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 an elected "Anra" (Archon/King) who is the supreme head of the nation (and the Sanctum) together with the "Keshbethorak" (Council of the Lords) and the Dirashbethorak (The Holy Synod). The council of Lords does not have much political power, instead it exists as a body to propose legislation and advise the Archon.

The council is allowed to veto the Archon in certain cases to prevent abuses of power. This power mostly rests with the Holy Synod however. The Holy Synod is the judicial and electoral branch of the government. It consists of all Clerics in Sironia. The Holy Synod deals with certain matters of the faith in Sironia like electing new clerics, it discusses legislation, can veto the Archon as well as electing him/her.

The synod also deals with matters of faith between the jurisdictions of different clerics to allow for cooperation.

The Priests and and the Clerics above them are in charge of more than just spiritual matters. They keep track of deaths, births, when a house is sold and bought, when someone moves out and in etc. They make sure that all can read on a rudimentary level and serve as judges as it is believed that the priests and clerics give fairer and better judgement through the lens of the uncreated one. The Anra is a member of the Holy Synod and does get a vote but their vote does not overrule any other vote.

The Keshras are chosen by the Anra to rule over a certain province. The Keshra are in charge of administrating the province (Verhal), enforcing laws, generating economic activity and other such matters. To become a Keshra it is not enough to simply enough to be born into a good family. There is a complex system of tests that allows one to become a candidate. These tests are taken in the capital of the Kingdom.

The person who is tested goes through a series of different assignments that are later graded. They are then assigned to an administrative position such as keeping track of all paperwork that priests and clerics send in or ruling over a small town or a fort. If they are nominated in some way then the Archon will look through the options of nominees and pick one to fill a position of Keshra.

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 Athr Thereshak. 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 wavy shapes that blend together. One's position in society and participation in the event also changes the tattoo. A simple infantryman will have a different tattoo than a commander or general. And for all these groups the tattoo will differ depending on whether 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.

Asourtherak
Asourtherak is a fledgling town located in the far west of The Kingdom of Sironia.