Emerald Cape Estates

Foundation
The land had been taken over, and the Testificates were evicted by a minor noble in the Verdant Tide; the resulting diaspora scattered the few remaining Testificates across the globe. One family ended up in Reliqua. After begging a wizard to change their appearance so they wouldn’t be persecuted any longer, the wizard refused. He instead changed their speech so they could speak languages previously impossible for them to vocalize. Changing their name to fit in, the family sent their young son Erikir Edelsten to Fateforge to sell gems and such. He would never forget witnessing the absolute calamity that beset him and his people.

His goal had always been to reunite the Testificates; his previous attempts to call any survivors to Reliqua had failed. The Testificates simply had no faith that this foreign kingdom would regard them as equals. Frustrated by his failures, Erikir wandered the woods to clear his mind, and before he knew it, the sun was down. Lost in the moonlit woods, he raced to find a clearing to escape the forest beasts hunting him down. He managed to reach a cliffside that the beasts avoided for unknown reasons. After collecting himself, Erikir decided to make camp for the night; lighting a small fire and foraging some strange mushrooms, he sat down to enjoy his meager meal.

And suddenly, he was face to face with gods. Unable to move or speak, Erikir tried to listen to what the gods were saying, but as he strained his ears to pick up the whispers, he realized their mouths were unmoving. As the whispers grew louder, it became clear that they were communicating directly into his mind; it became louder and louder until he could not hear even his own thoughts. Then for just one word, the gods spoke in unison, “Here” they commanded.

Upon waking up, Erikir pondered the meaning of their message. He needed a good pondering spot to really figure it out. He turned to look towards the horizon, and when he peered over the cliff, he knew what the message meant. Here, he was meant to reunite the Testificates.

He began construction of what would soon come to be the capital of his Testificate state. New Testificas was settled on the base of a mountain overlooking the sea. After four grueling months, he had finished his manor and began spreading the word about a new safe haven for the Testificates. Within days Testificates began checking the place out and began writing back to their families about it.

First Testificate Congregation
As more families moved to New Testificas, Erikir soon realized that there would be too many people for him to handle alone. Erikir sent letters to prominent Testificates and a few close friends to meet him at the Quaint Shirt Tavern for a meeting to discuss all matters relating to the estate. The congregation started with a discussion on creating an advisory council to assist Count Edelsten in ruling over the estates. The debate began with the council's authority; many of the Testificates present at the congregation believed that such a council should be more than just advisory and have equal powers to the Count. Count Edelsten, not liking where the discussion was going, shelved the debate for the next congregation, claiming insufficient Testificates were present to make such a meaningful conclusion reasonable.

The next topic of discussion was the Testificate Guard, a ragtag group of militiamen who rarely even used their weapons. The Guard was barely even capable of keeping the forest beasts out of the city, relying mainly on the Iron Golems to do the job for them. One of the attendees stood up and demanded leadership over the Guard so that he could turn it into a proper army. This sudden outburst took aback Count Edelsten. Many Testificates are still uneasy around weapons, and here was this rugged old man claiming that he could turn the Guard into an army. Count Edelsten decided to test the old man's ability in the streets with a good old-fashioned brawl. The old man easily bested Erikir; and deciding that no one else would be better, granted the old man's request and proclaimed him Captain Darius of the Guard.

The last topic of discussion was the growing number of merchant ships breaking and crashing ashore since New Testificas had still not yet built a port. The congregation decided that an absent Testificate named Philip Vassry would begin the construction of a temporary port immediately as he had previously brought up this issue to the Count and was very eager to get permission.