Free Castle

The Free Castle is a settlement in the Aldovir Peninsula, located to the north of The Lunar City State of Lirgal and west of the city of Asalath. Originally founded around December of 2021, it persisted through the Empire of Aldovir and the first half of Empire of Astyllea, under which the people of the castle met their demise as an invading force of Astyllean Legions tore down the walls and looted the castle. It was later found by Arkanae Morningstar, who took the task of restoring the castle.

History
The Free Castle, before known as the Barony of Anráce, is a remnant settlement of the ancient Kingdom of Lóthra, an old realm which dominated the Northern Region of the Aldovir Peninsula, as well as certain portions of the Northern Desert of the Continent of Alteniquia. It was held by nobles as a fortification against invaders. When the Sagaviri peoples start dominating the Aldoviri peninsula, it was one of the main settlements that served as a point of resistance against the rise of the Empire of Sagavir. When the Empire of Sagavir took over the region, the Kingdom of Lóthra was the last to fall, as pushes from the North and the East reduced their land to only the marshland.

The Barony of Anráce, even after the fall of the Kingdom of Lóthra, remained through history. As it was protected by the marshland and the hilly terrain that surrounded it, and the Empire of Sagavir had no great interest on the region, it was left alone with a small but tight knit community developing in the surrounding lands. With the fall of Sagavir and the rise of Sironia, the latter tried time and again to destroy the settlement with no success. In open defiance, the Barony of Anráce renamed itself to the Free Castle, or "Kaithráce", as the commoners called the region. Even with the combined military might of the Empire of Aldovir, any attempts of destruction of the Free Castle were met with great resistance.

It was under the Empire of Astyllea that the Free Castle finally fell, as during the night legions of Astyllean soldiers tore through the walls with rams, and arrows showered from the sky. Few escaped from the attack, dispersing themselves through the land and having to reintegrate in society, even though they spoke a quite different language and did not know the customs outside the Free Castle.

Religion
The Barony of Anráce was one of the last remaining bastions of Lóthran mysticism, a pagan religion based around the worship of malimare. A malimar was said to be a universal spirit that descended from another plane to existence either to grace or curse the would. The first grace was done by Lalúth, the malimar who made the world, while the first curse was done by Síron, the malimar which plagued the world with discontent, war, and disease.

The Anrácians of the Free Castle believed that praising and calming the malimare was necessary for graces to be given rather than curses - with offerings of foods, structures built in their name, or the fabrication of crosses and towers representing the different malimare, they believed they could appease these spirits.

As opposed to appeasing the malimare, some believed that these spirits could be trapped in order to confer mystical powers to the holder of the spirit, be it the ability of casting their own graces and curses, or even the gift of divination.

When the Free Castle fell to the Astyllean invasion, the religion continued through the few remaining peoples that had lost the castle. When they entered in contact with other religions, such as Asitir, Sakrelism, and Soleannen, Lóthran mysticism quickly syncretized with the bigger religions as a way for the Free Castlemen to continue their practices with protection and acceptance.