fields near to the north. 

The Uladrengish are one of the largest mixed populations in the world. Half-elves, half-bestials, and even those that cannot naturally mix without hybrid or chimera spells like half-avians and half-humans flourish in the nation. This is due to the historical promotion of mixing to remove older divisions that settling Uladrengish had along with the mask and robe system hiding everyone's forms down to one's gait. These vestments are legally enforced and complied with by the inhabitants gladly as they see it as a cultural strength of theirs that has led to their survival and prosperity. Even the royal family's true kind identity is unknown and that simple fact removes the ability for one group to claim genealogical superiority. Knowing such knowledge about another Uladrengish person's form is only for spouses and their children to know, although of course that knowledge can be shared which has led to such unfortunate things like distrusting wet nurses for being privy to that private knowledge.

Uladreng was founded as a part of the drathi diaspora that went its separate ways with the original returning clans that now inhabit Drath. Traveling the world for a home where they could be themselves, they found one in the desert lands, mesas, and grasslands of middle eastern Xatla. Not well desired by local powers, it was somewhere they could be left alone in to find their identities. Other groups and cultures had similar ideas including those that wished to remove themselves from the dogmatic rule of Zeth and those running from the wars of the southern and western Xatlan lands. This came with issues. Multiple conflicts occurred over generations until the first of the current ruling family, whose founding member was known to constantly change their shape and not let anyone know who they truly were, created the founding accord of the united nation to end the bloodshed. They set up the original founding law chiseled upon a rock that would be the founding stone of the palace of Kanilveld, the capital of Uladreng. The first decades were awkward and difficult but eventually the practices came to being fully accepted and embraced.

The military takes a central role in Uladrengish life. Each citizen is trained to defend its borders and war against monsters, especially the vampires of the northeast. Uladreng's northern border is a natural corridor to the rest of southern Xatla and it is commonly pushed against by the undead tyrants. Due to this, military conscription is widespread and the armed forces are well supplied. Uladreng will be one of the first nations to adopt firearms and even the extremely expensive magitek weaponry of Skalovia which is notable as they do not ascribe to any worldly ideology, especially not equitianism, so their relationship is a special one between the Uladrengish and the Uhlionics. The aeroship fleet of the Republic may have caught their eye as well and it allowed them to have one middle man to sell Uladrengish goods instead of the many that surround them.

The deserts are not kind and from them comes myriad trouble from monsters to bandits to cultists worshipping dead gods and archdemons. Along with this, conformity is a socially and legally enforced norm in Uladreng. While it is difficult to enforce what one can do with one's body when one can't see it, proper behavior and social mores are heavily enforced. The prosperity of the nation is seen as being because of the wiping away of individual differences. This can clash with very individualistic people and is also against equitianist ideology which teaches that the differences should be acknowledged, used to strengthen the common man, and be accounted for to insure equity and justice. Along with this, the ruling crown is very interested in keeping itself in power which lead to other issues running along these veins. 

The Sentinels: Defenders of Alar

The Sentinels

Defenders of Alar

The sentinels are a sect of Alarian worshippers that came about in the second epoch. They believe Alar's work is best exemplified through self-defense and protection over participating in war and conflict. They believe that Alarian clergy should recede from any secular power that would have them influence wars or states. They believe that large cathedrals, arena grounds, and anything meant as a show of religious power are decadent wordly things. They believe that Alarians should not take ideological sides and should work for the protection of common people. 

Sentinels came out of the massive changes happening over the course of the Epoch of Flame. With the fall of secular theocratic powers like the Firmament of Alar and the Dominion of Prythe there was precedence that those sort of worldly attempts at control were unfeasible and possibly even against the will of the gods. The origins of sentinel thought came from monasteries that lived apart from the world but still served the people outside their walls and through various philosophical and religious debates and thinking. Their conclusions were based on the good work their brothers and sisters did that worked errantly including those dedicated to different gods like the Gravestone Templars of Sothe. This work was done in the protection and defense of people against monsters, undead, cultists, predators, and evil. The impact of this work was seen as good and it left fewer scars and collateral damage than secular attempts at controlling the world. So it must be that good holy work involves direct individual work of using conflict against evil should work like a scalpel rather than attempting to use a state or religious power in an unwieldy hammer. From these monasteries sentinel theology was formed. 

Mainline Alarians consider sentinels to be a heretical sect that preaches concepts that are ultimately damaging to world stability and the ability for the religious to carry out the will of Alar and uphold the will of the Five. Along with this, the mainline Alarians believe that while sentinels seem to praise self-defense and receding from political life they are actually political opportunists consolidating their power to take over the power of Alarian temples. Some even whisper they are a secret equilibratist conspiracy, an infiltrative hellish cult, or a new Firmament.

Sentinels may have weight to their legitimacy of thought. While they pray to the same god, the miracles their clerics and paladins are given differ from mainline Alarians. Their suite of invested powers are defensive in nature such as miracles giving protection from magic and weapons, the creation of defensive forces and walls, and certain spells of healing that cross over into Liestra's domain which has created an allied sect in the temple of Liestra that recognizes their legitimacy. Monasteries that produced sentinel thought have also produced many errant Alarian paladins and clerics who travel the lands to hunt monsters and raiders that would prey upon defenseless villages or vulnerable populations in cities and towns.

Regardless of legitimacy, for near half of the second epoch sentinels were seen as a dangerous cult and they were often outlawed throughout the realms. One that espoused their beliefs or worked in their name could be jailed and then even executed in some cases. Their members were also locked away in mental institutions due to them being claimed as delusional or dangerously unstable. They would gain mainstream acceptance due to their work in major events.

Sentinels had some chafing against orders of Prythe that believed the work of defense was the work of the law and that mixing the god of conflict in the areas they worked in would create collateral damage in the form of the loss of lawful evaluation that Prythians were trained in. Agents of the god of war sent to areas of peace would invite war, basically. However, these same Prythians would also give sanctuary to these same people in places where they were discriminated against. 

The most likely place to find a sentinel doing their good work was Shudder, the land of the black spires. Their errant work was valuable not only in climbing the towers but also in defense of travellers and settlers against threats outside the towers. A large source of their legitimacy came from aeroship and railroad companies using them in defense of their workers.

In the second half of the second epoch, they would be gradually legitimized in the eyes of the temples and seen as another sect. Then another split would occur between those that believed they had lost their original principles by complying with the mainline temples to the point that they lost their sense of identity and those that believed they could coexist with others and that those that would try to "go their own way" invites instability and a return to their jaded past.

Sentinel NPC stats to come:

Contractors: Adventurers, Monster Hunters, Explorers, Mercenaries, and More

Contractors

Contractors are adventurers in Tys that take contracts in the forms of quests, bounty hunting, mercenary pacts, scouting, bodyguarding, cartography. magic work, errant cleric work, errant paladin work, and other jobs that suit their strengths most commonly for pay but also for rewards in property and items. "Contractor" is the neutral term for the broad class that would contain those considered to be heroes and adventurers. Contractors come in a variety of forms and professions that have different specializations and take certain kinds of work. Often their jobs are ideologically neutral but they can align themselves with certain groups and ideologies across the world such as the People's Company of the Uhlionic Republic or the Gold Company of Thrale which works for materielist interests. Often contractor work is seen as very individualistic and wealth-driven with the most popular companies in materielist nations. Thrale has a long history of adventure work exemplifying this and it's often seen as exemplifying the pull-oneself-up-by-the-bootstraps to wealth ideal. However, equitianist nations, even those that are wary of what contractors can represent like the Republic, also often use them but under more restrictions and guidance and prefer to use military and government institutions to carry out work that contractors do. Regardless, contractors make up a unique and special group in the world willing to face danger past duty to nation or god and get paid well doing it.

Contractors as an institution were made to replace knights and other such warrior classes across the world that chafed against the powers of the temples and the high aristocracy. Knights were known as thugs that often stole from peasantry and extorted from businesses and merchants. They often were also landed gentry that held political power and were protected from facing consequences from their actions were often tolerated to ignored due to their special place. Some would even be callous enough to kill peasants for being shown disrespect and that disrespect was very arbitrary. Scalebound and samurai were counted among these ranks although they survived for longer. Many of these warrior classes died in the large scale events of the world and in wars between nations and fights against monster invasions. Many at the end of their power joined the regressive militant Firmament and the legalistic Dominion to keep their traditions and warrior ways.

Contractors, as an institution that were popularized as a pool of specialists to draw from, were not landed (until they could afford their own land under materielist systems), did not have outright stake in politics (at least at first before their participation could decide major decisions and influence events), could be seen as neutral (even when they chose sides), and were able to be hired on a case by case basis (even if some extorted their way to permanent situations). Contractors solved some problems and created others, but their existence was well warranted into a world with changing times and chaos in the form of monsters, cultists, brigands, and more. 

Contractors did not just replace knights but also were used in new activities such as serving as scouts to explore new lands or the use of magic contractors in researching magical artifacts found in the wild.

Contractors can work alone, but often they are found as part of guilds and companies. Guilds and companies offer membership to contractors and in exchange for a percentage of loot and pay to the guild they are given services of healing, personal smithing, places to sleep, food, and jobs brought to the guilds that one cannot find on notice boards out in the public. 

   Contractors versus Mercenaries

Mercenaries often belong to a mercenary company that works for royalty, aristocrats, plutocrats, and other ruling classes in warlike ways. Contractors can take part in wars but often serve in smaller numbers than mercenaries and have more specialized uses.

Known Guilds and Companies

Exceldius Guild - Headed by Joanna Hume Lukal and created from the previous Lukal Mercenary Company led by her husband, Vaulk Lukal. Their headquarters are located in Badab and they have franchises open over Velas. 
The Gold Company - An adventuring company that answers directly to the supreme chancellor of Thralish parliament. Their headquarters are located in Chawceton and they reach beyond Thrale into Gothica and Shudder.
The Okhotnik Ministry - A monster-hunting organization founded by and ran by the Uhlionic government. Their headquarters are in Zurikau and they stretch from the far north of Skalovia to the rest of the Republic's lands.

GURPS

Joining a guild takes the form of a Patron advantage with how many points it costs dependent on the size and power of the guild. One must also take an ongoing debt disadvantage to represent paying one's dues and the percentages. In return, they can receive care by medical personnel and healing clerics, room and board, hot meals, and quests to take. 

Anima: The Servants of the Gods and Anathema

Anima

Anima (also known as daemons, angyls, fiends, and the like) are the avatars of an aspect of a god or anathema that are summoned into the world. They are non-sapient tools that act in an automaton fashion and often take shapes that are reminiscent of the living kinds but without the soul, life energy, or kah that living kinds have. Anima are summoned either by the worshippers or followers of a god or anathema (using either the Planar Summon or Summon Demon spell in GURPS Magic in game terms). Along with this, certain anathema can summon them directly and there have been legends of gods bringing them to life in times of need.

Anima are given their existence by the different energies running through their bodies. Those avatars of gods, often known as angyls, are powered by Will. Those avatars summoned by devil cultists are powered by the corrupting power of Wo-ehl and are known as fiends. Heka and kah can also be used to create beings like the harlequins summoned by Hekatien witches and shepard anima of Kunan.

Anima are destroyed when their energies are destroyed (usually represented by hit points in GURPS but sometimes can be specific critical spots to target or other weaknesses). This is often difficult as anima have multiple advantages on their side in a fight. They may be summoned with hardened integral armor that can stop sword cuts or even bullets. They may be summoned with the ability to fly like winged beasts or levitate and float unnaturally through constant power. They can gifted with multiple magic powers terrible and benevolent. They also do not always look like humanoid shapes and some angyls have been very disturbing even to the worshippers of the gods that summon them.

Anima can either be permanent or temporary. One example of a permanent anima are the gargoyle angyls that are placed in the holy places of Sothe to watch for his followers' final rest to not be disturbed by the malign and the greedy. However, these angyls have to repower themselves over the day and be charged with will by his worshippers to be kept in working order. Many anima are temporary and stay only as long as they are needed or as long as they can be powered. They are often gone by the end of a battle or the end of a special mission like protecting an exorcist.

Wo-ehl powered anima are the exception in that the more they kill, cause discord, or further the cause of the woehltriv and woehltan causes them to stay on the mortal plane.

When they are destroyed, their essence is lost or returned back to that which they serve as avatars. 

Some powerful or very faithful worshippers have been able to summon permanent anima to watch them. This is rare and the sign of someone extremely special and unique. 

Anima can act on their own but they have no inner thought process or soul to give them individuality and true living autonomy like a human or animal. It has been attempted to put intelligence into an anima but it is known as an extremely sacrilegious act and even with those like the Woehltan and Woehltriv it is not attempted. That does not mean it is impossible to transport a soul or give an anima its own individual being. Just that it is not heard about.

They are called anima because they animate aspects of the gods and anathema.

Anima Per Anathema and God

Sothe Reapers, gargoyles, undertakers

Reaper

	STATS		SECONDARY STATS
ST	16	HP	37	PER	12
DX	12	FP	20	Will	18
IQ	10	SPD	6	Move	6[5]
HT	12			Dodge	10[9]
Attacks	Skill	DMG	RNG/RCH
Reap	16	2d6+5	1
Death Touch	14	1d6 per FP	C
(M41)^		Energy (1-3)
Defense
DR 6	All
Parry	14
Traits
Combat Reflexes	Dark Vision	Flight	Fragile	Indomitable	Immunity to
	(Color Vision)	(Max Move 6)	(Unnatural)		Mind Control
Injury Tolerance	Skinny	Temperature	Unfazeable	Vacuum Support
(No Blood, No Brain,		Tolerance 10
No Vitals, Unliving)
Spells	Skill	Cost	Maintain	DMG	Time to Cast	Dur
Affect Spirits	16	4	2	_	2s	1 min
Astral Vision	16	4	2	_	1 sec	1 min
Death Vision	16	2	_	_	3s	1s
Fear	16	1	_	_	1s	10 min
Materialize	16	5	5	_	1s	1 min
Solidify	16	50	10	_	1s	1 min

Inspired by this post https://bira.github.io/octopus-carnival/gurps/2016/10/25/grim-reaper.html

Alar Paragons

Prythe Justicars, Confessors

More to come

Profiles to come as well

Reaper

Talah: A Realm of Song

Talah

Talah is an archipelago realm to northwest of Xatla and to the east of Grush. It is a cold and temperate land made up of many chiefdoms headed under one high chief. Talah is known for its ethereal swamps and forests that brim with otherworldly life, both of malevolent and strange varieties. Within the swamps and forests are great stones shaped by unknown processes to have grand pneumatic processes that create different notes when air is blown through them. When the notes are sounded they create magical effects via their effect upon aeth. These stones were once thought to be hellish creations because a great many caused the creation of horrid torrents or monsters that convinced the Talahvir to stay only to the coasts, creating their maritime culture. However, through personal experimentation, it was found that the stones were not malefic in nature and indeed could create magical effects through application of music. The material of the stones was found in other places and what was found was that the stones insides were filled with many grooves and patterns that used sound to create magic. The Talah were able to make new forms of the patterns on other materials that would carry sound. The force of music was no longer limited to just the stones. What was also found that a select few could utter the notes if they trained their voices to sing the magic tones. These could also form spells through finding the notes by instrument. Voice and instrument could be used to amplify and focus the other when used in concert. Talah became the birthplace of magical bards. This focus of sound into magic became known as sonalia. This practice spread throughout the world.

However, sonalia was not used via the lyre and flute and limited to only the few talented enough to master it individually. Sonalia became a large cultural tradition that almost all Talahvir took part in. Great choirs could be put together and use the great sonalian stones and other sonalian tools to partake in great magics. These magics were used to develop Talahviri hill forts into towns and cities and could be used in peace and war. The most powerful Sonalian use was left to the chiefs and the high chef who had personal retinues of singers. These singers would protect their masters with the help of great suits of sonalian material known as chordant armor that allowed them to amplify and create spells. The greatest sonalian material is made of pieces of the great chordant stones that are inlaid into gold and silver. Talahvir is famous for their high quality gold and silver smiths and they are the originator of giving rings as symbols of marriage. The reason for this quality comes from their use as royal smiths for the chordant armor. Those that made faulty armor from the very rare material of the chordant stone were publically shamed and exiled from their communities and often found nationwide shame. Some of those that failed effectively exiled themselves from Talah and found much more successful careers in other realms. 

While sonalia was the most historically prevalent magical force, there were others that have waxed and waned in acceptance. Druids could draw on those denizens of the ethereal forests seen at the edges of sight in the between places. These druids use heka energy summoned from these beings known as the leithe. These beings can be appeased by ritual, bond, or paid debt. Druids tend to stick to their own isolated communities inland and stay away from the coastal cities that most Talahviri live in. They are seen as outcasts.

An ancient enemy of Talah are the Nuaragha or Scourers as they are called by most lands. These are hated raiders that have scoured the Talahvir coasts for centuries. Their wicked steel weapons from Grush are known and feared throughout the islands to the point that iron and steel was banned from the islands in a cultural prohibition. These materials were not seen as being able to keep Sonalian notes. Talah uses bronze and copper in their weaponry and armor, an extremely outdated metal by the time of Epoch of Flame. Their widespread use of Sonalia made up for this weakness. 
Talahvir are made up of multiple kinds. Humans, corvidae, ramphastidae, and psittaciformes make up the majority among other bestials. Talahvir has intermixed households and has very minimal problems with kind conflict. Houses often intermix using hybrid and chimera spells which allow the creation of young between kinds that would not be able to.