Sironia

Overview
In it's ancient days the Holy Peninsula and the rest of Sironia was populated by the "Shironlirak" which translates to "People of the Land". Among these tribes was a militaristic tribe that called themselves the "Asara". They were famous for their brutality and cruelty towards anyone who was not of their people.

The first prophet Temion was a stranger to all the tribes of the land, he was at this point still young and had only recently begun his travels. On his journeys he was warned of the Asara and their famous brutality, but he did not heed their warnings for he knew that "The darkness shall be sundered and destroyed in the presence of the light of the Uncreated One"

He journeyed to them and was soon stopped by a warrior of the tribe, the warrior pointed his spear at Temion and was about to threaten him when he simply looked at the warrior and said "Take me to the one who leads your people" in the warrior's own tounge.

The warrior, being stunned and confused agreed to Temion's request and took him to the village where the chieftan resided in an old fort. The chieftan was confused at seeing a foreigner in his hall without chains and asked what the warrior was doing. The warrior explained as Temion patiently waited.

As soon a the warrior had stopped speaking Temion stepped forward and greeted the chief with a challenge. He said that he should build a shrine to his God next to their shrine. Both should attempt to light a fire. The shrine to the true god would have the fire next to it burn, whilst the shrine to the false god would be unable to have a fire next to it burn.

For a while there was simply silence until one of the priests of the tribe whispered in the ear of the chieftan, he nodded and seemed to think for a bit until he looked at Temion and agreed.

The day went by and Temion spent much time crafting a stylized image of a fire on a flat wooden surface. He built a small container to house the fuel in front of it and meditated until it was time. The priests, in their smugness decided that they wished to sabotage Temion. The wood that they had provided him was wet and soaked enough to be unable to fuel a fire at all.

Temion saw this but payed no attention to this. He simply put the wood in his container and sat down to meditate. The priests started to prepare and attempt to light their fire, the fuel was easy to light but despite repeated attempts the fuel never seemed to catch fire, the sparks hit the wood but soon faded. After letting their attempts continue for a small while longer Temion said "Oh great creator! Show thy power and strenght, show the truth of your message and the holyness of your fire so that these people may be enlightened. Let it be so!"

With these words a roaring and crackling fire was lit in front of the shrine to the creator. The fire was unlike anything ever seen, for it was not simply a fire, rather it was a small fraction of the uncreated light that is the creator. The tribe, not being able to comprehend what they were seeing simply fell to their knees in reverence of the great creator.

After this, Temion was named their King and he did much work to reform the tribe away from their bloodthirsty ways. Many of the Asara became missionaries who spread the faith of Sakrelism to the other Sironian tribes, so much so in fact that the word "Asara" in Sironian now means "missionary". Temion and his successors worked hard for unification of the various tribes into one Kingdom. Even after unification Sironians are a diverse people with many differing practices and traditions but held together by their shared language and religion

Currently the Kingdom has diplomatic ties to the Cobblework mines and Carvay

Government
The government is headed by the "Anra" (Archon/King) who is the supreme head of the nation together with Keshrasbethorak (The Lords' Council or The Council of the Lords). The Anra is also the religious head of the nation, albeit most of the true power behind the faith lies in the Holy Synod as to ensure that the faith is not corrupted by Secular politics.

The Archon appoints a "Keshra" (Lord) to each province to rule over. The Keshra are generally speaking in charge of everything economic as well as Military related within their province. The Keshra have Knights under them that are elite professional soldiers.

The Holy Synod is more independent. Each priest and cleric get one vote on who should sit in the council. The Holy Synod then votes and chooses the Clerics of each province. The Priests and Clerics of the provinces are in charge of more than just spiritual matters. They take censuses, make sure that all can read on atleastread on a rudimentary level and serve as judges as it is believed that the priests and clerics give fairer and better judgements that are less clouded by sin. The Anra is a member of the Holy Synod and does get a vote but their vote does not overrule any other vote.

To ensure that the Clerics are not corrupted there is a holy order of Knights that are able to investigate heresy, abuses of power and dispense punishment on Clerics and priests if needed.

Religion
The Kingdom has Sakrelism as it's offical state religion, but people are allowed to practice their own faith in private. However conversions from Sakrelism to another religion is forbidden.

Culture
The majority of the Kingdom is Sironian in ethnicity, however "Sironian" is a very lose term. The nomadic "Erelisher" people are too considered Sironians yet their traditions and lifestyles vary widely from residents of Sironians that might live in Azethvir or Oskarium. This is both due to their nomadic lifestyle but also due to many other factors. the Kingdom has decided to embrace this diversity rather than reject it, instead the faith in Sakrelith as the creator as a binding force is emphasized.

Sironians speak various dialects of the Sironian language, a language-isolate with it's own unique alphabet.

Orders
A big part of Sironian society are the orders of the prophets. Each prophet embodies a different set of ideals that allow them to become patrons to various positions in society. Farmers and doctors are part of different orders, but both orders have Asala, the mother as their patron prophet.

Each order is supposed to be equal in standing. In practice people often see certain orders as higher than other ones however.

Generally speaking one will be born into an order but one does not need to stay if they do not wish to. It can often be difficult to leave though as you have to find someone from a different order to train and teach you to do whatever their order's job is.. This can often be fairly hard in practice but changing one's order isn't unheard of and does happen.

Tattoos
A common part of the Sironian culture are tattoos. These tattoos mark different important life events. Becoming adult, getting married, having children, participating in war, becoming a priest, cleric, monk, working as something for 5, 10,15,20 etc years and more.

These tattoos differ depending on the event but they are made to generally intertwine in wavey shapes that blend together. One's position in society and participation in the event also changes the tattoo. A simple footsoldier will have a different tattoo than a commander or general. And for all these groups the tattoo will differ depending on wether the battle was won or lost.



Territory and Towns
The Kingdom is located south of Carvay and occupies all of the Holy Peninsula, with the capital of Azethvir located on the southern portion of the peninsula on the western coast.

Azethvir
Azethvir is the largest town in the Kingdom as well as it's capital. The grand meeting hall, residence of the Archon and the (not yet built) tomb of the Prophet Temion is located within the town.

The Tomb of the Prophets
The tomb of the prophets on top of the holy mountain that separates the peninsula from the rest of the continent is also a part of the Kingdom and is especially protected as it is a holy site where most of the prophets are buried.