The Holy Kingdom of Lagain

ONENESS: THE HOLY KINGDOM OF LAGAIN

(LAGAIN - “NORTHERN LAND OF THE GAILS”)

“THE MANIFESTATIONS OF MANKIND,
VINDICATED BY THE EXALTS,
CASTIGATE THE ENEMIES
OF THE GODHEAD.”

Lagain is a kingdom which rose to prominence during the end of the Third Age as a center of commerce and culture. Positioned on the northern coast of the Yiegdran Sea, the fertile soil and temperate forests of the Lagainian Peninsula spawned a patchwork array of tribes, city-states, and feudal demesnes. However, the collapse of the old empire and subsequent rise of Tousav compelled the disparate Lagainians to reach an accord: unite as one or be devoured.

The Fourth Age’s newfound stability—owed to the brutality of Lagain’s first King, Conri I of Manster—permitted a brief age of enlightened religious thought. From the convocations of the northern sanctuaries arose the Orthian Concord, an order of ascetics devoted to a doctrine of Dyadic Oneness: the belief that man and his cosmos are defined by irreconcilable dualities. The Orthian Concord preaches of Exalts and Exarchs, purity and corruption, obedience and annihilation.

Over centuries its influence metastasized within Lagain, hollowing the authority of the king and his nobility. Today, it is the potentate Immortal Allelaeon who adjudicates the faith and rules as regent to the young King Conri V. Having earned the title due to his exceptionally long life of two hundred years, he is an ardent believer who has become increasingly zealous in his mission to bring about the return of the Godhead. He commands Lagain’s armies in an endless holy war against all threats to the Orthian Concord, be they foreign or domestic.

And with the Holy War came hierarchy. Lagain adheres to a strict caste system in which priest and noble meld, ceasing to be individual things: there are merely masters of the world, and the lower castes which they rule. To ascend from the low-castes, one must swear fealty to the Orthian Concord, escaping a life determined by one’s birth, one’s father, or by the past. Yet the corruption of the high-castes who purport to exalt the soul is palpable even in the Holy City of Caledon. Driven by the emphatic longing of lovers, they crave the reunification of Yiegdra and the elimination of heresies. All the world as one—even the dogs of Tousav. Especially them.

For as long as the two nations have existed, Lagain and Tousav have been at war. This began with the War of the Winter Lion at the dawn of the Fourth Age; next, the War of Deira; then came the Massacre at Ormond, the Salt-Iron Raids, the War of Gwen. All these conflicts, minor and major, refer to a hundred year period known as the Century of Skirmishes, which concluded only five years ago. This unlikely peace came after an unprecedented meeting between the highest officials of the Orthian Concord and the Tousavi crown. Their negotiations behind closed doors brought an anti-climactic resolution to a conflict spanning generations. Many doubt this will be the last of the violence, merely a momentary reprieve for unknown ends.

The kingdom is presently made up of fourteen provinces, diminished by a centuries-long sequence of wars against Tousav. Counted among these districts are: HOLY CALEDON, BETH, BIVERIA, KAMARANN, LENZ, ALTRECHT, GRALAND, FOROUGH, VARDAGH, MARLBORIA, ESKOR, MANSTER, LOCHIA and FENIA.

PEOPLE OF THE REALMS

Within the Orthian Concord and the lands they rule, there is a strict caste system which determines from birth the approximate course of one’s life:

• High-Castes, nobility and high priesthood who govern the realm and administer salvation
• Middle-Castes, artisans, laypriests, and the gentry, kept in the orbit of the faith but never granted authority over it.
• Low-Castes, laypeople, serfs, and the indentured. Those without money or status.
• Casteless, slaves, idolaters, and hylics; to the Concord, there are none lower than those who reject unity.

Gallu, referred to as hylics, represent an attachment to the physical world over spiritual enlightenment; the common belief is that those who return as hylics no longer possess a soul. When discovered, they are always killed or captured to become sevisars without exception. It is common for those who awaken as hylics to voluntarily self-exile to avoid this grim fate.

SEDAL CULTURE (Vardagh, Eskor, Marlboria)

The Sedalic people occupy the wind-blasted bluffs of the western coasts of Lagain, and have been hardened by decades of warring with the Aardayni corsairs. A strong naval culture pervades most aspects of Sedalic life, as their guarding of the Lagainian gulf protects maritime trade for half the kingdom. With this veneration of the ocean, Sedalic people are beholden to a strong wanderlust. Many become sailors, soldiers, or adventurers.

Values of brotherhood and cultivation through struggle are prominent features throughout the Sedalic lands, as are the worship of their ancestors and the revered dead. This honor culture is particularly pronounced in Vardagh, which was stolen from Tousav by Orthian missionaries. Despite the resurgence of faith, the Sedalic people are automatically consigned to the low-castes due to their short history as vassals to the crown, and are seen as uncivilized and violent by the Gailland provinces which border them. No matter the doubts surrounding their loyalty, however, the mountain abbesses of the Sedals produce the fiercest cantors in all of Lagain. Their reputation as unrelenting crusaders is known, and rightly feared, throughout Yiegdra.

Suggested Trades: Crusader, Master-at-Arms, Pirate, Seafarer, Shipmaster, Smith, Warrior.
Male Names: Brandr, Ketill, Ulfar, Hákon, Sigmund, Leifr, Einarr, Dagfinnr, Kolbeinn, Þorvaldr
Female Names: Ragnhild, Sigríðr, Þórunn, Brynnhildr, Ásdís, Ingvild, Solveig, Herdís, Vigdís, Ljótunn

TRIBURG CULTURE (Altrecht, Graland, Forough)

Positioned at the southern border of Lagain, many prominent trade routes ran through the Triburgs during the days of the old empire. Today they ferry warbands to the front-lines of the Century of Skirmishes. The vast, open valleys of the region are the breadbasket of the Kingdom, with fields of wheat connecting the horizons. The people of the Triburgs are highly adaptable and socially deft, made world-weary by the cutthroat dealings of foreign freelancers. Because of their unique tolerance for outsiders, a wide array of pagan beliefs have flourished in the massive mercenary tent-cities that pock the roads from Forough to Graland. These encampments are maintained by traveling warriors of all stripes and creeds. In recent years, the lords of the provinces have become so permissive as to overlook the dissident use of dark magic.

Their courting of foreign mercenaries, merchants, and magicians has fomented a reputation of Triburgers—even the high-castes—as a shrewd, conniving, and untrustworthy people. The sun-scorched flats of Altrecht are a particularly reviled region, as sellswords and smugglers alike gather under the Altrechtese lords who are above all else determined to thrive during war. None can say what will become of them now that their realms have met a tenuous peace.

Suggested Trades: Caravaner, Farmer, Mercenary, Merchant, Smuggler, Soldier, Spellsword, Witch.
Male Names: Dietrich, Kaspar, Gerwin, Albrecht, Wolfred, Henning, Rutger, Eckhard, Sivert, Thilman
Female Names: Hildegard, Trude, Elske, Mechthild, Greta, Adelhaid, Berte, Liesel, Walpurga, Imke

HAZAN CULTURE (Kamarann, Lenz)

The cloudy steppes of Hazan are ill-suited for farming and isolated by long mountain chains from the rest of Lagain. They have been a prime target for invasion over the Century of Skirmishes with Tousav, and war has been ingrained in their culture as a result. The Hazanites are militant, deeply spiritual, and have a strong sense of community. Service to one’s family, nation, and the Concord are their highest priorities. The countless monasteries which line the hills of Lenz form the Starcairn, a path for pilgrims retracing the steps of prophets who met forgotten Exalts in ancient sepulchers. The reliquaries housed there are Gates, providing respite to travelers who pay oblations to the heroes’ bones within.

In Kamarann, the power of prayer and curses weave a tapestry of faith that galvanizes the people. Most Hazanites believe that only the Orthian Concord—through its awesome and righteous power—can deliver the people from an endless precession of wars. Because of this deference to the Concord they exert outsized influence within Orthian politics by embodying the largest number of high-castes, and are seen other Lagainian provinces as a pious, but sycophantic people.

Suggested Trades: Apothecary, Crusader, Healer, Herder, Monk, Pilgrim, Witchhunter.
Male Names: Ezra, Jarek, Iskar, Yusuf, Arvis, Khalil, Nachum, Idris, Selim, Azariah.
Female Names: Miriam, Adara, Esther, Zuleika, Naomi, Tova, Hana, Leila, Seren, Yael.

GAIL CULTURE (Holy Caledon, Beth, Biveria)

The northern coasts of Lagain have been a recurring flashpoint in the history of the continent. The Lagainian Accords were hosted in the grand halls of the Holy City Caledon. The sanctuaries which spawned the Orthian Concord were built in Biveria, where knowledge gleaned from Marathan traders was amassed in archives devoted to hymns of ancient gods. The looming oak forests of Beth have been preserved as a kingswood for the training of elite slave-soldiers in the Concord. Throughout the Gaillands, it is common to take a second name: this holy name, chosen when one comes of age, ties them to the faith and the Godhead.

The Gails are cosmopolitan, typically well-educated, and lethally elitist. Here, clemency is performance to be dispensed or withheld by the Orthian councils according to social convenience. Despite the corruption within its highest halls, pilgrims and the faithful flock to the Holy City to witness the Vault of the Three-Tone Instruments; implements as much scripture as they are pilgrimage sites, said to have struck the chords which taught the first Orthians how to achieve Oneness. Here, on the steps of the Vault, Immortal Allelaeon stood before the rapturous masses and declared Holy War upon the heathens of Tousav—a mission so grand and impossible that it has eclipsed generations of men.

Suggested Trades: Bard, Clothier, Farmer, Knight, Merchant, Monk, Noble, Savant, Witchhunter.
Male Names: Hyacinthe, Gilles, Alcide, Èrthu, Arnalt, Etienne, Urse, Laurent, Rasiphe, Hubèrt.
Female Names: Emmeline, Lioûnie, Katherine, Êve, Lliocadie, Sibylle, Aveline, Mélie, Norène, Judith.

INENKINE CULTURE (Manster, Lochia, Fenia)

The eastern coasts are home to a constellatory assembly of distinct tribal families. They are a people deeply attuned to the earth, building innumerable barrows in the roots of colossal trees, and worshipping a pantheon of elder gods untouched by the influence of empires. Their disregard for the Orthian Concord’s religious law set them apart from the other lords in the Lagainian Accords, who saw them as faithless savages. When the Century of Skirmishes wound on, and Orthian justicars began hunting religious dissenters, the Inenkinites rose in revolt.

Manster, Lochia, and Fenia rebelled and for a brief few decades retained their independence. It wasn’t until Immortal Allelaeon commanded the holy armies to reclaim the eastern seaboard that they were brought back under the rule of Lagain, ending a fleeting taste of freedom tarnished by infighting and petty political strife. As punishment for their treachery, the entirety of the Inenkinites were declared a caste beneath the low-castes—idolaters, from whom a blood tax is extracted. Though the uprising failed the memory does not; the Inenkine peoples hold fast to their dreams of liberation. Today, druidic cults and defiant militias prepare for the day they might again break from the Orthian Concord and shatter their ill-begotten claims of peace through unity.

Suggested Trades: Alchemist, Herder, Scout, Warrior, Witch, Wiseman, Woodsman.
Male Names: Fergal, Ciarán, Eòghan, Caradoc, Brân, Ruairí, Cormac, Tigernach, Feidlim, Oisín
Female Names: Étaín, Muirenn, Sorcha, Áine, Briallen, Morfudd, Saoirse, Niamh, Creirwy, Lasair

THE ORTHIAN CONCORD & DYADIC ONENESS

The Orthian Concord, and the doctrines of Dyadic Oneness which they adhere to, preach a message of strength through the resolution of contradiction. In their belief system, known as ‘Orthianism’, humans are creatures of dual nature: they are tempted by the evils of the flesh, yet are capable of Oneness through the rejection of temptation in pursuit of spiritual enlightenment. This state of heightened spiritual consciousness, Oneness, creates a resonance within the soul known as the Orthian Tone—the Voice of the God—which they believe is a form of music that dictates the movement of the Sun, Moon, and stars.

By identifying and overcoming their inherent contradictions, humans fulfill the God’s will for their absolution and are rewarded with an eternity of spiritual bliss, attuned to the universal song.

The Orthians identify three primary contradictions which a man must overcome:

• His instinct to behave wickedly, despite his soul’s desire for prudence.
• His indulgence in ignorance, despite his soul’s desire for understanding.
• His abuse of station for selfish needs, despite his soul’s desire for altruism.

These contradictions are rooted in the Orthian explanation for the origin of the universe. Music, hymns, and harmonies are extremely important to the Orthian Concord. Second to this is the suppression of ego, the meditative power of prayer, and the use of masks; all tools through which the worshipper may approach Oneness. Some holy symbols of the Orthian faith include: binary stars circling one another; a helix that terminates in a single locus; ivory instruments gilded in gold; two hands with steepled fingers and an eye in-between the palms.

Organization of the Faithful:

In the Concord, cantors are members of the church and are always middle or high-castes. They are typically organized into orders dedicated to hymnal-saints and their Exalts. Men of high standing are given additional titles depending on their order and field. Some common examples include: Holy Emanator, Holy Intestator, Holy Armiger, or Holy Luminary. It is possible, though exceedingly rare, for women to receive spiritual titles.

Many cantors prefer to wear masks engraved with scripture; the greater one’s caste and authority within the Concord, the more ornate these masks become.

The Concord also utilizes slave-soldiers made up of volunteers or children taken as part of a child levy from vassal territories. These potent soldiers, known as sevisars (or servants) are placed under the authority of a high-caste Cantor and trained in warfare.

Many choose to willingly become sevisar to receive the protection and care of the Orthian Concord, but many more are taken as part of blood tithes. Casteless, criminal, and hylic sevisar form a second tier which are generally reviled by their peers and considered subhuman. The masks they are given bear a mark of the Exarchs to symbolize the Orthian conquest of evil; in the case of criminals, a finger on their left hand is also severed. Many casteless sevisar are Inenkinite on account of the recent civil war.

The Nature of the Universe:

In the Orthian faith, the universe is an ongoing conversation between good and evil—a conflict whose final resolution will herald the reunification of the true Godhead as a perfect being, purified of wickedness, and the ascension of mankind as a single, enlightened spiritual consciousness, integrated wholly into the Godhead. Thus, the universe is both a battleground and the body of their God.

It is believed that the Godhead—referred to as the Axiom, or the One—resided alone in a time before time, contemplating his own existence. From these musings, recorded by Orthian prophets in their holy book titled The Three-Tone Chord, he recognized three contradictions within himself:

• “Malice within His Benevolence.”
• “Innocence within His Omnipresence.”
• “Ambivalence within His Omnipotence.”

To manifest as a perfect being, these deficiencies had to be recognized at their root and purified through labor. Thus, the Axiom divided himself in an act of divine suicide, flooding the empty cosmos with his presence—the causal waters—and giving shape to the heavens.

From his sundering emerged the First Dyad, the Twin Indestructibles. Regarded as the primary angels of the faith, they embody the contradictions that compelled the Axiom’s fragmentation and the promise of peace upon his reunification. It is said they dreamed forth countless smaller angels and demons as they undertook the labor of purifying the Axiom’s causal sea.

These angels and demons—known as Exalts and Exarchs—always exist in paired opposites known as a ‘Dyad’. Within each Dyad, the Exalt represents goodness, while the Exarch embodies wickedness. They are collectively called the Floods’ Children, and are believed to have sired mankind.

As such, humans attribute their dual nature to the goodness of their Exalt father and wickedness of their Exarch mother. Though the precise Dyad which gave rise to mankind is disputed (and in Orthian mythology, many hymnal-saints claim parentage from radically different Dyads, or even Exalts and Exarchs who do not share a Dyad) this dual angelic and fiendish parentage is a belief common to all adherents of the Orthian Concord.

Worship of Exalts and the Necessity of Exarchs:

The worship of Exalts and rebuke of Exarchs constitute Orthian orthopraxy; beyond a handful of fringe cults, no sect openly venerates the Exarchs. Yet, as manifestations of the Axiom’s contradictions, Exarchs are a vital component of the great labor of spiritual purification.

A worshiper must recognize the Exarchs’ influence within themselves, as the Axiom did, and then overcome it through discipline and devotion in order to attain spiritual purity. Thus, evil must exist so that good can triumph over it. Sin lays the road upon which we all must walk to salvation.

People often pray to the Exalts for aid, and pray to be saved from the Exarchs’ influence. It is common to swear oaths to the Exalts—knights, doctors, and nobility take up vows to those which represent the values of their station, or to the saints which were born to them.

For example, a knight may swear an oath to Patefact and Corpori, or the Hymnal-Saint Eveline, symbolizing devotion to one’s nation. A doctor may take up vows to Erono and Amino, or the Hymnal-Saint Apotheon, representing their love for learning, and compassion for mankind. A statesman might work under the auspices of Immota and Concordia, or the Hymnal-Saint Mikhail, striving for peace and a perfect future for the realms.

Names of the Dyads:

The Indestructibles, the First Dyad, are the Nadiral Exarch Tenebrae and the Zenithal Exalt Concordia. Tenebrae represents the world before the Axiom’s separation—its emptiness and latent potential—and Concordia represents the perfect world awaiting mankind once the Godhead rejoins. They are often depicted as binary stars circling the universe, entwined but apart.

Innumerable Dyads exist beneath the Indestructibles, dreamed into existence by them, so new angels and demons emerge constantly within scripture and literature. Gods outside the pantheon are assumed to be aspects of these existing Dyads, or evidence of new ones. Indeed, many Dyads and their hymnal-saints are reinterpretations of gods which were native to the Marathans, the tribal religions of pre-unification Lagain, or even the records of Second Age idols.

The Primal Dyads, furthest from mankind, are elemental and animal spirits. These unthinking aspects are primordial truths beyond the influence of humanity. Some Primal Dyads are:

• Exarch Impetus and Exalt Immota: Impetus creates fire, motion, and spurs chaos. Immota maintains, protects, and calms. Their shared medium is matter.
• Exarch Amet and Exalt Corpori: Amet causes division, obscurity, and distance. Corpori promotes unity, completion, and fusion. Their shared medium is the body.
• Exarch Termina and Exalt Orsus: Termina marks the end, destroys, decays. Orsus marks the beginning, seeds, and invigorates. Their shared medium is time.

The Incarnate Dyads are closest to mankind and are typically immaterial, representing higher thought and the faculties separating human from beast. Some Incarnate Dyads are:

• Exarch Mendacium and Exalt Patefact: Mendacium obfuscates, sows distrust, encourages ignorance. Patefact reveals all, promotes loyalty, shepherds man to true knowing. Their shared medium is knowledge.
• Exarch Odium and Exalt Ero: Odium obstructs, spurs men to violence, creates conflict. Ero resolves, reunites, and sacrifices. Their shared medium is the heart.
• Exarch Ducti and Exalt Amino: Ducti compels man without thought, manipulates, deceives. Amino promotes meditation, forethought, and bestows premonitions. Their shared medium is the mind.

MANIFESTATIONS AND HYLICS

Within Lagain, magic is believed to emerge from the causal waters of the Axiom as an expression of his world-shaping power. Called Manifestations, these miracles are strictly controlled by the Orthian Concord, and citizens of Lagain who practice magic are invariably forced to become cantors, or sevisars, depending on caste.

Because of this, no distinction is made between theurgists and cantors: there are simply cantors who can conjure Manifestations, and those who cannot. Theurgists within Lagain typically derive power from particular hymnal-saints, who serve as holy conduits for the power of the Exalts, or from the highest Exalts who are mighty enough to directly commune with humankind.

Lagainian cantors also utilize a unique form of Invocations known as hymnal casting. These spells are derived from Orthian scripture, and are rehearsed as songs throughout the day—often hundreds of times a day. Once the chanting of a spell becomes automatic, even during intense duress, the theurgist is finally allowed to cast it. This dramatically reduces the strain of speaking an invocation and allows the caster to effortlessly chain multiple spells as one continuous hymn.

In opposition to the Orthian Concord, there are cults within Lagain who summon power from the Exarchs. Known as worshippers of the Null-Gods, they pray to so-called visionaries who claim mastery over the physical world and possess insights into its true nature. Among the Inenkine, many practice ancient theurgical arts of the elder gods—their names preserved only in shamanic circles beyond the cantors’ reach.

Regardless of its origin, illegal theurgy is seen as a mere extension of thaumaturgy. To the Concord, it is an attempt by men to ascend while maintaining their individuality—a depraved act that delays the return of the Godhead.

These unsanctioned magicians are called malefica, and are portrayed alongside hylics as demons of emptiness, temptation, and an affront to the divine mission of the Concord.